Bucket List #26

#26. Get my Master's degree.

I finally defended my thesis in March of 2012 and officially graduated in May!  I even have the fancy hard-cover bound copy of my thesis sitting on my bookshelf now.  Boy, oh boy, does it feel good to be done with that!

There's my brick of a thesis all ready to ship to the graduate college!

It's official!

Summer Reading Series: No Apparent Danger

“No Apparent Danger” by Victoria Bruce

**** (4 Stars) = Very good.  I strongly recommend this book.

In the book, Victoria Bruce pieces together eye-witness accounts of two tragic volcano disasters in Colombia.  First are the accounts of the eruption of Nevado del Ruiz in 1985 in which mudflows killed over 23,000 people in the surrounding area.  The second part of this book details the 1993 eruption of Volcán Galeras which took the lives of nine people (including six scientists) who were in the crater at the time.

Whether or not you’re a geologist, I think you’ll find this is an interesting and thrilling read.  Even though this is a historic event where you know the end result, Victoria Bruce did a great job of recounting the events and filling the pages with suspense.  Bruce knows enough about geology to accurately describe the science involved (she has an M.S. in Geology), but she also explains the terms for any readers who are not scientists.

I think one of the take-home messages of this book is that science (and funding for research/technology/etc…) is extremely important.  And even when the scientists have the technology, it’s imperative that they know what to do with that knowledge and being able to bridge the gap between pure science and public policy. 

I enjoyed reading this book, and I would definitely recommend it.  It’s probably not one I would read again (I rarely re-read non-fiction books), but it’s worth a read.

(And, Brittany, thanks for suggesting this book and for letting me borrow it for so long!)

Create a Vacuum Day

Vacuum desiccator

According to holidayinsights.com, last Friday (February 4) was Create a Vaccuum Day.  Man, if only I had known that sooner!  I would have celebrated on time.  Instead, I guess I celebrated a week late.

Today I vacuum-impregnated my rock core samples from the Klamath Mountains.  You might be thinking, "Huh??"  One of my office buddies (a PhD student) showed me how to set my samples in epoxy and then put them in a vacuum chamber so that all of the tiny little air bubbles get sucked out.  Thus, I'm left with a nice (and bubble-free!) sample to look at under the Scanning Electron Microscope.

Yep, I think this is my nerdiest post to date.  And, by the way, I had no idea that Create a Vacuum Day existed until I stumbled upon it this evening. :)

My Poster

The trip to Denver for GSA was over a month ago, but it was so much fun! We got to see lots of friends (friends from undergrad, former professors, field camp buddies) and it was great being able to catch up with everyone. I can't imagine what next year's conference is going to be like. It's going to be in Minneapolis, so I'm guessing that even more awesome MN geology-types will make an appearance.

Aside from all of the fun, I also survived my poster presentation (see above). I got a lot of useful feedback from people. It was also great to hear people suggest things that my adviser and I were already working on (but didn't include on the poster). Presenting on day 1 (which was Halloween, btw) was also very lucky, as I came down with a nasty cold halfway through the conference.

I'm Getting Out of Nevada!!

At least for a few days, that is. :)


I'm headed off to Denver, CO for the Geological Society of America Annual Meeting! There will be some work involved, as I'm presenting my poster on serpentine weathering on the first day and I will also be keeping my eyes open for job opportunities. But, I'm thinking of this as a nice vacation and looking forward to a great time reconnecting with some awesome geologists! (Free beer and wine at the alumni parties is another plus!)

Photo: http://www.c-villecameraclub.org/Larry%20Goss/slides/Big%20Blue%20Bear%20-%20Colorado%20Convention%20Center%20Denver.html

Road Trip: Part 1

It's summer and after a long semester followed by field work and lab work, it was time for a break. So for roughly two weeks, Erik and I are going to enjoy some time back in our lovely state of Minnesota. Also, we decided to drive instead of fly. Here is a sampling of what we saw along our way.


Not so long after leaving Nevada, we passed through the breathtakingly awesome Virgin River Gorge, Arizona. And as two geologists, it was difficult to keep our eyes on the road and away from the amazing rock faces.


Going through Utah we were amazed by the landscapes.


We spent a lot of time in Colorado, but who could blame us with scenery like this? This particular shot was taken somewhere between Gunnison and Denver.


There's not a whole lot to see in Nebraska as far as the landscape goes, which is why we were intrigued by this Gateway.


And then there's Iowa, which most people would call extremely boring. However, the stretch from Omaha to Des Moines is actually quite nice. And there are wind farms! I love wind farms. They make me very happy.

And finally, after three long days of sitting in a car, we made it to Minnesota.

End of the Semester Craziness!

There are 23 days left until the semester is over, and it feels like I'm swimming towards a shore but I'm not getting anywhere. Each week, more gets crossed off the To Do List, but there's always so much more to do!

Here's what I'm dealing with. (Not trying to complain, just need to get it off my chest. The person I generally vent to is out in the field somewhere camping and digging soil pits)

[x] Practice poster for Geosymposium
[x] Contaminant Hydro paper on Acid Mine Drainage
[x] Revise students' policy letter rough drafts
[x] Form my thesis committee
[x] Get committee to sign paperwork
[x] Schedule my Thesis Proposal Presentation for my committee
[x] Final poster for Geosymposium
[x] Presentation on Acid Mine Drainage
[x] GPSA Fall Grant Application
[x] Geosymposium
[x] Aqueous Geochemistry homework
[x] Revise and complete Thesis Proposal
[x] Get the completed Thesis Proposal to my committee
[x] Grade students' final drafts and normal homework
[x] Figure out students' final grades
[x] Run olivine dissolution models for Aqueous Geochemistry
[x] Write paper on olivine dissolution model
[x] Prepare presentation on olivine dissolution model
[x] Finalize dates and other info for summer field work
[x] Survive my Thesis Proposal Presentation
[ ] Get all thesis proposal-related paperwork turned in

Holy buckets. I needed to get that out, but... that's a lot!

To end things on a positive note, here are some SEM images that I took in the lab last week (of my olivine samples) that reminded me of a doggy and a frog. Does anyone else see a resemblance?


Note: I may occasionally cross more things off my list as they happen. Might not keep up though. We'll see.

Campfires

"The fire is the main comfort of the camp, whether in summer or winter, and is about as ample at one season as at another. It is as well for cheerfulness as for warmth and dryness."
~Henry David Thoreau

As soon as I manage to get a tent, I'm going to plan a camping trip. Or maybe, as soon as I plan a camping trip, I'll get a tent. All I know is that Zion, Arches, Death Valley, and the Grand Canyon are all within a decent driving distance, and I want to go camping!

So much to do!!

Grad school is busy. Oiy.

In the next two weeks, I must accomplish a lot of stuff.
- Hydrogeology Problem Set (or two)
- Hydrogeology Take-Home test (almost done!)
- Cut a bunch of basalts down to size
- Schedule SEM time to look at the olivines in said basalts
- Give a short presentation regarding my research to my adviser and her other students
- Have my GSA Grant Proposal draft finished
- Give a practice Thesis Proposal talk to my class
- Finish the Thesis Proposal draft
- Prepping the last two labs of the semester
- Grading policy letters for those labs
- and any 'normal' homework that pops up in there (and it will)

I may need to use a substantial amount of caffeine to do this. It might hurt. Oiy.

It is pretty grand...

This is definitely the coolest thing I've seen since moving out west:


Photo 1: Grand Canyon, Colorado River, Lava Falls, Lava Falls Rapids
Photo 2: Grand Canyon, Toroweap Overlook

My Life as a New Grad Student

It's already the third week of school! I can't believe it! (And I still don't have a good routine set up...).

The Office: This is where I place the blame for not having a good routine so far. I didn't have a key to my office until the end of last week. When I had down time between classes, I would "office crash" with my fellow students who had keys (I'm in the new building, hence the lack of key), or I would find a random couch in the hallway and try to get some reading done. Not the best for being productive... But now I have a key, so I can get my office set up and hopefully I'll start getting things done in a more efficient manner.

The Classes: They're going alright so far. The fact that our program considers a B- failing is kind of intimidating though. I think if we get two B-'s we're put on probation from the program. I'm hoping that won't be an issue, but it's definitely motivation to study, study, study.

The "Teaching:" So I don't really teach, I mostly just say "Today we're doing Lab 3, it's in the lab manual. Ask me if you have questions." And then I end up explaining certain things over and over again to different groups of students. My students seem like they're doing fairly well so far, and I think I've been able to help them understand concepts that they've asked me about.

The Research: I'm going to be studying the weathering of ultramafic minerals, particularly olivine. I have a list of papers and dissertations to read and look through to gain some understanding of the subject and what people have done in similar experiments. My adviser told me today that we've got the sampling permit we need to go obtain samples at one of our field sites, so we'll probably be doing that in early October. This isn't really what I envisioned studying when I applied to grad school (but really, I didn't have a good idea of what I wanted to do anyway). Yet, I know that I'll be learning a lot because this is all new to me.

Alrighty, now I must get going. I've got oreos and a paper about geology and the scientific method waiting for me.

Fun Times at the Hog Roasts

The Geology Club has had a long-standing tradition of having a Hog Roast (including tasty food, music, and kegs) as a college and community event on the last day of classes each spring. Though this year wasn't exactly a hog roast in the technical sense or open to everyone (just geology peoples) I like to think of it as my fourth hog roast.

Freshman Year: I had been to one Geology Club meeting and somehow found myself elected Vice President for the following year. So I was (along with the other new officers and some new geology majors--none of which I really knew at all) enlisted in helping with the year end hog roast. The day before the big event we got together to cut up the meat and put it into/onto the roasters. This is an ordeal that takes a decent amount of people and big knives. Then, this one kid shows up in a blaze orange jumpsuit and a Journey CD, and I thought to myself "What a joker?! But he seems pretty cool, I guess." On the day of the Hog Roast, we had absolutely gorgeous weather! A perfect day for a big potluck get together outside. Aside from helping out, I spent a good chunk of my time kicking around a soccer ball with orange jumpsuit kid (named Erik) and his friend Donnie.

Sophomore Year: All of the officers from the previous year were seniors and they basically said "good luck" and left us to figure everything out on our own. So, after struggling a bit, we managed to pull off a hog roast that we were told was a pretty good time. Aside from the fact that it was rainy, windy, and cold. But we pulled it off, and we were excited!

Junior Year: This year, me and the other co-president, were just about to get the ball rolling with plans for the annual event when Health Inspector Regulation Dude sends us a letter with a very large list of regulations (many of which would be impossible for us to comply with). Given that most of our food was potluck style, for instance, there was no way for us to ensure that everything was prepared in perfectly sterile conditions. But anyways, after a lot of drama, campus emails, and newspaper articles, the ladies at food services saved our bums and helped us with the technical aspects of meeting these regulations. Weather was fairly cool, and we had a pretty good time.

Senior Year: While not an officer this year, we're a close bunch and so we know all about what's going on in the club. We weren't quite so lucky this year with help from outside groups, and realizing that we can't possibly meet all of the health regulations it was concluded that we would have the event as we wanted, but only for geology related people (thus avoiding public health concerns--yay for small private groups!). The day began with the usual shenanigans of trying to figure out where to cook the meat and such (Jamey's old research lab? sounds good!) and then running around town doing errands. And then, surprise, surprise, Morris is chilly and very windy... brrrr... Being right next to a lake didn't help with the wind at all. Then a cop showed up asking for a permit (which we didn't have... oops!) so we made some quick changes (no more keg, but cans of beer are okay) so as to avoid any legal entanglements. After everyone had supped, people focused their attention on various ways of keeping warm. Some played frisbee, some ran around, some did simple little dances, but eventually those of us left at the park late into the evening ended up kicking a soccer ball around in a small circle. Orange jumpsuit kid was there too, but this time he was sporting an orange wind breaker. Seems he has a fondness for orange.


Photo: (Taken by my Mom) Me and "orange jumpsuit kid." We've been dating now for 2 years and 7 months.

Baraboo: Rain, Rain, Go Away!

Friday:
- Left campus around 1:00 p.m. and began the slightly-less-than 7-hour drive to Baraboo, WI, home of some sweet geology.
- Car ride full of goofiness and miscommunications.

"There's a lever under the seat!"
"A what? A leper?"
"A leopard??"
"Lovers under the seat? What??"

"*singing* Who built the Ark? Noah, Noah. Who built the Ark? Father Noah built the Ark!"
"What? Where'd you learn that song?"
"At Vacation Bible School."
"Geisha Bible School??????"

- Nice sunny, warm weather. Arrived in Baraboo. Set up camp. Started to get dark, so we headed into town to have dinner (Pizza Ranch!) and buy groceries for the rest of the trip.
- Starts to rain and thunder a bit as we go to bed.

Saturday:
- Rain.
- Grape nuts for breakfast, with some sugar for flavor (and by some, I mean a TON, because I accidentally spilled way more than I wanted into my bowl... oops!)
- More rain.
- Head out for a day of structural geology sites.
- Rains harder.
- Arrived at the first outcrop and see another group of geology students there as well. Huge crash of thunder and lightning. Other group quickly enters van and leaves. We stay. (Sweet crossbeds, ripplemarks, parasitic folds, and slickenlines though!!)
- Eventually it starts to rain a bit less at other stops, but we're already soaked at this point so it didn't really matter. Day of geology ends (but we got some sweet samples of brecciated quartzites!)
- Back to camp. Thinking it might be decent for the rest of the evening. Ooops, thought that too soon, more rain! Gotta love eating dinner in the rain.
- Poured all night. Barely slept. My options: Curl up to stay warm and avoid touching the edges of the tent (but be uncomfortable and unable to sleep), or stretch out and touch the edge of the tent and possibly let lots of water in. I did a little bit of both, as did Beth, my tent buddy.

Sunday:
- Woke up with some puddles and leaks in the tent. Parts of our sleeping bags were wet. At least we didn't have a "river" flowing under half of our tent like the boys did.
- Still raining. Blah...
- KAB gave us the option of toughing it out and seeing more geology or packing up and going home. Yay for having a choice!
- We packed up.
- We drove home.
- Started reading a book for fun in the car, and it's got me wondering what in the world is going to happen next!
- Arrived in Mo-town around 3:30 (?). Hurriedly unpacked the van, and went our separate ways (thanks for the ride home, Beth!).
- Shower.
- Clean clothes.
- Comfort food.

Also, I didn't manage to take any pictures this weekend. Knowing that the forecast included thunderstorms, I didn't bother to bring my digital camera. I'm hoping that Beth, Emma, and Donnie will have some pictures I can post eventually. Someday, it'd be nice to go back to Baraboo to be able to enjoy/study the geology some more when morale isn't negative and dripping wet.

Photo: taken by Donnie of my fluffing up my pillow while setting up camp