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Feb. 23rd, 2005 07:00 pm
So, last Friday we had a huge number of samples come in at once. A gignormous number of samples, in fact. Something like 90 samples. Wait, I hear you say, 90 is not big. No, not until you factor in that 90 samples works out to something like 240 BOD bottles--every one of which has to be set up by hand. What does this involve, you ask? I'll tell you.
( BOD setup )
So, Paul (who is my labmate and nominal supervisor, until I become fully qualified on this test) and I did this on Friday for 90 samples, aka 240 bottles. Which is an extremely large setup. *Then*, when we were done with that, *I* had to set up my check sets so that I can be fully qualified to do this test on my own. This was 60-some additional bottles, almost a full small cartload (small carts hold 76 bottles), in two sets, both of which had to be set up and run separate from the other Friday sets. And, by the nature of the check set, I could not get help from anyone. Despite the fact that I hurt all over. Well, I managed somehow, came home and took a nice long hot shower and some naproxen and went to bed.
Fast forward to today. Remember how I said up above about how you wait five days and then read off? The gignormous set that we read on Friday was set to read off today. And Paul called in sick. Thank Diety that reading off is not so bad as reading on, as you just read the values, do some calculations, empty the bottles and dispose of them, clean up the carts, and enter the data. Except while I was doing that I was *also* setting up today's set. Which wasn't gignormous, but still respectable (138 bottles, maybe 40 samples). Which, altogether, wasn't done until more than two hours *after* the time I was supposed to be reading off the check sets that I had set up on Friday. Thank goodness that hours don't matter so much in this test. Otherwise I would have been royally screwed. As it was, I managed to get everything read off, set up and read on (despite the people from login handing me three samples to set up when I was almost 90% done with this step) and read off again. Altogether, I spent as much time in the lab today as I did on Friday and I hurt.
Still, I suppose if I can handle something like that on my own, that means I really am ready to take this job on.
Oh, and I almost forgot to mention that since I only read off my check sets today, I still am not officially qualified to do this test on my own. Which means that in addition to everything else, this morning I was running around trying to find someone who could at least nominally supervise me. What that boiled down to in the event was someone from the office who is trained on BOD coming down for a few minutes to check my dilutions, since they are the trickiest part of setup.
( BOD setup )
So, Paul (who is my labmate and nominal supervisor, until I become fully qualified on this test) and I did this on Friday for 90 samples, aka 240 bottles. Which is an extremely large setup. *Then*, when we were done with that, *I* had to set up my check sets so that I can be fully qualified to do this test on my own. This was 60-some additional bottles, almost a full small cartload (small carts hold 76 bottles), in two sets, both of which had to be set up and run separate from the other Friday sets. And, by the nature of the check set, I could not get help from anyone. Despite the fact that I hurt all over. Well, I managed somehow, came home and took a nice long hot shower and some naproxen and went to bed.
Fast forward to today. Remember how I said up above about how you wait five days and then read off? The gignormous set that we read on Friday was set to read off today. And Paul called in sick. Thank Diety that reading off is not so bad as reading on, as you just read the values, do some calculations, empty the bottles and dispose of them, clean up the carts, and enter the data. Except while I was doing that I was *also* setting up today's set. Which wasn't gignormous, but still respectable (138 bottles, maybe 40 samples). Which, altogether, wasn't done until more than two hours *after* the time I was supposed to be reading off the check sets that I had set up on Friday. Thank goodness that hours don't matter so much in this test. Otherwise I would have been royally screwed. As it was, I managed to get everything read off, set up and read on (despite the people from login handing me three samples to set up when I was almost 90% done with this step) and read off again. Altogether, I spent as much time in the lab today as I did on Friday and I hurt.
Still, I suppose if I can handle something like that on my own, that means I really am ready to take this job on.
Oh, and I almost forgot to mention that since I only read off my check sets today, I still am not officially qualified to do this test on my own. Which means that in addition to everything else, this morning I was running around trying to find someone who could at least nominally supervise me. What that boiled down to in the event was someone from the office who is trained on BOD coming down for a few minutes to check my dilutions, since they are the trickiest part of setup.
