Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Picture a Day-Day 7

Hurray! So far I've lasted one whole week and didn't forget or miss a picture (now to try for two weeks in a row).

After talking about my husbands love of food yesterday, I realized that I've never mentioned what I do for a living. I'm an animal scientist. Sounds kinda romantic eh? You picture me striding around in the Serengeti watching lions and rhinos narrating documentary style as they fight to the death.

In reality this is what I deal with:

Meet an electrophoresis gel box and some agarose. Currently absent from this dynamic duo is a very vital power source. A power source I am still waiting on before I can start doing super fancy science things like PCR or gel electrophoresis.

Science is about 35% waiting for Fisher or VWR to get your important and vital piece out of backorder so you can actually get something to do. The other 60% or so is just trying to get the damn thing you ordered to work.

Another horrifying fact, that little piece of plastic box that sort of resembles a complicated piece of Tupperware costs about $500. Yeah really. I've spent double what my wedding cost just buying things to set this lab up.

How about the rest of you? What evil things do you get up to to pay the bills? Anyone else a science nerd out there?

5 comments:

AmyJean {Relentless Bride®} said...

That is pretty cool! :)

Linda said...

I'd love to hear more about what you do. Sadly, I'm not a science geek. I'm a closet computer geek working in social services.

atout said...

sadly that gel box is an all to familiar sight. i'm a biotech masters student so i am also well tuned in the art of science geekery!

Anonymous said...

I'm somewhat of a science nerd. But more of the engineering types. Or that's what I try to be.

What exactly do you do with that apparatus?

Cate Subrosa said...

I work in marketing, in an agency so the work varies project by project.

I spend about 50% of my time with little to do (read: blogging) and 50% of my time really stressed with way too much work on. Blah.