Run and Tumble

Diary of a bug farmer

Archive for November, 2009

Smells like grapes

Thursday, November 19th, 2009

Lab was the pick-me-up I had hoped for. The lab manager accidentally made the Pseudomonas stock broth way too concentrated, so our plates came back covered in the stuff.  They looked like giant, corroded pennies. The pigment was definitely neat. I took a whiff (and even convinced some lab mates to do the same), and while the odor [...]

This is why she’s called awesome wife

Wednesday, November 18th, 2009

I was busy figuring out weird ways to make a cheap, safe manual centrifuge.  The awesome wife said, “We have one of those, it’s called a salad spinner.”   I’m a lucky guy!
Update: This will be for separating, say, milk curds, not making pellets of Vibrio cholerae, so don’t worry, it’s still safe to eat [...]

Last week was disappointing

Tuesday, November 17th, 2009

Someone in the previous lab session threw out my plates, so no data on what’s in my kittie’s guts, and if their different diets affect what lives in them. Had to spend most of the lab sitting on my thumbs waiting for another group to finish so I could use their plate.
Got a [...]

Early Christmas!

Wednesday, November 4th, 2009

You are the winning buyer for the item below. Thank you for your business!
Item title: 40X-1600X BIOLOGICAL BINOCULAR COMPOUND MICROSCOPE
I’ll make a bigger post when I actually have it and comment on the quality.

In which I get excited when my cats poop

Wednesday, November 4th, 2009

Next lab is on bacteria of the GI tract.  People with pets or babies were asked to volunteer to take fecal swabs. I’ve got two cats on different diets, so I’m excited to see if there’s any difference. Awesome wife isn’t phased by this, she even volunteered to be on poo patrol while I’m at [...]

Looking forward to lab tonight

Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009

One of the stations at the lab practical last week had us streaking skin swabs onto blood agar. That was my first time using that medium, I’m looking forward to seeing what grew. I chose to swab my chin, since I’ve got a beard, most people don’t pick the chin area, and beards may be [...]