I'm so sorry.

When my grandmother died a few years ago I preferred to talk about her to people around me, even to laugh about funny things that happened. She had a great sense of humour so she would have preferred that.

Remember the sadness is really a reflection of how much he meant to you; don't fight it. Hope you are OK.

Yay, great news

Great! Can I place an advance order for 10 litres of your finest bio-acetonitrile?

Ugh, PCR: it took me months to get the hang of that. It's not essential at the stage you are at; if you were publishing it would be but surely 5 months in, you're still practising really.

Yep, we've been told we can only have 30% of our usual order. Tricky, that's a pretty good idea!

This is a most unexpected side-effect of the credit crunch: we can't get hold of acetonitrile anymore (which as dramas go is pretty dull, but to us is like WWII rationing).

According to Fisher, "The limited supply situation with respect to acetonitrile has become significantly worse..."

http://www.fisher.co.uk/

Need a black market supply soon or our work will grind to a halt


:p

It took me over a year to get my main experiment working: I tried and tried and eventually figured out that it was not going to happen using the method I'd been told to use (HPLC-UV). Switched to a new machine (a mass spec) and it was fine.

Were you specifically told to include a negative control? Not all experients need negative and positive. Either way, it's hardly earth-shattering and I've seen 40 year old postdocs make the same mistake.

Aye, I'm a scientist (or trying to be). You're right about this new jargon, it does make you cringe. They went through a phase of calling us all "learners" instead of "students", which was just as bad: after sufficient complaints they changed it back to student. Why mess with things?

Well, there are a few desks left on the top floor. But the whole of the ground floor is like an IKEA showroom. Supposedly, "the learning zone has been designed so students can learn in the way which makes them feel most comfortable". Reality: yackety yack yack, rustle giggle squeal yak yak RING RING doodly-do-doo rustle rustle snigger snort yak yak yak:-s

He...maybe I'm just an old grump but I quite like the dusty old academic libraries of yore. Either you are at the same uni as me, or this trendy library business is spreading throughout the academic world. Bog off with your lattes and "learning zones", and bring back my desks;-)

Pam, our library recently had a big makeover and began to allow food. They also replaced the reading cabinets/desks with bloody neon sofas and coffee tables. Apparantly the student of today needs to "sip lattes and snack while they study" sitting on "funky, comfortable furniture [which has] has replaced traditional library study desks". Shudder.

He...well, despite my previous whinge I am off to Cologne next week for the markets; my mother wanted me to go with her. Might be fun.

I am always looking for the big mistake that I must have made somewhere: the one that will render all my results meaningless ;-). In my mind I know I must have made one somewhere.

I can't stand it any year. Traipsing up and down the country on packed trains, having to have 2 or 3 "Christmases" so no relative gets their nose put out of joint, sleeping on floors, being separated from my other half:-s. Glad when its over.

Humbug.

Yup. The quickest way to do something is just to do it.