07 May 2007

Field Work and Sampling

After much waiting and anticipation, I finally made it to my field area to do some sampling. I'm glad that I waited. We had a beautiful day, and we were able to time the tide so as not to need to wake up before dawn. Sampling went really well. Matt (another grad student) and I made pretty quick work of all the sampling. Now I have a large number of samples sitting around, waiting to be tested. I'm planning to start work on them tomorrow, since Matt is busy graduating or something today.

Meanwhile, in the virtual world, I've nearly made it to level 58. Only another hour or so of playing will be required. More about this is available at The Gameslave. We're getting ready to implement new website design too. So, there's lots to check out over there.

03 May 2007

Field Work

The New Zealand weather keeps trying to prevent progress on my thesis. I try not to be a fair weather geologist, but it is simply easier to work when the weather is dry. Combine this with the fact that my work is right on the beach and requires a low-tide in midday for me to work productively, and it becomes hard to find a good time to work. But, the plan is now to go out to work tomorrow. I'll be collecting samples mostly, but also working on getting a better hold on the stratigraphy of the area. Fortunately, I won't have to work too hard on that, as an MSc has been assigned to the general engineering geology of the area.

In the meantime, I have continued working on my paper research. I've also been playing a lot of World of Warcraft. Someday soon I will be able to go on raids with my friends. I think I only have about a week more to play before I will be in Outland.

02 May 2007

Lecturing

I just gave my first "public" lecture today. The New Zealand Geotechnical Society invited two other students and me to present our research at their monthly meeting. Everything went great. The presentations were well received, and I've been tentatively invited back to give another talk in a years time. This second talk with reflect the next stage of my research. The whole thing is really exciting. According to my wife, I was talking in my sleep last night, but the only word that she could recognize was the name of my field area: Matata. I wish I could remember what I was dreaming about.