Today's lesson: Airlocking a Sharpie is a bad idea ( Read more... )

Okay, turns out that TAing intersession is definitely madness. It's 1:30 to 4:30 and then 5:30 to 8:30 Monday through Thursday. And at some point these things need to get marked. Eating is hurried, actual lab work is basically non-existent ( Read more... )

Today we realized the downside to not having any guys in the lab. I couldn't get a bottle open, so Jess had a go at it. She couldn't get it open either, so I got the vice grips out. All those managed to do was start breaking the lid, and I needed the lid intact ( Read more... )

Well, back to the usual at work. But nothing remotely noteworthy's been happening (except that I am developing a hatred for the 4 mm probe because it behaves less every time I use it...), so have some other random babblings ( Read more... )

This is basically why I haven't updated much. It's sad when webcomics look this much like my life ( Read more... )

Sometimes being in two different research groups can be annoying. Like weeks when I end up having to give group meeting in both groups. Which seems like it would be fine except they use completely different formats ( Read more... )

Everything in the NMR room has abandonment issues. Mat is on vacation this week. So far the shimming/locking on the 600 has gone down. Because a cable got disconnected. A cable no one had any reason to go near. Then Shatner (the robot that loads the samples on the Mercury) was drunk or something and kept manhandling the samples back into place and ( Read more... )

Sometimes I end up making very bizarre phone calls. Like today's memorable "Honey, could you please bring me a pair of pants ( Read more... )

So, apparently my solemn duty in 658 practices is to declare "You just made every synthetic in the audience cry" or "Yeah... everyone but the physical chemists stopped listening three slides ago." I guess there are advantages to not being sure what kind of chemist I am. :p ( Read more... )

So, Kim is going on sabbatical starting in July. I didn't figure it would be too much of a problem, since I'm co-supervised.

Yeah... guess who's going to be acting chair while Kim's away! I CAN'T WIN!