A low-cost, time-resolved spectroscopy experiment appropriate for third year physical chemistry students is presented. Students excite o-methyl red in basic solutions with a laser pointer and use a modular spectrometer with a CCD array detector to monitor the transient spectra as the higher-energy cis conformer of the molecule converts back to the thermodynamically more stable trans form. The transient absorption dynamics are monitored as a function of time averaged between 340 and 360 nm, and the transient bleach dynamics are monitored as a function of time averaged between 440 and 460 nm. The bleach dynamics are monitored in basic solutions at several values of pH, and the observed rate constants are used to extract the rate constant for the isomerization of the protonated form and the deprotonated form of the molecule.