In other news, I really want this shirt and can't decide whether or not to get it! Only 8 hours left to decide!!! ((chews nails nervously!)
Friday, October 28, 2011
Another Grant Submitted
Well, just turned in another one today! Hopefully they will be pleased with this year's offering and see it in their kind hearts to give me a couple hundred bucks to I can add another line to the 'ol CV. Especially since they didn't publish my article.
In other news, I really want this shirt and can't decide whether or not to get it! Only 8 hours left to decide!!! ((chews nails nervously!)
In other news, I really want this shirt and can't decide whether or not to get it! Only 8 hours left to decide!!! ((chews nails nervously!)
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Look what I did at work!
Look what I made at work yesterday!! (this was yesterday. today I went grocery shopping and took a nap)
Last summer, the field station got a few CHN-OS (carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, sulfur) analyzer. Our old one wasn't able to hold a calibration curve, burn things a consistent temperature, or accurately dispense samples. Plus, it would print out all results on a DOT MATRIX printer (yeah, it was that old), and the way you entered info was with this 0-9 keypad...no letters. So if you wanted to call your sample "A", then you had to enter some random 3-digit code that meant "A". It was horrible. The new one is so much better! It runs on a real computer, and results are exported into Excel.
This new CHN can process up to 96 samples at once, which is AWE-some! The old one could process a lot too, but not that many. This machine does it with 3 samples wheels. The only problem is that once your sample is in the wheel, unless you wrote down somewhere what is in a well, it's hard to tell what it is. This was a problem with the old CHN too, but we're really noticing it with the new one.
We've had some problems with the machine, and yesterday Lab Tech decided that he was going to fire the bad-boy up and get it working right again. He thinks that whatever problems it was having was "user error" but whatevs, here nor there. But when we were down there, we noticed that the last person to use it had left some samples in a tray. We have no idea what they are, and it's very easy to get confused and forgetful with these wheels. I've loaded up a wheel, looked away and then back, and forgotten what I'd done. But we got to talking and we tried to figure out how we could possibly label these things. And I had a wonderful idea! Lots of offices have lots of extra, unused, overhead projector sheets laying around. And did you know you can photocopy on them? If you didn't, well, news flash..
I recommend actually using wet-erase marker on them. You could use permanent/sharpie marker, but to remove it takes a solvent which would remove the photocopied marks as well. You could also use a dry-erase, but an errant sleeve may wipe away your labels. Wet-erase will work best.
Well, y'all may not be impressed, but I certainly am please with myself...obviously. Feel free to take the idea and apply it to anything else you think it could be useful
Last summer, the field station got a few CHN-OS (carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, sulfur) analyzer. Our old one wasn't able to hold a calibration curve, burn things a consistent temperature, or accurately dispense samples. Plus, it would print out all results on a DOT MATRIX printer (yeah, it was that old), and the way you entered info was with this 0-9 keypad...no letters. So if you wanted to call your sample "A", then you had to enter some random 3-digit code that meant "A". It was horrible. The new one is so much better! It runs on a real computer, and results are exported into Excel.
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| Our CHN Analyzer. Isn't it purdy? |
This new CHN can process up to 96 samples at once, which is AWE-some! The old one could process a lot too, but not that many. This machine does it with 3 samples wheels. The only problem is that once your sample is in the wheel, unless you wrote down somewhere what is in a well, it's hard to tell what it is. This was a problem with the old CHN too, but we're really noticing it with the new one.
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| The 3rd wheel, pencil for scale |
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| Tiny tins folded up with sample in them. So tiny, so annoying, so unlabeled! |
We've had some problems with the machine, and yesterday Lab Tech decided that he was going to fire the bad-boy up and get it working right again. He thinks that whatever problems it was having was "user error" but whatevs, here nor there. But when we were down there, we noticed that the last person to use it had left some samples in a tray. We have no idea what they are, and it's very easy to get confused and forgetful with these wheels. I've loaded up a wheel, looked away and then back, and forgotten what I'd done. But we got to talking and we tried to figure out how we could possibly label these things. And I had a wonderful idea! Lots of offices have lots of extra, unused, overhead projector sheets laying around. And did you know you can photocopy on them? If you didn't, well, news flash..
 |
| First, I made a paper template of what we wanted the labels to look like |
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| Next, I photocopied the template on to a projector sheet |
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| Cut it out and voila! Now we can label these sample wheels! |
Well, y'all may not be impressed, but I certainly am please with myself...obviously. Feel free to take the idea and apply it to anything else you think it could be useful
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Procrastinating! It should be my major
I really really really don't want to be writing this grant today. It's a beautiful day out and I have coupons for shopping! I would much rather be spending the day in SoHo blowing money on clothes. It's much better than sitting on campus, trying to write, and blowing my money on junk food. At least clothes don't make me fat.
But in other, non-grad school news, I ran my first 10k yesterday! I've been running/jogging (badly) since about 2007, and lost almost 40lbs doing it. I'm actually finally back down to my high school senior weight, so it only took me (2011-1999=...) 12 years to lose the Freshman 15. But I did it, I didn't cramp up or stop running ever, and I finished in 1:10:08! Which is 5 minutes under my goal of 1:15:00, so I'm happy with that.
I think everyone in academia can appreciate how hard it is to be physically active and maintain your health what with the constant pressure that you should be doing something else (field work, lab work, writing something!). Especially if you're like me and you weren't physically active to begin with, it's a hard ball to get rolling.
But rolling it is! Now that I know I can do the distance, I just need to do it faster. My overall goal is to get to a 10min mile. I know that seems like it should be easy, but I'm short and lazy. :-) My husband has been running since 2005 and has lost over 70lbs. Our 10 year wedding anniversary will be coming up in 2014 and we've decided that we will treat ourselves to re-doing our wedding photos, now that we're not fat anymore <3 Plus I want an excuse to have my dress altered.
Scientists...we're so multidimensional! We're people too!
But in other, non-grad school news, I ran my first 10k yesterday! I've been running/jogging (badly) since about 2007, and lost almost 40lbs doing it. I'm actually finally back down to my high school senior weight, so it only took me (2011-1999=...) 12 years to lose the Freshman 15. But I did it, I didn't cramp up or stop running ever, and I finished in 1:10:08! Which is 5 minutes under my goal of 1:15:00, so I'm happy with that.
I think everyone in academia can appreciate how hard it is to be physically active and maintain your health what with the constant pressure that you should be doing something else (field work, lab work, writing something!). Especially if you're like me and you weren't physically active to begin with, it's a hard ball to get rolling.
But rolling it is! Now that I know I can do the distance, I just need to do it faster. My overall goal is to get to a 10min mile. I know that seems like it should be easy, but I'm short and lazy. :-) My husband has been running since 2005 and has lost over 70lbs. Our 10 year wedding anniversary will be coming up in 2014 and we've decided that we will treat ourselves to re-doing our wedding photos, now that we're not fat anymore <3 Plus I want an excuse to have my dress altered.
Scientists...we're so multidimensional! We're people too!
Thursday, October 20, 2011
No really, we're getting warmer
A bunch of conservatives hired some scientists to show that there's no evidence of global climate change...and they failed! I don't know how much more evidence the deniers need.
Earth is warming, study concludes http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-15373071
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Near Death Experience
Well not quite. But it was scary!
So I'm the only one in the lab this week. Boss-Man and Lab Tech are out in the Wild Algal West making a collection trip. All the other grad students are writing or working in other labs this week. Which leaves just me. So I decided that this week, while I'm all alone, would be a good time to do fatty acid extractions.
Our method for extracting FA's was designed by a previous grad student, who before she left was asked to teach it to the NY-DEP and USGS. So it's a pretty good method. It involves extracting the FA in a chloroform:methanol solution and then a methylating step involving BF3. It's overall a very caustic and dangerous method. Though supposedly much safer than the previous method of FA extraction which apparently can explode. So I'll take wondering if my samples smell like chloroform.
In order to protect myself from the horrible chemicals, I wear a ton of protective gear. We have liquid proof lab coats, goggles, a face-mask respirator, at least 2 layers of nitrile gloves and then some silver solvent resistant gloves. You may think the 2 nitrile gloves under the silver gloves is a bit over doing it. The silver gloves may be resistant to solvents but they spring holes very easily. But chloroform will go through nitrile, so the 2 layers are there as extra precaution. Here's what the full get-up looks like
Ooh, so here's the part where I almost died. I had just finished prepping a whole bunch of sample tubes by rinsing them in chloroform, and I needed to discard the waste. The waste jug is all the way at the back of the solvent cabinet. In the solvent cabinet is jugs of chloroform, hexane, methanol, and acetone, along with their respective waste jugs. While leaning into the cabinet, I guess I torqued my face mask a bit so it wasn't sealed against my mouth/nose. As I left the cabinet I took a deep breath as I stood up. Where upon I became very dizzy and got a bit of tunnel vision. I was able to put the jug down gently as I grabbed a counter ledge to steady myself and pull the mask away to get some fresh air. THAT was close! This is why, when I knew I was the only one in the building, I asked some other people to make sure I was still alive when the shuttle van left that afternoon. This could have been bad!
But I survived, my research didn't kill me....this time. I am starting to think it has a vendetta against me.
So I'm the only one in the lab this week. Boss-Man and Lab Tech are out in the Wild Algal West making a collection trip. All the other grad students are writing or working in other labs this week. Which leaves just me. So I decided that this week, while I'm all alone, would be a good time to do fatty acid extractions.
Our method for extracting FA's was designed by a previous grad student, who before she left was asked to teach it to the NY-DEP and USGS. So it's a pretty good method. It involves extracting the FA in a chloroform:methanol solution and then a methylating step involving BF3. It's overall a very caustic and dangerous method. Though supposedly much safer than the previous method of FA extraction which apparently can explode. So I'll take wondering if my samples smell like chloroform.
In order to protect myself from the horrible chemicals, I wear a ton of protective gear. We have liquid proof lab coats, goggles, a face-mask respirator, at least 2 layers of nitrile gloves and then some silver solvent resistant gloves. You may think the 2 nitrile gloves under the silver gloves is a bit over doing it. The silver gloves may be resistant to solvents but they spring holes very easily. But chloroform will go through nitrile, so the 2 layers are there as extra precaution. Here's what the full get-up looks like
 |
| I make science sexy! Oops, not wearing silver gloves because I'm a BAMF. |
Ooh, so here's the part where I almost died. I had just finished prepping a whole bunch of sample tubes by rinsing them in chloroform, and I needed to discard the waste. The waste jug is all the way at the back of the solvent cabinet. In the solvent cabinet is jugs of chloroform, hexane, methanol, and acetone, along with their respective waste jugs. While leaning into the cabinet, I guess I torqued my face mask a bit so it wasn't sealed against my mouth/nose. As I left the cabinet I took a deep breath as I stood up. Where upon I became very dizzy and got a bit of tunnel vision. I was able to put the jug down gently as I grabbed a counter ledge to steady myself and pull the mask away to get some fresh air. THAT was close! This is why, when I knew I was the only one in the building, I asked some other people to make sure I was still alive when the shuttle van left that afternoon. This could have been bad!
But I survived, my research didn't kill me....this time. I am starting to think it has a vendetta against me.
Monday, October 17, 2011
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Bananas making radiation understandable
What bananas tell us about radiation http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-15288975
I'll have to get back to this and talk more about it. Thunk of this as a placeholder for later ramblings. Its hard to blog from my phone.
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Back on that EPA Horse
Man, did sleeping until 7am feel good! How sad is that, that 7am is "sleeping in"? But I needed it. A whole week of field/lab work is really exhausting. My usual field schedule is getting up at 4:30am, pick up my field assistant, get to the lab, load up the vehicle and on the road by 7am....then at the end of the day, start to head back downstate by 4pm, back to the lab, unload the vehicle, put the samples away and back home by 8 or 9pm. Only to have to get up at 5:45 the next morning so that I can catch the shuttle to the lab where I process everything I did the day before and get ready for the next day's field trip. Repeat until exhausted. Check.
So 7am is a real treat for me. I slept and was up even before my alarm, then I treated myself to a leisurely run around campus, and then settled in for a day of writing and tutoring. Today I managed to submit a grant to Sigma Xi, and (I think) help 2 intro bio students. One was asking questions way above where he needed to be, so that's good.
But tonight, I have officially begun re-working my EPA STAR grant! I've got a good feeling this time. I've got a much tighter description of my study, a better understanding of what exactly it is I'm doing, and I've got DATA this time!!! That was the big thing that the reviewers got me on last time, no data. EPA doesn't mess around, they're not going to fund just an idea. Silly me, to think so. Plus, one of the new faculty members here actually has an EPA STAR on her trophy board, so here's hoping she can get me one too. I've started reading back through my old one....wow, have I been finding a slew of grammatical and punctuation errors! I'm amazed reviewers were as nice as they were!
So here's to a fresh attempt at the ultimate grad student grant!! *clink!*
So 7am is a real treat for me. I slept and was up even before my alarm, then I treated myself to a leisurely run around campus, and then settled in for a day of writing and tutoring. Today I managed to submit a grant to Sigma Xi, and (I think) help 2 intro bio students. One was asking questions way above where he needed to be, so that's good.
But tonight, I have officially begun re-working my EPA STAR grant! I've got a good feeling this time. I've got a much tighter description of my study, a better understanding of what exactly it is I'm doing, and I've got DATA this time!!! That was the big thing that the reviewers got me on last time, no data. EPA doesn't mess around, they're not going to fund just an idea. Silly me, to think so. Plus, one of the new faculty members here actually has an EPA STAR on her trophy board, so here's hoping she can get me one too. I've started reading back through my old one....wow, have I been finding a slew of grammatical and punctuation errors! I'm amazed reviewers were as nice as they were!
So here's to a fresh attempt at the ultimate grad student grant!! *clink!*
Friday, October 7, 2011
See? I've been working!
I am running myself ragged with this month's sampling. To prove it to you, here are a few select photos from my most recent trip up to the Catskills!
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| A dairy farm. I was told that someone once said, "If I die and am reincarnated as a cow, I want to be one of this guy's cows." But, he has no BMPs...so there! |
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| Another ag stream, with me hard at work in it! |
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| A lovely horse farm. See the bit of stream coming out an through the fence? That fence is the BMP. |
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| How I wish I could look at streams |
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| The lovely, and horribly named, Negro Creek. Not kidding, that's it's name. |
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| Stream bed of Negro Creek |
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| Horrible Hurricane Irene damage in Prattsville, NY |
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| Yay! FEMA to the rescue in Prattsville, NY |
Monday, October 3, 2011
Injured field work sucks ass
Postings are going to be even lighter this week than normal. I'm starting my October field sampling session. Sampling and processing take enough out of me as it is. On top of that, I've got a seminar to run, a race to run, and either the PhD Comics movie to go see or a UC Alumni event to attend.
To complicate matters further...I injured myself. Yesterday, the Hubster, his BFF, and I hiked the Breakneck Ridge trail. I didn't realize it was more rock climbing that hiking. And THEN it took us another 4 hours to hike up to and down South Beacon Mountain to end up in the town of Beacon. It was an 8hr hike all told, and needless to say, my injury is mostly due to stress and over use. But it's my knee...and it hurts...badly. And now tomorrow, I'm going out to walk in waders that are far too big for me up and down grassy rocky slopes and walk through streams that I have trouble with on the best of days.
Not looking forward to tomorrow....
To complicate matters further...I injured myself. Yesterday, the Hubster, his BFF, and I hiked the Breakneck Ridge trail. I didn't realize it was more rock climbing that hiking. And THEN it took us another 4 hours to hike up to and down South Beacon Mountain to end up in the town of Beacon. It was an 8hr hike all told, and needless to say, my injury is mostly due to stress and over use. But it's my knee...and it hurts...badly. And now tomorrow, I'm going out to walk in waders that are far too big for me up and down grassy rocky slopes and walk through streams that I have trouble with on the best of days.
Not looking forward to tomorrow....
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