The Chemical Worker's Song

And it's go boys go
They'll time your every breath
And every day you're in this place your two days nearer death
But you go ...

Well, a process man am I and I am tellin' you no lie
I work and breathe among the fumes that tread across the sky
There's thunder all around me and there's poison in the air
There's a lousy smell that smacks of hell and dust all in me hair

Well, I've worked among the spitters and I breathe the oily smoke
I've shovelled up the gypsum and it neigh 'on makes you choke
I've stood knee deep cyanide, got sick with a caustic burn
Been working rough, I've seen enough to make your stomach turn

There's overtime and bonus opportunities galore
The young men like their money and they all come back for more
But soon your knocking on and you look older than you should
For every bob made on the job, you pay with flesh and blood

Well, a process man am I and I am telling you no lie
I work and breathe among the fumes that tread across the sky
There's thunder all around me and there's poison in the air
There's a lousy smell that smacks of hell and dust all in me hair

She's Leaving On A Jet Plane

It truly is the end of an era at our job.  Our room has been just us 4 for so long now.  As Kim said when our boss quit, the dominoes will fall now, and 1 by 1 our group is splitting up.

Amber said she was quitting work and almost just that quick she was gone.  We had our last cup of morning coffee in the hallway, our last lunch date at work, and finally our last girls night out.

{Here's the delicious and hilarious cake Kim made!}

I was just as sad to say goodbye to her pooches and I had to get puppy kisses before they left.

Amber and I have known each other since high school and took courses together by chance at community college.  We were actually organic chemistry lab partners!!!

We both went on to get our bachelors degrees at different colleges and once again randomly ran into each other in our hometown.  She's actually the reason I got the job at the lab in the first place.  She'd been there a couple months and knew they were going to be hiring.  We both started out in the same big room O.E.P. (Organics Extractions Prep) together and then trained in S.P.E. (solid phase extractions).  That meant learning new methods, working on a smaller micro scale level, but mostly moving to SPE meant moving to the back of the room.

So for years we worked 40 hours a week together behind a tiny little counter.  We would joke that it was a good thing we got along because we saw each other more than our own families.  We had a sort of SPE dance where we were constantly grabbing reagents out of cabinets, anticipating chairs rolling, and moving around each other to get the equipment we needed.  We were good at it.  We were each others' right hand woman, always there to assist.

I've had 2 weeks without her and you really see the roles people play at work and in your life when they're gone.  Her drawer, lab coat, and pipette bulbs have already been given away as a new wave of employees streams in.

I think we are all more sad because Amber is moving far away.  As the title suggests she's leaving on a jet plane.  Her husband is a pilot and the beach was calling, so they answered.  She wants to work with manatee conservation and I truly hope she can.  What more fulfilling job could you ask for?  Of course, if that happens I demanded she get me a job with her again!

I made these guys as going away presents.  They could be a necklace or just trinkets to sit around.  Since I've always been a nerd, that is real beach sand and seashells that I picked up as a little kid and throughout my life.  Now she can take a little of the Midwest with her.

I miss her immensely, but I know we'll see each other again.  Even if we didn't know it at first, it seems we're meant to be forever friends.

Who knows one day maybe all of us at 4ladiesandabeaker will find our way to the beach and back to Amber.

S.P.E. Partners in Crime

It's the last day with my beloved SPE partner and as is tradition she will probably leave early.  We had a last lunch to celebrate yesterday just in case.  I wasn't going to cry at work but I opened my locker to this. Let the happy/sad/celebratory tears begin.

Haymarket Riots

Today is May Day 2016.
It is a holiday that is often overlooked in modern American lives and little celebrated by most.

It is a holiday that those in power can only hope to extinguish.

 There are already great articles out there for you to read so I am not going to write a novel about it. If you don't know about the Haymarket Riots or May Day, it is worth your time to learn, appreciate, be angry, and think about our current state.

 The video above is from a band called The Wages of Sin.  I fell in love with their pirate music, however many of their songs such as this one, are rooted in American history.  

I've had trouble finding the full lyrics but here are some great lines that kind of sum it up and take a listen for yourself! It's a great song and history lesson rolled into one, what could be better?!

Papers called us traders,

Papers called us Reds,

Just because we want a decent wage,

To keep our families fed.

The jury was a travesty

The trial was a joke

Parsons, Spies, and Engel and Fischer got the rope

Here's a good quick article to read a fuller history of events.

http://www.iww.org/history/library/misc/origins_of_mayday

http://www.executedtoday.com/2008/11/11/1887-parsons-spies-fischer-engel-haymarket-martyrs/

Far Far Away

I've been absent here at 4LadiesandaBeaker for a little while and hopefully that will be the longest stretch.  There are various reasons for that and I will get into those a little further.  For now I will say I finally made it to vacation!!!! Much of my absense being due to no reception because I was in the sticks! Nothing joys me more than tuning out from the world in the amazing outdoors.  I'd saved all year and this will probably be the only vacation I take and boy was it worth every second.  I'll be posting about that more and sharing some photos.

Another reason for my absence is that March is always a crazy month for me.  I have many friends and relations sharing birthdays and of course March is also St. Patricks Day!  My boyfriend is in an Irish band and the shows never end near Paddy's Day.

Besides these reasons, work has kept me away!

2nd Quarter is our busiest of the year.  This is mostly due to nice weather beginning again in the spring as well as regulations for sampling.  We sometimes have mandatory overtime and work on the weekends.  As you already know our beloved organics boss resigned and has since picked up and moved away.  Even more recently my SPE partner and friend has put in her notice, sold her house, and is also close to the end of her laboratory career with us.

And that is the catch up on what's going on with me, but don't worry and don't leave because I have a lot of great articles coming your way!