(no subject)
At work today, Haiyan came in late because he was doing his driver's licence test, which he failed, so he got me to help Kate with her DGGE, Denaturing Gradient Gel Electrophoresis. I believe that Kate had done it once before with Haiyan, so it wasn't like she'd never seen it, but she didn't remember a lot of the steps, so it was good that I was there. Unfortunately, the gel that she poured was terrible, but luckily mine was quite good. I think that she waited too long before casting her gel, which resulted in a sticky mass that started congealing in the syringes as we were trying to wash them out.
I also got quite a bit of washing done, and I fished almost everything out of the acid bath; it's now waiting to be rinsed and dried. Then I did a PCR and Haiyan and I laughed at the absurdity of 3 soil samples we'd been sent: they were practically all clay, no dirt, and so clearly unusable. I left at 5 pm and cycled over to Pedro's work, in the basement of Nicol Hall, where he showed me the machine which stresses zirconium metal. The problem with cracks in zirconium is simply that they produce hydrates, which lead to further cracking. This can complicate nuclear reactors made of zirconium, because as the metal cools down from its fiery nuclear reaction temperature, cracks can form, are exacerbated, and lead to the entire piece of metal breaking, forcing it to be replaced.
We discussed his work, our camping trip this weekend, out of which Paolo has dropped, an art exhibit at the Agnes Etherington Art Centre, which he'd like to show me, the Open House at the Queen's Observatory, which I'd really like to see, and him coming to see my work tomorrow. Unfortunately, the Open House at the observatory is this weekend and we will be camping. We've decided to go to Sharbot Lake (lot 169, now that was easy to remember).
I went downtown today, and saw the Busker's Festival. Then Marie and I went for ice cream; my choice was Fool's Gold, and hers, banana yogurt. Then a walk around the Kingston harbourfront, and just enjoying the gentle summer night.
I also got quite a bit of washing done, and I fished almost everything out of the acid bath; it's now waiting to be rinsed and dried. Then I did a PCR and Haiyan and I laughed at the absurdity of 3 soil samples we'd been sent: they were practically all clay, no dirt, and so clearly unusable. I left at 5 pm and cycled over to Pedro's work, in the basement of Nicol Hall, where he showed me the machine which stresses zirconium metal. The problem with cracks in zirconium is simply that they produce hydrates, which lead to further cracking. This can complicate nuclear reactors made of zirconium, because as the metal cools down from its fiery nuclear reaction temperature, cracks can form, are exacerbated, and lead to the entire piece of metal breaking, forcing it to be replaced.
We discussed his work, our camping trip this weekend, out of which Paolo has dropped, an art exhibit at the Agnes Etherington Art Centre, which he'd like to show me, the Open House at the Queen's Observatory, which I'd really like to see, and him coming to see my work tomorrow. Unfortunately, the Open House at the observatory is this weekend and we will be camping. We've decided to go to Sharbot Lake (lot 169, now that was easy to remember).
I went downtown today, and saw the Busker's Festival. Then Marie and I went for ice cream; my choice was Fool's Gold, and hers, banana yogurt. Then a walk around the Kingston harbourfront, and just enjoying the gentle summer night.