The Poster

My lack of posting to the blog this past week was due to working on my poster for the American Society for Microbiology general meeting (ASM). It’s 70in x40in and had to be taken to a printer. The lab took our two posters, a post-doc is also presenting, to Kinko’s Wednesday. They told us they could turn them around in 24 hours. Thursday they gave us one poster. The resolution was horrible. It was pixilated and illegible. Of course we tell them that this was unacceptable and to redo the job, including the second poster. Friday they call us and tell us to pick them up at 3pm. When we arrived, they just kind of shrugged their shoulders and told us 6pm. At 6pm, they told us 8pm. At 8pm the guy running the printer told us he was going home and we could pick them up Saturday. Keep in mind that you have to apply to present a poster at this meeting and if you fail to present at the meeting, you are banned for 3 years. We had a 10am flight Sunday!!! Not being able to participate in ASM meetings is not something I want to explain to future employers. 9am Saturday my PI calls Kinko’s about picking up the posters, and they have no idea what he is talking about. He reminded them. Noon Saturday they call my PI and tell him, “We can’t do them.” Of course every other graphics company in New Orleans was A) Not reopened since the hurricane B) Closed on Saturday C) Closed on Election Day (Nagin won re-election, by the way.) In a mad dash to the lab around 2pm, to discuss our options with my PI, I saw two guys putting graphic decals on a car in front of a shop. I pulled over and asked if they could do large format printing. Turns out they are the largest in the State. They do all of the signs and posters for the Superdome. The owner had stopped in to pick up some papers, and I caught him just as he was walking out of his office. He took me to the production floor and printed both posters in a little over an hour, while I waited. Stumbling by this place may have been the luckiest thing that has ever happened to me, other than meeting a very pretty girl while taking out the trash…