sure makes it hard to get much stuff accomplished on the Monday. Set a few things up. In general, though, I didn’t want to set things up that I’d have to worry about tomorrow. Thanks to my cells looking weird this morning I’ll be in briefly to do a transfection. Other than that it’ll be a quiet, relaxing 1st of the year.
Have a great start to the New Year!
For many months I’ve been getting science equipment fliers/magazines sent to my home address. Somehow my name got sold and I’ve been getting all kinds of crap - AT HOME!! The worst part is trying to gett them to stop sending stuff.
One *subscription* was finally expiring. At least that’s what the telemarketer kept saying when he called the lab daily. I think, finally, they got the point. Sorry to Hal and the others who kept fielding these annoying calls.
To all you companies: Please don’t call anymore, take me off your list, I don’t want your magazine(s)!!
Please. Save a few trees instead.
Are you listening?
Plastics.
I guess someone at Operon saw “The Graduate” and took that advice to heart. I used to receive oligos from Operon in a paper corrugated sleeve. It could hold up to eight oligos. You could reuse it, recycle it or just throw it out and not feel too guilty.
Today I received an (meaning literally ONE) oligo I had ordered. It came in a plastic box, clearly marked OPERON, with a difficult to remove recessed lid as an added bonus. It must use about 20 times the plastic that was used in the screw top oligo tube. I guess you could use it as a semi-waterproof bullet box on weekend deer hunting trips.
As most manufacturers (and consumers) make an effort to use less plastic in their packaging I’d like to nominate Operon for the “We support global warming award of 2007″!
Mac vs PC? Photoshop or Powerpoint? I don’t think it really matters. What does cause problems is scanning films on a PC, starting figures at work on the Mac, taking them home to your PC and the following day taking them back into the lab to finish them up on a Mac. PC to Mac to PC to Mac to PC. Why did I try and work at home on this?
Thanks again to one of our favorite sales reps. She came by the lab bringing gifts - a container of Harry and David’s Moose Munch. For those that don’t know what Moose Munch is it’s caramel popcorn with nuts and chocolate. In this case, three different types. Milk chocolate and nuts, dark chocolate with nuts and white chocolate with Macadamia nuts.
It is completely addictive and all gone.
Thanks Susan for bringing that by!!
I’ve posted before about the annoying habit of vendors comparing their product with a competitor’s but refusing to name names. Why? Threat of a lawsuit? Maybe their product claims are fraudulent, certainly not peer-reviewed? I’ve always wondered how everyone’s transfection agent can be 100% better than companies x, y and z. Does that mean I can transfect 200% of my cells if I buy LipoFugamine3000!? Doubt it.
I received a Western Blottting Handbook from Thermo Scientific and they compare their Thermo Scientific Pierce ECL reagent to GE Healthcare ECL. None of the Brand X mumbo jumbo. They name names, compare prices and show films.
Thanks. I think I’ll give it a try.
I like Roche and I love our Roche sales rep but the LAB MIX promo has to be one of the worst ever. I just spent an hour trying to get my free songs. The LAB MIX site? Think really really shitty iTUNES. I finally found something I wanted out of their very limited library and downloaded their software. ERROR. blah blah. Another ERROR. Song not available. After wasting some more time, I realized my “free” credits disappeared so at least I won’t be tempted to deal with “the world’s crappiest music download site on the web”.
Avoid at all costs. If your offered a Lab Mix card as a promo, ask for a t-shirt or a pen instead,..hell, take the foam floater.
There is no free lunch….and I guess there is no free music either!
From reading about a new product in a scientific journal, to using the latest instrument, to listening to a sales representative talk about their hottest product - this blog provides candid insights into the everyday experiences of life in a research laboratory. Seen through the eyes of scientists working at multiple institutions and in different countries, this "collective blog" focuses on learning about, purchasing and using life science products and services.
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