Broken! – week 44 as a pH D student

Broken! Not physically or mentally, but technologically. This week, two out of two of the machines I was needing to use broke. One of them, a single quad LC-MS broke twice.

I have been extracting like a third world country that has just discovered a rich mineral wealth under its feet, or a hedge fund that had based its headquarters In the UK. But seriously, Seeing as I have a few a big deadline coming up, where a lot of data is required. I have been busy running lots of experiments to collect said data.

The list of things I have extracted from Iceberg lettuce and rocket this week is as follows:

• Ammonia

• Sugars

• Organic acids

• Chlorophyll

• Carotenoids

• Glucosinolates

• Nitrate

• Nitrite

That is quite a lot of data, however, I can only extract these compounds from fewer than half of my samples as the rest are yet to be freeze dried, and are currently sat in a freezer waiting for there turn in the drier. I have just remembered that one of the driers is broken, so that makes three out of three.

When I have weeks like this, I question as to how anything gets delivered on time in science. It is a constant stream of ‘fix, run samples, repeat Because. The machines we use are very sensitive and relatively rare, they often break down in ways only official engineers can fix. Which is costly, both in time and money.

Another speed bump we had to contend with this week, was in the form of refrigeration. Because the storage space is currently at a premium, we had to hire our own freezer trailer. Well, this week, the terms of our lease were up and we had to move all of our samples into a backup freezer, which is not designed for long-term storage. This is one of the aspects of project management, that I dislike. In fact, I do not enjoy project management at all. I wish I had a surplus of everything, and therefore, remove the need for any planning.

One of the positives, and I know I am clutching at the thinnest of straws, at least it wasn’t my fault.

I am going through, the proverbial meat grinder of late as I have a big exam coming up. One hour I am feeling fine and its not even on my mind, the next minute, I am a shuddering wreck prepping for my exit from university life. You buy the ticket, you take the ride.

I am at the stage where I have cut back all non-essential activities, and am focusing all my efforts on my PhD at the moment. It is not a state I like to be in, as I am reading, exercising and learning less; which is ironic.

I cannot wait to get back to the time when leisure was a word I understood. Only a few weeks to go. I realise that with a few tweaks, this post could be the ramblings of someone prepping for Brexit. But, as a remain voter (a metropolitan liberal elite), that is none of my business.