Monday, August 9, 2010

New building!!

Today the fantastic four (i.e. Jeff, Cheryl, Dave, and me) took a tour of our brand new lab facilities. Here is a picture of us on the Bridge to Science; please note the similarity to the real Fantastic Four.


Here is our new group room, which is adjacent to Erik's office. The facilities people showed us how the windows (shown in the reflection) open completely and how there is virtually no guard railing in place. We inquired as to whether they could also install a step stool for your jumping convenience.


The new desks are very large, and there is lots of storage space. There are also locking drawers for your various private / embarrassing / incriminating items.



The new hoods are very spacious (we spared no expense!), and the bench space looks great. The lab also has a very open feel that reflects the close-knit, happy family that we are (or will become).


Finally, this is the dark and creepy portion of the lab that will house underachievers and group malcontents. In an attempt to secure extra funding, we will also be hosting some local prisoners in this section of the lab. Jeff will be sending out guard duty assignments in the coming weeks.



Think of these brand new labs as a reward for all of your hard work. Who says that dreams don't come true?

Monday News

Good afternoon everyone!

Just wondering how many people remembered to celebrate Sneak Some Zucchini onto Your Neighbor's Porch Night which was last night.


This may be the last week of chemistry before the move, especially if you are attending ACS!  Hope the chemistry gods are looking down upon us favorably this week.  The rest of us will be taking a trip to Mexico while you're in Boston.

We are now taking submissions of questions for this week's interview with Dr. Marsini.  If you wish to submit anonymously, you may place the questions in my mailbox upstairs.  The interview will be conducting Wednesday, so please submit prior to that!

Thanks and have a great National Resurrect Romance week.

Friday, August 6, 2010

Week in Review

We only have one entry for the chemdraw contest.  The deadline will be extended until Monday.  We appreciate your participation.

Lorenz gave a really great talk at group meeting about artemisinin and it was followed by some great discussion.
 

The NMR shutdown has gone smoother than one may have expected, but delays are unavoidable.  Only 1 week left of research before the packing begins.  In the meantime, start to get rid of any clutter in your area.

Thursday, August 5, 2010

Contest #5 (asap!)

While we await more contest entries for contests 4 (chemistry haiku) and 5 (medium-certainty protons), get your creative juices flowing by admiring Cheryl's lovely clean desk.


While you're at it, try guessing all the locations that Cheryl stashed her favorite delicious banana Laffy Taffy to hide it from the rest of us. :-( Reply soon, though, cause she'll probably devour them as soon as she arrives today!

Rules:
- reply in the comments below
- please be specific about locations (ie "inside the pop-pop box")
- your guessed locations may only include items visible in this photo
- (+1 point) for every correct answer, (-1 point) for every incorrect answer
- no cheating!

Prize!:
- two lovely photo frames to brighten your desk in New Chemistry Building

Move quickly, the contest ends when Cheryl arrives!!!

Wednesday, August 4, 2010