Today I went to X-ray safety training - maybe one day I will be able to use the X-ray machine at SU, and if not, Le Moyne is getting one soon, so I will be all prepared! I'm so proud of us. :) (Well, Drs. O'Brien, Craig and Tanner, anyway...)
http://echo.lemoyne.edu/NewsFlash/displaypage.asp?NewsNo=4480
It was at this safety training that it started to pour, and then there was hail. The cloudburst was short, but the lightening was severe - a bolt of it hit the building! This triggered an alarm, and we were sequestered to the basement in more or less "fire drill" fashion. It was so odd, but everyone is safe, and all is well. That's the most important part.
I passed my safety training with flying colors, and I am now ready and raring to go. I can't wait to use another cool machine. The more I do here, the more I get a feel for what I want to do later on, where I want to go with my own future research. Perhaps, more importantly, I learn where I don't want to do.
Our reactions are going well; I took the proton NMR of our latest product, the attempt to turn the chlorine in the AZT-Cl to a thiol group (-SH). I am still not sure if the reaction worked or not, as there are two peaks that have appeared, each integrating to 7. Basically, there is at least one new proton source, and there are two new sets of 7 equivalent protons. I have absolutely no idea where this is coming from, but that is the nature of research: discovery. I realize more and more every day how little I actually know in the grand scheme of things, how little is known by the scientific community. We know a lot, and yet there is so much more out there waiting to be known. I hope that one day, I can make some contribution to the pool of understanding.
I get to play softball again tomorrow. I am very excited; now that I more or less know what the rules are, I think I will be a bit better. I shouldn't speak too soon, though. After all, I was the one who fell the first time I was at bat, three feet from home plate, attempting to run to first base. That was yesterday. I am 20 years old, and I am probably one of the most uncoordinated people you will ever encounter.
Currently reading: Wicked, as well as Lisey's Story by Stephen King. Not very far into that one yet; I'm trying to use it as my workout book. As for Wicked, I am finally to a part where I can sort of start to see what the musical was based off of. For any soundtrack addicts, I've made it through about the first four songs as far as plot is concerned.
Listening to: "Jack and Diane" by John Mellencamp. "Life goes on long after the thrill of living is gone..."
- Rachel
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