Swabbing the Rover

Ahhh, how times have changed! My husband and I continually praise God for His many blessings at this stage in our lives, and try to grow in our trust and faith knowing that more difficult times may be ahead. For instance, about two and a half years ago I was starting this blog as an outlet for the frustration and impotence I felt with my pharmaceutical job. Not two months later, I'm actually working for a NASA contractor doing some very interesting technology development.

I basically write proposals for a living, along with scientific journal articles. I design scientific posters and review laboratory data also, but by far one of the coolest things I have yet done was field testing this past week at Johnson Space Center in Houston. I and three colleagues collected cotton swabs of surfaces of the new lunar rover mock-up - surfaces that we had pre-cleaned with ethanol or isopropanol. We then waited until their field ops were complete and swabbed the same surfaces. So very interesting, exciting, and thrilling to see that piece of equipment in operation! The data worked out all right also. :)

Drawing Near Another End

Well, so much for keeping the blog updated with tidbits from work! It's been almost six months of silence...primarily due to the hectic schedule of the spring season. In the government, many financial and budgetary decisions are due in order to determine funding levels for projects for the next year. Right after my last post, I became deeply mired in all these financial type decisions, which was quite interesting but a little tedious. I did long to be back in the lab...or at least interacting with those in the lab.

Not long after the crazy financial schedule came two back-to-back proposal writing sessions! For those of you unfamiliar with proposal writing - it is engrossing, absorbing, and all-consuming. Imagine your high school research paper...no, that's not even remotely close, never mind! Suffice it to say, I was very grateful to be in my second trimester when all this was going on - plenty of energy, feeling great, etc.

In March, Chris and I took a trip to the Cape to see the launch of STS-123 (Endevour) as part of the Marshall Space Flight Center Director's group of guests! While down there, we went on a private tour of many buildings with one of Chris' friends who was down there for a few months working on the solid rocket boosters. When we went to the Orbiter Processing Facility (OPF - NASA acronyms remember), we actually got to go INSIDE the orbiter Discovery that they were preparing for launch in May!! VERY few people actually get to do this! I and little one even got to sit in the commander's chair in the cockpit of Discovery! It was so memorable...a story I can tell little one in years to come...

As I write this, I'm only about 2 1/2 weeks away from little one's arrival! I just started my maternity leave and Chris and I think that it would be so cool for me to go into labor when Discovery launches tomorrow! :) Actually, anytime that Discovery is in orbit would be pretty cool to me! Check out some pictures of me and Chris and the Cape and me sporting the baby bump. More soon...

New Year

Well, the final prediction in the last post came to fruition. Not long after resigning my pharming title, I took up the mantle of NASA contractor. For nine fascinating months, I have been working on an interesting project managed by NASA. This prospect is a dream breathed life, since I have long spoken of working for NASA (as many friends can testify). To increase the complexity, I and my husband (now both at NASA, remember) are pregnant with our first! Yes, I am four, almost five months along. Alongside posts regarding work at NASA, you'll also hear detailed accounts of pregnancy, which so far has been marvelously smooth. Praise be to our Lord, Who brought about this amazing position, and this amazing new little life!

The End

Yes, as I mentioned in my last post, yesterday was my final day as a pharmer. Though I was only there for two months, I am glad to set aside that title, hopefully exchanging it for something more interesting. Perhaps the "pharmer" might head to space with NASA as well! :)

Stud Bunny

Well, I have resigned from pharming. More on that later... For now, I must relate the funniest of my supervisor's stories! She tells supurb stories with aplomb, but this one trumps them all. My supervisor had three rabbits (Bun-Bun, Silly-Willy, and Cookey-Lookey). Bun-Bun is too mean to reproduce, while Silly-Willy is really large. Cookey-Lookey, however, it quite small and cute. She wished to breed Cookey to have small bunnies to give away as presents. So, she called up a man that she knew sold rabbits. He answered her questions, saying that yes, he had a male rabbit of the same breed as Cookey. Then she asked if this rabbit was a stud bunny. Pause. Pause. She repeated her question, asking what his stud fee was. The man finally found his voice, "Uh, ma'am, we don't really do that." When asked why, he replied that most people just purchase the rabbit, and if they don't want him afterwards, they kill him. My supervisor was shocked! Then, she concluded that she had been raising racehorses too long. :)

Just last week, as an Easter gift, her boyfriend bought her a little male rabbit of the same breed as Cookey (Dweeble-Weebles). Yes, Cookey finally found her stud bunny.

Anecdotes

With the start of a new week, I suppose I should record some anecdotes from "pharm" life. Number one I shall entitle "Safety on the Job". My boss has her EMT license, which is qualification enough in our industry to warrent her appointment to the safety staff. She has been enlisted to monitor fire extinguishers, difibrillators, etc., as well as to administer first aid when necessary. The difibrillators have presented an interesting conundrum though, since the only one available in our building is located in "Steve's office". "Who is Steve?" one asks. Apparently no one knows, since the difibrillators office residence is vacant, implying that "Steve" has moved out and moved on. Some speculate that "Steve" now presides over another building, while others say he left years earlier. Regardless, our one means of defining the location of this life-saving device is by a moniker that is at best outdated. My boss was beside herself. "How is anyone to know where 'Steve's office' is, if no one knows who 'Steve' is?" No appropriate answer was given. She is still resolving this issue...

Number two is "The Hostage". Pipettors come in many shapes and forms. They are the "measuring spoons" (albeit expense ones) of the biotechnology, pharmaceutical, and research fields. They are extensions of our hands, but they must be kept in precision shape in order for them to remain useful. One of the micro lab's new pipettors was held hostage by a chemistry laboratory technician who claimed she could not release it to us until the SOP (see Day One) was changed from "Eppendorf pipettor" to simply "pipettor". You guessed it. Our new tool is not made by Eppendorf and so was out of specification for this "pharming" industry! Instead of paying the required ransom (obsequious groveling at said lab tech's feet), we daringly air-lifted the captive pipettor from its prison and began using it again. We can hear the storm brewing...

Week Three

Well, week one was survived, and melted into week two in a blur of liquids finished products testing. I have certainly learned much about pharmaceutical microbiology and reincarnated some once-known methods and assays. I find myself to be much like I imagine weather people to be - bored most of the time, until something "goes wrong". For the general populace, it's severe weather or bacterial growth in a medicinal product. For those studying weather or bacteria, it's a flurry and frenzy of excitement and activity as our minds are finally allowed to engage a project!

Now into week three, and the working conditions have not improved. If anything, they've worsened slightly. But as long as I am learning, enjoying my lab mates, and feel that I may have some small skill to offer, I'll stay on a little while longer. Plus, where else would I get to isolate Gram positive, catalase positive bacilli? Let alone quantify them!

Since I'm afraid the tenor of some of these communications has been sardonic and jaded, I MUST state that I really am VERY grateful for this opportunity to learn some new techniques, to be back in the lab, and to meet great new colleagues! I do hope that it becomes even more interesting when I take over preservative testing or when I start antibiotic testing. :)