Why am I paying rent?

(It's a long day in the lab when the wrenches come out)

After Washington, I spent a good two weeks in Santa Cruz before I left again, this time for a work trip to Pasadena. All in all, it was a great trip. It turns out that when a machine gets "automated," no one wants to use the old, manual machine. SO, I had it all to myself and had 10 extraordinarily good days in the lab. The metric of success these days isn't actually how many samples get measured in total, but how many I manage to get onto the mass spec compared with how many I start cleaning. Typically, I ruin or flush away (let me clarify: on a vaccuum line, not the toilet) at least one sample for every 3 days in the lab. This trip, I had a perfect record, despite still doing a few stupid things on the line. This also probably means I used up 6 months to a year of good lab karma...

I even managed to take the weekend off to play in southern LA with my friend since 1st grade, Lundi. She showed me some of the classics: the hollywood walk of fame (yes, there is still a mob around MJ's star), Rodeo Drive and Beverly Hills. After getting foiled in our attempt to see an outdoor free concert at The Getty, we consumed a nice bottle of wine on the Santa Monica beach and caught up on the last three years or so.

(I get Britney)

(Lundi gets Kermit)

(molested blocks of cement. Oh, I mean famous blocks of cement)

(this is a guy's personal semi being valet parked.... I thought about asking him if I could borrow it to use as my field vehicle, but he didn't seem very friendly)

Got back to smoky Santa Cruz and am just trying to make the most of the week and half at home before I leave for 3 weeks in the field. Cross your fingers for good fire karma for that trip!