Making lucky

You know that dictum that luck is the intersection of preparation and opportunity? Well, today I experienced a small example of that.

We have all these interns this summer. In the past, our interns have frequently had chunks of time with nothing to do, like if they are waiting for samples to dry/get wet/incubate/die. Since their projects have to be very small and discreet so they can finish in 10-12 weeks, they don't have side work on hand to fill up these gaps. I have learned to capitalize on these windows by having easy but boring work available for them at a moment's notice, stuff that that someone can do with very little additional training and that sucks to do for days on end but isn't so bad for a few hours. In fact, I save up this kind of work for just these occasions. I figure I can always do it myself eventually, but I don't want to miss the opportunity for help because I didn't have something easy for a helper to do.

Today, not one but two interns had 2-3 hours with nothing to do, so Awesome Technician put them to work on my stuff. I was thrilled. We both knew there was a more important and time sensitive task that they should probably have been assigned to, but everyone else was out of the lab today and none of them had given AT instructions for it, so my stuff was all she could think of. Lucky.