I'll start with the most exiting news.
It was recently announced that one of my advisors will be a lead author for the next IPCC report. It's due out in 2014, and even if I finish before then, I'll have insight into the process. She's an inspirational scientist (both her and her husband, my main advisor are inspiring scientists), and I'm exited to get to work with both of them over the next 3 (or more) years. They hosted a dinner at their house this weekend, and the number of students they have working for them has doubled, maybe tripled, since last year. It's going to be exiting.
Also exiting: Last weekend was the half-marathon in Rochester that I've been training for since May. My goal was 2 hours, which would be just over 9 minute miles. I finished the race in just under 1:52, averaging 8.5 minute miles. I'm thrilled. My uncle lent me his fancy GPS running watch, which both showed me my instantaneous pace and logged the entire run. Here are the results:
(mile:pace)
1 : 8:14
2 : 8:07
3 : 8:29
4 : 8:32
5 : 8:32
6 : 8:26
7 : 8:39
8 : 8:31
9 : 8:48
10 : 8:41
11 : 8:32
12 : 8:35
13 : 8:18
So not only did I average 8.5 minute miles, but I stayed pretty damn close to 8.5 minute miles throughout the race. I'll post pictures when I get them, no matter how awful I look. I've misplaced my camera battery charger, so there will be more pictures in general in the future.
Presentations
I gave a presentation last week to my research group, which went really well. This was the first time I've been able to actually show some results to these people (excepting my advisor, whose seen every single variation and intermediate result). I'm always apprehensive about speaking in front of other people, even though the apprehension has been gradually decreasing in severity from my high-school peak. I'm happy with my work and results so far (although there is still a lot that needs to be done to clarify and distill the main points), and was thrilled that there was a good discussion of possibilities and implications during the presentation. I'm giving a very similar presentation next week for the Soil and Water Seminar, and then in early November for the Space Sciences luncheon. So I'll get plenty of practice, which is great.
Practice, Practice, Practice
This semester, I need to internalize atmospheric chemistry, modeling, and large chunks of atmospheric science. I need to be familiar with the concepts, the major derivations, and I need (need!) to get a better quantitative handle on things. I'm hoping to do my A Exam sometime in early 2011, and want to be confident enough with both the qualitative and the quantitative. So I'm reading textbooks, reviewing derivations, and even creating cheat-sheets and index cards to drill these things into my mind. I'm getting better, but not quite where I'd like to be for this A Exam.
I also need to plan the next phase of my research. This Asian Influence project will wrap up soon (relatively). And I'll be switching to an EPA grant with a different focus. So I need to think a little bit. On top of this, I'm going to apply to the EPA Star grant this year, which would support me for 3 years (more if I can stretch it) on some project that I propose. I have a few ideas, along similar lines to the EPA grant, but with a slightly different focus. I'll post more when I've thought a little more.
Everything else
On top of everything else, there are great seminars this year in several different departments. The Soil and Water Lab has organized a grant-writing weekly meeting to help organize and plan, which I'm looking forward to. I'm enjoying the Air Pollution class I'm taking. I'm enjoying writing this paper. I'm enjoying the people I'm around, which is growing rapidly. I'm looking forward to climbing, skiing, movie nights, happy hours, fall break, Phoenix, Broken Social Scene, and Grinderman. I will be cooking a lot of excellent food this semester, and am enjoying the mostly vegetarian diet I have been maintaining (exceptions: meatballs and chicken wings last weekend, a buffalo chicken calzone the weekend before, and some local pork in an upcoming pig roast). I'm getting pretty good at tofu. Now I need to figure out beans.
I've also been purging my apartment of useless crap. I have way to many books and DVDs, so I've eliminated several shelves to force myself to eliminate some books and DVDs. I've always struggled with stuff and clutter. Now I'm trying to reduce it all to a manageable level.
