It was a rather bleak day today in Dr. Camenisch's lab. Mark was in and out with as Mass-Spec and Laurel was out to Virginia, then possibly to Canada. Anyway, I'm getting my presentation ready for Journal Club Wednesday, and also presented my initial findings of the first test run today to Dr. Camenisch. He was impressed, and told me to continue. The slides definitely definitely did illuminate very well, but Mark and I concurred to the fact that we should definitely work on getting the fine details of the generated images, which may mean I may have to practice the procedure some more, which is not bad. Tomorrow, we're making plans to perform polymerase chain reaction, and then actually get a bunch of stuff done. Today, though, there's the Chemical Safety Training that the interns are going to be sent to. I heard from the graduate students in the Camenisch lab that it wasn't too bad, but they'll make you pay attention with a lot of handouts. I just hope I don't die of boredom and over-attentiveness.
Well, being a research intern requires a lot of patience and a lot of attention, especially in the monthly lectures. Currently, I am required to take a course that I have to take in order to continue my research and get my stipend at the University of Arizona. First, I dealt with listening for an hour-and-a-half to one instructor describing the various procedures for carcinogens, irritants, pyrophorics, and other chemicals, even the combustibles. There is so much trouble for pregnant women with teratogens, because these things can affect their unborn children. Poor kids...anyway....they also describe the effectiveness of "personal protective equipment." I guess it's very important. Lab coats and rubberized aprons are available, fortunately. Closed-toe shoes are definitely a requirement in the lab, which is supposed to be common sense. Boy, they even provide armored sleeves and eye protection. They even have safety glasses. That's kind of interesting. Then again, I'm supposed to know that.
Another thing I've learned is that Risk Management actually performs experiments. That's weird. They dealt with the effectiveness of safetyt glasses, splash goggles, and face shields. Face shields seem to provide the best protection for the laboratory, even though they are rather large and cumbersome. Boy, these lectures are so hard to pay attention to. At least the lectures came with a PowerPoint presentation for each one. They obviously have a lot to be desired. I guess it's popular because: one...it's a requirement...and two: the lecture only appears once a month.
They also show us pictures of a gas-filling facility that actually got trashed due to poor handling of such equipment. Hopefully, I'll know better. Handling the gas cylinders do require appropriate techniques and tools in order to handle them. Fume hoods also work. They use a vacuum to remove the harmful gases. That's good and reasonable, I guess. They're also tested every year to be effective. There's also eyewashes and showers. The water must be very dirty, sitting in those pipes for a while. I just think it's gross, that's all...but I do think it is better than the chemicals in the eyes. They're accessible, I hope. Researchers are putting three square feeet, at least, for easy access to the shower. Oh well...they're also describing compatibility. At least the other interns are with me, or I would be bored out of my skull. Bored, bored, bored!
Boy, I wish I got some coffee. I could have gone to the local Starbucks near the BIO5 Institute or to the coffee shop in the medical school. I love a caramel frappuccino right now. I really do need the caffeine. They're so tasty. Yummy! I'm getting so hyper just thinking about it! Tasty! XD Sadly, I can't really focus when I'm hyper. I'll be a kid with Attention Deficit Disorder. Really...no joke. That's too bad. I really need one right now. Aw...gee...I like caffeine....
Putting a can of ether in a Kenmore refrigerator is a really bad idea. Vapors from the can caused an explosion, which caused a fire. Fortunately, there were no secondary explosions, or casualties for that matter.
Okay....it's break time now. Logan and Daniel are working on their Rubik's cubes. They must be pretty busy with those puzzles. Oh well....ther'es another lecture coming up. He's currently describing procedures to dispose hazardous and biohazardous waste. They're giving us homework assignments! Oh....my....the lecturers seem to be down-to-earth. Well...at least we get handouts. I like handouts. They're so much fun. He seems to do a lot with the handling of chemicals. I am not into the disposal industry, but I guess it's all part of research. Boy, the disposing groups do have a lot of trouble with chemicals. Once again, he's very down-to-earth, which is good. When disposing stuff, just avoid glass. They said it, I didn't. I guess the Chemical Safety Training wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Some people just overreact nowadays. I don't know why...I really don't know why...anyway, that was my Monday.
Alex....
Alex..........
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