Bad News/Good News
Alright, let's just get this bad news out of the way. I owe you the sad truth, gentle reader.
One of the coolest things I've seen at my work was that fingerprint on the pot from the Titanic, as mentioned in the Ghost's Fingerprint entry. Well, one of the women who does chemical analysis and testing was in the lab today. She was looking at the stock pot, so I excitedly asked, "Hey, have you seen the fingerprints?"
She said, "Oh, crap, did someone get fingerprints on this thing?"
I said, "No! Check it out, right over here you can see old fingerprints etched into the surface of the pot!"
She tipped the pot carefully in the light only briefly before saying off-handedly, "Nah, that's totally superficial. All this white haze—which looks like one stage of corrosion—is just on the surface. I'm about to clean it off. This fingerprint is from someone who handled the pot on it's way here, or it might even be from one of us. We'll have to be more careful with these."
And in a few quick wipes, one cotton ball soaked in solvent—to my horror and dismay—wiped away what I thought was the fingerprint of a cook on-board the titanic.
It's hard to be overly excited about good news after that disappointment, but at least you know I'm giving it to you straight. In any case, the good news is that the bosses and I negotiated a position and a salary for me today. We found a number we could both live with, and a plan for some—but hopefully not too much—travel. So I should be able to keep writing stories involving objects of some historic significance.
One of the coolest things I've seen at my work was that fingerprint on the pot from the Titanic, as mentioned in the Ghost's Fingerprint entry. Well, one of the women who does chemical analysis and testing was in the lab today. She was looking at the stock pot, so I excitedly asked, "Hey, have you seen the fingerprints?"
She said, "Oh, crap, did someone get fingerprints on this thing?"
I said, "No! Check it out, right over here you can see old fingerprints etched into the surface of the pot!"
She tipped the pot carefully in the light only briefly before saying off-handedly, "Nah, that's totally superficial. All this white haze—which looks like one stage of corrosion—is just on the surface. I'm about to clean it off. This fingerprint is from someone who handled the pot on it's way here, or it might even be from one of us. We'll have to be more careful with these."
And in a few quick wipes, one cotton ball soaked in solvent—to my horror and dismay—wiped away what I thought was the fingerprint of a cook on-board the titanic.
It's hard to be overly excited about good news after that disappointment, but at least you know I'm giving it to you straight. In any case, the good news is that the bosses and I negotiated a position and a salary for me today. We found a number we could both live with, and a plan for some—but hopefully not too much—travel. So I should be able to keep writing stories involving objects of some historic significance.
posted by Dennis at 9:39 PM
2 Comments:
Oh bummer about the fingerprint!!! Hmmm, I think I would like to pretend it is still real!! Still think you could write a great novel around "The Print".... I am so happy you and the owners have come to an agreement, and will continue to for some more great entries!!
Awww crap! Well, it was a cool experience anyway! Great blog!
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