Thursday, June 5, 2014

A Day Full of Mistakes. Or Not.

Hi!

So today was a big day, starting at 11:20 last night when my lab partner was double checking the primers we had recently ordered and realized that they were WRONG!  Of course, at this point we started to freak out, and I was already well on my way to sleep (guess that shows me for checking my messages).  What was great though, was that the professor was APPRECIATIVE because we didn't carry out the experiment and realize the error later.  She didn't even care that we had ordered the wrong primer sequence, and was impressed that we cared enough to review our next steps the night before.  Of course, my partner and I would have been grateful to have known that last night. We felt so bad!  However, all turned out well with that.

On the other hand, I had really weird results in lab today…we cut up sections of DNA from colonies that we grew overnight, and ran a gel to determine if we inserted our correct DNA sequence.  Well, two of the DNA colonies didn't get digested, and three had no DNA inserted.  Apparently, that is extremely abnormal because if there is no DNA insertion the cells are supposed to die…that didn't appear to happen leaving me with one potential colony.  Things like this teach you patience.  You have to remain level headed in science, and determine what the source of the problem was.  It is not necessarily about you doing something wrong, and being blamed, but what could have gone wrong in the experiment.  I really enjoy that about science.  It is so nice that its a troubleshooting field.  That being said, you still want the best and most accurate results possible.  We'll find out in about a week if the DNA insertion work, cross your fingers for me!

My lab mates and I decided to go to Starbucks today.  My God, there was an amazing guy who took our order.  He asked how to spell our names, and when we said most people don't care, he said "I'm not just anyone".  Not only that, he asked how our day was, said he hoped it got BETTER, and was all-around nice.  He was smooth and flirty--a great combo, not to mention that he wasn't bad looking either! Moreover, he held the door open for us on our way out.  It is not everyday that you meet a true gentleman (which is unfortunate), and a genuinely happy barista.  That sparked the beginning of a great afternoon (I mean, who doesn't love a Java Chip Frappucino!).  When we got back, and told our professor about our experience, she said felt obliged as our mentor (although it was only supposed to be in sciences and she didn't expect to be giving guy advice) to tell us that he was FLIRTING with us!  hahaha.  Needless to say, we can't wait to go back next week and see if he is working.

Well, I just finished dinner and it is 9 o'clock.  Needless to say, I made an appetizer.  Again, I tried the sweet potato fries.  I made them thicker this time, and turned down the oven by like 100 degrees.  I didn't burn them, and they were almost perfect.  I really should just learn how to cook them properly…My apartment mate and I had a few guests over, and we made pizza!! It was a lot of fun, and really yummy!  Garlic and herb crust, tomatoes (meh), spinach (meh), garlic chicken sausage (yum), and zucchini!  Definitely a make again.  We had a great experience trying to roll the dough out, because we have no flour or the like in our apartment (except for funfetti cake mix and we thought that was just way too weird to put on pizza) so it stuck to our hands!  We manages though, and made two lovely pizzas (which I forgot to take a photo of in my hungry stupor).  But here is what some of the slices looked like!

Almost the perfect dinner, it was just missing dessert!! Maybe later, you never know.  I do have a few cake mixes to make!

To end my blog I have a quote that I think sums up my experience in lab today pretty well:

"If you're not making mistakes, then you're not doing anything.  I'm positive that a doer makes mistakes." --John Wooden

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