Many strange things are said in this lab.

Apparently my advisor told one of the undergrads to find a picture of a caterpillar in his slide collection. He gave the species and said to find a pose that looked “weiner-y”. Really? I mean… I know caterpillars can look somewhat phallic… but… gahhhhhh. I was then asked, of course, by the student to verify his findings. “On a scale of one to ten, how weiner-y would you say this is?”.

Sigh. I love dirty innuendos but around here I feel like I have to play the part of lab mother, with a short sigh and raised eyebrow of disapproval… otherwise things will get out of control. It’s all fun though!

We have a section of the white board saved for quotes. Could be from anyone. You never know when something you say will get scribbled on the board. Here is what we have up right now:

“Reuse, recycle, redecorate” (Referring to my crafting break where I cut up American Entomologist covers to make a collage to cover the back of a bookshelf)

“It’s really hard to get eggs out of a male” (My advisor had caught some Acronicta at his blacklight and brought them back alive so they’d lay eggs, thinking they were females. To teach me how to sex moths, he knocked one out with a bit of cyanide and had me gently squeeze the abdomen. The claspers opened wide – guess it was a male!)

“Kill him first, ask questions later” (me) (I don’t remember why I said that)

“When Brigette’s bad, just sharpen a pencil” (Our electric pencil sharpener squeals like nails on a chalk board)

“Oh this is a good position, I just LOVE this position” (Preparing a caterpillar to photograph)

“Oh yeah! Look at that rump plate!” (Looking at slides of caterpillars)

The quote section is growing slowly over the summer, since less people are around. Once the semester starts in the fall, there will probably be a few gems every day.