Listen to the little voice in your head
I have learned this lesson over and over again in the lab, and yet it never really sinks in. Today I was in a rush to make a solution that involves heating it to help the chemical crystals to dissolve. (Think of how true sweet iced tea can only be made by dissolving sugar in the tea when it is hot. The sugar just sinks to the bottom when you mix it into iced tea.) The little voice in my head said to just turn the hot plate to medium heat, but I decided to use the max setting. Ten minutes later I walked back to the lab to find the technician standing outside saying that something had exploded in the lab. Luckily the noise was only from the bursting of the parafilm I had used to cover the flask that contained my solution. Unluckily I was making a solution of a corrosive chemical that boiled over and stained the nice white hot plate a metallic, burned brown. Rule 1 that applies to all situations in life: listen to the little voice in your head. Rule 2 for working in the lab: never do anything in a rush because you'll probably mess it up and waste your time. And God forbid, you may injure someone. Breaking both of those rules is how I severely burned my hand with liquid nitrogen a couple years ago. Today is the day that I will take these lessons to heart.
