Because Someone Once Told Me: "You can't cuddle with DNA"

Today was such a hellish day. Spent time from 1 to 7:30 in the lab working almost pretty steadily. The agenda of the day was to make up the electrophoresis gels and to electrophorese all the DNA samples. Half of this was accomplished. I grossly overestimated the time it took to make the gels (because I really don't remember it taking so long in Genetics). I had to ask the help of Dr. Baker and Dr.Spivey to help me make up the formulas for the gels.
    The gels that I needed to make needed 40 lanes and another two gels with 7 lanes each so that I can process all the DNA samples at once. In order to make 2.5% resolution gels, I needed to add 3.75 grams of agarose (which makes the gel hard) to a solution of .5X TBE. We didn't have any TBE of that molarity in the lab, and so when Dr. Baker told me that I needed to make it, I freaked out. I've always been bad at the math of dilutions, I think because it's because I have a pretty bad math block and the dilutions in Biology need to be pretty exact. I NEED TO GET OVER THIS if I want any future in the sciences. For those people keeping track, add this to the long list of lab related phobias that I have.
    But I did it! (With help from Dr. Baker) and then I started to boil the gel so that I could pour it all out for tomorrow.
   Boiling the agarose and TBE takes a pretty long time.The spin bar that I used to help dissolve the agarose creates thousands of tiny bubbles that need to settle out before I can pour it, so I needed to gently swirl it and let it cool before I poured it. The liquid gel then needed to have an ethidium bromide substitute added to it as a fluorescent tag (ethidium bromide is not used anymore because it is a mutagen). 
       I poured my first big gel (the 40 slot gel) and I ruined it! I poured the gel and tried to put in the comb too late. Ugh! So I started over again.
       So in the middle of the hour long process that is making gels, Stephyn and Ben came and stopped by. That was an experience. They nearly scared the bejeezus out of me and I almost dropped the gel I was swirling for the past 40 minutes. They are quite the pair.
       But finally at 7:20 I finished! My gels are cooling in the cold room for tomorrow. Tomorrow I will electrophorese my samples. AND TOMORROW IS THE DAY OF TRUTH. ugh.

Anyway, pictures from today. I'll be back tomorrow.