The holidays are over, and everyone gathered back from the four corners of the earth they dispersed to. To celebrate the start of a new year we had a party. The theme was Italian Food.
Ariel made fresh fettuccine in three colors.
Moran, who just returned from Italy, made pizza dough and baked a series of fresh pizza on the premises. One problem is that by the time the pizza tray left the kitchen it was mostly empty, as the smell of the pizza coming out of the oven lured people to come and "taste" the creation.
We set up a WII station in the yard, and although the screen was far from perfect (a tablecloth) we did see some heated action.
The less happy part of the event was to say goodbye to few people. Ruty and Aharon who are finishing their M.Sc. and continuing to other things, and Ohad and Julia who finished their B.Sc. project with us.
The dessert table was exciting and managed to cheer everyone up.
We had a surprise appearance by Matan, a lab alumni, who showed his powers and cradled babies.
And we ended the evening with an optimistic smile.
After a long break this blog is back in action. In the last posts I covered the celebration of the new molecular laboratory and the start of the works on the second part. Since then there was a long summer. I traveled to the UK (Oxford), US (Boston), Japan (Tokyo, Kyoto, and many other places). I was back to Israel for few days and then off to Austria, and then back again and off to Egypt, and then the Jewish High Holidays arrived.
While I was traveling many other group members were also traveling (some for longer and some for shorter periods), and so action at the lab was a stop-and-go process. Nonetheless, a lot has happened during the last three months, and I will try to summarize by quick snapshots, most of them taken by Assaf and Avital.
The renovation started with a fierce burst of rebuilding walls.
At the lab about that time we finally got proper chairs.
Following the drywall people, the systems people moved in to install electricity, pipes, and A/C.
In the working lab things kept improving. A new cabinet arrived. This required moving out the temporary ones, and covering all equipment again dust.
Some people tried to continue working in spite of the harsh environment.
At this point we (i.e., Ayelet) realized that the office next to the robotic room will be very small, and to make it less claustrophobic we asked the builders to open a window into the robotic room. This changed the perspective of the room quit a bit.
All the while the lab was teeming with activity, with many new faces such as Jenia, Eli, and Alon who came for the summer.
The main work was done and now we got into finishing the systems. The electricity board for the new section arrived, followed by the control board for the A/C. Each was tended to by a team of technician for more than a day.
The main issue at this point with the lab was the set up of the robotic room.
We worried allot about different options, and at some point decided to setup a mock-up to check whether the diagrams match reallity. We took a tape and marked the different parts on the floor.
This led to arguments, rethinking, and eventually we settled on a plan, and ordered the furniture.
Few days later we learned that the UPS has finally arrived. We found several large cabinets, and a stack of batteries that was almost as tall as Naomi.
This week the construction of the second half of the lab has begun. Because there is a lot of noise and dust, Nir has escaped and left us alone in the lab (and in the dark). Surprisingly, though he is not here, the construction has begun successfully.
This new part will contain three rooms: the office, the robot room and the small kitchen. For now, the construction team has torn down the walls and laid infrastructure for constructing two drywalls that will separate between the new rooms. In addition, they made two halls for new doors that will enable entering and exiting each room without the need to go through the other rooms.
Here are some pictures so that the loyal readers of the blog (including one specific reader, that usually writes it) will know how it looks
Today we celebrated the opening of the first half of the renovated lab.
The day started by a trip to the Market to buy cheeses, bread, fruits and vegetables. We started by buying breads at Teler Bakery, which is considered the best in Jerusalem, and one of the best I know.
We then moved to Basher's Fromagerie. This is best Fromagerie I know outside France, maybe competing with The Cheeseboard in Berkeley. Eli Basher, the owner, is a very welcoming man, who puts on a show for recommending cheeses, cutting samples with the big knife and giving customers a taste.
We asked Eli for his advice, and he sent one of his workers to check prices for wood-boards to serve the cheese on. We then went through a long (and tasty!) project of tasting and choosing cheeses. Eli recommended serving them with Kava and fruits. So, we bought some Kava bottles from him, and then he packed the cheese.
My respect for Eli's professionalism, which was already high, reached new heights today. His estimate of what is needed was right on target, the cheese and the wine was sufficient with a bit left over, but not excessively so.
After buying fruits and serving dishes we returned to the lab. With the help of Drorit we arranged the place for a reception.
At one o'clock the place was empty, and I was getting worried that we will have to eat all the cheese ourselves. But in few minutes the room was packed. We raised a toast, and then cut the improvised ribbon that Avital and Ayelet prepared (picture credit to Zohar Markovich).
The room was packed with guests and seemed like everyone had a good time.
I gave a tour of the lab to the visitors from Computer Science (I seem to be a tour guide quite often lately).
After the party, we stayed to enjoy the aftereffect and the remains of the cheese and wine. Some of us were in elated mood. Avital claimed a desk and made sure it was her's.
Not to waste any time, we started the move. The first item to move was the Singer RoToR. Avital and I secured it, as per instructions, and then with the help of few neighbors we moved it to its new temporary home.
An hour later we called on the same neighbors to help move the cabinets. To get a sense of the action, see the follow stop-animation taken during the move:
By the end of the afternoon we were very tired, but managed to move quite a bit into the lab, and now it starting to look like a real lab.
