and so it begins
Sep. 15th, 2009 09:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kareina...with tiny steps. Today, after joining my colleagues for lunch, I went to the lab and we assigned me a drawer in which to keep the various tools and components with which I will be setting up my experiments. Then one of them demonstrated how to prepare a thermocouple--first one carefully straightens the end of the wire, else it won't be possible to insert it later (I'll learn exactly what we insert it into later). Then one snips of the very end of the wire and first files it flat, then, using a microscope so as to see what one is doing, carefully removes the white powder from between the ends of the two internal wires and pries the external metal casing away from the internal wires so that when one welds the internal wires together they not only stick to one another, they do not stick to the external casing. After letting me look at the magnified wire end at various points in this process she welded the internal wires together, let me look again at the change, and then demonstrated how to test it--by plugging it into the big machine against the wall and watching the display. When nothing is plugged in, or the thermocouple which is plugged in wasn't welded correctly, the temperature display jumps around between a variety of really high numbers off the top end of the temperature scale, but when the thermocouple has been correctly welded the temperature display reads a reasonable number (in today's case, room temperature, since we weren't heating anything, but simply checking to see that it will work when we need it). (Oh--and have I mentioned yet that "room temperature" is actually reasonable now? It is! September has brought wonderful, cool, rainy weather to Milan, and one can dress in normal clothes, instead of suffering from the heat whilst wearing shorts and a tank-top.)
Tomorrow, or more likely Thursday, we will create the capsules for my first experiment. Once we start the process of filling the gold capsule with the powder and water it is important to finish the process and weld it shut, or some of the water will evaporate, and the amount we carefully measured will be different than the amount actually sealed within. Since I have an appointment to look at an apartment for rent across the street at 11:00, that might not leave enough time in the day to get the first capsule properly loaded and ready to go. However, I have more than enough uni work to do to keep me busy if the experiment gets put off another day.
In other news, I've finally posted the field trip summary for the second stop of the pre-conference field trip I went on a couple of weeks back. This leaves one more field trip I still need to describe. There are more photos from this trip already posted to Facebook, but I haven't yet uploaded the post-conference field trip photos. Stay tuned.
Oh--I almost forgot to share some interesting happenings on my return trip. I spent much of the flight from Eindhoven to Italy working on a nalbinding project; early on the lady seated next to me asked about it--she'd seen knitting done with two needles, but never a fabric assembled from a single needle before. Then she returned to reading her book. When she put it down as we were coming in for a landing I asked her about the buildings tattooed upon her forearm, and she explained that they were from the city of Bergamo, where the plane was about to land--her home. She pointed out that she doesn't understand why the airlines claims to be landing in Milan, when the airport is in Bergamo. We discussed the topic a bit further, and she offered me a lift to the Bergamo train station so that I could get back to Milan. Since the flight attendant had just announced that they would sell us bus tickets to Milan for 8.50 Euros, I accepted her offer, trains being more comfortable than buses. As it turned out, the train cost only 4.50 Euros for the trip to the Milan Central station, which is only a 35 minute walk from my apartment. I had been a bit sceptical about flying into Bergamo, given its distance from the city, but now that I've been through it, I think I need to go back. The view of the Alps from the airport, and from the town is wonderful. They appear to be about as far from the peaks as mid-town Anchorage is from theirs, or, at least, the mountains here form a similar sized back-drop for that town as the one I grew up with. Their city center/old town is very pretty they way it clings to a smaller hill which is separated from the main mountain range. I'll have to look up the geology before I return, and allow enough time to really look around the area when I do.
That nice bit of random human interaction helped brighten up a long day of travel (or rather, a long time waiting at an airport with respect to the amount of time spent in the air), and it was followed up by a flattering random incident in the city. I got of the train and commenced my walk home, dragging my suitcase and carry on luggage (both on wheels) behind me, pausing now and again to switch which one was in which hand, as the suitcase was just enough the heavier of the two as to cause some discomfort in my elbow. As I approached a busy intersection and waited with the crowd of people to cross the street a man looked at me, glanced at my luggage (reading the tag which indicated that I'd flown in to the city), and then asked me (in English) if I could recommend a good Indian Restaurant in the area. When I replied that I'd not yet eaten in any of the local restaurants he suggested that we could go try one together. I replied that I'd had a long day of travel and just wanted to get home, and he chatted briefly with me a bit more as we walked along with the crowd before falling back behind me (perhaps to try again with another potential dinner partner?). This was the first time in my life that a random stranger has asked me out, and coming at the end of a long day, when I had been feeling a bit tired and listless from my journey it really made me feel good. I may have said "no thanks", but it still brightened my day to have been asked, and in a manner which came across as friendly and respectable, rather than slimy as happens in the movies.
Tomorrow, or more likely Thursday, we will create the capsules for my first experiment. Once we start the process of filling the gold capsule with the powder and water it is important to finish the process and weld it shut, or some of the water will evaporate, and the amount we carefully measured will be different than the amount actually sealed within. Since I have an appointment to look at an apartment for rent across the street at 11:00, that might not leave enough time in the day to get the first capsule properly loaded and ready to go. However, I have more than enough uni work to do to keep me busy if the experiment gets put off another day.
In other news, I've finally posted the field trip summary for the second stop of the pre-conference field trip I went on a couple of weeks back. This leaves one more field trip I still need to describe. There are more photos from this trip already posted to Facebook, but I haven't yet uploaded the post-conference field trip photos. Stay tuned.
Oh--I almost forgot to share some interesting happenings on my return trip. I spent much of the flight from Eindhoven to Italy working on a nalbinding project; early on the lady seated next to me asked about it--she'd seen knitting done with two needles, but never a fabric assembled from a single needle before. Then she returned to reading her book. When she put it down as we were coming in for a landing I asked her about the buildings tattooed upon her forearm, and she explained that they were from the city of Bergamo, where the plane was about to land--her home. She pointed out that she doesn't understand why the airlines claims to be landing in Milan, when the airport is in Bergamo. We discussed the topic a bit further, and she offered me a lift to the Bergamo train station so that I could get back to Milan. Since the flight attendant had just announced that they would sell us bus tickets to Milan for 8.50 Euros, I accepted her offer, trains being more comfortable than buses. As it turned out, the train cost only 4.50 Euros for the trip to the Milan Central station, which is only a 35 minute walk from my apartment. I had been a bit sceptical about flying into Bergamo, given its distance from the city, but now that I've been through it, I think I need to go back. The view of the Alps from the airport, and from the town is wonderful. They appear to be about as far from the peaks as mid-town Anchorage is from theirs, or, at least, the mountains here form a similar sized back-drop for that town as the one I grew up with. Their city center/old town is very pretty they way it clings to a smaller hill which is separated from the main mountain range. I'll have to look up the geology before I return, and allow enough time to really look around the area when I do.
That nice bit of random human interaction helped brighten up a long day of travel (or rather, a long time waiting at an airport with respect to the amount of time spent in the air), and it was followed up by a flattering random incident in the city. I got of the train and commenced my walk home, dragging my suitcase and carry on luggage (both on wheels) behind me, pausing now and again to switch which one was in which hand, as the suitcase was just enough the heavier of the two as to cause some discomfort in my elbow. As I approached a busy intersection and waited with the crowd of people to cross the street a man looked at me, glanced at my luggage (reading the tag which indicated that I'd flown in to the city), and then asked me (in English) if I could recommend a good Indian Restaurant in the area. When I replied that I'd not yet eaten in any of the local restaurants he suggested that we could go try one together. I replied that I'd had a long day of travel and just wanted to get home, and he chatted briefly with me a bit more as we walked along with the crowd before falling back behind me (perhaps to try again with another potential dinner partner?). This was the first time in my life that a random stranger has asked me out, and coming at the end of a long day, when I had been feeling a bit tired and listless from my journey it really made me feel good. I may have said "no thanks", but it still brightened my day to have been asked, and in a manner which came across as friendly and respectable, rather than slimy as happens in the movies.