Back to the Bench!

Today I got back to my roots and ran a reaction at work. I really like doing bench work once in a while. There's something about chemistry that really appeals to my obssesive compulsive tendencies. Everything has to be weighed properly, and all of the glassware needs to be cleaned. Also there are a lot of repetitive tasks that you can get lost in if you are not careful, but I get through them with attention to detail. I am really bad about wanting everything to be neat and tidy at my bench space, so I usually end up cleaning up a new section of bench before I start. Things usually have a way of collecting in any empty space I clear off. Thankfully when we moved I found out where everything was, so now I do not need to dig around for things that I need. The reaction went well, and I'll finish the work up later this week.


There was a product expo today at work, which for a change actually had some interesting items. Because I work in a predominately health science related building, most of the items end up being for protein expression/purification etc. But today there were some great balances and pH meters. The technology has really come a long way since I was a wee undergrad. I had a nice chat with the sales people and enjoyed the free doughnuts. It really got me fired up for starting my own lab eventually. Ahhh, I can dream I guess.