Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Emerging from somewhere

In my dreams lately, I live at work. With each dream that passes, more and more items from my home end up at my work place, mostly in my office. Last night, in addition to the majority of my bedroom furniture, I found one of my cats prowling the halls of the floor where my lab is located. I couldn't figure out how it got there. It's a very large cat and would not fit in any of my bags. When I woke up, it actually took me a second to figure out whether I was sleeping in my bed in my office or in my bed in my house.

It’s not that I am working insanely long hours, but I am so busy when I am at work that I can hardly find the time to eat. This level of busy typically translates into thinking about work when I am at home. Sure, the TV is on and I am looking in that general direction, but I am not really watching it. I am thinking about work. Constantly.

This week I am learning to use the Biacore system. I need to run about 16 proteins through that motherfucker and it already appears that much troubleshooting is on the horizon. Blah. Not surprising. At least I am not purifying proteins. I was just about ready to blow my head off as I purified the final 7 last week. Man did that suck.

Well, I am off to the trenches as my Biacore guru just made it in to work. I am hoping this entry marks the beginning of, at least, semi-regular blog posts. At a minimum, I want to get back to reading. It’s strange, but I feel like I am missing out on something.

5 comments:

chall said...

good luck with the Biocore. My experience says you don't ness. have to trouble shoot as much. some of the proteins might work well with you.

that said, do you have different plates or are you going to wash themand strip them for reapplying the new protein?!? (it really may be worth those extra dollars NOT to have to strip them... or the thing is easier nowadays than when I did it, some odd 7 years ago)

EcoGeoFemme said...

It seems like lots and lots of bloggers have needed breaks lately. I agree that it feels weird.

Good luck with the new biothingy!

PhizzleDizzle said...

we miss you!!

i was just talking to my dad on the phone today, and though i kept reassuring him that i am perfectly happy and well-adjusted and love him very much, he kept worrying that he worked too much and didn't enjoy life with us enough while we were kids. not that this totally applies to you for obvious reasons, but the lesson i took was not to work so hard that when you look back, you wonder, why the fuck did i do that?

good luck with the new system.

Anonymous said...

At some point, you have to learn the art of leaving the work at work. Otherwise - when things aren't working - you're gonna drive yourself insane...

Tom said...

Word of advice (speaking from experience) ... when you're working hard. Play hard. If you're spending 18 hours in the lab at a time, fuck watching tv when you get home. Go out with your husband, get roaringly shit-faced on sake, and eat lots of sushi.