So! A lot has been happening here over the past week or two! I'll make a list of some of the highlights because I love lists.
- I have successfully cloned 10 different proteins! How did I do that? Well, I followed some instructions, mixed some chemicals in very tiny tubes, put it in a machine and voila it looks the same but now it's been cloned (a LOT of times)!
- I started training for a 5K because I've always wanted to but I'm too lazy and noncommittal to actually do it. Now I have all kinds of time on my hands so there are no excuses.
- In addition to working out my legs and stamina and all that by running and biking, I am getting an arm workout too! Today, I had my arms above my head basically all day because I had to measure things with a serological pipette instead of a Pasteur pipette. Woe is me.
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| A nice, normal-sized Pasteur pipette |
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| Stupid, elongated serological pipettes |
- My new roommate moved in while I was home for the weekend. So that's new. Also, the KFC around the corner disappeared while I gone.
- Dinner tonight was my own original creation – no recipes or anything – and it was not that bad!
- Ice cream from Quality Dairy is fantastic and sooo cheap. Yay.
- Today, I also got to work with some of the most dangerous chemicals we use in the lab: phenol and chloroform. To obtain such things, all we had to do was make a trip to the chemical grocery store across the street, sign some things, and away we go with our toxic goods.
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| Just hanging out with my bottle of chloroform. NBD. |
- On my run today, I happened upon a fantastic Lansing destination: the Planet Walk. I was running on the Lansing River Trail and all of sudden I'm running past this sign that says "Venus". Later there's another one and another until finally, I stop and check it out.
Turns out, they have these signs posted along the trail in exact proportions to their locations in space! For those of you who don't know, I have a small obsession with space and stars. I'll be coming back here again to travel through our solar system for sure.
Rach, you're funny! So, what does one do with chloroform in the lab?
ReplyDeleteThanks, Mom! I used the chloroform mixed with the phenol as part of my (very long) purification process. I'm cleaning up my DNA so when I inject it into plant cells, I know that's all I'm injecting and nothing else!
DeleteKFC is OR. Last time mom and I went there we were very disappointed in the side dishes. The potatoes now come heaping in a thimble and the green beans tasted like they came off the banks of the Dead Sea. I'm done with the colonel and his winged minions!
ReplyDeleteNice. Yeah, I'm not upset. It's just that one day I'm dodging cars coming out of the drive through and then all of a sudden it looks like the place has been abandoned for years.
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