Goodbye, Dear Samples.

When in the Course of sample shelf life stability, it becomes necessary for one person to dissolve the emotional bands which have connected her with these samples, and to assume among the powers of industry science, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Finance and of Peer-Reviewed Literature entitle her, a decent respect to the opinions of Her Project Manager requires that she should declare the causes which impel her to the separation.

They were old and the integrity of the proteins could no longer be trusted. That’s pretty much it.

*sniff*

I was hired in 2006 to conduct a month-long blood draw that produced thousands of aliquots. I participated as a phlebotomist, a sample processor, and I helped test them and analyze the data that they provided. My successful participation in this project has developed into a happy and fruitful career. Across eight years, numerous projects and the periodic mandated freezer cleanup (the bane of many a laboratory scientist) I have managed to save these characterized samples in the hope that someone, someday would be able to use them. But the end has come: All of the analytes within the serum that might be of use to us have likely degraded. So it was with a heavy heart that this afternoon – on the 26th day of March in the 2014th year of our calendar – I discarded them all.

Goodbye, dear samples. I will remember you fondly.

Eleven freezer canes, filled with sample freezer boxes

Most of these eleven freezer canes contain twelve freezer boxes, each of which contain somewhere between 40 and 80 1mL sample aliquots. That’s about 8,000 vials that were discarded.

Goodbye, Dear Samples.
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6 O’Clock BS – Work Silliness

Today’s 6 O’Clock BS centers around silly work stuff:

Another edition of “Scientists Know How To Have A Good Time”

I was reading an article from Clinical Chemistry (45: 616-618, 1999) and thought this was a funny sentence:

“We enjoyed reading the interesting article entitled, “False increase in C-reactive protein attributable to heterophilic antibodies in two renal transplant patients treated with rabbit antilymphocyte globulin”, by Benoist et al. (1) in this Journal.”

Because who wouldn’t enjoy reading that? Enjoyable and interesting. I looked it up; you guys don’t know what you’re missing. Boogie down y’all.

Another edition of “Things That Don’t Go Over Too Well” 

“There’s a little bit more of art than science to these things.” – HR guy trying to roll out a new performance review program to a room full of scientists.

Another edition of “I <3 Gary Trudeau So Freaking Much”

Okay, I couldn’t find a way to tie this one into the work theme…Oh wait – I read the comic during work and comics are silly = work silliness! We’re good to go. Except, this one isn’t funny or silly. This week Trudeau is running a series that points out how not-silly the beating up of a gay kid by a presidential candidate is, and how pathetic said candidate’s runaround with the press has been:

Visit the Doonesbury website for the rest of this week’s strips.

6 O’Clock BS – Work Silliness

6 O'Clock BS – Work Silliness

Today’s 6 O’Clock BS centers around silly work stuff:

Another edition of “Scientists Know How To Have A Good Time”

I was reading an article from Clinical Chemistry (45: 616-618, 1999) and thought this was a funny sentence:

“We enjoyed reading the interesting article entitled, “False increase in C-reactive protein attributable to heterophilic antibodies in two renal transplant patients treated with rabbit antilymphocyte globulin”, by Benoist et al. (1) in this Journal.”

Because who wouldn’t enjoy reading that? Enjoyable and interesting. I looked it up; you guys don’t know what you’re missing. Boogie down y’all.

Another edition of “Things That Don’t Go Over Too Well” 

“There’s a little bit more of art than science to these things.” – HR guy trying to roll out a new performance review program to a room full of scientists.

Another edition of “I <3 Gary Trudeau So Freaking Much”

Okay, I couldn’t find a way to tie this one into the work theme…Oh wait – I read the comic during work and comics are silly = work silliness! We’re good to go. Except, this one isn’t funny or silly. This week Trudeau is running a series that points out how not-silly the beating up of a gay kid by a presidential candidate is, and how pathetic said candidate’s runaround with the press has been:

Visit the Doonesbury website for the rest of this week’s strips.

6 O'Clock BS – Work Silliness

Cross-Country Connections: Silly

Cross-Country Connections is a Biodork weekly blog entry dedicated to telling stories in pictures of three family members – me, my sister and Mom – living in very different locations across the country. Every week we choose a different theme and then take or contribute a personal photo that fits the theme. This week’s theme is Silly.

From me in Minneapolis, Minnesota:

This is a very silly comic that I picked up at Source Comics in Roseville, Minnesota this weekend.

From Erin in Bellingham, Washington: 

From our wedding at Tumacacori National Historical Park, Ralph and I attempted to be hip by taking silly wedding photos. One of the funnest weekends ever! This picture was taken by my lovely seestor!

From Mom in Carbondale, Illinois:

The battle of the mini-Titans.

Cross-Country Connections: Silly

Married People Conversations

Me: Oh my god, look at the moon!

Hubby: Yeah, it’s really pretty, especially through the the trees like that.

Hubby: Except…

Me: Yeah?

Hubby [dropping into a Peter Lorre voice]: I feel myself…changing!

Me: I will slap you right in the face if you turn into a werewolf.

Hubby [looking at his hands in horror, whispers]: Oh god no, not here…

Me: You are such a dork.

Hubby: I need blood! [leers at me] Female blood!

Me: You get no blood. We’re, like, two blocks from the restaurant. You get lo mein.

Hubby [dropping the creepy voice]: Yeah, okay. I guess that’ll work.

Married People Conversations

Odd Signs and Adverts

I find that I’ve been collecting interesting signs and advertisements on my phone camera. I thought I’d share them.

We’re Not Racist.

Taken 4/8/11 – Uptown Movie Theater in Minneapolis, MN

If you buy her expensive stuff, she won’t sleep around.

Magazine advertisement seen in a resort in Cozumel,Mexico

Add 1c of sugar and 3 tsps of calories.

Other sodas had ingredients like carbonated water, phosphoric acid, potassium benzoate, citric acid. This one seemed a little…vague. Seen in the Roseville, MN Noodles & Co.

Odd Signs and Adverts

The Emperor’s New Dinner

Soooo…here I am making dinner*. I’ve got some tilapia, I’m not really sure what I want to do with it** and so I’m looking for a jazzy new recipe online. I’m a very visual person when it comes to recipes – I want to see the finished product before I decide if I’m going to invest time and ingredients, hopes and dreams and all that. I’m thinking some wine, some capers and I come across this:

What the… Food photo cheat! And then I realized that it’s a Weight Watcher’s recipe, so maybe it’s some sort of new-fangled diet tilapia meal in which the portions are really, really, really small.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Here’s how the real dinner turned out. I ended up throwing some garlic, salt, pepper, dried chives, “italian herbs”, red wine, olive oil, lemon juice, capers, green olives and  white onion in a bag, tossing it around a bit, then throwing the whole mess into the oven at 350F for 20 minutes. Nom nom nom. I made broccoli and cheater-rific Trader Joe’s pre-made risotto as sides. Nom nom nom.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

* Cuz if there’s one thing we young things know how to do, it’s make some dinner.

**I mean, I know what I want to do with it; I want to eat it. I’m just not sure how I want to prepare it.

The Emperor’s New Dinner

The Emperor's New Dinner

Soooo…here I am making dinner*. I’ve got some tilapia, I’m not really sure what I want to do with it** and so I’m looking for a jazzy new recipe online. I’m a very visual person when it comes to recipes – I want to see the finished product before I decide if I’m going to invest time and ingredients, hopes and dreams and all that. I’m thinking some wine, some capers and I come across this:

What the… Food photo cheat! And then I realized that it’s a Weight Watcher’s recipe, so maybe it’s some sort of new-fangled diet tilapia meal in which the portions are really, really, really small.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Here’s how the real dinner turned out. I ended up throwing some garlic, salt, pepper, dried chives, “italian herbs”, red wine, olive oil, lemon juice, capers, green olives and  white onion in a bag, tossing it around a bit, then throwing the whole mess into the oven at 350F for 20 minutes. Nom nom nom. I made broccoli and cheater-rific Trader Joe’s pre-made risotto as sides. Nom nom nom.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

* Cuz if there’s one thing we young things know how to do, it’s make some dinner.

**I mean, I know what I want to do with it; I want to eat it. I’m just not sure how I want to prepare it.

The Emperor's New Dinner