Why am I doing this again?

Lately I've been feeling really self-reflexive, and while it can be useful at times I get worried that I will withdraw too much. However, I do tend to learn something whenever I get this way.

For example, lately things have been a bit weird at work. Nothing bad really, although things seem to be heading a bit south as far as the major project is going. But little things are bugging me, like how my coworkers react to me, how I react to them, and how they interact without me. It's probably my social paranoia acting up again, but sometimes I feel like they're just getting ready to get rid of me. Which is silly, since I'm the only chemist there who is 'comfortable' with trying to solve chemical problems.

But why am I doing this? As in why am I a chemist? I got onto this path through my fascination with psychopharmacology, both recreational and therapeutic. After trying to get a degree in the field, I found out really early that biology is not my thing. Fair enough. But chemistry was amazing. First it was mostly just the synthetic side of things that I loved, but eventually I learned to adore the theoretical end as well. My appetite for learning new things was growing, and yet was always near-sated.

Then I started working. I don't use anything past 2nd year analytical chem. The reactions that I perform on a daily basis could be done by a mid-level high-school student. Yet I still enjoy being able to solve problems. Sure, I wish that I had the chance to play with more complex apparatus, or perform more involved, multi-step syntheses. But I suppose this is okay for now.

My restaurant idea has been pushed to the back burner of late, but having met with my friend S on Tuesday I realized that I have still been thinking about it. I happened across a show on the Food Network a couple of weeks ago that involved a fellow who at one point ran a small restaurant entirely by himself. He did the prep, took reservations, cooked, tended bar, bussed, served, did the dishes, everything. The latent (but getting louder) control freak in me really dug this, and the challenge of it would be amazing. Plus I could cook whatever I wanted whenever I wanted; the idea of such a small restaurant is that the menu would be constantly changing, so I could always be playing. Such fun!

But at the same time it would be really hard to pull in a good living doing just that. Only serving 20-30 dinners in a busy night just won't cut it. So that has to go even further on the back burner, for after I have a successful larger restaurant.

Or maybe not. In the right location and with the right marketing I might be able to pull it off. Maybe not here though. Man I'm indecisive.

 

You should really find a small restaurant owner to work for and who will sort of take you under his/her wings and be a mentor. Knowing what goes on in and having experience in every aspect of a restaurant I think is the most important thing an inspiring restaurant owner could do.

 

i really don't know how you go from synthetic chemistry to the restaurant business. sounds interesting; i guess i really don't know where you work, it might be a a food company perhaps?

i here you on the social paranoia thing - i just can't interact with people without breaking things down too much.

 

Spork-- Yeah, I really should. It's just that it would involve a huge (if not total) drop in pay. Considering that I'm buying a condo in a few months that may not be the best thing to do.

JSG-- Heh. It's actually an 'advanced materials' firm developing silver-based antimicrobial agents. Our main product is a wound dressing, but we have a few others on the go as well.

There are actually a lot of parallels between synthetic chemistry and cookery-- especially baking. In the earlier days of organic chem, researchers would actually taste small amounts of their product as a means of identifying some of the functional groups. In the absence of modern characterization methods, it actually worked quite well for certain things. Like carboxylic acids, ketones, esters and acetate groups. Wouldn't ever catch me doing that.

 

I was just thinking about doing something part time. Who knows, you might even get into it and decide that you'd rather stay in chemistry.

 

i love the reaction btwn olive oil and balsamic vinegar.


Isn't there a patent out there ATM that is some sort of colloidal silver used to treat AIDS -- i heard it was very very successful, with few side effects.. Was it colloidal? It was a weird silver compound with additional hydrogens attached.. I think 4?

Anyhoot, check out manuka.. Medi-honey is a major rage , but it has only just begun. Therapeutic nutrition is a serious industry, I would know being in it.

That is the great thing about food + chemistry is you have all of the world at your finger tips.

Harmony btwn science and nature... romantic indeed.

 

Colloidal silver is pretty well snake oil from what I've seen. Since it is metallic silver, it's pretty well inert. The interesting uses are from oxidized silver species. There might be some effect from surface oxidation (the surface of the colloid being stripped of electrons in the body) to make ionized silver, but considering the mass/surface area ratio it's pretty inefficient.

My former boss was working on a silver species that he was thinking would be effective against tougher viruses like AIDS though. He was very secretive and as such I have no idea what it was, but I'd bet good money that it was not metallic.

I've heard a thing or two about medi-honey, and it sounds pretty neat.