busy day on-line

but, just to be different, it wasn't personal e-mail or livejournal that kept me busy. Instead my advisor and I exchanged numerous e-mails over the course of the day.

It started last night, when in the course of using the results of version one in the spreadsheet for version two of the two main ways I'm calculating temperature and pressure for my samples I noticed that I was winding up with negative numbers for a few of the samples where no negative numbers should be. So I sent the spreadsheet off to my advisor, asking what I'd done wrong.

It turns out that I hadn't done anything "wrong", unless it is wrong to assume that since most of the minerals have their compositions reported in a usable fashion that all of them will be. It turns out that a very small, but necessary, correction is needed for the biotite reported in the results of the first program before it can be entered in the second program. That correction had been done, the results tallied and sent off to my advisor for comment, and he's much happier with how things are looking now that he's seen that.

In the meantime he's finished his comments for Chapter two. As he commented, acting upon all of the comments should be enough to "keep me going for a week or two". So I've started that process. Managed incorporate his comments into the original document for the first nine pages so far...

We've also exchanged notes about a third method for calculating pressure and temperature that he expected to see in the chapter and it wasn't there. Oops--quick--check my "tasks done" log. Ah--there it is, back in May I made an attempt at that one, made a note that something was wrong with how it was going, since the output file had "****" in place of numbers in some columns and noted that I needed to speak with my advisor about it. No further comments on the topic. Clearly, I forgot to speak with him. Oops. Let him know what happened, and he asked for the input file to see if he can figure out the problem.

I also sent him my "Annual Review" form filled out and ready for his comment. If he approves we make an appointment with the person in charge of these things for the department and turn it in. Having just done far more work than this form requires for my application for extension a few weeks back, I was *not* inclined to go very in depth on this form. The question wherin they ask:

"What are your detailed plans for the coming twelve months? What are the key milestones to be achieved? E.g. structure of the thesis, timelines, publications and completed chapters. Please provide at least one page."

I provided a single sentence: "It is my intent to complete the thesis and submit it prior to 12 December 2008, which is the date through which my funding was extended."

Hopefully my advisor will approve of this approach, I really don't want to use up energy which could have gone into the thesis with giving them a more detailed answer!

Tomorrow I head into uni first thing in the morning to learn how one separates zircon crystals from sand (which was rock, but I crushed them last week) in preparation for analysing them to determine their ages. Therefore I'm calling it a day so that I've got time to read my 1,000 words of geologic literature, go for a walk with clovis_t and do our daily yoga and still get to bed at a reasonable hour. (I did make time this afternoon for a short walk to O'Grady's Falls with baronsnorri when he got home from uni).

busy day on-line

but, just to be different, it wasn't personal e-mail or livejournal that kept me busy. Instead my advisor and I exchanged numerous e-mails over the course of the day.

It started last night, when in the course of using the results of version one in the spreadsheet for version two of the two main ways I'm calculating temperature and pressure for my samples I noticed that I was winding up with negative numbers for a few of the samples where no negative numbers should be. So I sent the spreadsheet off to my advisor, asking what I'd done wrong.

It turns out that I hadn't done anything "wrong", unless it is wrong to assume that since most of the minerals have their compositions reported in a usable fashion that all of them will be. It turns out that a very small, but necessary, correction is needed for the biotite reported in the results of the first program before it can be entered in the second program. That correction had been done, the results tallied and sent off to my advisor for comment, and he's much happier with how things are looking now that he's seen that.

In the meantime he's finished his comments for Chapter two. As he commented, acting upon all of the comments should be enough to "keep me going for a week or two". So I've started that process. Managed incorporate his comments into the original document for the first nine pages so far...

We've also exchanged notes about a third method for calculating pressure and temperature that he expected to see in the chapter and it wasn't there. Oops--quick--check my "tasks done" log. Ah--there it is, back in May I made an attempt at that one, made a note that something was wrong with how it was going, since the output file had "****" in place of numbers in some columns and noted that I needed to speak with my advisor about it. No further comments on the topic. Clearly, I forgot to speak with him. Oops. Let him know what happened, and he asked for the input file to see if he can figure out the problem.

I also sent him my "Annual Review" form filled out and ready for his comment. If he approves we make an appointment with the person in charge of these things for the department and turn it in. Having just done far more work than this form requires for my application for extension a few weeks back, I was *not* inclined to go very in depth on this form. The question wherin they ask:

"What are your detailed plans for the coming twelve months? What are the key milestones to be achieved? E.g. structure of the thesis, timelines, publications and completed chapters. Please provide at least one page."

I provided a single sentence: "It is my intent to complete the thesis and submit it prior to 12 December 2008, which is the date through which my funding was extended."

Hopefully my advisor will approve of this approach, I really don't want to use up energy which could have gone into the thesis with giving them a more detailed answer!

Tomorrow I head into uni first thing in the morning to learn how one separates zircon crystals from sand (which was rock, but I crushed them last week) in preparation for analysing them to determine their ages. Therefore I'm calling it a day so that I've got time to read my 1,000 words of geologic literature, go for a walk with clovis_t and do our daily yoga and still get to bed at a reasonable hour. (I did make time this afternoon for a short walk to O'Grady's Falls with baronsnorri when he got home from uni).