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Posted by: Genomic Repairman
Posted on: Wed, Oct 06, 2010, 4:32 pm CDT

On special occasions I treat myself to Lagavulin or Johnny Walker Blue.  When you go on a bender you gotta do it right.

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Posted by: Dr. Zeek
Posted on: Wed, Oct 06, 2010, 4:15 pm CDT

I know, I know, I know...

 

In my defense--I have a poster/talk abstract I need to submit in three weeks and have absolutely nothing to talk about--hence the science instead of libations.

 

Hmmm, reading that over agin-nope, no excuse.

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Posted by: Brian Krueger, PhD
Posted on: Wed, Oct 06, 2010, 3:23 pm CDT

Ewww, you did science instead of getting drunk.  Over achiever...  Glad you got some stuff figured out though.  In my new field, I'm coming to realize that published methods are not always the right methods (or even the methods used to produce the published results).

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Posted by: Dr. Zeek
Posted on: Wed, Oct 06, 2010, 3:16 pm CDT

Indulging for me would have to be a nice bottle of Jack. mmmmm, Jack, Jim and Jose.

And yeah, I put away those experiments today and tried troubleshooting some other things.  Actually, it turned out to be a good thing since I found out that a published number we were using isn't the *right* number for our system.  Just because it is published doesn't mean it is right.

 

 

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Posted by: Nikkilina
Posted on: Wed, Oct 06, 2010, 10:00 am CDT

Touche!

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Posted by: Brian Krueger, PhD
Posted on: Wed, Oct 06, 2010, 9:54 am CDT

No, when nasty crap like this happens, you need to indulge ;)

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Posted by: Nikkilina
Posted on: Wed, Oct 06, 2010, 9:08 am CDT

@Brian The Glenlivet huh? That's pretty classy stuff! For this purpose I'd stick with something a little cheaper so you can drink more of it. I prefer Vodka!

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Posted by: Brian Krueger, PhD
Posted on: Wed, Oct 06, 2010, 8:57 am CDT

Yeah, Zeek, I'd probably go home and stop by the liquor store for a nice bottle of Glenlivet.  Science can wait til Thursday.

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Posted by: Nikkilina
Posted on: Wed, Oct 06, 2010, 8:56 am CDT

@Zeek Been there! It's so darned frustrating when you've tweaked everything and it still doesn't work. Keep at it, and good luck!!

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Posted by: Dr. Zeek
Posted on: Wed, Oct 06, 2010, 8:51 am CDT

I just checked my lab notebook this morning and I have run these same NMR experiments 22 times (with tweaking each time, of course).  Yesterday I set everything up and for once, every piece of equipment worked and was available.  The planets were aligned and the chemistry gods were smiling down on me.  Came in early this morning to look at the data and...no peaks but starting material and solvent.  damn. damn. damn.  I am so ready to pack it in on this one today.

 

EDIT: I just cleaned off my bench and found my enzyme sitting there still in the vial.  Not added to the reaction mix.  Even though I checked it off in my lab notebook as added.  Cry

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Posted by: Nikkilina
Posted on: Tue, Oct 05, 2010, 8:20 am CDT

Thank you, good sir!

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Posted by: Genomic Repairman
Posted on: Mon, Oct 04, 2010, 9:01 pm CDT

And Nikkilina, its fine that you posted here.  This area was designed for discussion to be user and blogger generated in order to allow chatter in the lieu of the unidirectional tradition of the blog where I spout off random crap and you comment.  This way, users can initiate posts here and post additional comments.

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Posted by: Nikkilina
Posted on: Mon, Oct 04, 2010, 8:01 am CDT

I like the booze idea. Science is always better with liquor involved.

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Posted by: Prabodh Kandala
Posted on: Mon, Oct 04, 2010, 12:43 am CDT

I would do what GRM mentioned. In addition, I would watch a movie that inspire me. I also jot down something for myself, something inspirational. Also write down step by step of that experiment and see what modifications can be done (I did this recently for my transfection experiments). Sometimes you just cannot run out of the lab, your work may mandate you to stay in the lab. Go to break room, make some coffee and talk to your friend who can listen and understand what you are saying. Otherwise just gossip. After that break, come start with positive attitude. Even if things don't work, you at least end the day with a thought that "You tried it again...".

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Posted by: Genomic Repairman
Posted on: Sun, Oct 03, 2010, 9:42 pm CDT

Step One:  Leave the lab.  If it wasn't working the other 395,000 times it won't work this time.  Go home and take a nap, listen to music, go for a walk, just get the hell out of the lab.  Next step, come back in with a clear mind and improved disposition and re-run the experiment.  Maybe last time you didn't dilute something right and you just didn't catch it because you were mired in frustration from previous attempts.  If that doesn't work, make modifications.  But at some point you have to have an end point to your research where you finally throw you hands up in the air, say fuck it, and move onto the next idea that you have.  You can always come back to this.

Oh and booze.  Booze really helps.  I keep a bottle or two of hard liquor in my desk for those days when I need top shelf therapy.

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Posted by: Nikkilina
Posted on: Sun, Oct 03, 2010, 7:53 pm CDT

Ugh! I'd rather die than run! I'll take shopping any day of the week!

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Posted by: Gerty-Z
Posted on: Mon, Sep 27, 2010, 12:07 am CDT

I'm not a shopper, so unless you are buying a bottle of liquor I don't ascribe to the Dr. Becca approach. When I am having that shitty of a day I go out and run until I can think clearly again. Or I vomit. Which ever comes first.
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Posted by: Thomas Joseph
Posted on: Fri, Sep 24, 2010, 8:08 am CDT

I take the Becca approach. Buy myself a new shirt, or video game, something for my kitchen, or something I need to renovate my home. I've found ranting and raving works too. Then again, I mostly fly a desk nowadays and I leave the "working out of a rut" to someone else.
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Posted by: Dr Becca, Ph.D.
Posted on: Thu, Sep 23, 2010, 12:17 pm CDT

I take the rest of the afternoon off and go shopping. Sometimes you gotta just get out of lab, and then come in the next day and do all the stuff that Brian said. But retail therapy is ALWAYS good for a temporary pick-me-up!
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Posted by: Brian Krueger, PhD
Posted on: Thu, Sep 23, 2010, 11:51 am CDT

During grad school I had a bunch of really bad slumps and the best way to bust them is to just keep doing experiments and varying the conditions until you get something to work. One of the other things I do quite often now when things don't work/stop working is clean all of my pipettes and throw away any working stock solutions I was using. I just start completely fresh. It might be wasteful and it won't tell you what was messed up, but if it works it's totally worth it!
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Posted by: Nikkilina
Posted on: Wed, Oct 06, 2010, 4:32 pm CDT

I know this is GRM's space, but I though I'd hijack it for a bit!
I'm having one of those really crappy days in science where everything that I touch seems to turn out wrong. I've been at this long enough to know there are ebbs and flows in the work. Hell, if it were so easy to get beautiful data, we would have cured cancer by now! Anyway ... I was just wondering what everyone else does during these phases. How do you pull yourself out of a bad science rut, or at the very least not let it drive you crazy?
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