So...I'm a very, very meticulous and methodical person. I do things in a very specific way for very, very specific reasons. These reasons are always logical and well-thought out, though rarely apparent at face value. I get a lot of, "Why the hell are you doing that that way? Isn't it harder that way?" then I explain and get the, "Oooooohhhh, I get it now."
And I am the principal person in charge of packing up my lab for the move to the health-science campus. Now, in comparison to some of the organic synthesis labs, my lab doesn't have a whole lot of "stuff" to pack up. We're a biology-obsessed lab with very minimal attention paid to traditional chemistry.
I left the lab last night fairly late, around 5:30 or 6 o'clock. I had been packing up glassware and between the moving materials and such, there was not a lot of free space in the lab, so I put the unfinished boxes against one wall, and the packing materials on a cart in front of the back window. Completed boxes went into the other half of the lab, leaving room to open drawers if needs be (though I can't imagine why, they were all empty and marked with red tape to indicate that).
I am the last, or nearly last, person to leave the lab. In a fit of helpfulness, I don't lock up the lab so that the guys can get into it in the morning if they beat me there. Aside from that, only three people that I know of have keys to the lab: the cleaning crew (who are incredibly absentee), DW and myself.
And to the best of my knowledge, the cleaning crew had absolutely not business moving the things that were moved, and do NOT have a history of moving things in the past. I've been in this lab for more than a year. I know it's rhythms and tempos better than most.
I was the first person to arrive at the lab this morning. The door was locked. I let myself in and immediately put on my lab coat and went to get a petri dish for fish-egg collection.
The cart was in front of the sink. The boxes on the window sill were on the ground. The empty, not-yet-assembled boxes had been moved behind a defunct incubator. Both partially packed boxes of glassware had been moved: one to a counter and the other to the other side of the lab. Two chairs had been moved. The biohazard bins were moved. The trash can had been moved. A box of packed syringes and glassware had been moved.
To the best of my knowledge, nothing is missing. And I have a pretty firm grasp of what is supposed to be there and what is not. What confuses me is that there is no practical reason to move the boxes from in front of the window. Unless someone was trying to look out, but even then, it doesn't make sense. What point is there in looking out that window? It faces the soon-to-be defunct boiler building and, at a distance, Carlson Library and the Student Union. There is virtually nothing to see there. Also, why the hell would the cleaning crew move those? Why would they move any of those things?
I briefly entertained the notion that they were trying to clean the floors...but that's highly improbable since they put more things on the floor. The arrangement indicated that perhaps someone was looking for something, though I can't imagine what. My lab notebook and the lab notebooks of the guys were sitting out on the lab benches. They were not disturbed. The cabinets were all closed, and for all I could see undisturbed.
Moreover, the placement of the items in the lab as of yesterday evening was one that expedited movement into the areas of the lab which are frequently high-traffic. The two incubators which were in use were easily accessible, as were the cabinets and drawers which we used on a regular basis.
Only one box was moved from the floor to a counter. There was nothing in the biohazard bins that shouldn't be there. The trash cans were empty.
I have run out of theories as to the reasons behind the strange rearrangement. My best guess is that it has become in vogue for drunk students to wander around wolfe hall at night. It is summer after all and the building is open to any student with an ID card.
The interesting thing is that, of the people I have spoken to in the pharmacology department about this incident, no one has witnessed similar activity in their own labs.
I'm thoroughly tempted to set up a camera of some sort to take pictures every few minutes during the night. Though my digital camera doesn't have those capabilities and even so, i wouldn't want to leave it in the lab while persons unknown are bumbling around it at night.
My two leading theories are random exploration by someone who is considering moving into our lab space after we move or some crazy animal rights activist trying to collect information about our alleged "abuse" of animals. More likely it's the former. My university doesn't have a huge problem with animal rights activists. They exist the way all student organizations exist: perfunctorily, and half-assedly. Besides, they're far too interested in improving vegetarian food options at the student union than trying to stop the three rampant fish-researchers in the pharmacology department. It's not like fish are cuddly and cute.
In other news, my copy of Start Spinning arrived today. Now I'm just waiting on my spindle and fiber. I really want to learn how to do this. It looks so interesting and entertaining. I love mindless, practiced tasks because they help me to empty my mind (which is usually so cluttered with projects and ideas and plans).
It is storming outside at the moment, so I'm going to put off finishing the grass for awhile longer. My garden can handle itself for the time being, and I still have to obtain a new oregano plant. For now, I'm cleaning my living room and kitchen because I'm going to be hosting a meeting tonight for event planning. I'm looking forward to seeing my friends and hammering out the details for our upcoming event (I say 'our' even though I am not officially a part of that unit for simplicity's sake).
And one final thing. I'm so happy that I don't work in a retail pharmacy anymore. I am blissfully relaxed and perfectly content, and I can feel my belief in the human race beginning to patch itself up. I was reading an angry pharmacist blog today and I felt so sorry for the pharmacy staff instead of feeling exuberantly angry with the pharmacy staff. I'm already beginning to feel like I am on the outside of that profession, and I'm happy about it. Maybe I won't end up with an ulcer by the time I'm 25 after all. :)
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