soapbox

Rimberg Lab Hijinks

In the past two days, a well-armed posse of grad students from the Rimberg Group, led by their rough-and-ready post-doc, conducted a round-up of the local liquid helium ring. All totaled, the boys from the basement succeeded in commandeering dewars capable of storing approximately 460 liters of liquid helium, an amount whose street value is estimated to be at least $2500.

Tomorrow morning, the friendly folks at BOC Gases, the principal supplier of liquid helium, will be very happy to retrieve these dewars, some of which have been loitering about empty for over a year.

According to the authorities, the liquid helium brigade will continue its vigilance, regularly assembling posses for future round-ups, as they become necessary. Anyone with information on wayward liquid helium dewars should report them to Room 017 Wilder, down in the basement, left of the vending machines. Anonymous tips are welcome, and a hotline will soon be established.

1) i will probably suck at poker if we play this week, as i’ve used up all my luck in blowing by a cop at 80mph in a 65, and somehow not getting pulled over. he was definitely facing my side of the highway.

2) every few years or so, the PA state legislature starts rattling its tin can and proposing to make I-80 through PA a toll road. when i first heard this, i was not happy. but having driven on I-80 this evening, and having seen, oh, 1 car to every 10 tractor trailers, i think i’d almost be willing to pay a couple bucks to not have to deal with the trucks. of course, the trucks are on I-80 because it’s the only non-toll interstate that crosses PA or NY from east to west. grr, trucks.

3) is it illegal to pass on the right? if it isn’t already, it should be. i couldn’t believe all the assholes blowing by me on the right in CT and MA, even though there were *two* empty lanes to the left of me! and some idiot in on I-84 in CT tried blowing by on the right of a truck, which turned out to be an exit-only lane, and he ended up driving on the shoulder and squeezing in front of the truck then.

4) be extra nice to mira, as she just suffered the double trauma of my road rage and my attempts to sing along with my music, despite my gravelly voice. and she’s got the major trauma of being away from me for 11 or so days coming in a couple days.

5) drastically cutting back your caffeine intake for a couple months, and then spending 5 days drinking nearly nothing but coke, really screws with you. i think i shall have to work on a “caffeinated” smiley, because “hyper” isn’t quite the same thing, and “awake” doesn’t quite feel right either.

6) that new oxygen sensor on my car is doing wonders for the fuel mileage.