...or lack thereof.
Now that I got my antibody straightened out, I need to trouble-shoot my nuclear counterstain (which worked fine during the antibody trouble-shooting but now is not working at all). I don't really know where to begin with this since there's not much to that protocol except "apply at 1:1000 in PBS during the penultimate wash", which is what I've always done and it has always worked...until now.
I can stain two slides in parallel - one from the old group and one from the new group. I expect I'll get stain on the one from the old group and not on the one from the new group, which will just be a replication of this weekend's unplanned experiment in counterstain efficacy. What will this really tell me? That I have 6 boxes of slides (new group) in which I have somehow completely stripped the sections of nucleic acids? (Is that even possible?)
I'm not really superstitious, but lately it seems like everything I touch just turns to shit. I am the anti-Midas. I can't decide if it will be more effective to stay in bed until my mojo finds its way back or soldier through and meet my bad karma quota for the century so things can get back to normal again. I feel like handing in my "credible scientist" badge. Who the hell fucks up a nuclear counterstain? Seriously, never have I sucked so badly as I have for the last two weeks.
About Me
- Ambivalent Academic
- Ambivalence - a state of having emotions of both positive and negative valence or of having thoughts or actions in contradiction with each other, when they are related to the same object, idea or person (for example, feeling both love and hatred for someone or something [i.e., grad school, or academia]).
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Recurrent Characters
- Better Half - My sweet and charming significant other, also a very talented scientist.
- DangerDog - My contribution to our fur family. He is adorable and hyper-excitable and would probably be easier to live with if Ritalin were approved for dogs.
- GrAdvisor - My well-meaning PI/graduate advisor. We have our differences, but I can chalk most of them up to disparate communication styles, which makes it easier to live with the fall-out of our communication-fails.
- New PI - So far an awesome mentor. Needs a moniker. Will take suggestions.
- Thing 1 & Thing 2 - BH's cats. Actually, I'm not sure if they really are cats or some alien life forms bent on world domination.
Dispatches (10 Most Recent)
...and the science gets done...and we get cake!!
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7 comments:
I've been there - usually means you need a couple of days off!
This is similar to my solution for malfunctioning computers, printers, and copy machines - turn it off and let it sit there and think about what it's done for awhile. This actually works at least half of the time...
Hope things get better!
What year are you again? This sounds like the classic experiments-turning-against-you-during-the-homestretch time...
I hope it works better soon!
Dr. Brazen Hussy - I like the idea of giving all these things a timeout. I do need a couple days off, but I recently took a week off and am now playing catch-up. Maybe I will give these things a timeout while I get some work done on other stuff.
Arlenna -
This sounds like the classic experiments-turning-against-you-during-the-homestretch time...
It is the homestretch. It is. I hope this means that things will get back on the "all thesis data is gathered at the last possible minute" train soon.
It's the science trolls. They skulk beneath the underpasses of your 'last stretch experiments' to leap up and try to derail you. You can do it AA!
you don't suck, its a bad lot of Dapi. Take a break, regroup and start again. you're almost there!
Sucks. Hang in there. The shittiness will pass.
ping!
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