Teaser

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiip

I was doing so well in September, and then I slacked a little on the blogging in October. But, with everything as crazy as it is, I really don't feel too bad about it.

So I was totally pumped to keep knitting my ten rows a day. I came home, worked out (3rd time this week, I think I don't suck), showered, and began knitting. Slowly. I got several rows done and then I noticed that on one lace panel somehow I had 9 stitches instead of 7...and I tried to undo it and fix it but I couldn't figure out how far down the mistake was...so I ended up ripping out 15 rows. Fortunately I was able to re-knit those 15 rows before my fingers went numb, but I still don't think I will make it. Not a big deal, really.

In other news, It's the Freaking Weekend. DUDE. This week was long and painful. Work, my moods, home, family, everything has been out of balance lately and it's throwing me off big time.

It will all be over and settled by December.

I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, and it really doesn't seem that far off. Thankfully.

P.S.

Oh, and we are officially homeowners now.

I thought I would feel different.

I just have a headache. As usual.

Our mortgage payment is more than $100.00 less than we were paying in rent.

Super awesomely fabulous.

Icy Hot Rocks!

So my goal was to finish the sweater before I have surgery next Tuesday.

I counted up how many rows I have left yesterday, and I decided that if I knit ten rows per day (and fifteen on weekend days) I would make it in time.

So yesterday, I sat down to knit my ten rows. I knit one row, and then took a rest. I knit another row, the same thing. I got nine rows done and then my hand just went eeeeeeeeehhhhhhhh no. I was determined, however, so I very very slowly slogged through the last row and then collapsed in pain. But I finished my ten rows!

I had to put an icy hot heat pad on my wrist underneath my wrist brace for the rest of yesterday and overnight. Then, today, I had to wear the brace as much as I could.

I got home and had a horrible, sudden mood swing and had to go hide in my room so I wouldn't do or say anything stupid, and took a cat nap. Then I came downstairs, feeling a bit better, and started knitting (because I'm really dumb, apparently). It hurt. Oh yes it hurt. But I wanted to finish my ten rows.

How many did I get?

Two.

This goal is not going to work out.

The funny thing is, I keep thinking of ideas for new things I would like to make, and I can't make anything.

Happy Halloween, Buster!

So we love Halloween. It's our favorite holiday. We even like it more than we like Christmas.

Today we went around to like five different stores and got all of our Halloween decorations and stuff to make Scott's costume (and I found some cute Halloweeny earrings, too). I would tell you what we bought, but it would ruin the surprise.

BUT, while we were out shopping we saw this and thought it would make the perfect (and hilarious) chew toy for Buster:
Yes, a severed hand. Buster really enjoyed playing tug on it with Scott:
And, of course, when we were going through our boxes of Halloween stuff we had to put my old devil wig on him. Because that's what dogs are for.
He wasn't too happy about it.

I have my pre-op appointment tomorrow. Then, one week until surgery. I wonder if I can finish my sweater by then...

It's Like A Circus

So why is it that every time something breaks at work EVERYTHING breaks at work?

When it rains, it pours...

Anyway. So things were running mostly ok at the beginning of last week. The graphite furnace is a pile of crap either way, so when things are running at all it's a happy sort of thing.

Wednesday I was wanting to spend a little extra time at work because I had to leave early on Monday and I have to work so many hours each week, so when I got in in the morning I pretty much killed time for an hour before I even started prepping the samples. I worked at a pretty leisurely pace all day, and after I finished all my work on the graphite furnace I got ready to do mercury. I turned on the instrument and let it warm up, and then I got set up and started the program and it was all, "No. Not today. I'm not communicating with the instrument. Sucks to be you."

Ugh. The last time this happened it was because the IEEE computer chippy thingie was dead, and it was quite an ordeal to get a replacement, so I was a little worried.

My boss called the repair dudes and they said they couldn't come until the next day (since I had killed time all day and it was actually quite late in the repair man time zone). So, I cleaned up and went home (early, even after all my efforts at being slow).

The next day (Thursday), we had absolutely no idea what time they were going to be able to come out, so I just went about my day normally and got all my other stuff done. I got lead to run normally, and about 1/3 of my arsenic samples, and then the graphite furnace made a funny noise and a clunk and stopped working. So, I took it apart (again) and found the problem and fixed it and cleaned it out and replaced a part and we were back on our way. BUT, then, it wouldn't calibrate. And again. And again. I tried to get it to work for two whole freaking hours. No luck. It was now 3:45, and I was supposed to leave at 3:30, so I decided to give it up for the night and try again in the morning (sometimes this happens and it works inexplicably in the morning with no changes or modifications)(I swear it's haunted). Rod (repair dude) showed up at this time and started fiddling with the other instrument, and I just told him to leave me a sticky note so when I got there in the morning I would know whether it was fixed or not.

You know, it's nice not having to bring work home with me. I can just go home and not worry about anything until the next morning.

So in the morning on Friday I went in, and the sticky note said that there was a part that needed to be replaced, and he would look around and see if he could find one. This was disconcerting, because the instrument is obsolete and parts for it are few and far between, and if this thing kicks the bucket we will have to replace it somehow, and seeing as we just bought a brand spanking new ICP-MS with a collision cell, that would reeeeealy strain the budget.

So I once again went about my day and got everything else started. Just as I predicted, I started up the arsenic samples from Thursday and it worked perfectly. So at least there was something good.

Then, I went to start up my FTIR computer to run a sample on it and the little light came on, but the computer just went whiiirrrrrr, whiiiirrrrr, whiiirrrrr and didn't do anything else.

ARE YOU SERIOUS?

So I made an appointment for Tim to come take a look at the computer around 1:00. I hurried to get everything finished on the furnace before he got there (the FTIR and the furnace use the same monitor, keyboard, and mouse). Fortunately, he was running late and wasn't there until 3:00 so I was able to finish before he got there.

Rod got there about the same time as Tim, and they were actually helping each other with their respective problems. I had extra samples to prep so I was going to be there for quite a while anyway, so I just hung out with them while they were working.

Tim mostly figured out what was wrong, and was running around like crazy trying to find parts and such and in the end he decided he had to come back on Monday morning to fix it.

Rod tried replacing parts and splicing stuff together and was getting really inconsistent results, and he all but gave up unless the problem was a bad cord, and he planned on coming back Monday around noon to see if a new cord would take care of the problem.

So this morning Tim came by and set up a computer, and was trying to get it set up and it just Would. Not. Go. He fiddled around with it for a few hours and then had to leave to take care of some personal stuff and said he would be back again around 1:00. It ended up being around 2:00, and he had it fixed and finished by 3:00 and I was able to run the pile of samples that had accumulated while it was down.

One down, one to go.

Rod was supposed to be there around noon today, but he was late as well, so got there around 1:30. He worked on it for four hours, I am not even kidding. He took it apart, and put it back together, and did it all over again, and did the Hokey Pokey and apparently that was NOT what it was all about and at 6:00 (I was off at 3:00 normally, yay overtime) he gave up and in the morning I have to tell Ryan we are broken.

I talked to my boss's boss today and asked him, realistically, what would we do if it were unfixable. Basically, there is absolutely no way we can buy a new instrument this year, since we bought the new ICP-MS (still being installed, I can't wait). So we will have to wait until sometime next year.

In the meantime we have rigged our ICP-OES with a mercury method so we're not completely dead in the water, but our outside clients might not be ok with this...we'll see what happens.

Every day is a new adventure at work. Oh yes.

Did I mention that the power went out for 45 minutes on Friday and that my hot block stopped working today as well? Yep.

A Bedtime Story (About A Criminal Delinquent)

Chapter One


Once upon a time, a lovely girl named Anna had a headlight go out and got pulled over for it the next morning on her way to work (Friday, October 2). The cop was really nice about it and just gave her a warning, but when he ran her license it came up as DENIED due to medical reasons. He did have to give her a ticket for that, and she had to go into court to resolve the issue.

Aside:
In Utah (and maybe other places, I don't know) when you apply for a driver license, you have to tell them if you have any medical conditions. If you do, you have to have your doc fill out a form and send it in and then they approve your license and you get to drive around for a year before you have to get the form filled out again. They even send the form to you in the mail every year so you don't have to come in and get it.


Another aside:
When I moved I called the DMV and asked them what I needed to do to change my address with them. They said I didn't need to change it in the system and that I should just put a sticker on the back of it with my new address on it and that would be good enough.


Yet another:
When we moved we forwarded our mail.


And the last:
It turns out they don't forward government mail.


And on with the story:
It turns out that when our heroine Anna moved last year a sequence of events occurred that prevented her from receiving her doctor's form in the mail. Consequently, she completely forgot about it.
When she was pulled over she realized her blunder, and hastened to the DMV the very next business day to rectify the situation (after fixing her headlight, of course). She obtained a new form and called her doctor. Unfortunately, her doctor was completely booked UNTIL NOVEMBER! Poor Anna almost started crying until her noble knight Scott pointed out that she could find a new doctor. Genius!
So Anna found a doctor in Ogden who was taking new patients, but they needed a huge packet of paperwork before they would make her an appointment, so they e-mailed her the packet, she printed it out, and then drove the long and winding road they call I-15 up to Ogden. Fortunately, they were able to squeeze her in the very next day at 1:00.
Now, this entire time, Anna didn't want to continue driving on a denied license, so Knight Scott kindly chauffeured her around wherever she wished to go. He therefore picked her up from work the next day and escorted her to her new doctor, who turned out to be very nice and understanding. She signed Anna's form and our dear Scott whisked her away to the DMV to reinstate her license. Finally, she was free to drive again! Ironically, when she reinstated her license, noble Scott was informed that his license had been denied since 2007 because of his asthma. The same sort of things happened (this time with Anna driving) and Scott, too, was able to drive once more.


Chapter Two


Driving on a denied license, whatever the reason, was frowned upon in Anna's society and she was forced to take time off work to schedule a court appearance to defend her honor. The appointed day came, and, full of trepidation, she found her way to the Weber County Justice Court, where parking was scarce and she had to park several blocks away and walk, which was a terrible ordeal since she had worn "nice" shoes.
Anna found herself in a courtroom full of other delinquents, many of which had the hardened look of seasoned criminals. This only increased her nervous disposition.
As she waited her turn, many many others walked up to the Podium of Doom, in front of the fairest judge in the land. They were there for many reasons, including destruction of property, driving without insurance, speeding, not paying previous court fines, and many others. Fortunately, this was mildly entertaining.
After some time, Anna's name was called, and she was brought before the judge to plead her case. She pled guilty, and was given an opportunity to explain herself. She told her tale, about how she never received the form in the mail because she moved and didn't know they don't forward government mail, and about how she took care of it the very next day. The judge pronounced her efforts good, and, unlike the others before her, he declared that Anna did not have to pay a fine and please don't do it again. She thanked him profusely, and went back to work, where she spilled acid all over the nice shirt she wore to court and completely ruined it.


The end.

See? It's OK!

I am totally justified.

Just saying.

They're Cutting Me Open!

I finished the front piece of the new blue sweater. It is looking so good! There is one little mistake, and it's front and center, so I'm thinking about buying a cute button to go over it or something. I also started a sleeve and got about 8" done. Not bad.

BUT, to get there, I had to knit a row (or sometimes even just half a row) and then wait a few minutes for my wrist to calm down...and again...and this sweater is going to take ten years at this rate.

I had called my doc on Friday but he was out of town for a conference, so I left a message, and they were super awesome and called me back first thing Monday morning, and they were able to see me at 3:15. Usually this is super awesome but Monday we had 32 samples, which is basically a double workload, so I was totally thinking I would have to make my boss finish for me, but lo and behold I am invincible super chemist and I finished it all in 6.5 hours. A NEW WORLD RECORD. And to celebrate I went home and ate salad.

Anyway, I went in to the doc and it has been about 8 or 9 weeks since the cortisone shot and that wasn't very long as far as these things go so I made it very clear that I REFUSE to get a cortisone shot every 3 months for the rest of forever just so I can function on a daily basis. They agreed (thank goodness, they would have had to club me over the head to get another one of those shots in me) and so we scheduled the surgery for November 3. I will have to stay home for a week and wear a splint for 10 days or so and I will have stitches (you will totally get to see them) and then I will have a super badass scar (ok, not really, the doc said it would probably blend in with the lines on my hand).

I am so happy to get this over and done with.

Love/Hate

I hate how the holidays go in stores. You know, Halloween stuff starts showing up in September (too early) and then Christmas stuff starts showing up right after Halloween (too early) (and what the heck happened to Thanksgiving?). It's ridiculous. It's like every store is doing everything they can to squeeze every penny possible out of each holiday. Maybe that's why they skip Thanksgiving. They probably can't make as much money on pumpkin pie as they can on costumes and presents. Just a theory.

Plus the Christmas music that never ends. But I won't go there.

HOWEVER.

There are some things I can definitely get behind.

It's the seasonal FOODS, dude.

I believe I already mentioned my everlasting love for the Pomegranate 7Up that only comes out for the holidays, but did I mention how I want to have egg nog's babies? And I don't even like babies (except babies that belong to people I know)(when they're being quiet) so that is really saying something! Then there's the white fudge covered Oreos. Every year Scott and I stock up and buy many many packages so we don't have to limit the absolutely heavenly taste to the holiday season.

I am totally making myself hungry. FOCUS, Anna, you're trying to eat more VEGETABLES.