What is Raman?

1) A technique whereby a sample is excited by laser light at a specific wavelength allowing probing of symmetric bonds. Complementary to IR.

2) How Bob determines if her experiments are successful.

3) A type of noodle.

4) A land of dreams crushed and hopes raised (only to also be crushed), contradictory results and frustration tinged with tantalising possibilities.

5) All of the above.

I also want to share this (stolen without permission from my sister's blog, but she's younger than me, so I can beat her up if she complains). Some background. My sister is in Washington DC working as an intern. Her boyfriend is in Canada.

Inter-cultural communication

On February 14th there was a lot of Valentines talk at work. One co-worker, who is originally from Sierra Leon, ironically demanded a diamond from her boyfriend for the occasion. The next day there was a debrief of the gifts and dinners, etc. and during this I had the following conversation:

Co-worker: Did your boyfriend FedEx you something for Valentines?
Kate: No
Co-worker: What, you don't have it in Canada?
Kate: What? FedEx? Of course we do.
Co-worker: No, Valentines Day.
Kate: Oh.