Sciencemadness Discussion Board - How Did 2006 Go For You ?

How Did 2006 Go For You ?

MadHatter - 22-12-2006 at 15:27

I'm curious because it's been one of my worst years in a very long time. Mercifully, the holidays
are upon us and I have downtime from work. Work was the key issue here. A lot of overtime
due mostly to lazy wankers who don't want to do their job or just don't want to show up.
The resulting sleep deprivation, stress, and work backup has injured my health. I had been
taking my paperwork home with me as it was the only way to get it done. I'm still behind
at the moment but will be able to catch up. We were given a new tasking this year that rattled
everybody's nerves. It illustrates the all too common problem of managements's unrealistic
expectations from its employees. As always, upper management wanted too much
from their employees who had to violate the law in order to comply with the new tasking.
It's been especially hard on me.

My last day of work at the office was on Monday, December 18. But my problems didn't
end there. I spent the 19th and 20th of December, preparing for and undergoing an
endoscopy/colonoscopy. Unlike what I was told by family, doctors, and nurses, this
thing hurt very badly. The doctor says that some of the diagnosed problems are
directly related to the work stress. Fortunately, I don't return to work until January 5, 2007.

I spent other holidays working instead of being with my family because of the bullshit.
No More ! I'm not going to lose my health and/or life because of lazy people.
I found out that this new tasking was rejected by other companies because of the
stress it put on their people - many threatening to resign if they had to do it. Hopefully,
my employer will wise up and do the same, otherwise the upper managers risk getting
prosecuted and imprisoned.

To the end of 2006 and better start in 2007 ! I'm going to go have a beer !

Nerro - 22-12-2006 at 15:46

Just force them then, go to the police or whomever is relevant here if they dont give in.

I had a pretty interesting year myself, first year of university, frat hazing, frat parties, lots of studying, learning a lot of cool chemistry, getting a job as a dishwasher and now as a sales clerk at a liquor store which is a great job really.

As far as my health goes I suppose it might be time to stop gaining weight, I'm not really fat now but better safe than sorry

My teeth are great and my liver still hasn't died yet

No complaints from me

Elawr - 22-12-2006 at 20:56

May I ask what line of work you are into, Madhatter? Certainly sounds stressful to the point of questioning if its really worth it. Sorry about the gastrointestinal problems, I hope nothing malignant was found. Maybe just a bit of the old irritable bowel syndrome triggered by work-related stress, eh?

Hang in there! Keep your health, don't compromise family and friends - they are your true assets. And to hell with a bunch of lazy wankers at work - don't let it stress you out too much.

Merry Christmas!

unionised - 23-12-2006 at 03:48

"As always, upper management wanted too much
from their employees who had to violate the law in order to comply with the new tasking.
It's been especially hard on me."

Contact the relevant authorities and get the B****ds prosecuted.

Personally I haven't had too bad a year- I too could do with less hassle at work but, since I'm a Trade Union Safety rep at least I am well placed to "explain things" to our managers.

Commercial Driving

MadHatter - 23-12-2006 at 05:24

That's part of my job in addition to training, supervising, and maintaining databases pertinent
to the tasks. The illegality came in the form of driving beyond the 10 hour time limit.
Week after week I had workshifts that were 18, 17, and 15 hours almost back-to-back.
3 other drivers and myself are all suffering stress-related illnesses as a result. We were
relieved when the holidays finally arrived. We're also getting new drivers next year and some
of the lazy wankers will be getting their walking papers. It's long overdue. The new tasking
was taken on hastily having been rejected by other companies. It was designed by
a man whose life has been spent being a manager - not a truck driver. A half asleep driver
transporting 80,000 LBS at 65 MPH is more dangerous than a drunk driver. We were lucky
that there were no accidents. I'll still have to catch up on paperwork over the holidays
but work isn't pressing me for it right now. They're all on holiday.

LIke I said, on previous holidays I found myself catching up on all the paperwork, having
had no time to do it in the office. These holidays and other days off, unpaid of course,
were essentially sacrificed to keep us from looking like horses asses to our superiors.

For me the stress-related maladies exist: hypertension off the scale, acid reflux disease
caused by a hiatal hernia, diverticulosis, non-cancerous polyps, irritable bowel syndrome,
bacterial bowel infection.

Right now I'm on 5 medications including an antibiotic for the infection. My immediate
supervisors, family, and doctors are worried about my health. They're worried I'll
have a heart attack or a stroke. We've demanded that the new tasking either be modified
or dropped ! The overpaid asshole who designed it needs to be kicked in the head !

unionised - 23-12-2006 at 06:12

"The overpaid asshole who designed it needs to be kicked in the head ! "
If you hold him I'll kick him. I don't have a lot of sympathy for people exploiting the goodwill of their workforce.
I hope Xmas gives you a chance to relax a bit; I think that's probably the best treatment for all your problems.
I'm sure we all wish you the best for the coming year.

Jdurg - 23-12-2006 at 13:19

It wasn't too bad for me, but it could have been better. I got a new job in June which pays me about 156% of what I was paid at my old job, and has benefits beyond belief. As a result, I was able to fully pay off my car and put away a great deal of money towards my own home.

I made my first international trip and saw the United Kingdom while having everything paid for by my company. I also received some amazing letters of praise and thanks from some individuals at the company which really shocked me since I've only been there for 7 months now.

I added a few new samples to my element collection and upgraded quite a few. I added Thorium metal, a MUCH bigger chunk of Uranium metal, and a full ounce of Platinum metal. Those are the ones I can think of off the top of my head.

On the bad side of things, two weeks ago I wrecked my newly paid for car trying to avoid something that ran in front of me on the road. That cost me $500 for my deductable and my insurance rates will SKYROCKET next year when my policy is due for renewal. Another year went by and thanks to random costs and debts I am STILL living at home and want to kill myself for that. My health has taken a turn for the worse as my blood pressure rose to the point where I'm now medicated, and the weight that I dropped my last year of college came back in full force. Sadly, it's all around my waist which is the most frustrating part. Waist fat is the hardest to get rid of and I just no longer have the time or energy to exercise. My blood sugars have been psychotic for the past six months no matter how much I watch my diet or what I do. Even my doctors can't figure this out. (I'm a type 1 diabetic).

I guess there's just been a lot of stress in my life and I see no end to it right now. I just want this stupid Christmas holiday to go away so everything can get back to normal. I HATE Christmas with a passion.

12AX7 - 23-12-2006 at 13:33

You're going to hate me. After school ended last week, I went back to work intern at an aerospace company (they make controls for jet engines and, since 2001, other engines). Besides getting paid $10/hr for interning, the employees bring smorgasboards of treats a few days before Christmas. A person could easily gain 10 pounds working here in December!

Tim

The_Davster - 23-12-2006 at 17:40

Eh, decent.

Did not do as well in courses this semester as in last. I had an A- in an analytical chem course, that will teach me to use my head instead of calculator for simple math(7x5=28 according to me under stress

). It has been A or A+ in my other chem courses to date.
Withdrew from advanced calculus course, will take it again next year. I had huge difficulties with that course.
Chemoleo will love this... I barely scraped by in my biochemistry course... It seemed like an entire course of blaming everything on enzymes. Just not my thing. B-(rampant grade inflation, I had ~62% in that course)

I am pretty happy with my lab, only a few reagents I still want to acquire/stock that I cannot make. More than enough glassware, I do need a nicer scale however as a result of my move towards microscale.

This summer I will likely do more research, possibly on something cool which I don't think I can divulge here.

I have learned that most chem professors at uni know about my lab by word of mouth from the proffs I have told. :cool:

I took the joke of a course that is firearms safety training this last summer, I hope to get my lisence soon and buy some cool toys.

Going to mexico on tuesday with my family. I am mostly curious about what is OTC over there

. No crossover stops in the US, and I am happy about that.

Better than 2005 for sure though!

EDIT: Madhatter, ouch, what are you on for the acid reflux? I have been on losec(omeprazole something) for the last 10 years for the same ailment, works pretty well.

[Edited on 24-12-2006 by The_Davster]

Stress And Health

MadHatter - 23-12-2006 at 19:19

The_Davster, current medications:

acid reflux - rabeprazole sodium
diarrhea - dicyclomine
hypertension - diovan hct
infection - metronidazole
nausea - promethazine

I had a dream about relieving the stress: cracking the skulls of the idiots who induced it.

Jdurg - 25-12-2006 at 11:50

Woo-Hoo!!!! I just added another new element sample to my collection.

I picked up five radium chloride painted watch hands for $14.00 including shipping. I should get them in about a week. In the meantime, I need to find me some activated ZnS to paint over the watch hands to ensure they emit a nice glow for me. Either that, or some other phosphorescent compound with a relatively long active life so that I can then seal my five watch hands in some acrylic resin and not worry about the phosphoresence dying on me shortly afterward. (I have a watch hand with Pm-147 paint, but it died a while ago as I'm sure all the Pm has decayed. There's probably one or two atoms left on the sample.

But this is pretty neat getting the radium sample and for a damned good price as well. I typically see radium watch hands going for an insane price on E-Bay, or you get a massive number of them and you can never be sure if they are actual radium hands. This guy I bought them from (goes by geologicals on E-Bay) has used a geiger counter to assure that they are real. Can't wait for them to arrive!

It's also kind of funny how when I started my element collection I said that I wouldn't get any radioactive elements, but then I got my tritium sample, my promethium sample, my uranium and thorium samples, my americium sample, and now my radium sample.

Time to work on that technetium, neptunium and plutonium.

pantone159 - 25-12-2006 at 13:33

Quote:

Originally posted by Jdurg
Time to work on that technetium, neptunium and plutonium.

I really liked collecting the radioactives for some reason. Note:
Tc - I (so far) have had to settle for natural U ore for this spot (as well as Fr), but I do remember some European element seller with some pertechnate solution.

Np - Remember that your smoke detector Am-241 decays to Np-237, so you get both elements with that. Not a whole lot of Np of course, but I don't know if it is possible to do better.

Pu - 'Trinitite' is (was?) available on eBay, it is the greenish glassy material that formed from the New Mexico desert from the Trinity test. The pieces are slightly (but clearly) radioactive, mainly (presumably) from fission products. Only c. 20% of the fuel burned, so there ought to be plenty of Pu atoms in there.

Po - Photographic anti-static brushes. Cheep.

I count my Ra watch hands as Rn and At as well.

Cm is the one I really want to get now.

Jdurg - 25-12-2006 at 16:03

I've got some thorium metal in an ampoule so I consider the teency little bit of Rn given off of that as my radon sample. (There is, at any one time, a handful of Rn atoms in there). My actual sample of Fr and Rn, as well at Ac, Pa, and a few others, is my lump of uranium ore where all elements are in a nice equillibrium already.

I would KILL for a sample of Tc. Just a one gram sample in a nice metallic sphere cast in a resin block. The cost of one gram isn't all that outrageous, but the cost of all the applications for licenses that I would need just to be able to buy that one gram is insanely nuts. I need to start making friends with people in the medical industry.

12AX7 - 25-12-2006 at 19:25

Yeh too bad your medical Tc will be gone in weeks. They're interested in the fast isotopes. Long isotopes don't show up well and leave the patient at a big smelly health risk. (For the same reason, Theodore Gray would *not* want a plutonium battery, as such devices use Pu238, half life circa 30 years, as a thermoelectric source; not the long-lived Pu244 which is neither weapons-grade (well, neither is 238) nor very strongly radioactive (comparable with Tc98).

Tim

Jdurg - 25-12-2006 at 21:11

Quote:

Originally posted by 12AX7
Yeh too bad your medical Tc will be gone in weeks. They're interested in the fast isotopes. Long isotopes don't show up well and leave the patient at a big smelly health risk. (For the same reason, Theodore Gray would *not* want a plutonium battery, as such devices use Pu238, half life circa 30 years, as a thermoelectric source; not the long-lived Pu244 which is neither weapons-grade (well, neither is 238) nor very strongly radioactive (comparable with Tc98).

Tim

Actually, in the medical field they use Tc-99m which is just a highly "excited" Tc-99 atom. Tc-99 has a VERY long half-life and is VERY quickly eliminated from the body. (I believe that the Tc dose given is eliminated within 24 hours). Tc-99 has a long half-life and a weak beta ray emission coupled with no gamma rays. As a result, it's actually not all that bad in terms of radiological toxicity. If only I could get a sample.........

12AX7 - 26-12-2006 at 02:02

Ahhh yes, forgot about the meta one!

Tim

jimmyboy - 26-12-2006 at 02:29

hmm got laid by seven different women -- was down for 3 months after having to get wisdom teeth removed - the dentist totally screwed up - i was on vicodin for weeks - hmm got to see Cali/Los Angeles for the first time - had alot of fun -- i think this year evened out alright -- maybe i can improve my odds for 2007 -- does GHB make women horny?? lol

Year In Review

MadHatter - 26-12-2006 at 09:42

Jimmyboy, you got laid by 7 different women and you're wondering about GHB ?

I had 2 root canals this past year and all the dentist gave me was Tylenol #3s.
You got Vicodin you lucky bastard ! Although to be fair either of those medications will
make you "float". The prescriptions I'm on don't have "float" effect but the promethazine
and dicylomine put me into "slow" motion. During the endoscopy/colonoscopy
procedures the doctor told me I was shot with sodium pentothal. That was a 1st for
me. There's no creeping effects. It's a blackout when it hits ! They still didn't use
enough of it as I felt the gagging(endoscopy) and stabbing pains(colonoscopy) towards
the end of the respective procedures.

The_Davster, you were wondering about what a pottery shop provides. Where I do some
purchases, there's about 30 useful chemicals. This is the link:

http://www.clayworkssupplies.com

Click on 'ENTER HERE'. Click on 'Chemicals'. Then click on either 'Raw materials' or
'Oxides'. I live less than 20 miles from them and have purchased many compounds.
It's ashame they don't have a mail order business !

Quicksilver, you're dead on about making your own chemicals in light of the
decision against Firefox. I make several of my own chemicals using OTC sources as the
precursors. It's more challenging to be sure but also more rewarding !

Endo - 26-12-2006 at 10:29

My year has been great.

I got that new job that pays 167% of what my current one does ( I start Jan 8th) although the change from pharmaceutical to nuclear (goverment) will cause me a lot of paperwork headaches.

The new job pays for tuition and books at 100% so it should help me get from my associates with 5yrs exp to a bachelors.

I should be alble to replace that trashy old clunker of a car with a better one soon!

I have built up my glassware and chemicals slowly over the past year and with the shift change to 4 Ten hour shifts a week I will have an extra day for my own lab.

So I will be able to get into more of the O-chem stuff that I love so much.

Have a great new year everyone
Endo

Jdurg - 26-12-2006 at 12:37

Quote:

Originally posted by Endo
My year has been great.

I got that new job that pays 167% of what my current one does ( I start Jan 8th) although the change from pharmaceutical to nuclear (goverment) will cause me a lot of paperwork headaches.

The new job pays for tuition and books at 100% so it should help me get from my associates with 5yrs exp to a bachelors.

I should be alble to replace that trashy old clunker of a car with a better one soon!

I have built up my glassware and chemicals slowly over the past year and with the shift change to 4 Ten hour shifts a week I will have an extra day for my own lab.

So I will be able to get into more of the O-chem stuff that I love so much.

Have a great new year everyone
Endo

New jobs are great, aren't they? I myself got a new job this year (started back in June) and the funding from that job has allowed me to add significant chunks to all of my collections. (Baseball Cards, Coins, Elements). The one thing that sucks about a new job is all the freaking paperwork you need to fill out and all the security clearance you need to wait for. (Depending on your line of work).

Now, seeing that you are in the nuclear field, you wouldn't happen to have any access to Technetium samples, would you?

Endo - 26-12-2006 at 13:03

I have a feeling that if any technium made it out of the lab it would be in my lungs... which would mean time off and a lot of problems.

So I guess the answer is hopefully not!

Hope 2007 Is Better

MadHatter - 2-1-2007 at 12:30

For 2006, insult was added to injury when my computer fried a couple of components and
my internet service when down on the same day. No files were damaged but I wasn't
happy putting out over $200
in replacement parts. The internet service was restored just a short imte ago. The entire
setup was down for 5 days. PLEASE ! 2007 has got be a better year !

Waffles - 2-1-2007 at 13:06

Now its officially past the new year.

I lost a few members of my family, but made a ton of new friends at school. I ended a two year relationship and began a new one. I was forced to leave my active lab at home, but I have expanded my element collection to ridiculous proportions at school. Some of the friends that I now live 3000 miles away from (instead of 4 miles away) have become more precious than ever. 2006 for me has seen reunions and bitter separations, drugs and self-destructiveness and even suicide, but as well complete happiness from the smallest causes, personal epiphanies and serious amounts of cuddling. All in a year, right?

gambler - 25-1-2007 at 20:48

Had an awful year sad to say i wasted most of it on drugs

Enrolled in UNI this year only part time but i will see waht i can make of it..

it can only get better i guess