Rides, ramblings and rants on a motorcycle.
- We are scientists, too!
4.15.2009,9:03 PM
New Dirt Bike!!
Chih-Chiang, our post-doc from Taiwan, is a Lego junkie. He's high energy and slapping together Lego constructions/structures is an outlet at work and home. He found the dirt bike in one of his big boxes of Lego collections at home and put it together in ten minutes yesterday morning at his desk. Then presented it to me. He said we belonged together.
The chain drives the two wheels AND two pistons! He inadvertently put one of the heads upside down, which impeded the piston. So it would only move an inch then stop. Our graduate student, Ryan, saw it on my bench and decided to do an 'engine job' on it to fix the upside-down head. "I used to have one of these when I was a kid! I can fix that...." Which he did. He also informed me a battery powered 'motor' can be added to the back to make it run.
I've 'ridden' it all over the lab benches, desks, wheelied across the counter, over the sink, a balancing jump onto the PCR machine and under the PCR Good Luck Dragon, and a huge jump from the counter to the floor. Ya know, like the Grand Canyon jump.......
Who said scientists have no sense of humor?......
(we have a huge Lego pirate ship in the fly room)
Thanks, Chih-Chiang!
"Chih-Chiang received his Ph.D. at UT Southwestern in 2008. For his postdoc, he decided to quickly knock out three dozen genes, perform a few two-hybrid screens, improve Drosophila transgenesis, identify all neuronal intracellular compartments, solve intracellular trafficking and Drosophila brain development. Best way to talk to him is by strategically trapping him with a closed door when he is whizzing by."
Labels: bikes
