experimentus interruptus
Tuesday, June 10th, 2008I hate phones. I don’t have a cell phone. I let the answering machine pick up 99% of calls at home. At work I answer the phone. Not because I’m looking for another annoying cold call from Dipshit Biotech but because I have a wife and two kids there are times I need to be reached. Plans change, illness, car problems, etc. So……….
Today the phone rings in the lab. I’m in the middle of setting up a fairly complicated experiment. “Hi Hal, I’m ____________, you probably don’t remember me but you sent me some reagents several years ago and I want to do another experiment and wonder blah blah freaking blah.” Short of hanging up (why didn’t I think of that), how the hell can I escape? Ten minutes later I’m back at the bench, dazed and confused. Did I finish the master mix. Start over…………..not enough left of one reagent………..I find more but it is another prep…recalulculation time……….feelings of failure…finally I toss the whole thing in the trash can……….”That bitch”….ooops, that costs me a quarter to the lab curse jar.
But it was worth it. Money well spent.
Tomorrow?
”One more chance to get it all wrong”
(lyrics courtesy of the Replacements)
