You bring up a good point.  When I interviewed for my first histology
position I was asked if I had any hobbies that required manual dexterity
in both hands at once.  I mentioned that I played guitar and also that I
played video games.  Some people on the pannel must have thought I was
nuts because they said, "Video game?"  It was then that I pointed out
how many buttons (up to 12), sticks (1 or 2), and a directional pad were
on a video game controller these days.  At that point they realized that
I wasn't joking around.

Tom Pier

>>> "I.B."  10/04/06 10:42 AM >>>
Gayle, Stephen and Mari Ann,

Thanks again for the advice on sectioning.  This has diverged quite a
bit
from my two original concerns (why my sections are falling off after
washing, and trying to find a decent water-stable counterstain to
NBT/BCIP),
but this revives some issues and questions I had a few months ago that I
never satisfactorily resolved.  Gayle, I tried your advice on stopping
just
before the section detaches and it works great (now if only I could
consistently catch that dang curl).  I also like your idea of holding
onto
the wheel rather than the handle.  MUCH better control that way.  I was
just
thinking that there is a generation of kids behind me that would be
really
good at sectioning tissue -- it requires a great deal of coordination
between both hands and what you are seeing, and there are none better
then
these kids who have mastered fast-paced first-person-shooter video games
using control pads with dual joysticks and eight or more buttons.  They
are
also great at sitting in one spot for hours at a time doing the same
thing
over and over and over.  A concerted effort should be made to get them
into
labs . . .  I will head to a art supply store sometime and check out
brushes, too.  I bought a stiff brush months ago to replace the soft
brushes
we had been using, but for a different reason:  the soft brushes tend to
build up static and getting the sections off of them is a nightmare,
which
led to many not-so-private curses.  I did trim it at an angle after
finding
Stephen's website, but I don't think it is quite as stiff.  Lastly, can
you
send along both powerpoints?

Stephen, since you are in audience, can I ask about your technique of
dipping in 95% Ethanol after mounting a frozen section?  My main
question is
whether or not this can be done to a slide that will have multiple
sections
on it ( i.e., can I mount, dip, mount, dip, mount, etc.) or whether it
is a
one time only deal.

Ion
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