***Caution: Delete if you have no sense of humor!***
I have been in the isotope business for more than thirty years, so I
suppose that counts me as a seasoned traveler in the everchanging isotope
field. After years of resisting, because we bought a new Gas Bench from
Thermo Finnigan, I was forced to change Isodat systems from the old Real
32 based system to the New Isodat running on Windows XP.
As I struggled with it yesterday afternoon and on into the early evening,
I realized that a once competent isotope biogeochemist had been rendered,
with the advent of the new software, into an Isodope, struggling with
Windows, ISL language (what is that?), and just trying to do the things I
have managed to do well for the past 7 years on our Delta Plus.
You younger folks may be smirking, "Ah, the old bat needs to pull up her
knickers and get with it!". For you older folks, how many of you are still
sitting in front of your mass spectrometers figuring out things like
Configurator, which relies on your knowing where a small computer icon is
located (and I can not see it even with glasses on!). Even the old Silver
backs of isotope geochemistry had their trusted technicians, like Mrs.
Mayeda of Chicago, Steve Studley at Indiana, and Victor at Cal Tech. At
the Carnegie, our history is different. We come from the hardy stock of
Tom Hoering.
Tom was a do-it-your-selfer. His instruments were peppered with "On" and
"Off" and "Don't touch!" labels scribbled on with a magic marker. We
younger folks snickered at that, and yet, I notice my own instruments are
peppered with bits of colored tape with "Press Start!" and "Do Not Use!".
Yesterday, as I was switching from a frustrating week on the TC/EA to a
"quick" run on the EA, I noticed that my bits of tape were completely
weathered, the glue dried, and the tapes coming off. I stuck them back in
place hastily, but imagine that I will get out the marker today and just
end up writing directly on the instrument.
Back to Isodat XP/NT 2.0, an avowed Mac user who is prideful of my lack of
knowledge of Windows, I did pretty well with the old Real 32 system. Of
course, I had a slight trepidation that the computer would die before I
learned the new software, alas it did not happen. So, I continue to show
the software "who is boss!", an old Tom Hoering phrase. I will attempt to
teach my good old Delta new tricks, like peak jumping, a task that the old
software baulked at.
I remind myself that the new software is good for my health. Health?
That's right. Trained physicians who treat and study Alzheimer's patients
have revealed what they do to prevent the disease in themselves. One,
learn a new software package, preferably deleting one that you were
comfortable with and replacing it with one that comes with a "Help"
package that is about as helpful as Aricept is for demented patients.
Switch your mouse from the right to the left side of your computer every
week. (The list goes on, but I have forgotten them.)
OK, so now I've blogged to you. Armed with confidence, I return to the lab
this morning, confident that a simple Microsoft product written by German
software writers without benefit of mugs of beer, will not get the better
of me. Do I need a trusted technician in my "seasoned" age? Do I want one?
Can I afford one? Probably not, but don't expect expertly backed up files,
stainless steel perfect gas lines, clean lab benches, just good data, as
you want it, today!
One of our postdocs (Sulfur isotope wizard, Shuhei Ono) has provided
mountains of support, as in the past week or so I have yelled, "HELP!!"
into his office or as he walked down the hall. Today he is going to show
me how to shorten the Peak Center program from a three minute affair to
what it should be. Then, I will show that software who is boss and knock
off a serious set of data to appease my salivating colleagues.
Cheers, Marilyn Fogel
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