Showing posts with label Ames. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ames. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

life in a lab coat.

yesterday, as I was getting frustrated with the kids in the lab that I TA, I realized just how many hours of my life I've lived in my lab coat. I should probably wash my lab coat, but I'm afraid I spilled something a long time ago that doesn't like water. Realistically, I probably haven't, but I don't want to accidentally destroy the laundry machine....

In contemplating the state of my lab coat, I realized that there are a large number of pictures of me in a lab coat floating around the internet, including this lovely image:


note - that is dry ice....I tried so hard to convince the photographer that we should represent 'real chemistry' (not that dry ice in water is not 'real chemistry,' but it feels like cheating...alas, we also had to use food coloring (!!!) he did not like my tiny bottle of blue azulene that I had worked for more than two quarters to synthesize :(


this was my expression in response to the photographer prompting: this is the coolest the reaction you've ever seen! yeah, right. food coloring in water - coolest thing ever.
(more pics here)


drawing on windows while sporting my lab coat is always fun - this was the azulene project as well.

finally, I'm so glad NASA Ames switch to more professional headshots (see my google+ prof pic), since this was my 'action shot' one year:


and yep, it now resides on the NASA website, for all the world to see....

In some ways, this lab coat is my 'suit' while at work in the lab (which, somewhat unfortunately, also requires wearing pants and flat, closed-toe shoes), and clearly, not made for a female figure. But, as men probably developed the lab coat, it fits their shape, not mine. I can't complain too much, because I'm not willing to take my coat in to be more fitted due to a safety issue - I want the lab coat material as far away from my skin as possible if I spill something on it. A narrowly cut coat could hold the chemical close to my skin, which could just cause larger problems than me having to wear a baggy lab coat!

gogglelinesforlife

Sunday, December 4, 2011

is this real life?

I just looked at my calendar - I'm flying on 7 planes between now and Christmas day. 
I'm going to be in Seattle for a grand total of 4 more days before December 25th. 
Tonight, I'm thankful that I'm getting paid to go to graduate school and that my profs don't believe in in-class finals :)

Tomorrow, I head to Albuquerque, Monday I'm giving my 'how to apply for graduate school' presentation to the students at NMSU and speaking on a panel about my NASA internship experiences. Apparently it is going to be cold in Albuquerque....hopefully no snow though!

Tues-Thursday are going to be crazy days. don't expect to hear from me. don't worry, I didn't fall off the face of the earth, I'm just going to be hiding in different spaces cramming everything in for my advisor (final + paper + presentation). 

But then Friday I'm going to NYC! and Boston! To visit these fantastic people:





Yay!


And since my sol-gel class is finishing with a take-home final, a paper, and 'presentation' (but we just send our prof our slides, we don't actually present.....) I'm going to stay in NYC until Thursday!

Everything gets turned in Friday morning and then I'm DONE for the quarter! Hopefully I'm alive enough to go ice skating with my roommates and friends that evening......

And finally, Saturday I'm getting on another plane to Palm Springs with my family + family friends for a whole week of SUN. I am so excited to see the sun. So. Excited. I think I've forgotten what it looks like.....


(solar flares are cool)

Friday, October 21, 2011

{summer interruption}

I planned to video blog through the summer, completing my final internship at NASA Ames in CA...

Take a look how many blog posts happened from June - Aug... Zero. Whoops. Apparently, I was too busy to blog, but that doesn't mean I didn't keep taking pictures and videos!

So, after about 2 months of sitting in pieces on my computer, here are highlights from the entire summer in one video! (Covering 10 weeks of fun means it's kind of a longer video and has lots of titles...)


Done. Summer adventures blogged :)

Thanks friends for a fantastic summer!