georion23

we moved offices at work a couple weeks ago and i'm starting to settle in to my new place. once i get my new bulletin board hung up i'll take pics of my new space. my desk is nicer than what i had before and i have a bit more drawer space, but less overall work space. so far it's alright, but i've been doing mostly computer work since we moved in and nothing where i need to spread papers out everywhere. i'm anticipating using the floor a lot for that sort of work. i did get a new palm tree, which has been named king richard (he's a majestic palm.), which i wrapped in white christmas lights, and a new desk lamp, so my area looks pretty spiffy. king richard casts all kinds of fun shadows on my desk in the morning. i like it.



downsides. it is so much louder where we are now. my group had our own little area before and were separated from everyone else by a common room, and now we're all on the hallway. and, the walls are much thinner. so i'm going to need to get some noise-canceling headphones because my little earbuds that came with my phone aren't quite cutting it. i am sharing a wall with steph, which is nice because when everyone else has gone home we can just talk through the very thin wall and not mess with phones or getting out of our chairs (god forbid we should actually move.). we also have a small kitchen that's full of just random crap with a very inefficient microwave. steph changed into jeans and a tshirt (which i'm sad i missed while being home today - she's been in jeans several times but wasn't in a tshirt even when we were moving.) this afternoon and cleaned out the fridge and all the cabinets, so that should be better next week. i'm going to bring my microwave that was in my office at rice and is currently gathering dust in our garage up to work so we can have one that actually works. that might happen next week. i'll have to get either andy or em to carry it up for me while my back is healing.

i'm sharing an office with christine, which has been okay so far because she was gone for most of the days that i was there, and then i've been gone almost every day she's been back. i very much miss sharing an office with andy and katy, but i go visit katy in her cube and stop by andy's office several times a day. katy was very upset last week because she found out she would be leaving us to go to meetings sooner than originally planned, so i got her a bunch of flowers and put them on her desk. when she got it she came and found me and said she knew they had to be from me and gave me a big hug. and almost started crying. so she liked them, which was nice. and i took one purple tulip and put it in a bud vase on steph's desk with a note that said, "because embracing the change isn't easy on you either." she's been fighting so hard for us, and especially in trying to keep katy, and i can see in her face that it's been hard on her, even if she won't let it show otherwise. and that was appreciated. and i learned she does not care for roses. steph and i were talking about how the management people running the move weren't taking care of the details, like nameplates, making sure the offices are painted, and cleaning out the kitchen, etc. and that makes people feel like they don't care. and that it's the little details that mean something, like when i brought flowers in for katy, and gave her one. so that made me feel good. we've got a good group of people, and i do care for them very much, and i know they care for me, too. they've all been very supportive of my back issues and asking if they can do anything. andy in particular has been a fabulous friend. he's come over every day since em is in new jersey and brought me food and watched tv and movies with me. he brought us deli food and revenge of the nerds tonight. it was good fun.

1. i love my boss. love love love my boss. she is absolutely amazing and i am very lucky i get to work so closely with her. she makes the days fly by. i can't believe it's friday. i really wish the work week wasn't over yet. she's gone at a conference all week next week (though i'll see her in a video teleconference on thursday) and i'm going to miss her.

2. it is colder in houston, tx than in groznyj, russia. do with that what you will.

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.

I HAVE BEEN HIRED BY THE LUNAR AND PLANETARY INSTITUTE!!! WOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!

i turned in my thesis to my committee yesterday. my advisor looked at it earlier this week and said it looked good, so hopefully my committee will think the same thing. my defense will be on november 24 at 12:30. it was a big problem to get a room reserved for a 2.5 hour chunk on a tuesday, so i'm in a giant lecture hall where we hold department seminars. i've given talks there before so i'm used to the room, but it's going to be weird to be in this huge room with just my committee after the general public leaves.

in other news, i think my second interview at lpi went well. i was there for 5 and a half hours. i got along great with the other group members and they seem to be my flavor of crazy, so i think i'd fit well with them. they said they'd let me know midweek next week. the woman who would be my boss and whom i'd be working with most closely has already called my advisor, so they're checking my references. i take that as a good sign. she wouldn't waste her time or my advisor's if they weren't interested. so now i get to wait. i really want this job. it would be absolutely perfect.

i'm now making my powerpoint for my defense so i can practice it over the next few days and have a pratice talk at school maybe on tuesday. it's almost done and looking good. i have pretty pictures and nice plots.

tonight em and i are going to see ludo. i need to call the venue and see if they allow cameras. it's a smaller venue (with super cheap tickets!) so they might, and i can see how beefy handles concert conditions.

lastly, hook 'em horns! we're killing baylor right now, and i'd love to see texas jump back up to #2 in the bcs. #3 is a horrible place to be.

the interview at lpi went really well! i have a second interview this coming wednesday, where i'll meet with the group i'd be working with and perform some sort of task. there also will be lunch involved, and the whole thing is supposed to take about four hours. i'm slightly terrified. this job would be perfect for me. it's coordinating planetary science education for everyone from girl scout leaders to college professors. and, lpi is all of five minutes from my house, so i'll be spending no money on gas instead of having to buy at least two tanks a week, and my health and dental insurance benefits start the day i start. they're all smart, funny, passionate people and i would love to work with them. i'd be sharing an office with one other person and have one whole wall of windows, where i can see all the deer that run around the building. all freaking amazing things. so hopefully i'll rock at whatever task i have to do and they'll hire me.

in other news, my thesis is just about finished. i'll be sending it to my advisor this weekend, and then my thesis committee gets it on friday. defense is the 24th. uggghhhhh. but after that, sara's coming in for thanksgiving on the 25th. we're going to go see 2012 (i am absurdly excited about this movie!), and i'm cooking thanksgiving dinner. i make a mean turkey. and badass mashed potatoes and chocolate pie. em makes sweet potatoes and a rocking pumpkin pie. and sara's bringing some fancy cookies from a place called tiff's treats. should be an awesome meal. and texas plays texas a&m so we'll have some good football to watch, too. the next day sara's going back to austin, and em and i are decorating for christmas. since we're going to new jersey for christmas, we're decorating as soon as thanksgiving is over so we'll have time to enjoy it before we leave. then i'll have to get to work on my thesis corrections. finished thesis is due to the graduate office on dec 4, which is also the last day of classes, so the following week all i'll have to do is office hours a couple of times, and maybe a review session or two for the final. so exciting. then to austin the week after that for a couple days for various and assorted doctor, dentist, and hair appointments, back to houston for more doctors and packing, and then leaving for new jersey on dec 18. good stuff. just have to get through the next two and a half weeks.

now back to formatting my thesis, as the formatting elves did not come and finish it for me while i was at target. sigh.

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.

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)

to settle the battle of which blanket with sleeves is best, i give you this.

em quit her old job today. just walked out. which is good because they were treating her like crap, and now she has the rest of the week off before her new jobs starts on monday. so she's on her way to rice and after class we're going to head down to galveston. she'll read harry potter and i'll read either a paper about basaltic magmatism in the sierra nevadas or one about oxygen fugacity in martian meteorites. maybe both.

and now, back to reading about the franciscan complex of metamorphic rocks in northern california before class.

i had to present a paper in reading group today. normally this is not a problem, but this paper was atrocious. so many typos and grammatical errors that it was hard to read, much less understand the science they were trying to present. halfway through the paper, all the references to figures in the paper were wrong. they referenced figure 3a when they should have said 4a and b. and they referenced figure 3c, which did not even exist. i think my favorite part was an axis of a figure that was supposed to read H2O/Ce but instead read H2eC/O. in a figure. there are all of ten words in a figure. how hard is it to make sure they're right? this particular figure caption also discussed part a of the figure but not part b. so now i'm wondering why i'm making such a big fuss to get my paper perfect before submission to a journal if they let crap like that get published.