Tuesday, June 29, 2010

First Day in the Lab

Today I slept through all of my alarms and got up at 9:10 for my 9:00 class. I immediately rushed to the classroom without regard for food or hygiene and was fortunate enough to get there before the start of the lab. 

The focus of the investigation was the freezing of glacial acetic acid, and although my group literally spent three hours of calibrating some finicky pieces of equipment, it was both fairly interesting and a valuable experience in the lab. 

Following the lab we had a guest speaker on the topic of stretch-bond isomers. The lecture was especially interesting given that our speaker himself had been the one to discover that these isomers were actually illusions causes by unforeseeable contaminating reactions.

After class all six of us ILC members gathered and had dinner together. I decided to visit Times Square and the Rockefeller Center with Winston and Yueming. We spent some time exploring the various stores that populate the area, although a disappointing number of them closed early and I forgot my camera. 

I’m trying to fit my alarm clock on my headboard so I don’t oversleep again tomorrow. I’m really looking forward to seeing what else the class has in store.

2 comments:

  1. I'm just so jazzed that you're there. NYC is such an energizing place.

    And you're all kinds of awesome, Michael.

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  2. Michael,

    I'm not sure I'd go as far as Attila Girl but I think you're okay, too.

    There's no question that we may have to have a workshop for next year's ILC cohorts about how to wake up when the alarm sounds. Glad you didn't miss too much.

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