Where the wild pens are...

This week will be my final full week in the lab which I've called home for the past 6 years. Like any place that you've spent a good portion of your life, you accumulate several items over the years. But also you lose several things as well. One common mystery for me was my pens/sharpies. They always seemed to grow legs and disappear on me. This is particularly frustrating when I really need something to make a mark in my lab notebook so I can go home for the day. Note: no, I didn't stay in the luuuub for 16h/day just because I couldn't find a pen!

So nearing the end of today's workday, I tackled a few drawers to clean. Whilst trudging through the depths, fond memories came flooding out. Such items like 2002 tax return software, a variety of now-useless zip discs (yeah, I started this degree pre-flash drive era), several bottles of over the counter drugs (tylenol, cold meds, cough meds, allergy pills, muscle relaxants - Dawn mentioned that these are signs that I was in the luuub when I should've stayed home), and a variety of almost-used-up post-it notepads in which you can't justify throwing out yet. The most pleasant surprise though, I found at least 4 good pens that I've been missing over the years. These aren't the everyday Bic pens that I'd settle with. No, some of these were the TO-DIE-FOR holy grail pens such as the micropipettor pens from eppendorf. Why so revered? No, the ink isn't of gold, it's just a cool pen. Worth getting ink refills. That sort of thing.

So four drawers in cleaner format. I've got three more to go along with a mountain of papers to sort through. Since I'm moving just 5 labs down the hall, this isn't a such a big deal. Just that I want to purge any junk that's no longer needed. Carrying baggage is never a good thing in any circumstance.

I've been in a jazz mood of late. Some close friends know that I sincerely enjoy listening to the oldies like Sinatra, Bennett, Lee, Louie, and Fitzgerald as well as the "kids" like Krall, Costello, and lil' Mikey Buble. One of my most fondest memories was listening to Popsicle Toes (at my request) while eating in an Atlanta Georgia restaurant for my bday. Yes rock n' roll may soothe the soul, but I'll take live jazz any day.