Lunch with H.P. Lovecraft

For the most part we spend our breaks and lunches on our phones or reading books. 

Since I began work at the lab I've finished the Sherrilyn Kenyon dark-hunters series and then moved onto some Piers Anthony. I read all of the Incarnations of Immortality books at work and some of the Xanth series. 

Now I'm onto H.P. Lovecraft. I love imaginative and thought provoking stories that keep my interest, probably because I read a lot of news articles and too many sad and true stories that are our reality.

The dark-hunters books are full of mythology, mysteries, comedic moments, and heroics. Sherrilyn Kenyon also has a very special talent of creating these really absorbing tales in which every story has a seriously yummy guy character. We're talking all the things a girl could ask for in a guy. 

If you're not really into the guy of the book you're currently reading check out the next because she pretty much covers every personality type. These heroes are always ripped and handsome, but most importantly for me they are usually from ancient times, so they have the whole 

Spartacus/warrior/soldier/god/badass feel. If you haven't noticed yet hunky heroic men is something we discuss a lot at 4LadiesandaBeaker. :)

<http://www.sherrilynkenyon.com/>

I really couldn't say enough about the Incarnations of Immortality books. Basically these are stories told in the perspective of entities such as death, time, and fate. I thought they were amazing and always kept me wondering. 

These books are immensely creative and always interweaving into one another. Piers Anthony clearly has a fondness for nature which shows brilliantly especially with "In a Tangled Skein" and "Being a Green Mother." 

Each story attracted my attention in its own way, however "In a Tangled Skein" was by far my favorite, and I think it's precisely because it has the closest ties to the natural world and to conservation. 

I could see their little cottage in the woods, and feel myself in the wetlands with a deep love for the water oak and the hamadryad. Every time I would put my book away I would crave more, and would think the rest of the day on the choices or issues posed in these novels.

Recently I began this monstrosity of a book. Really it's an arm workout hauling this book from home and work. 

Normally I'm the kind of girl that carries a novel in her purse for awkward situations like doctor's office waiting rooms and DMV lines, but there's no way that's happening with this book. 

I'm so glad I grabbed the annotated version though because it has all these added tidbits of information that really explains a lot more about the author and his times.

So far The Festival has been one of my favorites out of the few stories I've read. I've just started Call of Cthulhu and already my mind is blown by all the things Lovecraft has spurred by his weird tales!

I love the cover art of this book. It's creepy but illusive just like his stories.

I've never seen the Re-animator movie, and though I was somewhat familiar with the premise already, reading this story gave me chills. 

I admittedly do not normally like even walking past or seeing a morgue and definitely not a dead body. I'll always have a weak stomach for those kind of things. 

The characters in the story almost maddeningly crave the chance to find a fresh body. Unsettling but again I couldn't put it down. 

 I attached this little snippet of text because I had to laugh when I read it all. :)    

Food Not Lawns: Why I Hate Grass, or 'How to Kick Monsanto in the ...

Food Not Lawns: Why I Hate Grass, or 'How to Kick Monsanto in the ...: I hate grass. Well, that's not really truthful. It's not that I hate the plant–or I reckon it's plantS, since there are thou...

4LadiesandaBeaker...and a dude?

Our organics room is notoriously full of women. Before our group there have been many other women that have advanced forward or left these laboratory halls forever.  For my time here years have gone by without any sign of testosterone.  Recently and for a short time only we got a new hire that was a man!  And he enjoys graffiti as much as I like to doodle so that was fun.  He still works in the building, but was moved to a different room. 

Here is his graffiti for our room OEP

 A view from farther away to capture both of his hoods

This is a closeup of his other freehand.  I requested this spot for graffiti so the SPE counter would have a good view of it!  I thought the colors turned out great and it really brightens up the room.  We deal with mostly water samples and I love the flowing feel of this piece.  I couldn't quite get the feel of the record to come through even in a close-up, but this record is pretty perfect and looks so legitimate you want to reach out and touch it. 

Throwback Thursday Lab Style

I was going through books recently and found a journal I had to make for school in the 4th grade. Apparently science has always been my favorite subject.  I have no idea what the witch experiment was, but maybe that partially explains the old time look I went with here.  The design isn't much but kitchen supplies and random shaped objects in what seems to be a dusty wizard's lair.  When I was young I'm pretty sure I thought science was closer to magic.  Science was and still is fascinating to me in the way that magic is, but reality is usually different from imagination.  I imagined scientists more as crazed alchemists in caves making concoctions from recipes in ancient books, and creating bubbling explosions of liquids and gases of various colors.

So here's what 4th grade me thought science looked like vs. what a real life science laboratory looks like.  

Working on a Saturday

Here is what working on a Saturday feels like.  Actually working on the weekends isn't bad at all except for getting up early and going to work.  I just took this picture as a joke to send to coworkers.  Only a few people work on the weekends so the lab is mostly dark and quiet and calm.  Usually overtime on the weekends is not necessary however, we use it as a chance to catch up on dishes when it's busy, or if we need to make up hours for doctor's appointments etc.  Doing dishes in the laboratory business means washing analytical glassware.  Glassware includes things like beakers, buchner funnels, volumetrics, and flasks.  Our dishware is mostly glass, but we have a few items that are teflon or other plastics.  We wear kevlar gloves and then layer up with those huge green gloves in the picture.  We wear a lab coat every day all the time in our room, or in the hallways and coolers getting samples, but in the dishroom we wear an extra layer of plastic apron over our lab coat.  We wash our glassware with hot water and citranox, a liquid acid cleaner.  Here is the MSDS on citranox.  An MSDS, or material safety data sheet, is where you find information about the product you are using.  Labels are often not read and overlooked but worth the read always!

<https://www.alconox.com/Resources/StandardDocuments/MSDS/msds_citranox_english_ghs.pdf>

After a wash with soapy citranox, the glassware is rinsed with tap water in a sink and then washed again in a solution of sulfuric acid and water.  Sulfuric acid is known to stick to glassware, leaving a residue on the glass.  Because of this the final steps to washing analytical glassware include rinsing with tap water and then DI (deionized) water.  We take the finished glassware back to our regular O.E.P. (Organic Extraction Prep)  room where at our leisure we rinse out glassware again with a squirt bottle mix of acetone and methylene chloride.  

Welcome to the Jungle...

These are our current hood decorations and probably the most elaborate.  We love animals and they often make their way into our doodles no matter the theme.  

Here's the SPE area with our extractors up and running.  My SPE partner and I work in this little tiny area all day.  This is method 525, which takes up both hoods with the machines running samples on the left, and space for rinsing glassware in between sample runs on the right.  

 Left Hood

These our the solvent bottles hidden behind a waterfall, butterflies, and vines.

 Some closer details featuring a jaguar and evil monkey.

Tropical birds and frogs

Right hood

Mama and baby hippo wading in water

An alligator in expectation!

A relaxin' sloth