What about Buzz Cola?

Caffeine levels revealed

"The Institute of Food Technologists summarizes some recent research on food. All things considering, it should settle some arguments among geeks about the caffination of beverages. 'Caffeine is a well-known stimulant added as an ingredient to various carbonated soft drinks, but which drink contains the most, and how can consumers know? A study in the Journal of Food Science used high-performance liquid chromatography to analyze the caffeine contents of 56 national-brand and 75 private-label store brand carbonated beverages. Caffeine contents ranged from 4.9 mg/12 oz (IGA Cola) to 74 mg/12 oz (Vault Zero). Some of the more common national-brand carbonated beverages analyzed in this study were Coca-Cola (33.9 mg/12 oz), Diet Coke (46.3 mg/12 oz), Pepsi (38.9 mg/12 oz), Diet Pepsi (36.7 mg/12 oz), Dr Pepper (42.6 mg/12 oz), Diet Dr Pepper (44.1 mg/12 oz), Mountain Dew (54.8 mg/12 oz), and Diet Mountain Dew (55.2 mg/12 oz). The authors found that store-brand beverages generally contained less caffeine, and they also suggest that consumers would benefit from having the actual caffeine content labeled on the beverage.'"

No wonder it seemed like Diet Coke was more addictive.

Oh, and about Buzz Cola - the 7-11 version does not contain "twice the caffeine, twice the sugar,” as they say in Springfield.

7-7-7

It's a good day to be a music fan. I just settled into the couch to watch the 7-continent global warming awareness-raiser Live Earth concerts (yep, they got a band [Nunatak] to play Antarctica too - guys who work at the research station there).

Speaking of music, here's a shot of Mirador de la Flor, the Selena Memorial in Corpus.


RIP Selena, wish you were up on stage today.

I'm back

Got in a few hours ago. It was a good trip - got the training I needed and was able to do a little sightseeing yesterday. Working on a military base was interesting; unfortunately photography was discouraged so I didn't do any. So I'll just describe what I would have taken photos of . . . first of all, the restrooms were not labeled "ladies" and "gentlemen" or even "women" and "men," but rather "female" and "male." Nobody that worked there admitted to noticing this(!). About half the people working in the building were active duty military, so it was a bit strange (at least to me, having never even visited a base before) to see scientists and lab techs wearing Army camouflage and Navy unis. Apparently they are only required to wear them during business hours; one Navy woman in the lab I was visiting changed into jeans when she worked late. Rank is more important than advanced degrees - if you have both they only put your rank by your name on your office door. And this little detail cracked me up daily: all the little signs you see in the workplace, like "Clean up after yourself!" in the break room and "Don't waste paper!" near the photocopier . . . they all had Uncle Sam pointing at you!

I'll be uploading my touristy DC photos over the next few days. Props to Evan for letting me know about the Library of Congress Jefferson Building. It was indeed incredibly impressive, as you indicated. I didn't have time to really check out many of the other attractions in depth, and I missed the cherry blossom "peak bloom." Oh well, I'll have to come up with a reason to go back next year!

Leaving on a jet plane

I'll wish everybody a Happy Easter a day early, since I am flying to Washington DC tomorrow for a week training at a military research center. [From Bush Intercontinental to Reagan National - ugh.] Hopefully I'll be able to do some sightseeing while I'm there and get some pictures. Took me quite awhile to locate a hotel that was under budget, near a subway station and the lab, and not described as dirty or dangerous by online commenters. But eventually I found one and all systems are go. They don't have free wireless there, and I refuse to pay T-Mobile's ridiculous rates, so I'll most likely be offline until I get back. I definitely won't be able to upload photos til then.

In other news, I went to the 4x4 store today and ordered the parts for my Jeep. I'm converting it to a two-seater with the stuff pictured at left. [Plus new windows for the half-doors.] I think it's gonna look pretty sharp, and it's supposed to improve gas mileage, too. It won't be completely watertight, but it'll be a helluva lot better than the current situation. This puppy is gonna be ready for beach cruising in no time! Not that it feels like summer - it's a rainy 39º right now. Not exactly the usual Easter weather here in Southeast Texas.

Freezer meltdown?

Cole in happier days.

Well, just as the day was winding down at work we realized one of our liquid nitrogen freezers was possibly failing. It had been acting weird for a day or two - not communicating with the electronic control box, showing the nitrogen level staying the same while it was actually being filled, etc. Then it actually showed the level as dropping, so we had to take action. Said action being to transfer all the samples into the new backup freezer which I had named "Dale" after Dale Gribble on King of the Hill. [Previously named freezers include "Abel," "Bill," and "Cole," but if we get another it's definitely "Hank." Then possibly "Boomhauer." :P] Dale was mostly empty, but some of the racks weren't secured since I'd been in the middle of a reorganization scheme the last few days - trying to split all duplicates evenly between Cole and Dale as a safeguard against exactly this type of event.

Naturally several boxes of samples fell out of their racks into the three feet of liquid nitrogen. My boss spilled "a liter" (admittedly an exaggeration, but it was at least half that) of nitrogen down the front of his pants while removing racks and fishing out boxes. Yes, gentlemen, that means he had -190ºC shorts! Not to mention the frostbite he got on his fingertips from reaching down into it without gloves. His wife (my other boss) kept up a running commentary . . . es un loco . . .

Eventually we got everything into Dale. We didn't see any actual leaks in Cole, but it was safer to move everything. We measured the level (sharpie on his arm, ha!) and turned everything off, so tomorrow we'll see if it was actually failing. Hopefully it was just an electrical short or wiring issue, because those freezers are pretty expensive. All in all it took us an extra hour to deal with this. Luckily neither freezer was full, so we had room to store everything in one. Thank God this didn't happen while he was out of town - there sure as hell wouldn't have been anybody else around to help me.

Been awhile

OK enough photography, it's time for a rant! Yeah it's 8pm and I'm still at work. Which isn't actually part of the rant believe it or not, since I am usually here late on Tuesdays . . .

Today I was at a Luminex symposium [really cool technology out of Austin - science-minded readers check that out - also, I got free lunch and some swag] at the Texas Medical Center Marriott (where I hear you could see "a parade of sheiks" here for medical treatment pre-9/11) for the first half of the day , then I went to vote (my first time with the machinery, hope it got counted) and came back to work to find a numbered blood sample waiting for me. It was a bit early, and the usual paperwork was missing, but stranger things have happened. Nobody was around to get information from, so I assumed that was it for today's clinic samples and started processing it. "Hell, I may even get out of here before 6:30," I thought. Yeah, you know what happens when ya assume . . .

Two hours later I'm almost done and return from counting cells in another room to find several more samples in the lab plus all the paperwork. So basically I lost two hours doing the first one (believe me I had other crap to get done), which I'd have waited to do at the same time as the others if my colleague(s) had only left a freakin' note saying "hey, this isn't all for today, there's more coming!"

Now I'm looking through the paperwork and I see the first sample has a sticker dating it 10/31. This better not be a week-old blood tube - if so I'm gonna have to knock some sense into these people. (Week old blood is useless to us.)

Looking back, I think this rant leaves much to be desired. Guess I'm in pretty good shape if this all I have to bitch about. :P

This is what happens . . .

Photo by Dwight C. Andrews
. . . when you befriend the photographer. (Yep the guy with the ice cream in the previous post.) This was in our employee newsletter today and was pointed out to me by the administrators in our department (also in the previous post, seated behind me). I was pulled into the conga line by the guy with the mask. :P

Got here just in time

Not even two weeks into my new job and along came the annual employee FunFest party last Friday.


Here I am with some new coworkers . . . the lady with the mixing bowl on her head had just been announced winner of the pie bake-off. I told her she had to make another cheesecake to bring in on Monday since I arrived too late to taste it.


Camera in one hand and ice cream cone in the other. :)





The dance floor was hoppin' . . . nice to hear some tejano and zydeco along with the rock/pop, R&B, disco, etc.

So far so good

I'm liking my new job and apartment in Houston. New bosses are characters (in a good way), and it looks like I'm basically going to be running the lab myself. Only drawbacks I have noticed are the lack of easily available free coffee (I expected more from the Great State of Texas!) and biweekly lab meetings at 7:30 AM. The bus or rail ride to the medical center has been a breeze. After a nice first week the weather is hot again . . . we're possibly breaking records this week with temps in the mid-90s.

I've got TV and internet at home after almost a week of pure radio - I even listened to an episode of The Twilight Zone my first night in the new place! Then while I wasn't paying attention the Astros won 9 in a row and damn near caught up with the Cardinals. They weren't eliminated from playoff contention until the last game of the season and finished with a winning record. Not bad.

Big thanks to my parents for all their help in the moving process, and for getting my Jeep fixed! It's nice to be back.

Here are some shots of my new neighborhood.


My train station


Detail on the Southwest Freeway


On that Five-Nine South, H-Town holla at me baby!

H-Town it is, then

I have been offered and accepted a position in the Texas Medical Center in Houston [the one I interviewed for last week]. So I'll be returning to the Rice U neighborhood I left twelve years ago. :)

Tomorrow morning I go in to complete paperwork and get a TB test, then I'll start the apartment hunt. First day of work will be on Monday. Photos of my new place coming soon, I'm sure!

Janis Joplin's Porsche etc

I've got a job interview scheduled for Friday morning at one of the academic institutions in the Texas Medical Center. Wish me luck and/or pray to the deity of your choice.

Here are some pics I took the other day at the Museum of the Gulf Coast in Port Arthur.


Depiction of the Lucas gusher (Spindletop), part of what's billed as the largest mural in Texas. There is a boomtown museum near the site of the gusher, where oil was first discovered in Texas in 1901. I'll try to make it over there soon.


Oil rig diorama




I never knew this story before.


Old real estate ad


Part of the mritime section of the museum. My aunt worked as a dispatcher for this company her whole career. I used to watch for their ships in Port Everglades when I worked on casino boats in Florida. :)


Sports section features plenty of football dignitaries, naturally.


Babe Didrikson Zaharias . . . greatest athlete ever. There's another museum dedicated to her in Beaumont.


Entrance to the Robert Rauschenberg gallery.


And now, for my favorite section: the music hall of fame! You can play tunes while you check out the displays. There are plenty more than you see here; these are just my personal faves. Conspicuously absent are our hip-hop stars, especially Port Arthur natives Bun B and Pimp C.








The Big Bopper. Was in that plane crash with Buddy Holly and Richie Valens on "the day the music died."










The definition of old school.


Last part of his name fell off, LOL.




Couple of the guys we saw in concert recently.



And now for the Janis Joplin corner . . .




















See the entire photoset here.

No pot o' gold

[Best viewed large size]
View of a rainbow from my street in Port Neches. Instead of a pot of gold, there's a chemical plant at the end. As they here in Southeast Texas, "smells like money."

So far my job search has been less than fruitful. The only responses I've gotten are an email recruiting me for a variation on the classic 419 scam and a call from a Houston company. Turns out the job was in Atlanta; if they'd kindly noted that on their website I wouldn't have wasted my time applying. If I don't get anything going by the end of this week, I suppose I'll start looking for some temporary work.

Blues

Yesterday afternoon I was informed that my employment contract, which had no dates on it when I signed it, ends with the fiscal quarter. And that a financial decision had been made not to renew it. So effectively I am laid off as of the end of June.

Then this morning I walk out to my Jeep to find that it wouldn't start and the passenger side window had been slashed or torn (yet again). While I was retaping the window (I always roll with duct tape in the glovebox nowadays), I noticed that the latches on the hood were unfastened. I opened her up and saw that one of the battery cables had been disconnected. I replaced it and drove on. Some ass thought that was cute?

Weekend Update

I hope everyone has a nice Memorial Day weekend. I'll be going to the beach on Monday if the weather cooperates.

I went to my first corporate retirement party last week at the MIT faculty club. I passed the Tootsie Roll factory and the Kendall T stop on my walk there.





I liked the faucets in the bathrooms there.


Some recent lab pics:





My favorite machine in the building. :P


The new Dixie Chicks CD came out this week . . . and I got 4 tix to their July concert at the gahden!

And finally, these are from a drive in the country last weekend:


A flooded field in Concord. Nearby I got full serve gas for the same price as self-serve in Boston.


A kayaker heads into an approaching thunderstorm on some pond out near Bolton.