Another lovely Rochester winter

Lately Laura has been enjoying her new volunteer position as an assistant zookeeper. For about eight hours a week, she gets to help the "real" zookeepers clean the enclosures, feed the animals, and . . . well I'll let her talk about it. I found it ironic that as she was living her dreams and gathering exciting stories, I was sitting in my lab with the lights off watching a microscope. The microscope does its own thing (controlled by computer). I just watch now and make sure nothing goes wrong. I tried bringing in reading material, but the lights need to be off. So I just wait and watch.

So why am I not jealous of Laura and her amazing zoo experiences? Because of what's going on behind the scenes in that dark lab. Almost every day, I face a new problem to solve. These stretch me into all sorts of directions and I get to dip into all sorts of fields. For example, yesterday I spent the morning connected chemistry and group theory and ended the day with some soldering. It's an intellectual playground for a nerd like me. Plus, I don't have to be outside in the cold, cold snow.