Caught Up, FINALLY!

If my constant complaining about my equipment at work bores you, you can skip this one.

Last week my boss came in on Monday, but had Tuesday through Friday off.

So, of course, Tuesday morning, when he wasn't there, the plasma wouldn't light. Again. It gave me the same error message as before. Again. I e-mailed Agilent Dude and explained what was going on. We chatted a bit, and he had me try a few things to see if I could get it working by myself, but it WOULD. NOT. GO. So, he said he'd come in Wednesday afternoon.

He didn't say what time...

He got here pretty late in the afternoon, just about when I was leaving. We talked and strategized a bit, and he got to work. He had ordered some parts in and was thinking that it was the matching box, which was the same part he had replaced a few weeks ago. Apparently, the new one he put in was defective! Yay! So he was at my lab until 7:30 that night, and then he sent me an e-mail that I got the next morning saying that once he had the new matching box back in, it started giving him a whole new set of problems. Joy.

He was able to come in Thursday morning and try a few more things, but he couldn't get it to work, so he ordered some more parts and said he'd be able to come in again on Monday (he had a service call to Colorado he had to make Thursday and Friday. I feel sorry for this guy, having to run all over the place so much!).

Fortunately, we have a method for heavy metals on the ICP-OES that kinda sorta almost works, so after Coworker was running all of his samples on that instrument we were able to throw mine on and let them run overnight. Then, in the morning, we figured out which samples didn't work and sent them over to another lab in the area (because they're super super awesome and nice and helpful) (plus we help them when their instruments are down) (it's all about back scratching) and we were able to keep up with everything that way. Thank goodness, because having an entire week's worth of samples to catch up on would have been pure hell, let me tell you! As it was, I could only run our company's samples this way, and had to save up all the samples from outside clients.

He was able to come in Monday and it was fixed by about 1:00, so we were able to jump on and start getting things done! All I can say is that by the time I left work yesterday, there were still about 90 samples in the queue to be run overnight.

I was so afraid that I would come in this morning to find that something had gone terribly wrong and nothing would have been tested and I would have DIED. But everything worked, and I am just about caught up. Yesterday, however, was the most stressed at work I've been in a very, very long time. I forgot to eat lunch, I was so stressed and busy! At the end of the day I came home and just kinda let myself go brain dead.

But I'm alive. And today things are working.

KNOCK ON FREAKING WOOD.

Text Time 15

Mim: I hate giving away books; I don't want them to feel rejected...

Mim: Aargh! I can't decide whether to arrange my bookshelves by size, color, topic, or alphabet!

Kwiddens: I wonder if BO smells like body odor
Kwiddens: I mean the chemical compound BO
Me: I know :)
Kwiddens: Okie. I didn't want you thinking I was (more) tarded
Me: Lol. You're not "tarded" at all!
Kwiddens: I knew you'd never tell me...

Kwiddens: If I walk to the gas station to get chocolate, I'm nearly calorie neutral!

Kwiddens: I need a nanny today.
Me: I need a shot.
Kwiddens: Amen.
(This one was edited for language. Use your imagination!)

Computers Out Of Thin Air

When I lived in South Dakota kids could get a job when they were 14, but here you have to wait until you're 16, which is fine, unless you're only 15 and you really want a new gaming computer and your parents won't buy you one.

Enter: The Big Sister.

Jorg really wanted a new gaming computer, and Scott is magical and makes computers out of thin air (or out of parts from NewEgg...).

So we all decided that we would buy the computer, and Jorg would pay us back by working 40 hours for us. And I mean WORKING. He's been coming over and staying almost every weekend lately and helping us with all sorts of things around the house, slowly whittling down his hours. He's done 12 already, I think. When he's not working, he and Scott play games, and we've been having tons of fun.

This turned out to be a perfect opportunity for Scott to build himself a new gaming computer, too, which is why he now won't let me buy him anything for his birthday later this month.

So Jorg experiences working hard for something he really wants, and I have someone to help me paint the living room. Scott hates painting, so I was going to have to do it all alone, but now I have company!

A Brief Letter

Dear ICP-MS,

SHOVE IT.

Lots of love,

Your Frustrated Mama

Mix It Up!

1. Monday Kwiddens came over and we baked. We made mini chocolate chip cookies for Scott and Jorg, and coffee cream puffs for ourselves. The cream puffs were a smashing success. We ended up with about twice as much coffee-flavored whipped cream as we needed, and now it's sitting in my fridge and I don't have any idea what to do with it.

2. I'm amazed that the baking worked out well because I had some trouble with the damn oven last week. I had bought some cookie dough and was making mini chocolate chip cookies for Scott (I know, twice in one week, so sue me). The instructions said to bake them for nine or ten minutes, so I put them in for eight and checked on them, and they were BURNT. So, I put some more in, this time for six minutes, and then I went to check on them and they were BURNT. So, I put the rest in, for five minutes, and when I checked on them, they weren't cooked AT ALL. Oven gremlins?

3. I've been having so much fun with my knitting group. The original plan was to meet twice a month, but we're all loving it so much that we've been meeting every week. It's motivating me to actually work on projects, too! I had gone through a two or three month knitting dry spell, but now I'm back into it and loving it. It's fun and satisfying to see what everyone else is making and squish their yarn.

4. Work has been crazy. Yesterday I walked in and there were seven samples, so I thought "AWESOME, short day, and then I can go home and take a nap!" Um, no. Coworker called me a few minutes later and asked if I could run 150 samples for another company. Ha! I rushed as much as I could to get regular stuff done so that when those samples arrived I would be ready to go. They never came, but ironically people kept bringing me more and more work and I ended up staying for more than eight hours anyway. We'll see how things go today...

5. Scott mentioned french fries last night while we were talking and that's all I've been able to think about all day.

It's The End Of The World As We Know It

...or the end of Harry Potter.

And I feel fine.

I read the very first Harry Potter book shortly after it came out. My friend Samantha had read it and lent it to me, and I read it, and I wasn't that interested. I passed on the series for quite a while.

Then, my family had to take a trip to Pennsylvania, and I was a moody teenager, I think in my senior year of high school, and all I wanted to do was hang out in our hotel room and sleep. There came a point where I was sick of sleeping, though, and I was bored out of my skull, so I grabbed the only reading material in sight: my sister's copy of The Goblet Of Fire. And I was hooked. "Wait a minute", I thought, "Why didn't I like the first one all those years ago?"

Now that I've read them all (cough*multiple times*), I can easily see that as the story moves forward it becomes more detailed and interesting, and so in hindsight I like the first book just fine, although it's not my favorite.

Anyway, the last three books all came out while I was in college, and for the first two I waited (impatiently) for a roommate or close friend to finish reading the copy she had bought so I could borrow (and devour) it. The last book was pre-ordered on Amazon by our dear Scott as a reward for finishing my very last paper in my very last class so I could actually get a diploma.

Books have always been in my life, and they've always been my escape. Stressed about school? Grab a book. Down about yourself? Grab a book. Life turning into a living hell? Grab two books. ESCAPE.

And this sound incredibly nerdy, but I feel like the characters in my very favorite books are my friends, and I take it very personally when I reach the end of a series and they're gone from my life. The characters in Harry Potter have been close friends for nine years now.

It was sad enough for the last book to come out, and knowing that there weren't going to be any more. I'd laughed and cried and loved and hated along with all these characters, and that was it. I was sad about this, but all good things come to an end (except ice cream; that must NEVER come to an end). But at least they were still making movies, and even though they aren't nearly as good as the books (duh), I still love All Things Potter, so I was still happy.

But when the credits rolled on the very last movie the day before yesterday, I know it was really finished this time. Oh, sadness. And by finished, I mean until Pottermore is open to the public (Google it, if you want to). And maybe someday when I have a zillion extra dollars I'll go to that amusement park that's all HP and stuff.

And I can always read the books again.

Kwiddens's Toasty Feet

Too bad nobody wants warm feet in heat like this...

Text Time 14

Me: The thing about going to the gym is, it makes me hungry, so I feel like if I eat it's defeating the purpose of going in the first place.
Mim: Not if you eat high fiber or lean protein. Nutrient rich foods. No empty calories.
Me: But I want cake, dammit!
Mim: Have a broccoli cake. With skinless chicken breast frosting!

Kwiddens: I need to start taking some kind of drug that makes me just take everything in stride
Me: Like pot?
Kwiddens: Valium :)

Kwiddens: Right now I could go for hot cocoa and popcorn and blankets and a movie
Me: I have all that, except switch yarn for popcorn!

Kwiddens: I wanted to get pie but Isaac wasn't supportive.
Me: You should have married someone more supportive!
Kwiddens: Or I should just stop wanting pie

Scott: Dr. Cox is right
Me: About?
Scott: If you can't decide what you want in the 10 minutes it takes to get to the front of the line I should be allowed to kill you

Oh, And I Really Want A Quesadilla

I haven't posted a lot lately, mainly because I felt like I didn't have much to post about. I kinda like each of my posts to focus on one event or theme or something I've recently made. But I want to write, so I might have more than a few "Random Thoughts" sorts of posts for a while. Deal with it.

1. Mim and I went to Lava Hot Springs again this past weekend. We lounged and soaked and even though it was really ridiculously hot outside, we still caught the breeze on our wet skin and that made it all totally worth it. We talked and talked and talked, and had our traditional dinner at a diner, and we went earlier this time so I didn't get home at midnight!

2. After a long week of the ICP-MS working, then not working, then being repaired, then not being repaired, then working kinda and getting partially caught up to not working again and getting behind again, and then being repaired (and that taking about 7 hours), then getting caught up again, then normal operation for two days...deep breath...it crapped out again last night after I left. I simply cannot win this one. The Agilent dude is trying to rearrange his schedule so he can get here ASAP.

3. I finished one of Kwiddens's socks last night! It turns out you can get a lot of knitting done when your equipment doesn't work.

4. Just kidding, I think the ICP-MS is working now. I'll keep you posted.

5. I still haven't seen the latest Harry Potter movie. I'm waiting until the crowds die down and until I can get together with Kwiddens (and maybe Jorg) to go see it.

A Month Of Blankets

Remember the Babette Blanket?

Well, I've got the itch to make it again, for me, in 17 shades of pink. In fact, I've already ordered the yarn for it. I'm very excited about it!

I don't feel like I can start another project that's so big without finishing up some projects first, so I've been on a major finishing spree this past month, and I'm not finished yet. So here are all the baby blankets I've been making:

This is actually one I made quite a long time ago, with no particular baby in mind, just so I could have an extra on hand for when someone has a baby and I'm too busy to make another one:

This one was the same story, but in pink:

So, now I have a spare for a boy and one for a girl.

This next one is for the baby our friend Ben just had (well, technically his wife):

And here's yet another spare, in pink:

This last one has a story behind it.

A few years ago my dear friend Andrea had her first baby, and I made her a blanket for him and sent it to her. He loved it and dragged it around everywhere he went. I was incredibly touched and proud that someone loved something I had made so much!

Well, a few weeks ago, The Blankie was lost! They retraced their steps and tried to find it, but had no luck. She posted on Facebook about it, and I had an idea.

I decided to try and replicate the blanket and surprise her with it! I remembered what kind of yarn I used and thought I had remembered the pattern, which I had made up, but I remembered it totally wrong and looked through old pictures and found a picture I had taken when I made the first one!

So I made it:

And I think it turned out about exactly like the old one:

Anyway, I shipped it off and when she got it she called me and it was just so much fun to make it and surprise her! I know that even though it's the same yarn and the same pattern and I even used the same crochet hook, it's still not the original, but she can pretend, right? And in the meantime, I hope her son can't tell the difference!

Now, before I can start a Babette for myself, I need to finish some socks I started for Kwiddens and a sweater I had started for either me or Mim (I can't decide!).