Grumble, grumble.
Stupid minor things annoying me today, just because I'm grouchy:
-labs full of iPod zombies
-iPod zombies who take things I made and don't replace them, but I can't yell at them because they have their iPod on or left for the day by the time I realized I had to make more to finish my experiment
-my own klutziness
-minor injuries due to my own klutziness
-the weather
-people who talk loudly in shared work spaces when they should be meeting in their offices with the door closed
-biological samples that won't behave, no one knows why
-people who brag about getting papers published and grants funded
-myself for congratulating these people because I know it's the "polite thing to do" even though I genuinely don't care
-people who call me on my cell phone to ask for my campus phone number and email address, when they shouldn't have my cell phone number in the first place and clearly have my full name and access to a computer
-people who write me asking for data, but when I send it don't write me back to acknowledge whether they got it or to say thank you
-people who said they'd read and comment on manuscripts months ago, but never did
posted by Ms.PhD @ 5:23 PM
9 comments
9 Comments:
Amen on the things that wont' behave and no one knows why. I had 12 96-well plates I had been treating daily with drugs (a painstakingly long process involving multiple consecutive 14+ hour days in the hood) just up and die. All the cells. Treated with drugs, not treated with drugs, all dead. Split with the same media as my stock flasks, which contain perfectly happy and healthy little cells. Same incubator as my stock flasks. No idea why. At least my PI, who was originally furious when I had to break the news (important experiment) switched to bewilderment when he too had no concept of why all the control cells would apoptose suddenly, with no sign of contamination whatsoever.
Have you taken this quiz? Described here: http://www.newsweek.com/id/110652?g=1
I have explicitly forbidden the use of iPods in my lab for exactly this reason. Speakers are fine, headphones/earplugs are verboten.
I'd brag about getting published and funded as well, or at least hoot and holler. And, yes, it would piss me off to hear others hoot and holler.
How did you injure yourself during your experiment?
Do you have an Ipod ;)
Toronto PDF
EtBr,
Problem with the incubator? That's my best guess.
2nd best guess- insidious bugger like mycoplasma? Have you tested your stocks?
Anon 10:27,
Yes, I've looked at the IATs and even took a couple of them.
Unfortunately they are not the cure-all I was hoping they would be for the folks I would have liked to recommend to take them.
Anon 3:08,
I think I would ban headphones too if it were up to me.
Jennie,
I always think I would brag, but whenever something actually good happens, it's totally anticlimactic. I'm usually too burned out at that point to enjoy it, much less brag about it. And it's not like I've EVER had a PI or coworker show up with a bottle of champagne to congratulate me, or anything remotely like that.
Toronto,
I managed both a freezer burn AND a regular burn on the SAME finger in the same week! Grumble, grumble.
Yes, I have an iPod. I mostly use it when I'm in a bad mood and can't have something with speakers, or in labs where no one can agree on allowing music or what kind of music.
One of my favorite lab fantasies is about how, if I were the PI of my own lab, I would get to dictate that there would be a random mix of music on at all hours of every day.
Thanks for the suggestions, YFS. I don't think the incubator is the culprit, because all my other cells not plated in the 96 well plates, plus all the cells of the post-doc I share the incubator with, were perfectly fine. And we test all our cells for mycoplasma twice a month, and the previous test and the one from yesterday were both negative, so that wasn't the problem either.
We're just chocking it up to another failed experiment with no idea why. Must have pissed off the cell culture gods, and my punishment is spending 14 hours in the hood on Sunday to repeat the experiment.
That's very funny, I also just blogged about iPod oblivion.....it's mega-annoying.
> labs full of iPod zombies
I prefer having iPod zombies walking around in the lab. It is much worse if there is some graduate student who thinks everyone in the lab likes his constant 'classic rock' music. I don't understand anyway why so many young Americans like 'classic rock', they weren't even born when this was in?
Post a Comment
<< Home