tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-151387642009-11-10T07:17:57.458-05:00The Rock Lobsterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03411286136613933426noreply@blogger.comBlogger174125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15138764.post-33180821963493340192007-04-20T12:14:00.000-04:002007-06-08T11:51:30.689-04:00

8 posts shy of 200, I am moving this blog. I've had two blogs for awhile now. Some friends of mine gave me some webspace a long time ago, and I had a neglected, often un-updated blog over there. This blog has been my pet into which I put all my posting energy. I originally figured it would just be a record of my adventures in Oz and NZ, but then I kept going after the trip was over. The things I

The Rock Lobsterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03411286136613933426noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15138764.post-36958947307864787232007-04-18T14:20:00.000-04:002007-04-18T14:59:51.127-04:00

I have been at a loss for something to write about the last few days. I'm sure the rest of the blogosphere is chattering away about this week's events, but I doubt I have anything original or thought-provoking to add. I will say I've been unnaturally bummed about this shooting business, considering I have no ties to Virginia Tech. I suspect it's because VT reminds me so much of being an undergrad

The Rock Lobsterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03411286136613933426noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15138764.post-91171744120441854412007-04-16T07:55:00.000-04:002007-04-16T09:05:53.254-04:00

10 days left at the University! Let the countdown begin!Boy, I have got my work cut out for me for these next 10 workdays. I probably shouldn't even be blogging, but my brain doesn't get in work mode until 9am. That leaves me an hour to goof off and guzzle my coffee like it's going out of style. But yeah--lots of loose ends to wrap up. But it's nice knowing exactly what needs to be done. Makes it

The Rock Lobsterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03411286136613933426noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15138764.post-54705513924424885822007-04-12T18:48:00.000-04:002007-04-12T19:09:05.037-04:00

So. I turned in my formal letter of resignation to my boss this morning. There's something I've never done before. I can tell I'm ready to leave: I feel no emotional ties to this job anymore. I simply handed him the letter, told him I was leaving, and that was that. He didn't ask many questions about where I was going or why I was leaving. All I told him was that I wanted a permanent job,

The Rock Lobsterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03411286136613933426noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15138764.post-23801121091065296922007-04-11T12:37:00.000-04:002007-04-11T12:40:31.471-04:00

Second post in one day? Oh yes. And I have a good reason for it, too: I got the job at the internet! A round of cyberbeers for everyone, courtesy of me!

The Rock Lobsterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03411286136613933426noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15138764.post-55874403032463111452007-04-11T08:06:00.000-04:002007-04-11T08:40:37.011-04:00

[Still no word on the job. I'm not surprised, though. I'm starting to wonder exactly what kind of management I'd be under at The Company because the guy who'd be my boss (same guy who interviewed me) is starting to seem like a flake. Did I tell you about how he left me waiting for half an hour before my first interview? Half an hour, people! He had no good excuse, either. And now twice he's said,

The Rock Lobsterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03411286136613933426noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15138764.post-80203834652116969612007-04-09T08:09:00.000-04:002007-04-09T11:59:00.009-04:00

So I have to say I was floored by the response I got to that last post. I just figured la, la, la, here are some thoughts, maybe people will read them, maybe not, and I'll be on my merry way. And even before I got any responses from anyone, I immediately felt about 100 times better after spilling my guts. But you, kind readers, sent me emails, messages, and comments, and I have to say they made

The Rock Lobsterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03411286136613933426noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15138764.post-21263098983234746292007-04-06T11:27:00.000-04:002007-04-06T11:29:40.608-04:00

So I'm going out on a limb by posting this. It kind of makes me nervous to write about this (I am literally shaking now that I'm done editing and about to hit the "publish" button), and I may take it down shortly after posting it. I thought about disabling comments, but that seemed lame, so I say this: if you laugh at me, make any sort of snide comment, or otherwise offend me, I will delete

The Rock Lobsterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03411286136613933426noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15138764.post-50784772789124434802007-04-04T07:58:00.000-04:002007-04-04T08:33:09.213-04:00

I keep meaning to post pictures of some of the knitting projects I've done in the past couple of months, but I keep forgetting. And now my computer is at home (where the pictures are), and I'm here at work. I do have a few pictures on hand of what I'm working on now. Here goes. I haven't had any coffee today, so it's not exactly a riveting tale of intrigue and suspense. Or should I say a riveting

The Rock Lobsterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03411286136613933426noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15138764.post-36775121637469673622007-03-30T16:02:00.000-04:002007-03-30T16:03:51.538-04:00

I have done absolutely nothing productive today. Mostly I am sitting around daydreaming about cheese-covered tatertots and pints of Harp (which is how we will be celebrating my friend's birthday tonight). If you have never had the cheesy tots at The Highlander, you are sorely missing out. They are cheesy and greasy and piled high in a big bowl. I was hoping we'd all get to sit outside to partake

The Rock Lobsterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03411286136613933426noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15138764.post-87983512458921157292007-03-29T15:05:00.000-04:002007-03-29T15:32:29.609-04:00

Since I seem to be on a random thoughts kick the past few days, here are some more--straight from the ol' melon:In the process of buying a car, I found out my credit score. We knew my credit was better than Josh's, so my name had to go down as purchaser of the car (to get a better interest rate on the loan). Considering the fact that I've got some credit card debt from using my credit card for

The Rock Lobsterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03411286136613933426noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15138764.post-1356499216913406472007-03-26T08:12:00.000-04:002007-03-26T08:59:10.173-04:00

Believe it or not, I actually have lots of things to write about today. I can't promise that any of those things are interesting, but at least it will give you something to read about for maybe 10 minutes. Depending on how fast you read.Thursday and Friday were a nice reprieve from the normal I-want-to-stab-my-eyes-out-with-a-pencil boredom of the lab. I crashed the Benthic Ecology Meeting over

The Rock Lobsterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03411286136613933426noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15138764.post-63760334736820413072007-03-21T11:02:00.000-04:002007-03-21T11:15:28.737-04:00

I might die this week. Josh and I have two cars. One is my trusty little Ford Escort, the other is his Jeep Cherokee thing. Josh has some training thing out in the 'burbs this week, and since he has to leave the city, he gets the more reliable car: the Escort. I get the Jeep. The Jeep of Death, that is. The Jeep of Death, you see, is on its last legs. It rattles, clanks, shudders, and also smells

The Rock Lobsterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03411286136613933426noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15138764.post-17267444519902294542007-03-19T14:01:00.000-04:002007-03-19T14:18:22.903-04:00

I am getting pretty good at channeling my job unhappiness into applying for new jobs. I've already applied for one today--a customer support engineer position with some HPLC company I've never heard of. I was spurred to it by someone ganking my roto-vap when I wasn't looking. Grr.Anyway, I've been on a Regina Spektor kick lately. I've heard about her from several people, so I finally downloaded

The Rock Lobsterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03411286136613933426noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15138764.post-8106060707875450472007-03-15T15:41:00.000-04:002007-03-15T16:18:43.654-04:00

Hey! How about some pictures?I got a desk finally. We put it in our sunroom, cleaned everything up, and now we have a nice, cozy office:No, that is not champagne on the desk. It's actually sparkling peach juice I bought at Ikea. Yes, the desk and chair are from Ikea as well. Have you heard my consipiracy theory on Ikea? Here it is: the Swedes are using Ikea to take over America. It's true. They

The Rock Lobsterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03411286136613933426noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15138764.post-12928593623354679812007-03-14T10:47:00.000-04:002007-03-14T10:58:07.546-04:00

I believe I mentioned recently that my work email address is very similar to one of the intro biology TA's address. I keep getting misguided emails from the students, and normally I just say, "I am not your TA. His email address is ____." Today I felt like being a little more creative:Subject: Bio 2108 lab STUDENT....quick questionFrom: rafaela 03/14/07 10:11 AMSorry to bother you, but I was

The Rock Lobsterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03411286136613933426noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15138764.post-55716169689507096142007-03-13T13:22:00.000-04:002007-03-13T13:41:49.441-04:00

Some random thoughts for a random Tuesday:It pays to go rifling through old crap in the lab. I found an autosampler (!) and a fraction collector (!!) that can connect to the HPLC. This means I can totally automate the HPLC crap I've been doing lately...provided I can hook everything up correctly. Oh, and the manuals were nowhere to be found. But I was so happy to find them that I did a dance in

The Rock Lobsterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03411286136613933426noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15138764.post-86727609160239477302007-03-11T22:45:00.000-04:002007-03-11T22:55:51.356-04:00

So my knitting friends are definitely familiar with the Stitch 'n Bitch books. For the uninitiated, these books are somewhat responsible for the revival of the knitting craze in twenty-somethings. I own one of the books and also the page-a-day calendar. The books have great tips and whatnot, but I'm not a super huge fan of the patterns. Some of them are good--in fact, the sweater I made last

The Rock Lobsterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03411286136613933426noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15138764.post-61730771388634403212007-03-08T11:22:00.000-05:002007-03-08T14:03:04.520-05:00

Last Sunday, I went to a baby shower for my friend Jenna. She's having a baby in April. I volunteered to cook for the shower. When I volunteered, I thought there were only a few people coming, but in the end I was told to plan for 30. I've never cooked for that many people before, so I figured it would be a fun challenge. So I spent all of last Saturday cooking like mad and hoping I'd calculated

The Rock Lobsterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03411286136613933426noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15138764.post-31269147032967190572007-03-07T07:58:00.000-05:002007-03-07T10:03:13.021-05:00

It's too bad I didn't win the lottery last night--one of the winning tickets was even sold in GA. I can think of a lot of useful things I could do with $355 million.So I left work early yesterday because I was feeling particularly pathetic and lame. I've come to realize that my current job is a huge step backwards in terms of status. The Navy is coming to visit today, and I was left out of all

The Rock Lobsterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03411286136613933426noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15138764.post-75486300588841364352007-03-05T08:03:00.000-05:002007-03-05T08:42:47.115-05:00

Currently, I am resisting the urge to rant about my job for the 1223576th time. Lucky for you I made the resolution to complain less. I need something to return me to a zen-like state when I discover that a co-worker--hypothetically, of course--has gone through my stuff over the weekend and made off with one of my data folders that I need. The solution: the UK release of the new Kaiser Chiefs

The Rock Lobsterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03411286136613933426noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15138764.post-60551478246583456482007-03-02T14:37:00.000-05:002007-03-02T15:09:58.075-05:00

Sometimes my job is bad. Sometimes it is good. And let me tell you, when it is good, it is very, very good.When I was a grad student, I made a goal in life: to one day find a novel compound and get to name it. In fact, I wanted to establish a whole class of compounds and call them the "melissanoids." I thought some other good names would be "melissanol" or "melissalin" or even "melissanilic acid.

The Rock Lobsterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03411286136613933426noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15138764.post-3660647881496144542007-03-01T10:03:00.000-05:002007-03-01T11:08:38.240-05:00

Random thoughts for a rainy Thursday, and I promise to keep them un-melancholy this time:My second favorite time of the year has arrived. What is so special about spring, you ask? Two reasons: Girl Scout cookies and good thunderstorms. Both of which I have already experienced this morning. Thin mints totally make a decent breakfast, right?I updated the song over on my sidebar. I am guilty of

The Rock Lobsterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03411286136613933426noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15138764.post-82870526216519756752007-02-26T08:15:00.000-05:002007-02-26T08:49:58.523-05:00

Here's an interesting website that you can use to waste time. It's a site that lets you go back in time and see what your favorite websites used to look like. I spent some time perusing the September 11th archived sites from CNN.com and the like. Interesting, but creepy. Really creepy. So creepy, in fact, that I decided that it was best to go back to present day CNN.com, maybe find out if Martin

The Rock Lobsterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03411286136613933426noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15138764.post-35458576463770843102007-02-22T20:40:00.000-05:002007-02-22T20:54:30.467-05:00

Hey, so does anybody besides me still watch LOST? Just curious. After last night's episode, however, I may not be watching for much longer because, geez. Talk about boring. Boring and also lamer than FDR's legs (sorry, couldn't resist). An entire episode dedicated to Jack's tattoos? Seriously. I could ramble on about this, but I suspect it's a subject that no one else cares about. But I

The Rock Lobsterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03411286136613933426noreply@blogger.com3