Busy Busy Bee
Oh my how work has been a busy time lately. I have one HUGE experiment and one “normal” sized one. Which in Joe’s (my bosses) definition of normal size means it is still preeetttty big. My larger experiment has to be hands down the one that is stressful. We received unreleased strains of potatoes.. from people I can’t mention, number unmentioned, types unmentioned haha. BUT it totals to 105 different ones. Each variety has 6-9 entries that are all snug in a cage out in the field. I am suppose to infest these with 20 insects per plant.. which ends up being about 17000 insects. Then by boss made me reinfest! Our colonies are now practically decimated! This experiment is pretty much paying my salary and is a huge PR thing for our lab… thus my stress. On top of it, I am trying to get the colonies running well and have them free of other pests. Trying to run PCR for a bacterium that is a pain in the behind, to the point in which our molecular entomologists are having a tough time. Even though it isn’t teaching I still thoroughly enjoy working in this lab… being able to play in the dirt yet learn and do a variety of tests in the lab. I once again realized my love for waking up, throwing on some jeans, a tee, throwing my hair up and running out the door.
OH potato.. how I heart thee.
