Sam has been a bad, bad blogger and has not been posting. But now she's started a new food related blog, which she will probably update more often. It's located here:

http://rosemarylemon.blogspot.com/

Check it out if you're interested!

You know you've worked in a lab too long when...

you find yourself trying to repair a very dead pair of shoes with lab epoxy using a 1000ul pipet tip. I'm afraid I'll have to retire my favorite shoes; even after the epoxy treatment I can see my sock in a couple places through the shoe... not such a good sign, probably. Drat.

Why oh why...

doesn't Apple realize that not everyone has huge ears? I hate the little ipod earbuds; they're way too big for my ears and they hurt. :( I wish they sold child sized earbuds or something.

I know, I know, does that sound like an over-privileged Palo Alto child's complaint or what? But they really do hurt...


It took me a long time to break down and get an ipod, partly because I always think of this comic when I hear the word "ipod," and I get worried about having a robot chase me down the street...

I'm thinking this is a bad sign...

Just a short snippet of an output file my crystallography program threw at me:

The source line number is 1. awk: Cannot divide by zero. The input line number is 1. The source line number is 1. awk: Cannot divide by zero. The input line number is 1. The source line number is 1. awk: Cannot divide by zero. The input line number is 1. The source line number is 1. awk: Cannot divide by zero. The input line number is 1. The source line number is 1. awk: Cannot divide by zero. The input line number is 1. The source line number is 1. awk: Cannot divide by zero. The input line number is 1. The source line number is 1. awk: Cannot divide by zero. The input line number is 1. The source line number is 1. awk: Cannot divide by zero. The input line number is 1. The source line number is 1. awk: Cannot divide by zero. The input line number is 1. The source line number is 1. awk: Cannot divide by zero. The input line number is 1. The source line number is 1. awk: Cannot divide by zero. The input line number is 1. The source line number is 1. awk: Cannot divide by zero. The input line number is 1. The source line number is 1. awk: Cannot divide by zero. The input line number is 1. The source line number is 1. awk: Cannot divide by zero. The input line number is 1. The source line number is 1. awk: Cannot divide by zero. The input line number is 1. The source line number is 1. awk: Cannot divide by zero. The input line number is 1. The source line number is 1. awk: Cannot divide by zero. The input line number is 1. The source line number is 1. awk: Cannot divide by zero. The input line number is 1. The source line number is 1. awk: Cannot divide by zero. The input line number is 1. The source line number is 1. awk: Cannot divide by zero.


Hmmm...

Ok, I have to admit this one had me in stitches laughing... yes, I'm that much of a geek.

You know that a) you've worked in a lab too long and b) you have an overly acute sense of smell when...

you can tell the difference between bacteria growing in lag phase and in log phase by how the culture smells.

You know you've worked in a lab too long when...

You find yourself looking at the antibiotics tube thoughtfully, thinking, "Wow, we've got needles in the lab. I could just inject this stuff and skip going to the doctor entirely."

Dear heavens, I hope this is a joke...

I really, really do... but I'm afraid it may not be.

A note for lab workers who do not wish to be brutally murdered:

If someone else in your lab has washed a piece of equipment for her own use, and has set it aside to dry, away from all other pieces of equipment, do not take that piece of equipment without asking. Not even if it's the last one available, because, hey, maybe the person who washed it actually needs it! Maybe you're not the only productive worker in the lab!

Also, if you use the last of something, do not put the empty bottle/box back on the shelf. (I've found empty boxes/bottles THREE times in the two days!) Reorder the damn thing. And if you have used all of a kind of equipment that must be autoclaved, autoclave it yourself! Do not wait for a woman to do it for you. (This seems to be SOP in the lab. Leave all autoclaving and/or tip box refilling for one of two women to do. Guess what: not cool.)

I have had about a half a dozen times in the last two days where I have been royally screwed by people being just plain inconsiderate. Do not be a jerk, for I will wish plagues of irate ducks on you.

*Fumes*

You know you're a total geek when...

You see this comic and go, "Hey, cool! I already know LaTex! I'm a bigger geek than the grad student in PhD comics!" (Obviously I'm using a very... special definition of the word "cool" here).

Aww...how cute (and yet so dumb, really)

Two kids in Germany decide to go to Africa (because it's warm in Africa) to get married. Problems: no passport, no money, nobody over the age of 7.

Very cute, and yet pretty dumb. I may have gone around dropping things as a child to prove that gravity was still working the way I thought it should (after encountering my first helium balloon as a toddler), but I never thought I'd get away with going to another continent without anybody noticing.