Hello again my friends,
Well, this post is a little late (sorry Dwight) but monday was Memorial Day and I had to guide raft trips on the Elwha and sea kayak trips in Freshwater Bay all weekend. The weather was nice and the Elwha river is pretty fun right now with the high spring runoff. Anyhow, it was a busy three day weekend and now I'm a little behind. Speaking of the Elwha, I got to speak to one of the freshman English classes yesterday morning about the dam removal and the research being done in the REU program. I felt a little nervous with Dwight there, watching and judging me, but I think it went well. I wasn't as prepared as I have been for other presentations because I had planned on revising the already existing power point, which I had already given to the Clallam County worker retraining board. It was about an hour before the presentation that I realized I would have to give the powerpoint as is, and without time to practice. I figured it would be alright as I would be speaking to fellow students and they'd probably prefer a more casual style over a scripted one. Afterwards I remember reflecting on how far I've come in my public speaking comfort level compared to when I began the REU program. I used to get fairly nervous whereas now I feel pretty relaxed and more focused on the material being presented than on the heat of the spotlight. I think have a deeper understanding of the material also helps with the confidence. Tune in again for more words of insight.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Monday, May 12, 2008
Costa Rica here I come
Greetings veryimportantresearch nation,
Since you last heard from me I've been on the double whammy data colletion schedule. I do my well sampling for the lower Dungeness shallow aquifer recharge project on mondays, and on tuesdays Dwight, Cris, and I go snow sampling in the upper Dungeness watershed. It's kinda nice to get the the mixture of warm sunny weather on mondays and cold snowy weather on tuesdays. It's also interesting to observe the changes in ground water in the lower Dungeness one day and then observe the changes in snowpack in the upper Dungeness the next. Their period of overlap should probably end in a month or so, as the mid elevation snowpack recedes.
Anyhow, I just learned that in a little over a couple months, I'll be going to Costa Rica to participate in soil microbial research. I keep thinking that I must be dreaming and that they must have gotten the wrong guy mistaking me for someone else. Not just because the college is paying for me to go, but because they're paying me to go as well. I still can't believe it. It sounds like I'll get to take a tour of the La Selva research station in the Meso-American biological corridor for ten days, getting to learn all about the programs and projects they have going on there. After that, I'll spend three weeks at an ecovillage south of the Nicaraguan border doing soil microbe lab work. There'll be seven REU students going in all so there is also the chance for some serious college field trip partying, but only after the work is done of course :>
Since you last heard from me I've been on the double whammy data colletion schedule. I do my well sampling for the lower Dungeness shallow aquifer recharge project on mondays, and on tuesdays Dwight, Cris, and I go snow sampling in the upper Dungeness watershed. It's kinda nice to get the the mixture of warm sunny weather on mondays and cold snowy weather on tuesdays. It's also interesting to observe the changes in ground water in the lower Dungeness one day and then observe the changes in snowpack in the upper Dungeness the next. Their period of overlap should probably end in a month or so, as the mid elevation snowpack recedes.
Anyhow, I just learned that in a little over a couple months, I'll be going to Costa Rica to participate in soil microbial research. I keep thinking that I must be dreaming and that they must have gotten the wrong guy mistaking me for someone else. Not just because the college is paying for me to go, but because they're paying me to go as well. I still can't believe it. It sounds like I'll get to take a tour of the La Selva research station in the Meso-American biological corridor for ten days, getting to learn all about the programs and projects they have going on there. After that, I'll spend three weeks at an ecovillage south of the Nicaraguan border doing soil microbe lab work. There'll be seven REU students going in all so there is also the chance for some serious college field trip partying, but only after the work is done of course :>
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