In a world without limitations

[exsequar]

Good morning, lovely LJ.

Today is my last day of classes as an undergraduate! Wow. Pretty huge. I've got one last lecture for my Africa class and then I'm done! Never will I have to sit in a classroom again, listening to a lecturer go on and on and on...

Wait a second. I'm going to graduate school! /o\

Haha, regardless, this feels kind of intense. I'm finishing at F&M! But I'm also very ready to be done and move on, so I think the next couple weeks are going to be okay as I say goodbye to everyone and everything. Today I have pizza with the other chem seniors, then a reception for chemistry at a local restaurant (they're kind of unrelated things.... don't ask), and then ~~Senior Surprise~~ in which we all gather on campus and they bus us off to locations unknown! Wooooo! I think it's just going to be a fancy dinner someplace, but I'm not sure. Most of my friends are going anyway so it should be fun.

Yesterday I got an extremely, extremely depressing non-result for my research. Submitted a sample and got zero signal from the instrument, after running overnight scans. That is.... bizarre and inexplicable and scary since that's the method we hoped to use for the entirety of the rest of our project. I don't know what to do. :( So I'm trying not to think about that since it makes me nauseous, and also renders invalid all of the data we're publishing next, but WHATEVER. Not thinking about it not thinking about it.

I've been having some weird stomach pains for a couple days. For the last two days, I've had issues with perpetual hunger - I'll eat a good dinner, then I'm still bloody hungry. I'll resist for a while, but then I'll eat something more, an in an hour I'll still be kind of hungry but also nauseous and weird feeling. I haven't started my period so I don't think that's it. Then last night, I woke up at 6 AM in a whole lot of pain, my whole lower abdomen pretty crampy and gross. I assumed I had gotten my period, but apparently not, and I still haven't this morning, but my stomach still feels really gross. I don't feel like puking or anything - it's more of a muscular pain, low in my gut, just above my hips. Any ideas? :(

Last night I stayed up way too late reading tutorials on vidding for Macs, and I've got the whole setup now! I've got Mac the Ripper for ripping DVDs, MPEG Streamclip and a $20 codec from Apple for converting to an iMovie friendly file, and iMovie itself. I tried it out and iMovie deals with these files SO SO fast, whereas in the past I'd tried to use straight up mp4 files with iMovie. Apparently that was incorrect! So now I've got all the tools at my fingertips and the only question is - what do I vid??? I'd love to do that BSG idea, but I think I'd need all the DVDs and that's not happening any time soon. So I gotta think through what I own. But it's very exciting!! :D

Now I'm going to go get ready for my last day of college! :O Love ya flisties!

Comments

[hebrew-hernia.livejournal.com]

Ooh, that is really scary. What kind of scan was it? Have you tried running some kind of test sample to make sure the machine isn't broken? Did the power go out in the middle of the night?

(In semi-related news, the other night on Fringe this scientist dude was all "I need a centrifuge and a spectroscope." Okay, what... kind?)

Also, if you're at all feverish, it might be appendicitis. Otherwise, perhaps you are having a growth spurt? It would explain the hunger. Seriously dude, I got nothin'.

[exsequar.livejournal.com]

It was 15N NMR, and none of the usual explanations work. She had just run another sample right before and it was fine. This is the DNA with my 15N labeled nitrile inside of it, and the IR instrument has gotten a signal from this sample that shows a peak for an 15N labeled nitrile (it's different from a normal 14N) so it' IN THERE. 15N NMR is supposed to be able to detect 15N anywhere in the sample!

I don't know what to doooooo D:

(Hahah that's.... suck. I knew I didn't like that show.)

I don't think it's appendicitis? But I'm going to keep an eye on it just in case. And ahahaha I WISH I was having a growth spurt. Then maybe these extra pounds wouldn't look so terrible :P

[hebrew-hernia.livejournal.com]

Have you tried scaling up the peak size in the screen where you label the peaks and do the integrations? I had a scare a few weeks back with some missing peaks but it was just that my sample was extra-diluted, and when I increased the scale I could see them. (I don't know what F&M uses, but Kenyon's NMR machine is Bruker and the plot editor is Topspin? Anyway I'm sure you're familiar enough with taking NMRs to know what I'm talking about.)

((Also, how much do I love that we're having this conversation? I mean, missing peaks = bad, but nerdy science talk = delightful.)

Oh I LOVE that show. TV bad science makes my life complete. It makes me feel good about myself when I know that things are wrong. When they're so wrong it's beyond hilarious, that's even better.

Boo. Maybe it is just gas. :/

[exsequar.livejournal.com]

I'm not taking the spectrum myself. We have a dedicated NMR lady who works four days a week, using a 500 MHz machine. She knows what she's doing. She's not missing anything. :-/

[hebrew-hernia.livejournal.com]

Wooooow. DEDICATED NMR LADY. That is badass.

[loki-dip.livejournal.com]

Any ideas? :(


The only thing that comes to mind is some sort of parasite?

[exsequar.livejournal.com]

That definitely occurred to me too. It would explain the perpetual hunger and maybe the pain. What a disgusting idea :-/

[loki-dip.livejournal.com]

That's not so good. But it's the hunger that makes me curious. Because most stomach pains don't have that with it.

Maybe you should go get tested?