Hello All,
Yesterday I promised to tell you the story of how I got my new nickname, and also what that nickname is. Clearly I actually sort of like this nickname (shhhh, don't tell!!) or I wouldn't be sharing this.
As part of my work on the boat,the I am growing some bacterial samples. To be clear from the outset, they are the type of samples you could go to a pool-maintenance store or the internet and just buy, so pretty user friendly and not really that dangerous. Here is a link to a website selling the tests, so you can see what they look like in the absence of my ability to show you a picture:
I can't tell if you can see it or not from those pictures, but what you have there is an inner container which is sealed with an o-ring seal inside of an outer container which is also sealed with an o-ring seal. So there is pretty much no danger of anything, airborne or no, getting out of these containers.
I am running these tests because we saw some unusual corrosion on some of the mooring lines we are changing out, which perhaps may have been influenced by bacteria, in a phenomenon which is very practically called Microbially-Influenced Corrosion (MIC). It is exciting that I'm getting to do this because there is not very much concrete data to show that MIC of mooring chains actually exists, because usually no one has a test on hand when this type of thing is discovered. I'm hoping to be able to show not only that there is a microbial influence, but also which kind of bacteria is to blame in this case. Hopefully, by knowing this we'll be able to come up with a design which is not as susceptible to this influence the next time, or if we end up having to replace these chains.
Now, since some strains of the bacteria for which I am testing have high antibiotic resistance, I thought it would be a good idea if we told the deck workers to be especially careful. The deck workers already take a lot of precautions to protect themselves from bacteria and/or cuts on things we bring up from the seabed because there is always a chance that there could be something nasty on anything. I just thought that since we are pretty sure that there is something, rather than there just being a chance that their might be something, it might be a good idea for everyone to check their gloves for cracks and make sure that they are wearing all of their proper equipment. I still feel pretty good about this decision, in spite of the inconvenience it has ultimately caused me.
We had a meeting to talk about whether or not the right precautions were being taken and to think about whether there was any way we could make the operation safer. We came up with a couple of things, which were implemented. Then at the end of the meeting I said that at the end of my tests I'd update everyone and let them know if I had actually found anything which indicated that the bacteria might be antibiotic resistant.
"WHAT TESTS???" "YOU MEAN YOU'RE GROWING BACTERIA????"
That was the exact reaction of the captain and medic, who were afraid that the bacteria would "become airborne, traveling through the air-conditioning ducts of the ship to infect the entire crew." <-- Direct Quote
A kerfuffle erupted, in which it seemed for a time that I would have to incinerate my samples well before the results of the tests were known (a full test takes 8 days). This would have been pretty sad both for me and for science. How can you design for something when you don't know what it is? More to the point: How can you convince a project manager to spend money on something you can't prove is a problem?
I waged a long and hard campaign against having to destroy my experiment, the other people from my company are more operations focused (more like what you think of rather than me when you imagine people who work on oil platforms) and thought the whole thing was rather amusing rather than sad, tragic, and more than a bit ridiculous. Eventually I struck a deal and I am keeping them in a container on the deck rather than in my cabin. This is more inconvenient than it sounds because I can only go on deck when dangerous things aren't happening, which is pretty much all the time because we are performing a high tension operation. To go on the deck, even when the times are not dangerous involves putting on a fancy orange onesie and full safety gear. I have to take pictures twice a day, so I end up waking up at weird times when I know that there will be a lull.
Anyway, as a result of my campaign and the kerfuffle surrounding the bacteria the other dudes from my company have been making no end of fun of me (with me? I think its pretty funny now that my bacteria are safe...). For instance, one of them came to me saying that he thought he had a bacterial infection, then showed me a crawfish head he had put on said finger.
The culmination of the hijinks came when one of them hit on calling me "Agent Scully," which has pretty much stuck. I've never actually seen the X-Files, so this could be a big insult for all I know, but actually I am pretty sure it isn't meant that way. This is definitely reading more into it than is meant by it but, courtesy of Wikipedia:
" Film critic Scott Mendelson, writing in The Huffington Post, cited Scully as an example of strong female characters on television, calling her "one of the most iconic characters in the science-fiction genre".[43] Radio Times's Laura Pledger also named her as a strong TV woman, placing her at #1.[44] ...
...The character of Scully has become something of a sci-fi heroine due to her intelligence and resilience, frequently appearing on lists of important female science fiction characters, such as Total Sci-Fi Online's list of The 25 Women Who Shook Sci-Fi, where she came fourth.[47] TV Squad named her the thirteenth greatest woman on television,[48] while the site also listed her among the most memorable female science fiction television characters.[49] She is also often cited as being an unlikely sex symbol, frequently being included in lists of sexy TV characters.[50] She was listed in AfterEllen.com's Top 50 Favorite Female TV Characters.[51] "
I guess I am willing to live with that...
Hugs!
Pricer
Agent Scully is indeed a very good nickname! Although if it actually were an X-Files episode, you would be telling Agent Mulder that the bacteria was definitely fine, regular bacteria that couldn't possibly escape and go into the duct work and infect everyone on the boat, but it would turn out that the bacteria were actually somehow ALIEN or SUPERNATURAL (as Agent Mulder suspected all along, but he suspects that about everything). This might be a good thing or a bad thing depending on what other ALIEN or SUPERNATURAL things might also be on the boat, possibly trying to bring harm to your peaceful boat mission. In the end, you would provide a rational explanation for all the events, except for a few mysterious things. Because, you know, THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE!
ReplyDeleteIn summary, apparently I miss the X-Files.