14 posts tagged “work”
Show us your favorite tool.
Submitted by Maraschino.
Useful for keeping you awake during the day and for scaring lab visitors by placing it too close to a hot vial of Techy.
P.S I would never do that, it's bad OH&S
P.P.S The whole lot is behind a lead shield anyway, so noone is getting irradiated. :)
Another farewell, another cake ..
This time it was my boss. We really don't want her to leave, but she is retiring, so we don't have a say in the matter.
If you could teleport to any place in the world right this second, where would you go?
Somewhere nice and quiet, where I could sit and read, or do nothing and not have to hear the words 'Stannous Chloride' ever again.
I had a visitor at work yesterday.
She was sitting right underneath my desk ready for when I sat down in the morning.
EEEK!
Show us your favorite gadget at work.
But there are so many!! Apart from all the high-tech gadgets (HPLC, AA etc), I think my favourites would have to be the stuff I use all the time.
- My gamma counter! It caused me no end of trouble, but now that it is fixed *touches wood* it's a pretty nifty type of toy
-
Decrimpers
- I think I could play with these all day. They take the seals of the vials when I have to test them.
- TSA plates - Ihave to create a positive control when I test for environmental microbiology. We have fun with pretty patterns!
More and more people are working remotely these days. Does your job allow you to do so? How much face-time do you usually put in at the office during any given week?
I'd love to see me trying to work from home! I'd have to invent teleport first.
I can just see it now ..
Me: Hi guys, can you just pass the butanone. Yeah, the small bottle. Just put it in the teleport
Them: OK. I don't think it will fit. How 'bout I just pour some into a beaker for you?
Me: Oh, alright. Just remember the lid this time. I don't want to have mutated flies again. Now I'm just sending the radioactive chromatography strips back. Can you just pop it into the gamma counter for me?
eerrr.. I think the answer to that is NO! I do have webmail, so I get to keep an eye on what's going on while I'm supposed to be on holidays.
Dropped the kid off at holiday care where another idiot parent decided to park my car while they dropped their own kid off.
*sigh*
Drove the 5 minutes to work.
One guy nearly ran up my bum when I tried to change lanes. Another stopped directly in front of me suddenly THEN put his blinker on. This one wouldn't have been so bad if he hadn't blocked my view of the idiot who was backing out of a parking space and not looking for traffic.
*sigh*
I then pull up at work and see a side door open. One that isn't used. EVER.
I go have a peek inside and the bastards have stolen the TV. Now we have to watch the cricket on the itty-bitty old TV
Do any of you remember a cake I made a few months back? Well I think it set a dangerous precedent.
We are having another lunch at work tomorrow in honour of the boss' 60th birthday. This again involves us bringing in a plate.
I pretty much got volunteered to do the cake.
So here is today's effort, with help from Janet_Mayfire and Taldals
THE FINISHED PRODUCT!
Today is a friday. At work this generally means catching up on paperwork I've ignored for the rest of the week. Today was fairly typical, except for the rep who came in and tried to sell us a $100K automatic microorganism ID machine.
Which, of course is cool, and I'll never get.
Tonight I'm stuck studying. Which is something I haven't done in a while. My brain is hurting :)
The course I am doing is Senior First Aid, so most of it is straight forward. It's the details of each specific type of wound/bite/sting/injury that I keep forgetting.
Wish me luck for my exam tomorrow!
I was in the lab all day today doing a test called radiochemical purity. It is a chromatographic separation of isotope complexes on a silica based paper. It also involves butanone, acetone and saline as solvents.
Working with radiation, we have a real thing about safety. The isotope in question is (only) Technetium 99m - a medical isotope.
Technetium is derived from Molybedium (element 42, yay!), emits gamma rays and has a half life of 6 hrs. The relatively short half-life is the reason it is used in nuclear medicine.
So how to we protect ourselves from those nasty gamma rays?
- Prevent unnecessary exposure.Don't wave hot items in other peoples faces.
- Stay as far away from unshielded items as practical. You don't need to lift an unexposed vial to eye level. Take the needle down to it.
- Lead shielding. Technetium is milked from a generator. The resulting hot vial needs to be kept in a lead container. Lead shields are also used on needles used to transfer sample to the chromatography paper and a large shield between the analyst and the work area.
- The usual lab safety stuff - coat, glasses and gloves.
Lots and lots of gloves. I'm glad I switched to the nitrile gloves. They are so much nicer than the latex :)
My Groups
-
The Thinking Woman Updated: 2 minutes ago
-
Amateur Photographers Updated: 2 minutes ago
-
Life and Photos Updated: 3 minutes ago
Neighborhood
Explore friends, family, friends & family, or entire neighborhood.
