Thursday, November 13, 2008

What I'll be doing instead of having fun this Friday and Saturday

this is what I do
This is how I will be spending my Friday evening, rather than having fun with good company, good food, and a glass of wine. Once a year, every medical accelerator has to have an extensive round of testing done. This tank is a "water phantom". It is pictured here with a Varian 21-EX linear accelerator. The water phantom is used for a variety of tests and calibrations. I'll be doing much of this work after hours on Friday and continuing on into Saturday.

Catblogging will continue when I am less busy.

15 comments:

Jeni said...

And what the heck is a contraption like that used for anyway? Just wondering. Probably wouldn't understand an explanation either as I rather suspect physics and high level math may be involved -neither of which are subjects I understand.

Jim Donahue said...

You are hard core.

fermicat said...

jeni - a very expensive water tank. Radiation scatters inside a material and that contributes to the dose at a given point, so measurements have to be done inside a material such as water.

jim - hard core science geek. Guilty.

At least I got to sleep late today...

Natalie said...

That's a strange looking kitty...

LL said...

Yay!!! No catblogging! :ewink:

Kathleen said...

Cool. I'm not allowed to take pictures of work, so I can't show kick ass stuff like that. ;-(

You're being awfully nice to LL.

fermicat said...

magnetbabe - indeed.

ll - watch it, or you are asking for a special edition of catblogging.

kat - nothing top secret about the annual testing.

tiff said...

Put a guinea pig in it! you KNOW You want to.

Or would that mess up some fancy-pants calibration thing you got goin' on? ;)

Yay for science geeks! They RULE!

fermicat said...

tiff - some days I'd like to throw my computer in it.

Jenn said...

the tank is kind of small, how do you get in it to have the test's done? Just asking.

dr sardonicus said...

Cats and water generally don't mix.

fermicat said...

jenny - the tank is on wheels, and is empty when I put it into position. A separate reservoir (also on wheels) pumps the water in and out for each use. We used to have to fill it with a hose and the sink and wheel it into place full and heavy. Things are better now!

dr s - I avoid mixing cats and water whenever possible.

Beth said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Jenn said...

Let me highlight a part of my sentence "...How do YOU get IN it..." then doc said, "Cats and Water don't MIX..." :) Thanks for the description, I hope that's not anything I gotta do!

fermicat said...

jenny - oops, my brain switched those two little words and completely changed the meaning. Oh well. It was late and I'd had a very long, somewhat frustrating day.