On miles

So, the gauntlet begins tomorrow

Dec 18: Work to BWI – 50 miles, driven
Dec 18 cont.: BWI to DC – 33 miles, driven
Dec 21: DC to Pittsburgh – 237 miles, driven
Dec 23: Pittsburgh to Yorktown – 402 miles, driven
Dec 27: Yorktown to DC – 175 miles, driven
Dec 28, Dec 29: DC to work, work to DC, DC to work, work to DC – 100 miles, driven
Dec 30: DC to BWI – 33 miles, driven
Dec 30 cont.: BWI to BOS – 369 miles, flown
Jan 3: BOS to BWI – 369 miles, flown
Jan 3 cont.: BWI to DC – 33 miles, driven
Jan 4: DC to Pittsburgh – 237 miles, driven

Total miles: 2038 (Driven 1300, Flown 738)

Bring it on.

On Numbers

Man, it’s been awhile since I’ve used algebra, at all. It’s no wonder I didn’t do too well at my algebra placement exam for Pitt. Ah well, I pick this stuff up easily, so I don’t suspect I’ll have any issues once I relearn the various rules. There were several instances where I was just staring at a problem and had no recollection of how to attack it. Whoops. In any case, that’s out of the way.

I have an advising appointment on Dec. 4th, I move my stuff on Dec. 21st, and classes start on Jan. 6th. I’m excited. My professional life will be taking a turn for the better in less than 7 weeks.

I’ll still be considered a senior (über-senior?) as 90 credits transferred over from GMU, not bad at all. I’ll have to retake a social sciences class, and western civ. Hopefully my professors in these will be a little better this time around. Though, I don’t suspect I’ll have any issues. I didn’t do well in those classes because it was my first year in school at GMU. Also, I have to take geology(!) and a neuroscience(?) class, I think. Cool on geo, kinda cool on neuro, though I don’t know if I actually have to take that. Both will be interesting, I think.

Finally

Finally, they’ve gotten the health bill through the House. I don’t know about you guys, but I’ve gotten to the point where I could take arguing with my relatives about it any longer. Now, arguing about the climate bill, I could do that all day.

Take my uncle, for example. He’s my antithesis, it seems. Regarding environmental protection, he’d rather scrap it and drill up the coastline. After I point out that he, as a hunter, should be for protection, as dirty water equals dirty meat, he disagrees and says environmentalists are “going nuts.” He then proceeds to throw the San Joaquin valley dust bowl issue at me.

The issue with the valley is that irrigation pumps have been shut of in order to protect the endangered delta smelt. This has caused a dust bowl in the valley and thousands of farmers are out of work because of it. On the other hand, thousands of fishers are having a hard time when the pumps are on because lowered number of smelt equal lower number of salmon. My stance on this issue is in favor of the fishers, because if you plan to farm in an area that is arid, expect it to be dry. Luckily, though, new research seems to show that the smelt may not be as prone to catastrophe as we thought. So this will probably all blow over in the long run.

Perhaps I will take a good look at Limnology, this is fun stuff. 🙂

Migrated from LJ

Alright, well, it’s been awhile since I’ve <i>actually</i> blogged.  But, I feel it may be a good idea to get back into it, so, let’s go.   Migrated this post over from LJ.

I’ve found that since finally gaining my bearings and setting my sites for Pitt that I’ve become less… interested at work.  I’m not putting off my duties or anything but I find myself sitting here and wishing it was 1.5 months later.  Just excited/anxious, I suppose.

I’ve spent the last few days wondering what discipline I want to do.  Dad (an Ecologist) suggested having some ideas of what I want to do, but not committing until after I’ve taken some classes.  Then, once I’ve seen what classes/subjects/professors I like most, commit to those and ask to work in a favorite professor’s lab.  That way I can more easily get my foot in the door when I go on to a MS and working on a thesis.  Not bad.

Some ideas I’m tossing around.  Limnology.  Limnology is a sub-discipline of ecology that focuses on inland waters.  Rivers, bays, ponds, lakes, streams, swamps, marshes, etc.  there are too many to name.  I feel this will be quite an active field in the years to come as we (humans) are doing a damn good job of ruining our waterways.  Plus, the three rivers region of Pennsylvania would be a great place to study this.  Another option is Botany.  Usually when describing an ecosystem, the plants around are used rather than the animals that live there.  So that could be useful.  What else?  Oh, Mycology.  Only because mushrooms are cool and do cool things.  Like break down oil spills.  Though, it seems Pitt doesn’t have a mycology discipline, so I may have to hope there is a professor who is a mycologist that I can study under.

Anyway, this seems like a good stopping point.  Plus, it’s 4 and I need to go to whole food and get supplies for dinner tonight.  Making stuffed squash.

Ciao!