a very good day

I managed to wake up early this morning and head in to uni straight away. Had a good talk with my advisor, who suggested another technique I might try. Then met with S, who has been helping me with the zircon analysis. Apparently my zircons are ( quite complex )

This complication, in conjunction with an occasional example of each of the other complications I listed, meant that it took S three full days to convert the raw data into usable format and make graphs that show what is going on, and I am exceedingly grateful to him! After he explained everything to me (in much more detail than lies behind that cut--for instance he specifies which isotopes are involved!) he commented that if we do some monazite dating on this sample to corroborate our results that this could easily become a publishable paper. I pointed out that I'd love to do the monazite dating, but that my funding is pretty much out. At which point he gave me an account number from one of his accounts which still has enough in it to do some monazite dating. I guess this means that he is serious about wanting to do this paper with me! So I've started the process in motion to make it happen. My advisor points out that my thesis will be fine without this data, so take my time in making the arrangements and this can be a project for once the thesis is done. If it turns out that I land that teaching job, it will be very good to arrive with such a project to work on, so that I can be publishing not long after I start work, and before I've found local projects with which to involve undergrads. However, if I wind up getting a post-doc somewhere working on something specific, it could be harder to make time for this project. Nonetheless, I am actually looking forward to it, long term though it will be.

Writing up my draft of the results as they stand now gave me another 400 words for the thesis. Then I tried the suggestion my advisor made this morning. Alas, it doesn't seem to help. He's already concerned about the low temperature estimates I've been getting--this change drops them even lower. So I've sent him an e-mail asking if it worth doing any more with this thought, or just abandoning it.

In other news, I made it to my favourite food store today. Eumarah is one of those grocery stores which carries bulk grains, nuts, dried fruits, etc. I had an hour to spare between meetings, and that was enough time to drive into the city centre, find a place to park, buy to very full bags worth of bulk food, return to uni, and even pick up my samples which were still at the microprobe lab. While it took well under an hour to go shopping, mixing up my muesli and packaging all of the other grains, nuts, seeds, dried fruit, and spices into various jars and other containers took just over an hour! However, it will be another month or two before I need to do this again--I've now got enough muesli to last awhile. Yum!

It is now only 21:00, but I think I'll put the computer down for the night, go for a walk, do some yoga, and see if I can get to sleep early.

a very good day

I managed to wake up early this morning and head in to uni straight away. Had a good talk with my advisor, who suggested another technique I might try. Then met with S, who has been helping me with the zircon analysis. Apparently my zircons are ( quite complex )

This complication, in conjunction with an occasional example of each of the other complications I listed, meant that it took S three full days to convert the raw data into usable format and make graphs that show what is going on, and I am exceedingly grateful to him! After he explained everything to me (in much more detail than lies behind that cut--for instance he specifies which isotopes are involved!) he commented that if we do some monazite dating on this sample to corroborate our results that this could easily become a publishable paper. I pointed out that I'd love to do the monazite dating, but that my funding is pretty much out. At which point he gave me an account number from one of his accounts which still has enough in it to do some monazite dating. I guess this means that he is serious about wanting to do this paper with me! So I've started the process in motion to make it happen. My advisor points out that my thesis will be fine without this data, so take my time in making the arrangements and this can be a project for once the thesis is done. If it turns out that I land that teaching job, it will be very good to arrive with such a project to work on, so that I can be publishing not long after I start work, and before I've found local projects with which to involve undergrads. However, if I wind up getting a post-doc somewhere working on something specific, it could be harder to make time for this project. Nonetheless, I am actually looking forward to it, long term though it will be.

Writing up my draft of the results as they stand now gave me another 400 words for the thesis. Then I tried the suggestion my advisor made this morning. Alas, it doesn't seem to help. He's already concerned about the low temperature estimates I've been getting--this change drops them even lower. So I've sent him an e-mail asking if it worth doing any more with this thought, or just abandoning it.

In other news, I made it to my favourite food store today. Eumarah is one of those grocery stores which carries bulk grains, nuts, dried fruits, etc. I had an hour to spare between meetings, and that was enough time to drive into the city centre, find a place to park, buy to very full bags worth of bulk food, return to uni, and even pick up my samples which were still at the microprobe lab. While it took well under an hour to go shopping, mixing up my muesli and packaging all of the other grains, nuts, seeds, dried fruit, and spices into various jars and other containers took just over an hour! However, it will be another month or two before I need to do this again--I've now got enough muesli to last awhile. Yum!

It is now only 21:00, but I think I'll put the computer down for the night, go for a walk, do some yoga, and see if I can get to sleep early.