Summer Journals

I was on a roll today! I got to lab this morning with extra pep in my step. I got right to work and started to rotavap my inhibitor that reminded me of a nice blush wine. Must be a sign that Dr. Schreiner, Stephany, and Keith are going to kick some toosh in Australia. Ohhhh beloved Aussie! But I go right to work on the rotavap, added my chloroform-d and put some of my solution into an NMR tube. I was even to get on the NMR without having to tune it also! Yes, a goooooood morning. I did actually get decent results too. But I could be wrong. I blew off my solvent with lab air and capped it with a septum while my NMR was running. I was also able to run my third step of my synthesis in the NMR. Weird thing though; yesterday that NMR kindly told me it was going to take me five and a half hours to run. Nope, not tonight. It took 38 minutes. I didn't change anything with the experiment or the sample. Random change of run time... FREAKY!

But all in all it was a dandy day. It was of course hotter then, well you know, today. But Blair and I got matching Pandora bracelets today and filled a third of it. We both got a turtle for our sorority, Delta Zeta, a magnificent yellow flower with a smile in the center for the one and only Sydney, a giraffe because it is so cute, and an elephant since you always need one around. I also got a horse shoe for good luck and a Buddha for my dad since that is his nickname. Yes we are now more alike now then ever. What can we say, we're cute.

The cuteness didn't stop just there. We also went to Sonic were I made another embarrassing drive-thru error. I asked for a route 66 limeaid when they are route 44. Numbers in names of foods at drive-thrus and I just don't get along. We then came back to my house to make stir fry. YUM! There is literally none left.

I am not waiting for the dishwasher and the washer to finish so that I can put things away. I need to pack because tomorrow I am headed home to see the coolest person in the ENTIRE world, my niece, Makenzie!!!! Oh yeah, my mom, dad, brothers, and sister-in-laws will be there too. But back to Makenzie. I love her and I can't wait to play with her. I am obsessed with her it is true.

Off to chores to have fun with my little niece.

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Today I was cranky. I don't know why. Just cranky.

Research went well though, but not at the start. I came into lab expecting to have an oil after my solvent had been blown off by lab air. Nope, I was wrong. Over night the tubing and the pipette had separated and the pipette was no longer in its clamp. Weird. Sooooo I had to rotavap my product. Not a problem. But, the vacuum was catching at first. Joy. So after dinkering with it, I fixed it. I also was able to separate my inhibitor I had been refluxing over night. I added BRINE to the solution, separated it  three times with EtOAc, dried it, filtered it, and now it is capped with a septum. I am going to rotavap it tomorrow.

While I was using the rotavap earlier I went into OCD mood and started clean sweeping the lab. I must admit that it looks fabulous. All of the clean, dried glassware is put back in the correct spot. I cleaned half of the overflowing mountain of glassware in the sink. I even clean out my hood. Man that thing looks huge now.

The luncheon was good. Turkey sandwiches, fruit, and pasta salad. Blair asked for ranch. Have I told you recently that I love her? AND she just got a bike so we can go on wiked sweet adventures together. I'm pumped. No funny stories today. We paid attention like good little SURF children. That's a first.

I went back to lab later to run a second NMR. A carbon NMR usually takes anywhere from 10 seconds to 40 minutes. Big gap but it happens. I started to run my NMR, yet this time with a different solvent. I had to run it in DMSO and not chloroform-d because chloroform-d would not dissolve my product. When I went to see how much time was left on the NMR it said 5:30:47. FIVE HOURS?! No way can I fit that into an hour slot I signed up for. Plus Shark Bait was kind enough to switch time slots with me because the NMR was tuned to carbon and not phosphorus for once. Isn't he a pal?! I thought me might be a little upset with me if I told him it was going to run for 5 and a half hours. So I signed up to run it over night tomorrow. In times likes this you just have to be one percent smarter. Thank you big brother. It finally came in handy.

Dr. Schreiner, Stephanie and Keith won't be here for awhile. They are going to Australia for a convention. Jealous!

But tomorrow I hope to have another successful day in the lab and great data from my NMR runs.

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Word of advice: do NOT mix double stuffed Oreos and peanut butter Oreos together. My tummy hurts now. Blah. Hopefully it goes away because I am making a tenderloin for dinner. Girls night with my house girls. A full line up off dirty little liars, make it or break it, and the season premier of a new teen mom! Oh how I love the summer.

Research today: I need to learn how to tune the scary NMR. Dr. Schreiner made fun of me for not knowing how to do it after 8 weeks of research. I do know how to, I just don't want to kill a million dollar machine. Not on this paycheck anyways. I need to save it for Australia. But he was a kind heart and helped me! I ran my NMR that I was not able to do last night b/c the carbon was not working correctly. I think I got what I was looking for I just need to verify with Dr. Green in the morning. I also separated the third product of my synthesis today and it is currently having the solvent blown off under lab air. I also started a new inhibitor which is also refluxing right now.

Tomorrow morning, 9 am to exact, I am going to run NMR's on both. Keep your fingers crossed that I get what I'm looking for! Plus, I need some amazing data for my poster and paper I have to do. (PS-sorry Dr. Schreiner for being on the slow train today for not sending you my poster title one time. I'll call it in next time)

Oh! I almost forgot! Chicken Parmesan last night was to die for! I am a fabulous cook I must say so myself. So tonight's dinner is going to be that much better. OHHHH yeah.

Tomorrow, like I said is lined up with NMR's AND a luncheon. This is going to be fun like always. Blair and I will probably just giggle like little school girls in the back. Hopefully Dr. Schreiner won't ditch us this time. Rude. Yet I am sure that Blair and I will have some funny jokes to share.

Funny joke of the day:
1) I was EXTREMELY hyper and loud today, nothing out of the usual. Nafey was annoyed. Again, nothing out of the ordinary.

2) "Nate, why does it smell like cat food over here?!"
    "You need to stop eating cat food!"
    "Ugh... I don't"
     "Then stop eating the poop"

...guess you had to be there. And yes the do let special kids work in my lab. His name is Nate.

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I am currently looking up more papers to try a different synthesis for my reaction. Researching methyl ethers may sound like a painless task, wrong, it is. I spent all morning looking up papers and found one. Yet, instead of having a methyl group it had an ethyl group. Fabulous. I would have been able to use it since a methyl group only has one additional carbon group. The research didn't find anything though. They just added water, a solid formed, and they filtered it. No, no no. We do not want a stinking solid, WE WANT AN OIL! I guess I should just stay walking to the Gulf and get my oil there. (Not a good joke, but I felt it was appropriate)

So the search goes on, and on, and on.

Before din din I have to run back to lab to run 2 NMRs on my products from last week. The ones I had to re-work because they decided to not work for me. They better have worked this time. Keep your fingers crossed!

Last night I cooked goulash. I made enough for a small village by mistake. I'll be eating this for a while. Tonight is chicken Parmesan and possibly making more homemade ice cream. I hope the chicken tastes good and I don't cook it like my mom, which means it's still kickin. Wish me luck.

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TACO BELL IS GONE! And when I say gone, I mean gone. Like leveled gone. This is the worst day of my life. I am going to have to cry myself to sleep and sleep with extra hot sauce packets under my pillow. Blair and Shark Bait had a moment of silence today for the massacre. Now I have to drive more then 2 minutes to get my 8 layers (yes, 8 not 5).

Also, I tried to be a good person and donate blood today but they turned me away because I was too little. Thanks Taco Bell, I was going to come pig out more then usual to be able to save lives but you just popped my bubble thank you, a lot.

So onto the chemistry portion of the day. Everything I did yesterday was a big thumbs down. Yeah, nothing was usable at all. Nothing. Joy. So I am currently re-running both inhibitors again to run more GC-MS and IRs on tomorrow or maybe even a NMR, but lets be honest that probably won't happen. I am also looking for more references to find better ways to work up my reaction. If you know of any let me know!

Dinner with Blair at T.G.I.Fridays. Amazing. We had soo much food as usual and walked out with dinner for the next night. Win win dinner AND we both had gift cards so it was a free dinner. Even better.

So I am going to be a bum and lay on the couch and watch America's Got Talent. Maybe have some homemade ice cream, but right now I have enough food in me for the rest of the month. By the way, I ate 3/4 of my ice cream in one day. The peanut butter ice cream is harding right now. We took some to the girls upstairs last night and they thought they had died and gone to heaven. Yes the ice cream is that good and no one is saying that to be nice.

Wish me good luck for tomorrow!

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Everywhere I go chemistry is following me. I am going on the Chemistry of Winemaking trip in January but last night I experienced the Chemistry of Ice Cream making with the chief that that has "hands of greatness", or just hands that can whip peanut butter and sugar together. So at about midnight last night Matt and I made oreo ice cream. I only got to have a sample taste of it, but it was AMAZING! It is in the freezer right now and is getting ready for me to eat soon. I am not going to share. We are going to make peanut butter ice cream later today. The mix is in the fridge right now and it smells soooooo good. I am not going to lie. I dipped my finger in it this morning. Just making sure Matt didn't mess anything up. Oh the joys of chemistry.

So far today I have seperated one of my inhibitors with chloroform and washed with 15% NaOH. I ran a GC/MS on the organic layer and it had zero peaks. Wonderful. Nothing was in that layer. Joy. The water layer is running right now and should be done in about 5-10 minutes. All I have to say is that there better be peaks in that MS. If not, I am going home, sitting on the couch, and eating all the ice cream we made and then some more by myself. At least my cable is working now, THANKS COURTNEY!, boo comcast.

Until then, I hope that Blair and Nafey will bring me my coffee they "forgot" to get me on their coffee run and that I have peaks in my GC.

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I have to start today's blog off with the world's greatest news. My best friend Sydney is done with cancer treatment. I cannot stop smiling and am officially on cloud 9. Almost a year ago I received the awful news but today I received more then I could ever ask for. My Syd, she's doing AWESOME and she'll be here in the Fall. Thank you Sydney for all of your hard work! I am so proud of you and CONGRATULATIONS! I love you with all my heart doll face. You are a true inspiration!


Nothing about my research today and really top that. I started another 24 hour inhibitor reaction. Piece of cake. The NMR is still dead. I had to do GC-MS and IRs today. I'm not exactly sure if anything worked yet. Still working on that. There are SOME traces of evidence that it may have but besides that I may be up a creek. I ran more GC-MS's on the starting materials to see if my data was showing something different from the starting material and product. Tomorrow is going to be the day of truth.


Dinner: hmm, I have no idea. It's going to rain. All I want to do is lay in bed and watch my shows. Maybe popcorn or maybe I'll be productive and cook. Worth a shot.


Until tomorrow.

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Since my father harassing Blair and I both for not having our blogs done for him to read during his lunch, I figured I should blog now while I thought of it so I don't get hate mail tomorrow.

Thursday: I started the SECOND step of my reaction. Like I said earlier, it took forever but I was happy to actually begin. I also started another reaction making more inhibitors. So easy I could do this blind folded. A pinch of this and splash of that, let it run for 24 and bata-bing. You have it. I also got into a fight with the water facet. It gave my entire hood a bath but I managed to stay dry some how.

Dinner was a blast; Keenan, Blair, Matt and I went to Mexico. The second time in one week. I am going to turn into a Spaniard soon I think. I can live off of chips and salsa YUM! Thank goodness for the townies Blair and Matt that navigated us through traffic. The waitress was a riot and made us laugh so hard everyone almost peed their pants. I told that waitress Matt would like a Shirley temple and she said she would bring him a glass of milk. Oh Giggy!


Friday: The day the NMR broke, Blair and I had a great adventure that makes us giggle, and the second half of freshmen orientation. So, MY PRODUCT FORMED AN OIL, ohhhhh yeah oohhhh yeah! But since the NMR was down I could not run my product to see if it really was what I thought it was. I did separate the different components of my new inhibitor reaction, washed it with DI water, sodium bicarb, and BRINE. It is currently being blown off with lab air. Monday I am going to hopefully run NMRs on everything I completed then start another 24 hour inhibitor reaction.

Dinner was another blast and another mexican treat. Matt, Alex, Danavin and I made a visit to our dear sweat friend Alonzo at El Az. Love that little waiter. Then we meet up with more friends for a fabulous time that none of us will forget!


Saturday and Sunday: Matt and I drove out to his house for some good cookin. I told him I was in love with his dogs and I am going to steal them. I was told I can only have Molly. Done deal. I got to meet the neighbors donkey. Too funny! But I don't think I have laughed that hard in forever. The Musser's are amazing. Emily, Matt and I got Mrs. Musser pretty good by taping the kitchen stray nozzle shut which drenched her with water, twice. On a side note, I don't think I can ever look at a camel in the same way anymore, oh boy, good times.


So I am now ready for a next week and lots of home made ice cream.

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Why is it sooo hot outside?! Please let it rain to cool off outside and to make it a good movie day to lay in bed and do nothing.

So today I did all of the precursers for tomorrow to start PART TWO! Very exciting. Everything however does take a couple of hours to run. For example, the first step takes one and a half hours, then two hours, then twelve hours (which is going to turn into over night).

We had a luncheon today with pizza. Blair and I decided we were going to be "weefs" during it which will be going on the comment board asap. Besides that, it was another easy day full of dance parties and orange juice.

Dinner tonight with Matt. We're having spaghetti with meat sauce. Yum b/c I am starving and could eat a building right now.

I hope my favorite little boys don't get kicked off of Americ's Got Talent tonight.

Blair and Shark Bait, love you long time. Nafey, bring starbucks tomorrow.

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MY PRODUCT FORMED! AND IT WAS AN OIL! AND I PROVED IT IN THE NMR! WOOH WOOH WOOH!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, it is true. I am amazing. Thank you, thank you.

So currently my oil product is blowing off the chloroform-d I added to take an NMR so that I am able to do step two tomorrow! Oh yeah! AND we are having a SURF lunch tomorrow and the week will be half way over tomorrow. Best week yet so far.

There is bad news however.
1) I forgot my ipod today so that meant no dance parties for me and Nafey or for Blair to join in on.
2) Someone erased a large X through Blair and mine's board of quotes. We are going to have to cry ourselves to sleep tonight. All of our memories are forever destroyed. We evacuated my lab and started a new quote board in Blair's lab. Keep your fingers crossed that it actually stays that way.

All in all it was a good day. Cable actually works in my house again. Thanks comcast. Hate you.

My little sister, Alex, and her daddy and grandma brought family room furniture and a dvd player to our house! WOOP WOOP! Blair, Shark Bait, and I ate dinner together tonight! Blair and I even got to meet Shark Bait's "old lady". We had chicken tenders, sweet potato fries, and pizza rolls. Definitely working out hard tomorrow morning.

Off to watch Pretty Little Liars.
Tootles.

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So here is my update:

Wednesday: sick day

Thursday: Just finished off the last steps of my procedure and then ready for the FORTH OF JULY! I also went to the squirrels game which was a BLAST! We had great seats and the squirrels won! I don't know which I laughed harder at; Matt on a little kangaroo hop in front of the entire stadium or talking about children (inside joke). It was a great ab work out. Good thing I didn't go to the gym today, I'm already ripped from yesterdays ab laughing gig. But they had fireworks and they were soooo pretty. I even got a hug from Nutzy! ANNNDDDDD my sisters moved in upstairs!! Perfect day!

Friday: DAY OFF! WOOP WOOP! I was going to go to the gym this morning but my alarm didn't go off. Like I said, ab work out from the gym will hold me over. But I do get to see my best friend Christine and I am pumped!

I hope everyone has a wonderful 4th and stays safe! Be back on Tuesday. Living the hard life.


PS. Lasagna: TO DIE FOR! I am not sharing any left overs so don't even ask.

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