April 25, 2008
Week 15
i cant believe the last week of class is finally over. this week was the "final draft" peer review of our research proposals. i got a lot of good feedback and talked some of it over with mccall today. i have a meeting on tuesday to go over the critique before i make any changes. once i edit it again, i'll be done.
on the project side of things; alex had the computer apart for the weekend and i didnt have time to go in and check on things this week so ill be in monday to start the scanner again. also, mccall is still undecided about the date of the new hampshire trip and won't really know until the may field course is sorted out. which im really excited to be taking.
the end.
April 18, 2008
Week 14
this week has been so crazy and next week looks even worse as finals come into view and due dates pass. i have invested a ridiculous amount of time into editing my research proposal and i'm pretty confident that my advisor is getting annoyed with all my questions. ah well, almost done. im kind of nervous for the panel review. but all in all i'm really happy this semester is almost over.
in laboratory news; the scan has finished running. i'll be analyzing the data today/over the weekend to see how the curves look. also, i'm pretty sure alex is almost done making the backup system. so things are going well.
April 11, 2008
Week 13
this week has been pretty hectic with classes starting to wrap up. the research proposal is coming together pretty alright. i've never had to write one before so despite the guidelines we have i'm not super confident that i'm saying what i need to say. i might be writing it more like a lab report with some extra sections like budget and timeline. i guess that's what the first draft is for though.
as far as the actual project goes, the scanner is catching on the track it runs on. we put the cells in the aquaria and ran the scanner but when i went in to check on it, the scanner was in the middle of two cells...so obviously it got messed up when it started moving around. we're going to have to figure out what to do about it before we collect the organisms, this can't be happening when the real experiment is going. today we're going to be moving around some microcosms and reprogramming the setup table so we can scan the last four cells. the first 5 cells it collected data for were aligned just fine, i still have to analyze the data though.
April 03, 2008
Week 12
this week has been going good so far. i got some good feedback, our discussions spurred some good questions, and got me motivated to really get down to the roots of what the project is all about. which is what i intended in the first place but something always gets in the way...like school. so i'm pretty happy it's required for me to ask these things or else i wouldnt've found the time. which is partly why im so excited for summer cuz i'll only be taking one class at a time and working in the lab. so, ill have a decent amount of time to read up on sedimentology and background.
in the lab we put the cells into the aquaria and started an initial scan to observe how the peaks look. hopefully they look splendid and i wont have to redo any of the cells. it'd be kind of a crunch i feel, but totally doable, to have any redo's done by the time we get the organisms.
i'm just trying to give these last 3 weeks everything i've got...it's just my luck to be a point away from a higher grade...but not this time mr. gpa monster...today is not your day...i will win.
March 28, 2008
Week 11
so this week has been exhausting. i had three exams so not much work got done in the lab...not that there's a whole lot left right now anyways. next week we're going to put the cells into the aquaria and scan them to make sure the peaks are clear enough. we're trying to scan them before alex puts in the backup computer system. the machine will be down for a while while he's doing that...which is ok since we dont have the worms yet.
in class, we have been assigned to get our proposal outline done, which i plan to do this weekend. then i'll be able to ask gerry questions when he gets back about the analysis. mccall has already answered a couple about the procedure so i'll be on my way in no time.
busy busy busy
March 20, 2008
Week 10 (no Week 9: spring break)
So break is over and we're all back in school. Over break I got the majority of the cells finished with the expectation that I'd have specimens when I returned. Unfortunately, the lab on the east coast isn't open yet since it's so cold still. So, it looks like I won't have them till June. Yeish. Until then we're continuing with the scanning of what's in the aquaria now.
In class, our annotated bibliographies were due. I need to go over all the material a few more times and ask Matisoff some questions about the mathematics of the data analysis so I could fully explain it to someone else if I had to. I should probably start on the proposal within the week to allow myself a ton of time. Then I won't be all stressed out come the end of the semester.
We also heard from Lauren about her project. I pretty much already knew what was going on since I have a class with her but I still appreciated the advice. I'm glad I'm doing the data collection over summer when I have more time available. I'll be looking forward to Evan's insight since I hardly ever see him to know what's going on with his project.
March 07, 2008
Week 8
this week we were back in action. we were mostly discussing grad school requirements and job options. i'm only a sophomore so i don't need to be really worried and stressed about it now but it does freak me out. mostly because everything i'm doing now and comprehending now will determine where i am and what i'm doing after college.
no pressure or anything.
in the lab we almost had another setback. the machine started messing up again so mccall and matisoff got some machine shop guys to fix it. now it's golden. also, half of the cells are finished and i'll be coming in over break to get the other half done. mccall and alex are supposed to be going to the east coast to get specimens over break so we should be getting the experiment underway shortly.
have a good spring break everyone!