Contained!

I would love to say that this week has been endlessly productive and tiringly busy, but in fact, it has not been.

As of mid-last week I have not had much to do at work, except waiting for my boss to get me started on my risk assessments. So, as you have noticed, much of my workday has been spent writing and making adjustments to my blog and floating around on various websites picking up bits and pieces of information on infectious diseases of interest.

Not to say that i haven't done ANYTHING. Perhaps the most exciting thing (and in reality it wasn't quite as exciting as I thought it would be...but oh well), was that I got to go into containment. As a refresher, the CSCHAH houses labs that vary in containment levels from 2 to 4. Level one would be like a high school lab while level 4 is highly secure and is reserved for working with pathogens that have a high risk of infection to the worker and to the community. So, I got to go into a containment level 3 lab. Some of the procedures for this include changing into laboratory dedicated clothes (scrubs), passing from postive pressure rooms into more negative pressure rooms, and showering upon exit. Other than that, it was pretty much a normal lab, except, one girl was walking around with a powered-air purifying respirator. (Head-covering hood hooked up to a pump that HEPA-filters out the air before it can enter the hood.)

Also I have participated in a few meetings, done some reading, and went to the movies on Monday afternoon. (I saw Fever Pitch - don't bother. See Hitch instead...much funnier.) Today I have to follow around a film crew for an hour to make sure they aren't shooting anything they aren't supposed to be.

No big plans for the weekend yet. Going to yoga tonight, which is always a great wind down at the end of the week. Then for the rest of the weekend I am dog-sitting Macy (Rob's keeshonen) while he is off kayaking. The weather is supposed to be sunny and warm this weekend a nice change from the constant rain we have had this past week. No floods yet.