georion23: (Default)
2009-12-02 11:14 am
Entry tags:

the end



that is the last slide in the last class of my graduate career. i have mixed feelings about it. i'm not quite finished, as i have to give a review session tonight, get a few more signatures, pay some money, and turn in my thesis. but sitting in classes is done for the rest of my life. it's weird, since i've been in school pretty much my entire life. not being in school will definitely be strange. but it's exciting, too. i can't wait to start my new job, and i'm glad i get a little time off before starting work. not having to commute is going to be very nice. so, it's a bit scary, but it should be good.
georion23: (Default)
2009-12-01 01:43 pm

winter!

winter has come to texas! it's cold, windy, and raining. pretty much completely nasty out. i unfortunately have to be out in it this week to do perform my ta duties at school. office hours today and thursday, class in the morning yesterday, tomorrow, and friday, and a review session for their last exam tomorrow evening. and then i'm done!

i turned in my form saying i passed my defense yesterday. i'm going to go buy fancy paper tonight so i can print out the required two copies, get the signatures on the front, and turn it in before friday. exciting!

emily and i went to the breaking benjamin concert last night. it was a good time. there were some very intoxicated people in front of us so they were entertaining to watch. here are a few pictures i took with my iphone:







also, ghirardelli hot chocolate is awesome. i'm enjoying mine immensely.
georion23: (Default)
2009-11-25 05:08 pm
Entry tags:

life is good

i know it's uncharacteristic of me to be spewing so much happiness, but you'll have to bear with me for awhile at least. i'm feeling really good. my house is clean, we have a bunch of candles lit that smell nice and look pretty, i got to take a long leisurely shower today, all the food has been purchased for thanksgiving, we have fresh flowers in the house that have opened beautifully, and really my only problem is a headache that's almost gone. i feel a lot lighter. em got home early and is playing a football video game and i am freely surfing the internet. with no guilt because i should be doing something for school! i finished editing the portraits of terri's dogs that i took when we were in austin back in october. now i'm waiting for sara to get here, at which point we'll go to dinner and see 2012. nothing says thanksgiving like a good disaster flick.

we were looking at the calendar earlier, and i've got stuff to do for the class i teach all of next week, but the week after that i have nothing. nothing! my thesis is due december 4th to the grad office, which is the last day of classes, and then my students have an open-note take-home final, so they won't have a review. i don't know what i'll do with myself! it's going to be awesome. i'm excited.

i was thinking that having a job five minutes from my house will make it easier to do things like cooking and going to the gym. i'll be done at 5 or 6 and i can go to the gym and be home by 7. or if i want to skip the gym and make some awesome five-course meal, i totally can. it's going to be fun trying new recipes.
georion23: (Default)
2009-11-20 10:19 am

heh



maybe it's the lack of sleep and the stress of my upcoming defense, but that comic cracked me up this morning.

so, i got the job at lpi!!! i'm so excited! i've wanted to work there since i was an intern in 2004. it's an amazing environment and the people are fantastic. stephanie, the woman who's going to be my boss is really great. she's been emailing me asking how my defense prep is going and telling me how excited she is that i'm taking the job. i start january 4th, so i've got time to do my defense, make any corrections to my paper, get it submitted, and have some time to relax over christmas. very exciting. really, if i can just get through the next four days, things will be loads better. plan for this weekend is to go through my thesis with a fine-toothed comb and look up any details i've forgotten and read over the abstracts of all the papers i've cited. and practice my powerpoint a few thousand times.

i was driving an hour and a half through the rain this morning through horrible traffic to make it to school too late to park anywhere but paid parking and i was thinking how nice it's going to be to have a five-minute commute through neighborhood streets to get to work. seriously. it's 45 minutes of driving plus 15 minutes of walking from the parking lot on a good day with no traffic. now i'll have 5 minutes of driving and 30 seconds of walking from the parking lot. it's going to be awesome. i can't wait. i actually only have four more days of sitting in horrible rush hour traffic to get to school. monday next week and mwf the week after thanksgiving. then classes are over and i'll have to run a couple review sessions and have office hours, but those will be in the afternoon. woot.

we're getting a cable box installed in the guest room this afternoon, so in a bit brian's taking me to lunch and then i'm heading home to work while waiting for the cable guy. just in time for sara to enjoy it when she comes to visit next wednesday. she's excited. i'm excited, too. thanksgiving is going to be so nice. i have an awesome job lined up and my defense will be done. yay thanksgiving.
georion23: (Default)
2009-11-18 03:55 pm

card

there are six days until my defense and em sent me this awesome card:


i did a practice talk today and have some minor changes but the talk seems to be in good shape. i'm taking the rest of the day off. i'm tired and my brain hurts.

em and i got up at 2am on tuesday and headed down to galveston to watch the leonids meteor shower. there weren't a lot of meteors, but i got pictures of a couple. and it was freezing! the cold front had just come through, so it was nice and clear, but very cold. for iso 6400, i'd say beefy did an awesome job. there was so much noise at 800 (don't even think about using 1600) on my old camera i never went above 400. it's nice having more options now.

leonid meteor (long streak in the upper right) over boats in the gulf of mexico

IMG_0425a1

sirius (bright star on the left) and orion

IMG_0443a

orion (bright fuzzy object near the center is the great nebula in orion)

IMG_0444a1

leonid (streak in the upper left) and orion

IMG_0446a1



lastly, someone on my flist sent me this song and it made me chuckle. thanks, ilysse!

georion23: (Default)
2009-11-09 01:35 pm
Entry tags:

abstract

150 words for an abstract is oppressive. here, summarize your work for the last two and a half years in a maximum of 150 words. ONE HUNDRED FIFTY. i'm at 172. started from 340, which is the size of the abstract of the paper being submitted for publication. 150 words is ridiculous. uuuggghhhh
georion23: (Default)
2009-09-08 12:12 pm
Entry tags:

weee sprained back

the rear-ending incident resulted in my back muscles being sprained. weeee. i've got some muscle relaxers, and the doc only wants me at school for half days. i'm supposed to spend the rest of my time lying down resting my back. since i've got group meeting at 5 today, i'm just now getting to school, which is nice. mwf i ta from 9-10 so i have to be at school early, so then i leave at 2 or 3. a bit more than a half day, but oh well. i've got stuff to do.

all of my reading groups and group meetings have been moved to the afternoon except for one at noon on fridays, freeing up my lunchtimes. em's been coming and picking me up for lunch one or two days a week, which has been really nice. it breaks up the day.

the class i'm ta-ing is a 101 class with not a single science major among them, which is not uncommon. what is uncommon is that they're asking thoughtful questions and actually putting in effort to understand things. i even got emailed questions about the first homework assignment. i'm used to sfa and asu students who barely show up, ask questions that just show they weren't listening and hadn't read anything, and don't ask anything outside of class until right before an exam. this is a nice change. i expect that from upper-level students but i was pleasantly surprised getting it from freshmen liberal arts majors and football players.

i got a 32-inch samsung lcd tv for the bedroom this weekend, and em got a new dresser. it's so pretty! we had the 42-inch in the living room and then my old crappy tv in the bedroom that's dying so it's very dark, and red and black are pretty much the only colors. the new one is so big and bright and vibrant! no more, "i want to watch this show/movie, but i want to lie down so i have to pick because it's too dark to watch in the bedroom and see anything." exciting. :)

found a new band, at target of all places. i was listening to their demo music on some bose headphones and heard "tell me" by good old war and "best of everything" by barefoot truth. so i got their cds off itunes and they turn out to be great working music. and good driving music too. a lot of good things have come from target. the tv was $50 off there. and it turns out they have really amazing meat in their grocery section! we usually get everything from heb, but we were picking up a couple things and were at target anyway so we went to the meat section. they had fantastic looking steaks so we got a couple and some corn and french bread. went home and i grilled everything up on my tiny little grill on the patio. YUM. the steaks were juicy and had great flavor, the grilled corn was nice and smoky, and the garlic bread was toasted. i also made homemade mashed potatoes, and em made an apple pie. we had a feast. it was fantastic. i'm glad we have the little grill now. i've missed grilling. and as fall comes and it gets cooler it'll be even more fun. woot. it's also small enough to take camping, if we ever find the time. this fall is pretty packed.

my cousin erin is coming in this weekend for a visit. em is taking me to see britney spears (i know, i know, but she loves her and she bought my ticket.) wednesday. the following thursday we're going to see blink 182 with fallout boy, the all-american rejects, and asher roth. october 8-12 we'll be in arizona doing the photos for my friend beck's wedding and post-wedding party. october 17 em is competing in dragon boat races with her company. october 23-25 we'll be in austin doing portrait sessions and seeing people. october 31 we're going to see brand new in concert. november 14 we're seeing ludo. em's dad might be coming to visit sometime in november. december 4 is the enlightenment? banquet my dept holds. december 12 we're seeing kelly clarkson is the thriving metropolis of beaumont. then in late december we're taking a giant road trip from texas to new jersey/new york/pennsylvania for christmas. stops in atlanta and washington, dc, probably on the way back. it's busy. i think camping will probably have to wait until the spring.

sara got a new car yesterday. a steel-colored civic hybrid. i'm glad. she's been driving a kia for several years and it kept breaking and had some pretty major problems, like not being able to stop in the rain, even with new tires. i always worried about her when she had that car, so i'm glad she's gotten something more dependable. she has yet to send me pictures though. i'll have to get on her about that.

we had some storms come through last week and i got a couple pictures of the light shining from outside through rain on the window onto em's face. i think they turned out pretty cool. just slightly blurry from the long exposure.





it looks like i'm going to get some work in houston for a change! i was telling one of my geology buddies about my website, and another girl that's in the dept was there and said that she and her fiancee hadn't gotten their engagement pictures done yet. i sent her my website so she could see my stuff, and we'll see what happens. it would be nice to have something local, rather than traveling every time for a shoot.

back to work.
georion23: (Default)
2009-04-26 02:27 pm

heh



i finished my paper! i am currently plugging away at my homework. i have a couple small things i'm confused about so brian's on his way over and we'll see if we can work it out together. the house is spotless and the grocery shopping is done. woohoo for being productive!

so, what's left is to finish my homework, write two small critiques of papers, and type up one page of handwritten notes. easily done by tomorrow afternoon, i think. exciting!

em bought a new hat! it's spiffy!


awhile back, em entered a contest to win a car. she didn't win the car, but we had to go down to galveston and listen to a timeshare presentation, which we did not buy, and she won a free cruise to mexico, 4 nights in a 4-star hotel in oahu, $100 in gas gift certificates, and a $40 american express gift card! so we have two trips to take in the next year! along with phoenix in october for beck's wedding and new jersey for christmas, plus we're taking a cruise with sara over her spring break in march, and i've got to go to agu in san francisco in december. lots of travel in the near future! i'm excited!!

on the way back, some pelicans were flying over the gulf as storm clouds were starting to roll in, and i got a neat picture.

georion23: (raindrops underwater)
2009-04-18 03:57 pm
Entry tags:

and this is why i'm staying inside today

em and i went out for whataburger for brunch (breakfast for her, lunch for me) at around 11 and then hightailed it back home before the crazy wrath-of-god storms hit. it's been raining crazy hard all afternoon, and it's so much the drainage system can't handle it so the streets are completely flooded. the streets and sidewalks are completely covered in water. parking lots are lakes. a firetruck tried to go down our street but the water is so deep they decided even they couldn't pass through it so they threw it in reverse. crazy craziness outside. so i'm staying inside with my electricity flickering on and off in my nice warm office trying to get some work done. i'm where the transparent cross inside a circle is on the radar picture.



i did manage to finish grading, except for a couple labs i'm waiting for students to turn in. that should happen by monday afternoon, and then i'm done teaching. and cin-ty is giving me a break from ta-ing, so no teaching in the fall, and possibly the spring, which is exciting. i met with raj yesterday and we talked about my second proposal/term paper and i've got some work to do this weekend and meet with him about monday. i feel good about it though. then a couple paper critiques to crank out, a few paper reviews that are hand written that i need to type up, and finishing my paper. then done for the semester. everything is due a week from monday. it's going to be a busy week. but, i only need to go to school monday afternoon, and then for a couple hours wednesday. i've got an endocrinologist appt up in spring thursday but i'll have the whole afternoon to work at a coffee shop up there, and then em and i are going to galveston friday afternoon. more on that later. other than that, all working. it'll be nice to stay home and work. my office is so nice and cozy. and i totally dig my new desk. here's a panorama of most of it (not the far right end)

georion23: (Default)
2009-04-13 12:55 pm
Entry tags:

new brain dump

things i need to do in the next week and a half:

classes
reading group papers (Tues)
grade second half of labs (Wed-Thurs)
finish Cin-Ty's homework (Mon-Sun)
News & Views write-ups on 2 r.g. papers (Sat-Sun)

orals
read CO2 themometer paper - use for barometer (Sat-Sun)
add in CO2 term into barometer (Sat-Sun)
make Pcalc-Pexp vs P plot (Mon-Tues)
finish background section of CO2 proposal (Mon-Thurs)
finish methods section of CO2 proposal (Wed-Fri)
write applications section of CO2 proposal (Thurs-Sat)
turn proposal into term paper (Sat-Sun next week)
georion23: (rice)
2009-04-08 11:00 am
Entry tags:

brain dump

things i need to do in the next week and a half:

reading group paper (Wed)
Herd papers (Wed)
grade all labs (Thurs)
work crawfish boil (Fri)
Cin-Ty's homework (Fri-Sun)
News & Views write-ups on 2 r.g. papers (Sat-Sun)

get car inspected (Fri, Sat)

figure out REE disequilibrium plot (Sat-Sun)
do KD calculations - expand in text diff in Mg#s of ol/pxn in L1 and L2 (Sat-Sun)
change caption of bulk comps plot to Eu* (or plot to Eu/Gd N) (Sat-Sun)
compare meteorites (next week)

add in CO2 term into barometer (Sat-Sun)
make Pcalc-Pexp vs P plot (Sat-Sun)
read CO2 themometer paper - use for barometer (Sat-Sun)
write background section of CO2 proposal (next week - early)
finish methods section of CO2 proposal (next week - early)
write applications section of CO2 proposal (next week - late)
georion23: (Default)
2009-03-20 03:44 pm

i am enjoying this day

it is gorgeous outside. i'm currently working out on the patio at panera enjoying the perfect temperature, abundant sunshine, and low humidity. all this week it's been super humid and foggy in the morning (see photo from yesterday morning on my way into school below, others at facebook. please note: i didn't convert these to black and white -- it was just so damn cloudy that it sucked all the color out of the world.), but this morning it wasn't quite as humid and it's pretty much all burned off as the day has progressed. and i am loving it.



emily got a new job! she's going to be a jr imaging geophysicist for cgg veritas, and oil company here in houston. she's going to be earning twice as much, getting a ton of awesome benefits (3 weeks paid vacation per year, health, life, and dental insurance to name a few), and is actually going to be using her degrees and working with smart people! and, there is a lot of opportunity for advancement. she is so excited, and i'm happy for her. her current job has been making her miserable. the people there are complete idiots, they treat her terribly, don't pay her what she's worth, and there are no benefits. she put in her notice today. it's great. she's been so smiley for the last few days, which makes me smiley, too, so it's all good.

i got a couple new photo apps for my iphone, one of which lets me color part of a picture while leaving the rest b&w, and i've been having fun with it. i haven't really been taking my real camera with me lately, so all i've got from anything that has happened in the last few weeks is iphone photos. but they're turning out decently so it's okay.





i've been studying a lot for orals. kepler's been helping (see below). i need to talk to cin-ty this week to find out when they're going to be. they were originally going to be end of april-beginning of may, but now we may push them back to sometime in the summer so i have more time to prepare. we have two visiting scientists from france here right now that were here last year. we get along really well. i'm going to have a chat with them, probably the week after next, and bounce around some ideas with them. it's good to have a fresh perspective on things, and one of them always comes up with crazy random ideas that sometimes lead to interesting research, so i'm looking forward to talking with them.



lpsc is this coming week. i'm only going for a couple of the days. just don't have time. i'll go monday afternoon to see my co-advisor's talk, tuesday afternoon to one session, then i'm skipping wednesday but staying with my friends wednesday night because thursday morning at 9 i have to give my advisor's talk because he'll be teaching and i live an hour and a half - two hours away. i'll probably stay all day thursday because there's a poster session in the evening i want to go to, and then i'll go all day friday. but i'll have monday and tuesday mornings, and all day wednesday to work. then the next week, i have monday and tuesday, and then the california field trip is wednesday - sunday. ugh. it'll be a good trip. i got awesome pictures last year, some of my favorites i've ever taken. but, i'll be driving and/or exhausted the whole time, so that doesn't leave much time for me to do any work. then the day after i get back, em starts her new job. three weeks later school is done. yikes. i can use the bulk of my second proposal for my term project in my advanced petrology class, but it's not done yet. that'll be this weekend's fun.

args, my battery's about to die. have to head inside and plug in. i want to stay out here. whine. em's going to meet me at county line later for dinner (mmm bbq) so maybe we'll eat outside.
georion23: (rice)
2008-04-07 04:26 pm
Entry tags:

this week is nuts

i survived the california trip. got some good rocks and great pictures. i'll make a picture post at some point with my favorites.

this week is crazy.
today... make themis powerpoint. dishes. laundry and clean up my room.
tomorrow... give themis presentation in remote sensing. do az taxes online. food and group meeting? pay cable bill. work on cin-ty's homework. go to seminar. work on homework. laundry and clean up my room. scan taxes.
wednesday... go buy stamps. mail taxes. atmosphere class. finish cin-ty's homework. work on remote sensing venus lab. dinner with lisa.
thursday... remote sensing class. finish remote sensing venus lab. start remote sensing project. work on adrian's homework. go to seminar. work on homework. clean up living room.
friday... group meeting? finish adrian's homework. work on remote sensing project. beer friday.
saturday... apartment hunting with christi in clear lake.
sunday... maybe staying up with christi, not sure yet. working on remote sensing project if not.
georion23: (excited)
2008-02-22 01:51 pm
Entry tags:

WOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

I PASSED MY PRELIMS!!!!! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
georion23: (rice 2)
2007-09-16 06:59 pm

maybe someday

someday i'll do better than posting to this thing once a month. in the meantime, check out [livejournal.com profile] georion365, where i'm posting a picture a day. most of the time.

anyway, classes started at rice. going well so far. i'm taking trace elements/isotope geochemistry, global tectonics, and two seminars, as well as attended two reading groups and group meeting every week. so i'm busy. schedule here. and i'm working on two projects, one collaborating with al and anne down at nasa. fun stuff. i'll be presenting a talk at the lpi workshop on water in planetary basalts in november and a poster at agu in san fransisco in december. have my preliminary exam in january. presenting a talk to the rice earth science dept in february. will be presenting something at lpsc in march about this nasa project i'm working on. lots to do. but it's good. i'm liking the way things work here a lot better. it's a much better fit.

emily, christi, and johnny got scuba certified over labor day weekend in nacogdoches, and i got four more dives under my belt. i hadn't gotten to dive since may 2005 so it was great to get wet. last weekend emily and i went up to dallas for regan's wedding, which was fun except for the 9 hour of driving in one day, with helping brian move to his new place the next day. i finally got some sleep this weekend so i've recovered. i'll have separate posts for pictures soon.

next weekend i'll be heading to austin for sara's birthday. and then the following weekend is the new grad field trip to galveston. should be good fun.
georion23: (Default)
2007-04-26 03:25 pm

softball, labs, and pictures

the softball season is over. we got knocked out in the semi-finals. oh well. it was a fun season. we're all going to four peaks tonight to celebrate.

i am now done teaching labs at this school!!! just have to grade like mad for the next few days.

i have a couple of photo projects coming up, which should be fun. abby's boyfriend, eli, is a glass blower, and i'm going take some pictures of him working in his shop for his website. i leave for austin on tuesday night so i can play photographer at christi's wedding on wednesday. i can't wait!

i realized i hadn't put up my pictures from my after-defense celebration at the cheesecake factory, so here are a few of my favorites.







a couple more )


time to get back to grading. such fun.
georion23: (san carlos)
2007-04-08 10:08 pm
Entry tags:

photos - asu spring

springtime at arizona state means that the cacti are blooming, the palo verde trees have little yellow flowers, and the lone duck at the pond has eggs! a few of my favorites are below but you can see the rest here.











georion23: (eye see you)
2007-03-03 10:06 pm
Entry tags:

goofy pictures

while waiting for the sun to go down on the pedestrian bridge at school


more )

paintbrushes were on sale at michaels so i stocked up


one more )
georion23: (saguaro cactus)
2007-03-03 09:52 pm
Entry tags:

pictures from asu

a few days ago i took a couple pictures from the parking lot.


more parking lot )

went up to school this evening and took some pictures around the pedestrian bridge.


looking up at the edge of the foundation building


more pedestrian bridge )