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I woke up this morning expecting to get into the lab a little before 10 to watch a few procedures in the PC2 room (basically a sterile room) and get acquainted with what I would need to be doing for my cell cultures. I wandered down there at about 10 to find Christina there working with her cells and got to watch her for a bit, and then expected to help out with the defrosting of a cell line that I might be using.

Instead, a head poked into the PC2 room and informed Chris that a sheep had been sacrificed shortly before after having a severe reaction to the anesthetic it had been given. She finished up her work quick and we headed over towards the surgery room where the sheep was already on ice. (Feel free to skip the rest of this paragraph as it is slightly gory). We suited up in surgical overalls, with eye protection and gloves and, using a crane, moved the sheep out of the freezer onto a dolly (no pun intended) and rolled it into the surgical anteroom. Then, between myself, Chris, and one of the other staff members there we removed the 2 rear legs so Chris could get at the chondrocytes in the knee capsule. It was really interesting to watch the layers of skin, fat and muscle get cut through as we made the way to the bone, which we needed a hacksaw to get through. The legs were then double bagged and into the cold room they went, while the rest of the sheep went back in the freezer.

After that little adventure we met up with Jennifer who was defrosting the cells, and decided that it would be done at 2pm. I popped home for a quick lunch and then we went to work on defrosting the cells, and seeding them after their resuspension in media. Then I got to help make up a batch of new media, and stand with a pH meter adding drop after drop of HCl till it was sitting nicely at a pH of 7.12. The last step was filtering it, which took a bit of time, but was eventually completed. Finally I ran off to class only a little late, made it through the lecture and back home through the pouring rain. Now its just working on my assignments and getting ready for the break which is rapidly approaching.
5:32 AM 3 comments

 
Spent the majority of the day in Sydney today doing various bits of shopping with Joe, Sherlee and Lisa. I didn't get anything myself, but a few articles of clothing were purchased by the girls. We also managed to fit in coffee, lunch, and an afternoon snack in a scant 5 hours. This evening will be spent working on some assignments for my classes, and maybe I'll write up some things about last nights going away party for Andres.
6:32 PM 0 comments

 
In the spirit of all things picture like, some photos of Lisa's Birthday are now online. You can also take a look at my still in the process of figuring it out photoblog over at Duck Soup Endeavors.
2:01 AM 0 comments

 
I know it's been about 6 weeks since getting back from Tasmania, but I'm sure all still want to see some of the pictures. These are mainly from the Overland Track, the 5 day hike Joe and I completed, covering about 70 kilometers. I will eventually go back and put in some commentary on the individual pictures, but enjoy the breathtaking views and cute little echidna for now.
6:37 AM 4 comments

 
Played around with the comments a little bit- you should be able to put your own name in now by selecting 'other'. No more communicating with secret punctuation codes!
7:04 AM 3 comments

 
There's only so many ways I can say one half, and each year it becomes harder and harder to think of a new original creation.
1:23 PM 1 comments

 
The first week of classes is moving along. Already its Wednesday and half of week 1 is over. This semester will be a relatively light class load, balanced by my 12 unit project, details of which will porbably be revealed as I determine what exactly I will be doing it on. The title of the post is a basic starting point, and once I decide the areas that interest me the most I'll be heading in that direction. Yes, that's incredibly vague, I realize that. Hopefully it will make more sense when I describe it in a week or 2.

The 2 classes I'm taking are Electromedical Standards and Advanced Topics in Polymer Technology, which meet from 3-6 on Tuesdays and Wednesdays respectively. The rest of the week will be a mix of lab time, homework, reading journal articles, and of course a healthy dose of fun whenever possible.

In apartment related news, everything is here now save our couch/chair set which is coming on Sunday courtesy of Andrew 1's mom who was going to be getting rid of it. My room is feeling exactly how I want it, and my slightly obsessive neatness/organization is showing again. The first couple weeks here saw me slightly messier than normal, a problem (to me at least) since rectified.

Now all that's left is to catch up on all the laundry that didn't get done cause we lacked a washer (which I picked up on Sunday). That will take a few days since its a small washer and everything is dried outside (and limited by our clothes rack space). I think it's time to put up some pictures on my window now and then spend a little time reading Hillary Clinton's Living History. I'll try to keep up on this more and give a few more details as to what's going on. Between moving and everything else I just haven't been keeping up. Seems like lots of people are forgetting about blogs/journals/whatever recently.
6:18 AM 2 comments