"Oh my! Major adrenaline rush! Jim, my boss, just came into my shop..."Oh Caroline...I have something for you...". In between his thumb and forefinger is a very much alive, squirming cockroach! Now, Jim is fully aware of my aversion to the live version of my little guys so he feels the necessity to come within incredibly close proximity to me with the squirmer. Of course, this causes me to let out a shriek and start running. Jim is in fast pursuit, close behind. I have now made a full circle throughout the maze of rooms and am back at my bench. After threatening to put the cockroach in my bag, which carries my breakfast of a Tabasco soaked bagel, Jim relents and allows me to extract a petri dish from a sleeve of plastic. The cockroach is now secured in it's tomb. He's a quite lively little bugger and can live for weeks in there.
Today's project? Figure out how to get the tube of the freeze mist can in the petri dish without opening it."
(Later that day...)
"Oh, the inhumanity of it all!
In order to properly freeze my cockroach without removing the lid from the petri dish, I chose to make a small hole in this dish with the tip of my soldering iron. The hole created was the perfect size, big enough to accomodate the nozzle of the freeze mist, small enough to be certain of no escape.
Carefully, I inserted the nozzle and took aim. As the blast of freezing air was dispersed into the dish, the little sucker spun around that dish so fast his brains must have scattered! It's one of the funniest things I've ever seen in my life! Then it occurred to me, compressed air!
This is where I made the fatal mistake. After being frozen, his little wings were quite brittle, I should have waited, I should have allowed for the thaw. But no, this was too funny to delay. I applied air pressure and he began to spin, then his little antennae flew off, then his wings! It was cockroach parts everywhere!
You know, we have, in our possession, a centrifuge....hmmmm.