Back to lab to do WORK

Back from Belfast and what a weekend… back to the lab.

Today I only worked a half day, because for the 2nd half of the day, I would be giving a presentation to 13-17 year old gifted students at DCU about the work I have been doing, and the work that I will be doing. It only had to be three minutes long. Emma had said the talk and chalk would be just fine and that I wouldn’t need to make any slides or what not for it. After Belfast, I didn’t remember about this presentation until the night before when Luke said he had been worried about it all weekend. Shows you how worried I was. Elaine suggested that I bring down an electrode (I use them EVERDAY, might as well). So I start thinking in my head about what I would say, I figured I would just wing it, and would be fine.

I know you are all expecting me to say I should not have winged it, but I was perfectly fine for the most part. I gave a simple explanation about what I’ve been doing, and while I was more nervous than I thought I would be, I believe that I did a pretty good job of explaining my work. (I put gold on, and take it off. And then I detect DNA. That’s it. Didn’t actually say this but sometimes I feel like I should have.) One question got me: why gold. Well because that’s what they say to use. I answered I didn’t know, but made sure when I got back to lab to ask Elaine. The answer was that it was inexpensive and inert (fairly stable) and likes electrons. As simple as that.

Afterwards we headed to play some more soccer. There is now a group of about 8 of us that play for 2 hours (soooo long and tiring, but I definitely needed it after all of those ciders). Quite a bit of fun, and healthy exercise…

Up to this point, I had been absolutely craving chocolate chip cookies. And those being something I KNOW I can cook well, I decided to make up a batch for everyone. They don’t sell chocolate chips here (crazy right… such a necessity. At home they come in like gallon bags) so instead a crushed up a big chocolate bar. I made them like I usually did with 2 questionable things: the first was that I wasn’t sure if bicarbonate soda was baking soda (I assumed it was) and if the dark brown sugar would taste the same as the light. I went for it… and they looked awful. The outsides would cook really fast and the inside would cook just a little bit. And they were soooo flat, not round at all. How could I screw up chocolate chip cookies honestly. Grrr. I love chocolate chip cookies, and really wanted a nice soft normal cookie. But people ate them, and said they were good even though they looked like shite. By the next day, all of my retarded cookies were gone.

Tomorrow: America day!!!