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kareinaToday I spent rearranging numbers in spreadsheets and looking at graphs. Seven hours worth of playing with graphs and spreadsheets (with frequent short breaks to try to keep my eyesight intact). Ever since my second session with the microprobe here I've been putting off actually processing the data it generates. Why? Because first of all I wasn't certain the settings I needed to use in the program which transforms the microprobe data into mineral cations. I've been fighting with the program and the muscovite results in particular for a while, exchanging frequent emails with my boss trying to work out what settings had been used for the data generated by the phd student years ago who last did experiments on this rock type here. Now that we've got it mostly working, I decided today that I'd go back to the beginning and do over the data processing I'd already done, to be certain that everything is consistent.
Today's effort was enough to:
*create a single spreadsheet containing all of the microprobe data to date
*edit the comment field for each analysis to have a consistent naming practice that includes information as to which microprobe session, which experiment, which bulk composition, what mineral we thought we were analyzing, and if it was the first, second, third, whatever analysis of that mineral for that particular sample.
*sorted the file by mineral
*processed the data for the garnets, added the results to the original file of garnet results from the above mentioned old data
*made lots of graphs to determine which of the garnet analyzes from my microprobe session were "bad" data (usually mixed analyses, identifiable as having either too much or not enough Si or Al due to the electron beam zapping both garnet and whatever is next to it as well)
*deleted the "bad" data from that file. Added in data for the pressure and temperature of the experiment for the new "good" data.
*recorded for each experiment (and each of the two bulk compositions run in each experiment) how many good garnet analyses (if any) I now have (and if zero, recorded how many garnets I attempted to analyze)
*all of the above for the muscovites.
*sent e-mail to my boss with a file set up to graph my results for the muscovite analyses colour-coded per experiment against the original data (which I left as small black circles, there being so many more of them) asking my boss if we have finally got the muscovite settings working (they just might be), or if they need additional tweaking.
Tomorrow I need to repeat all of this for the biotite, chloritoid, and carbonate analyses.
When I wasn't working I
*went for a long walk (which also means I went grocery shopping, choosing a very large supermarket which is a good 35 minute walk away, so that I'd get some exercise. It is a sad fact that living in a city tends to mean that walks=spend money, since it just isn't as pretty as living part way up the side of the mountain (where I go for walks just to admire the view), so I often put off going for a walk until I need something, and then I go get it.)
*emptied my personal and facebook in-boxes again (yay, keeping on top of my correspondence for several days running)
*made some yummy spinach-avacado dip (more or less like guacamole, but with lots of raw spinach added & mixed with an imersion blender to get the spinach chopped fine enough), which I ate with cucumber, yum!
*put the rest of the 500 g bag of spinach & 4 eggs into enough flour to make a pasta dough. This will be tomorrow's lunch (and several days running, no doubt, since![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
clovis_t is unlikely to help me eat a pasta that green. I wish they'd sell 250 g bags of spinach--while spinach does get smaller if you do, well anything, with it, that is still an awful lot of food for one person to eat before it goes bad.
*read some more in a really good book I borrowed from the SCA family that hosts our meetings.
*found contact details for an old friend I knew when I lived in An Tir. Someone had posted to SCA-West that her son just passed away, and I wanted to send her a note saying I was sorry to hear it. In an odd coincidence, her ex-husband, whom I'd met at the SCA 20-year Celebration, had done a comment in facebook on one of my friend's pages earlier today, and recognizing his name, I'd sent him a note. It was only a few hours later that I saw the news of their son's passing. It is odd how sometimes when you encounter someone you haven't thought of in years suddenly they are brought to your attention through multiple venues.
Today's effort was enough to:
*create a single spreadsheet containing all of the microprobe data to date
*edit the comment field for each analysis to have a consistent naming practice that includes information as to which microprobe session, which experiment, which bulk composition, what mineral we thought we were analyzing, and if it was the first, second, third, whatever analysis of that mineral for that particular sample.
*sorted the file by mineral
*processed the data for the garnets, added the results to the original file of garnet results from the above mentioned old data
*made lots of graphs to determine which of the garnet analyzes from my microprobe session were "bad" data (usually mixed analyses, identifiable as having either too much or not enough Si or Al due to the electron beam zapping both garnet and whatever is next to it as well)
*deleted the "bad" data from that file. Added in data for the pressure and temperature of the experiment for the new "good" data.
*recorded for each experiment (and each of the two bulk compositions run in each experiment) how many good garnet analyses (if any) I now have (and if zero, recorded how many garnets I attempted to analyze)
*all of the above for the muscovites.
*sent e-mail to my boss with a file set up to graph my results for the muscovite analyses colour-coded per experiment against the original data (which I left as small black circles, there being so many more of them) asking my boss if we have finally got the muscovite settings working (they just might be), or if they need additional tweaking.
Tomorrow I need to repeat all of this for the biotite, chloritoid, and carbonate analyses.
When I wasn't working I
*went for a long walk (which also means I went grocery shopping, choosing a very large supermarket which is a good 35 minute walk away, so that I'd get some exercise. It is a sad fact that living in a city tends to mean that walks=spend money, since it just isn't as pretty as living part way up the side of the mountain (where I go for walks just to admire the view), so I often put off going for a walk until I need something, and then I go get it.)
*emptied my personal and facebook in-boxes again (yay, keeping on top of my correspondence for several days running)
*made some yummy spinach-avacado dip (more or less like guacamole, but with lots of raw spinach added & mixed with an imersion blender to get the spinach chopped fine enough), which I ate with cucumber, yum!
*put the rest of the 500 g bag of spinach & 4 eggs into enough flour to make a pasta dough. This will be tomorrow's lunch (and several days running, no doubt, since
clovis_t is unlikely to help me eat a pasta that green. I wish they'd sell 250 g bags of spinach--while spinach does get smaller if you do, well anything, with it, that is still an awful lot of food for one person to eat before it goes bad.*read some more in a really good book I borrowed from the SCA family that hosts our meetings.
*found contact details for an old friend I knew when I lived in An Tir. Someone had posted to SCA-West that her son just passed away, and I wanted to send her a note saying I was sorry to hear it. In an odd coincidence, her ex-husband, whom I'd met at the SCA 20-year Celebration, had done a comment in facebook on one of my friend's pages earlier today, and recognizing his name, I'd sent him a note. It was only a few hours later that I saw the news of their son's passing. It is odd how sometimes when you encounter someone you haven't thought of in years suddenly they are brought to your attention through multiple venues.
