tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-368375292024-03-07T09:54:26.536+01:00Rising to the occasion"You only have to do a few things right in life, as long as you don't do too many things wrong"saxifragahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11350662136988602572noreply@blogger.comBlogger176125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36837529.post-26171513658079217812013-05-31T12:46:00.002+02:002013-05-31T12:46:56.878+02:00Rising to the occasion 2.0Four years, two kids and two long breaks from academia later, I think I might be back in this space. I know that the blogosphere I was once a part of has withered and changed directions and this long gone blog has probably fallen into forgottendom, but I also know that some of you are still out there. Maybe someone will reading, maybe I'll just be writing for myself. Anyway, I think I need a place to sort my thoughts about reentering the world of science and academic dispute, and can just as well be here as anywhere else.<br />
saxifragahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11350662136988602572noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36837529.post-89742028252841296512009-03-21T13:33:00.005+01:002009-03-21T16:20:54.420+01:00The sun is back<p><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5315620012757608290" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 266px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimowS1FZxTeQ4TTZWq8qGitV3jQmLqvdFGhciDmLLZca8Y5BlwaxooJNw-5Xc9WdyM3KkDU-uJdaX44dcZbPAlkO5r58yAAyrqU8sQYDsvpqBNupmGAz6Ht5TlIONGu7fKzYmctA/s400/DSC_0031.JPG" border="0" /></p><p></p><p>The photo is from a fieldtrip a few weeks ago, on the first day the sun peeked over the mountains this year. Now it's back in full force and in another few weeks we will have midnight sun. </p>I have spent the transition from the dark time to spring season on getting research projects up and running, getting grad students started on their projects and paying some attention to myself and having a life. Getting the research projects started hasn't been easy, and I'm not quite there yet, but at least I have had some time to devote to this and I do see things develop and begin to see the contours of a reearch program that will work. I have also spent some time with family and haven't been working very particularly long days. The latter will probably come back to haunt me, but it's been good to take it a little easier for a while.<br /><br />Since my last update I've:<br /><br /><ul><li>Been to a conference in Scandinavian town where it always rains (not a major important event scientifically, but nice to catch up with colleagues and friends)</li><li>Visited home country to attend the christening of my new nieces</li><li>Prepared the paperwork for three new MSc students projects including budgets and logistics for field work and developed a project description for something I don't know much about.</li><li>Almost finished major revisions on a manuscript I submitted last year (still needs some final comments from a co-author, but is almost ready to go).</li><li>Coached MSc student through writing her first abstract, finding funding to go to the conference and preparing a poster for upcoming conference in Grad School City.</li><li>Had a week long family visit by sister and toddler nephew.</li><li>Prepared week long visit by MSc student including organising housing, safety training and arranging contact with various people who will assist with aspects of the project.</li><li>Spent a week visiting youngest sister and travelling with her to Eastern European City where I often go for research.</li><li>Worked on getting a student exchange agreement between University above the Arctic Circle, and University in eastern Europe I collaborate with.</li><li>Worked on pulling some strings for increased formal collaboration between current university and previous institution.</li><li>Gotten up-to date on literature in new topic direction and studied previously published works about rocks from specific time interval.</li><li>Done the initial legwork for getting a group together to develop ideas for proposal for continuation and expansion of project.</li><li>Gotten an overview of previously published literature on another specific time interval in order to decide field sites for this summers fieldwork.</li><li>Maintained some contacts relevant for different angle of new topic direction and explored some other options for how this work may be framed and eventually funded.</li><li>Set up meetings during upcoming conference to discuss new project ideas and options for funding.</li><li>Started preparing practical arrangements and guest lecturers for field course this summer.</li><li>Been on a one-day field trip to explore the geology around town and read up on some of the general literature from this place in order to get a better overview and prepare for next time I run the undergrad general geology class.</li><li>Gotten back to practicing Fieldwork Country language regularly</li><li>Been socialicing with colleagues and joined a group of female colleagues/friends who exercise together.</li></ul>What I didn't do was to<br /><br />Finish the other major revision, which doesn't seem major at all compared to the last two major revisions I have gotten, but still needs to be done, or start preparing the poster I'm supposed to present a week from now.saxifragahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11350662136988602572noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36837529.post-78882461449003535072009-01-06T11:32:00.000+01:002009-01-06T11:58:27.349+01:00And now for a more practical attempt at some goalsI’m taking classes this week and it’s probably a good way to ease into the semester, but half the time they seem to be cancelled or cut short and I end up with some free time on my hands. Right now I spent one such hour on writing a blog post rather than getting started on any of the real work on my to do list. I think I can cut myself some slack as it’s only the second day of the semester and it’s likely I would have prolonged the break anyway if it wasn’t for this course, but I wouldn’t want it to go on like this for very long.<br /><br />I will have a lot of unstructured time this semester, and that’s promising for being able to be productive, but also dangerous for someone like me who work better and more efficiently if I have a lot to do. In some ways I think the craziness of last year’s schedule forced me to be productive in the short time spans I had available and this year it will just be easy to let administration and all the little day to day tasks take over the days.<br /><br />I’ve tried various schedules for what to do each day before and they usually fall apart after a while, but maybe it’s time to try to follow a new one any way. So for the weeks where I don’t have another full-time activity going on I’ll try to follow this reincarnation of a previously tried and tested schedule.<br /><br />For all days where I’m not full-time occupied with something else (at meetings, in classes, travelling)<br /><br />At least 4 hours research (actual writing and reading):<br /><br />At least 2 hours writing first thing every day<br />1 hour reading to catch up on literature<br /><br />No more than 4 hours admin (anything else than writing and reading incl. student advising, meetings, phonecalls, other research-related tasks, planning, reports):<br /><br />At least 1 hour spent on typing up field notes, photo lists etc for last year’s field report until it’s done<br /><br />That’s it.<br /><br />For this week I’ll spend these extra hours (if any more comes my way) to catch up on the literature for big projects I’m supposed to know something about by now.saxifragahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11350662136988602572noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36837529.post-36089481383360856052009-01-06T11:19:00.000+01:002009-01-06T11:20:30.977+01:00A new year and new challenges2008 was good but crazily busy with starting a new job, moving and finally getting some publications out. The past three years have been very much about reaching up and out and achieving new things. This year will hopefully be about getting settled and about building a foundation at work and at home on which I can rely for some years to come. Professionally I don’t want to take on more new responsibilities just for the sake of it, and want to build on what I already have and focus on getting better at what I already do. Personally I want to get involved in the community here and keep working on making personal well-being a priority.<br /><br />I will be teaching very little in 2009. I only have a summer course for four weeks in June-July, but this is a new course and will require some attention to logistics in addition to catching up on the literature and preparing the course. Hopefully the lesser teaching load will allow me to focus on getting through the backlog of papers to write and manuscripts to revise, especially as my main projects are moving towards a heavy writing-up phase in collaboration with many others. I also want to get back to reading and catching up on literature, something which has truly fallen by the wayside the past few years. <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/isisthescientist/2009/01/ask_dr_isis_2.php">This</a> post and it’s comments gave some good ideas for how to get back to the pile of papers-to-read that is always lurking. I have three grad students to get started this spring semester and another one to follow up, two conferences to attend in the spring and at least one in the fall, about six weeks of field work planned for the summer and probably more than enough work-related travel. If I can get the two new projects off to a reasonable start, get some papers out the door and some time during the year, when the time is right, start working on one larger and maybe some smaller proposals I’ll consider the year a success.<br /><br />Personally I want to get back to running or doing other kinds of exercise regularly. I started thinking about how to really make this a priority in December and want to keep thinking about it that way. I also want to learn to have fun outside here in winter. I want to buy some better skis and learn proper skiing, so I’m not afraid of making a fool of myself when being outside. I want to learn to be comfortable with winter fieldwork and all the safety and logistic issues that one needs to know to enjoy time outside here. I’m always shying away from this, because I don’t like things I’m not good at and I’m not practical at all, but really want to approach this in a different way. <br /><br />I hope I will have more time at home than last year and especially a more regular schedule with fewer interruptions by travel. Never having more than two or three consecutive weeks at home was probably the single most stressful issue last year and the lack of consistency makes it difficult for me to stick to a writing schedule/ training schedule/reading schedule or attend any kind of regular event or activity. I’m sure there will still be travel and for the next few months there will be some travel each month, but we have cancelled a planned vacation in order to get some more time at home and actively limiting travel should probably go on my priority list for 2009.saxifragahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11350662136988602572noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36837529.post-57544808334624617952009-01-05T15:35:00.002+01:002009-01-05T15:55:12.114+01:00Happy New YearIt's the first day of the semester and my first day back at the office after a two week break. the students are back, University above the Arctic circle is buzzing with life and I'm attending a week-long long safety course to learn how to survive the winter field season. I didn't do any work at all during the break and I'm happy about that. I needed to leave the work thoughts behind for a while and focus on other things. I've spent time with my family, met my twin nieces for the first time, spent time with the husband's family and visited grad school city. It's been great to see the sun, sleep, read books for fun, catch up with people, talk to my parents and my siblings, see my nieces and nephews play and just be me for a while. It's also been kind of exhausting because much travel was involved, and I'm not very excited about leaving again already next week for an upcoming conference and another family visit or about settling back into work for that matter. I am excited about being back, though. About sleeping in my own bed, deciding what to eat and at which time and about spending time with the husband in our own home. I'm also excited about being back in the polar night, about getting back to running regularly and about not teaching this semester.saxifragahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11350662136988602572noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36837529.post-45971342941357225522008-12-20T10:13:00.004+01:002008-12-20T10:33:41.470+01:00End of semester Saturday morningMy grades are in.<br /><br />The revise and resubmit with a firm deadline is in.<br /><br />I need to go into the office today to catch up on some minor things (email new grad students, email colleagues regarding a grant proposal and next summer's fieldwork, send off some figures to the coauthor for another revise and resubmit and write a recommendation for a student), but aside from that I'm done for now.<br /><br />I've caught up on sleep, been out to celebrate with the husband who has returned from far, far away and am getting ready for some last-minute Christmas shopping before leaving to spend the holidays with the family.<br /><br />I can't remember the last time I've felt this caught up on things, but it's unbelievably good.saxifragahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11350662136988602572noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36837529.post-29276270549542195442008-12-14T16:29:00.003+01:002008-12-14T16:51:35.980+01:00The Geologists' 100 things memeIt's a little lame already to be doing a meme again, I know, but I'm in the middle of revising a manuscript with a deadline tomorrow, so this is all I've got for now.<br /><br />As seen at <a href="http://shearsensibility.blogspot.com/">All my faults are stress related</a><br /><br />Obviously I have a long way to go before I'm a fully educated geologist.<br /><br />1. See an erupting volcano<br /><strong>2. See a glacier</strong> (every day, except right now when it's too dark to actually see it)<br /><strong>3. See an active geyser such as those in Yellowstone, New Zealand or Iceland</strong> (Iceland)<br /><strong>4. Visit the Cretaceous/Tertiary (KT) Boundary. Possible locations include Gubbio, Italy, Stevns Klint, Denmark, the Red Deer River Valley near Drumheller, Alberta.</strong> (Denmark)<br />5. Observe (from a safe distance) a river whose discharge is above bankful stage<br />6. Explore a limestone cave. Try Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico, Lehman Caves in Great Basin National Park, or the caves of Kentucky or TAG (Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia<br />7. Tour an open pit mine, such as those in Butte, Montana, Bingham Canyon, Utah, Summitville, Colorado, Globe or Morenci, Arizona, or Chuquicamata, Chile.<br /><strong>8. Explore a subsurface mine.</strong><br />9. See an ophiolite, such as the ophiolite complex in Oman or the Troodos complex on the Island Cyprus (if on a budget, try the Coast Ranges or Klamath Mountains of California).<br />10. An anorthosite complex, such as those in Labrador, the Adirondacks, and Niger (there's some anorthosite in southern California too).<br />11. A slot canyon. Many of these amazing canyons are less than 3 feet wide and over 100 feet deep. They reside on the Colorado Plateau. Among the best are Antelope Canyon, Brimstone Canyon, Spooky Gulch and the Round Valley Draw.<br /><strong>12. Varves, whether you see the type section in Sweden or examples elsewhere</strong> (ice-dammed lake deposits in Russia)<br />13. An exfoliation dome, such as those in the Sierra Nevada<br />14. A layered igneous intrusion, such as the Stillwater complex in Montana or the Skaergaard Complex in Eastern Greenland.<br />15. Coastlines along the leading and trailing edge of a tectonic plate (check out The Dynamic Earth - The Story of Plate Tectonics - an excellent website).<br />16. A gingko tree, which is the lone survivor of an ancient group of softwoods that covered much of the Northern Hemisphere in the Mesozoic.<br />17. Living and fossilized stromatolites (Glacier National Park is a great place to see fossil stromatolites, while Shark Bay in Australia is the place to see living ones)<br /><strong>18. A field of glacial erratics</strong><br /><strong>19. A caldera</strong><br />20. A sand dune more than 200 feet high<br /><strong>21. A fjord</strong><br />22. A recently formed fault scarp<br />23. A megabreccia<br /><strong>24. An actively accreting river delta</strong><br /><strong>25. A natural bridge</strong><br />26. A large sinkhole (only small ones)<br /><strong>27. A glacial outwash plain</strong><br />28. A sea stack (what is this?)<br /><strong>29. A house-sized glacial erratic</strong><br />30. An underground lake or river<br />31. The continental divide<br /><strong>32. Fluorescent and phosphorescent minerals (only indoors)</strong><br />33. Petrified trees<br />34. Lava tubes<br />35. The Grand Canyon. All the way down. And back.<br />36. Meteor Crater, Arizona, also known as the Barringer Crater, to see an impact crater on a scale that is comprehensible<br />37. The Great Barrier Reef, northeastern Australia, to see the largest coral reef in the world.<br />38. The Bay of Fundy, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, Canada, to see the highest tides in the world (up to 16m) (<em>not Bay of Fundy, but some other impressive high tides in Bay of Mont St Michel,France and the yellow sea coast, Chi</em>na)<br />39. The Waterpocket Fold, Utah, to see well exposed folds on a massive scale.<br />40. The Banded Iron Formation, Michigan, to better appreciate the air you breathe.<br />41. The Snows of Kilimanjaro, Tanzania<br /><strong>42. Lake Baikal, Siberia, to see the deepest lake in the world (1,620 m) with 20 percent of the Earth's fresh water.</strong><br />43. Ayers Rock (known now by the Aboriginal name of Uluru), Australia. This inselberg of nearly vertical Precambrian strata is about 2.5 kilometers long and more than 350 meters high<br />44. Devil's Tower, northeastern Wyoming, to see a classic example of columnar jointing<br /><strong>45. The Alps.</strong><br />46. Telescope Peak, in Death Valley National Park. From this spectacular summit you can look down onto the floor of Death Valley - 11,330 feet below.<br />47. The Li River, China, to see the fantastic tower karst that appears in much Chinese art<br />48. The Dalmation Coast of Croatia, to see the original Karst.<br />49. The Gorge of Bhagirathi, one of the sacred headwaters of the Ganges, in the Indian Himalayas, where the river flows from an ice tunnel beneath the Gangatori Glacier into a deep gorge.<br />50. The Goosenecks of the San Juan River, Utah, an impressive series of entrenched meanders.<br />51. Shiprock, New Mexico, to see a large volcanic neck<br />52. Land's End, Cornwall, Great Britain, for fractured granites that have feldspar crystals bigger than your fist.<br />53. Tierra del Fuego, Chile and Argentina, to see the Straights of Magellan and the southernmost tip of South America.<br />54. Mount St. Helens, Washington, to see the results of recent explosive volcanism.<br />55. The Giant's Causeway and the Antrim Plateau, Northern Ireland, to see polygonally fractured basaltic flows.<br />56. The Great Rift Valley in Africa.<br /><strong>57. The Matterhorn, along the Swiss/Italian border, to see the classic "horn".</strong><br />58. The Carolina Bays, along the Carolinian and Georgian coastal plain<br />59. The Mima Mounds near Olympia, Washington<br />60. Siccar Point, Berwickshire, Scotland, where James Hutton (the "father" of modern geology) observed the classic unconformity<br />61. The moving rocks of Racetrack Playa in Death Valley<br />62. Yosemite Valley<br />63. Landscape Arch (or Delicate Arch) in Utah<br />64. The Burgess Shale in British Columbia<br />65. The Channeled Scablands of central Washington<br />66. Bryce Canyon<br />67. Grand Prismatic Spring at Yellowstone<br />68. Monument Valley<br />69. The San Andreas fault<br />70. The dinosaur footprints in La Rioja, Spain<br />71. The volcanic landscapes of the Canary Islands<br /><strong>72. The Pyrennees Mountains</strong><br />73. The Lime Caves at Karamea on the West Coast of New Zealand<br />74. Denali (an orogeny in progress)<br /><strong>75. A catastrophic mass wasting event</strong><br />76. The giant crossbeds visible at Zion National Park<br />77. The black sand beaches in Hawaii (or the green sand-olivine beaches)<br />78. Barton Springs in Texas<br />79. Hells Canyon in Idaho<br />80. The Black Canyon of the Gunnison in Colorado<br />81. The Tunguska Impact site in Siberia<br />82. Feel an earthquake with a magnitude greater than 5.0.<br /><strong>83. Find dinosaur footprints in situ</strong><br /><strong>84. Find a trilobite (or a dinosaur bone or any other fossil)</strong><br />85. Find gold, however small the flake<br />86. Find a meteorite fragment<br />87. Experience a volcanic ashfall<br /><strong>88. Experience a sandstorm</strong><br />89. See a tsunami<br /><strong>90. Witness a total solar eclipse</strong><br />91. Witness a tornado firsthand. (Important rules of this game).<br />92. Witness a meteor storm, a term used to describe a particularly intense (1000+ per minute) meteor shower<br />93. View Saturn and its moons through a respectable telescope.<br /><strong>94. See the Aurora borealis, otherwise known as the northern lights.</strong><br />95. View a great naked-eye comet, an opportunity which occurs only a few times per century<br /><strong>96. See a lunar eclipse</strong><br />97. View a distant galaxy through a large telescope<br /><strong>98. Experience a hurricane<br /></strong>99. See noctilucent clouds<br />100. See the green flashsaxifragahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11350662136988602572noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36837529.post-8855523174075903492008-12-12T23:00:00.010+01:002008-12-13T13:01:58.739+01:00With all that time spent in the field it'd better be goodThe new <a href="http://geology.rockbandit.net/2008/12/11/accretionary-wedge-14-favorite-places-for-field-work/">Accretionary wedge</a> on Favorite Places for fieldwork is up at <a href="http://geology.rockbandit.net/">Geology News</a>. As usual I was behind on everything, so writing a post of my own slipped to the bottom of the todo list (and that's far down). Anyway the call for submissions did get me thinking about the field, which is my home for some months each year, and to try to work out whether I had a favorite place.<br /><br /><div><div><div>I have a bit of a crush on all my field sites. They are all in the northern part of the northern hemisphere in a a type of landscape I've come to love. They are all in areas where I would probably never have come as a tourist and they all involve my favorite activity of all times - travel. But they are also different. Not only as in actual geographical differences, but also different to me. The first place was like the first love that completely changes one's perspective on the world, but didn't last and now is just a faint memory. The second is the full blown longterm relationship, that gives me a great deal of happiness and inspiration, but which also sometimes sucks beyond belief because I know all it's downsides. The third one is the fling, that now seems to be developing into something more serious. </div><br /><div>My <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenland">first field site </a>was my home for two summers more than ten years ago, when I did fieldwork for my MSc thesis. I went with a fellow grad student whom I didn't know particularly well before we left, but who became one of my best friends. We were both new to geology and to the Arctic and to field work. We didn't understand what was up and down in our outcrops. We didn't know how to do good descriptions of the sediments or what was an appropriate size of a sample and got frustrated with the quality of the data we brought with us home after the first year. The data were really that bad (at least mine were) and we did go back for a second summer to remedy this, but while I was learning how to collect data and what things to look for, I also got sucked into the geology. I hadn't been a particularly enthusiastic student prior to this, but little by little I got genuinely excited about what I was doing. I began to see patterns and systems , to see where my observations fit in with the literature and where they didn't. I went from picking the topic mainly because it gave me the possibility to go to the Arctic, to thinking that fluvial sediments were one of the coolest things ever (I still think so). It also gave me a longlasting crush on Arctic landscapes. I haven't been back to this particular place in ten years, but somehow the Arctic still looks like <a href="http://www.greenland.com/content/english/tourist">this</a>* to me.</div><div> </div></div><div></div><div>My second field site is <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russia">here</a>, and as some readers might know, I go there <a href="http://risingtotheoccassion.blogspot.com/2007/02/walking-down-memory-lane.html">every</a> <a href="http://risingtotheoccassion.blogspot.com/2007/05/random-bullets-of-field-preparations.html">summer</a>. It has been the backbone of my professional existence for years, and will, for all I know, continue to be so for many years to come. It's where I get my best ideas. It's where I spend time with my "<a href="http://risingtotheoccassion.blogspot.com/2008/03/when-theres-more-than-one-side-to-story.html">field family</a>" and where I have local friends and colleagues. It's where know how things work (to whatever degree that is possible), where I know beautiful, peaceful and fun places and places I'd rather never go to again, where I have a history with people and places and where I feel at home. </div><br /><div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5279059417049552802" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCUmC6gzhsod7pF7LQA-xdpGTRi7piLsdEc-UKPL8zcL_ucUZgMOAKNJhYPt4bT14raIHYKUDP27-vmYgNtaoUzHzwBz_V29GLEHC5kctqJw1_7iGgJ-kfgK02hFEhiLMft3DweQ/s400/DSC01321.JPG" border="0" /></div></div><br /><p><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5279059710590592802" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 266px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsx5g8CT1rKgz9_u_TBqjtfxQCvHpbhJe26r8WxxJaX_vbvTQrpMtAGCEoAg6ur35AfEQMD0mayEe3YXoUGCw68j2tMv8LUu1LrOyrxzaIktT-xJK0T3UiW87p3SLN1lvL-mrYGA/s400/MJ07-0606-8.JPG" border="0" /></p><br /><p></p><br /><p>Lately I've added <a href="http://risingtotheoccassion.blogspot.com/2008/02/reinventing-my-research.html">another</a> <a href="http://risingtotheoccassion.blogspot.com/2008/08/when-field-trips-are-so-much-more-than.html">field site </a>to the collection. I have spent some time in this area before, including a short field season last year, but next year will be the first time I'll have a real longterm field program here. As with all new things this is one part exciting and one part unfamiliar and a little bit frightening. I don't have the comfort of long term experience or of connection to the people who also work here. It's new and different and a little mechanical, because it is about reusing routines once learned elsewhere and about getting students involved rather than engaging wholeheartedly in the work myself. I do know the area is spectacular though, and that this is something I will be returning to.</p><br /><p></p><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5279063446530361890" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 266px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiuFX2DOTePci0JZrU9uml9jJ_SyMacmMUVIxHXV3SdjOHiG_4UUweANjkSLD28BEDr2TCh0IeiubNweIU44OzG9gw3UJPPvO7vV83GBR2-t-2TrZalygdPvmtNBAOg7pD_y9iRg/s400/DSC_0008.JPG" border="0" /><br /><p></p><br /><p></p><span style="font-size:85%;">*(no photos from this site because I did my Master's back in the day when digital photography was nothing but wishful thinking, and I'm too lazy too scan any of the real photos).</span><br /><br /><p></p><br /><p></p>saxifragahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11350662136988602572noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36837529.post-49956123557614876272008-12-12T00:36:00.005+01:002008-12-12T00:43:07.699+01:00Wordle your dissertationCouldn't resist this one. <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/sciencewoman/">Alice </a>explains <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/sciencewoman/2008/12/wordle_your_dissertation.php">how to do it</a>.<br /><br />I dumped my entire dissertation into the <a href="http://www.wordle.net/">wordle webpage</a> and was more than surprised to see how quickly the whole thing was turned into this little summary.<br /><br /><br /><a title="Wordle: Dissertation" href="http://www.wordle.net/gallery/wrdl/380033/Dissertation"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #ddd 1px solid; PADDING-RIGHT: 4px; BORDER-TOP: #ddd 1px solid; PADDING-LEFT: 4px; PADDING-BOTTOM: 4px; BORDER-LEFT: #ddd 1px solid; PADDING-TOP: 4px; BORDER-BOTTOM: #ddd 1px solid" src="http://www.wordle.net/thumb/wrdl/380033/Dissertation" /></a><br /><br />Click for a bigger imagesaxifragahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11350662136988602572noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36837529.post-68066509304563618372008-12-10T20:02:00.002+01:002008-12-10T20:27:25.838+01:00Some random thoughtsIf a journal has some very special rules for how they want reviewers to structure the review wouldn't it be a good idea to put that information somewhere on the webpage where the review is being uploaded, and not only in an email that was sent weeks ago? Needless to say that I just messed up and put everything in the wrong boxes according to the system outlined in the email.<br /><br />A major administrative thing is going on at work and although I don't have any real role in this, it is difficult to shake the feeling of somehow being responsible for some action after a year and a half of administrative duties in former workplace. On the other hand it's been nice to see that there are people here who will and do speak up for my interests, even if it feels weird to be in a position where I am not in a role to speak up for other people's interests.<br /><br />Most of my department has left for holidays or for that big conference on the other side of the pond where the geobloggers are going to <a href="http://shearsensibility.blogspot.com/2008/12/geobloggers-at-agu.html">meet</a> up. It would have been awesome to meet the geobloggers and to attend <a href="http://clasticdetritus.com/2008/12/09/agu-2008-info-about-session-im-chairing-and-blogger-meet-up/">this</a> session, but I'm actually happy, I'm not going anywhere. Quiet hallways, no students and the dark time is just what I needed to up the writing productivity. I will go conferencing in Scandinavian town where it always rains in January, so I'll get my fix. Speaking of which, I also need to come up with some ideas for a maybe slightly too ambitious talk, I've been stupid enough to submit an abstract for at said conference.saxifragahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11350662136988602572noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36837529.post-73684078475853290272008-12-09T22:27:00.008+01:002008-12-09T23:11:59.682+01:00How do you do your science?<strong>The way I tend to think my kind of earth science should be done</strong><br /><strong></strong><br />1) Sit down, read literature, think of interesting problems and come up with a suggestion for a study<br /><br />2) Go in the field to collect data<br /><br />3) Type up field notes, organise waypoints, photos, sketches and samples<br /><br />4) Spend many hours in the office bent over said data thinking up explanations for variations, comparing data from different sites and looking up references in the literature.<br /><br />5) Carefully draw clean versions of figures to go into papers and presentations and write up the findings.<br /><br /><br /><strong>What the process (and division of time between tasks) really looks like these days</strong><br /><strong></strong><br />1) Meet with some random friends and colleagues and throw some ideas around at a meeting or a party or both, chat to another colleague over email, do some sketching on the back of a piece of paper, send some emails back and forth to people who may or may not be collaborators some day and bingo at some point a project idea has emerged.<br /><br />Secure funding<br /><br />Plan logistics, buy tickets, get permissions, buy and get together equipment, organise maps, food, safety gear, people, travel plans. Pack. Travel.<br /><br /><br />2) Advise students and other newcomers, buy food, gas, equipment, stuff, whatever. Do some field work and collect some data. Organise logistics and plans for the following days. Talk to people, make arrangements for next years field season. Discuss potential developments of future projects.<br /><br />3) Type up field notes and organise data in small one hour increments throughout the year or in a frantic last minute sprint come May. Meanwhile tell students about the importance of keeping good field records.<br /><br />4) Throw some ideas around at conferences or workshops with colleagues, prepare some preliminary figures when getting stuff together for talks or lectures, prepare some preliminary figures for co-authored talks given by colleagues, throw some more ideas around when talking to people about other things or while discussing writing projects. Travel to meet with collaborators and maybe collaborators and discuss potential presentations, collaborations, publications and some research ideas. Occasionally jot down ideas or outlines for manuscripts or put aside articles that will be relevant.<br /><br />5) Start working on a paper based on various preliminary figures and descriptions used in presentations and more or less well organised field data. Do some literature searches and read up on the literature that seems most important. Draw final figures and write up the work. Meanwhile think about the implications of the study and how this can be developed into new projects.<br /><br />I sometimes think about what happened to reading and actual analysis of data, but hope that discussions and presentations is just a different way of working through the material.<br /><br />How do you do your science?saxifragahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11350662136988602572noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36837529.post-66839432011086852082008-12-09T21:41:00.004+01:002008-12-09T22:10:14.147+01:00100 things I maybe did or did not doI'm working on keeping up with my priorities. It's not working very well to be honest. Last week it was writing that fell by the wayside, this week it's sleep and exercise. The plan is probably too ambitious or just not flexible enough. I do however think that it's been good and useful to think in terms of priorities, in the sense that it makes me more aware of how I choose to use my time. It's for example a choice to spend all day working on the revise and resubmit because it's more important and put off the evaluation of student reports until tonight. It's also a choice to leave you with this little meme placeholder, while I go and type up some comments for the students.<br /><br />Seen at<a href="http://2008brightstar365.blogspot.com/"> Bright star's<br /></a><br />(Bold the ones you've done)<br /><br /><strong>1. Started my own blog</strong><br /><strong>2. Slept under the stars </strong>(I'm a geologist after all. I live outside for about a quarter of the year)<br /><strong>3. Played in a band</strong> (does it count if one was twelve years old and part of an after school music activity)<br />4. Visited Hawaii<br />5. Watched a meteor shower<br />6. Given more than I can afford to charity<br />7. Been to Disneyland/world<br /><strong>8. Climbed a mountain</strong> (again - a geologist, what do you expect)<br />9. Held a praying mantis<br /><strong>10. Sung a solo</strong><br />11. Bungee jumped<br /><strong>12. Visited Paris<br /></strong>13. Watched lightning at sea<br />14. Taught myself an art from scratch<br />15. Adopted a child<br /><strong>16. Had food poisoning</strong><br />17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty<br /><strong>18. Grown my own vegetables</strong> (not since I had a small piece of vegetable garden as a kid though)<br />19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France<br /><strong>20. Slept on an overnight train</strong> (oh yes, many times)<br />21. Had a pillow fight<br />22. Hitchhiked<br /><strong>23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill<br /></strong>24. Built a snow fort<br />25. Held a lamb<br />26. Gone skinny dipping<br />27. Run a Marathon<br />28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice<br /><strong>29. Seen a total eclipse<br />30. Watched a sunrise or sunset</strong><br />31. Hit a home run<br /><strong>32. Been on a cruise</strong> (worked on one)<br />33. Seen Niagara Falls in person<br /><strong>34. Visited the birthplace of my ancestors</strong><br />35. Seen an Amish community<br /><strong>36. Taught myself a new language</strong> (Russian, I'm not saying I'm any good at it)<br /><strong>37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied</strong><br /><strong>38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person<br /></strong>39. Gone rock climbing<br />40. Seen Michelangelo’s David<br /><strong>41. Sung karaoke<br /></strong>42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt<br />43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant<br />44. Visited Africa<br /><strong>45. Walked on a beach by moonlight</strong><br />46. Been transported in an ambulance<br />47. Had my portrait painted<br />48. Gone deep sea fishing<br />49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person<br />50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris<br />51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling<br /><strong>52. Kissed in the rain</strong><br /><strong>53. Played in the mud</strong> (this is my favorite question as it is practically what I do for a living)<br />54. Gone to a drive-in theater<br /><strong>55. Been in a movie</strong> (does a sixth grade school project movie count)<br /><strong>56. Visited the Great Wall of China<br /></strong>57. Started a business<br />58. Taken a martial arts class<br /><strong>59. Visited Russia</strong> (more times than I can count)<br />60. Served at a soup kitchen<br /><strong>61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies</strong> (this is a very americanized meme, so I'll substitute this with girl scout advent calenders of which I must have sold hundreds)<br /><strong>62. Gone whale watching</strong> (or rather seen whales when out doing some science anyway)<br /><strong>63. Got flowers for no reason</strong><br />64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma<br />65. Gone sky diving<br />66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp<br />67. Bounced a check<br /><strong>68. Flown in a helicopter</strong><br /><strong>69. Saved a favorite childhood toy</strong><br />70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial<br /><strong>71. Eaten caviar<br /></strong>72. Pieced a quilt<br />73. Stood in Times Square<br />74. Toured the Everglades<br />75. Been fired from a job<br />76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London<br />77. Broken a bone<br />78. Been on a speeding motorcycle<br />79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person<br /><strong>80. Published a book</strong> (does a digital book count)<br />81. Visited the Vatican<br />82. Bought a brand new car<br />83. Walked in Jerusalem<br />84. Had my picture in the newspaper<br />85. Read the entire Bible<br />86. Visited the White House<br />87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating<br />88. Had chickenpox<br />89. Saved someone’s life<br />90. Sat on a jury<br />91. Met someone famous<br /><strong>92. Joined a book club<br />93. Lost a loved one</strong><br />94. Had a baby<br />95. Seen the Alamo in person<br />96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake<br />97. Been involved in a law suit<br /><strong>98. Owned a cell phone</strong><br /><strong>99. Been stung by a bee<br />100. Ridden an elephant<br /></strong>saxifragahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11350662136988602572noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36837529.post-6715457929000121502008-12-04T21:50:00.004+01:002008-12-05T07:55:13.320+01:00Day 4...or are you bored yet?I spent nine hours working today and didn't get home until 8 pm, so I'm giving myself a break tonight.* Hiding under a woolen blanket with a big cup of coffee and realising that this week has been the first in more than a month where I had any significant downtime at home. I had to reschedule my plans for today and take care of an urgent budget issue, but I did get another few of the admin/teaching tasks out of the way. As the semester and the fiscal year is coming to an end there are all sorts of paperwork things that must be attended to now within the next few weeks. I keep a list of correspondence/paperwork/follow-up things I absolutely must do and it's good to see the strike-throughs on the list add up. Today I finished the exam sheet for my undergrad class, did all remaining travel accounting for this year and had a meeting with a colleague to go over the details in the budget for a project I'm leading a module of. Yesterday I was discussing the outline for a master's project with a potential new student, sent off some follow-up emails to people I met at meetings lately regarding collaboration and gave a talk at the university. Earlier this week I got through my email after weeks of neglect, submitted a final course description for my graduate course, found someone who agreed to be external examiner for the undergrad course and had a phone meeting with a new collaborator regarding joint field work next summer. It's good to see that things are happening. It's also good to see that things are coming together and reaching a natural break, where it is acceptable to leave it for a while over the holidays and pick it up again later.<br /><br />The new research program is coming together. I have two new projects in the start up phase. Am getting people together and building a network of activities. I have a new master's student who will start working on some of this and maybe another one on a different side project. I have a new collaboration with someone I will go in the field with this summer and between us we have a bit of funding and possibilities for some more. After the break I need to deal with logistics for the field season and some serious preparation for a proposal with one project group, but right now things are more or less on track.<br /><br />The teaching related administration is almost done. I need to spend some time tomorrow going over the budgets and maybe order some maps and field equipment as long as I can still squeeze them into this years budget. The course plans are submitted and will either be approved or not. It's out of my hands now. If I get the go-ahead for planned courses I need to start developing plans in more detail, organising logistics for field excursions and inviting guest lecturers, but all this awaits decisions from the higher-ups.<br /><br />I'm not burdened with a lot of general administration. I'm on one committee thus far and I have a small task to complete in that capacity. Most of this involves a colleague who will be away for the next month or so, so it seems this must be postponed. I should probably begin to look into my part before the break, though.<br /><br />I may be whining and complaining, but things are really going rather well. If only I could find enough time in the day to get the revisions I'm working on now turned around, before they kick me out of the volume for being too slow, I think I could be happy.<br /><br />*It goes without saying that I didn't reach my goal today either. I did two hours of writing this morning and then the rest of the day was swallowed by meetings and all the accounting business. I haven't given up on the goals, but wanted to talk about something else today.saxifragahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11350662136988602572noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36837529.post-82941186639793688072008-12-03T23:16:00.004+01:002008-12-04T00:03:27.065+01:00Day 3 ... or not quite there yetThis is getting old. I still have no real success to report. The first part of the day went well. I did a couple of hours writing in the morning, went into work to give a talk and take care of some of the administrative tasks on the agenda for today, ended up staying longer than planned, and lost the good schedule entirely in the evening. I didn't get back to writing as planned and I didn't get out to do any exercise, but I did talk to my mom on the phone for two hours, which I guess was a good thing. It had been a while, so it was definitely a good priority, but still the hours just doesn't add up. Sigh.<br /><br /><a href="http://biochemgradstudent.blogspot.com/">Amanda</a> commented in the post <a href="http://risingtotheoccassion.blogspot.com/2008/12/life-balance-challenge-day-2-or-one.html">below</a> how it's difficult to make life outside of work a priority, when the work part is always driven by deadlines and expectations and I replied that I felt I couldn't go on like that for ever. I wanted to talk a little more about it, but thought I'd do it here rather than in the comments. It totally agree that it's difficult, because it's simply not possible to make other things a priority without letting work suffer to some degree. I'm not sure I'm quite prepared for that, because it will mean opportunities gone by, and I'm really just making this experiment now when I have few outside responsibilties (so that's how committed I am after all), but I think it's good to think about it, and realise that it has consequences to make the personal life a priority. Most of the time I just complain that I don't have a life, but don't do anything about it. The thing is also that this has been going on for so long, that at some point it just has to change.<br /><br />It's like a moving target. First it was about going full steam ahead while finishing up the PhD, then it was about giving it all I had for the post doc, and the visiting position in order to get a faculty position and now it's about establishing myself here and get grants and papers and grad students and I don't know what and it just never ends. We don't have a tenure track system, so basically I've made it by now. Sure, I need to be competitive for jobs if I want to be able to move and competitive for grants in order to keep going here, but there is no specific goal post with a specific date on right now. Still it's not possible to kick back and say that this was pretty well done and now it would be OK to take it a little easier. Most of the time it feels like the bar has just been raised once again, and I don't see that this is going to end any time soon. I can't actually see other solutions than to either accept that my life is so that I will never have time off and don't have a personal life or spend any meaningful time with other people, or to decide that maybe what I'm able to achieve in my professional life is slightly less than what I'm physically able to do if I give it all I have. I think especially for someone who doesn't have kids, elderly parents, health issues or other pressing demands on time, work easily becomes all consuming because one can just never do enough. Maybe I don't need to have a lot of time off every day, but I really want to have enough time off to want to (re)connect with people, to have interests outside of work and to want to do things in this town and to become part of the community at the university. I hope it will be possible to find some sort of balance to make this work, because having no personal space at all really makes me a grumpy old lady and that's not who I want to be.saxifragahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11350662136988602572noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36837529.post-3035681761713043042008-12-02T19:34:00.002+01:002008-12-02T19:43:49.564+01:00The life balance challenge Day 2 or one can't have it allSo, exercise, sleep and having a life outside of work has moved to the top of the list. It's surprisingly difficult to make these things a real priority. As in actually taking time off work to go running and to relax at home without feeling guilty. There are always things that should have been done or ought to be done right now, and making the decision to let work things slide to make time for myself is harder than I was aware of. But I've done it today. I went running and did some yoga, and spent time this afternoon connecting with some long distance friends on facebook. Writing on the other hand have so far not even made it to the list. I had to be in the office early for some meetings and spent the afternoon doing all this healthy for-me stuff and now it's evening and I've got a talk to prepare for tomorrow. It's a mystery to me how succesful people manage to work long hours, exercise, sleep and have a life at the same time. I seem to able to do one or the other, but not all.saxifragahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11350662136988602572noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36837529.post-47720551256042328162008-12-02T08:42:00.002+01:002008-12-02T08:53:57.839+01:00The life balance challenge Day 1<a href="http://risingtotheoccassion.blogspot.com/2008/11/priorities.html">It</a> started out as a complete failure yesterday. I got to bed too late, got up too late, were too tired to even contemplate exercise and ended up spending all day on administrative tasks. But I did get through the mountain of email and the most overdue course administration tasks and no one commented on me for being slow and lazy. I now have a description for a new course, that will hopefully be approved by the powers that be soon and an external examiner for the upcoming exams. I also went home after a normal work day, spent the evening reading a book (and blogs, who am I kidding), talking to my brother on the phone and went to bed at a decent time. Today I'm going to make a new effort towards sticking to my priorities. At least I'm not completely exhausted anymore.saxifragahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11350662136988602572noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36837529.post-11331943106119848322008-11-30T20:27:00.002+01:002008-11-30T22:24:10.717+01:00PrioritiesI'm back home after another three weeks of travelling only interspersed with a few days last week of continuous grading and student presentations. I've been to Russian metropolis to work on a paper, to the capital of this country to attend a committee meeting and to nearby city for a project meeting. All good and interesting and part of the reason why I love my job, but it also means I've been away from home for more than half of the time I've been living here and that I've been living more or less in a suitcase for six months. I've sort of had it for a while. I have barely read my email for the past three weeks, much less responded to anything. I'm behind on some important course admin related things and feel I've really not been doing that part well enough. I have a deadline for a manuscript revision that has already been extended twice and which will require some serious effort on my part this week if we're going to meet it. After that there are other tasks which do not feel extraordinarily urgent because the deadlines haven't actually passed yet, but which will fall into that category soon enough. I don't think I've been doing a poor job here in general. I've taught a new course, contributed to the department activities with an upcoming course and committee work, maintained an active research agenda, developed a new additional research agenda for this geographical area and developed contacts for a future proposal for funding and general networking. But I've been doing all these things in the most superficial way possible and it feels like a lot of important things are falling through the cracks all the time. I definitely have too many things on my plate, but it's hard to see which parts it's possible to let go.<br /><br />I figured out the other day that I've been working a little more than 50 hours a week on average since I got here. I realise that the actual number of hours could have been much worse, but with all the travelling and the amount of full day meetings and semi-work social events in evenings on top of that I haven't had much regular free time at home for months. The few weekends I've been at home lately have been spent in a state of collapse. I feel guilty when an entire Saturday goes by doing nothing but sleeping and watching a movie, but I haven't got the energy to be creative when keeping this kind of schedule.<br /><br />I have three weeks here before Christmas break. I want to spend those three weeks putting out most of the fires that are immediately urgent, but also to make room for something resembling a life. I want exercise, sleep and developing social connections in my new hometown to be a priority. I also want to be able to engage in things at home that are not work, like cooking, reading, learning something new and getting back to blogging. I have made lists like this in the past, and somehow they never last for long, but I think that starting over again and again is better than just giving up completely. In order to keep the get-back-to-blogging goal and secure some accountability, I'm going to check in here to report how it goes.<br /><br /><strong>Exercise, sleep and food</strong>: Uh oh, this is the one that always falls to the bottom of the list, but really should be at the top. I want to have one hour a day for exercise and to go to bed at a time where 7 hours of sleep is still a realistic figure. I normally have quite ambitious ideas on what to eat, but some semi-ready made solutions might be what is needed to not spend half the evening on shopping and cooking. Instead I want to cook some proper food on the weekends, since I'm actually going to be near my kitchen for the next few weekends (yay).<br /><br /><strong>Writing</strong>: I didn't join InaDWriMo because I knew writing just wasn't going to happen for me in November, but that doesn't mean I can't have my own December writing goal. I want to spend at least four hours a day on writing (probably more during the first week while finishing up revisions of the first manuscript). This is not going to be easy because there are a gazillion emails to reply to, travel reimbursement forms to fill out, exams to grade and papers to read, but this exercise is about getting the priorities right and writing really must be high on that list right now.<br /><br /><strong>Teaching and admin:</strong> Regular teaching for the semester is over. My students will have an exam next week, which needs to be graded and I need to read some of the papers on the syllabus this week, I'm also giving a talk, which must be prepared and have a mountain of neglected correspondence and admin tasks. This could easily soak up all my waking hours, but I want to try to limit this to four hours a day. We'll see how it goes, if I'll just get even more behind or if it's actually possible to get the most important things done if I just keep my priorities straight. The development of projects and collaborations is really well under way and much can be done now by a few emails and phone calls to the right people. My main projects have received a lot of attention recently, and if I just get the writing done, they don't need a lot of admin attention right now either. The really important things are the course admin stuff, the upcoming talk, a paper to review, get the few but important emails sent and read for exam questions.<br /><br /><strong>Personal activities:</strong> I want to keep up blogging and have some free time at home now and then. I think I need to do some work on the manuscript revisions in the evenings during the first week and possibly also some preparation for the talk, but I don't want to feel guilty every time I do something not work related. I also want to spend about an hour twice a week of picking up the online Russian course I've been trying to do.<br /><br />My goal is to spend a lot of this time at home. We have some pretty rigid rules for how much we must be present at work, but I'll try to find a way to work around that. The teaching and admin part needs to be done at work anyway, but I'd prefer to do the writing part at home at least on some days. I'm still not sure how I want to organize this tomorrow. Part of me wants to come in to do the admin part first, because I haven't told anybody I'm going to be away all morning and everything is urgent. Another part of me thinks that this is exactly what causes the days to slide and that I will probably not get any writing done, if I do it in that order. We will see. And right now I have one hour to write a course description before bedtime.saxifragahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11350662136988602572noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36837529.post-11539383711619238462008-11-09T14:08:00.001+01:002008-11-09T15:22:12.720+01:00An update from the trenchesI've been at University above the Arctic Circle for a little more than 5 months now. I've actually only been here about 4 months since my official start date was while I was away in the field, but anyway it seems about time for an update.<br /><br /><strong>I've been here for 23 weeks:<br /><br />Of these I've been:<br /><br /></strong>Doing fieldwork for 6 weeks<br /><br />Been on field excursions with students for 3 weeks<br /><br />Attended an international conference for 2 weeks<br /><br />Taught intensively for 5 weeks<br /><br />Done labwork in Grad School City for 1 week<br /><br />Been away for a family event for 4 days<br /><br />Been sick for 3 days<br /><br />Had family visiting for 10 days<br /><br /><strong>and<br /></strong><br />done final edits to a manuscript and submitted it<br /><br />written two abstracts for meetings and submitted titles for two other talks<br /><br />started revisions on a reviewed manuscript<br /><br />developed ideas and an outline for a new paper based on new awesome data<br /><br />developed a table of content for a book proposal with colleagues<br /><br />dealt with department politics<br /><br />spent time on course budgeting<br /><br />attended a two-day workshop for a project I will have a significant role in<br /><br />attended several follow-up meetings on new project<br /><br />typed up half of my field notes from this summer<br /><br />developed ideas for one new graduate level course and a make over of undergrad course<br /><br />sat in on several lectures by co-teachers in undergrad course<br /><br />been advisor for 15 undergrad research projects all of which are due tomorrow<br /><br />tried to be helpful and accesible for my one MSc student<br /><br />made progress in learning about the local geology<br /><br />made some contacts with potential collaborators<br /><br />made progress towards a real plan for fieldwork in this location next summer<br /><br />made progress towards possible collaborations and funding opportunities in my other field area<br /><br /><strong>Sadly I've not been:</strong><br /><br />Sleeping enough<br /><br />Spending enough time with my husband<br /><br />Exercising enough<br /><br /><strong>or</strong><br /><br />Blogging enoughsaxifragahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11350662136988602572noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36837529.post-90987793589580532032008-08-07T14:35:00.002+02:002008-08-07T14:48:13.058+02:00A teaching puzzleAccording to an email in my inbox the semester has officially started. Not that it makes much of a difference. With an intensive short course program in the summer and overlap between summer courses and semester courses the change is barely noticeable. But, the students who are going to stay here for the full semester have arrived, and classes have started.<br /><br />I have spent most of my time the past week preparing for the course I will be running in the fall semester. It is broad and location dependent, but builds on knowledge from several sub-disciplines and covers a broad range of geological topics. The students have very different backgrounds. Some have only taken an introduction to geology course, while others are near completion of a B.Sc. degree. The overall outline of the course is established in the school curriculum and consists of a fieldtrip, lectures, weekly exercises and an independent project to be completed during the semester. Within this broad outline it is up to me to structure the content of field work, lecture and exercise activities and decide how and when to involve guest lecturers/ co-teachers.<br /><br />Previously this course has been taught in a relatively traditional lecture format with lectures two-three times a week and a weekly exercise/lab. The individual projects have been literature review projects with presentations at the end of the semester. Two years ago when I was <a href="http://risingtotheoccassion.blogspot.com/2006/11/mission-accomplished.html">teaching here for six months while being on part-time leave from my postdoc</a>. I developed a course that is now the “sister”-course to this one. The two courses have a very similar structure, but the one I developed two years ago has more field activities and a larger and more research intensive independent project. My goal has been to translate these ideas into the course I’m teaching now, while also keeping some of the elements that have traditionally been part of this course.<br /><br />I have been struggling with finding a way to connect the field work they do on the excursion to a practical two-week project they carry out in groups and eventually to their own independent research projects. My goal is to make each part become a piece of the next, in a way where they will have an experience of a continuous practical activity running parallel to the more traditional classroom teaching throughout the semester. Most of the stratigraphy here is sedimentary basins, but some students may choose to work on tectonic/structural geology topics for their independent projects. I’m not sure I will manage to connect all the dots this year, but I’m going to outline some of the problems I see, and if anyone has ideas to how to handle any of these successfully your advice would be much appreciated.<br /><br />The link from excursion to two-week practical project: What kind of data could be collected in limited time with a group of relatively inexperienced people, which will be useful for a larger two-week project concerning partly a different part of the stratigraphy?<br />We can spend a maximum of one day at each field site as one of the aims for the excursion is to see as much of the stratigraphy as possible, and we have a very good and expensive logistics solution that allows us to move around. They will get to visit a couple of localities with rocks of the same age as they will be working with in the practical project, but with a different position within the basin. I am not sure they will be able to describe enough rock record during a one day stop to be able to do some good comparisons, though.<br /><br />The link from two week practical project to independent research project: How can a bulk of data collected and processed as group work be separated and distributed into different independent projects. Here I am really lost. I think it would be a good idea if at least some of the independent projects could build on and expand the work they get started during the practical project weeks, but am not able to estimate how this could be done or how many projects there would be basis for doing. I am also not sure how to connect these two parts for those who choose different topics for their independent project.saxifragahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11350662136988602572noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36837529.post-70885412830692740042008-08-05T10:47:00.003+02:002008-08-05T11:17:07.594+02:00In good newsWell, life is busy here. Between starting up new courses, scrambling to put together some research ideas that will work here in my new environment, settling into a new place and doing laundry between field trips, time is scarce.<br /><br />Yesterday I spent most of the day making a fool of myself in various situations, but today seems to start on a better note.<br /><br /><ul><li>The sun is shining after days and days of fog.</li><li>I got a very nice review back on a paper. Like a letter from the editor saying "This is really cool science and good work. If you could just add some details and some explanations we would love to publish it in our top of the subfield journal". Yay!</li><li>We unpacked the last boxes at home, and my home office is almost up and running. Now we just need some new curtains, because all curtains in the apartment are hideous. Really. Like if someone picked them out while blindfolded.</li><li>I found a very cool conference where I could present some of the ideas my research program here will likely build on and get a chance to meet some important people in my slightly-new-to-me field. The timing of the conference is not splendid and the abstract deadline is soon (too soon given that I have field work and excursions and another conference back to back until then), but I'm going to give it a try.</li></ul><br />Maybe it is all coming together anyway.saxifragahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11350662136988602572noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36837529.post-67104784809905007522008-08-03T14:54:00.009+02:002008-12-12T03:43:45.519+01:00When field trips are so much more than what's outlined on the itinerary<img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5230291150012593218" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVJKyM3N9zEpM8TYWtpgEFhwGY-kN0lkbDLG-rNPGFy66RfDTMfFIjnIKv14Fo9un1jIYS-FmG-vFOnuwePuyezMN0R0X60AMn8UuyRpqppcFFLroYdMymL4J_z0bKKgTS_YjNRA/s400/DSC_0003.JPG" border="0" /><br />I’m back from a great excursion to some of the world-class outcrops that lie on my doorstep here at University above the Arctic Circle. For the past week students from all over Europe have been studying the basin fills from the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carboniferous">Carboniferous</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cretaceous">Cretaceous</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cretaceous">Tertiary</a>. Each morning we would climb some hundred meters above sea level to get to the open air class room where we have discussed sedimentary processes and sequence stratigraphy, practicing field work techniques and geological arguments, all while enjoying some spectacular sunny weather and stunning views.<br /><br /><br /><p><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5230290973595052722" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrKWVlnC3Udkz7Cp5rUSc9WJ2DPNxSQ3B4hd2Mha7b57JAXNze61GnDYGF9UoqQ4KctFqtfEudb4lW0SJufYnAu9Bs3IqoRr6TSpcJK1uBg3qSckexqkAH2gl9itu6XRMoEPXNRQ/s400/DSC_0019.JPG" border="0" /><br />Something special always happens on these trips. People loosen up and get to know each other and conversations drift from the professional to the personal and back without people even noticing. I like the way the barriers between teachers and students are broken down when in the field. In fact the free and easy atmosphere was part of what attracted me to geology in the first place. I like to get to know my students as more than rows of faces in a class room and to hear their ideas and plans and thoughts. I also like that I get to show a more personal side of the scientist. That the professors are people too, and that we also have families and pets and hobbies and interests and thoughts about things outside the geology classroom. I like the opportunities to discuss career options and education choices and to share the experiences I wished someone had shared with me when I was younger and at a lower level in the ivory tower hierarchy. </p><p><br /></p><p><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5230291403752963362" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8qouDnG4VE3qaejqduBhXR0TtLLApnSsRBJcUQ__AN77hRlbEhpSdQitnAnouE6LHfCQ6hBMWBHD3QEOttOUoYNiGdv9AY-ZO7YnOskNqWehWYu6dDkZ2CGfXPJIO4AzIXgPNUQ/s400/DSC_0005.JPG" border="0" /><br />I want to show the students that it’s not about being tough, but about doing a good job. That it’s about learning the necessary techniques and bringing the right equipment. I want to show them that the skills needed to do a good job can be learned and that lack of experience does not mean that one will not be able to make it. The process of becoming a field geologist is not only about learning the science, but also about learning to navigate the outdoors. Some students come equipped with mountaineering skills and top notch equipment, but many come with only the most rudimentary knowledge of how to use a compass or how to move in a mountain side. I want to do field courses in a way where it is accepted to be less experienced and where being hungry or tired are legitimate reasons for a break. </p><p><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5230291653060210786" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlTuEC_euFPkQX9UiFGKM0b0QpVr0RPdUztRHcnzgJGKaRemYGNFcKzgRdr8PXjNzn1JLnWWh9mdCCHUQydbC16dy-RH5XsqPenZxCgu8YSzJmv1AhDQBGfEP8nHKc9g4iXbGGbw/s400/DSC_0012.JPG" border="0" /><br />The field part of geology is perhaps the area where we are closest to an apprenticeship system. This is where the trade is learned, where connections are made and where ideas about what symbols to use for what structure are etched into brains. It is where skills are mastered and where the way future geologists will go about doing their observations is shaped. It is a place where the tone is set for an open dialogue between teachers and students and where we get a chance to influence or inspire each other. Of course it is also a chance to go to some spectacular places that most people never get to see, enjoy some wet sandwiches after a long day in the rain or just the relief of reaching the destination after a long hike or hitting the shower at the end of the day.<br /><br />I think that one of the coolest things about moving here is that much of my teaching will be based on field activities.<br /></p>saxifragahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11350662136988602572noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36837529.post-81359316942478863242008-07-21T11:43:00.003+02:002008-12-12T03:43:45.804+01:00Going in the field with studentsThanks for the welcome back comments, everyone. It’s good to be back.<br /><br />When I saw <a href="http://ron.outcrop.org/blog/?p=154">Ron Schott’s </a>call for submissions to the <a href="http://theaccretionarywedge.wordpress.com/">Accretionary Wedge </a>on the topic “Field Camp Geology” on Saturday, I thought, wow, what an appropriate way for me to re-enter the scene on blogging. University above the Arctic Circle is located in the middle of world class outcrops of rocks from the Precambrian to the Quaternary and teaching is strongly focused on field based activities. This is one of the things that attracted me to this location in the first place, but it is also a challenge. Not the least in the practical sense. In a few weeks I will be leading a field course to several localities I have never visited before. There are no road signs here, and one needs to know from which side of the mountain the ascent is easier, where the best outcrops are or where it would be convenient to place, say four groups of students, who should work on the same formation, but not breathe down each other’s necks. This kind of knowledge requires a familiarity with the localities that cannot be achieved from the literature and which isn’t easy to obtain in the course of a few weeks as a new faculty member. Therefore I’m happy to have been asked to tag along as a co-teacher on another field course in the department, led by an experienced colleague who has been working on these outcrops for a long time. We are leaving today and alas this trip is also getting in the way from me writing a more coherent post on my thoughts on field camps/ field excursions or dig out some old stories on time for the Accretionary wedge. I will leave you with a photo from one of the places we’ll be going to and I’ll be back to talk more about field trips in general and this one in particular in a week’s time.<br /><br /><div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5225401784684899170" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio3C0E8kFfBsusBOueT3ROGzxI2Ly0fAYmPKce1E9BIq2Q7uq6A0SQHR7lCN33Y34F61WItxXNp5CkD2KsH-fGJjHSTQL7srI2xu5Jlfpf97-o1rM5ACc0m8FLUUm0HXGmcT44Ng/s320/DSC_0141.JPG" border="0" /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5225401251164027970" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq0XEokrVOsRswHVIoj_LC8gtMP3S4QX83HO7lwWKxuDfP2Nylus6VZmO5dwe_JIPyYtt3R7rbEefo1KU71xGvUfCSFnPAvPUZyYu6KFe9YSZihc1P_7GbcwN7w0q95cUg4MJsFQ/s320/DSC_0119.JPG" border="0" /></div><br /><p><em><span style="font-size:85%;"> </span></em></p>saxifragahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11350662136988602572noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36837529.post-54559671709861474272008-07-19T13:09:00.002+02:002008-07-19T14:04:30.838+02:00The one in which I reinvent this blogOnce again I've been missing in action for a very long time. My mini-sabattical turned into a tough and demanding writing boot camp (though a very productive one) and I lost inspiration for blogging entirely. For some people academic writing and blogging go hand in hand, for me the energy put into the former seems to correlate negatively with my motivation for the latter. I'm ashamed to admit that I didn't even have the energy to sign on and write a short reply to the people who actually came here to ask how I was doing. I'm sorry, but your comments were very much appreciated.<br /><br />As I talked about in the spring I was undecided about which direction I wanted this blog to take, and couldn't strike a tone I was entirely satisfied with. To the endlessly repeating tune of what would I write on the blog if I wanted to update it now, spring and early summer was taken up by finishing a major writing project, field work and moving, and then lately, slowly settling into a new place. I have been here for three weeks now. The house is still a mess and my office is still in boxes, but it feels good. Summer classes are well underway. I'm leaving for the first field trip with students on Monday and I'm working on the final adjustments to the syllabus for the fall semester undergraduate course. I've even managed to do some edits to a manuscript and do some small research tasks every day. <br /><br />I'm happy and I think I will enjoy working here. I'm also nervous about how I will manage to get grant money, if I will ever come up with a good research topic for this particular location, how interaction will be with the rest of the department and how the switch back to a sub-discipline I haven't really worked actively in for several years will pan out. Thinking about what a source of inspiration and support the academic blogging community has been to me in the past, when navigating other difficult paths from the dissertation to the post doc to new teaching and admin responsibilities made me realise that I wanted to jump back on the wagon. It also made it clear to me that what I'm most interested in here, is how to navigate the academic carreer as a person, as a scientist, as a geologist and as a teacher. I have learned a lot from watching others and I want to share my version as well. Ideas about whether this should be more personal or private and maybe in my mother tongue or whether it should be a more streamlined research blog are just out of line with that main interest, and maybe setting some boundaries for myself about what this space is, will actually allow me to do something more interesting with it.<br /><br />I may redesign the page a bit, to make it a more professional place for me. I want to be able to talk more freely about what I do, and since I'm in a very small place now, that due to its location and priorities gets a lot of attention, it will be easy to figure out who and where I am. I don't think I will come out of the pseudonymous closet, just yet, but I want the page to be in a way where I wouldn't be terribly embarrased if a colleague found it. Changes are not likely to happen over night as I will be travelling an awful lot over the next couple of months, but at least I am back in the game, and am looking forward to reconnect with all my lovely blogfriends.saxifragahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11350662136988602572noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36837529.post-86651701729064331022008-03-07T11:30:00.003+01:002008-12-12T03:43:46.103+01:00It's been quiet here latelyBecause I've been doing this:<br /><div></div><br /><div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5174945824200581650" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmohHz5n4_c663sQt-rFYpGW73CRxYCddpEeszldwli49oD1QBAIgLrW-MRr6VhqB5ypUWg5Xgkgx_iTtVcx2cUo8BxzGo1UfVD499GwJ5tzJTTMzo2yLvl4Vgk8fWzclLK0VGQw/s320/DSC_0002.JPG" border="0" /></div><br /><p></p><p>Let me just say that the work-from-home-mini-sabattical has turned into a very exhausting, though rather succesful writing-bootcamp. An update is in the works, but right now I'm heading out to enjoy a rare sunny moment and get some fresh air.</p>saxifragahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11350662136988602572noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36837529.post-81871545373028801372008-03-01T13:57:00.003+01:002008-03-01T14:32:57.246+01:00How I spent the leap dayOne would think receiving an extra day should be great. Who doesn't need more time? Whether using it for getting all the stuff done that needs to get done, or as <a href="http://writingasjoe.blogspot.com/">Jo(e)</a> suggests, <a href="http://writingasjoe.blogspot.com/2008/02/leap.html">leave it off the calender altogether </a>and indulge in extra sleep and fun, extra time ought to be good.<br /><br />Personally I'd be happy to wipe yesterday off the calender:<br /><br />I spent all day in meetings (including <a href="http://risingtotheoccassion.blogspot.com/2008/03/when-theres-more-than-one-side-to-story.html">this</a> rather emotional one), while having a terrible shoulder ache that only got worse during the day. By the end of the day I was supposed to fix some tables for a poster a colleague is making, but could barely lift my arm to my desk and decided I'd better go home. My colleague suggested I should see a chiropractor for the shoulder, but they don't open until Monday (I will go then if the pain persists). On the way home someone crashed into my car while reversing in the parking lot. The damage will be covered by her insurance, but I will be the one who has to go to the mechanic and get it repaired, plus I got to stand for half an hour in a freezing cold parking lot to fill out an accident report for the insurance company. I did none of the research related tasks I had on my list for yesterday, got home at 7pm too tired to make proper dinner and fell asleep in front of the TV (which I was watching from a very strange angle given that I was lying down on the couch, but couldn't bend much because of the shoulder pain).<br /><br />So on top of having a really crappy day yesterday it now looks like I can add a visit to the chiropractor and to the mechanic to my day on Monday. I really need someone to help me run my life. It seems that each time I have cleared up time for writing (or God forbid, for relaxation), I am inundated with other life-stuff, which must be attended to, and then I haven't even talked about another health appointment, online banking, cleaning the house, contacting the shipping company about possible dates for our move, the deadlines for next week and the social event I have agreed to attend.<br /><br />Rant over. Let me just say that I hope today will treat me more kindly and that I'm totally ready for spring and a new month and a new beginning.saxifragahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11350662136988602572noreply@blogger.com5