The Six Million Dollar Man

Super-Cool Wonder-Ponder-Machine for Precision Pipetting

I spent three days at Micronova this week and I finally got some real laboratory experience. Thus far all I've done at my office is studying and reading. (Clayden, Greeves, Warren & Wothers: Organic Chemistry - I know this sounds stupid to most of you but I can really recommend this book for anyone interested in organic chemistry. It's a wonderful basic text-book. And it even fits most bookshelves with ease as it's only about 1400 pages long.)

So, now I got to spend some time in a lab. I was tutored by a senior researcher, of course. We studied the aggregation of chlorophylls in THF with different mass ratios by absorption spectroscopy. (The results were inconclusive at best.) The spectrometer was an exciting piece of equipment, sure. But the most fabulous gadget in the lab was the Super-Cool Wonder-Ponder-Machine for Precision Pipetting! (SCWPMPP for short.) I really feel bad for writing this because I am basically an electronics engineer and the gizmo in question operates 100% mechanically. (Compare with the spectrometer, for instance...) But I mean, really: I've never felt that kind of pleasure just by pushing a button with my right thumb. Or any other finger, for that matter. How cool is it to be able to transfer exactly 0,0234 ml of a liquid from a bottle to another? It's mind-boggling!
And now I'll be able to help my brother with his pharmacy excercises. (For a fee, naturally.) Right, eh?

Ok. Now that I've finished writing this post I find myself a bit baffled. Why the f..... should ANYONE be interested? I guess no-one really has a real reason, to tell you the truth. But hey! So what?!? It's MY blog after all.

I came across a rather hilarious joke today:

'How many different online applications do you need to fill in order to apply to a Spanish university?'
'... I dunno..?'
'La solicitud online de la UC3M consta de dos fases. ¿Comprende?'

So, in other words: I'm screwed. By the way, I also found out that I won't be able to study Spanish here at Aalto during the summer. Just great, I'm telling you. Umm... Does anyone know of any extra-cheap and half-decent Spanish teachers in Espoo or Helsinki?

And that's all, folks!

Great. I got a letter, whoopee! I'm telling you, someone ought to give the administrative personnel  here at Aalto a slap in the face to wake them up...

Here's the letter:

SURNAME, JOPE KALEVI

DECISION ON THE SCHOLARSHIP

This is to certify that Mr SURNAME, JOPE KALEVI who is currently studying towards the degree of Master of Science in Technology in Aalto University School of Electrical Engineering, Espoo, Finland, has been granted the standard scholarship for studies at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Spain (Erasmus), during the autumn term 2011 and spring term 2012. The studies pursued abroad will be counted towards the student's degree at Aalto University School of Electrical Engineering.

(Signature etc...)

Bollocks! Those idiots had my name all wrong! C'mon, how hard could it be to write a student's second name right? Although... I guess I don't hate the name... Kalevi. Yeah.

Call me Kalevi.