out with the old

'Tis the headache season. Every year when spring starts to hit I get the damn headache from hell that does not go away for several months. Magic pills take it down to a dull, manageable pain, but then it's back again.

At work, we are trading in this tired old dinosaur

for a comparatively newer model. OoOoO shiny.

We've had both sitting in the tiny lab for months now, the new one taunting us in its shrink-wrapped glory, right next to the old one. We're finally starting to get it up and running. I'm sure much stress will occur before they're switched out completely, but it's exciting to be getting a "new to us" instrument.

The analyzer we currently use is over 20 years old... in laboratory technology that's insanely old. Literally, the computer monitor that accompanies it does not have a mouse. It's a tiny step up from the black screen with green writing. It has a floppy drive. It prints to a dot matrix printer. The paper that feeds into it is one long perforated sheet with the little strips that you tear off on the sides. When is the last time that you've seen that in any modern workplace?? But, it's functional on most days.

The problem we have lately is, our lab is inside of an old hospital. That does not have central air in the rooms. We have large window unit air conditioners- two of them on the back wall that is composed of windows. It's glorious to have a work area with a view. I've mentioned it before; most labs do not have windows. We have an entire wall of windows. On the 3rd floor. On nice days it's such a mood booster.

However, windows do not provide much insulation. On cold days, it doesn't matter. But we don't get many of those. Our window units would sufficiently cool the room, if we didn't have them blocked by two large chemistry analyzers, both of which are running and producing their own heat.

So it's about 80 degrees in there. Moving around in a lab coat easily makes you sweat. It's gross. And it's murder for these headaches. I've stopped wearing my lab coat except when I'm processing specimens; it's just too darn hot.

It's also not good for the old analyzer, which throws temper tantrums when the temperature fluctuates too much. When I calibrate at 5am, it's much cooler than when the sun comes up and things get up and running for the day. Meaning we have to deal with temper tantrums. It's so fun.

BUT I'm excited. This is something that we've all been looking forward to for a while. It's a little strange learning how to use the new instrument, but I think things will be a lot smoother once we get the hang of it.