And more today

So I came in. And I decided: well, I better check out the chemical cabinet, and start thinking about moving stuff into it.

(New Safety rule: even though the prep rooms are locked up tight, we now also have to keep any "dangerous" chemicals in a locked cabinet. I am thinking, if I can fit them, anything more "dangerous" than Miracle-Grow is being stored in there because I hate scrambling around to fifteen different places for things)

There were....complications.

1. The cabinet is very large and OF COURSE it had to be placed on the one open bit of counter where I stored big things, so my big things (sampling frames, meter sticks, and boxes of tiny frisbees that represent organisms in an island-biogeography lab I do) no longer have a home. And I am ADAMANT that I am NOT moving them to the storage building, because again: there's nothing I hate more than having to scramble around to fifteen different places for things AND storing boxes that people are going to reach into blindly in a spider-infested portable building is NOT a good thing; I am NOT going to take the fifteen minutes to check each box for safety before I use it every time.

I proposed a sort of pegboard to hang up the frames on and that might happen. The boxes, I don't know, but if I have to I'll just keep 'em in my office until Safety dings me for THAT. (Justifying their existence and all).

2. They didn't bother to install the shelf. So, fine, I can do that kind of thing. Except. The cabinet is set with door that won't stay open - they are on spring hinges so they slam shut if you're not holding them.

I don't have four hands. So in annoyance, I went to my chair:

"I will need help installing the shelf which the movers didn't install, the cabinet doors are constructed so they won't stay open and I don't have enough hands."

I was expecting an "Okay, sometime next week, we'll find the TA" but she said "If you have time now, I'll go help you."

It was NOT intuitive. What we thought were shelves are catchment trays (they are too short and too flimsy for shelves) but eventually I figured it out and we wrestled the shelf (singular, and there lies a problem: there may not be enough room for everything) into place.

I also pointed out the broken electronic balance that's been hanging around. I kept it thinking we can't throw stuff away. But then I remembered the inventory-numbers thing - only stuff above a certain cost is inventoried. So I asked her if I could dispose of it:

Me: "It doesn't have an inventory code, so can I throw it away?"
Her: "You probably better break it up a little more so no one dumpster-dives for it." (electronic balances are hot commodities among the mind-altering-substance-producing-and-selling crowd. They were one of the things we lost in the break-in some 12 years ago)
Me: "I have a sledgehammer" (probably said a bit too eagerly)
Her, chuckling: "I don't doubt you do."

And yeah, I did. After she left, I figured, "Well, she SAID I could" and anyway, how often do you get a chance to destroy something like that?

It takes a lot of force to break an electronic balance. The LCD screen broke first but finally by standing it on a side and beating on it, I got it into two pieces.

There's not a whole lot in there - a small circuit board, the screen, an attachment to the pan, and the battery pack. 


I started moving chemicals in but only got as far as moving the waste chemicals. (Which I wrote up for disposal LAST summer, were supposed to be disposed of THIS summer, but now will be disposed of NEXT summer. Possibly. It will be ironic if they're still sitting there in 2030 or whenever I retire. And yes, it irks me that I'm having to move them multiple times [when disposal time finally comes I'll have to gather them up and truck them over to whereever the drop-off point is on campus] but that's life, I guess).

I also cleaned up a bunch of stuff. A colleague has a bunch of stuff he doesn't use stored in there and I e-mailed him (he is off campus this summer so I doubt I'll get a response any time soon) asking me what he wanted me to do with it because it canNOT stay in the room any more.

(And yes, if it were up to me, and if I were imperious enough to be able to resist the saddle-soreness of someone over the thing, I'd just bung it all in the trash: he's not touched it in 10 years. But you must be collegial, so).

I did propose moving it to the storage shed. Though a couple things are heavy enough someone else will have to help me.

I threw away some stuff and put some stuff away (and LABELED the cabinets, except the one where I squirreled the working balances away: hopefully I will remember but I don't want it to be obvious in case we get broken-into again. There's still a lot of work to do and I also want to reorganize all the glassware once I empty the cupboard (even just partly) with chemicals in it but yeah.

The one saving grace? It's about 10 degrees cooler in there than in my office. My office is about 83 or 84 right now. Either something's broken, or they've decided they can save money by making the few professors in working stifle all summer long.

I stopped moving stuff because I realized I can't overtax my hands too much (or my bum shoulder) because tonight is bell choir and I don't want my hands do be weak so I drop a bell. I can do more tomorrow after I get done brushcutting.