After a long sabbatical from lab work I’m starting to do R&D stuff as in a few cases I’m the only one at the firm who knows a particular method.  I giggle fiendishly each time I’m called upon as I’m greeted as a village elder.  “Is this the great one who can summon fire from his hands and knows the ISO 9000 approved method of breaking things” they say as I walk by in my battle-scarred lab coat.

I’m the only one left who knows how to make a specific test substance that emulates one of the bodies more interesting waste products.  I coaxed the recipe from a lab book that I think was cuneiform on clay slabs and set to work.   I followed the recipe as specified and came up with an excess of 1 g whereas I was depend on an excess of much more (as the recipe states) so I could complete the oversized lot that was requested to test but found the recipe was riddled with addition errors.  I asked the requester what I should to which he replied “don’t spill anything”.  Interesting, not only do I need to not spill anything but I need to not spill it in such a way that the master solution increases in volume by 10%.  Maybe I can see if we have a stirrer that goes to 11 instead of 10 and that’ll magically do something.  Alternatively, I could wait for inflation to hit and I’ll have enough three years from now.

After a long sabbatical from lab work I’m starting to do R&D stuff as in a few cases I’m the only one at the firm who knows a particular method.  I giggle fiendishly each time I’m called upon as I’m greeted as a village elder.  “Is this the great one who can summon fire from his hands and knows the ISO 9000 approved method of breaking things” they say as I walk by in my battle-scarred lab coat.

I’m the only one left who knows how to make a specific test substance that emulates one of the bodies more interesting waste products.  I coaxed the recipe from a lab book that I think was cuneiform on clay slabs and set to work.   I followed the recipe as specified and came up with an excess of 1 g whereas I was depend on an excess of much more (as the recipe states) so I could complete the oversized lot that was requested to test but found the recipe was riddled with addition errors.  I asked the requester what I should to which he replied “don’t spill anything”.  Interesting, not only do I need to not spill anything but I need to not spill it in such a way that the master solution increases in volume by 10%.  Maybe I can see if we have a stirrer that goes to 11 instead of 10 and that’ll magically do something.  Alternatively, I could wait for inflation to hit and I’ll have enough three years from now.