LTE 2.0

[Very Duke Blue]

Congratulations to everyone. I wish all of rising freshman the best!!!

[YmoBeThere]

Everybody's working for the weekend!

[YmoBeThere]

Lavabe is getting close to Chancellor. I still have a ways to go to Endowed Professor.

[DevilWearsPrada2.0]

Have a good weekend!!!

[ArkieDukie]

Congrats to all the new college students! Sounds like Niece Elizabeth and Legacy Lady have great futures ahead of them.

[ArkieDukie]

Loads of fun recently. Road Runner continues her decline into being stark raving mad. Others in the lab continue to question what the heck Bar Minion is being paid to do, as she never sets foot in the lab. The same questions are raised about Son of Road Runner, who is being paid to sit at his desk and play computer games. My role in her lab has devolved to validating data (her people don't like to do this, so it gets relegated to me), randomizing samples and generating instrument queues. The latter two tasks are basic secretarial work that her people don't like to do. Morale is at an all-time low.

I've been having fun dealing with Wile E. Coyote's wife. Her most recent escapade was to mess up the plumbing on one of our instruments (she messed up a couple of fittings and a couple of pieces of tubing). She then proceeded to call the instrument manufacturer and tell them to send replacement parts. It's somewhat similar to running out of laundry detergent and calling the manufacturer of your washing machine and requesting that they send more. I don't know how many times I told her that the service agreement doesn't cover consumables. She contined to harangue our service engineer about this long after she had been told that it is not covered. All I could do was apologize to the service engineer and fix her mess.

Just before Easter, I was trying to set up the instrument to run some samples for another investigator. Nothing was working. I tried everything I could think of, but the machine was still not working correctly. Just before I called tech support, and about 3/4 of the way through the day, I discovered that Wife of Wile E. Coyote had switched the solvent lines for my method. She put the water line into the organic solvent and vice-versa. I switched it back and everything was fine. The question still remains, why the hell did she swap the lines? She had to have been stealing solvent from one or both bottles because she was too lazy to get her own. (Rant redacted)

The person I'm running the analysis for brought me another set of samples yesterday. The set that I ran before was a hot mess (he's doing method development). I told him he needed to extract a couple of concentrations in triplicate to make sure he can get consistent results (variation less than 20%). Yesterday's sample set consisted of 6 samples, 3 concentrations in duplicate. I asked him why he didn't run triplicates; his answer was that he only had 6 cartridges. I then asked the obvious, "Why didn't you do 2 concentrations in triplicate?" The answer was, "Oh, I didn't think of that." This is not a new problem with this particular individual. He's from one of those countries where women are viewed as intellectual inferiors. He has yet to do anything I tell him to do.

An acquaintance at work has just gotten a VERY nice position with another academic institution in Houston. He got a 50% raise to work 2 miles from home, and he got a HUGE startup package to purchase instrumentation. He's planning to hire 2 people; one of them will do exactly what I do now. Projected hire date is next January. We will be staying in contact with one another; he will let me know when the position is advertised so I can apply.

[DukePA]

Loads of fun recently. Road Runner continues her decline into being stark raving mad. Others in the lab continue to question what the heck Bar Minion is being paid to do, as she never sets foot in the lab. The same questions are raised about Son of Road Runner, who is being paid to sit at his desk and play computer games. My role in her lab has devolved to validating data (her people don't like to do this, so it gets relegated to me), randomizing samples and generating instrument queues. The latter two tasks are basic secretarial work that her people don't like to do. Morale is at an all-time low.

I've been having fun dealing with Wile E. Coyote's wife. Her most recent escapade was to mess up the plumbing on one of our instruments (she messed up a couple of fittings and a couple of pieces of tubing). She then proceeded to call the instrument manufacturer and tell them to send replacement parts. It's somewhat similar to running out of laundry detergent and calling the manufacturer of your washing machine and requesting that they send more. I don't know how many times I told her that the service agreement doesn't cover consumables. She contined to harangue our service engineer about this long after she had been told that it is not covered. All I could do was apologize to the service engineer and fix her mess.

Just before Easter, I was trying to set up the instrument to run some samples for another investigator. Nothing was working. I tried everything I could think of, but the machine was still not working correctly. Just before I called tech support, and about 3/4 of the way through the day, I discovered that Wife of Wile E. Coyote had switched the solvent lines for my method. She put the water line into the organic solvent and vice-versa. I switched it back and everything was fine. The question still remains, why the hell did she swap the lines? She had to have been stealing solvent from one or both bottles because she was too lazy to get her own. (Rant redacted)

The person I'm running the analysis for brought me another set of samples yesterday. The set that I ran before was a hot mess (he's doing method development). I told him he needed to extract a couple of concentrations in triplicate to make sure he can get consistent results (variation less than 20%). Yesterday's sample set consisted of 6 samples, 3 concentrations in duplicate. I asked him why he didn't run triplicates; his answer was that he only had 6 cartridges. I then asked the obvious, "Why didn't you do 2 concentrations in triplicate?" The answer was, "Oh, I didn't think of that." This is not a new problem with this particular individual. He's from one of those countries where women are viewed as intellectual inferiors. He has yet to do anything I tell him to do.

An acquaintance at work has just gotten a VERY nice position with another academic institution in Houston. He got a 50% raise to work 2 miles from home, and he got a HUGE startup package to purchase instrumentation. He's planning to hire 2 people; one of them will do exactly what I do now. Projected hire date is next January. We will be staying in contact with one another; he will let me know when the position is advertised so I can apply.

Oh my! Fingers crossed for the potential new position!!!

[ArkieDukie]

Requesting vibes: my mom was admitted to the hospital today. Her platelet counts are 1/10th of what they are supposed to be. That's really all we know right now.

She was really weak when I was home last weekend. My sister and I took her to town and had to push her in a wheel chair. She has always bruised easily, and she had lots of bruises last weekend. All the symptoms add up; now we're waiting on the cause.

[YmoBeThere]

Vibes sent...and vibes also to those in NC. Hopefully, everyone avoided yesterday's storm activity.

[lawgrad91]

AD, vibes and prayers for your mom and also for the possible new job.

[DukieInKansas]

Prayers for your Mom, AD.

[Lavabe]

Vibes are a-flowing!!

[Very Duke Blue]

Ad, prayers and vibes your mom. Vibes for a possible new job for you.

[ArkieDukie]

Thanks, all. Younger sister traveled to be with my dad at the hospital. Brothers were there today (younger brother helped Dad get her there). We're still waiting to find out what is going on. Stressful as the hospital is, at least Dad has someone to help him take care of Mom. She cannot take care of herself at all, so he does everything. It is a major job, as I learned last weekend.

[DukePA]

Thanks, all. Younger sister traveled to be with my dad at the hospital. Brothers were there today (younger brother helped Dad get her there). We're still waiting to find out what is going on. Stressful as the hospital is, at least Dad has someone to help him take care of Mom. She cannot take care of herself at all, so he does everything. It is a major job, as I learned last weekend.

[shereec]

Sending vibes, prayers and hugs, AD. Keep a good thought!

[ArkieDukie]

Update on my mom: she's on steroids to bring platelets up. They're also monitoring her blood sugar and giving her insulin as needed. No signs of stroke or heart attack. We're wondering if some combination of her meds is causing the low platelets. If so, that can be fixed.

I've been saying for a while that some of my mom's problems are related to her blood sugar being out of whack. My SIL, who is a LPN at a nursing home, tells my dad to let Mom eat whatever she wants because there will come a time when she won't want to eat. I am hoping that the current hospital stay will bring about a change in her diet. I believe that my dad is getting some bad advice from my SIL, and the only way that will change is if a MD tells Dad that Mom's diet needs to change.

[IowaDevil]

Hugs prayers and vibes for AD Mom and your whole family!

[YmoBeThere]

One weather report said highest temperature today since last century. And by century the actually meant 1899.

[Ima Facultiwyfe]

Vibing for your entire family, AK. It's doubly hard when the caretaker is the guy. Women are trained to do that sort of thing. I'd hate to have to rely on the OP! Glad your dad has backup. Keep us up to date on what they decide is the problem with your mom. Hope you can feel our long distance hugs wrapped all around you.
Love, love, Ima