Semester in Review: 1 down, not so sure how many to go.

Now that I've actually given myself some time to devote to blogging, here's what's going on so far:

My first semester of grad school is done! Winter break is being thoroughly enjoyed. Though I have to say that by Tuesday of next week I would be going stir crazy from the lack of things to do were it not for the imminent drive out west. How odd that during the semester the amount of things I juggle have me begging for a break, and when it comes, I have no idea what to do with myself. Not so sure how I did in my classes. I'm pretty sure I aced phys ocean. I only know how I did on my first assignment out of 6 and my first exam out of 3 in chem ocean, so I'm kind of apprehensive. Same with ecology. Sigh.

I'm hoping to teach a third section of the intro lab next semester for some extra cash, just in case George doesn't get funding. I also decided that I'm going to assign a paper to be due at the end of the semester in lieu of a lab practical. I want to get my kids engaged in something about the lab, something that they're genuinely interested in. I know for a fact that most kids (if not all) that I taught this past semester were only in it for the easy A (hell, I gave 33 A's out of 40), and it's because of that that I want to do something extra. Get them involved. I can honestly say that the majority of my electives I took because I wanted to learn about them. I found the topic fascinating and I wanted to learn more about it. I'm trying to figure out how to transfer my love of learning to my students. I think this semester I was just trying to learn the ropes, figure out how long I had for each session. I know I rushed through my Wednesday class because I was starving (it ran from 11-1), but I think with better time management this next semester will be a lot smoother. My changes are:

*Quizzes will be given every week.
*Paper will be due at the end of the semester (and wikipedia is NOT an option as a reference).

That reminds me, I need to make a guideline for that assignment.

The last two weeks of the semester were utter hell. I was almost completely nocturnal. Fortunately, since Monday I've been able to correct my sleeping and eating schedule. Thanksgiving is such a cruel joke. You basically get the week off and have to go back for another three weeks until you're finally done. Why not just skip Thanksgiving all together? It would have been better for my morale at least.

Let's just say that the number of assignments and projects and papers that needed to be done forced both George and I to burn the candle at both ends. Dishes and clothes went unwashed for weeks, the apartment was a mess. Today we finally rectified all of that. Got up and cleaned the bathroom, vacuumed, did all of the laundry so we have lots of clean clothes for our trip. 


What's funny though, is that I forbade myself from looking at my usual blogs everyday because so much needed to be done, so I didn't need to waste the time looking at The Frisky or Save the Date every couple of hours on every single weekday. And it really got me off of my addiction. I don't spend hours on the computer everyday looking at crap that really doesn't mean anything. I picked up The Scarlet Letter again, and I have a bunch to read over the break that I might actually read instead of looking at blogs all day. (Yeah, like I'll have time for that.)


The past couple of days have been filled with Christmas shopping, cookie baking, watching Christmas movies and getting ready to leave. 


I'm very proud of myself/ourselves, the gifts we got for people this year are pretty awesome, mainly because it's our FIRST CHRISTMAS AS A COUPLE. Holy crap. We can actually give gifts as a unit now. Wow. 

We got a tree and some little ornaments to go with it:

You can't see the ornaments in that picture but THEY ARE THERE.

I made molasses cookies, maple oatmeal cookies and russian teacakes (butterballs with caramel in the middle). I bought the original Christmas classics on DVD and I made George sit with me and watch Rudolph and Santa Claus is Comin' To Town because somehow he A) HAD NEVER SEEN THEM and B) FOUND THEM CREEPY. Well, I had to fix that. So we made cookies and wrapped presents  while listening and watching them. And then we cleaned house today while listening to The Nightmare Before Christmas. The only thing missing is the ever important "Our First Christmas" ornament on the tree and some gingerbread house making. But I think I'll live. This is pretty much the best Christmas ever.

I'm kind of nervous about meeting the rest of his family, and feeling kind of bad about not seeing my own family on Christmas day, which has never happened before. But I guess it's something I'll have to get used to. We'll switch next year.

Now all that's left is to pack and get food for the trip! I've been getting kind of antsy about the whole thing. Hotels are booked, GPS is updated and loaded with the addresses of the hotels we'll be staying at, I've been a To-Do-List monster the past couple days.

I took my car to Midas and let me tell you, I will never go there again. They rotated my tires and the front right wheel feels uneven somehow. I took it back and they were like, "it's fine, but we tightened it just to make sure." It's times like this that I really wish that I knew someone that's a mechanic and won't bullshit me about what my car needs. Plus, they told me they inflated my tires, but they didn't. Last time I got my oil changed they said everything looked fine, but 4 months later, oh boy there's things that need replacing out the wa-zoo. I only replaced two tires since I last went to Midas, and the measurement on the tread of the two that weren't replaced is more than on my receipt from last time. Little things, but by golly, if something happens to that wheel while we're driving to California, I will sue, goddammit.

So yeah. I'm a bit nervous about this drive. We're going to inflate my tires tomorrow, hopefully that will fix the front right tire. It really looks like it's driving on the wall of the tire instead of the tread. It worries me :-/

Excited. Nervous. Lots to do, but can't really do much about it right now. More updates on the wedding to come later :)

Happy Holidays!

Making a list and checking it... off.

To Do List:

Chem Ocean Homework (CHECK!)
Phys Ocean Exam (CHECK!)
Finish reading papers (CHECK!)
Finish Rough Outline (CHECK!)

Tomorrow:
Print outline and remove extraneous details (CHECK!)
Write Chem Ocean paper (CHECK!)

Saturday:
Chem Ocean reviews
Start ecology paper or assignment

Sunday-Tuesday
Ecology Paper


Paperspaperspapers.

For now I will reset my brain and watch Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.

One-Third of the Way Done!

One class down and two more to go!

Phys ocean exam done, celebratory Cheetos consumed, watching Gilmore Girls to decompress and then on to reading more papers for writing more papers.



WOOOOOO!

What's done so far.

So even though I didn't go to campus today, and all I had planned to do was study for phys ocean, SOMEHOW it took me until about 5:30 to actually get going with the reviewing of the flash cards and commit stuff to memory. I have no idea what is up with me today.

Possibility: Thanksgiving is a cruel joke. While all fall semester, the only thing we students work towards is Thanksgiving and the wonderful break it gives us, every year I feel less motivated to finish the semester after already having a break. You mean I still have 3 weeks left of school? Shut up. No way. We're totally done now right? No? Fuck.

I can't think of any alternatives. I got enough sleep last night. I didn't waste time trekking to and from campus. So what gives?

Anyways, once I finally got to reviewing, it became apparent that I did actually remember most of the stuff that we had gone over in the assignments. Will I be able to change hemispheres? Probably. Will I be able to change from x-y space to y-z space in a diagram? Mmmmmaybe. I think I can work through it in my head.

I JUST WANT TO BE DONE WITH THIS FRIGGIN CLASS.


I spent some of my study break going through my google calendar and updating the important birthdays so I don't forget when things are ever again. (Coincidentally I remembered my dad's birthday is tomorrow...)


George's Christmas present came today, and since there aren't any grad school apps to be finished (like last year), he was able to open it today (or so he rationalized to me). One of these years we'll actually wait until Christmas day to open presents from each other. And maybe one of these years our presents to each other will be surprises.

Anyways, I'm making my way through the to-do list for the remainder of the semester, which is good. A little overwhelming because my motivation has severely decreased, at least for today. But I think I can do it.

As soon as the exam is done tomorrow, I will be writing. Pretty much until the 7th. SIGH.



Today was pay day. Pay day is the best day of the month.

End of Semester Craziness Settling In

HOKAY. So.

Yesterday, I woke up at 4:15 am, and was out the door at 5 am to drive to Galveston. Arrive in Galveston at 7:30 am. Meeting with DQ at 10 am. Lab meeting at 12 pm. Leave Galveston at 2:15, and arrive at home at 4:45 pm. Crash into bed at 9:45 pm (after having margaritas and chips and salsa with the lovely Alicia :) )

Busy. Busy. BUSY. Day. Even my extra thermos of tea was not enough to stave off the sleepiness. And the serious under-eye baggage did not help with my appearance.

Too much driving. I was falling asleep during the drive home. BUT it was a good meeting. Everyone was there. Lots of talking and laughing. More MS business taken care of, i.e. third committee member in mind and degree plan pretty much all sorted out.

And even though I wore jeans. And a sweatshirt. Somehow I got bitten by a mosquito. ON THE BACK OF MY LEG. How the hell does that happen? I thought they were all supposed to be dead by now.

Looked online for apartments to move into at the end of May. There's one that's quite literally in the middle between CS and Galveston. About 60 miles both ways. And while I've been going back and forth about where to live, I think the midway point is nice. It means I don't have to get up insanely early every morning, but early enough that I can be there early, and get things done and go home early. And if a trip to CS is called for, again, I don't have to get up at 4 am. Plus, Galveston is pretty expensive, and I'm not sure I'd feel comfortable in hurricane season living 20 miles from the coast. We'll go look at them when we get back from CA I guess. I'm gonna have to make a trip down there to get shit signed anyways.


IN OTHER NEWS.



THIS WEEK:
12/1: Chem ocean homework due at 9:10 am (CHECK!)
12/2: Phys ocean exam at 2:20 pm. (halfway through working on flashcards for that)
12/3: Chem ocean paper due at 11:59 pm (outline in progress, will be working on that intermittently tomorrow and allllll Thursday night/Friday)

12/4: See what of my chem ocean paper I can use for my ecology paper due 12/7.
12/7: Ecology paper due.
12/8: Chem ocean paper reviews due. Chem ocean take home final given, and due 12/13.
12/13: Chem ocean take home final and Ecology assignment due.
12/20: Grades for my undergrads are due. (I only have 4 students that I have to change things around for, so yay). AND Set out for CA!

FIN!


Also from Galveston, DQ's going to the UK for the month of December and so for the lab meeting she made us this OMFG DELICIOUS chocolate bundt cake to make it up to us for not having a Christmas party this year. Instead when she's back in January, she'll have an Australia Day party!

I love my advisor. I think she's the most awesome person in the world.

Procrastination Nation.

So I'm supposed to be reading papers for my chem ocean paper right now. I have lots of thoughts bouncing around in my head.

*Anger at chem ocean prof for having class on Wednesday when in the syllabus it says that we don't.

*More anger at chem ocean prof for moving up the paper due date (essentially removing an entire weekend that could have been devoted to writing it) so we can peer review each other's papers to get the "full scientific paper writing experience."

*Wanting to be done with this week so I can finally enjoy some time with family.

*Excited to spend time with future sister in law. We went to the mall today to get cheap stuff from VS and Bath and Body Works. I'm engulfed in Mint Chocolate candle smell. YUM.

*I already have a student asking me if she can be bumped up to an A from an 89% even though she hasn't done the last post lab yet, and I still have to go through and drop the lowest lab grade.

*More excited to FINALLY see HP7 tomorrow night.

*I need to go shopping for some essential ingredients for Thanksgiving. Anyone know any good stuffing/dressing recipes?

*More or less gave up on the diet for this week. I will start again next week. Really stupid to try to start a diet the week before Thanksgiving. But still trying to eat healthy.

*George's brakes blew out yesterday. Had to get the car towed to the repair shop today. His car will be the first to go, I think. And it's officially not coming to CA with us. My car wins! (minus lack of cruise control. sigh)

*Took engagement pictures yesterday! I'm super excited to see how they turned out. We had fun taking them.

*On a related note (I swear) I need new glasses. Mine hurt my head. And I'm wondering if I should stick with transition lenses. I really wish my eyes weren't so sensitive to contacts.

*It's Thanksgiving week. Where the hell is the cold?



UPDATE:

I want to try to make something out of the *many* wine bottles I have that I can't recycle. Ideas?

Diet. Or as Michelle calls it: Lifestyle Change.

So I rather distressingly found on Monday night that I don't fit into my one year anniversary dress anymore. I mean it was 8 bucks and I bought it 3 years ago. But. I loved that dress. And I didn't really have many opportunities to wear it over the years. It makes me sad.

I know I've gained a bit of weight (*sigh*), but there also is the fact that I've gone up a couple cup sizes (thanks BC!) which will affect how well a lot of my clothes fit nowadays.

Anyways. I decided to get started early on my wedding diet aka lifestyle change. And can I just say: diets. suck.

I was very proud of myself for not eating the cookie that came with my lunch yesterday. Or ice cream the night before when I really really really wanted it.

Slimfast for breakfast the past couple of days seemed to help curb my appetite. I don't overeat (I don't think), I just indulge my sweet tooth a little too much. And don't exercise as much as I should. Or eat as many fruits and veggies as I should. So I'm trying to change that.

Pros:
*I actually drink a glass of milk everyday, which is important to women in their early 20s if they want to decrease the probability of osteoporosis. (or so I hear)
*Starting early (way before a lot of brides I hear start their wedding diet) may help me keep this routine in the long run, and keep me healthy.
*I'm eating more fruits instead of other snacks (read: cookies) from the vending machine downstairs.

Cons:
*Trying to find a diet friendly dessert.
*Trying to start a diet the week before Thanksgiving.
*I've been told the first few weeks suck because you're so hungry. Whoever said that was right. It SUCKS.
*I'm usually good at portion control. Trying to keep myself under what I would like is HARD. Trying not to just go to the freezer and eat a spoonful of ice cream is harder.
*Still haven't gotten up to exercise. I do walk from the parking lot to O&M and back everyday (almost) but that's not enough. I'm still figuring out a good time to do more.

We'll see how the pros and cons change over time.

End of First Semester as a TA

I am almost officially done being a TA. I taught my last class today, and all that's left are grades and putting all the specimens back from whence they came.

I can honestly say that while I was frustrated most of this semester by the lack of work ethic in my students, it was a good experience. I showed them a baleen tooth and they got all excited and were so surprised at how big it was. And I was excited that they were excited. We watched videos from Planet Earth today along with some other random clips (including the flamboyant cuttlefish, SO CUTE OMG) and I think it was a good way to end the semester.

Only downside was I had a student not show up to my class yesterday. This student has not shown up to class before, only to come to my office hours on Thursday (two. days. later.) to tell me that he overslept and didn't want to come in late, so can he please still turn in his handout? Naturally I said no. If something happens and you don't make it to class, email me. Why is this such a foreign concept? I don't understand. It takes 2 minutes at most to write an email explaining why you missed class and ask if you can turn in your stuff. Why would you wait two days? For all I know you forgot to do the handout and spent the time in between class and office hours trying to complete it. At the same time, I have office hours right after his class, and he showed up two weeks ago during the time allotted to say he got in an accident, here's his form.

*sigh*

Anyways. All I need to wait for now is people to finish their post labs so I can go through and drop the lowest lab grade for those who don't have missing work.

In other news, we're getting engagement pictures taken this weekend and I'm SO EXCITED. And I have NO IDEA WHAT TO WEAR. We're thinking some sort of theme, but what theme exactly I have no clue. If it's cold, we can wear our "matching" pea coats. I'm not really sure what's going to capture the essence of us. We're not really big on clothes... so I dunno.

HELP PLEASE. I need suggestions before Sunday!

First Semester as a TA

I'm trying to remember all the random shit that has happened in the past couple weeks. And I'm failing.

This coming week is my last week teaching for this semester. My students are very much excited about that. I'm excited to show them a whole bunch of videos about whales, dolphins and cuttlefish.

Basically, this semester has been a huge learning experience for me. I learned:

- that not everyone is an overachiever. I just happened to be friends with the overachievers and thought everyone else was that way. Apparently, most kids want to get in and get out with as little effort as possible.

- students talk about the TA while sitting in earshot of the TA.

- a lot of students don't actually know how to use a graphing calculator. Or how to do scientific notation. Or pretty much any basic math.

- you can give all the extra credit in the world and there will still be someone that begs for more.

- expectations from the TA of the students are often a LOT higher than they should be.

- quizzes should not be a threat. They should be given at the outset.

- if as the TA, you're not sure of the answer, either say so, or say the wrong thing with conviction.

- teaching is an effective procrastination tool for classes and research.

- college kids still don't take care of their own shit. Your TA is not your mother. I send out an email about what's happening the next week immediately after class and post it as an announcement on the class website. After that, your work is up to you.

MY EYES

THEY BURN.



I've been awake since 4:30 this morning studying for my chem ocean exam today.

Yesterday was my Ecology presentation. I was pretty proud of myself despite probably speed talking because I was nervous. I said one thing I didn't mean to say and confused the class and myself. Fortunately they were forgiving. My prof, may not be so forgiving. Who knows. I never know how well I'm doing in his class. It bothers me. He asked me a question that I had a serious brain fart on. I'M INTELLIGENT I SWEAR.

After that my brain was just shot to hell. I knew I had to study, but I was utterly incapable of stuffing anything else into my head. George tried to help me go through my flash cards and about halfway through I just couldn't do it anymore. After convincing me to just go to bed and get up early, I went to bed. And got up early. And VOILA I was actually a coherent human being with functional memory.

George got up at 6 and went to get milk for tea and other general milk-y uses. And then he made me oven-french-toast for breakfast. Yum. It was a good pre-exam tummy boost.

Fast forward to 8:45 am. I'm sitting in the classroom reading the newspaper, going over stuff in my head. Checking my notes.

9:02 am. The fire alarm goes off.

Proceed down the stairs and out the door. I find classmates. We spot our prof wandering ways away from us. Tests in hand.

A few minutes go by. Suddenly we hear sirens. *ARE YOU EFFING KIDDING ME???*

Fire truck pulls up. Building proctor says they have to inspect THE ENTIRE BUILDING.

It is now 3 minutes past when we were supposed to start our exam. We start contemplating what's going to happen: are we going to postpone until Monday? Oral exam? Just take it late?

Personally, I just wanted to get it over with. I needed to vomit out the information that I had piled into my head onto a piece of paper. And fast.

It's 9:30 am when we're finally given the all clear. 20 minutes after the exam was supposed to start.

Everyone is back in the classroom. Prof decides to give us the exam and just let us stay after the time we're supposed to be done since there isn't a class after us.

I overstudied. It was a cake walk.

I hand in my exam. I felt the adrenaline high beginning to crash. I go home, sit on my couch reading blogs and listening to Angel on Netflix while eating Wheat Thins that have Laughing Cow spreadable swiss cheese on them. And I haven't done anything academic since.

Would like to take a nap but I can't because I won't be able to sleep tonight. So I wait until 5 when George is done working and we go home, picking up pizza, beer and Scott Pilgrim on the way. And it will be a glorious Friday night.

It's Been Awhile...

.... and now I have Staind stuck in my head. Not bad, not bad.

Lots of stuff going on as the semester winds down.

*I have a second member on my committee. Just need one more and I'm good to go!

*Ecology, while I love that it's discussion based, we still have assignments that are assigned and graded before we actually go over the topic. Not sure if that's a good system. It's definitely not turning out so well for my grade. Sigh.

*Lots and LOTS of scientific paper reading going on.
- Mini literature review next week in Ecology. I hate that the topic can't be related to my research but on the up side I got to read a lot about kelp forests in the Channel Islands and Santa Barbara area. Makes me miss home.
- Outline with 10 references for our paper (due at the end of the semester) due next week in Chem Ocean. I had to change my topic because I realized that Chem didn't have the ridiculous nothing-related-to-your-research requirement like Ecology. Therefore, I'm researching the beginnings of my thesis! I like double dipping.
- Final essay in Ecology DOESN'T have that requirement. So. Double dipping again. YAY!

*Two more weeks of lab to go. This past week was over Plankton and I was so excited because I actually know a lot about plankton. My kids were excited to actually see stuff instead of thinking about it in the theoretical sense.

*We finally had a Halloween without studying. We carved an awesome pumpkin. Sadly, we didn't get any trick-or-treaters, so this week in labs I asked my students quiz questions and if they answered correctly (hell, if they even tried) they got candy. AND I made vanilla almond butter cookies with my Halloween cookie cutters. They were delicious and didn't look like blobs, which was the main thing.

*It's finally feeling like fall. It's overcast and a bit chilly and I can wear jeans without sweating.

*George and I went to the Texas Renaissance Festival last Saturday and ate ourselves silly on good food. My goal for the day was to find the cheap version of Arwen's sword from LOTR to add to my collection. Alas I did not find it. Oh well. It's probably better for my credit card (WHICH I FINALLY PAID OFF) that I didn't find/buy it.

*It's November. That means WEDDING PLANNING BEGINS. ohgod.

*It's November. That means Christmas stuff is out in full force. Blech. I feel bad for Thanksgiving. It always seems to be skipped over. I want Thanksgiving decorations.

I'll update more with TA stuff later.

Happy Guy Fawkes Day!

I want my Saturdays back.

The College of Geosciences put on a Donor/Scholarship Recognition Event for all of its students. They planned for it to be a tailgate sort of affair because they spent too much money on a formal dinner last year. Which is fine with me. Up until the point that you ask me to be somewhere at 8 am on a Saturday. Then I will hate you.

They served us breakfast, and I totally called that they were going to serve bloody mary's to the faculty who also did not want to be there on a Saturday at 8 in the frickin morning. The whole thing was pretty much to recognize the donors who are giving money to undergrads. Most of us grad students have grant money from the government. Was it necessary to be there? No. Were we told that we need to be there? Yes.

We came back home at around 10 and I immediately went back to bed but unfortunately couldn't fall asleep. So I laid in bed for an hour with my eyes closed. Which I guess is what you could call a nap's bastard cousin.

Started grading for the Salinity handouts this afternoon while watching/listening to LOTR, which helped me sort of stay on task. It's really draining doing something so monotonous. I'm learning not to care that they didn't get something right. It's their job to listen and to pay attention. I could only get through grading one class today, which is fine. I kinda sorta started my chem ocean homework due on Wednesday. I can do more tomorrow. I'm just way too tired.

I'm not sure if this is a good idea, but I signed up to teach 3 sections of lab next semester instead of the 2 that I have now. My thinking is that teaching an extra section is an extra $500 a month. Which would be AWESOME. I'm learning the ropes of teaching this semester so after having done it once, I think next semester should be a lot easier. I'm just not looking forward to doing the grading. Maybe I'll start doing grading during my office hours, since no one comes anyway.

We decided that instead of flying we're going to drive to California this year for the holidays. Flights and trying to rent a car were way more expensive than we thought slash were willing to pay. Driving to CA and back to TX including hotels and gas should be $600. I'm good with that.

I'm excited because I finally get to go wedding dress shopping with my mommy and California besties. We'll need to remember to bring a box of kleenex for my mom. And I'll probably need to wear flats cause George is only 4 inches taller than I am. Which is actually a pro, in my opinion. I hate heels.

Anyways, we're heading out to a wine party. We could dress up but I was too tired this morning in the shower to care about shaving so... yeah, I'll be in jeans and a t shirt. And that's fine with me.

Another day...

It was kinda funny watching my students' reactions to the newly added rules to lab handouts.

I kinda felt bad because after grading them all weekend, I completely forgot my pile of drowned-in-red-ink stacks of papers. But after I saw half of my students walk in late, I didn't feel so bad.

While explaining that about 85% of them did line graphs instead of bar graphs, their eyes kinda bugged out. One girl in particular didn't look happy with me. But whatever.

I came across this comic today, and it totally summarizes my weekend:

http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=974

I also had my first physical oceanography exam today. All except one question was pretty straightforward and easy. The one question I know I got wrong I stared at for about 25 minutes and drew 6 different diagrams to try to make the answer come out the way I thought it should look. 15 minutes before time was up I gave up and handed it in. Now I know what the answer should have been and it was so simple, I can't believe I didn't think of it. *sigh* I really hate it when that happens. I hope I actually do as well as I think I did.

Anyways. Went to get ice cream after my long day and then had a beer once we *finally* got home at 9 pm. Now it's time to read more phd comics and possibly come up with a literature review topic for my Ecology class that's due next week.

List of Grievances So Far

Next semester, I'll make sure to point out each of these at the very beginning.

The Undergrad's Survival Guide to OCNG 252

1) Read the directions and the questions carefully.

2) Lab forms will be written in pencil. I will not waste my time trying to decipher chicken scribble scratch in pen.

3) If I can't read your answer, it will be marked wrong.

4) Connect your dots on your line graphs.

5) Do not make a line graph on what should be a bar graph.

6) When asked "why?" or "justify your answer" or "explain," one word answers are not sufficient.

7) When asked to interpret a graph, don't answer "it starts off really steep and levels out" or "the relationship is not linear because the graph is curved" or "it looks like a roller coaster. Woo!" (yes, the last one I did actually get as an answer).

8) This is not a blow off class. You will need to use your thinking cap.

9) Material builds on what we've learned previously. Take the time to understand the concepts being taught to you.

10) Write in complete, grammatically correct sentences. If I have to spend more than a minute trying to understand what you're trying to say, it will be marked wrong.

11) Before you ask a question, try to find your answer in the lab manual first.




Eleven things easy peasy. Right?

RIGHT????

Oh Grading...

Grading always seems to be half entertaining, and half a mixture of "oh my god how did you get into college???" and "why do you not care about your grades?" and "if you have questions, ask them" and "when asked to 'explain' do not give ONE WORD ANSWERS" and "oh my god I want to shoot myself."

*sigh*

Is this a linear relationship? Why or why not?
"No, because I saw this in the pre lab and it looks like a roller coaster, woo!"
"No because the graph is curved"

Last week I couldn't get my students to connect dots on their graphs to save their lives. This week they connect their dots on what is supposed to be A BAR GRAPH.


I feel like Kim in Scott Pilgrim.

Lazy Days

I slept in till 9 this morning!! And it was awesome.

Last night was a date night, so we went to Carino's for dinner, shared a bread pudding for dessert and headed out to see Easy A. I'd say that I'm going to buy that when it comes out on dvd. It was pretty amazing. Came back home for a glass of wine and general lazing in front of the TV. All in all a good Friday night after a miserable day.

This morning we slept in and made oven french toast. Which is like making french toast only you bake all the bread pieces at once so it's cooked faster. I think it's a good strategy for hungry mornings. Only problem was that the oven needed to be at 500 degrees and the smoke alarm went off. Exciting. They turned out to be delicious though!

I called my aunt Staci cause it's her birthday and I'm glad I got to talk to her. She's one of my favorite people and while she usually spends her birthdays in Hawaii, her kids are in school so they can't really take the time off for a week in Hawaii. So she's spending her birthday cheering on her two kids at their soccer games. And she wouldn't have it any other way. That's what I really admire about her: she has what she wants and she's happy with it. Not very many people have what they want and keep wanting it. The women I aspire to be in my life are my mom, my aunt Staci, and my grandma Rachel.

My mom, because throughout everything shitty in her life, she managed to come out stronger and happier than she's ever been. She's not complicated or high maintenance, but she taught me never to settle for the long term things in life.

My aunt Staci, because she was the athletic, smart child that got good grades in school, and did things her own way. She got a lot of the privileges that I had, but it didn't make her snobby, and it gave me someone to talk to when stress got the best of me and my mom didn't know what to say. She went to college, got a job, did whatever she wanted in 20's and got married and had kids in her 30's. It gave me something to look forward to.

My grandma, because she believes in doing what you want to do, no matter what your significant other thinks about it. My grandfather wasn't much of a traveler 20 years ago, so whenever my grandma wanted to go somewhere like Paris or London or Rome, she said "okay, I'll take Staci and we'll see you in a few weeks." She's an unstoppable force of nature, that woman. She knows the value of a good education, the lessons one can learn by traveling, and the rewards reaped by hard work. She's the kind of grandma that I want to be. The one that knows you learn something new everyday, and if you work hard enough when you're young, you can enjoy taking your grandkids on international vacations too. She reminds me that you only have yourself at the end of the day, and if you don't do what you want to do, who's going to do it for you?

We went to the Friend's Church annual bbq, got some good free lunch, which is always awesome. Stopped by Saint Michael's Episcopal School where George's mom is headmistress to eat with her since she's stuck there for today. After that we went to Michaels because it's October and I want Halloween decorations. My mom was notorious for having decorations for EVERY holiday. It's a tradition that I want to carry on. So far we have some felt pails for Halloween candy that are a Frankenstein head bucket and one says "trick or treat!", a door decoration, a pumpkin carving kit and some Halloween cookie cutters.

I love October. And I love Halloween. In my opinion, it's the best holiday, and the best month of the year.

Next on my list of things to do while avoiding studying and grading: grocery shopping and making Halloween cookies!

Friday

It's Friday afternoon.

Class has been attended.

Density lab is set up. Lab questions have been updated and posted.

Started making flash cards for phys ocean exam on Tuesday. Don't really feel like making anymore.

I just want my couch and a glass a wine. I'm having a bad day.

I feel...

... under-appreciated. Like no one cares.

Sigh.

Feeling a little cross-eyed

I have a proposal due in my Ecology of the Continental Shelf class at 3:55 today, and I just finished writing it. Feeling a bit cross eyed, so what do I do? I blog. Makes no sense but whatever.

It took me forever to think of a topic to write about. I've known that this is due for a month. But honestly, this is like what you would do for a dissertation, and this is for A CLASS. I mean granted that I don't have to do the experiment or find funding for it, but blehhhhhhh. I don't want to have to pull something out of my ass at the last minute ever again. I think it's a good topic though.

So let's see. What's been going on since I last wrote? *looks in planner*

First OGC Social was on the 25th. I had to bring the food that Eric (social chair) and I bought on Thursday with the department credit card. I stayed for 2 hours and then left when it was pouring rain, because I had grading and homework to do. Oh grading. You consume my Saturdays every weekend. :(

First grad school exam was last Friday AND I ACED IT. *SUPER HAPPY SMILE* I was freaking out because I didn't even get to finish the test. I tried to do the phys ocean homework that was due on Tuesday (the 5th) after the test and I just couldn't. My brain had imploded. After the TA meeting I went home and vegetated on the couch. Next week is the phys ocean exam, so guess what I'll be doing this weekend??!?! I don't think it should be too difficult. The exams are straight from the homework or so I hear.

Last week in lab was.... Albedo. Reflection of radiation. It was a long one but kinda cool. We had the lights off and had lux meters to measure the light from a microscope onto a globe to show that incident radiation decreases as you increase latitude. It amazed me that I had students measuring with the lux meter and wondering why their measurements were so low when they had the sensor FACING THE WRONG WAY. Ridiculousness.

This week in lab was Salinity. FINALLY! Something I actually know about. I was actually able to answer questions without looking stupid. We did titrations with silver nitrate into salt solutions with potassium chromate as the indicator. Somehow one of my students managed to overflow the waste bottle, and that same student was holding the pipette upside down with the potassium chromate in the tip AFTER I SPECIFICALLY SAID NOT TO. And then I saw him at Pei Wei at dinner time last night.

*sigh*

Oh students.

What made my day yesterday though was my one undergrad that actually puts 2 and 2 together. He's secretly my favorite. He actually said the magic words "chloride ions" when asking about a titration question. SO HAPPY THAT SOMEONE FINALLY UNDERSTOOD THAT!!!

Next week is density. We get to play with dry ice. It'll be awesome.

In other news: still trying to figure out the Christmas situation. We figure we can spend 3 weeks in California: 10 days up north and 10 days down south. Problem is we won't have transportation down south. And my family is spread over Lakewood, Glendale and Santa Clarita. My family needs to relocate to one place.

We thought about renting a car, but everywhere we look charges $20 extra PER DAY for under 25 renters. That's an extra $200!! I don't think so, evil car rental people.

Also, not really sure where we'd stay. Mom has only one bathroom. Matthew took my room at Dad's. Sooooo. Yeah. It'll be interesting.

Next month is Turkey Day, which also means engagement pictures (YAY!) and starting to wedding plan (wooo...)

I'm looking forward to going home tonight, and doing nothing academic related except watch Big Bang Theory Season 3 on netflix.

NO You Cannot Just Copy Off Your Partner

I got an interesting question yesterday in class.

It started off not so well because the friggin POWER WENT OUT FOR 45 MINUTES. Luckily the power turned back on just in time for class to start. I asked everyone to hand in their data forms from the previous week and I got a guy that said "I lost mine, can I turn it in later today? I'll just get the information from my partner." (aka I'll just copy everything she has written down so that I can get it in on time)

Naturally I said no, and he had the gall to ask "why?"

Um? Because that's cheating? And it's in full violation of the honor code?

I'll give someone the benefit of a doubt if they say they forgot it and I'll actually be around until 5 pm that day. But this kid doesn't have his form two weeks in a row, didn't come to class the first week, doesn't do all of the work... You're in college, kids. Adults. Take care of your business, cause I'm not going to do it for you.

Care about the Earth, Dammit!

So I saw this in my newsfeed today: http://www.newsweek.com/2010/09/12/george-will-earth-doesn-t-care-what-is-done-to-it.html?gt1=43002

And it's infuriating. I hate when I come across news articles that say "climate change is bull." If you actually take the time to research the subject, you'd see that this is one of the few things that almost, if not all scientists agree upon. The oceans are acidifying because of the amount of CO2 that's dissolving in it from burning fossil fuels, and there's only so much that can be dissolved. The climate is on average getting warmer. Life on earth is going to shift rapidly, the human race along with it. A lot of our food resources come from the ocean. You change that dynamic at the lowest of levels, and it will be magnified beyond our worst nightmares. Think about what food comes from the ocean and the cultures that depend on it. You take that away from them, what's going to happen? Those cultures are the way they are for a reason. You can't take a rice patty marsh in Japan and turn it into farmland for cows.

The Earth doesn't care, I give them that. But we should. We're the ones that have to live on it. The Earth has been around for billions of years, and it will probably stand for a few billion more. But will we? Mother Nature corrects for imbalances that we humans impose on her. Don't take your home for granted.

It's projected that the global world average temperature will increase 5 degrees Celsius. That's 41 degrees Fahrenheit. We complain about it being hot now? I guess we'll see.

Busy Bee

This week was EXHAUSTING.

I went to Galveston on Monday, and met with DQ, got a project for my thesis and covered in mosquito bites. Project is in Galveston Bay and my plan for my Master's is as follows:

Have degree plan and committee submitted by the 20th class day of next semester.
Have proposal written by May of 2011.
Finish all major classes by May of 2011.
Have all samples by August of 2011.
Have all samples analyzed by December of 2011.
Write and defend thesis by May of 2012.

BOOMSWISH. A Master's knocked out in two years.

Tuesday and Wednesday I taught. It's amazing how much students just want to get in, do the experiment and get out without really learning the concepts or even reading the directions. It pains me but I'm learning to not take it personally. It's their grade and they are the ones that are responsible for it. I just have the task to take off points. And keep those consistent. Kinda hard.

Thursday... What did I do Thursday. Hm. Well Wednesday George came back from NC. I had a hormone induced breakdown about where we're going to live on Tuesday night when he called and ended up having ice cream for dinner instead of the jambalaya I made.

Thursday I guess was mostly working on crap like my chem ocean homework, trying to read stuff and going to class.

Friday I had an NSF meeting for my scholarship. Hopefully I will see my fees repaid to me at some point. Then I can pay off my credit card (sigh). Then I watched George play Ultimate Frisbee with his lab. And tried not to complain because I was hungry.

Saturday I slept in and got up around noon to finally start grading the handouts that have to be returned to my students. And it took. FOREVER. This first lab was heavy in using calculators and there was no key to make because each station would have blocks that weigh different amounts, rocks that would weigh different amounts, so each of their calculations would be different. And I had to go through each lab to see if they did the calculations correctly. The very definition of tedious.

Saturday night was a friend in oceanography's birthday party and since his actual birthday is today and today is Talk Like a Pirate Day, naturally they had a pirate party last night (more convenient to party on Saturday night than Sunday night). It was fun. A little awkward, but I like Adrian. He's a pretty cool guy. I'm not one for big parties, though and I was kinda the wallflower and skipped out early. But that's just me.

Today I got up and started laundry, went to George's parents for lunch, came back and took a nap. I think I'm getting sick. I'm constantly coughing and constantly tired. We went grocery shopping and made dinner (tortellini with greek salad and tuscan cantaloupe for dessert, YUM). I'm contemplating starting the phys ocean homework due on Tuesday but I just don't have it in me. I spend 8 hours a day 5 days a week (at least) doing oceanography stuff. I think today should just be for me to laze before the craze starts up again.

Next on the blog agenda: living situation. Going to Galveston on Monday froze into shock what I would be dealing with if we lived in Houston. A nightmare of commuting for a year. On the one hand, commuting for a year doesn't sound too bad. But at the same time, I don't want to have to spend 3 hours in a car every day. What if I have to stay late? I'll be that much later getting home, and I won't want to do anything but sleep. Which I guess is not much different from now. But that's also with me living 10 minutes from school. Instead of an hour and a half away. I don't want to live separately from George, I don't want to have to pay for two rents when we're trying to save up for a wedding that will probably take place the month after we graduate. It's really hard to think about. I can't think of a winning solution.

George thinks that if we live in Galveston and he commutes up to CS like 2 or 3 days a week and stays at his parents for those nights it won't be so bad. Being the computer scientist that doesn't require physical samples, he can work from a distance. Hell that's what he's doing for IBM. But I don't think I can ask that of him. He hates driving to Austin, and that's twice a MONTH not 2-3 times a week like he would be doing.

So for that, I don't know.

Another thing I don't know: what to do about my last name. If I get published before we get married, and I want to go for my PhD, I think I would have to keep my maiden name, especially because of the whole "oh I changed my name, but this person on this publication is TOTALLY ME I SWEAR." I don't see why I can't legally be Burgess and personally be Lucchese. But at the same time, I know it would make George happy if I took his last name. I thought about having 2 surnames, but I haven't gotten far with it. If anyone has any suggestions, I'd greatly appreciate it.

Anyways, I'm gonna go put the quiche in the fridge and maybe read a bit before bed. Good night everyone!

First Trip to Galveston After Admission

I have to go to bed soon, but I couldn't without writing something about this epic day.

Went to Galveston. Talked to DQ. Figured out what project will be for my thesis (she called it, claiming it as "my baby"). Figured out what elective I need to take next semester. Degree plan. Potential committee members.

I love being productive.

Now I go to bed. I'm sure there will be plenty of whining tomorrow about how "hard" the post lab was. I decided to give them 2 attempts, and let them see what they got wrong. I don't think I can be any kinder than that. Seriously people, don't wait until the night before.


Good night!

This just keeps getting more interesting

So I got an email from a "Senior Academic Advisor" asking me permission for a student to add one of  my classes late... Said he just dropped out of the Corps of Cadets, and needs another class to be a full time student. I have room so I said yes.

The guy emailed me about the assignments he missed this week, and I didn't really know what to say because each lab is up for a week and on Friday afternoons we tear them down to set up for the following week. Soooo... yeah. He came by my office to get the information that he needed to be able to do the work due next week. I asked why he dropped from the Corps and he said "well I dropped the day the health care bill passed. I wanted to be a doctor and when that passed I didn't want to be a part of the government or politics or whatever."

Doesn't really explain why he dropped from the Corps. But whatever, I wasn't gonna get into it with him. Dude's a freshman and the bill passed months ago, so if he dropped he would have had time to register for another class instead of waiting until the end of the second week of school.

Another thing: I'm going to Galveston on Monday to talk with my advisor, Dr. Quigg (or as she likes to sign her emails, DQ. SO AWESOME.) I have class at 9:10. Galveston's about a 2.5 hour drive away on a good day. A fellow grad student down in G-Town said she used to come to College Station (CS) Tuesday - Thursday and leave at 5 am in the morning to miss traffic.

Ew. I would be one cranky bitch.

Thankfully she offered her couch to me so we can go into the lab together with her husband. (Is it bad that I didn't even know she was married??) We'll see if this becomes a regular occurrence...

And of course this brought up an issue in my head. Would it be a good idea if George and I moved to Houston? Traffic's hell in rush hour (not that I'm not familiar with sucky traffic) but when you have a place you need to be, I'm the kind of person that stresses out way too much. Allison (fellow married grad student who was kind enough to offer her couch for me to crash on) said that there's a prof down in Galveston whose wife lives 12 minutes away from work, but it takes her an hour to get there because traffic is so bad.

W. T. F.

We wanted to move to Houston because it's a good midpoint for us. George will be commuting for classes in College Station, and I'll be commuting for classes in Galveston. Is this a good idea? I'm not sure. This annoying thought keeps popping up that maybe we should have separate apartments. It sounds logical in a sense. But do we want to pay for two rents? I know I don't want to take that step backward. We finally moved into our own place after "living together" for a year. Having one rent and no roommates is heaven to me.

So the question now is, what do we do? If we move to Katy (suburb outside Houston) there'd still be an hour and a half commute for each of us, but outside of the hellhole that is Houston traffic (I hope). It'd be more expensive for rent by like $200 each month, at least that's what it's looking like from the preliminary research. Which means we have less money to save for the wedding.

Eff.




Who wants a Texas High Speed Rail??!?!!



I do.

It's Getting Better... Slowly

So yesterday I had an email from one of my students saying that they couldn't afford the access code for the lab manual and the online assessments. The night before class and when the first pre lab is due.

Not being able to afford things is something I understand very well. However in this instance, it was a curveball of a problem.

I spent an hour trying to answer the person's email. I kept thinking and thinking of how to approach it. I thought if I emailed them the pdf for the lab so they could at least do the exercises and catch up on the online assessments later, that wouldn't be so bad. But then I stopped. And thought, "well what if it's just an excuse to not do it?" In TA training I was taught to beware the excuses "my grandma died" or "I haven't been able to access the website," and also how to deal with those excuses. Requiring a death certificate for proof of a University Excused Absence seems harsh but it's the undergrads' fault for being lazy, using the same excuses one too many times.

So when given this problem, I had a number of different scenarios go through my head. I sent an email to the head TA and the Lab Supervisor forwarding the email sent to me, asking what they thought I should do. It's what they're there for, no? I haven't heard from them yet, actually. I thought the problem a delicate issue. As graduate students with a stipend that is little better than minimum wage, I think we can empathize with the undergraduate student in question. I imagined needing to ask the student for a bank statement, and decided that that was a little too invasive for my taste. I then decided to email the student, attaching the lab information so they could do the exercises and a word document of the pre lab questions so at least the work would be done, and on time. I apologized for the financial problems, and asked if they would be willing to meet with me to discuss the situation.

The student had asked me the week before how much the lab manual was going to cost, and I could tell when I answered with the estimate that it was a pretty penny for some online pdfs and lab questions. And it is. $77.16, for online material is a lot to ask. But that's not my decision.

Two hours after sending the email to the student I went to bed without a reply. This morning when I got up, still nothing. I began to wonder if it really was just an excuse. I asked a fellow TA in class this morning what he thought I should do. "Have them take the pre and post lab quizzes in your office, you can input the grades later when they can afford it."

Seemed simple enough. I was preparing myself for the encounter when setting up the lab. The student walked in and I said "I need to talk to you." Apparently the student got my email, and did the questions. Had the answers written on a sheet of paper. And said that the refund check that they were waiting for had been dispersed today, so they weren't going to have a problem with next week's assignments.

*phew*

I can also tell that one group in my Wednesday class is going to be a bit of a problem. They're the kind of jock guys that seemed to always get their way in high school, popular, seem to think whatever they're saying to be smooth and charming is hilarious. The kind of guys in high school that I steered clear of. The term "pompous ass" comes to mind, actually. But I have to teach them. So I'll try to be as... non-judgmental and fair/indifferent to their antics as possible.

And now, I go get lunch so I won't be hungry during my massage. I've been waiting to get these knots worked out of my back forever and now I can't sleep because of them. For $55 this massage better damn well be worth it.

First Lab of Intro Oceanography

Okay, so. I'll give a background on the story of how I got to be a grad student later. It's quite thrilling.

The topic of today's post is being a TA.

I've never taught before. I've always found that when I try to help people (and I do like to be helpful), I'm usually annoyed and a little frustrated when they don't understand or get concepts that to me, seem very simple. I have no patience for stupidity. Not that my students are stupid. Sometimes they just don't... think things through before asking me questions.

The first day of class we just went over the syllabus. Nothing too bad, but I was so nervous that I forgot to tell my first class a few things. They were so QUIET. It was unnerving.

Today broke the ice, I think though. Wanna know why?

Tornado Warning.

I'm used to the occasional "Tornado Watch" down in southeast Texas. After living here for 4 years, how could you not?

I've never been here with an actual Tornado Warning. Weather.com reported an actual tornado being spotted and heading toward to campus. A Code Maroon alert went out to my phone via text message saying "Seek shelter immediately."

WHAT THE CRAP!?!

An entire seminar was devoted to teaching the TA's what to do in case of a fire. Or a chemical spill. Tornadoes? NADA. Nothing. No protocol.

I went next door to the other TA and I was like, what the hell are we supposed to do? She didn't know either, so we went to the building proctor who told us to get our students into the hallway and away from windows until the warning passed. Which took all of 10 minutes. But still, it was like really? First class I get to teach and there's a friggin TORNADO WARNING!?!? You've gotta be kidding me.

Well, here's to hoping that tomorrow's class isn't nearly as exciting.