Friday, January 30, 2009

Whoa, Nelly!

Well, it's been an eventful two weeks. It kind of seems like the world was just waiting for me to go back to classes to start up again.

Our dog, Boots, died on the 19th. He was old (not quite sure how old since he just showed up on our doorstep one day), blind, deaf, and was having trouble walking around. Several days before he died he pretty much stopped eating, and on Monday he went outside, laid in the sun, and passed away.

On the 20th, classes started again, and there was no "ease into it" period. We were pretty much thrown straight into the deep end. Yikes! I'm taking second semester physics, physical oceanography, library research and writing, field cruise, and working on my independent senior research project. After spring break I'll be taking Lost Arts of Living (basically canning, candle making, darning, that sort of thing) through CCAT. So basically, I have two hard "traditional" classes (midterm, final); a class with a 30-40 page paper due at the end; a class that will span two semesters and summer where the 12 of us design an experiment, write a proposal, reserve the R/V Coral Sea, conduct the experiment, analyze the samples, write a research paper, present the paper at a national conference, and potentially try to get our paper published in a scientific journal; a project that consists of taking water samples every week, analyzing them for the presence of harmful algae bloom species, writing a scientific paper and defending it in front of a panel of my professors; and a class just for fun to help me balance my science self with my domestic homemaker self. Whew. Yeah, I have my work cut out for me alright!

Then there's also tracking down scholarships and filing the FAFSA, taking the GWPE (must pass to graduate), and following up on a lead for a potential internship (thanks Aunt Tami!!!!). Which means I also need to put together a good resume and gather up some letters of recommendation. Not to mention the Ocean Club, which is in need of a treasurer and I am thinking of going for the position (I must hate myself). Oh, and then there's the PG&E Marine Sampling Project that's still going on!

I'll try to post more frequently, but really, I'm not sure I can even promise a post once a week. This weekend I have 7 scientific papers to read and report on, type and post the meeting minutes for Field Cruise (I stupidly volunteered myself to be secretary of the meetings), not to mention make and devour yummy Superbowl snacks (not sure if we'll actually go somewhere to watch the game since we don't have tv, or just stay home and eat food anyway). I'll also write up a post soon about what David and I did for my birthday soon.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh my gosh GIRL!!!!!! How in the world are you ever going to do all of this????? What a HEAVY LOAD :-( so YES, you do need some FUN stuff in there too. Keep up the GOOD WORK, we are all behind you and are here for you sssssssooooooo if you need anything that we can help with, you make sure you ask.

lae21 said...

Any chance you could do my homework for me? LOL!

Karen said...

wow, and i thought i was busy!! good thing you're eating good fuel for your body!