All in the hopes to see...
I have recently experienced a severe loss. I haven't quite resolved the issue and am unwilling to entirely let go - but more on that later. A couple weeks ago now, I was learning how to use our new react-IR. If your lab doesn't have one of these, they should because they are ultra-great. As I was watching and listening I realized that my goggles were a bit cloudy.
Leaving my story for a minute I must tell you about these goggles. I am very picky about my labwear. I'm in lab for sometimes upwards of 12 hours a day more than 4 days a week so these are a very dear companion to me. As you can imagine having something on your face for that long is something to be picky about. First I tried these goggles that let me wear my glasses underneath. They were huge and paris hilton style lenses which might be good for a day on the beach and for full coverage from splashing chemicals. On the other hand they enormity of the goggles weighs them down and I found they always slipped to the bottom of my nose or fell off, therefore, I concluded that this was not going to be a good qualification for goggles. I switched to a different kind that are more oakley sunglass style - but these were quickly ruled out since my eyelashes hit them all the time. So besides being distracting - they would get dirty from the inside all the time. The next style were a little better, lightweight but had this horrible black plastic that went all the way across the top. Ruled out this time just because of my vanity I guess. So finally I found my favorite pair - a style that combined the lightweight of the oakleys had movable side parts that go around your ear and the lenses that were big enough for coverage, curved enough that my eyelashes don't hit and not so nerdy. These are my favorites. If you made it through the others - a lot of thought went into picking them out.
Anyway, they looked dirty on this particular day. Almost like something had splashed on them. So I grabbed a kim-wipe and starting cleaning them as normal. But this was not normal. The kim-wipe dissolved onto my glasses and the spot started to dissolve a little. Instantly I realized that I must have gotten dichloromethane on them which dissovles plastic in a very real way. I think a little part of me died inside but I was in training. So I put them by my desk and grabbed a different pair. When training was over I did everything I could think of to redeem my glasses - but it was to late. The scratch made into a smear was irreversible.
I still haven't gotten over the fact that they are gone. They hang forlornly from a hook near my desk. I don't have the heart to throw them away in hopes that I find their long lost twin. In the mean time I've been wearing the oakley hit my eyelashes style. I'm trying to learn how far on my nose they have to sit to not interfere with the rest of my face; I keep a running tally of how long I can go without cleaning them off in a day. So far it's 2 days for the goggles to 2 days for me.
Leaving my story for a minute I must tell you about these goggles. I am very picky about my labwear. I'm in lab for sometimes upwards of 12 hours a day more than 4 days a week so these are a very dear companion to me. As you can imagine having something on your face for that long is something to be picky about. First I tried these goggles that let me wear my glasses underneath. They were huge and paris hilton style lenses which might be good for a day on the beach and for full coverage from splashing chemicals. On the other hand they enormity of the goggles weighs them down and I found they always slipped to the bottom of my nose or fell off, therefore, I concluded that this was not going to be a good qualification for goggles. I switched to a different kind that are more oakley sunglass style - but these were quickly ruled out since my eyelashes hit them all the time. So besides being distracting - they would get dirty from the inside all the time. The next style were a little better, lightweight but had this horrible black plastic that went all the way across the top. Ruled out this time just because of my vanity I guess. So finally I found my favorite pair - a style that combined the lightweight of the oakleys had movable side parts that go around your ear and the lenses that were big enough for coverage, curved enough that my eyelashes don't hit and not so nerdy. These are my favorites. If you made it through the others - a lot of thought went into picking them out.
Anyway, they looked dirty on this particular day. Almost like something had splashed on them. So I grabbed a kim-wipe and starting cleaning them as normal. But this was not normal. The kim-wipe dissolved onto my glasses and the spot started to dissolve a little. Instantly I realized that I must have gotten dichloromethane on them which dissovles plastic in a very real way. I think a little part of me died inside but I was in training. So I put them by my desk and grabbed a different pair. When training was over I did everything I could think of to redeem my glasses - but it was to late. The scratch made into a smear was irreversible.
I still haven't gotten over the fact that they are gone. They hang forlornly from a hook near my desk. I don't have the heart to throw them away in hopes that I find their long lost twin. In the mean time I've been wearing the oakley hit my eyelashes style. I'm trying to learn how far on my nose they have to sit to not interfere with the rest of my face; I keep a running tally of how long I can go without cleaning them off in a day. So far it's 2 days for the goggles to 2 days for me.
Comments
Sad to hear about the goggles- I'm not in a lab all day, but comfy eyewear is a definite necessity! Anyway, I'm in grad school too! Who woulda thunk it?
I have a blog too- you can link to it from Brady's blog.