lab and shedd

it was one of those mornings that took all i had to get out of bed...

Friday after work I headed to Bradley to begin the process to analyze my last set of samples for my thesis research. This was the third time I'd run the "last" set because the ELISA (Enzyme-Linked ImmunoSorbent Assay)had failed during the previous two attempts. To give you an idea of how this works, picture this: you take a technologically advanced drinking straw, called a pipette, to suck up a fraction of a droplet of liquid and place is into a well, which is smaller than a pencil eraser. There are 96 of these wells on a plate, each which must be filled with a different sample or standard concentration of chemical. There are 3-4 different solutions that must be pipetted into each well-a very tedious and nerve-racking process. It took 4 hours to do the first part of the procedure Friday night. Then I picked up the plate and other supplies Saturday morning and drove down to the SIU med school in Springfield to analyze them. This is where I get the numbers that tell me how much stress hormone is in each sample from the specific animal being studied. Before the analysis can be done, however, the wells have to be rinsed 5 times with a detergent. So, as per protocol, I rinsed and as I was emptying the solution, the plastic strips of wells in the plate all popped out of the plate and fell into the sink. Furthermore, the geniuses who came up with this design did not label the strips so there is no way to determine what order they go in. So now I have a bunch of numbers that are good for nothing because I don't know what animal they belong to. What a great waste of 8 hours of my life and a trip to SIU. Am I destined to not finish this thesis or what?

Sunday was better. Gina and I accompanied the Reality group to Chicago for a day on the town. Some went to a Sox game, the rest wanted to shop. We had no desire to go to the game and shopping would only mean spending money that didn't belong to me (because I have none), we went to the Shedd Aquarium. Neither of us had been there since Jr. High. The dolphin show was the best! They also had a lizard exhibit open and had a gigantic Komodo dragon on display! We walked to and from the aquarium from Michigan Ave, so had a great opportunity to enjoy a beautiful day along the lake. Dinner was at Ed Debevic's. It's always nice when you can enjoy a meal while being yelled at and harassed by your waitress.