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God, ashlle, tell me what channel I am watching? I think its the UA's or some public access channel because well, its weird.
I mean, what channel plays They Might Be Giants music videos with guys playing accordians and funny looking guitars with Kim Jong-il look-alikes.
Weird early 90s clothing (or 80s) I swear. |
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I am a big fat dork. I made two bracelets out of parafilm. You know, the stretchy clearish white stuff you find in bio or chem lab to cover the mouths of open containers? Yes, I did that all while I watched Lost and Gilmore Girls.
Which reminds me, ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) ashlle1, you have more Lost, yes? |
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My gosh, there is nothing to eat in this house. Mommy! I want you and the food you bring. |
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No work today. Yaay. I went to lab and started on my NMR but the autosampler was running. Stupid lower classmen who need to have their NMR done.
Anyway, I have four samples that I need to run and the only time that the machine is available when I am available is Sunday morning from 7:00 - 9:00. Which, guess what, is when I am going to use it. Oh the excitement. So I will seriously be at school from 7 in the morning to 7 at night. Go me.
I learned that I don't have to normalize the integration if I really don't want to. Which is a great thing. Actually, all I have to do is divide by 100 and all is good in the land of Laura.
So, anyway, I went to lab. What fun. I also ate jolly ranchers in lab.
My chemistry midterm went over...really really well, actually. I mean, I think I am on the road to understanding the frontier molecular orbital theory crap. And lumo and humo. No wait, I just memorized the notes. But I did do a nice little diagram and used it to explain why electron withdrawing groups speed if the reaction.
I think I am liking organic chemistry. Because organic chemistry is really starting to rock. And I love the people in my class. I mean, they are the ones I am going to graduate with (maybe) and they are the coolest people ever. My love for them oversteps normal boundaries. *sigh*
And its so weird. People actually come to *me* for help. ME? Psh. I just act like I know everything. In which case, people actually believe it.
Sadly, also, I am realizing that chemistry is not difficult. Neither is physics. I simply need to just sit down and learn it. The concepts so far, at least, aren't all that difficult. Basically its all about life. Life. Problem solving. Its great. But it just with different rules.
I also realized that I need to stop trying to see if I have permission to do something and just do it if it follows the rules of chemistry. I know that I always look for implicit permission to do one step in the chemistry lab, to do a mechanism like this, to solve a word problem like that. What i need to do is examine whether it makes sense according to chemistry (or physics or math or economics) and go with that. No more needing other people to confirm that I am doing it correctly. No more.
This shall be a habit that I break.
Actually, back on topic. My organic synth mid-term was a breeze. I might have lost like a total of say 14 points, but then again, I might get partial credit for those too. I am not sure. But everything except for the last two mechanisms, which I think needed Na/NH3 and maybe EtOH (I think) were really easy.
I think I like ylides.
x-posted in ringsofbenzene
[Which is funny. Osmium tetroxide appeared on the test. Which so made me snicker. I *so* rocked that problem.] |
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And I still have the ball of goop as my avi.
Anyway, I have been spending ungodly hours in the lab. Mind you, this is a 3 credit chemistry course I need to take to graduate with my major in chemistry. I am only signed up for lab on Tuesdays and class on Thursdays. Lab should only last 4 hours. Instead, I have been spending approximately 20 hours a week in lab working on my products. I want products!
But yesterday, I was finally granted what I wanted. I had started my Diels-Alder reaction and it was in the process of finishing up. Yesterday, I had taken the oil I had gotten after reacting my diester with my dienophile (I think) and ran it through a column to separate the impurities. Well, obviously, I had several fractions that needed to be rotavaped which I did. I got one jar of yucky impurities that are an ugly yellow color and a much nicer prettier looking clear white oil. Just what I was looking for.
And it only shows up as one peak on my TLC plate. But that was hard work getting that to work out nicely. First of all, the product would not move up my plate...so I had to make the solvent much more polar. It was to the point where I was considering adding acetone. But no, I did find that I had one peak--exactly what I wanted.
And tonight, I will be there in lab once again, rotavapping my B product, which is in a huge erlenmeyer flask because one of my TAs told me that I was doing it wrong and to start all over. GAH.
I want to rotavap it first and make sure I have no impurities in my product. Because otherwise, another column will be in order and who ever wants to play with columns? Because they suck.
Yes they do. |
| » Today was my day of science learning! Wait, that's every day! |
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I have done so many stupid things today. For instance, I took a whiff of ammonia gas. UGH. Felt faint. Last time I do that. What we were doing was a dissolving metal experiment where sodium is dissolved in liquid ammonia. And I had started the reaction the night before and the TA from today thought that the funny liquid in the bottom of the flask was likely just water and not ammonia. So, as a result, I listened to him and walked around the lab carrying this flask to throw it in the waste bucket. Well, on my way there--BAM!--it hit me. The strong odor of cat. Yuck.
And then, despite the fact that I have had bad experiences with dichloromethane, I again used it while not wearing gloves. Yes, I know now that gloves only offer like 5 seconds of protection. But it is those five seconds that allow you to drop what you are doing and pull off the glove. So yes, I did poor it all over my fingers.
Oh, and for the dissolving metal experiment, you need to use dry ice and acetone or something similar. When I went to get the dry ice, I burned myself on it. And then I burned byself again when I was removing the three-necked round-bottom flask out of the ice bath. Dumb dumb dumb.
What is worse is the current state of my hand! My thumb has skin starting to crack, my index and middle finger have cuts from glass. It is horrible!
Then, while working in the prep room, I poured toluene, petroleum ether, and acetyl acetate all over my arms. I really need to figure out a better way to work in the lab. Sheesh. If I didn't know any better, I would think I was dangerous.
Talking about stupid, I was refilling the soap carboy in the prep room. It takes like 150 mL of the concentrated soap and whatever amount of distilled water. So I had added the 150 mil's and I put the water hose in the carboy only to forget about it. I left to take care of a couple different things when I heard water splashing. Oops.
On Thursday, the guy whose shift is after mine is interested in politics (I can hardly find those types of people--must be the crowd I run in). Anyway, he comes in fifteen minutes before I have to leave and we sit and talk about politics. Well, it was fun today. We went off on my column first talking about my hate mail. Yes, hate mail. Then we started going off on why I got hate mail in the first place and then from there into what should be considered a right.
Sep. 23rd, 2004 @ 10:53 pm
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| » Now onto yesterday's chemistry lab |
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[cross-posted in ringsofbenzene]
Well, to say the least, I spent a good portion of my two hour break trying to pass certification. But I had to go to lab. Which sucked even more for several reasons. To say the least, it is a four hour lab, and I barely finished my experiment from the first day. THE FUCKING FIRST DAY. Bleh. It sucked. So, all I have is a nice white powder. The crystals from my photochemical reaction were beautiful, no complaints here, but I really don't think my percent yield was all that high (I will figure it out tonight, because, "technically" the lab is due tomorrow. I am going to have to turn it in on like Friday, or worse, Monday. I emailed the prof and am hoping he will extend the date due to extenuating circumstances with the freaking NMR) but it filled my vial very nicely and, remarkably, my melting point was quite...nice. It was supposed to be between 188 and 189, well, I got it to be 187...which for me is a good thing. Part of the problem was because my TA is sort of a ditz and brought all our samples inside a day after they were placed outside. As if it only needed a days worth of sunlight. But still...pretty crystals!
Oh, and to make matters worse, the reason I only finished one experiment is because I spent half the lab looking for the reagents to do one of the experiments. Which I was told, "Oh, I am sorry, we don't have that anymore. We will order some. You suckers. However, I have thought of one thing. I am so going to go into all the labs every single day the lab is open that I can and work on all my labs. The sooner I can get them done, and the sooner I can do the lab reports, the better. I mean, finish lab reports early and don't go to class the last couple of weeks of school would so totally rock. The only real report that is due is the protein synthesis lab, but that isnt too difficult and if I mess up on it, it wouldnt be too difficult to get that fixed. As long as I don't mess up on the last step, that is. Otherwise, that would stink as well.
And then, I was retarded enough to heat something without putting a freaking stirbar into the solution. Wooey. Good thing nothing decided to go "Capooey!"
And guess who I saw! My Russian TA from first year organic. Scary scary scary. I mean, he was a nice guy, but if you have a thick accent (which it sounds as though its better) don't be giving students oral quizes. Really, don't. I loved it, though, when he would say sigh-czars (scissors) and cow-lan-dar (calendar) and sil-la-bee (syllabus). Good memories. But the IR in his room was craptastic. CRAPTASTIC! UGH. It kept shutting down on me, the stupid machine. *Wants to go run and kick it*
Sep. 8th, 2004 @ 07:14 pm
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| » Retardedness 'R' Us |
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I am retarded. I was working in the chemistry stock room today, and I was refilling bottles of dichloromethane. Having not read the safety on the side of the bottle, I decided not to wear gloves, which are optional. However, after pouring it into the funnel, and some of it dripping onto my hands, my fingers started to burn to my dismay, which caused me to wash it off in a rather quick fashion. Because it hurt like a bitch.
Sep. 8th, 2004 @ 06:55 pm
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| » The NMR from Hell |
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NMR is from hell. Yes, it really is.
Yesterday, I spent an hour and a half working on my spectra before lab. And then I spent another three and a half hours working on the spectra, on which I finally received help. And it was not so much that the machine is difficult to use, but the commands and instructions on how to use it were vague and were worth about as much as crap.
The first hour and a half were hellish. I ended up with a ghost peak because of bad shiming. I showed the NMR manager and he criticized my spectra. It was devestating. Not really, but we can pretend it was.
Then, after spending several hours in lab getting nothing but a nice white crystals, I spent another three hours working on the gemini200.
It was only after the initial hour before I got help on it. After realizing that my shiming was good, my phasing was good, I was informed that my lock was horrific. Partly because of bad instructions on the part of the little manual. What the hell does it mean by a horizontal line? It looked horizontal to me. But oh no, it was supposed to jump. And when it jumped, it would lock. Well, that was not what the manual said.
But even after fixing the lock, I still kept getting this craptastic ghost peak.
So I ejected the tube to find out that, oh, the tube was not inserted deep enough and the discontinuity was enough to not allow for the protons to be fully aligned. There were some that were still...crappy. But with that fixed, and the shiming and phasing done, my peaks were gorgeous for the proton experiment.
But seriously, after five hours of working on spectra so that you can just use the machine for your own samples makes you think that chemistry is a horrible field. However, now that I got it down (I mean, after doing my own spectra, plus another kids spectra, I really have it down), it seems a piece of cake. But I am still pissed at that crappy machine. And now I know why we are told not to kick the "beer keg" of a magnet. Because sometimes, you get angry enough to want to kick it and kick it hard.
Sep. 8th, 2004 @ 06:50 pm
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| » How did they ever get this far? |
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I was never so stupid in lab. Ever. And mind you, these are not freshmen, these are stupid sophomores, who should have already taken general chemistry and yet, they are asking dumb questions.
Yes, that might be harsh, but they are. They simply do not get the obvious. They ask for a thermometer to tell when water has reached 100 C, or boiling point. Water boils at 100 C.
And then, they ask the prep room person (in other words, me) what is this weird looking contraption. Well, its bottom appears around and it is a flask. It must obviously be a microcondenser despite the fact that on the inventory sheet there is a bottle called a "round-bottom flask." Talk about obvious. True, I would understand not knowing what the microcondensor was, but to ascribe the name to a round-bottom flask is beyond me.
Sep. 1st, 2004 @ 09:34 pm
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| » Organic Synthesis |
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Wow. I haven't posted here in quite some time. Getting used to the schooltime rush as well as to the amount of writing I must be doing for the college paper has been insane.
But last week was the start of the new school year. It has been good, and I am going to enjoy the organic synthesis lab. We basically are given free reign in the lab, our TA brings in candy (yes, I do not need it, but its good), and we can do whatever labs we want whenever we want as long as their is a TA present. Today, we even went up to the roof of the building (its four stories, but they are tall floors) and got to look down on the new construction going on. We went everywhere. Traveled everywhere on the roof. Great fun not doing lab and running around the tops of buildings.
Oh, and what makes this class even better is that its a weekly lab and there is also a weekly discussion/pre-lab lecture. Which is cool.
Only problem is that I must be NMR licensed. And the times when the class is offered, I don't have time.
But other than that, all goes well.
Aug. 31st, 2004 @ 05:36 pm
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| » The things you learned at college |
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trashash reminded me of what I had come away with from school, my full two years at the UA. I think I realized one thing though: I didn't learn that much except for practical things, like not to stick yourself in the thumb with a syringe. Or that aluminum oxide will not dissolve in water, no matter how much you heat the solution or stir it with the magnetic stir bar. Aluminum chloride on the other hand dissolves very nicely. Too nicely.
But anyway, here are some other practical rules I have learned, besides not sticking yourself in the thumb with a syringe (because, my god, it bleeds all over the place and really leaves these ugly brownish red spots all over your otherwise pristine (yeah, right) white lab coat.
( Too many things to remember )
There are other things that I probably care *not* to remember, which I have conveniently stored outside of my memory. Like the chemistry safety video. Having seen that thing at least six times over the last two years (and now, with this upcoming year, at least another two times, maybe four times...), I will always remember about what happens to you if you eat food in the lab, what you cannot wear in the lab, and the general corny-ness of such videos. I am sure I can quote right along with the video, too. Scary.
Aug. 19th, 2004 @ 06:59 pm
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| » Keys, and no...not Alan Keyes... |
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Today, I finally got the keys to the chemistry lab building, the chemistry preproom and all the satellite chemistry labs. It was a triumphant moment when I looked at my key ring and realized that I had more keys going for this one job than I did for almost any other activity, vehicle, or abode.
Work starts Tuesday, but I shall go in early on Monday to observe a "veteran." And maybe help out. This seems by far to be the most enjoyable position I shall have this year.
Aug. 19th, 2004 @ 06:14 pm
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| » My eyes! My eyes! |
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And this, folks, is a prime example of what not to do to your website. Yes, this is a classic example of horrible horrible colors that, though are meant to show your school spirit, indicate that your mother never taught you about clashing colors.
EDIT: Dammit. I need to go to bed. But here it is: http://www.chem.arizona.edu/saacs/
Aug. 16th, 2004 @ 07:28 pm
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| » Books are too expensive |
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I believe my analogy comparing chemistry to a mistress is very apt. Very rarely will you ever find the object of your affection costing you as much as chemistry does in books as a mistress does in jewelry and random assortments of gifts.
Aug. 15th, 2004 @ 08:57 pm
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| » Beware of the controversial |
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I promise that as soon as school starts, that I shall post a bit more in here, recounting the tales of stupid frosh and the joys of working in the chemistry preproom. The only thing I am sad about is the fact that I shall not be working in a lab this semester (or next, not with my current work load) and that I am only taking on chemistry course this semester (due, once again, to the number of other courses I need to get done with before I can apply to the college of pharmacy). But anyway. Oh, before I begin, I just discovered the wonders which is cutting or whatever. Check out my skillage.
Typically, I shall refrain from commenting on anything religious, moral, political or otherwise controversial but something caught my eye this afternoon: eugenics and the use of abortion as a means to giving children a leg up on the world as well as prevent some parental heartache.
( Get ready for the controversial )
In other words, from the mouth of the great economist Ludwig von Mises:
Which men are superior and which are inferior can only be decided by personal value judgements not liable to verification or falsification.
( Personal Note: My position on abortion )
Aug. 9th, 2004 @ 02:59 pm
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| » Woohoo |
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It is my birthday! Now just one more year until my unadulterated revelry!
Aug. 2nd, 2004 @ 09:16 am
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| » A sad case of desire |
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Today, I was reorganizing my collection of songs, and I realize that I am a sorry excuse of humanity. I have, in this collection, a smaller collection of songs I have termed chemistry/science related. In it, I have included They Might Be Giant's "Why Does the Sun Shine" as well as Oasis' "Hindu Times" from their album Heathen Chemistry, The Chemical Brothers' "The State We're In," and Semisonic's "Chemistry".
I feel so dorky and needy...
Jul. 25th, 2004 @ 09:16 pm
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| » New Housing Situation |
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I am beginning to wonder how difficult it shall be to live with a biochemistry major, another one of chemistry's courters. Only time shall tell me how much stronger my love for her is than my new roommate's.
Jul. 18th, 2004 @ 12:10 am
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| » The History of My Love Affair |
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As the profile says, I have am a junior at the University of Arizona madly in love with chemistry.
This love affair has been ill-fated since my chemistry AP course in high school when I would receive D's on my tests and A's on my labs.
This false sense of grading left me confused, uncertain as to whether I should pursue my blossoming love or forsake it, knowing that it would ultimately lead to more harm and insanity.
Like the sirens of The Odyssey, chemistry beckoned to me as I entered the waters of higher academia. If my friends and fellow classmates had only known the trouble I would see, they would have tied me down as they had tied down that brave hero. But alas they did not.
So as I exited out of general chemistry, receiving some of the easiest grades that I have ever, I soon found out that the easy sailing had ended. I had sailed straight into some rocky coasts, all because of the wailingly beautiful calls of chemistry.
I thought it would have been smooth sailing in organic and, therefore, never showed up to class. At the end of the semester, however, I had realized that that was a foolhardy venture of mine. The C on my transcript told me of the holes in my boat, torn by the evil submerged rocks.
But while I attended my organic chemistry class, I learned of a new facet of that lovely woman chemistry: 'twas analytical chemistry.
Perhaps it was analytical chemistry that kept me tied tightly to the breast of so great a lover. So by the end of that third semester, though torn apart by the very rocks that chemistry called me toward, I hung desperately to her, knowing that she was even more gorgeous, even more lovely, even more desirable than ever before.
During the last part of that year, I spent it fully engrossed in the arms of my lover, entranced by the analytical chemistry lab. In what I had thought I despised, I had found my desire and true love. I ran back to her arms, every Tuesday and Thursday morning at 8 o'clock, desperately desiring her affection and warmth.
For all my adoration and attention, I did receive a cursory glance from that lovely woman. I had received an A in analytical chemistry lab. However, I soon realized that I had not entirely pleased m'lady when I found to my dismay a B on my transcript for my lackadaisical attitude I showed toward organic, never paying attention when I showed up and appearing before her presence only periodically.
And now, I have been away from her for several months. The depression and sense of helplessness that has followed has insured me that chemistry is my true love. I have yet to convince her otherwise, though.
In order to insure my continual appearance before her, I applied to serve in her court, employed in the stock/prep room.
Our relationship has been explosive one minute and cool the next: I only pray that we can find a happy medium where she and I can be together. Forever.
Jul. 11th, 2004 @ 08:10 pm
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