Mutual Understanding (or Lack Thereof)
"This experiment blows!"
... quoth the frustrated undergrad.
Indeed, I too was having my share of frustrations, though for once, today I think he might have exceeded me in that regard.
See, what happened was that we actually ran the same experiment on Friday (though events have spared you from reading about my utter misery felt that day), but almost all our data was out of range (as usual). Therefore, our planned experiments were once again postponed to bloody Monday, and we were asked to repeat the experiment once more, much to our chagrin.
So commenced the suffering and the loathing and the brain-battering, as we set off again to make the experiment work, and once more I found myself in the incredibly awkward position of not understanding entirely (and never taking the time to find out) how simple dilutions were made. In fact, I personally believe it took quite a bit of skill to somehow prevent her from looking into my notebook where my half-assed calculations were desperately scribbled lest my lack of knowledge be exposed.
My undergrad was having just as many (probably/almost definitely more) problems as me though, as his method of diluting things to less common proportions left him confused and unable to fulfill the minimum sample volumes established by our grad student (as it takes existing sample to make diluted samples). Thus, though his problems were more of concern than mine (as his were actual issues and mine would only exist if luck and logic failed to carry me through), we both consented to the common conclusion that the experiment was simply ridiculous and that neither of us wished to carry it through.
Luckily for me though, my calculations were correct (most surprisingly), and upon discovery I felt the utmost relief, as I was absolutely dreading the possibility of explaining to my grad student on Friday that the reason why my data has been so screwy was because I didn't understand how to make simple dilutions.
My undergrad wasn't so lucky though, and even though everything was supposedly fixed, there were still issues and inconsistencies with the data he received. On a brighter note however, after a short conversation we had, he decided that he'd probably be more relaxed and less prone to mistakes if he actually ate something before 4 in the afternoon, which I'm very happy about (partially for his own health, though today marked another agonizing day I've failed to eat lunch due to my unwillingness to go on a lunch break while he completes work in the lab, which also unfortunately gave my friend [who thinks he's fat] an excuse to skip lunch as there was no one else but me to join him).
Anyway, my undergrad and I both decided to take the day off tomorrow though (as we'd be doing nothing but writing reports again anyway), so that's nice at least. I don't think he's had a day off in weeks, and I'm definitely looking forward to relaxing too (though I still have to wake up early for yearbook pictures and organize the data from today's experiment sometime during the day). But whatever... at least I'll be home and wasting time the way I want.
Oh, and on a somewhat unrelated note, my undergrad said to me rather randomly that he also doesn't like those two incoming college freshman girls I've complained about in my earlier posts.
See, it's not just me. I'm not a hater. People just suck.
... quoth the frustrated undergrad.
Indeed, I too was having my share of frustrations, though for once, today I think he might have exceeded me in that regard.
See, what happened was that we actually ran the same experiment on Friday (though events have spared you from reading about my utter misery felt that day), but almost all our data was out of range (as usual). Therefore, our planned experiments were once again postponed to bloody Monday, and we were asked to repeat the experiment once more, much to our chagrin.
So commenced the suffering and the loathing and the brain-battering, as we set off again to make the experiment work, and once more I found myself in the incredibly awkward position of not understanding entirely (and never taking the time to find out) how simple dilutions were made. In fact, I personally believe it took quite a bit of skill to somehow prevent her from looking into my notebook where my half-assed calculations were desperately scribbled lest my lack of knowledge be exposed.
My undergrad was having just as many (probably/almost definitely more) problems as me though, as his method of diluting things to less common proportions left him confused and unable to fulfill the minimum sample volumes established by our grad student (as it takes existing sample to make diluted samples). Thus, though his problems were more of concern than mine (as his were actual issues and mine would only exist if luck and logic failed to carry me through), we both consented to the common conclusion that the experiment was simply ridiculous and that neither of us wished to carry it through.
Luckily for me though, my calculations were correct (most surprisingly), and upon discovery I felt the utmost relief, as I was absolutely dreading the possibility of explaining to my grad student on Friday that the reason why my data has been so screwy was because I didn't understand how to make simple dilutions.
My undergrad wasn't so lucky though, and even though everything was supposedly fixed, there were still issues and inconsistencies with the data he received. On a brighter note however, after a short conversation we had, he decided that he'd probably be more relaxed and less prone to mistakes if he actually ate something before 4 in the afternoon, which I'm very happy about (partially for his own health, though today marked another agonizing day I've failed to eat lunch due to my unwillingness to go on a lunch break while he completes work in the lab, which also unfortunately gave my friend [who thinks he's fat] an excuse to skip lunch as there was no one else but me to join him).
Anyway, my undergrad and I both decided to take the day off tomorrow though (as we'd be doing nothing but writing reports again anyway), so that's nice at least. I don't think he's had a day off in weeks, and I'm definitely looking forward to relaxing too (though I still have to wake up early for yearbook pictures and organize the data from today's experiment sometime during the day). But whatever... at least I'll be home and wasting time the way I want.
Oh, and on a somewhat unrelated note, my undergrad said to me rather randomly that he also doesn't like those two incoming college freshman girls I've complained about in my earlier posts.
See, it's not just me. I'm not a hater. People just suck.
prism:
sunshine (daily rants)
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