I should stop publishing things before I've read them through! Or maybe I should stop talking to people while writing :) Had to run to the lab while writing this so I just posted it, now I'm adding random comments in italic and rewriting small parts. Guess noone out of my amazing seven followers has read it yet anyway ;)
It's really cold in the room where I'm sitting (and it's getting even colder! there's something utterly wrong with the air conditioning in this building at night) so I've placed a table heating fan next to me, and by now the skin on my arms is getting slightly pink but my feet are still cold. I've taken my shoes off from walking around the whole day - and I've really been walking around the lab the whole day! 15 hours so far and still another five hours in the lab (just three hours left now! yay!), this experiment is killing me. I'm glad there's night buses from uni. Anyway I would have been in earlier if I hadn't stayed home dying my hair this morning ;) Got a haircut done yesterday, no major changes, but that meant I had to dye it.
The hairdresser was surprisingly good! I chose the place because they're open late, until 9 on weekdays which is really good and until 6 on weekends which is just astonishing in Brighton. But I got my hair washed, some head massage (almost fell asleep) and the guy even spent one hour cutting my hair, for just £18! Half price for the first visit. I got exactly the haircut I wanted, and when the guy was finished he suggested a different cut for the fringe and said I could drop by any time next week and he'd do it for free. I don't particularly like the idea of advertise things on my blog so I won't write their name, but I just have to mention them. It was really good PLUS they're open late, which people with odd working hours like me, need.
I just have two more days in the lab now, and I'm quite pleased with some things I've done, and a little frustrated about other things. I've struggled since December with one theoretically very easy thing, and it just doesn't work. I need to do a three-way ligation, cutting some DNA vectors with three different enzymes and ligating the correct part from each of them - not very complicated. But these restriction enzymes just doesn't cut! They all cut in some vectors, so I've finished some of the constructs, but they don't cut in all. We've double-checked the sequencing and the sites are there. Making new preps of the vectors didn't help. One enzyme worked fine for the first month and then stopped working without any obvious explanation, at about the same time as another enzyme started working after E jokingly summoned his ancestors over the tube (he looked a little surprised when it turned out that specific cutting actually worked, but I wish I had such ancestors, seems useful). And one enzyme sometimes cuts twice, although it only has one site in the vector. I've felt like I'm back to primary school, showing gel after gel without cuts for my supervisor here, so frustrating! So this week he did it for me, and it didn't work either. I'm somewhat unhappy that it still doesn't work for no reason, I mean we do need the new vectors, but somehow I'm a little pleased that it's not too simple. I've felt very stupid the past two months.
Had another phone call from Sweden this morning, and what can I say? I really don't feel like going back there. One part of my social life seems to be a complete mess. Someone, I believe it was M, gave me a good quote the other day; be careful what you wish for, you might get it. That applies quite well here, in part to me, but also to certain other people. I just wish I'll be able to keep some friendships that I value.
Time to go back to the lab. Tomorrow I'll sleep in a bit, then I'll have to go and find a gift for my professor here. I ordered a book on a theme that M nicely suggested (seems like I'm not talking to anyone else?), and it was dispatched, then cancelled, and I got an email saying they've sent the wrong book and stopped the whole process, asking if I wanted my money back. So I kindly asked them to send the correct book asap, it seemed better that he gets the book too late, after all the point is that he gets it, not that I personally hand it over to him. But later today I got another email saying they don't even have the book. So why can I order it from their homepage then? And why did it take them two days to tell me this? I'll see what I find tomorrow or if I'll order something online for next week, anyway Y told me where the largest bookstore in Brighton is (I had a very short but nice chat with Y, I was pleased with that), but I can't be in too late tomorrow - my supervisor has promised to show me FRAP and I don't want to keep him waiting. He's increadibly patient and nice, I wonder how much time he's spent on my by now. A lot.
Anyways time to go to the lab. And it seems to be about time to go there again. I've had one single break today that was more than 20 min. This experiment IS indeed taking over my life. But next week I'll be off work! Yay! I have so much to look forward to, disguising the fact that I'm leaving. Another walk in the forest on Saturday, then going to Isle of Wight with D on Sunday, Monday probably to London, then on Tuesday my favourite and only sister comes over, so Wednesday we'll walk all the streets I won't see again for a while, and then I'll say goodbye to the wonderful people here. And then on Thursday I should have plenty of time to get the Brighton reminder that I've been thinking about. I'm obviously trying very hard not to think about how much I'll miss certain people here, and how few days I have left.
It's really cold in the room where I'm sitting (and it's getting even colder! there's something utterly wrong with the air conditioning in this building at night) so I've placed a table heating fan next to me, and by now the skin on my arms is getting slightly pink but my feet are still cold. I've taken my shoes off from walking around the whole day - and I've really been walking around the lab the whole day! 15 hours so far and still another five hours in the lab (just three hours left now! yay!), this experiment is killing me. I'm glad there's night buses from uni. Anyway I would have been in earlier if I hadn't stayed home dying my hair this morning ;) Got a haircut done yesterday, no major changes, but that meant I had to dye it.
The hairdresser was surprisingly good! I chose the place because they're open late, until 9 on weekdays which is really good and until 6 on weekends which is just astonishing in Brighton. But I got my hair washed, some head massage (almost fell asleep) and the guy even spent one hour cutting my hair, for just £18! Half price for the first visit. I got exactly the haircut I wanted, and when the guy was finished he suggested a different cut for the fringe and said I could drop by any time next week and he'd do it for free. I don't particularly like the idea of advertise things on my blog so I won't write their name, but I just have to mention them. It was really good PLUS they're open late, which people with odd working hours like me, need.
I just have two more days in the lab now, and I'm quite pleased with some things I've done, and a little frustrated about other things. I've struggled since December with one theoretically very easy thing, and it just doesn't work. I need to do a three-way ligation, cutting some DNA vectors with three different enzymes and ligating the correct part from each of them - not very complicated. But these restriction enzymes just doesn't cut! They all cut in some vectors, so I've finished some of the constructs, but they don't cut in all. We've double-checked the sequencing and the sites are there. Making new preps of the vectors didn't help. One enzyme worked fine for the first month and then stopped working without any obvious explanation, at about the same time as another enzyme started working after E jokingly summoned his ancestors over the tube (he looked a little surprised when it turned out that specific cutting actually worked, but I wish I had such ancestors, seems useful). And one enzyme sometimes cuts twice, although it only has one site in the vector. I've felt like I'm back to primary school, showing gel after gel without cuts for my supervisor here, so frustrating! So this week he did it for me, and it didn't work either. I'm somewhat unhappy that it still doesn't work for no reason, I mean we do need the new vectors, but somehow I'm a little pleased that it's not too simple. I've felt very stupid the past two months.
Had another phone call from Sweden this morning, and what can I say? I really don't feel like going back there. One part of my social life seems to be a complete mess. Someone, I believe it was M, gave me a good quote the other day; be careful what you wish for, you might get it. That applies quite well here, in part to me, but also to certain other people. I just wish I'll be able to keep some friendships that I value.
Time to go back to the lab. Tomorrow I'll sleep in a bit, then I'll have to go and find a gift for my professor here. I ordered a book on a theme that M nicely suggested (seems like I'm not talking to anyone else?), and it was dispatched, then cancelled, and I got an email saying they've sent the wrong book and stopped the whole process, asking if I wanted my money back. So I kindly asked them to send the correct book asap, it seemed better that he gets the book too late, after all the point is that he gets it, not that I personally hand it over to him. But later today I got another email saying they don't even have the book. So why can I order it from their homepage then? And why did it take them two days to tell me this? I'll see what I find tomorrow or if I'll order something online for next week, anyway Y told me where the largest bookstore in Brighton is (I had a very short but nice chat with Y, I was pleased with that), but I can't be in too late tomorrow - my supervisor has promised to show me FRAP and I don't want to keep him waiting. He's increadibly patient and nice, I wonder how much time he's spent on my by now. A lot.
Anyways time to go to the lab. And it seems to be about time to go there again. I've had one single break today that was more than 20 min. This experiment IS indeed taking over my life. But next week I'll be off work! Yay! I have so much to look forward to, disguising the fact that I'm leaving. Another walk in the forest on Saturday, then going to Isle of Wight with D on Sunday, Monday probably to London, then on Tuesday my favourite and only sister comes over, so Wednesday we'll walk all the streets I won't see again for a while, and then I'll say goodbye to the wonderful people here. And then on Thursday I should have plenty of time to get the Brighton reminder that I've been thinking about. I'm obviously trying very hard not to think about how much I'll miss certain people here, and how few days I have left.
11 februari 2010 kl. 01:50
jag läser fast jag inte är en följare! och amanda har också suttit och läst nu, tuggandes på en plastpåse tills jag upptäckte vad hon gjorde (av någon anledning gillar hon att äta plast) och tog den ifrån henne, då blev hon sur och gick och satte sig i fönstret och blängde på mig. så det är två följare till, vi är bara lite anonyma :)
ses snart! säg till om det är något jag ska ta med mig härifrån.
11 februari 2010 kl. 10:55
Trist att måste åka hem när du inte vill, men du ska veta att du är saknad här! Själv kan jag knappt vämta tills du trillar in på jobbet igen... :) Jag kräver en date med öl, gott käk och kanske en lakritsshot närhelst du har tid. Kram på dig gumman!
/C
11 februari 2010 kl. 20:52
Just catching up on the blogs I follow. Too many computer projects and social networking on facebook. But i like this post especially since I refered to a former manager as M in my blog. I had to resign from my computer job at the library to take care of family, but the day after I turned in my resignation they discovered my blog, and said I had bad mouthed a vendor. M wasn't pleased. So now I've had time to start my new blog Moriarty's Paradise
Great! I left something on the stove while reading your post, and the smoke alarm is going off. Beeswax for candle making and fumes everywhere.