A day in the life

Hey all. I thought it would be pretty interesting to write about a day in my life this summer. I logged out the approximate time of whatever I was doing and went for it. This is the result.

**For those of you who don't know, my job this summer is doing research under a professor at my college. At the moment, we're doing experiments that involve putting a bit of one substance into another, taking a measurement with a machine, and doing it all over again, until we hit a high enough mark of substance. We are measuring fluorescence, or how much light a substance gives off when bombarded with photons.**

A day in the life 7-13-11

8:20 I woke up late.

8:35 After eating something small and grabbing some lunch and my computer, I drove to work.

8:56 I parked in the faculty lot at Grove City College, walked up to Rockwell, the science building, and found a guitar pick on the ground.

9:05 In our lab on the third floor, I discussed with my research partner some plans for the near future concerning the experiments.

9:09 I went to the basement and got ice for the ice bucket. We put our solutions on ice to keep them cool in our lab upstairs. I retrieved our solutions that were already made and got 30 microliters of enzyme for the titrations.

9:27 I finally got back to the lab, but I went back downstairs to get the styrofoam tray that holds our solutions.

9:36 I made the buffer solution.

9:45 The solution of Potassium Phosphate (a solution that resembles human blood in salinity and pH) and alpha-napthoflavone (a drug analog) has been mixed, so we waited while it sat for a bit. Spectra are ready to be taken.

9:48 I write in my notebook of our progress while Mike takes spectra.

9:53 I prepared the solution with 2.53 microliters of enzyme. This is our aliquot. We then took spectra for the first titration point (excitations at 290, 350, and 360 nanometers).

9:59 While the spectra were taken, I wanted to mention how neat the enzyme looks coming out of the pipettor. It's a little orange ring of fluid and it expands and fades away as it jets out. Set against a clear background of K-Phos and ANF, it's cool to watch.

10:06 We were running spectra at a rate of 11 minutes per titration point at this time. We decided to go faster.

10:09 My research partner made a proposition to barter my college email address for ten dollars so his friend could get a year of amazon prime for free (worth $97). Should I do it? It's a nice hesture for a friend, and my mother already has prime, meaning I don't need it for myself. Choices...

10:17 The third point was ready for the fluoro-spec (short name for the machine that takes the spectra).

10:24 I think I'll do it (the deal). I don't think I'll take the money though. Also, the 4th titration had been mixed.

10:36 Whether we are taking spectra or letting a solution sit, we have a lot of "down time". Coincidentally, the 5th point came in. Anyway, the free time is the reason I could log this activity.

11:44 Wow! Time flies. We started another trial of titrating enzyme to drug. The last trial had ten points, plus the first one that had no enzyme in it.

12:24 p.m. I admit, this time is ridiculous. This morning, I had written a blog post on the band's blogspot, downloaded some free music (via http://tuesdaystoolate.bandcamp.com/), organized said music on iTunes, wrote these tidbits and oh, not to mention the 16 titration points we took. That is three spectra for evey point.

12:39 We broke for lunch, suspending our third trial.

12:45-1:30 Lunch was interesting, as always. My research partner and I eat in the college apartments, room 323, but don't actually live there. There are two other student researchers who do reside there for the summer, and they are tons of fun. Today, we talked about the pros and cons of steroid and HGH usage. Also, I got a call from a friend of mine about plans for that night.

1:45 We ot back and gor right to work. We started the 180 nanomolar point for the second trial. (the 6th point of the titration).

1:57 Seventh point

2:37 We had just finished the second trial. I was pretty happy about that. However, on most days, this is the time I get super tired.

2:49 We started a control experiment, where we do everything the same except add more K-Phos buffer to the solution rather than enzyme. I also picked up pipettor tips that missed the garbage can upon ejection (a form of amusement for myself).

3:09 We took spectra for the second point of the control.

4:02 Eighth point.

4:29 We finished the control group.

4:47 We laid out some new bench-top paper for our lab bench.

5:00 I was done for the day after dumping the ice. However, I left my keys in my research partner's car from when we left for lunch. Doh! He left about ten minutes ago.

5:03 I got off the phone with him, and he let me know he saw them. He let the keys chill in the PT Cruiser, so they would be there when I was ready to leave. I then called my friend to verify plans for tonight.

5:30 I got home and shot some b-ball (nothing intense).

5:40-6:30 I def took a nap somewhere here.

6:31 My friends came over to pick me up. After chilling for a bit, we left to get some pizza and meet up with another group.

7:15-1:00 a.m. the next day: I hung out with some awesome peeps, went to MicConnell's Mills for the first time in my life, had some top-notch tea and enjoyed some YouTube vids. God sure has blessed me. Now, I'm mega-tired. Good night.