Monday, January 25, 2010

What I do 2.0 (sorta)

You may be wondering just what I do in my sparkly new job. Also, you may not care a fig. In that case, all is not lost today because I'm really only going to describe my work in about two or three sentences. Maybe four. Just skip down to the pretty pictures now. I won't mind.

Actually, I'm going to let the rest of the innernets give you the details -- then you can read as much or as little as you want. Ready? Basically, I'm an aerobiologist and flow cytometrist in a core facility for researchers who study pathogens and the immune response to infection. In reality, it's a brand new facility and we're still just setting up and don't have any real pathogens yet and I'm still learning to run my $1,000,000 worth of equipment. In case you were wondering where your tax dollars are going. I take really good care of them, I promise. :)

Make that $1,000,250 because I also got a new digital camera for the lab and I've been playing with it, checking the best settings for extreme close-ups, playing with the lighting, etc. You know how people take photos of ordinary things very close up and/or from an extreme angle and then it becomes "Art" photography? I really think these types of photo are pretty predictable and uninspired. I usually end up liking them anyway. I never claimed to be a particularly sophisticated art lover.

I went off on this artsy tangent because -- surprise! -- I took some of this very type of photo in my aerobiology lab. I want to blow them up really big, frame them, and hang them in the lobby and front hallway of our facility. This probably won't happen, but I can at least share them with you! Aren't you the lucky ones! ;)

Tunnel of Glove -- the inside of one of the gloves on my glovebox.

Triumph -- a row of glove ports on the box.

Rabbit Row -- animal cages.

Aspen -- the lid of the sonicator.

Parade -- rivets around the pass-through port of the glovebox.

And yes, I do find them predictable and uninspired. And yes, I like them anyway. Don't worry. I'll be keeping the day job.

4 comments:

YarnThrower said...

WOW -- It is soooo interesting to hear about what you're working on! Amazing stuff!

...and the "art"...well, I really, really like the idea of hanging photos like these in the lobby of the building, though maybe not your own living room :-) The equipment really does look all shiny and new. Will it still look that way after use, or will it gradually start looking like the inside of my oven...?

Leslie Shelor said...

I dunno, that inside the glove picture is beautiful! And what an awesome job!

jmk said...

I like the glove one best - it seems more organic than the others. And I'm seriously wishing Blogger had "buttons" like Ravelry. I soooo wanted to hit the love and funny buttons!

Sus said...

Thanks, guys! I like the glove one best, too. It's been the wallpaper on my work computer since I took it. I think maybe it's the most, I don't know, *unexpected*.
Judy -- I've posted to forums on Ravelry maybe twice -- I had to go look to see what you were talking about! LOL! (But yeah, that would be cool!)