A Unique Storm

As I was sitting in my room using my computer, I happened to look out the window. What I saw was the most interesting thunderstorm that I have seen in years. Amidst the pouring rain that I have found to be typical of Atlanta storms, there was a massive amount of lightning flashing through the sky. This lightning was not simply bright, it was close and it was purple. That alone would have made the storm memorable, but it also lasted for an incredibly long time: nearly two hours of thunder, lightning, and precipitation.

Clearly, this was not an everyday occurrence. I found the display interesting, but I am glad I could watch it all from the comfort of my apartment.

– Gavin

The Irony of It All

If you have been around a chemist or chemical engineer for long enough, you will probably hear the term “DI water” mentioned at least once. This term stands for distilled deionized water, which essentially means really, really pure water. It is used when working with chemicals as it will not contaminate solutions with minerals or other impurities.

Today, my lab ran out of DI water, and I was the lucky one selected to go get more. I had to walk to another building carrying an empty jug. It was raining when I went, and the irony of the situation hit me. I was walking through rain in order to get water.

This is the sort of thing which only happens when you work in a lab with chemicals: your water has to be “special”, even when there is water everywhere. It reminds me of a play on the old sailor’s story. Water, water everywhere, and not a drop to use for my experiments.

– Gavin

The Atlanta Heat

There is a reason that people call Atlanta “Hotlanta”, it is incredibly hot all of the time. It has been in the mid-90’s all week, and it feels even hotter than that due to the humidity. Even at night, it is still in the high-70’s or low-80’s. It feels like I jumped from early spring into the hottest part of August, and it isn’t even the end of June yet. This heat could be nice if I was vacationing in it, but as I have to live in it day in and day out it is grueling.

To make matters worse, my research job mandates that I wear jeans in the lab, as I am working with chemicals. Near the beginning of the summer I tried walking to work a few times, but I have since given up, as I feel like I melt in the heat if I am outside for very long.

The heat has made me incredibly thankful for two things: rain and air-conditioning. Rain is the best thing ever in Atlanta, because it flushes the humidity out of the air and makes everything a tolerable temperature for an hour or two. In addition, if it were not for air-conditioning, I would suffer endlessly in the heat. I do know now that I could not live this far south, at least during summer.

– Gavin