(no subject)
I'm not entirely sure I should be updating this from quarentine. But it would be tricky for the psyllids to escape down the internet, so it's probably fine ;)
What have I been up to?
Project work. This is almost entirely it, with the slight exception of some writing. My supervisors have vanished off to Pakistan, so I am rather on my own for this now! But I had my methods / materials drafted out before they left, and it seemed alright, so I'm probably being classed as Independant, rather than In The Deep End :P
We dug up a lot of knotweed from outside legoland yesterday, as we ran out of useable rhisomes. Mostly this reminded me that I haven't seen / spoken to my brother since Easter. He has no online presence, and I rarely go home, so this is trickier than most people I know. Yes, I could just ring him. Shut up.
I got in a bit late today (alarm clock went off at 9 rather than 8. Not sure if I set it wrong or it was having another flail because it wants more batteries), and had agreed to do some of my paid work today - which is removing psyllids from experiments being done by the guy who just left, and counting them. It's not hard, but it is a bit time-consuming. And I need to do it again on friday.
My constant temperature reps were further along in terms of instars than I'd thought, so I needed to check all of them. So the intended setting up of 2 more replicates (12 plants) for the Impacts bit became measuring / etc *4* more replicated (24 plants). I've just finished the measuring, but I really don't want to have to find and add 60 nymphs to some of them today. Moving nymphs involves poking them with a paintbrush until they retract their mouthparts and start to move around - this can take an age, and I'm not sure which cages are good sources of 1st instars atm.
Tomorrow I'll be late in again, but if it's just moving plants around, and the nymphs, then it probably won't be too bad / late out.
Driving lesson tomorrow! I've had one already, and it's in a mini, which is cool :) Need to get back up to standard and try and get the damn test passed by next year / september, as this will make things much, much easier, especially when it comes to applying for jobs. Actually, there may be developments on that - before he left, one of my supervisors was asking what I was up to next year. I blathered 'cos of the Cambs-housing-thing, but after Serious Thoughts, I emailed him to say if Cabi do want to offer me a job, I would take it!
Of course, he's in the remote bits of Pakistan with no internet, and this may come to nowt as a job possibility. But still, quite cool.
Right, should head back to Silwood. Might poke people to see if they fancy pubbage.
What have I been up to?
Project work. This is almost entirely it, with the slight exception of some writing. My supervisors have vanished off to Pakistan, so I am rather on my own for this now! But I had my methods / materials drafted out before they left, and it seemed alright, so I'm probably being classed as Independant, rather than In The Deep End :P
We dug up a lot of knotweed from outside legoland yesterday, as we ran out of useable rhisomes. Mostly this reminded me that I haven't seen / spoken to my brother since Easter. He has no online presence, and I rarely go home, so this is trickier than most people I know. Yes, I could just ring him. Shut up.
I got in a bit late today (alarm clock went off at 9 rather than 8. Not sure if I set it wrong or it was having another flail because it wants more batteries), and had agreed to do some of my paid work today - which is removing psyllids from experiments being done by the guy who just left, and counting them. It's not hard, but it is a bit time-consuming. And I need to do it again on friday.
My constant temperature reps were further along in terms of instars than I'd thought, so I needed to check all of them. So the intended setting up of 2 more replicates (12 plants) for the Impacts bit became measuring / etc *4* more replicated (24 plants). I've just finished the measuring, but I really don't want to have to find and add 60 nymphs to some of them today. Moving nymphs involves poking them with a paintbrush until they retract their mouthparts and start to move around - this can take an age, and I'm not sure which cages are good sources of 1st instars atm.
Tomorrow I'll be late in again, but if it's just moving plants around, and the nymphs, then it probably won't be too bad / late out.
Driving lesson tomorrow! I've had one already, and it's in a mini, which is cool :) Need to get back up to standard and try and get the damn test passed by next year / september, as this will make things much, much easier, especially when it comes to applying for jobs. Actually, there may be developments on that - before he left, one of my supervisors was asking what I was up to next year. I blathered 'cos of the Cambs-housing-thing, but after Serious Thoughts, I emailed him to say if Cabi do want to offer me a job, I would take it!
Of course, he's in the remote bits of Pakistan with no internet, and this may come to nowt as a job possibility. But still, quite cool.
Right, should head back to Silwood. Might poke people to see if they fancy pubbage.