sad choices

This morning I actually dropped my nonprofit course through the Bush School. So sad. But I had to really think about things, and I realized that I just cannot keep putting my thesis on the back burner. so, there it is....

more about this past weekend later. such fun to see the girls again. 'twas like old times! :)

Lucy's 4!

Lucy's 4th birthday is today!

eek...spoke too soon

well earlier it seems that I felt quite optimistic about my tasks ahead of me, but now I'm starting to freak out and wondering if I can do it all....extreme sadness awaits....

Bush school and stuff about school

I always kind of like the first week of school. It is exciting to go to your classes for the first time and get so fired up about them and think, yes, this is going to be the semester for me! I already feel a bit bogged down, but sort of in a good way, like I am a person who has things to do. That can be a good feeling sometimes.

Today, I went to my nonprofit class at the Bush School. It is going to be a pretty intense class with a lot of work, but I think it'll be really interesting. I enjoy taking the occassional class that is different from what I usually take. I do feel out of place in the group, though. They are, all with exception of 2 others, Bush School people and the other 2 that are not have already done a lot of work with international nonprofits. Plus, more than half of them had their laptop computers with them. I felt like I was in a law school class at first. But I peaked at a lot of their screens and they hadn't been typing anything so I guess it isn't an imperative class utensil, because I really do not want to lug mine around. Also, I found this funny: During the break, several of the Bush school people were making fun of Democrats and liberals! It was funny to me, b/c it seems like there are mostly Democrats and liberals in the hard sciences and I am used to hearing complaints about the current administration. I guess since this is the "Bush" School they are much more conservative. I think that difference is very interesting.

Let's see what else? I have been frantically trying to get everything in order for my petrology labs but it's been a bit frustrating. I asked one of the profs to get more lightbulbs for 2 of the scopes two weeks ago and he still has not ordered them. I also have been trying to see if I can shuffle people around in my sections so that everyone will have their own scope, but it has been pretty futile. Instead of people moving out of Monday's lab, I have gotten more people requesting to be put in it. I finally borrowed some scopes from the mineralogy lab to use, but I am a bit peeved that my professor is not more interested in fixing the 6 scopes that are not working. They are much better scopes than the mineralogy ones. Oh well, I have tried.

Also, another funny story. I was in the petrology lab working on the lab when a student comes in to chat. He was in my mineralogy lab and will be in my petrology lab. He said that the other students who were in the other mineralogy lab are terrified of me. At first I felt sad, but then I thought oh well, it is better that they fear me than don't respect me, right?

the first harvest

The broccoli is ready for harvest. Actually some of them were past harvest, because the heads were starting to loosen and flower. I am planning on making a chicken and broccoli casserole Tuesday night with my fresh broccoli.

gilmore girls

It is hard to get work done when I still have lots of Gilmore Girls to get through. Good thing Monica, Christy, Mariann, and I are having a girls' weekend soon. We can have a Gilmore Girls marathon with chocolate fondue. Yum! :) Season two is so good. Emily and Richard seem really nice in these episodes. There are still conflicts of course but mostly because they come from different worlds.

Another good thing is that my petrology labs may not meet the first week of school, so I still have lots of time. However, I am getting a little concerned because the professor I'm teaching for has not been available, and I have many questions. Most importantly, what's up with more than half of the scopes that have burned out light bulbs???

another reason why professors are more apt to be at school than the grad students

I stole a donut today from the faculty lounge for the first time. It had chocolate icing on it and was filled with chocolate in the inside. :)

facebook

i ended up updating my facebook profile so it had real information. it is kind of stressful b/c i only have 3 friends, while most people seem to have hundreds. :(

here is my profile link:
Facebook me!

excellent news!

I talked to my advisor yesterday and she said that she does not see why I shouldn't be able to graduate next December! Hurrah! I was starting to get worried as I started to take stock on everything that I need to complete. Currently, I am continuing on my scrapbook kick by making pages of the Norman Slough over time. Perhaps not completely scientific, but I think it will be a nice addition. :)

Also, my hundreds of readers may be happy to see that I have allowed all readers to comment on my blog. You don't have to be a member of blogger but you have to do this word verification test thing. ;)

back in Aggieland

Well, I've been back in College Station for a couple of days now after a fantastic 2 week vacation! My trip with Adrian in Southern California was great fun, and I've already finished my scrapbook pages for that trip! Then I also had some nice, relaxing days at home in Corpus. :)

Now, it is time to really try and motivate myself to do some real work! I've been back for 4 days now and haven't done too much besides making a compost pile and looking through 3 of my samples under the microscope. Must get more done!

it's only 5:45....

and my paper and poster are done!!!! Well, pretty much done. I just have a few touch-ups and then that's it! I have to say that data analysis was a difficult course. It was a lot of work and often I wasn't too sure that I really understood what was going on. But in the end, I have found the class to be pretty satisfying, because I completed analysis on a dataset, came up with REAL, interesting conclusions that I didn't anticipate, and made a beautiful poster illustrating and explaining my results.

What a great teaching tool. I wonder if I could do something like that for petrology next semester where the students (in groups) have a dataset, hand samples, and thin sections of an area and work on it throughout the semester to analyze it and then make a poster to present their results...hmm, I don't know, I think I am getting in over my head, and I don't think I really know enough about petrology to create this. Well, I'll think about it during the break. :)

it's almost over!

school is almost over! Currently, I am stressed about my data analysis project. My advisor keeps changing the dataset and I have to go back and redo some of my analyses. My last paper for that class is due Wednesday and that is when our poster presentation that highlights all of our results from the past semester is as well.

my last mineralogy lab was today. :) sad but also kind of relieved. It took a lot of my time. I had to prepare the lab materials, work through the lab, make nice notes for the class, make quizzes, grade labs, grade quizzes every week. I learned a lot and I had fun working with some of the students. I didn't do too much work on my thesis this semester though. :(

I also might have to teach petrology next semester....I'm not sure how I feel about that. It will be a lot of work again. Also, I never enjoyed the lab as an undergrad...it's pretty much all looking at thin sections, and many students never look at thin sections ever again and most don't enjoy the lab. So I found this great website called, "teaching petrology in the 21st century" and it had some great activities. It involved the students working with real datasets to figure out mantle compositions and rock suites. sooooo, I talked to the petrology professor and he pretty much said that I could do whatever I wanted - that he doesn't ever get involved with the lab, just that I had to include some thin section work. Sigh, so if I do that, that is going to take a TON of time....and thesis must be completed!

Bonfire 1999 - we will never forget

http://www.aggies9496.com/Images/Videos/BonfireRememberence.wmv

http://www.vvm.com/~dedmonds/bonfire99/

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=854281

http://www.texags.com/main/forum.reply.asp?topic_id=89576&forum_id=14

http://www.texags.com/main/forum.reply.asp?topic_id=386571&forum_id=14

yikes, it's cold in my house. even Lucy thinks so...

mailbox mystery

Hummmm...I left my house this nice morning, and while leaving I noticed that my mailbox was all awry! I don't know what happened to it. My suspicion is that someone took the corner too fast and hit my mailbox! In the pictures above, you will notice the wood dented in the pole of the mailbox. These dents were not there before. However, the location of the dents is odd; they are on the opposite side of the pole as I would suspect them to be. What happened to that poor mailbox last night??? And why can't college students drive like normal humans??

my garden after 5 weeks

here are updated photos of my garden. the only thing I am not sure of is: when is the lettuce ready to eat? I might pick some leaves and try them some time soon. :)