A Full Day of AFM'ing

So, today was a busy day of working on the AFM and my neck is really sore from sitting at the machine for most of the day... I managed to get a bunch of samples run by the end of the day and I think the data makes some sense - though we need to run more images to know for sure. I am finding that the experiment is very sensitive and this can be rather annoying. Judy left me to do most of the work for the day. This was good because I can sit there and fiddle around with the instrument since I am looking at my samples. This also lets Judy get her work done too. In any case, she came back to check on me a few times and, at one point later in the day, I was recording an image when she came in and started talking. I noticed that the noise in my image started spiking and I also noticed that it was linked to when Judy was speaking... So apparently, the tip is so sensitive that sound waves cause it to resonate and add noise to the image that you are collecting. I think this is one of those instruments where (once you get it working) you don't touch it, talk to it, look at it, or even think about it or else it will find some way to get you back.

I'm getting a bit of a head cold (likely resulting from the other night when it got really cold overnight). I'm hoping to kick this thing soon, but it is making work a little less pleasant in the meantime...

I am finding one thing that I cannot stand about the U of M Chem Eng. building - there are no water fountains anywhere! I don't understand why there aren't any drinking fountains in the building! So, I brought my water bottle back over after lunch since there's no other way to have a drink (it seems).

After a busy morning and early afternoon of AFM time, I went over to the mechanical engineering building for my safety training... Actually, this was more of a workplace health and safety training as it focused on many areas of health and safety. Sometimes I wonder how the people that give these presentations can keep going on and on about this stuff. Anyhow, the meeting lasted about an hour and, finally, I was able to leave and get back to the AFM (after a quick stop across the street to pick up a notebook). When I was on my way back to the Chem. Eng. building, I came across the girl that had just given us the health and safety talk. She was smoking a cigarette out in the courtyard - seemed ironic for the 'health and safety warden'.

After the safety training, I motored through several additional samples until about 7pm or so when I decided to call it quits for the day. I generated about 72 AFM images and I think most of the data looks pretty good. These images will serve as a baseline for later work where we will look at hydrated samples. I analyzed some of the data this evening and the trends seem to make sense - which is encouraging.

After spending about a half an hour writing about a 7 sentence e-mail (in French) to one of my former students (regarding my upcoming trip to Europe), I have decided to call it an early night to try to get rested up to get rid of this head cold!