Twenty Year Anniversary!

Sunday is a special day. Not only is it Father's Day, it's also my mother's 90th birthday. (I plan to visit her this Friday with my son.) It's also the twentieth anniversary of my start date with the company I work for. I started in R&D, was transferred to QC for a few years, and wound in QA, which is where I still am. (I tell new employees I hope I don't end up in Logistics or Sales next, since I'm not suitable for either of those departments.) Hopefully I'll be able to continue working there until I'm ready to retire!

Ten Things I've Learned About Working From Home

10. It's possible to fit two computers on my desk.
9. I drink less tea while I'm at home.
8. I might drink less tea at home because I have to boil water whenever I want a mug (as opposed to having hot water instantly available).
7. I don't miss driving to work.
6. I do actually miss being able to do some of the paperwork and filing that are a normal part of my job.
5. I don't have time to write on my lunch hour because I have to make my son's lunch and do the dishes.
4. Sometimes accessing the network feels like the biggest accomplishment of the day.
3. When using the mouse, I write equally poorly with both hands.
2. Why, yes, I will try working on Sunday evening if that gives me more time later in the week.
1. I need a better office chair for my home office--I'm not used to sitting it in all day!

Feel Like a Character....

Sorry I didn't blog the last couple days, but I came down with a bad case of Real Life.

I held back on scheduling a Ten-Word Tuesday because I wanted to tie it into the Higgs Boson announcement. (Which was nothing more than a big fat Maybe.) Then at work, since someone else goofed, I got handed a Mission: Impossible task to be completed by Friday. I was already busier than normal with training and validation tasks; this just felt over-the-top. However, I have to admit that if my life was a novel, this would have been a good twist to put on a character in an already tough situation.

I did make some progress yesterday in rescheduling other projects, and I also found out that some other people in my department will take over Mission: Impossible if I don't get it done by Friday. The company president knows I'm scheduled for vacation the next two weeks, so it's not like I have to give it up. So that's good.

Anyway, for discussion purposes, have you ever felt like a character in a story? What were the circumstances? What would you have said to your author?

Although tomorrow is Friday, I'm participating in the Deja Vu blogfest, so I won't be running Science of the Week. Tune in tomorrow to see which blog post I choose to rerun!

Internet: Help or Hinderance?

The power was restored at work yesterday (it was knocked out Monday morning due to a severe storm), but we still don't have Internet. That limits some of the things I can do, especially since I'm waiting for some important outside e-mails. On the other hand, I finished a report that I've been working on for a while.

Do you get more writing done when you're online, able to brainstorm with your friends, research a quick fact, or use Write or Die? Or do you end up spending too much time blogging or playing games on Facebook? (I can distract myself just fine without the Internet, thank you.) Feel free to leave a comment. Just don't be surprised if I save my comments for the evening.

A Writer's Vacation

I found out today I still have five full weeks of vacation time this year at work. (I carried over two weeks of vacation time from last year, and I've only taken one vacation day plus one floating holiday this year.) I think I better start using some of it! It's been a long time since my husband and I took a date day (we both take off work, drop Alex off at daycare, and go off on our own), so we'll have to do that. I'd also love to go somewhere--if we can figure out how to make that work with a three-year-old. Knowing me, I'll probably use some time just to clean the house. It would be nice to have some time to write and edit too.

What do you do on vacation? Do you still write? Or do you go somewhere and do things you can write about later?

Writing and Life Experience: Follow Up

Last week was very busy, so I didn't get to follow up on this post as quickly as I planned. (Today is going to be even worse, as I have to stay so late at work a co-worker will have to bring Alex here. I'm not even sure I'll get home before his bedtime; my husband will have to pick him up.) That actually worked out for the best, since another writer commented on this post when it uploaded to my Facebook feed. Both Elizabeth and Ann said that life experience helps make your fiction seem real. Barbara reminded us how imagination and listening to others can help us write about others who don't share our life experiences. Patty Jansen, a fellow OWW writer, pointed out that you don't need just life experiences, but also perspective on them so you can "distill them into a character." (Patty, I hope you don't mind me quoting you here.)

If I had to summarize what I think about life experiences affecting your writing, I'd say everyday life provides you with the details to make your fiction seem real, while extraordinary events are the ones that challenge you and make you grow, just as they do for your own characters.

I'd love to say more, but it's back to the lab mines for me.

Ten Word Tuesday: My Day Job

I passed a test but spilled hemoglobin on my sweater.

2009 High Fives

I was nominated for an award last night over at Inkpots n'Quills: the 2009 High Fives. If I understand this correctly, I'm supposed to list five accomplishments from last year and nominate five more blogs. This took some thought, but here are my accomplishments:

IFT

IFT stands for Institute of Food Technology, a professional organization. They hold a convention every year; food companies give out samples, and scientists present their food-related research. Last June, I flew out to California to present some of the research I'd done for my company at a poster session. Although it's relatively easy to have a poster accepted, it was still the first time I'd done something like this. Overall, the poster session went well, and we made some new business contacts.

JAPAN

Since I was transferred last year from research to Quality Control, I was sent to Japan for two weeks to our parent company for training. (There are a series of posts discussing my trip, which was in late September-early October.) I'm still trying to perfect the assays I need to do, but considering I don't speak Japanese and not all of the QC people spoke English very well, I'm glad it went as well as it did. They praised me for my ability to use chopsticks, and I made it to the lab in the aftermath of a typhoon. I also got to see the John Lennon Museum near Tokyo.

Parenting

One of the hardest parts about my business trips last year was leaving my family, especially my toddler son. Last year, we finally got him to fall asleep on his own and in his crib, instead of on us or with us in his room. We had to force him to cry it out, which was hard for all of us, but now everyone sleeps better. (Except for me, but I'm at the point where I need medical help to cure my insomnia.) I'm also pleased to report that while Alex isn't completely toilet training, he does use his potty. I think being in daycare and seeing the other kids use the toilet got him interested in it.

Writing

I didn't finish revising my current project as I'd resolved to, but at least my opening survived a public flogging.

WisCon

I was part of three panels at WisCon last year. The topics were keeping up with science, the science of time travel, and keeping science in science fiction. I contributed more to the first and last panel than I did to the one on time travel. That was a busy time of year for me, as we also had to plan for Alex's second birthday party and my trip to IFT. Adding preparation for the WisCon panels on top of that made things stressful. I'm glad they went well, but I think I won't sign up for so many this year.


I also have to nominate five other blogs for this award, so here we go:

Deathday Letters
Don't Think Twice

H. L. Dyer's Weblog
Mindless Musings
Working My Muse

Japan: The Final Days

I just realized I haven't blogged since the typhoon. That wasn't intentional; I just got lazy.

Friday was my final day in Japan. I didn't do any lab work that day; instead, I got to tour two of my company's facilities. In the morning, I got to see the production and processing areas. In the afternoon, the manager drove me to the R&D site. It was about an hour away, but he bought a Beatles CD to help pass the time.

In the evening, two of the people I've been working with took me out for dinner to a hibachi-style place. The chef wasn't as flamboyant as one you might find at Ron of Japan, but the food was good, and that's more important.

The trip back home went fairly smoothly. Eugene and Alex picked me up from the airport. Alex just looked at me at first, but it didn't take long before he warmed up. And since we got home, I've been "the chosen one." The jet lag hasn't been as bad as it was when I got to Japan. I think it helped that I didn't sleep on the flight but was still able to stay up until bedtime. I took the next few days off to adjust, though. Alex is home with me tomorrow since daycare is closed with training. I have a spa day on Tuesday, and I'm visiting my best friend Wednesday; unfortunately, she lost her father while I was in Japan.

Anyway, I learned a lot while I was in Japan and got to experience new things. Still, I'm much happier being back home with my family.

Typhoon!

I think I may have mentioned how rainy it's been in Japan. Just about every day (except for the weekend), we've had some. Sometimes it's nothing more than a light drizzle, scarcely worth putting up the umbrella for. But last night they predicted a typhoon, and it was heavier than normal. As the manager drove me from work to the subway station, he told me I should call him in the morning if I had problems getting into work.

I woke up around 5:00 this morning to hear winds whipping outside my hotel window. It sounded like it raining pretty hard, too. But by the time I finished breakfast, the rain had stopped. Assuming I'd get to work without any problems, I lugged my bag to the subway station. I noticed right away there were fewer people than normal. But what I also noticed from the signs on the trains is that they stopped a station before mine. I had a feeling there was going to be a problem, but I took the train anyway. Sure enough, the train terminated a station too early, and there were no trains running in the other direction. I waited a bit to see if things were going to change, but then I called the office and explained the situation. Someone told me to take a taxi from my hotel, so I rode the train back to my station, walked back to the hotel, and found a taxi. It was definitely more expensive than the subway, but I got to work.

This was my last day doing lab work; tomorrow I have a meeting in the morning and a couple of tours in the afternoon. Some of the ladies from the QC lab decided to treat me to sushi. They brought me to a place where the sushi came out on conveyor belts and you were charged for how many plates you took. (We actually have something similar by work.) I tried a couple new things, including an egg custard. And after dinner, the subway station was back to normal.

When In Japan...

Do as the Japanese do.

Shortly before the start of the work day in the lab, music plays over the intercom, and the people in the office area do a series of stretches. I do my best to follow along. Then there's a short assembly before work begins.

I've gone through all the documents the QC manager had for me, so now it looks like I'll be practicing experiments for the rest of the time. Some of the techniques are different from what I do at home. For example, most of their pipetting is done by mouth. (At home, I use automated pipets.) I haven't done mouth pipetting since high school biology class, when I got urea into my mouth. I'm doing it here for some of the work -- and yes, I've sucked up enzyme solution into my mouth again. Harmless, but not very tasty.

It can be hard to communicate with the people in the lab. Some are more fluent in English than others. We use gestures a lot. Sometimes they bring other people in to translate.

I use chopsticks at lunch, but my technique isn't the best. At this point, it's hard to retrain myself.

Getting to and from work is pretty straightforward. I take a taxi from the train station to work, and someone brings me back to the train station at the end of the day.

One of the people who can speak English very well (he and his family lived in London for several years) took me out for dinner last night. We had shabu shabu. If you're not familiar with that, a boiling pot of water is set on the table (which has a built-in heating unit), along with thinly sliced meat and vegetables. You cook the meat and vegetables in the water and dip it into sauce. Very filling--and very messy.

Yesterday at breakfast, I sat next to a couple of tourists. They're from Hawaii, though the man was originally from Chicago. (They were chatty types--at least he was.) When they got up to leave, he put on Groucho Marx glasses. I think he thought I was too young to know who that was, but I've seen a couple of the Marx Brothers movies.

Speaking of breakfast, it's time to eat. More later.

Japan: The First Day

The good news: I survived my first full day in Japan. The bad news: I'm not sleeping very well, which is why I'm posting before 6:00 a.m. local time. Here are a few things I've noted so far:

The Japanese keep their buildings at higher temps than we're used to. Plus, it's also humid; we're expected to get rain for the next several days. No wonder fans are popular here!

People do wear face masks when they're sick.

I see a fair amount of young girls with short, full skirts and knee-high socks. Even some older women dress like that.

It feels weird to have the hotel staff kneel when they present the morning Japanese paper to me and push the elevator buttons.

Work is going OK so far. The first thing I did was meet the company president as part of my official welcome. Then I was shown how to get to the Quality Control/Assurance building. This involves taking the subway to a station and then taking a taxi. I was shown around in the morning and had lunch at a company cafeteria. Good thing I can use chopsticks! Afterward, the manager of Quality Control showed me several documents, mostly in Japanese. I recognized some parts, but it's a good thing the manager has a little electronic dictionary to help translate. Everyone has been very kind and helpful to me so far.

They let me leave a little early yesterday due to my jet lag. Someone took me to the subway station. It wasn't too hard finding my train or the right stop, but once I left the subway station I became disoriented. For some reason, I thought I had to go straight to get to my hotel, so I walked for several blocks, realized I didn't recognize anything, then turned around and walked back to the subway. I tried another direction and got the same result. Meanwhile, the light rain grew heavier and heavier, and my feet hurt. Finally, I realized I needed to make a turn somewhere, and from that point, I found my hotel very quickly. I think part of what confused me is that I left the hotel in the morning from a side entrance, not the main one. Hopefully, it should go more smoothly today.

Anyway, it's time to "get up" and get ready for work. Here's hoping I don't fall asleep during my assay.

Journeys

I’m writing this blog post at 10,000 feet as I fly to Japan. (OK, I’m not the one doing the actual flying, but I bet you guessed that. And yes, I wrote this Saturday but didn't post it until now.) Over the next two weeks, I will practice various enzyme assays (and hopefully become qualified to do them) and learn everything I need to know to be a one-woman Quality Control Department. At least in theory; I’m not sure how well anyone in the Japanese lab speaks English. Hopefully we’ll be able to understand each other.

I’m not too thrilled about having to make this trip. I haven’t slept well in months, and my insomnia has been even worse lately; I don’t need massive jet lag on top of that. I don’t know how well I’ll handle the culture shock. But the worst thing about this trip is leaving my family, especially Alex. My trip in June had him talking about “Mommy’s bus” for days. He was asleep when I left the house this morning, so at least I was spared having to hear him wail again. I hope this long absence doesn’t traumatize him! Eugene really has to cut his work hours to care for Alex while I’m gone. We’ve been long-distance before, but that doesn’t make it fun.

Characters in novels go on journeys fairly often. Physical shifting of scenes can help to move the plot forward, make the story interesting, and introduce the character (and the reader) to new cultures. Journeys are useful in fiction for another reason: they can force character growth. Placing a character in unfamiliar settings takes them out of their comfort zones and make them develop new skills. This is something I’ll be experiencing firsthand!

I don’t know how much time I’ll have to post during my stay, but I’ll try to keep you updated on how my trip goes. I do get a couple days to play tourist, so hopefully that will go well.

Madison Trip

Last Thursday, after Date Day, it was back to work for me. But I didn't have to go into the lab; instead, I was Madison-bound. My mission was to visit another lab we would be outsourcing some of our work to and qualify them to do the work. Not fun stuff, but it was nice to have some alone time in the car and listen to my music instead of Alex's ABC CD.

The drive up to Madison (after I brought Alex to daycare) was pretty smooth. The lab was located on the west end of Madison, in a part of town I wasn't familiar with. I didn't have any problems finding the place, though. It was a very big lab, far larger than my own company. I won't bore you with the details of my visit, but I will note that they had a very nice cafeteria. I also got to tour the lab.

After my work was done, I headed back home. I was tempted to drive through Madison so I could see the downtown area, but I didn't want to take too long getting back home. I did stop by my parents' house briefly, though I regretted it when I ran into a delay on the highway (accident). Luckily, once I got past the accident site, the rest of the drive was without incident, and I got back to daycare at my normal time. It's a shame to go all the way up to Madison and not be able to see anyone or anything I care for, though.

An Interview with Yours Truly

I'll post the second half of Aviva's interview tonight. But for now, I can't resist linking to this interview I gave for the blog Uncertain Principles, a science blog devoted to "physics, politics, pop culture." Last week, the author asked for scientists working outside of academia to discuss their jobs. I volunteered to be interviewed, along with about 30 other people. You can read my interview here.

More from the IFT

The IFT Expo is now over. (If you're not sure what that is, please refer to my previous post.) I didn't get around to blogging yesterday, so I'll talk about both days here.

I was able to get into the pool area both yesterday and today, so I went swimming before breakfast. After breakfast, I hung around in the hotel briefly before taking the shuttle over to IFT. Yesterday morning and early afternoon, I attended scientific poster sessions and symposiums. When my brain was ready to explode, I walked the floor of the expo, networking and tasting more samples than I can remember right now. I returned to the hotel around 5:00 p.m. yesterday. My co-workers and I were supposed to have dinner with a customer. However, I was so tired around 7:00 I laid down. The next thing I knew, I got a call from one of my co-workers. It's a good thing he called me; otherwise, I probably would have woken up in the middle of the night and completely missed dinner. Instead, I stayed in and ordered from room service.

My poster session was this morning. I got there about ten minutes before hand. It didn't take me long to set up (I had Velcro dots put on the back to make it easier.) Most of the poster presenters were students; it felt a little odd to have people ask me where I was from, since they assumed I was also from a university. I look young for my age, but I'm not that young anymore! I'd say overall the poster was well received. Several people stopped by to ask questions, take handouts, and request copies of the poster (or the poster file). I stopped by our booth briefly before lunch, then attended a final symposium. I was back on the shuttle to the hotel by 3:00. It was nice to change into casual clothes, but not so nice to hear from Eugene that Alex has pink eye. At least he'll be able to meet "Mommy's bus" tomorrow when I come home!

Live...From the IFT

OK, it's not really live, but it sounds better, doesn't it?

I'm in Anaheim, California, home of Disneyland. But although the convention center is next to Disneyland, I'm here for work, not for pleasure. I'm here for the Institute of Food Technologists Expo. It's an international gathering of people from universities and industry. I'm presenting some of my research in a poster format.

I flew in yesterday. Eugene and Alex dropped me off at the bus depot for the airport. All went well until Alex saw me getting on "Mommy's bus." Then he started to cry so hard I could hear him on the bus. Not exactly the best sendoff, but Eugene assures me Alex is doing OK. Plus I finished one book and one magazine on the flight, as well as writing.

I've been in California twice before, but it's always a bit of a shock to see huge palm trees everywhere. This time, I also saw a flowering purple tree (the flowers were purple, not the tree itself). I wonder what it is?

I was still on Central Time last night, so I went to bed early and woke up at 3 in the morning local time. At least I got to stay in bed another few hours. I got up right when the pool was supposed to open, but I couldn't get the gate open. Maybe tomorrow.

Anyway, after breakfast, I ran into one of my co-workers before I took the shuttle over to the convention center. I wandered around for a bit before listening to the keynote session. It started late, and then there were various speeches and awards, so the session proper didn't start until over an hour after the official start. I didn't stay for the whole thing. Instead, I met my co-workers at their booth (they're giving out cheese samples I made), then wandered around the first poster session to see what it would be like. There are lots of posters, grouped by topic, that are essentially scientific reports. The lead author stays with the poster to answer questions. I hope my session goes well on Tuesday. After the first session, I sat in on an oral session (several scientists give short talks on their research, which is grouped by theme), then attended another poster session before walking around the Expo. There are lots of exhibitors here, though my co-workers tell me this show is smaller than previous expos. Some of the booths are so big they have a second story. Exhibitors include many food companies but also some suppliers. Many booths are giving away samples. So far I've had mango sorbet, dried blueberries infused with sugar, a green tea "gel," granola samples, carrot juice, a cupcake, and a brownie. One booth is even giving away beer! Too bad I don't care for the taste.

I haven't done much in the evening other than hang out in my hotel room. I guess I'm too lazy to go around much, but after going around all day in less-than-comfortable shoes (which are still the most comfortable sandals I brought with me), I don't feel like going anywhere.

Tune in tomorrow for more news from IFT.

For Want of a Ring...

Whoever is writing my life these days sure knows how to put obstacles in my path.

I have a big project at work for a customer; I'm supposed to analyze their samples for a couple of common chemicals. (I can say no more.) This process involves purifying each sample so I can analyze it via HPLC (High-Performance Liquid Chromatography). I have over twenty samples, with duplicates of each, and I'm analyzing each sample, including the duplicate, twice. The purification procedure involves a step where I can only centrifuge four tubes at a time, so it took me two days to finish all of the samples. But Tuesday night, as I loaded the HPLC, I anticipated having all of my data by Wednesday morning.

That was my first mistake.

I came in Wednesday and reviewed my data. Most of my samples had usable data, but some of the runs didn't work. I set up the HPLC to run them again overnight. Again, some of the runs worked, but many didn't.

As I was setting up the HPLC to run the samples a third time, I noticed a problem. I asked a co-worker who has more experience with this machine to help me figure out what was wrong. We found that a white O-ring in the pump was out of round, causing the pump to leak. We didn't have a replacement on hand, so I looked in the manual, found the part, called the company, and faxed in an order to have more O-rings shipped here overnight.

A couple of hours later, I realized I never got a confirmation that the fax went through, so I sent it again. I left without getting an order confirmation from the company, so I wondered if I would get the ring today.

As it turned out, I did get the order. But when I opened the package, the rings I had ordered were much too small to be the right part.

I called the company again, and they put me in touch with a local serviceperson. I had to talk to him twice. The first time, he gave me the part number I'd already ordered. We discussed sending him a picture of the part, but I managed to lose it before we could take the picture. (Has nobody looked in the wash basin?) I had my co-worker describe to the serviceperson exactly where the part was located. We wound up getting a new part number, and the serviceperson said he would e-mail me a picture of it to confirm we have the right part. I'm still waiting for the e-mail. I'd like to order the part ASAP so we have it by Monday, but there's no point in getting another wrong part again.

Anyway, I managed to sneak two movie references (they're from the same movie) into my tale of woe. Kudos to the first person who can identify the movie. If you know my favorite music group, you have a leg up on the competition.

Week in Review

The owner of our company (it's part of a Japanese company that's been in the same family for over a century) came in today for our annual update. We get a free lunch when he comes in; today we had both sushi and pizza. The downside to the "free lunch" is that I don't get to use my lunchtime to write. I did manage to sneak away long enough to update my blog. Between trying to recover from a lingering cold/sore throat (it's been so bad at times I've gotten up in the middle of the night for a lozenge) and not sleeping well, I haven't blogged in a few days.

MLK Day: I was lucky enough to have a holiday from work while the daycare was still open. After dropping Alex off, I came home, intending to do some chores, when Eugene called me. He had left his keys for the clinic at home, and he had a client coming in in an hour. We wound up meeting at a bookstore halfway between the clinic and home so I could bring him the keys. After buying a few books, I returned home, did the dishes, vacuumed the house, went to the doctor's office for a blood draw, ran a couple of errands, tidied up my office, and even worked on Across Two Universes for a bit before getting Alex. I had planned to give myself a mini-facial or a manicure, but it didn't work out, as usual.

The Inauguration: I didn't get to watch it live. I tried watching the feed on CNN.com, but it froze partway through Aretha Franklin's song. How aggravating! At least we recorded it, so I was able to watch it Tuesday night. It's exciting to have a new president, even in these tough times. I wish Obama and his family lots of luck in the next four years.

Alex: Alex seems to be over his cold, but he's started waking up in the middle of the night again. I had to get up at midnight once, and Eugene had to get up last night around three; it took him over an hour to soothe Alex back to sleep. But he's starting to hug us now, so that makes it all worthwhile. Lately Alex insists on touring the basement several times a day, asking for "seesee."

Writing: I finished writing a speech for my father-in-law last night and sent to him. I'm currently revising/editing the second chapter of ATU. Ideally, I'd like to finish two chapters a month. Since I completely rewrote the first chapter, I really need to find a couple of reviewers to comment on it. I don't feel like posting it on the Online Writing Workshop. (I've put several versions of the book there already, and I've been inactive for a while, so I may need to establish some new crit relationships.) I'll post it on RallyStorm tonight.

The lunch hour is almost up, so I need to grab some leftover pizza before it disappears. I'll be back on Sunday with another Blog Chain post!

Three Things I Never Thought I'd Say...

1. I need Twinkies.

2. They're for work.

3. I looked all over the grocery store and couldn't find them.

We now return you to your normally scheduled Internet.