sunrise in lab

Watching the sun rise is not as beautiful as everyone says. Especially when its over cast. Watching the sun rise from my desk in lab as I chase frogs in a bucket is even less beautiful.

At least I get to compare sunrise to sunset today since I'll be here for both. Bleh

meeting organization

Just got back from a pretty large meeting. Last time I went to this meeting it sucked. I went essentially alone and had no idea what i was getting myself into. I was hoping that it wouldn't be as horrible this year since I was going with a big group of people. Much to my dismay I was pissed off about 2 hours into the 5 day event.

Normally with meetings you show up and nothing happens until about 6pm on the first day. With this meeting talks were going on almost immediately. The issue is these first day things are not organized by the meeting organizers and instead by other people. This means that when you show up to a talk 1/2 hour before it is supposed to start and catch the end of the previous talk, it is mighty surprising to find out that the talk you wanted to see was the one you just walked in on. To do this again in a different session just down the hall is even more annoying. At least they could put a sign outside the door with the updated schedule so you can update your itinerary.

The rest of the meeting was fun and not so infuriating (for the most part).

my neighbors

I live in a duplex type thing. I live downstairs in a 1BR and a family (mother and 2 sons with occasional visits from the boyfriend of the mother and adult daughter) live upstairs in a 2BR. I like my neighbors for the most part.

They don't have a house phone, only the mother's cell phone. Which is fine, its the way most people do it these days. The mother works the graveyard shift from about 10pm to 6am. This means after she leaves the family does not have a phone. They occasionally come down and use my house phone. They are nice boys and before this I have never had a problem with them so I don't care much other than general annoyances.

Last night I got home from a lovely TDay vacation at about 9:30pm. I wound down with watching TV until about 11pm then went and read for a while in bed. I turn off my light and almost immediately they knock on my door. They have done this 2 other times and this time I just ignore them (tired, just got home from a long day of travel and well... fuck you). They realize I'm in bed and go upstairs and begin pounding on the floor (my ceiling) and yelling "GrumpyScience!!! I need to talk to you" through the floor. I get out of bed and dress appropriately enough to talk to a 14 year old boy. I go out the front door and knock on their door. Nothing. I knock (slam as I was getting pretty pissed) 2 more times. Nothing. I go back inside and go out the back door to see if he was out there. My completely indoor cat then takes the opportunity to bolt out the door. I chase her to get her back inside and she runs through the fence and into the neighbors yard. After some failed attempts with a toy to get her back she goes into the next yard.

At this point I'm fuming about the fact that if they hadn't been dicks I wouldn't be wandering around the neighborhood at midnight trying to get my cat back in the house.

I go up the back steps and start pounding on their back door. Intention: to make the fucker help me get my cat back. Nothing. So I go back down stairs to go take a trip around the block in search of the cat. Neighbor kid then comes out and this is the conversation that follows:

Him: Why are you pounding on the door like that?

Me: Because you asked to talk to me!

Him: No.

Me: Yes. Someone pounded on the floor and said "I need to talk to you".

Him: I needed to. But then I didn't anymore.

Me: Well you didn't answer your door so now my fucking cat is out (I think this was actually longer and more curse word ridden and more logical... but that's the gist).

Him: That's no reason to pound on the door like that!

Me: You do it to me all the time!

I then stormed back into my house to gather food and treats. About an hour later of me shaking a treat bag and a bowl of food and my cat being a bitch and running away from me I get her back in the house.

I'm having a word with his mother ASAP. Fucker.

Microscope etiquette

Lets talk about scope etiquette.

Specifically chair usage.

In our scope room we have an abundance of chairs. I am physically too short to see into the scope with any other chair except one. The issue is that everyone else also likes that chair as well.

If I have a slide on one scope, the imaging program open and a slide book open next to the scope assume I'm using the scope AND the chair in front it. You are at least 6 inches taller than me. Do not take the fucking chair to use it on the other scope and leave me with a strained neck/back from one of the other chairs. Especially don't switch it out with another chair so I am none the wiser until I realize I can't see. Fucking rude.

Intro

I'm a scientist. I'm grumpy. I write about science (and other stuff) that makes me grumpy.