First PCR and gel electrophoresis!

I have a HUGE presentation to give before the department tomorrow. I haven't even put together half of my slides yet. This will be done last minute and I'll still be working on it right up until "go time." Par for the course. There just aren't enough hours in the day to be able to get things done ahead of schedule. Anyway, until about an hour ago, I only had one type of data for the presentation, fluorometery data. Alone, it doesn't make for a very interesting presentation, or a very compelling conclusion. I wanted data from a PCR (polymerase chain reaction) and subsequent gel electrophoresis. I've done precisely zero of either before in my life...ever. I ran the PCR on Friday and would have to wait until today to run the product on a gel. If anything went wrong, there wouldn't be time to redo it before tomorrow's presentation. With such a complicated and tricky protocol, your first PCR and gel should really be something simple, perhaps 6 or 7 samples including positive and negative controls and your size ladder. I ran 25 samples, not including controls or ladder. I was nervous. But an hour ago it was finished running, I stained the gel, and took this picture. This is the picture of success. My blanks were blank! My positive control showed up! The samples all ran well! I won't get into the details of what this gel tells me, but I will say that it bodes well for the method of DNA extraction I'm testing in the lab. Woo hoo!