*rassafrassinmotherof...*

Ever had one of those days? My work life is turning into a continuous "one of those." Take last night for example. I was rockin' and rollin' and thought I'd get out pretty close to on time for the first time in a looooooong time. No such luck. As it happened, there was a blackout in this area. We think it was a whole section of the grid because we looked out the windows and all was dark as pitch save the lights of passing cars. It's hard to look through a microscope when there is no light. A flashlight just won't cut it. I also realized how much I really depend on the fume hood in here. I set up my giardia samples in the dark (with the help of the flashlight), and WHOA did they stink up the place. I couldn't wait to close all the tubes and hurl them back into the storage room fridge. When the power finally came back on (about 45 minutes later), I'd just gotten comfortable with a book and my ipod. I got back up, started reading slides, and the power went off again. Noooooooooooooo! It was only out about 5 minutes this time, but the idea that it might go out again was everpresent. No wonder. It did. It only flashed in and out a couple of times, but it was nerve wracking nevertheless. Everytime it went out, the whole lab could hear me yell out "Noooooooooooooooooo!" Anyway, it did finally come back on and stay that way. Needless to say, I did not leave early. I left no where near on time. Another 3 days, another 30.25 hours.

As an aside, the 30 hours of overtime was soooooo not worth it paycheck wise. I swear the gubmint took most of it. At least my shift diff counted in the overtime calculations. In the future, I'd rather just have the time off. Comp time anyone???