Science *is* fun...
It’s 3.22am and I’m on my 4th consecutive graveyard shift at the European Synchotron Radiation Facility. I’ve racked up about 10 hours sleep since we arrived on Monday and I’m close to hallucinating. In order to alleviate the unmitigated boredom of our experiment, my 2 colleagues and I have so far;

Eaten 2 wheels of camembert, a kilo of emmental, 4 giant Milka bars, 3 bags of brioche and 4 bags of Haribo.
Watched 17 episodes of House and 12 of Nip/Tuck.
Had an hour long discussion about shaving one’s arse crack.
Ranked everyone we work with in order of how filthy we think they’d be in bed.
Discussed how much money we would need to be paid to have sex with one of our relatives.
Read every single ‘Best of’ page on the QOTW. Again.
Festooned the whiteboard in the office with a gallery of cock pictures
And broken the toilet.

I have failed to;

Write the paper I have been bleating on about for 18 months.
Edit the review article I had promised to submit next Friday.
Write any of my tutorial questions.
Analyse any of my data.

If you wonder why people think that the Large Hadron Collider may one day fall over and catapult us all into oblivion, clearly it’s because there’s muppets like me allowed to work with multi million pound equipment in the dead of night whilst hyped up on caffeine and sugar.

I have another 36 hours of this before mercifully, I will be taken round the back of the lab and shot.

EDIT: it's now 6.54am and I've just had a conversation with a vending machine. In French. I think it may be time for a little sleepy now...
(Rakky (forgot her password) The muffin maverick, Sun 16 Nov 2008, 3:32, 13 replies)

Nice!
I remember almost hallucinating at ISIS on a four-day shift. Worse still, we were stuck in the outbuilding so it was just the two of us in a brick box with a pile of neutrons. I thought we'd have ended up hunting each other by the end of it with spears, but instead we tried to make the world's most revolting sandwich in the microwave.
Ah, I love central facilities...
( Colonel Boris "...a desperate Buzzfeed imitation...", Sun 16 Nov 2008, 9:03, closed)

I've been sneaky
I've always managed to get a decent number of hours sleep when I've been playing at ISIS. Mainly due to doing temperature scans that take about 12 hours to complete. Set one up just before dinner. Check it after dinner. Bosh!
Thank you and goodnight :)
Plus CRISP is air conditioned.
(tweebianmonkey Should be known as Widget, Sun 16 Nov 2008, 14:40, closed)

Ah, to lounge in the Cosener's Arms again...
Best I can hope for now is a few days at the PSI in Switzerland...
Mind you, HRPD sucks.

Nice to see some other poor buggers on the board. Did you see the second-to-last episode of Labrats? Bloody spot on. The writer knew what he was on about.
( Colonel Boris "...a desperate Buzzfeed imitation...", Sun 16 Nov 2008, 15:08, closed)

I only enjoyed Cosener's once
And that was at a user group meeting last Jan. Since they built Ridgeway house I think it's a rare thing to be posted to Abingdon.
No, I have not seen this labrats of which you speak. I shall check it out though.
(tweebianmonkey Should be known as Widget, Sun 16 Nov 2008, 20:21, closed)

Labrats was awesome.
As an idea, it sucks balls. Make a sitcom out of a science lab. But in practice it was bloody brilliant.
( Colonel Boris "...a desperate Buzzfeed imitation...", Sun 16 Nov 2008, 21:06, closed)

We may all be doomed but...........
It's nice to know there are geeky scientist types out there who know how to have a good time.
( girlinthehole, Sun 16 Nov 2008, 10:54, closed)

Good Work
Me and my friends tend to discuss the 'how much to sleep with a relative' thing, aswell as sleep with various other people and things.

Several of us concluded that we would let a man suck us off for free, and my one friend said he would drink a pint of cow spunk for less than a fiver
(Sir_Digby_Chicken_Caeser [email protected], Sun 16 Nov 2008, 14:20, closed)

You'd be hard pushed to drink cow spunk
cows don't make spunk....
( chickenlady b3ta's very own Elizabeth Taylor, Sun 16 Nov 2008, 17:11, closed)

You
have just rocked my world.
(Hippo_of_Doom, Sun 16 Nov 2008, 17:34, closed)

wooooooooooooah!
Guess where I'm reading this from (as if you care!)
I'm in the GuestHouse about 200m away!
Sweeeeeeeeet!
I'm here for the Hercules Course.
All is going well so far - my baggage has been misplaced by KLM/AirFrance. yay.
This is exciting. I'm near another b3tard I haven't met.
Maybe see you at breakfast!? Not that I have any idea what you look like. Probably a bit mental considering your shifts so far.
oooOoOO etc.
ps - If you do want to do cheerful hellos: I'm tall, a bit greek looking, hairy and will have a cloud of flies due to not having any clean clothes :(
(tweebianmonkey Should be known as Widget, Sun 16 Nov 2008, 14:39, closed)

Coseners House
was the dog's bollocks. Well, the food at least. I always used to end up in a virtually subterranean little room in the cottage, which wasn't so good, although I could park my car right outside the door.

But the victuals were top notch. Shame I don't go to RAL these days. :(

Edit - shaving one's arse crack, Rakky? What an odd topic of conversation!
( K2k6 has a proper job these days, Sun 16 Nov 2008, 21:28, closed)

I miss the birdspotting round there.
The Ridgeway was awesome for some quite rare birds and you used to get a few good ones around RAL itself.
Are they still on the healthy food kick there, or have they gone back to the fry-ups in the canteen?
( Colonel Boris "...a desperate Buzzfeed imitation...", Sun 16 Nov 2008, 23:11, closed)

nah
The kitchen etc is being refurbed/made biggerer. As such the food is 'ok' but more basic than usual. Not unhealthy, but the puddings dont have custard :(
The breakfasts at Ridgeway house are awesome (like a hot dog) though. Fry up or continental (although some bastard always gets the croissants before I get there) or cereal or toasts or ...
You get the idea.
Just off to sample the evening meal delights of the ILL restaurant. Tatties :)
(tweebianmonkey Should be known as Widget, Mon 17 Nov 2008, 17:29, closed)