Thesis Update

In exactly 2 months (March 28) I have to turn in a defendable copy of my thesis to the grad school, if I plan on graduating this May. So how's it going?

Negative stuff first. Using the HPLC machine to determine the amount of chloride in hemocyanin is not as simple as I hoped. I have to hunt down and buy a column first. Not sure how much that will cost, or if Brad will even want to pay for it. Also, apparently you have to futz around with the column and do the test over and over again until you get it working perfectly. Insert sighs and groans here. Also, I had hoped to get a stats program last week, but couldn't get it until today, so that slowed me down a bit.

On the positive side, I pretty much have my methods section done (except for one or two additions I'll have to make), and I got the stats program today, so I've done most of my basic analysis on it. I made myself some personal deadlines at the beginning of the semester. Deadline 1: Have my results section written up by this Saturday, February 2. I think I can make this deadline. I won't have the chloride content results, but I plan to do other analyses this week, and to make up my charts and graphs. My next deadline is February 16, when I want to have the first section/half of my discussion done. February 16 is also when Brad gets back in town, so while he's reading through that stuff and making it bleed with buckets of red ink, I can work on the other part of the discussion. Also, while I've been waiting for the stats program, I've looked up more info on OMLs for my introduction. So I'm making progress, albeit a bit more slowly than I had hoped.

I don't really have any other news, since I've mostly been working on thesis stuff until I go home to eat dinner, watch a couple hours of T.V. and fall into bed. Oh, the Jane Austen Season on Masterpiece Theatre is very good, so I hope all my Austen loving friends are catching it!

Winter

Apparently it snowed this weekend in Alabama (Amy sent me a pic of J.D.'s dog Jackson sniffing at the snow, no doubt very confused). And up in Rhode Island today's high is 27 with a low of 10. It's also supposed to snow on Tuesday and Thursday. Why, hello winter. I guess you've finally decided to stay, and not jump back and forth between 4 days of winter weather and 3 days of 50 degree weather. Too bad school starts on Wednesday, that means I have to start walking to and from work again, just as it turns bitterly cold and starts to snow. Yeah, I'll be speed walking home from now on.

Future Plans

So, while I got very little actual work done this week, I did look at a lot of jobs and internships, trying to figure out what I was actually qualified for (um....not much since I have no experience), and what I want to do when I graduate from URI, and then am forced to vacate my apartment within 30 days. And I think I've figured it out. I want the EPA internship.

The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency for my non-science friends) internship is a 2 year internship in which 25 people are trained in various departments of the EPA. There's also a 2 month interval when you can work at another location. In addition to getting $30,000-40,000 a year (depending on position and location) the interns get all the benefits of working at a federal institution, like health and life insurance, sick leave, 401 K, etc. Which all sounds great to me. Plus, I'd be trained in administrative, conservation policy and marine affairs kind of stuff (um..I think, I'm not really sure what the different departments are) which would be fantastic since I don't know anything about that. Plus, when you finish the internship, you're pretty much guaranteed to get hired at the EPA, since you're already trained and familiar with how it all works.

So I've decided, the EPA internship is my number one choice. Unfortunately, they don't post info about it until the spring (April-ish), and interviews aren't until June or July, with the internship starting in August. Which means that when I leave URI, I'll probably just pack up my movies, some books and clothes and drive to Cooperstown for a month or so. I"ll just have to get a storage space in Rhode Island and put all my crap in it for a couple of months. I also might visit Whitney in May or June, while she's still working at Walt Disney World. :)

So that's the plan. I'm going to apply for other jobs anyways though, just in case. If I don't get the internship, I will either volunteer at local places in Cooperstown, accept another job offer (assuming I have any), or get my Scuba certification and apply for a Walt Disney World internship working with sea creatures of some kind or another (applications would have to be in by October). So that's my plan. And I feel so much more motivated and eager to work now, knowing I have a goal that I really want, a goal to work towards.

Goals: New Years and Beyond

I've never been one to make New Year's resolutions. However, I do set goals for myself. I've decided to post a list of my goals. The first couple of goals are specifically for this year. The other goals listed are simply things I want to do, although I'm not quite sure when I'll do them...

1. Graduate from URI with my Master's degree in May. I've had many, many problems with my thesis, so I'm really ready to just finish it and not think about the equipment failures, misunderstandings and general shitty luck that dominated my thesis.

2. Get a job. I'm willing to go pretty much anywhere, although I'd prefer to stay on the East Coast, since all my family is over here. I have absolutely no experience, and I'm not sure what I want to do, so who knows what job I'll end up with? I'm looking at everything, from government jobs and EPA internships to AFS postings and private consulting work, to volunteering (until I get a job) and looking into a Walt Disney World internship (Whitney insists I could do something cool at the Animal Kingdom).

3. Afford to live alone. This goal weirds some people out. But I'm the youngest of 4, and I've had roommates for the last 7 years. I'd really like to have my own apartment, by myself, even if it's only for a little while.

4. Own a reliable car. Two cars died in college because of radiator problems and major oil leaks. Now the trusty van has a transmission that's been failing off and on for about a year and a half. It'd be nice to drive a car without automatically checking all the gauges every 10 seconds or so.

5. Learn a new language. For some reason I'm leaning towards sign language, which is odd since I don't actually know any deaf people.

6. Learn a new instrument. Specifically the violin, which is the instrument that I think evokes the most emotion.

7. Learn to knit. I bought a "How to Knit" kit a year ago, but still haven't actually picked it up. But Dave gave me two books on knitting (how to knit, lots of patterns and designs) for my birthday, so now I really have to learn.

8. Travel to Europe. I want to visit pretty much every country, but I think I'll start off with England and Ireland. I also specifically want to go to England with Whitney, one of my oldest friends, and a knowledgeable girl who's been to England about half a dozen times or so.

That's all I've got for now. Anybody else have random life goals?

My Visit Home

Whew, haven't updated in a while, and it's time to fix that. I got back to RI on Saturday, but of course, I had a great time while I was home, and didn't really want to come back. Christmas at home was great. I got to see the new house, which is cute and little, just right for Mom and Dad. And I got to spend time with Ames and Mike. Not as much time as I would have liked, Mike went out of town for a week and had to start classes while I was there, and Ames had to go back to Birmingham before New Years, but that's how it always goes.

A lot of people have asked me "How were your holidays?" Well, Christmas was great, but it was kind of downhill from there, holidays-wise. I was really sick around New Years, so I went to the doctors to get antibiotics. But my body had a reaction to the antibiotics, so on New Years Eve I was throwing up pretty much every 20-30 minutes for about 3 hours. I passed out before midnight, and was pretty out of it on New Years Day. Not the best way to ring in the new year.

I didn't really do much for my birthday either. My folks had an opportunity to see some friends they met in England in like the '70s, and they didn't realize that the dates would coincide with my birthday. It was unfortunate, but they hadn't seen the friends in years, and they see me at least twice a year, so my folks flew to Florida the day before my birthday. Ames was already teaching in Birmingham, and Mike had classes and drill. So on my birthday, I rode with Whitney's family to the Birmingham airport to say good-bye to her, and then her folks dropped me off at Amy's school (my flight to RI was out of Birmingham on Saturday, hence why I had to get to Birmingham). There was horrible weather, Amy's school got out early, and Ames was sick, so we just hung out at her apt and ordered pizza. We went out to dinner and a movie on Friday night with Bill and Laura, but on my actual 25th birthday, I didn't really do anything.

Not the most auspicious start to the new year. It sort of started with a whimper. But that just means it has to end with a bang, right? Like the whole March lion/lamb thing?