Week Six

So, this week I worked on both ammonium and zinc assays. I did another temperature experiment with ammonium; again, it didn't work out too well. I found that if I put my samples in the -80C freezer for 5 minutes, there was some ice - no good. Then, if I put them in there for 4 minutes and then let them sit in the 4C water bath until I was ready to measure them, they still weren't cold enough, they were only about 8C. So, I think the next time I do another temperature experiment, I'll try to put the samples in the freezer for 4 minutes and just measure them right away. Then, I worked on the zinc assay, which has been very problematic! I keep getting ridiculously high fluorescence values, so high that it's impossible to make a standard curve because the machine is getting kind of "maxed out". So, first I tried diluting the samples by a factor of 20 after I added the working reagent. That didn't work. Then I tried diluting the samples after they were all finished reacting. That didn't work either. Then I tried diluting the working reagent before I even added it to the samples. No dice! So, I'll talk to Joe about the results on Monday and hopefully we'll be able to figure something out. It's just so strange.

On Saturday, we went hiking on Mt. Hood! Waah, it was so amazing! I loved it. It was deeeefinitely the most intense hike I've ever done. But, it was also definitely worth the effort. Glacading was sooo fun! I've never done it before, but I hope I get a chance to do it again. It was amazing and Mt. Hood was so beautiful too, with the wildflowers, green grass, white snow, blue sky. Absolutely gorgeous.