calmer now

The last two weeks were a complete and total cluster fuck.

Once I hit the lab, I usually work at a pretty good pace until I leave at the end of the day and through it all I multi-task. So, in a given day, I get quite a bit accomplished and when I can’t do bench work for a couple of days, I get behind, really far behind. There were a total of four days over the last two week where I was not at the bench. This did not please me.

Two of those days were lost to FPLC training, which might not have been such a big deal if the trainer didn’t waste the majority of the time with his stupid personal anecdotes, sexist stories and lame-ass comedy routines. But, what irritated me the most was the fact that this guy did not bother to understand his audience. What I mean is, he spent a shit-ton of time explaining the principles of FPLC to a lab full of people who use the FPLC on a least a weekly basis. Not to mention, we own three already, so we know how this shit works. What my lab does not know is how to use the software to run this new, almost completely automated FPLC. So now, we have a new FPLC, but everyone is a little apprehensive about using it because we aren’t very comfortable with the software.

I also lost quite a bit of time preparing for presentations. With all the writing, training and trying to make up for lost time at the bench, I found myself the day before my presentation without a single slide prepared. I decided to work from home for the day and get the slides for the presentation ready. At this point, I was exhausted and the insomnia was in full force. I sit down on the couch, coffee within arms reach and start to make my presentation when what do I hear, but banging, sawing and tejano music coming from my roof. I suppose this was the only day since hurricane Ike (last year) that repairs could be made to the segment of roof over my condominium. At that moment in time, I felt pretty close to homicidal.

This week, things are much better. No stupid training, no presentations.