I went to see Fahrenheit 9/11 on Saturday and it was really, really, good. Worth having to pay 10.25 and take a pain in the ass subway ride to get there. I definitely would recommend it to anyone. If nothing else hopefully this movie will help get bush out of the white house. Yah Kerry may not be all that much better in some respects but god knows we can’t do any worse. And at least anyone else is likely to be, well smarter and less evil. So yah…go see the movie. After the movie I walked around the area a bit (I went to see it at the Lowes in the East Village). Found a few neat stores, including a cool looking Russian goods store but didn’t stop in this time. I do want to go back though at some point soon. I want me a fuzzy hat with ear flaps come this winter. Those commies sure knew how to make a damn warm hat! Anyway needless to say it was a fun trip. Maybe I’ll drag Jenn down there when she comes to visit in a few weeks.
Speaking of visiting, I leave for Florida this Friday! Again I say W00T! I’ve already started packing and getting stuff I will need together. Important things like sunblock so I don’t come back looking like a lobster. I can’t loose my pastey whiteness! It is my super power! Hehehe.
I also want to share a cool website with you all. Undercity.org The guy that runs the site posts pictures and stories of exploring tunnels and other places one is not normally supposed to go here in NYC. Especially interesting is his sort of interview with the semi-famous homeless man named Billy. I don’t know why but I found it a really interesting read. So go check it out if yah have a minute or two.
Well that’s it for this installment. I’ll probably try and make one more post, even if it is a little one, before I leave on Friday but after that don’t expect to see anything for a at least a week or so.
And like that….he’s gone. »« Dude! Where’s my governor?
So good old Roland finally resigned. Thats very funny. Would have been funnier if they had kicked him out but as long as hes gone. Not that I really care any more, now that I live in NYC and everything but as a recently former Connecticut boy I still take great pleasure in the news.
This weekend was, as you might expect from reading this blog, mostly pointless. Did all the usual crap Saturday (food, laundry, cleaning) whee! Then Sunday had to go in for “rip and strip” overtime. Earned 7 hours of comp. time which is cool, and the work really isn’t that hard. Was joined for that fun day by Steve and Siobhan so at least I didn’t have to suffer alone. Today we got our sample results from the GC and prepared and ran the knowns for a second time. Apparently we are going to really fly through this section. The plan is to get our results tomorrow and run the unknown samples once. Then Wednesday get those results and if everything is working well to run our test samples. This stuff really isn’t that hard so I can see (and welcome) picking up the pace a bit. Speaking of GC, a bit of instrumental chemistry humor:
What psychological disorder is a Gas Chromatograph most likely to suffer from?
“Separation Anxiety”
and right now maybe one person gets that but trust me it’s….well not funny…but is kind of funny in a “ugh” sort of way.
11 days until I leave for sunny Florida and get to see Meg. W00T!
Fahrenheit 9/11 »« I said no to drugs but they wouldn’t listen.
This week at the lab we have been rocking out to CG/MS or Gas Chromatograph Mass Spectrometry (which simply put is an instrument where we put in the sample and it tells us what it is). I could explain it in more detail here but odds are my readers already know what it is and how it works or don’t and just don’t care so I won’t bother. Ideally in a few minutes we will get to load our sample vials on the instrument to run. Theses are the know samples or cocaine, heroin, and Lidocaine. The idea is just to teach us how to put in the proper sequence into the computer and such. Otherwise not much exciting is going on in the Big City. We (crime lab folk) all got 1000$ bonuses because the union signed the new contract (which will probably some how screw us in the end) but for now woo hoo. Now I really am not 1000$ richer. After taxes and other things get taken out I ended up with like half of that in my check this week. But dang it that’s 500$ more then I had last week. Woot! Most of it is already “spent” on bills and stuff but still it will be a nice help.
I have also been working crazy over time last weekend and into this week. But the money ought to come in the day I leave for FL so it will be a nice little bonus for my trip. I have tomorrow off but am working all day Sunday which is alright really seeing as I usually end up wasting my Sundays anyway! hehehe
Dude! Where’s my governor? »« I’m even more 31337 now!
Thanks to Jenn for my now even more eleet status with her gift to me of a coved gmail (google mail) account. People are selling there right eyes for these some places and now I got one. Woot! Not that I need yet another email account but its more a prestige thing. So if you really want you can now pester me at: criminalist@gmail.com (nifty eh?)
So thanks again Jenn! 
Other then that, this weekend is eh. Worked OT today 8-12 then did laundry and bought food. Tomorrow I get to work on our “Rip and Strip” project (no I don’t get to strip, at least not in a good way) 8-4. Its OT so its alright I guess. The people up in evidence control don’t want us there (think we are “stealing” their OT. These are cops mind you. Now maybe if they weren’t so lazy and spent so much time milking the OT on this project they wouldn’t of needed to call us in. They know they will get in trouble if they harass us too much but there are little things they can still do (comments of “Can you believe you have a degree and are doing this”) (to which our mental answer is: well can you believe you have a badge and are doing this while other cops are out doing useful things like say fighting crime?) Hehehe. We don’t really say this out loud, that would probably be a bad thing, but its fun to think dang it!
Anyway up uber early for work so ought to get ready for bed soon I guess.
Blah!
I said no to drugs but they wouldn’t listen. »« You will have your day in court
Yesterday we all took a field trip down to the Federal Court building in mid-town. We were going for our Mock-Court day. The idea was to use us to help train the new ADA’s learn how to question expert witnesses, and we get to see what it will be like when we have to really testify in a court. They only needed six people to testify yesterday, which given the size of our group, meant that we each had a 35.2% chance of testifying. Of course I was picked to be one of the six. We started by meeting with the ADA’s in training and went over our testimony, the line of questioning he would use, and in general what to expect when we testify. Then after lunch I (and the two other people from my class who were coming along to watch me), went up to the court room. Everything went really well. My ADA (in comparison to some of the others) was really good, and being up on the witness stand wasn’t that nerve racking at all. The defense only asked me one semi-pointless question about some of the weights and that was it. Then there was a little critique done by the guy in charge of that trial and all the other students who were “the jury”. He basically said that both the ADA and I did fine but he seemed to want more explanation of some of the scientific terms and techniques. While that may be nice in theory, the court room is really no place to teach the jury all the specifics of what we do and how/why everything works. All in all it was a good experience and ideally helped me for when I have to do it for real some day.
After we were done there we went across the street to see another chemist from our lab, Bob, testify in a real case. Then after he was done there, and we were all off duty, a few of us hit the bar to celebrate and relax.
A good time was had by all! Who said chemists can’t be wild and crazy from time to time?
I’m even more 31337 now! »« Free stuff
When I got home today the were remodeling the appt. below me. I noticed that they were throwing away some stuff and I was able to snag two things for my appt.
First I got this nifty bookcase with glass doors:
It was dirty and one of the glass panels has alot of duct tape residue on it that I was able to remove with some acetone. I don’t know what I will put in it yet (Maybe some books and videos) but when I put my AC I will probably put nippy on the top so I don’t freeze her with the AC. hehehe.
I also took this:
I don’t know why I took it really. Its a little water damaged near the bottom but all in all its ok. It’s hanging in my kitchen at the moment. Figured it could use a little color.
Free stuff rocks.
Getting back to the forensic science stuff work was good. We started going over GC/MS stuff today and then after lunch went over our court stuff for our mock trial thing on Wednesday. Now we wont know if we have to testify until we actually get there. I still don’t really care either way. If I get called fine, if not fine too. Public speaking has never bothered me so eh.
Man it just catching up with me all the running around and cleaning and laundry and carrying bookcases up the stairs…..im starting to get tired hehehe.
time to veg to TV!
You will have your day in court »« A good weekend.
Just got back to NY after a very productive weekend home in CT.
Friday night, got home and went to Shrek 2. It was good. I mean if you saw one you kind of know what to expect from two, but it was free so thats always good.
Saturday I went shopping and got a bunch of large/bulk food stuffs from BJ’s club (so much so I have to find room for some of it still) Then hit the mall and got a new suitcase set for my FL trip. Much nicer then my old ones. Also hit the bookstore and spent money I probably shouldn’t of But eh…a new book once and a while is alright. Then Saturday night I went back to my old theater and say the documentary “Super Size Me”. For those of you not in the know it follows the story of an average guy living in NYC who for a month decided to see what would happen if you ate nothing buy McDonald’s for 3 meals a day. Needless to say is a really funny/scary movie. In the month he did it he not only put on like 20 pounds but did some real damage to his liver (on par with chronic drinking). It seriously makes you want to never eat fast food again. I also got to visit with some of my former co-workers who are still there so it was cool.
Today Mom and Dad took me back to NY. Along with the suitcase and food, I pilfered an AC from home so dragging all that home on metronorth and then the subway wasn’t really an option. We hit Trader Joe’s and got lunch while we were driving through New Haven.
But now I am back in NY…yay….and have work tomorrow….whee. Tomorrow also begins our big overtime project thing so the next few weeks might be kind of crazy. IE. If yah don’t see an update for a while don’t be surprised. You likely will get one Wednesday night after our mock-court day down town, but after that…..well….I’ll try my best for all you rabid captain science fans!
Free stuff »« Zen and the MTA
One day a wise man (me) went for a ride on the bus to get to work. Upon boarding the bus he saw a torn sign inside the bus, and on this sign was written “A empty bus is a good bus”. Upon reading this he was enlightened.
Well not really, but it was still nifty in a bus-zen sorta way. “A empty bus is a good bus.” So true.
FTIR exam tomorrow. Whee! Maybe I’ll take the longer way into work tomorrow so I can study some on the subway. We shall see.
Won my first game of email chess. More by luck then skill really. But a win is a win. Woo hoo!
Going home this weekend again. Plain is to get a suitcase for my trip and snag an AC from home in case it gets hot here this summer (which I am sure it will). Maybe hit a movie or something too, are a few I want to see.
Eh. We shall see.
A good weekend. »« Ahhh a day off.
