Tough Day

Ugh...it was a long day today, full of ups and downs. The day started with the all too clear recollection that it has been two years since the greatest day of my life, the day I graduated high school. An important day in everyone's life, to be sure, but for me, it was the culmination of everything I had ever wanted and worked for. Everything came together in one perfect week that led up to one perfect day. I won't bore you with the details and/or make you feel sorry for me, but I can honestly say that I had never been happier, and can't say that I've been as happy since. Not to say I'm not happy, but you get what I mean...

Then I came across my old Calculus stuff today (FYI - in case you didn't know, I'm teaching myself Differential Equations and Multivariable Calculus to satisfy the burning desire within to learn something and not just sit on my ass after getting home from work.) In it was a letter of recommendation my teacher had written for my application to the University Honors Program. I remember the day he gave me that copy, I had never been so honored, to have someone for whom I held such respect say such things about me. Reading it was another shot to the heart when I didn't need it...

Work was kind of a pain in the ass today. It was slow, not much to do...as Mondays tend to go. I managed to run a perfect Quality Control test the other day, and the results had just come in (it's a five-day test). It's called the Glucose/Glutamic Acid test, and an acceptable score is 200 +/- 30.5. A perfect 200 earns you a spot on the "Wall of Fame" and a free lunch from John, the assistant lab supervisor. Well, I nailed it. So I get a free lunch. :-D

The day went downhill from there.

In the Solids test, one sample gets duplicated for QC purposes. Mine are usually good (hell, they're great), but today everything went to hell. They were about as far apart as can be, and I had to do that sample again. That meant, instead of being able to busy myself while waiting on samples in various ovens and dryers, I had to sit around all afternoon and wait for one stupid sample to run. That's 2.5 hours of doing nothing but staring at the clock, all the while pissed off at myself that it had turned out badly. The Lab Summary Sheet was late because my data was the last bit to get entered, and the boss hovered a bit to make sure I didn't screw it up again. I hate that. Argh. Frustration.

Not much else to say. Goodnight, dear Reader. Until the next update...

PS - Coldplay still rules, and has made this day bearable.