nwhiker: (Default)
Perry totaled the Prius, sigh. He's fine, so is the other driver. Same way as the other Prius, when the person in front of the person in front of him slammed on their brakes and as #3 he wasn't able to stop in time. The driver who caused this by braking had their car tapped by driver #2, but drove off without stopping or checking on their car, WTF is with that? The thing is... everyone who drives with him is impressed at how good a driver he actually is, he just seems to get caught in those wrong place wrong time situations (the third time he was rear-ended, he got stopped in time, so did the two cars behind him, but a 4th car -with no insurance, of course- came up and slammed into everyone, though Perry did not hit the person in front of him). Anyhow. Sigh. So yeah. He has to buy a new car, and hopefully his insurance won't drop him, though he's never had a claim with them. And we have to buy a car too. This just sucks. Dh keeps on insisting it's not worth it to repair the Pilot, and he might be correct, but he's doing zip to get anything in its place. This time of year, it's all work, trains, and the occasional surfacing for a rowing event. But ugh.

I'm off today, starting my new schedule. Boss wants me working M-T-W, which yeah, gives me 4 day weekends every weekend, but damn, Mondays are going to be difficult, getting back into the swing of things after that long of a break.

I had an interview this morning. Eh? Dunno.

Our pregnant mama rat had her pups, Elena sacrificed all but one but did the part I refuse to which is taking them away from her. Despite our desires, the three of us (E, the postdoc, and I) did not take mama out to cuddle her. I did, however, do the PI-to-PI transfer that means E or I did not have to euthanize her. I don't know what happens to her next, I hope for a better outcome. I was kinda horrified that they let me transfer her, without an official ok from the PI, though of course I had his verbal agreement. I suspect that in an effort to get the animal management off his plate, he gave me the keys to the (rodent) kingdom.

I had a weight check with my NP yesterday. BMI officially under 25, even accounting for the fact that I'm shorter than I used to be. 🤬 My 1.60 m is now just only 1.58 m, so no longer a short 5ft3 but an even shorter 5ft2 and a tiny bit of change. I remember measuring in at 1m60, because it was the height a few doctors used to bully me, since my 60 kg at the time -132 lbs- was OMG, disgusting and gross, I should not weight more than 50 kg (110 lbs), ie the number of cm after the 1 meter minus 10 that they used. I bulemia'ed my way to 55 kg (hey, it was the 80s, I was in good company) but could not get any lower. Ah well.

Other outcome of the visit: got persuaded to get two vaccines: pneumonia, since I guess at some point the rec went from age 65 to age 50, and shingles. They warned me the shingles vaccine was a bit rough. Yeah. It is. I got one in each arm -that was stupid, what was I thinking?- and now my arms are hella sore, I have chills and nausea. My body has not been doing well with vaccines these past few years, since the second mRNA shot. Ah well, done. And I must remind dh to get his, as well as an MMR booster.

Tomorrow is Opening Day for the boating season! Linnea will be racing in the 2V8, since there is no category for her V4 boat. Perry will be in an 8 with a bunch of WWU and Seattle U alumni, should be fun. I think they need to rename their team to the Flying Fossils and apply decals of a skeletal T Rex rampant. I'm thinking that dh and I should drop Perry off at the boathouse, leave our car there, then bike to the course. Once we decide we're committed to one side of the Montlake Cut or the other. I might leave our bikes in the lab. Yeah, it's frowned upon, but maybe nobody would notice on a Saturday?
nwhiker: (Default)
Warning: animal research discussed.

1. So. I found out on Thursday that despite her and the boss telling me that E had access to the animal wing, she does, in fact, not.

My issue isn't killing the rat pups, I figure I can do that. It's taking them away from their mother. I hated doing it for the mice and refuse to do it in rats.

Guess who the only one in the lab with animal wing access is? Yeah, that would be me.

We have a rat due to give birth on Tuesday or Wednesday and I'm the only one who is allowed down there. If I'm caught letting someone else in, I could get in the proverbial a lot of trouble.

Don't know what to do. I guess I'll have to bring the whole cage up and then bring the mama rat back down?

2. We ordered what is called a timed pregnant rat. She shows up knocked up and we should have pups. After that? PI says euthanize her. There are other options that have either a better outcome or at least a non-wasted life one, but PI wants her off our room and board bill the second she's given birth. And I'm having a hard time getting answers from the adoption people and the training people about how long it would take them to take her off of our hands. This is really upsetting to me, especially since, see above, I'm the only one who can go down there to do the actual euthanasia. I'm pretty upset at this situation, tbh.

3. I'm also more and more upset that, less than a week from my new schedule, he's still refusing to talk about when I'll be working. E mostly comes up in the afternoons, so I'm terrified he's going to want me to work half days, or something weird like that and just doesn't want to tell me yet. UGH. I hate not knowing!

This was this morning's stress. Next post is this morning's good news.
nwhiker: (Default)
My new schedule starts next week. I have tried three times now to get my boss to discuss what days he wants me in. Each time he asks me which days I prefer, I tell him, and he says he'll think about it. And it's next freaking week. I'm stressed by the uncertainty.

I suspect that he wants Golden Girl Elena (whom I really like, actually) to get to pick which days she wants to work, and I'll get what's left. And while I like her a lot, she's a bit of a flake. We're trying to do a project in parallel (so she can "train" me on something I've been doing for a while) and she is invariably late, getting in at 11 or noon, rather than the 9:30 she promised. So a three-day project has taken three days already and we have two more to go, both are overnights so at best we'll be done Wednesday with verification Thursday night. I'm sure the boss will blame me since my work hours mean I'm often on my way out of the lab when he comes to do his afternoon review of the fiefdom past 5pm, but I've gotten there before 9am.

And we now have a rat that is supposed to give birth Tuesday or Wednesday that Elena is supposed to 100% deal with. I know how long these preps take and how physically demanding they are. She has health issues that have me concerned about her ability to take on a prep that typically takes at least 4 hours, even for someone experienced. And despite boss's claim, she hasn't done the time-consuming part of these preps before. Frighting that I might have more experience than she does. Nutshell: the prep involves removing the hippocampi from the brain. These are tiny in mice, apparently bigger in rats. She hasn't done that at all; I haven't done it in rats. The other part of the prep, which is tbh the easy part, is transforming the hippocampi into a neuronal culture. The dissection part involves being hunched over a microscope that is in a biosafety cabinet. I don't have back or neck problems and I'd finish those days in serious pain.

I'm stressed out and very unhappy at work right now. I'm desperately applying for other jobs, but there aren't many out there, and plenty of people more qualified than me so I don't have much hope of finding anything.

ETA this evening. Elena stayed home today, she was too tired to come in. Boss showed up asking me if we had colonies, and sounding dismayed at how long this joint project was taking. UGH. But in good news, I got an email to set up an interview for one of the jobs I applied to last night, so fingers crossed.
nwhiker: (Default)
1. We were a bit late because of a major accident on I5 that delayed us by about 45 minutes, but we did get to the Hands Off event in Bellingham. Lots of cool signs, lots of people... mainly very young and very old, with older millenials and younger GenX very much absent. The sign that made me cry: one with the iconic red-white-and-blue drawing of Kamala Harris and the caption "It didn't have to be this way."

2. Apparently Trump has said that we're on track to eliminate the capital gains tax in 2025. LOLSOB, that's because there aren't going to be any gains. And let's not even talk about the stock markets. Holy hell. It was nice thinking we might be able to retire someday.

3. So many things to do this week. I'm flying down to Bend next weekend and seem to have accumulated quite a few Things That Must Be Done before then. Ugh. And on top of that, I'm trying to plan summer stuff (hikes and the like) and I need to talk to my boss about my schedule starting in May. I'm very concerned, from what he's said last week, that he going to want me to "be flexible" but that's not going to fly for me. It seems, however, that all the power is his, that this is not something I really have any negotiating power on. So anyhow, I need to talk to him and I'm dreading it.
nwhiker: (Default)
So. This week, twice, I told my boss that I would not work with rats. I'll get trained to work with rats and I'll help out in case of emergency, but I do not want to be the person who takes the rat pups away from their mothers. That was bad enough with mice, I won't do it with rats. When I first mentioned it, he talked about hiring a former grad student of his who was in need of part time job, to do all the rat work. I heartily agreed with that decision.

I've been low key expecting to get fired. Not for cause, my performance is fine, but because he can hire Elena to do the rats, and she's probably better than me at everything. But no. I'm bumped down to 60% time. I don't know, but I expect, that Elena will pick up the other two days.

The reality is that he doesn't know if his grant is going to be renewed. I get it.

I'll get my pots of tea in the morning back, my rambles though my beloved wildland park. Hikes in the middle of the week. Long weekends.

The biggest issue, however, is that it means I'm going to end up doing more lab manager work. 🤮
nwhiker: (Default)
That would be "Wednesday" in Icelandic and I love how it's literally mid-week day, LOL.

1. Perry did what dh calls a speed run of a viral illness this week. He was a bit tired on Monday night, Tuesday he was awful: highish fever (104F, which isn't the highest his has ever been, gulp), body aches, sore throat, the whole nine yards. Note that he's had both flu and Covid vaccines. Anyhow, by the evening, he felt even worse, and his neck was stiff, and his lips numb. I heard that and sent him to the MS clinic. Negative for Covid, negative for flu, and the NP was shocked, she'd expected the flu to be positive considering his symptoms. Today? He's fine. It was a nasty intense 24 hours, but it's apparently over. He stayed home from rowing at least but expects to be back tomorrow. It's not the first time he's done this, gets very sick very fast, but it only lasts a little bit. Ugh.

2. This happened today, as recounted in a text to my spouse:
PI to me: add Nahuel to the animal protocol.
Me: adds Nahuel.
Our animal protocol coordinator: no can do, he hasn't had the proper training.
PI in email to coordinator: please remove Nahuel, he was added in error.
Me, privately: 🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬
I submitted the amendment to the protocol so I'm the one who looks like the idiot.

Also. Last Friday PI tells me we're getting a cell line (that we don't have authorization for) from another researcher on Monday. I scramble to make sure we have the needed supplies on hand (we do, or close enough). I write up a quick change request to our biological use authorization, which won't be reviewed from another month, ugh.

Monday, I went to get the cells, thawed and plated them. By Tuesday they looked good, so I divided them, which eh, needs to happen so we can freeze stock to have as backups. I checked them this afternoon, they should be ready to freeze tomorrow at the earliest, Friday at the latest. Note that freezing these down and keeping one plate to passage for experiments next week is my priority. Note as well that I don't know how these things grow. If they were my usual HEK-293, I could predict doubling time with much more accuracy. These cells are smaller and I have no idea of their growth patterns.

Today PI asks me how the cells are doing because Nahuel needs them by tomorrow. I'm like... Dude. No. I might have some ready by Friday at the earliest, but not tomorrow if I want to have backups. And really... We got them Monday; it's a new cell line etc. No doubt he'll mention to me again that I have almost no experience in cell culture... well, no, maybe not (I mean, beyond a year and a bit, ya know), but I do know one thing: I can't make the cells grow any faster than they are so bug off.

Linnea has a regatta on Saturday and needs to be in Seattle Sunday (more on that in the 3rd thing) so I'll probably stop by the lab and check on the new little guys.

3. Remember last years when Linnea's team were Div II NCAA champions? Well, it's March madness and there are games in Seattle. And the team is going to be honored at the start of one of the games, at the big arena in DT Seattle. Can't be there, so hopefully NCAA will have it online. How exciting for them! They're also, along with the 8 other women's champion rowing teams at WWU going to be inducted into the school's Hall of Fame in early April. Also pretty damn exciting!
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Well, I don't know when they started blooming, but dh and I got to our wildland park last night and saw some beautiful trilliums.



I don't know if I mentioned it... years ago, when I started taking classes at UW, I needed a user-id. I didn't want to use nwhiker or it was taken, but I landed on "trillium". When I started work, I expected to have to pick a new ID, but no, trillium came right up. I like it.
nwhiker: (Default)
Well.

Last week's surprise was mostly about the amount of animal work I was going to be expected to do.

This weeks's is about the work itself.

Namely.... after my first interview -I'm guessing from timing- but before the second, the lab manager gave notice. She left at about the time I was actually offered the job.

Guess what role I'm being pushed into?

Yeah, lab manager.

Do. Not. Want. Do. NOT. FUCKING. WANT.

At first it was presented as "part of" but this past week, I found out the scope of what is really expected. I also talked to the previous lab manager, who explained all the admin stuff I was going to be doing.

Do. Not. Want. Do. NOT. FUCKING. WANT.

Yesterday, I was supposed to be doing lab stuff. Instead I spent most of the day trying to figure out if we should repair the centrifuge or buy a new one, and if buying if the old rotor is compatible with the new centrifuge the rep suggested. The rotor, btw, has a Canadian part number so a lot of confusion and I cannot get a definite answer on that. I will NOT call the rep.

Do. Not. Want. Do. NOT. FUCKING. WANT.

I'm sad. Two interesting projects were presented to me and now I'm looking at killing mice, safety and animal compliance, and purchasing. 😥

Do. Not. Want. Do. NOT. FUCKING. WANT.

I'll give it 6 months, ie the end of my probationary period. I'm not being paid enough to do the shit job of lab manager. TBC. It's not the money, but if I'm doing that job, I want to be paid for that job. The job I signed up for was sitting at a lab bench and doing lab work not chasing down rotor part numbers.

OMG.

21 Feb 2024 15:56
nwhiker: (Default)
I got me a job offer.

OMG.

Research tech at UW.

OMG.
nwhiker: (Default)
Three quick things.

1. Yesterday, I cried. Today? I'm pissed. That dude have my fucking CV in hand. Why the fuck did he even call me if I didn't have the experience necessary. Feh.

2. Today thee are lots of little chickadees and nuthatches at my birb feeders. There are day like that. I love the little birdies.

3. When we were at my sister's we got to see the bits that have already been done for their addition, and I am stuck again how my taste in decor differs from my family. My sister's house? Brown, and taupe, and beige, and brown-greys. Her new couch is blue, but it's a muted muddy blue. My brother, like my parents, is more into the dark woods with dark fabric or leather. Me? I'm all about light woods, and whites and splashes of color. I see my kids' taste is different than mine, but I could live in Linnea's environment and we can agree on some things, like the shade we want to repaint the bathroom downstairs. My sister and I could never come to an agreement that made both of us happy, or that we could at least both tolerate, LOL. Anyhow.

4. Re: the downstairs bathroom, with its pumpkin orange paint. I still maintain it was the wrong paint. I despise orange, so when we decided on an orangey color, I was very careful with the orange we chose: it was closer to a deep peach than a pure orange, a pinky kind of orange. The image below kinda shows it: we chose something close to the color on the right, got something closer to the color second from the left.




ETA

5. Make that five things, LOL. Flour. I've been watching the Repubs totally fail at electing a speaker on various live youtube channels and here and there watching a cooking show or two. One of them this morning reminded me to 'weigh my flour because the difference could be as much as....'. OK. I'm more of a weigh person than a volume person anyhow, but come on. I can scoop out (not gently sprinkle) a cup of flour from my flour bin and be within 10-15 g of a cup's weight most of the time, and rarely more than 25g off. I can't think of a single recipe that needs flour to within those tolerances. FTR, a cup of flour is usually around 120-130 g (I use 125 if I'm converting a recipe, close enough.) So eh, get off your high horses people, and worry about others things that can go wrong in baking... like oven temps.
nwhiker: (Default)
I just did something I've been dreading for months. Sending a simple email. But fingers crossed, it'll let me move on to better things, LOL. Like, I mean, looking for a job.

Thanks, [personal profile] siamese1!

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