Down once more to the dungeon of my black despair! Down we plunge to the prison of my mind! Down that path into darkness deep as hell! ~The Phantom of the Opera (Andrew Lloyd Webber)

So my life has been put on hold yet again. I received my MCAT scores today and it wasn't pretty. I now need to explore what to do with my life!!!

Easy Week!! And a Time of Solemn Remembrance
This week I've been back at my old job just to finalize things and to instruct the summer student (who knows absolutely nothing about science and he is a sophomore in college...not too bright). Friday I get work out of the house because the lab is closed to honor Former President Reagan. If I can I'm going to go downtown and pay my respects to the President that began his service the year I was born. For the next few days DC will be packed with mourners for a man that renewed the public's faith in the American Dream. I hope it is a comfort to his wife that this part of the journey closed his eyes to pain and clouded thought and he woke to the newness of mind and the smiling face of his Creator to welcome him into perfect memory and joy. May the support of the Nation bring comfort to Mrs. Reagan and her family. May he rest in peace.

Pain!! Oh, Pain!!!
Yesterday, I woke up at 6AM to meet Ryan's parents at 7. From there we traveled 1.5 hours to Ryan's place. There the fun began. Moving furniture down slippery, ran-soaked stairs. Carrying heavy boxes to trucks and cars. Then after that was over, we traveled 1.5 hours to their new place and the reverse process occurred, minus the soaked steps. But we had to move some of this crap to basement down a steep flight of stairs. I finally made it home around 10 - 10:30PM. Today I am incredibly soar and tired. Certain people, who happen to be involved in this day of continual fun, really didn't do much lifting or carrying. Oh well!! May be I'll see this schmuck more often now that he is closer. Then again....

It's Finally the Weekend
My first week with the new job is finally over. It's just not fun like the other division was. This guy must have depression or something. But thankfully I have a reprieve from him next week. I'll be at my old job and he will be out of town. So I don't have to worry about any of that for awhile. But on a different note, I get to help a certain married couple move halfway across Maryland. I have to be at his parents' house by 7AM tomorrow. No rest for me!

And It Continues
Today was another wonderful day at the lab. I know I'm not the most organized person in the world, but I can normally find things that I need in my chaos. But the mayhem that I now work in is impossible to adjust to such disarray. Every lab that I have worked in has been organized. All the glassware was located in one location and accessible. Every drawer was labeled and amazingly the label actually said exactly what was in the drawer. But not in this lab. It is such a mess. There are chemicals left out of their storage cabinets or left open over night. Nothing is clean. How am I suppose to keep everything sterile and free of contamination? But today was a better day than the last two days because I was left alone. But it still isn't the same atmosphere as the old project and division. But what can you do? And as for James' advice, everyone knows that this guy is a pain so I am getting a lot of support from people. I'm in good company when it comes to putting up with this idiot. I just have to grin and bear it for the next few months.

I Want My Old Job!!!
Today was just as fun as yesterday. I was getting yelled at to find stuff that no one knows where in the universe it could be, find bacterial cultures that aren't labeled and other crap like that. This guy is such a jerk. He expects everyone to be an expert and to find their way around the lab that looks like a bomb went off in. I have to keep everything from being contaminated, but that's impossible because all the equipment is dirty and there is no way to clean it well enough for this project, which might not even work in the first place. I want to return to my old job. It was more fun and the people were better. Oh, and everyone who works in this division makes snide comments about him and tell me to keep my temper and just do my work. I hope this gets better as the summer goes on.

New Challenges
I started my new project today. My new boss is a royal pain in the ass!! I just walk in and he barks at me to get to work!! I didn't even know where my desk was. Then I was told to go look in the freeze for a vial of E. coli. This normally wouldn't be a problem except I had no idea how the vial was labeled or what the box looked like and neither did my boss. So I had to root around and show him every thing that was labeled E. coli. It turned out that none of the tubes I showed him were it. The correct one was labeled something completely different. Then he says to me, "I should have expected that you didn't know how it was labeled." No ----!! If he had no idea, how the hell would I know what to look for. After that, I had to make sure that we had all the chemicals needed for the experiments. Well, this was a task in itself because nothing in the laboratory is organized. There are computer parts all over the place, bottles everywhere and chemicals just laying around. I asked if we had something and a box was thrown at me. He said it should be in there and if it wasn't I would need to order it. I filled out the form and then found the bottle I needed hidden in the back of a cabinet. It was not a good day.

So for a bit of relaxation and to celebrate Memorial Day, here is

The Drink of the Week

Big Blue Sky

0.5 oz. Light Rum
0.5 oz. Blue Curacao
0.5 oz. Cream of Coconut
2.0 oz. Pineapple Juice

1. Fill blender with all the ingredients plus 3 oz. crushed ice.
2. Blend until smooth.
3. Pour into a goblet and garnish with a pineapple wedge.