A day as Homer Simpson

On top of being very thick all the time in the lab, I've been even more like Homer Simpson today. I was working with real radioactive materials! Well, tritiated stuff don't really count. I am using 32P labeled dCTP to generate a hot probe for my Southern blotting. It's a bit scary really. 32P is quite active, and the regulations in the UK are quite strict. I had to work in a bench area shielded with very thick glassy sort of material (can't remember what it's called). I had to use counter that's like a torch attached to a metre to go through the entire work area and stuff that I have used whilst doing the radioactive work, including my hands. And of course I had to be double-gloved. I also have to keep a record of what form (liquid or waste) I have disposed of my radioactive reagents and the quantity.

Today is actually a frenzy day. I was doing all these new methods without being given a precise instruction/protocol as to what to beforehand. I just discovered new things that i needed to do as I went along, and they just ended up overlapping each other. There were like 4 buffers that I had to make up today all of a sudden. I also had a few time-points finishing around the same time, and the post-doc and Peter were telling me what to do here and there. I just didn't know what to do first and who to listen to. It actually annoys me quite a bit that the lab doesn't have a written detailed protocols for various routine experiments. I just hate not being organised and always become ultra stressed when things take longer than I expected.

Sleepy now... Dream of peiking duck, prawn noodles, egg benedict...