air-cond down

Came in to work this morning with lots of plans for the day. Then remembered that I have to go update my paper work for summer payroll. Went to the Office of International Students and Scholars and was told that I need both my passport and I-20. So I came back to the lab, put some stuff into the autoclave and went to OISS. By then, my nose was already leaky and that kinda threw me off hook for the rest of the day.

Went back to Biomedical and Physical Sciences Building (BPS), where my lab is at, and was told that there will not be air-conditioning today due to some maintenance. It was so hot and the air was stagnant as all the doors are air-sealed to maintain separate air-flow usually but it's not very helpful for situation like this. So we had to switch off all the lights and unused incubators. Kwi and Steph tried to use the PCR machine and it gave some heat block error, which is probably due to the heat in the building. The temperature is about 31oC, which is a less than regular M'sian weather but I just could not take it today because I'm unprepared and I am still having a sore throat and runny nose. But oh well, I should expect it since I'm usually like that in M'sia but it's so much harder to work when I'm feeling crappy. It does not help that I still need to confirm the plasmid before I go back.

By mid-afternoon, we all agreed to a cool break so we went for a long lunch at Panchero's by Grand River Ave. It wasn't very cooling in there but it was way cooler than in the building. When we got back to the lab, it was even hotter because the sun is already up high and it's shining straight through our lab window and I know plants benefit from it but I surely do not like the greenhouse effect. At 6.30pm, I got 12 blue transformants shaking and incubating at 37oC and the 30 ml culture for fluorescence protein purification was still not growing yet. So I left for the library hoping to get some casual reading done but it was closed. I ended up going to MSU Union and sat by the window while reading my novel. It was very enjoyable and relaxing and cooling!!!

Came back to lab and spent the entire night organizing stuff and trying to pack my stuff in my mind. I think I just have a little too much stuff to carry back..unfortunately most of the stuff are not mine. I definitely gotta learn how to say NO to my brother when it comes to asking me to do stuff or buy stuff for him. But oh well..it's too late now.

~hot~