only tiny progress

[kareina]

One of the things my advisor suggested that I do was take the clumps of temperature results I'm now getting for my samples (by doing the calculations for different analysis spots on the same mineral, and/or more than one of the minerals in the sample) and combine them to a single (average) number and plot them as oval error ellipses which show how much higher and lower than the average they fall, then plot all the samples on the same diagram to show the overlap (or not) of each sample. I make most of my graphs in Excel, it being the easy thing to do, the data being in Excel in the first place. But it isn't set up to plot that sort of diagram. Fortunately, I also have isoplot, a handy add-on for Excel which can do exactly what I just described (and many other things that only a geologist interested in geochronology and isotopes would want). Today's main progress was setting up a spreadsheet to make that sort of graph importing the data I've got thus far, and working out which of the many isoplot otptions I need to create the graph I want. Tomorrow I need to go back to revamping the part of the chapter that deals with this one sample at a time, making the figures which show which minerals are used and what the pressures and temperatures are for each of the spots analysed on the minerals, and then, when I've got the numbers enter them into the above to add them to the diagram.

I never did make it down the hill today to the St. Gildas picnic :-( I had wanted to go, but clovis_t, who has a deadline to turn in another thesis draft on Monday, convinced me we should stay home and get useful stuff done. However, rather than doing work on my thesis during that part of the day, I made some progress on my statement of teaching philosophy so I can apply for jobs, and did uni work in the evening.

Such an exciting life we students lead! ;-)