Same old...

Nothing new to report, but I'm posting anyway. Lab work is frustratingly slow, and every step forward encounters another obstacle or two. About par for the course, I suppose. I am working under a deadline, however, and the lack of usefull progress is getting more nerve-wracking all the time. I've got less than a month to produce new and interesting data for a national conference, and it's probably not even going to be so interesting, even when I get it. Well, maybe someone will find it interesting, but after working on the same stuff for 3 years, I've certainly lost some of my sense of wonder. Ah well. Gotta keep trying.

Rockets Tonight

With B, her sister and brother and law. Seattle's going down. I'm having a beer.

Caffeine-based stimulants

Caffeine-based stimulants and mood - an observational study.

I'm not usually one to sing the praises of caffeine. I usually try to keep my consumption of soda to the weekends, and don't drink coffee at all, and only the occasional tea - usually of the iced and sweetened variety. In the past few days, however, I've taken to a jolt of caffeine in the afternoons, and found that work becomes much more bearable when i'm buzzing around with my artificial energy. On top of that, I find myself in a much better mood, as well. Now, I know that mid afternoon tends to bring on an energy low in most people's daily cycles, but the usually recommended high-energy snack has never quite helped the mood-portion of my afternoon slumps. Caffeine, on the otherhand - Mountain Dew, specifically - seems to have an affect. Not that I'm always in a funk come the P.M., but there's usually nothing in particular to be happy about. Today, however, it doesn't matter that there's nothing in particular, and I'm going to attribute my happiness despite that fact to the effects of caffeine. Not very scientific, I know, but this is just an observational study. What more do you want?

Edit:

Typical brewed tea contains 70 mg per 6-ounce cup.

Typical colas (Coke, Pepsi, Mountain Dew, etc.) contain 50 mg per 12-ounce can. Things like Jolt contain 70 mg per 12-ounce can.

Typical milk chocolate contains 6 mg per ounce.

Anacin contains 32 mg per tablet. No-doz contains 100 mg per tablet. Vivarin and Dexatrim contain 200 mg per tablet.

Caffeine also affects dopamine levels, according to How Stuff Works, so it's no wonder i'm in a better mood, eh?

I guess I'll keep blogging

I guess people actually read this thing after all. I know, because recently a few people have asked me when I'm going to update this silly little blog. The answer: right now, biotches! I started the whole blogging thing when research was slow, and pounding out a stupid paragraph or two was just another thing to fill the gaps that are inherent in UHV work. Now research has really picked up. I've got 15 samples in a freezer now (as of last week) that I've been waiting for since October, but the setup isn't quite ready for them yet. A $1300 single-crystal piece of gold needs much more cleaning than I'd originally thought, and there are still some small issues left over from venting the chamber and repairing a number of nagging issues. Of course, some of those repairs have created nagging issues of their own, but I hope to be able to overcome them quickly so I can get on to actual research.

I'll try to keep up with this blog thing more regularly from now on - even if only a short, pointless entry like this one.