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wSpring Tide |
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The tandem pull of the sun and the moon
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wThursday, February 28, 2002 |
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Ah nappage. 4 hours. Was good. Felt much needed.
I'm majorly bummed I missed class wed. tho.. it was on primary productivity in the ocean, which happens to be something the prof works on. Moo. Talked to him today and got the notes, however. Also on the presentation,while its half the grade for the research paper, I found out they're grading super easy on it. So I prolly didn't need to stay up as long as I did or put the work into it that I did. Ah well.
Well.. it would have been good to put that amount of work into it, but not mostly the night before. I could have saved myself the ass dragging of the past 2 days and not missed the lecture is my point.
So Felicity commented about the clanmate who was running off to join PMF. Just so ya know, we didn't solicit it. He approached us.
So back to my life, 2 week countdown to finals week. I did a master list of things to finish before its all over, so I can be sure to get what I need done before Hell Saturday. Why is it called Hell Saturday, you ask? Because from 4:00 to 7pm I have a 3 hour physics final, then from 7:30 to 10:30, a 3 hour ochem final. I suspect Red Bull will be employed in between the exams.
Its been gorgeous this week. Its tough to live in paradise. The trees are all blooming, spring flowers coming up.. actually, they've been doing that for the past few weeks. Sunshine, warm, with the excellent Pacific ocean breeze blowing up the hill to campus. I'm majorly pleased with my lil jasmine in a pot outside my door. Its blooming like crazy now, and since I don't smoke anymore I can actually smell it! (note to reader: a good cue to congrats me on 2 months without smoking...)
posted by
Just Mary at 8:52 PM
11 comments
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wWednesday, February 27, 2002 |
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So so glad today is over. I procrastinated on putting together my presentation on Pfiesteria, and was up til 6am finishing it. Ugh. 4 hours of sleep, skipped class, got the physics assignment done and in, and gave the presentation.
Whew.
I don't know why I didn't work on it more last weekend... I have no excuses about better things to do. I just didn't. Or when I did, I played with Powerpoint, instead of building a subtantive presentation. But once again, freakin Red Bull pulled me through.
For the next 2-3 days I'm gonna pay for all this tho. I'm too old to be up for 24 hours straight.
posted by
Just Mary at 9:32 PM
9 comments
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wSaturday, February 23, 2002 |
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Ah... went to scientific fairyland yesterday. It was a field trip for my oceanography class. Wow. Basically this place came into being when David Packard brought a bunch of scientists together and said "if you could have anything you wanted, what would it be?" So the scientists of MBARI don't compete for outside research money, they don't have to publish (although they do) and they don't have to have results, basically. They can plan on writing papers 20 years from now. And when they want a new gadget, they can go to the engineers and say "hey I need this" and the engineers build it.
I'd been there before -- they have open houses once or twice a year. But this time we got a tour from one of the scientists and it was way way more interesting. We saw the new pool (300,000 gallons) where they are testing a new type of exploration vehicle -- an Autonomouse Underwater Vehicle (AUV) and met the two guys who built it. These guys were about 12, total propeller heads and totally cool. Heh. They talked about the institute's upcoming mission to map the water up under the artic ice with this vehicle. We also got to see the machine shop where they are building underwater observatories (I'd never seen a water knife -- a machine that uses high pressure water to cut -- they were cutting titanium! With water! well, and pressure... but still.. pretty freakin cool. )
We got to see some of the great video footage they've taken of their explorations of the water column. I'm always struck by how their explorations are uncovering new species just about every day. I asked and got to see live footage of my favorite cephalopod, the Vampire Squid (love the name -- Vampiroteuthis infernalis -- Vampire Squid from Hell).
I have a bathymetric chart of the Monterey Bay submarine canyon on my wall (which you could fit the Grand Canyon inside of -- second deepest rift in the earth in the world) and I like looking at it. There's a similar map at MBARI, only there are all these names on the map where my map has just blank spots. That's just so cool.
The rest of yesterday was pretty mundane after the field trip. But a good night of clanning last night -- tho' I was up WAY too late. Instead of catching up on sleep last night, I feel more sleep deprived today. Moo. It was funny clanning tho... wonder who I (or Althea) has pissed off this time. Logged on with 4 bk, logged off with 29. I prolly asked for some of it.. was doing public ss's of "thank you!" and "keep it coming" after awhile. Its sorta hard sometimes not to respond to it in some fashion. When Entil ss'd "deal with it" Althea said "bite me." heheh. Oh well. That increased the bk frequency, even after she logged off.
The rest of this weekend will be about sleeping my face off, working on homework and working on a presentation I have to give next week on Pfiesteria. Might clan a lil tonight.. debating on attending a bday brunch tomorrow.
Its an exciting life, eh?
posted by
Just Mary at 2:44 PM
10 comments
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wSunday, February 17, 2002 |
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It's prolly old, but this
is pretty damn funny and made me think of James for this part: "Spain, Scotland, and New Zealand established the Axis of Countries That Sometimes Ask Sheep to Wear Lipstick." (he *does* spend a lot of time talking about sheep...)
Its a 3 day weekend but here I am at home working on ochem.. or not working as the case may be at the moment. 3.5 weeks til this quarter is over. I confess I'm counting down. Thank god for my oceanography class... its the only thing I really enjoy this quarter. Everything else, I have to make an effort to like (hating it only makes it harder to learn, and being the good lil student, I'll hop through the hoops they've set up for me and like it, goddamit.)
Tonight the Indigo Girls are playing downtown and I'm not there. #&*%#$ Instead I'll stay home and think about sugar chemistry. Whee.
Saw an awesome documentary ... Grateful Dawg, about the relationship between Jerry Garcia and David Grisman. Watching the footage, I was struck by Garcia's fragility and pathos... (the footage is mostly from the 90s.) It was kind of heartbreaking for me to watch it... If you like Dawg music or the Dead, its worth checking out tho.
posted by
Just Mary at 7:01 PM
8 comments
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wSaturday, February 16, 2002 |
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Today feels pretty grey. Not only is it grey outside, but the aftermath of the physics exam has me pretty blah. Ochem exam on Tues, and I'm off to the library in a few minutes to work on the subject. I'd rather go back to sleep. Or go see some friends. Or do ANYTHING but pack more information in my brain.
posted by
Just Mary at 12:39 PM
0 comments
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wThursday, February 14, 2002 |
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Physics is like sex. Both have practical applications, but that's not why we do it. -- Richard Feynman
posted by
Just Mary at 6:49 PM
2 comments
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wSunday, February 10, 2002 |
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Atchoo.
I have the post-smoking crud. Seems like everytime I've quit (this is like, my 6th quit), for a few months after I get sick a lot. I figure its because my lungs are de-tarring an can again absorb allergens and bugs n stuff. I know my allergies are worse... so maybe that's just what this is -- allergies. Or allergy compounded. Regardless I'm feeling a lil whiny about it. I've been getting a lot of sleep, eating right, doing C, zinc, echinacea... I took out the big guns yesterday... this "wellness" herbal concoction that seems to lessen the duration of any cold or flu thing I've ever had. Dunno if its new-age voodoo or not but it seems to work.
posted by
Just Mary at 6:55 PM
16 comments
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wFriday, February 08, 2002 |
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Irony
Felicity's blog has no comment feature on it, so I'm compelled to comment here. In her post of February 8, she makes the statement that "Oh well. They were right - we would not agree, not after I seen all of those PM campers sleeping inside the catsbane cave."
I challenge you, Felicity, to name names of PM or PMF members sleeping in the catsbane cave. I know for a fact we never camped there. Perhaps you are saying that because you had an argument with someone in PM or PMF.. I don't know. But you are incorrect. I would like to know who you've seen, however, that you assert is us.
'Course I also realize that folks will or won't choose to believe me based on the their feelings about PM/PMF. Heh. I know about Fat Alice's sign about "no camping..." And I told someone the other night -- "bet other groups will blame us.." And sure enough...
Heh.
Sometimes I think we're the "global warming" of Clanlord. Folks blame all kinds of things on PM that actually have no direct relationship. Sometimes I think its funny as hell.. othertimes its kind of frustrating. Perhaps the natural outflow of our private nature... people will make up their own stories about us since we aren't telling.
So it goes...
Friday afternoon here, and I'm taking a break after class before resuming studying again. Lots to do... my upcoming exam schedule looks a lot better this time.. 3 in 5 days rather than 3 in two days. I think it will be much less stressful this time around. The fun all starts next Friday, so it will be a nose to the grindstone weekend (I also have to get my research done for my paper). But I will do some clanning. Friday and Saturday evenings are the only times I go and clan now... I miss it a lot. I miss my friends, but real life is just too busy these days to commit to nightly hunting.
Been playing a bit more guitar lately to help keep my mood on an even keel. I get pretty lonely sometimes when my life is this busy. So bless my guitar and the fact I can still manage to plunk away on it.
Oh.. still not smoking. YAY. I'm not off the nicotine yet, but I should be soon. (nicotine gum). I confess I'm really proud of myself for quitting again. 39 days -- not too shabby.
posted by
Just Mary at 4:20 PM
13 comments
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