My Stupid Screw Up

Alright, I know I've been neglecting my blog a bit lately. I still have a few cruise posts to post, but lately I've been too tired or lazy to do it. So instead, I'll entertain you with my own stupidity. So the weekend of July 22nd, I tried to start my experiments. However, all my data was noisy, and then I stopped getting good data at all, and just got 0.00 every time. For my experiment, you never actually read an absorbance at 0.00, so I knew something was wrong. The next week I described my problem to Lloyd, who said I should probably check my light source. Duh, I thought to myself. There's no absorbance because there is no light. So I checked and, sure enough, no light was coming from the light source. I put in an order for the lightbulb, then went to Cooperstown for a long weekend to see my mom, Mike, Aunt Barbara and cousin Ellie.

The new lightbulb came in yesterday, and it cost roughly $500 with the shipping. So this is one important lightbulb. I take apart the apparatus, which involves about eight tiny screws, and finally get the old lightbulb out. However, the lightbulb is attached to a black piece. I can't separate them, but I need to put the new lightbulb in the black piece. I struggle with it for a while, trying to twist it or pull it out, but nothing helps. Finally, I call Ocean Optics, the company who made the equipment, and wait a good 15 minutes before someone can actually answer my question. Turns out there's one more tiny black screw that I need to use the tiniest Allen wrench to unscrew. Relieved, I unscrew this last screw and change the bulb. As I do this, a wire snaps off the old lightbulb (there are 4 wires sticking out of it that must connect to other things in the apparatus), but this doesn't really matter, since I"m changing it for a new lightbulb anyways. However, as I attempt to screw the teeny tiny black screw back in, I drop it, along with the allen wrench. I looked for that stupid screw for about an hour and a half, and then got so frustrated that I left. After all, I can't do any more experiments until I find that damn screw.

So this morning I come in and start searching again. I'd already used a flashlight yesterday and essentially laid down on the floor, but today I also tried running a stir plate around the edge of the wall. Stir plates have a magnetized core, so I hoped the screw might stick to it. After more random searching I finally spotted the screw, underneath a black tableleg. Rejoicing, I pulled it out and slowly put the light source back together. However, when I plugged it in, I still didn't get a beam of light. Oh shit, something else is wrong, I thought. But then I remembered that there was an extra power cord when I finished unpacking my stuff. Maybe I had been using the wrong one all along.....I switched power cords and immediately a beam of light shot out of the light source. Of course, this means that my light source was never burned out, and all I really had to do was switch power cords. Unfortunately, that wire broke off the original light bulb, so we can't send the new one back for a refund. Which is too bad, because I essentially wasted $500 because of my own stupidity. Obviously, I did not tell anyone in the lab about this. In fact, I'm only posting this because no one in Rhode Island even knows I have a blog, so I feel I'm fairly safe confessing here. Still, I'm feeling pretty stupid now....

On a completely unrelated note, I checked out the 2005 Pride and Prejudice from the library, since I hadn't seen it since it was out in theaters. If you still haven't seen it, stop reading now, there will be spoilers ahead. I totally forgot how completely blameless they made Darcy! In this version, he really never saw Jane in London, and all his slights are attributed to shyness, never pride! In fact, I watched one of the extras and someone involved with the film noted that the famous book was about "prideful Elizabeth and prejudiced Darcy." Seriously? Doesn't Elizabeth actually state at one point in the book that Darcy's pride and her prejudice kept them apart? Darcy's pride is continuously referred to in the book, and Elizabeth is prejudiced by bad info (Wickham) and her own inclination to dislike a man who insulted her. Don't get me wrong, I like the movie, it has good visuals, and the different take means it's not just a copy of the 1995 miniseries. Still, I forgot they didn't even include Mr. and Mrs. Hurst! I guess you can only do so much in 2 hours.....