"I was just guessin' at numbers and figures"

For all the course work and lab work that is part of my program, I was just playing a part as a scientist today, not the real deal. One of my thesis supervisors e-mailed me suggesting we should meet leading up to my presentation on Thursday, so I went in for that this afternoon, and realized how out of touch I really was with my own project.

"Why are we even doing this project, how is it relevant?" Uhhh.


"How is your project expanding on the studies already done at the site?" Uhhh.

I felt like I was having teeth pulled, which is ironic, given that my thesis is focused on the natural production of what is commonly known as laughing gas. With a few minutes of discussion I was more in step with where I should be, although probably still not quite as far along as I should be. Over the Christmas break I get to give myself a refresher on isotope enrichment, as it relates to nitrification/denitrification. Sound like a laugh riot?

The supervisor I'm in contact with a majority of the time has been pretty laid back about things though (typical of our Department), and understands that I plan on focusing more on the thesis next term when the course load is lightened. The other supervisor is a much more old-school, field-oriented worker, and is seldom to be found on campus, except when teaching the 4th year basic field work principles course in hydrogeology. Handwritten notes, handdrawn maps and plots, in the field, likely with hands numb from the cold and damp, this is how my second supervisor gets the job done. And while its a pain in the ass for anyone working from the data later, I think its a practice to get in to as it forces one to really look at and interpret data as its obtained, rather than compiling it all later.

Alright, done geeking out on you all now, back to making contour plots I go.

Down and Goal to Go

Its been a hectic week. At this point that much is assumed. But I've now got one course completely done and off the radar, and 2 more are done lectures, with just a final exam or paper to chug through. That leaves me with one course, and my preliminary thesis project presentation to focus on.

As a kid I was great with public speaking, but with the onset of highschool and university I lost my confidence in getting up infront of an audience and speaking like I know what I'm talking about. Sure I know all the principles of how to address the audience, stand tall, speak loudly and clearly, make eye contact, but its still somewhat of a chore, and I'm sure I'm not the only one.

The key will be to actually understand what I'm trying to convey before then with the limited data I've got, and some cursory diagrams. Just enough to fill 10 to 15 minutes and then everything should be smooth sailing on into next term, and its collection of joke arts electives. Psychology 101, Anthropology 101, watch out.

Take a Good Look at the Date

See that date stamp above? What does it say? November 17, 2006 right?

N-O-V-E-M-B-E-R.

Not D-E-C-ember.

Yes everyone knows Christmas is a commercial sham of a holiday that's become less about spending time with family and friends, and more about trying to out pace them in realms of baking, gifting, Kris Kringling and...tacky decoration!

The decorating, more than a month before the damn day, is absolutely out of hand. Last week already on a walk I noticed more than a handful of houses already decked out in a mish-mash of various Christmas lights, LED's and flood lights. Tonight I notice that the City of Waterloo already has their bloody wreaths up on the light posts uptown, and the lights on the trees lit up already.

November 17.

Sure, hang your lights and other decorations while the weather is good. By all means, I'm not asking people to go sliding off roofs. I can even take your tacky splatters of whatever was the brightest/most colourful/most likely-to-induce-seizure-flash-sequences in decorations for a week or two leading up to the 25th...of December. But is it really necessary to spend more than a 12th of the year plugging those things in?

"But the Christmas parade is tomorrow." you argue? That's fine. Again no need to have the kids huddled outside in weather any colder than necessary all running around with the flu and getting everyone else sick. The City can have its wreaths, I'll concede them that, but damnit, don't light them at the very least until December.

Maybe its high time the entire month of November become akin to Devil's Night before Hallowe'en, and let the kids loose on those endless strands of icicle lights. Sucks to be you if you went and hung them and lit them way too early, cause now you have to hope every other idiot in town hasn't bought them out at the local Canadian Tire, buy more, and hang them in the more frigid, snowy conditions of December.

Its time to relax on the aggrandizing of this shopping bonanza celebration.

Edit:
I suggest you do something more productive with your Christmas decoration money (via Rick Mercer)

The Crushed Dreams of a Would Be Superstar

My fast-track to slo-pitch superstardom met a difficult roadblock this afternoon. After making a run to the championship game undefeated, and dominating every statistical category kept by league officials (read: volunteer students), we were beaten by a group of Campus Rec organizers. Were the the opposing team less a bunch of dicks, and had they not had at least 3 calls work in their favour that wouldn't have, had they not been the employers of the game's umpire, I would have walked away satisfied. But losing like that just leaves a bitter aftertaste, and not the good kind from a bottle of Grolsch or Pilsner Urquell.

They were in fact the better team, with more team speed and size, I'll concede that much, but we hung right with them, and had there not been a few of those deflating calls, we had a real shot. And so end the dreams of multi-million dollar contracts and chartered team flights. Now its off for beer and wings with the team!

Team photo will come later when Buzznet decides to stop being a bitch.

Look What Fell in My Lap

Once in a while the University decides to take a break from running the students around, and drops a tasty treat in your lap. In the past any scholarships I've received have all been distributed by the 2nd week of October, so I had given up on the possibility of having some extra cushion for a graduation trip. Imagine my surprise then when a letter and cheque were dropped in my mailbox this morning. Almost enough to make me feel like working an extra bit at all on some assignments to round out the week.

Combine that with the Democrats finally not losing an election down in America, and my surprise check of my Yahoo Fantasy Football Pick 'Em rank, and its been a good day.

My one regret is not showing up for my Quaternary Geology class today, where the cranky old prof in his last term teaching the course, or any other course, apparently straight up told the class we were illiterate. Gotta love it. The guy has been around long enough that there are quite possibly Masters dissertations on his mobile fossil remains. He seems like a nice enough guy, and he knows his field like nobody's business (he has infact written a large proportion of the geological reports for Southern Ontario), but its also quite obvious that he's lost the enthusiasm for the teaching. Its a shame our department doesn't do a better job of bringing in comparable replacements in a more timely fashion. Phrases to the effect of "have a typist transcribe and edit your work" should not appear in the directions for submitted term reports in your higher level educational facilities in the year 2006.

Weekend Update

The first of Saddam Hussein's trials results are in.

"...today’s verdict represented a moment of triumph and catharsis for many Iraqis after decades of suffering under Mr. Hussein’s tyrannical rule.

Spontaneous celebrations broke out across Iraq in spite of an around-the-clock curfew imposed on the capital and other regions. People fired pistols and assault rifles into the air in a common gesture of jubilation."

...

"'We saw this trial, along with the others, as an opportunity to bring justice to those Iraqis who had suffered horribly under Baath Party rule,' Richard Dicker, director of the international justice program at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement today. 'Unfortunately, we believe the serious shortcomings in the fairness of the proceedings undermined the legitimacy and credibility of the trial.'"

Mr. Dicker said the proceedings were marred by 'some disturbing court practices,' including, he said, the court’s failure to deliver documents to the defense in a timely manner; public criticism by government minister of the first presiding judge, Rizgar Amin, who resigned in protest in January 2006; and the failure of Mr. Amin’s replacement, Mr. Rahman, 'to demonstrate proper judicial demeanor in his management of the proceedings.'"

Now, regardless of those questions about the fairness, and true just nature of what was thought from the beginning in many minds to be a sham set-up, am I misguided for thinking that the execution of Saddam as early as the spring, will unite his Sunni supporters under a martyr figure? Instead of dissolving this insurgency as is being optimistically touted, will that lead to another large scale upwelling in violence? Remember how those U.S. forces were going to be greeted with flowers and celebrated as liberators when Saddam was overthrown? Eternal pessimist, or realist?


And in "do as I say, not as I do" news, Pastor Ted has resigned (or been removed, depending on the source) from his position over drug possession and alleged homosexual activities with a masseuse. Alter boys and wine must have lost their edge, and required some envelope pushing. Hopefully the congregations donation envelopes weren't included in any of that activity. Meanwhile a female bishop has taken over a leadership position for the first time anywhere in the Anglican church. One stride forward, one leap back.


The first game of the Slo-pitch playoffs goes today. Looking at the bracket, the one other good team we wanted to meet, got knocked out by one of the bottom seeds. The lesson learned is that we can't go in cocky and risk losing an otherwise dominant season. Its not below freezing with windchill today so, either way, it should be a fun game.