Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Not my best day in the lab. I had originally sworn to try and finish off my first lab by today but a lapse in my genius proved to be my undoing.
I did a TLC to determine if my precious little compound (hence forth known as Maggie)was done reacting. Maggie showed signs of progress under UV development but a KMnO4 dip development revealed that she just a touch undone.
So like any good anal Chemist wannabe I popped Maggie on to the steam bath for just 3 minutes whilst I prepared the filter for her. Maggie was dissolved in acetone which boils at approx 56.53°C. The steam bath was over 100°C. As you can imagine this caused the Dow-Jones index to drop today by over 40 points today. Yes that is right, being a firm believer in the chaos theory, I believe that I have single handedly contributed to the dip of the American economy.
No really, all of Maggie's solvent evaporated leaving me in a heated agitated state. Of course the simple solution to this would have just been to add a little more acetone but in the eyes of the perfectionist chemist the experiment was ruined. Given that the worst thing that could possibly have happened was a slight dip in Maggie's yield but blood from my pride had been drawn.
I guess Maggie's evaporation today has exposed yet again another issue for me to deal with. That horrible fear of failure. I suppose it is universal to all mankind but I think I take it especially hard. The eggs that aren't cooked to perfection, too much sauce left on the plate after dinner, the soup that's just a touch too sweet, the not so subtle hint to the reader that I am yet to have my dinner.
My choice being a chemist has recently come into question yet again. After yesterday's job fair, that many companies are after mining or geophysics or geochemistry type graduates. As if any of these disciplines could make cool farting noises with wet glassware...
No really, there was just about A company that seemed keen on hiring chemistry graduates. Typically and problematically in a lab. Lab in the sense that I would be doing QC till the second coming. Not my ideal job. The ugly alternative of becoming a teacher peaked out from the suppressed regions of my mind. After all, I reasoned it can't be THAT bad being a teacher. 46k a year in Australia, job stability, retiring at the ripe age of 55, slowly being driven insane by boredom and finally dying of chronic stress related illnesses for which the hospitals will sap every cent from your pile of well invested cash.
Maybe I should be a Doctor...
Jonathan's Gem for today
" Say Jon have you seen Maggie?"
" Sure lots of times. "
" No, I mean have you seen her recently? "
" Who? "
" Maggie!!! "
" Maggie? Where?!? " <--- one day that would be a great bit of a skit to act out.
That is all
Jon.P™
I did a TLC to determine if my precious little compound (hence forth known as Maggie)was done reacting. Maggie showed signs of progress under UV development but a KMnO4 dip development revealed that she just a touch undone.
So like any good anal Chemist wannabe I popped Maggie on to the steam bath for just 3 minutes whilst I prepared the filter for her. Maggie was dissolved in acetone which boils at approx 56.53°C. The steam bath was over 100°C. As you can imagine this caused the Dow-Jones index to drop today by over 40 points today. Yes that is right, being a firm believer in the chaos theory, I believe that I have single handedly contributed to the dip of the American economy.
No really, all of Maggie's solvent evaporated leaving me in a heated agitated state. Of course the simple solution to this would have just been to add a little more acetone but in the eyes of the perfectionist chemist the experiment was ruined. Given that the worst thing that could possibly have happened was a slight dip in Maggie's yield but blood from my pride had been drawn.
I guess Maggie's evaporation today has exposed yet again another issue for me to deal with. That horrible fear of failure. I suppose it is universal to all mankind but I think I take it especially hard. The eggs that aren't cooked to perfection, too much sauce left on the plate after dinner, the soup that's just a touch too sweet, the not so subtle hint to the reader that I am yet to have my dinner.
My choice being a chemist has recently come into question yet again. After yesterday's job fair, that many companies are after mining or geophysics or geochemistry type graduates. As if any of these disciplines could make cool farting noises with wet glassware...
No really, there was just about A company that seemed keen on hiring chemistry graduates. Typically and problematically in a lab. Lab in the sense that I would be doing QC till the second coming. Not my ideal job. The ugly alternative of becoming a teacher peaked out from the suppressed regions of my mind. After all, I reasoned it can't be THAT bad being a teacher. 46k a year in Australia, job stability, retiring at the ripe age of 55, slowly being driven insane by boredom and finally dying of chronic stress related illnesses for which the hospitals will sap every cent from your pile of well invested cash.
Maybe I should be a Doctor...
Jonathan's Gem for today
" Say Jon have you seen Maggie?"
" Sure lots of times. "
" No, I mean have you seen her recently? "
" Who? "
" Maggie!!! "
" Maggie? Where?!? " <--- one day that would be a great bit of a skit to act out.
That is all
Jon.P™
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