Bad luck

[Teddy]

Hi all,

Just a quick post to see if any one else has been as clumsey as me today.

Had just arrived home from a small shopping spree, "wine that is" And was looking forward to take my bottles inside and giving them a once over, before laying them down in the cellar. What I didn't realize was that the bottles had sliped out of the box and were resting up against the back door. So you guessed it, out come the bottles. I managed to stop most of them, but smashed and cracked a few including a Heathcote estate, Voyager cab merlot and a peter lehman mentor. To cap it off, I also smashed my sunglasses as they fell while saving the wine.
"Shit happens"

Regards

Trev

[lostincanberra]

No. Not today.

I do recall a bottle of wine falling out of a Uni locker and smashing in front of a crowd of Chemistry students and lecturers. Wasn't in the curriculum... Fortunately (or perhaps not) I was fairly broke - so it wasn't the type of wine that we seem to talk about around here. It was, however, RED.


My ill-spent years in the Chemistry lab did leave me with one useful skill - the ability to trap falling glassware and bring things to the floor less catastrophically. Now THAT has saved more that a few bottles.

What's a slightly bruised toe compared with the relief at saving a decent bottle? Hmmm?

lostincanberra

[Red Bigot]

My ill-spent years in the Chemistry lab did leave me with one useful skill - the ability to trap falling glassware and bring things to the floor less catastrophically. Now THAT has saved more that a few bottles.

My ill-spent year or two in the Organic Chemistry lab taught me how to smuggle out enough absolute ethanol to make the party punch really get the party going...

[GRB]

My ill-spent year or two in the Organic Chemistry lab taught me how to smuggle out enough absolute ethanol to make the party punch really get the party going...

Snap. Wasn't me exactly but had a good mate doing a chem PHD. Made for some interesting college parties

[griff]

My ill-spent years in the Chemistry lab did leave me with one useful skill - the ability to trap falling glassware and bring things to the floor less catastrophically. Now THAT has saved more that a few bottles.

My ill-spent year or two in the Organic Chemistry lab taught me how to smuggle out enough absolute ethanol to make the party punch really get the party going...

Oh dear! You have brought back memories of the custom Kahlua on Pharmacy boat cruises.

cheers

Carl

[Bick]

My ill-spent year or two in the Organic Chemistry lab taught me how to smuggle out enough absolute ethanol to make the party punch really get the party going...

Doesn't 'absolute alcohol' actually contain a small amount of benzene, which is pretty toxic? I always avoided it on that basis...

[griff]

My ill-spent year or two in the Organic Chemistry lab taught me how to smuggle out enough absolute ethanol to make the party punch really get the party going...

Doesn't 'absolute alcohol' actually contain a small amount of benzene, which is pretty toxic? I always avoided it on that basis...

It shouldn't. There may be different grades perhaps but pharmacists use it to compound syrups etc. for human use.

Mind you it sure tastes as rough as guts!

cheers

Carl

[Red Bigot]

My ill-spent year or two in the Organic Chemistry lab taught me how to smuggle out enough absolute ethanol to make the party punch really get the party going...

Doesn't 'absolute alcohol' actually contain a small amount of benzene, which is pretty toxic? I always avoided it on that basis...

"Trace amounts". You'd have to drink and awful lot to get a toxic dose of benzene and contained lead as well. That was also the era when the "best" petrol was dosed up with methyl benzene until they worked out it wasn't really a good idea, especially if you sucked too hard when siphoning a tank or worked with the stuff all the time.

So far so good, that was 40 years ago now.

[Gustav]

This is getting a bit OT, but here goes anyway.

Bick wrote:

Red Bigot wrote:
My ill-spent year or two in the Organic Chemistry lab taught me how to smuggle out enough absolute ethanol to make the party punch really get the party going...


Doesn't 'absolute alcohol' actually contain a small amount of benzene, which is pretty toxic? I always avoided it on that basis...

Absolute ethanol does indeed contain trace amounts of benzene. See: http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/sci/A0858037.html It's never a good idea to drink any chemical from a lab, no matter what it says on the bottle. I've worked in a lab for eight years, and in Norway, the use of ethanol is monitored very closely. Interestingly, here in Australia everything in the lab environment is much stricter and controlled than in Norway, except the use of ethanol

[griff]

This is getting a bit OT, but here goes anyway.

Bick wrote:

Red Bigot wrote:
My ill-spent year or two in the Organic Chemistry lab taught me how to smuggle out enough absolute ethanol to make the party punch really get the party going...


Doesn't 'absolute alcohol' actually contain a small amount of benzene, which is pretty toxic? I always avoided it on that basis...

Absolute ethanol does indeed contain trace amounts of benzene. See: http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/sci/A0858037.html It's never a good idea to drink any chemical from a lab, no matter what it says on the bottle. I've worked in a lab for eight years, and in Norway, the use of ethanol is monitored very closely. Interestingly, here in Australia everything in the lab environment is much stricter and controlled than in Norway, except the use of ethanol

We had absolute alcohol without benzene (the benzene would have really buggered up the the UV for a start). I heard from the lab tech that it was more expensive however.

I should say that we use 95 and 99% for pharmaceutical preps though.

Just to get the thread back on track, bad wine luck lately was having a shipment of wine arrive on the only day in Perth that the temp went up to 40 so far (and more in the van I bet). Every bottle opened showed the effects along the cork and even in the capsule for a few so far. A bit frustrating but thankfully they were all early drinkers.

cheers

Carl