Everest

The end of a project is always an uphill climb. I marvel at how most people consider a task "finished" when it is 98% done - and then I am astounded at how long it takes to complete the last 2%! What was a gentle hike suddenly becomes a trek up Mt. Everest as the last bits and pieces are figured out. Maybe some of you know what I'm talking about.

Friends, I must admit to you I just made the mistake I've described. I had finished a task 98% of the way and shuffled it out of my brain as "done." But I was wrong.

Ok, so the DNA samples I was processing with Hanny were finally ready. We had extracted and diluted all of them. All that was left was to pack up the samples and ship them off for sequencing. Sounds simple, right? Not exactly. DNA degrades at room temperature, so the samples had to be shipped cold. Very cold. Dry ice cold. 

Come to find out, dry ice is not the easiest material to work with. There is exactly one place to buy it through my institution, and it is delivered in early afternoon. My package had to be picked up in mid-afternoon for overnight shipment, but that still gave me a good hour to assemble the package. Should be enough, I thought - stick my samples in the box, pour dry ice pellets over them, seal the box, good to go. Um, nope. 

When the dry ice arrived, it was a solid 55 lb block. Turns out, that's the only format it's sold in. I stood over the block, contemplating my options. Then I remembered Hanny and I had bought a chisel in Palau but never ended up using it - could work. I found the chisel in one of my field boxes and began chopping away at the dry ice block. Some chunks came off, but mostly it was small grains. Sublimating carbon dioxide swirled around me in a white cloud. My hands stung with cold every time I had to turn the block over.

Eventually, I got enough flakes off the block that I could scoop and pour them over my samples. My lab is basically empty right now, so I grabbed an abandoned coffee mug to scoop with. I can only imagine what the Mail Center guy must have thought when he entered my lab - here was this sweating, freezing woman hacking at a block of ice like a murderer, surrounded by a cloud of CO₂, with a chisel in one hand and a coffee mug in the other. Not exactly dignified.

But I have climbed Everest! My samples are gone, and I await the results!