New Car!

I got a new car. Its fantastic. I won't bore you with the details like I usually do, but in essence it is fast, and that is all I can think of. Its a cool little car. Pictures are on Facebook for anyone who is interested. Or you can wikipedia Honda S2000 and the main picture is pretty much what I am driving now. I still can't believe it honestly. I should have posted about the epic adventure that it took to get it, but it was kind of a painful experience and I don't like to drag up the past.

New car!!!

On working with radiation

Today I started using radioactive labels in the lab. It's a little unnerving at first, because your only defense against exposure is to literally hide from it. I'm not even kidding. It's not like a bad smell which maybe, if you're lucky, will waft the other way. This stuff travels in straight lines in every direction. You work with a Geiger counter next to you which emits infrequent blips, until you open up the container of pure radiolabeled material. Now the counter is making a sound that necessitates the lab phrase "screaming hot" (where 'hot' is slang for 'radioactive'). So that's cool.

I guess it's nice that there's a plexiglass shield that I work behind to keep it from irradiating me. But then you realize that the person you're talking to from the lab down the hall has actually positioned themselves with a steel filing cabinet between the two of you, so you start second-guessing how safe you really are. Every blip on the Geiger counter becomes an immediate concern. When moving things about the lab, the plexiglass shield has a little shelf so you can carry stuff around without taking it from behind the shield. I catch myself "pointing" the shield away from people (because it has no back to speak of), but then I realize it's nearly pointless because radiation goes in every direction. It peters out at certain distance, but who wants to be Bubble Boy?

I suppose it's just something I'll have to adjust to. There's a whole new set of precautions to take, which I admit does give me plenty of opportunities to wear my semi-tinted, semi-reflective safety glasses. And I have plenty of bench space to myself now, because no one wants to cozy up to the guy whose samples are radioactive. Oh well, gotta take the good with the questionably unhealthy every now and then.

Weekend goal...

So Adam is coming to Chicago this weekend. My goal is to produce something blog worthy out of that weekend - I feel like it will involve a lot of alcohol to reach that goal. Nothing I can't handle though.

Smola knows my other goal for the weekend. I'll see if that comes true as well or not.

Yeah for fun!

One Step Closer

I went to a used car dealership last week and spent some time talking with them about what I am looking for in a car. Like exactly what make, model, year range and colors I would like. I also filled out a financing form, so I can get a jump on approval for when the right car does come in.

The guy who owns the place goes to wholesale auctions all the time so I may have the right car in a few days or a week or two. I am hoping sooner. They are pretty cruel if they don't find me one I can afford soon. Two days after I went in, they got the car I want, only newer and with less miles than I can afford. Called me up and said I could come in and take a look at it. I appreciate the test drive, but I would really like one in my price range. Guess the fingers are still crossed.

My apartment has no AC

Okay, so the apartment I live in now has no AC...and will not for the entire summer. I'm thinking of also cutting my cable and internet just to throw back to APT 212. Thoughts? I think overall I will drink a lot more if that is the case. Maybe that is why we drank so much that summer or at least it was a good excuse to do so.

Anyways I'm feeling nostalgic for all that. Next Food Network Star starts June 5th. I need that in my life.

Peace out!

I Hate Car Shopping

Want to hear a funny story? Too bad, I'm going to tell you about whatever I feel like so read on and shut up. I have been looking for a new car. I found one pretty close that seemed quite cheap. I got a carfax and it turns out that the car had a salvaged title. This could mean a bunch of stuff so I called my insurance guy to see what he thought of the situation. He said he could at least find out if the car was totaled out because of comprehensive or collision. He called back a while later with some interesting news. The car is currently at a dealership in Michigan. Less than two months ago, it took a dive off a road in West Virginia ruining just about everything on the exterior of the car. The front end was torn up, the back end was torn up, the underside was ruined, the windshield was trashed. The car was totaled out just from the damage that was immediately obvious without any tear down that could have revealed more damage. The total was over 17 thousand dollars. I think I am going to have to pass on this one. There is no way everything was repaired properly if the people selling it are still going to make money.

Warm weather

Hi. It's finally warm out. I can go outside and not freeze my ass off. It's still chilly sometimes.

I want to drink outside.

I hope I can do that in the next few weeks.