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One of today’s lessons at Millipore was that moe.’s cover of “Flaming Moe’s” and the subsequent vocal jam is truly awesome. They should bring it out more often, instead of leaving it as a one off from their 10/31/02 Simpson’s themed Halloween show. I’ve been listening to this show off and on at work and really dig parts of it. This has to be the highlight – although the Moth is pretty darn good.

For those who follow my exploits here’s a little tid bit. The friend that was brought in for an interview was nixed by the group manager (that’s 2.5 rungs above me on the food chain). Thank you.

I need to work on spreading my idle time throughout my work day. The last 45 minutes that I’m here are the absolute worst when I have nothing to do.

posted by Ben at (0) comments 4:18 PM

 
I’m not sure what I think about this.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2004/baseball/mlb/04/25/bc.bbo.littleleague.mar.ap/index.html?cnn=yes

I keep envisioning the formation of an Institute of Technology that dons the name “Martian Reserve University”
posted by Ben at (0) comments 12:52 PM

 
I need a Hawaiian print lab coat for my buffer party. Why can't a find a place online that will sell them. This can't be a unique idea.
posted by Ben at (1) comments 10:57 AM

 
I’m hungry, and ticking away the 15 minutes that make up a full day... Work work work. It wasn’t the same old same old, as we received some 5-10 liter nalgene tanks and got to set up some buffer feeds for our process scale chromatograph. Until now, it’d been doing only twice the capacity of the bench scale model. While I won’t get into why we need the equipment, I will talk about what these buckets made me think about. Homebrewing! Yes, my carbohydrate cravings often direct my attention to the mother of all hobbies.

I’ve spent a fair number of idle moments considering how I want to design my homebrewing process. Back when I got into beer, and decided that homebrewing was inevitable I had planned to buy kits and slowly upgrade. That notion is going out the window, as my engineering experience and education is coming out to play.

I want fermentation tanks with thermo-electric temperature controls. I hated process control, but I want to control my process. I won’t care about the gain, or the lag – as the process time scale well is such that those won’t matter much. I have visions of 5 gallon plastic buckets attached to a 4x8 in the basement – each fermenting a different batch of beer. Each one would have an independent temperature control, so I could be lagering a mai bock all winter while cooking up a Triple and making a fresh batch of a table pale. I’d employ a peristaltic pump to transfer fluids. Tubing is easy to clean, and I’ll have a bunch of it anyway.

Apparently, some case grad student received a 20k grant to develop a thermoelectric keg cooling system. I’d employ a similar device for a cask / firkin. 20 grand for a prototype – He’ll pocket a lot of that for burrito, I mean, business expenses.

posted by Ben at (11) comments 4:13 PM

 
It's way too hot. This afternoon, at work we skipped out for ice cream. I went with two hiring managers, and some goofballs. It was a legitimate activity. Mmmmm homemade ice cream. I like the micro creameries scattered throughout new england.

Here are some snapshorts of my weekend. The Peabody Essex Museum Is much larger, and nicer than I expected. It's primarily filled with Asian artifacts and art, but there is also a significant collection of maritime and New England art.

Kill Bill Vol. 2 is a better movie than the first. It actually succeeds in making the audience relate to the characters, instead of simply catching them in a flashy revenge trip. I'm still not convinced that Tarantino is a genius. He simply knows how to market himself, and like George Lucas makes his money repackaging shots and ideas from other films. Yes, he's funny. Yes, his casting is creative, but I wouldn't really want to watch his films more than once. It's a fun ride, but I can't see it holding up to scrutiny and memory.

In an effort to empty the beer fridge of some of the "special" beers, Kate and I started doing more elaborate tastings. Saturday night, we sampled both Arrogant bastard and Double Bastard. Sunday, we compared a German Hefeweisen and an American wheat beer. It was interesting. Europe has a far better understanding of wheat beers than the Americans, they are more artful with their yeast. American's craft with the malts and the hops. Yeast is too tricky to predict. So many brewers try for yeast transparency (which is terrible in wheat beers). Fortunately, Flying Dog had some fruity esters in their brew.

posted by Ben at (0) comments 5:58 PM

 
Twisted time boils away, leaving me wanting - angry and fueled. I have the fire. Nopener, no more. It's an awkward day here in Millipore. I was referred to as "rent--to-own" and aware of an occurring interview that is likely for my position. Admittedly, the euphemism came from a fellow outside of our group who was still keenly aware that five spots are open or opening. I want one of those myself. Millipore buy me. I'm a cheap and easy girl.... well, I listen to that cd enough. Still, my boss' awkward refusal to make eye contact and the fact that this fellow is one of my direct supervisor's school chums has me feeling wary. A Stanton Moore, and a Garage A Trois cd, don't exactly combine with water to yield a similar bond to three years of ChemE at WPI. Fuck this system of social inequity. The burning river of frustration is motivating me to excel, but only fueling itself as I stumble into walls. My learning curve is leveling, but my responsibilities are not picking up. Am I to be a glorified technician through out my rental? I want to take ownership of a project or a process, during my indentured servitude. I want a real opportunity to demonstrate my abilities.
posted by Ben at (1) comments 1:12 PM

 
Phish announced their tour dates for the summer, with tentative festival plans. It looks like I'll be trying for five shows. The first night at the SPAC, two at the tweeter center, and the festival in VT. The east coats bias in these dates leads me to believe that there will either be a west coast tour in the fall, or that NYE will not be in NYC.

?I'm very glad that SPIKE is rerunning DS9. After just two episodes, I'm hooked again. The adventure, intrigue and potential of the show is incredible. I know I'll feel jipped by the time that the Jem'Hadar start showing up - but until then I'll enjoy the possibility, politics, and theology. Maybe I'll find more to appreciate as I watch. I was too young to really understand Sisko's revelation in the wormhole. The whole idea that his flaw, his ceaseless battle with his past, was the thing that made him interesting to the Prophets escaped me when I was 12. I also didn't have much of a concept for haunting memories. With age, the plot line seems even more compelling.
posted by Ben at (0) comments 9:44 PM

 
It was nice to see my Uncles, my cousins, and some realties family friends that I don't know, or can't remember. I just wish that we could have come together for a fancy banquet and not a funeral. Oh well. My grandmother will be missed, but I think we all realize that things ended the way she wanted. She'd accomplished all that she had set out to do, and lived to see all of her grand children with college degrees. What else was left?

I still seem more moved by my grandfather's passing, which occurred during my adolescence, than I am my grand mother's.. It seems that I learned from my errors with my grandfather, and made the most of my relationship with my grandmother even as it became work. If only I could have been wiser, and better able to cope with my grandfather's loss of energy and enthusiasm as he battled cancer. At least he liked tests. the hospital certainly gave him a lot, and he was always interested in them. Bodies may wither and fade, but the curious spirit of an engineer is tireless.
posted by Ben at (0) comments 6:43 PM

 
"Those things weigh the size of a bike" In an idle fifteen minutes, I'll sit and ponder those immortal words enunciated by the J.Ho of Millipore (let's just call him Action) while discussing the Mini Cooper. I'll also say that Landau was right. There was a lot of grumbling in measurements lab when I was a student and a TA about the "ghetto" ways that things were measured. Well, yesterday the time came to calibrate a pump. Clearly the dials on the controllers are inaccurate. I asked if there was a sophisticated way to do it, or if it was just a stopwatch thing. Needless to say, Landau was right. Even in Millipore's Biopharm R&D, pump calibrations are done with a stop watch and a graduated cylinder. Fortunately, I don't need to write a 20 page report or develop a characteristic curve. Life is good at Millipore, I just wish the 90+ minutes I spend commuting could be put to constructive pursuits. I'd like to write while I ease back into reality - or perhaps as I escape it and meat hook machinations of virus purification.
posted by Ben at (0) comments 2:33 PM

 
I'm repeat listening to the new Trey Anastasio cd, "Seis de Mayo" ... it is amazing.... amazing. I’m so glad it came in the mail today. It's rather short, and Trey's only on something like two tracks - but the performances are incredible. Seis De Mayo showcases, Trey Anastasio, composer, an artist who is even more interesting than the guitar player that I've seen countless times.... This string quartet version of all things reconsidered is obscene.... it's all changes... It's also the albums dark point of confusion. Supposedly, this is a record about the day after Cinquo De Mayo" . It's the post party album.... It opens with the party, the rest, and then things take a turn... a dark turn of weirdness and confusion that winds until the albums Opus - "Guyute". It's a captivating rendition, but I'm still soaking up the compositional rearrangements. I'm used to the rock song. This take is more relaxed, and perhaps more frightening. The ugly pig is nigh....
posted by Ben at (0) comments 9:13 PM

 
I'm exhausted, but I can't believe that tomorrow I'll wake up to a Friday. This week has gone by so quickly. Work seems to gobble up oodles of my time 8.5 hours there, 1.5-2hours commute It's rough, but not something that I'll complain about. I'm truly glad to be at Millipore, where I'm learning a lot and hopefully getting to the point where I can contribute. Of course, I'm making my share of hilarious lab mistakes before I figure it all out. I'm not screwing up experiments, seriously, but I am getting sprayed by a fair number of open valves.

Employment is good, but exhaustion is bad. I feel like it's the first week of classes, and my system is in a state of shock at its activity change. Hopefully this abates, and I can really start enjoying work.
posted by Ben at (0) comments 9:32 PM