Sleeping at the APS Synchrotron
I have been to the APS Synchrotron quite a few times and realized that there are a couple tricks of where to sleep, if you don’t stay at the Guest House. I often see newbies trying to do the head on the table approach, but in a rolling chair this can be tricky.
So what to do?
1) Sleep on the floor
Pro: plenty of space
Con: the floor is concrete
If you are going to go this route then at least sleep on a coat or put your head on a bag (bring a pillow!).
2) Conference room (located along outer rim of the building)
Pro: decent space, very thin carpet, darker and less noise than being near the beam lines
Con: 
group members may think you have disappeared, if you don’t let them where you are sleeping
3) Couch
Pro: located near the beam line and a lot better than the floor
Con: bright, few around, maybe on the shorter side if you are tall
I have not been to Brookhaven, but here is a tip from @modernscientist:
Sili
November 20th, 2009 at 3:58 PM #
The guesthouse in Daresbury was pretty nice. Never been to Diamond.
Sounds like bringing a sleeping bag would be an idea.
Hector
November 21st, 2009 at 10:57 PM #
SRRL has some good couch / coffee / workstation areas that make great sleeping spots around beam lines 9 and 11. Used them many a times.
Artem
November 22nd, 2009 at 12:35 AM #
three words for you:
remote data collection
—
For the first or maybe the second time it’s macho and cool to sleep on the floor. Once you’ve done it several times it significantly loses appeal. If your boss is too cheap to spring for the Guesthouse (a bargain at $53/night – and it’s nice!) then pick a beam line with a robot and stay home.
Sean
November 22nd, 2009 at 12:46 AM #
Hey Artem, thanks for stopping by
I hear you. I have slept at the beam line at least a half dozen times and done the Guest House 2-3 times. I agree the Guest House is really nice and has a great coffee/hot chocolate machine in the lobby. In my case, how the data is going to be collected is not my call. Although I have not really brought up the possibility of remote collection with the group, thanks for the suggestion.
Paul
November 22nd, 2009 at 2:06 PM #
I’m surprised remote data collection isn’t now standard practice (I find it much more convenient). I’m heading out to help a graduate student collect neutron diffraction data in a few weeks; each image takes ~18 hours to collect. I hope this won’t turn out to be an endurance test like the good old days of synchrotron data collection.
Sean
November 22nd, 2009 at 2:25 PM #
Where are you collecting the neutron data?
Neutron is wonderful since you do not need to be present during the entire collection time of each frame.
Rotate 12-18 hours then rotate
Paul
November 22nd, 2009 at 9:05 PM #
We are off to LA… first time collecting neutron diffraction data for the both of us! It seems like you’ve had good experience doing neutron stuff; I hope the same will be said of our expedition!
Sean
November 22nd, 2009 at 9:15 PM #
I am assuming LA = Los Alamos. I guess you have some monster crystals
When are you heading there? Are you collecting at the PCS?
Artem
November 25th, 2009 at 8:30 PM #
I used to collect neutron daya at two sites – the spallation source (IPNS) and at ILL in Grenoble. There’s a nice source & detector at Los Alamos now.
Collecting neutron data on protein crystals must still be pure torture for those of us not blessed with patience… It was bad enough waiting for small molecule data (one neutron two neutron, get a coffee, go read stuff in the library, four neutron…). On the good side though, if you ever manage to get to ILL – the site is wonderful and the kitchen (it’s not a cafeterium!) used to be very nice too (French chefs).
Ah the simpler days of being a graduate student.
Artem
November 25th, 2009 at 8:34 PM #
Incidentally, with respect to Sean’s earlier comment – remote data collection is a de facto standard in most structural groups in industry, certainly including mine. I would encourage people to go collect hands-on data from time to time, in order to keep up with synchrotron experience, keep the beam staff entertained, and just for the sake of the coolness factor (which is why I always take my interns to synchrotrons at least once) but there’s no more reason to go every time. In fact given the travel time it’s cheaper and more productive to collect remotely or via proxy.
Sean
December 2nd, 2009 at 11:11 PM #
Thanks for the comment Artem. I was told that the group that was collecting data after us was from Pfizer. Although this could have been for one of the reason mention such as to entertain the beam staff
Artem
December 4th, 2009 at 10:41 PM #
Beam line staff are humans too! I will probably be going in person on one of the early 2010 runs – the upcoming remote run on the 14th is just too close to Yuletide.
Notably, I am no longer with Pfizer – it was time to try something other than pharmaceuticals, so I joined Monsanto instead.