Happy Halloween!

On the way to work this morning I drove to Brier Creek and dropped off all of our old clothes at the Disabled American Veterans clothing and shoe drop box.  It was a very large donation!

First thing this morning, with Stephanie's help, I put the rotavap back together in Hood 414-1.  Now we are waiting on Cliff to find the compression fittings so that its condenser can be hooked up to the Huber that uses SilOil.

Later, the official state inspection came through.  They were in my labs for about 10 minutes.  There were two inspectors.  The older man asked a lot of questions, the younger man took a lot of pictures.  I don't know how we did yet.

Tomorrow a service technician is coming from SP, the maker of the FTS Chiller to troubleshoot and repair our new chiller under warranty.  I have to move stuff out of the equipment room so that there is room to work.

Bob thinks Buddy has Cushing's Disease.  This incurable disease makes a dog drink lots of water and as a consequence, urinate in the house.  It also stimulates their appetite and they gain weight.  There is a treatment, but it is expensive, and it only buys a dog another six months.  Average life expectancy after diagnosis, an untreated dog is 30 months, and expectancy for a treated dog is 36 months.  It is caused by either a tumor on the pituitary gland or a tumor on the adrenal glands.

We are not passing out candy for Halloween.  In fact, we are headed to the bedroom in a few minutes to watch TV and read.

Framing Completed

On Saturday morning we drove by the townhouse at Hempstead to see how much progress has been made this week.

We were pleased to see that the roof is on and covered in tar paper.  I expect that roofing shingles will go on this week and then doors and windows will go in.

After that is done the electrician and plumber can go in and start their work.

We also noticed that the concrete front porches have been poured.

While we were in Apex we went to Downtown Knits and introduced ourselves.  Bob got some yarn for the provisional cast-on he has to do on his blanket project.  His sweaters are almost done - we just have to sew buttons on!

After that we went over to Great Clips at Kelly Road and Olive Chapel so that Bob could get his haircut.

The Fiat has almost 25,000 miles on it now.  We will make an appointment for another oil change next weekend. We've only had that car 14 months, but we've really driven it!

Today I got up, walked Buddy, started the laundry, made a big breakfast, ran the vacuum, folded clothes, and then we went to the grocery.  Later I carried all of the old clothes we are donating down to the car.  I will put them into the donation box this week.

Now we start another week of work.  Colleen wants to commission the Biotage system tomorrow and Ken will be at Durham on Tuesday.  We have a safety inspection on Wednesday.  At least we get paid this week!

Cleaning 100-L Reactor

It rained all day today.  Slow drivers in the rain infuriate me... "you are in the center lane, why are you going 50 MPH?!!!"  I got to work in time and safely, but the other drivers can be hard to have patience for.

100-L Glass Reactor

My main task today was to drain the sulfuric acid solution from the 100-liter reactor, rinse it out, then disassemble it and clean it thoroughly.  Stephanie helped me as I drained the acid into a poly drum, and rinsed the interior of the flask.

Next I pulled all of the caps and other attachments from the reactor head ports.  All of this stuff went to the washroom sink.  We disconnected the condenser and took the steam pipe and transition pieces to the sink, we pulled the temperature probe, we disconnected the agitator shaft, unscrewed the eight thumb screws holding the collar down, took the collar off, removed the reactor head, and finally, pulled the agitator assembly out.

I shut the drain valve and put more water into the flask.  We cleaned with long-handled brushes, a special brush I got from the cordless drill, and green nylon scouring pads.  We scraped with razor blades.  We tried various cleaning products, including CIP 200 - a low pH detergent that is 75% phosphoric acid!  We were not successful in removing all of the barium hydroxide octahydrate residue, but we got enough of it out that I think we can ignore what is left.

After lunch we began to reassemble the reactor.  I tossed the agitator into the trash because the glass shaft had a crack in it.  Cliff had ordered us a new shaft and I built the assembly with cast off paddles from the GMP 100-L reactor.

Jose came into the room later and he helped me make the connection to the condenser again and he helped me connect the agitator to the motor.

Outside, it continued to rain.  I think the high temperature was 50°F. 

Bob had a very productive day today - he did some knitting, he did his stretching and other exercises, then he made spaghetti squash with sauce, and thoroughly cleaned the stove!  I am sure he is very tired.

Now my very short weekend starts and I am glad for it.

Chromatography

Biotage system.

Today we processed Compound 23 through the Biotage chromatography system.  We soak the manufactured silica column with heptane, then we pour the product into the Sample Injection Module (SIM), and using more heptane, push the product onto the column. 

As the product mixture moves through the column, the waste products and the intended product move through the silica at different rates.  To keep the product moving, we gradually add ethyl acetate to elute the column.  The ethyl acetate is more polar and it helps everything move through the column faster.

We add the heptane and ethyl acetate to a stainless steel tank and then we pressurize the tank with nitrogen to push the solvent through the system.

The heptane-ethyl acetate mixture carrying the product is directed into 4-L amber bottle fractions.  We sample each bottle and analyze the contents using thin-film chromatography (TLC) plates.  The fractions that are rich enough in product and don't have much waste products in them are selected to be combined and condensed in the rotavap.

We divided the batch in half and we ran Column A today.  Before the end of the day I set up a new column, conditioned it, and loaded the product into the column.  We will run Column B tomorrow.

Chromatography is one of the only ways we have of separating organic compounds in mixtures.  The system we are using today is one of several different types available to industry.

Framing Up

Looking SE from the street.

Today after breakfast we drove to Apex to check on our new house.  A lot of progress has been made framing the house this week.  They are sheeting the roof and it will probably be shingled next week with doors and windows put in.

They have forms up under the front door to pour the front porch and front steps.  That will probably make it easier for the tradesmen to get inside.

We are trying to nail down the exact closing date so that we can lock-in our interest rate.  With rates rising, we are a little concerned.  Once the house is dried-in and the drywall is going up, our project manager can give us an accurate closing date.

Looking north from the rear.

By next summer the developer will probably have the neighborhood completely built out and they will put the finished course on the streets.

Next we drove to Raleigh and Bob paid a visit to Great Yarns.  He paid for and picked up his order of yarn and needles for his blanket project and he got a lesson in how to do a provisional cast-on.

We had lunch at Your Pie in Cary.  It was a little different and the pie was okay.  It rained this afternoon.  We browsed Barnes & Noble, then we came home to take a nap.

Tomorrow I have to get the laundry cleaned, vacuum the floors, and make breakfast.  Later we will go to Food Lion to get our weekly grocery and then I start another exciting week of work.

Tropical Storm

Tropical Storm Michael came through North Carolina today bringing lots of rain and some gusty winds.  The winds were strong enough to bring limbs down from trees and our electric power has been flickering on and off this evening.

Today was a busy day for me in the Kilo Lab.  I was managing two rotavaps in two different rooms.  I cleaned the Biotage chromatography system, and I cleaned a bunch of dishes and lab ware. 

I took Buddy outside when I got home, but he only peed.  The winds and rain were so bad we did not get very far from the house.

Bob made stuffed peppers for dinner and they were tasty.  He spent time at the counter doing prep work for tomorrow's dinner as well.

I am ready for the weekend.

Hump Day

As it turns out, Bob did not go to Jeff's barbecue.  I went alone and took a 6-pack of Budweiser long-necks with me.  Of course Jeff gave me grief about my beer choice, but I reminded him that I am not a beer snob like he is. "A working class beer, for a working class guy."

Jeff and Monica have a big, $600k, McMansion in Chapel Hill, that was built within the last 5 years.

Tom and Deana; Jose, his wife and son; Joe, Kate, and their two kids; Jessica and Aaron; Kurt and Cindy; and the new guy, Robert, were in attendance.  Jeff made a wonderful brisket in the smoker, and there was coleslaw, jalapeno poppers, cheese cake, macaroni and cheese, and plenty of alcohol for everyone.

I left around 9:50 pm.  Kurt and Cindy stayed until 1:00 am - Jeff put a movie on in the home theatre upstairs and they were compelled to stay and watch.  I am surprised they didn't spend the night there.

This week has been busy in the Kilo Lab with our Immune Design project.  Joe is trying to turnover parts of the project to Robert, and I will continue to work with Robert on this project.

Today there was an all-employee meeting from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm.  There was a guest speaker from the North Carolina Chamber of Commerce, and after the speaker the company provided a catered barbecue lunch.

Another Tropical Storm is on the way... Hurricane Matthew hit Florida today and is expected to speed through North Carolina tomorrow.  Because of its high forward speed, we will probably only see 4 - 6 inches of rain.

Construction Progress

It has been a gray and drizzling wet morning.  It is probably going to rain off and on all day.

After our breakfast at The Egg & I we headed to Apex to check on the progress being made on our new house.  The water and sewer have been connected to the house and the pipes have been filled in.  Framing has started in the basement/garage area.

Across the street from our house, a foundation has been poured and another site has been graded for construction to start soon.  Hempstead is really coming along now!  The framing is estimated to take four weeks to complete.  Hopefully it will be dried-in before we get too much more rain!

After driving around our little neighborhood we popped into Super Target to get a bottle of Mylanta for Bob.  His stomach has been upset and we think it is due to the steroid he has to take.

With Bob's stomach settled we headed up I-540 to west Raleigh to the Alexander Shops shopping center on US-70.  Here we went into the new Navy Federal Credit Union because we needed a notary to watch Bob sign the envelope on his absentee ballot.

We came back home and I made Bob a bland lunch of turkey breast on white bread.  Now he is napping.  Hopefully he will feel well enough to go to Jeff's house tonight for the barbecue.

 

Friday

Bob is starting to feel better now that the steroids are doing their work. 

At work this week, a new guy, Robert Matthiesen started as Manufacturing Chemist.  Robert has a PhD in Chemistry from University of Iowa.  He is taking over the Immune Design project, and after he comes up to speed, I will probably be working with him a lot.

The work this week was not too bad.  Honestly, not very much processing happened.  I had to clean some equipment and because of the stuff that was stuck to the insides, that was kind of tough.  It isn't always easy to pick the right solvent to clean glassware with.  In this particular case, I had to use concentrated sulfuric acid to get the residue out of the reactor.

Tomorrow we are going to Navy Federal Credit Union - yes, they opened two branches in Raleigh!  We have to go to the bank to get a notary to watch Bob sign his absentee ballot. 

Tomorrow evening we are traveling to Chapel Hill for a barbecue at Jeff's house.

I am sure this weekend will be over before I even know it.

Happy Birthday

Work yesterday was shaping up to be a light day in 414.  During lunch I sent a text to Bob and he replied that he did not feel well.  He said that he felt confused, with sound sensitivity, and shaking vision. His doctors advised him to take some of his leftover steroid and report to the Emergency Room at UNC.  He said I could come home and take him, or they would send an ambulance.

Dutifully, I came home, picked him up, and took him to the Emergency Department.

He was taken right in (UNC has over 100 beds in the ER!).  They ran a CT scan and two MRI's (one without contrast and one with contrast).  I was in the ER with Bob until 10:30, I went to the car to retrieve Bob's cellphone, put it in his hands, then I came home.

I was certain I would find dog shit and piss all over the carpet, but incredibly, the dog did not have an accident.  I immediately took him outside to relieve himself.  When we came back in I fell into bed to sleep.

This morning I called off work and then went back to UNC in rush hour traffic.  I got back there around 8:30 and called Bob's phone to find out where they moved him.  He was still in the ER!

He didn't sleep very well and they never fed him.

We spoke with a UNC neurosurgeon about Bob's condition and their plans for him.  Later, Dr. Shen appeared at his bed and told us that she believed he had some brain swelling and that they were going to put him on steroids again for a couple weeks.  He was also getting some antibiotic for a nasty UTI that he has.

He was discharged around 1:00 pm.  We went to Jersey Mikes for lunch, gassed the car, and returned to Cary.  We stopped at Walmart to pick up Bob's prescriptions and then came home.

We have an ice cream layer cake serving as our birthday cake.  It is two layers of chocolate cake with a thick layer of vanilla ice cream in the center.

Bob is napping now.