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.