didn't let the heat stop me today
Aug. 3rd, 2010 11:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kareinaWhen I woke up this morning the Alps were visible from my apartment. This is always a good thing, and had me start the day in a good mood, despite waking up kind of early in relation to when I went to sleep. Since it was also early with respect to the sun, which was still hiding below buildings and not causing much heat yet, I celebrated by going for a short walk. The walk came with a reward, as I passed a pile of good condition empty boxes that someone had flattened and left out near their trash; I've been needing more boxes to pack up the last of ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
clovis_t's books, so I happily took them home with me. After the walk I took a short nap, and then went down to the lab, since today was the day I was scheduled to download the experiment that has been running for about 455 hours.
This involved meeting a co-worker for help, so I checked in with him, and he said that he'd be free in about an hour. Since it generally takes about that long to weld the powder into a new capsule, I set to the task. I had originally hoped to have two new capsules ready by the time this experiment ended so that I'd be ready to start the next one (we run two capsules in every experiment). Alas, my last two attempts at capsule welding ended in failure (which was most disappointing since five in a row before that worked perfectly on the first attempt). Today, though I worked slowly and carefully and was convinced I'd cleaned away all of the powder before pinching the ends of the capsule shut, still it managed to split open during the final weld, and the hour's work was for naught.
Once I'd cleaned up the tools my colleague was ready to help me download, and as we worked he asked "is this your last experiment till September?" I replied that I had hoped to have another ready to go by now, but the capsules have been splitting open on the weld, which is frustrating when they had been working so well a few weeks back. He then commented that it is always harder to weld during the summer, that the increased heat/humidity causes the powder to sick more than usual, meaning that the welds tend to split open. This news was strangely comforting, though I wish someone had mentioned this before! Thinking back on it, I first learned how to weld during last summer, when it was hot and humid, and found it to be very difficult. Then, over winter, I learned the trick of it, and got to the point where it nearly always worked, and then this summer, ever since it has gotten hot, I've been failing at what should be a doable task.
With this new information I promptly agreed that, yes, it is in fact, my last experiment till September, and I happily gave myself permission not to try welding again till it cools off! We finished downloading, and I extracted the capsules from their nest and went looking for the guy who mounts them into epoxy. He wasn't in, but it was close enough to mid-day that he could have been at lunch, so I headed back towards my office intending to look again later. On the way I ran into another couple of colleagues, and stopped to talk to them. Then I asked if they knew if the missing man is meant to be here today, and they let me know that there is a notice posted in the lift detailing the dates each of the support staff are taking their summer holidays. Since I always take the stairs I hadn't seen the notice. We checked, and sure enough, the guy will be gone all month. But my colleagues know where to find the recipe for mixing epoxy, and agree to meet me tomorrow to take care of that step with me, so if all goes well I can have this experiment ready for next week's microprobe session.
Since I was on a roll I then did more research on the funding application I want do submit for a research project and then this evening actually settled in to doing work with my current data. However, I did have to head home twice today for icy showers to make it possible to keep working in the heat. As a result I am pleased to report that I actually managed 8 full hours of work today, though it took from 7 am to 10 pm to manage it.
Now it is getting late and there is still yoga to be done, so I should probably head home and see how my houseguests are doing. Yesterday and the day before I didn't work in the evenings (which is normally my most productive time of day) because I'm hosting two delightful folk, one from Scotland, the other from California.
clovis_t's books, so I happily took them home with me. After the walk I took a short nap, and then went down to the lab, since today was the day I was scheduled to download the experiment that has been running for about 455 hours. This involved meeting a co-worker for help, so I checked in with him, and he said that he'd be free in about an hour. Since it generally takes about that long to weld the powder into a new capsule, I set to the task. I had originally hoped to have two new capsules ready by the time this experiment ended so that I'd be ready to start the next one (we run two capsules in every experiment). Alas, my last two attempts at capsule welding ended in failure (which was most disappointing since five in a row before that worked perfectly on the first attempt). Today, though I worked slowly and carefully and was convinced I'd cleaned away all of the powder before pinching the ends of the capsule shut, still it managed to split open during the final weld, and the hour's work was for naught.
Once I'd cleaned up the tools my colleague was ready to help me download, and as we worked he asked "is this your last experiment till September?" I replied that I had hoped to have another ready to go by now, but the capsules have been splitting open on the weld, which is frustrating when they had been working so well a few weeks back. He then commented that it is always harder to weld during the summer, that the increased heat/humidity causes the powder to sick more than usual, meaning that the welds tend to split open. This news was strangely comforting, though I wish someone had mentioned this before! Thinking back on it, I first learned how to weld during last summer, when it was hot and humid, and found it to be very difficult. Then, over winter, I learned the trick of it, and got to the point where it nearly always worked, and then this summer, ever since it has gotten hot, I've been failing at what should be a doable task.
With this new information I promptly agreed that, yes, it is in fact, my last experiment till September, and I happily gave myself permission not to try welding again till it cools off! We finished downloading, and I extracted the capsules from their nest and went looking for the guy who mounts them into epoxy. He wasn't in, but it was close enough to mid-day that he could have been at lunch, so I headed back towards my office intending to look again later. On the way I ran into another couple of colleagues, and stopped to talk to them. Then I asked if they knew if the missing man is meant to be here today, and they let me know that there is a notice posted in the lift detailing the dates each of the support staff are taking their summer holidays. Since I always take the stairs I hadn't seen the notice. We checked, and sure enough, the guy will be gone all month. But my colleagues know where to find the recipe for mixing epoxy, and agree to meet me tomorrow to take care of that step with me, so if all goes well I can have this experiment ready for next week's microprobe session.
Since I was on a roll I then did more research on the funding application I want do submit for a research project and then this evening actually settled in to doing work with my current data. However, I did have to head home twice today for icy showers to make it possible to keep working in the heat. As a result I am pleased to report that I actually managed 8 full hours of work today, though it took from 7 am to 10 pm to manage it.
Now it is getting late and there is still yoga to be done, so I should probably head home and see how my houseguests are doing. Yesterday and the day before I didn't work in the evenings (which is normally my most productive time of day) because I'm hosting two delightful folk, one from Scotland, the other from California.
