I can't believe the 2nd week of the quarter is already finished. I'm not sure if the week is going by fast or if I have so much to do that time seems to be going fast...
We had our GP meeting with our advisor yesterday. It was a good meeting because it got us on track to what our outcome at the end of this quarter should be and a way for us to present options to BLM. I feel like we're all back on track now. Last week's meeting was a good discussion, but it put us into a "What the heck are we doing now?!" mindset. I feel good about the project again; however, I think we all feel a little down about it. Mercury is such a hard topic and being with the Fed gov and Cache Creek's issues encompassing different jurisdictions (Tribal, Fed (BLM, EPA, Wilderness, etc), State, and private), it's kind of ridiculous to think that the mercury issue will be solved thanks to us or, in fact, that much progress will be made with our suggestions. So, that's kind of depressing, but we're all trying to stay positive about it and remember that no results is also a result. It'll take some convincing too. One of my teammates did the internship during the summer up there and she said a lot of fed people were basically "Yeah, there's no solution." So...they're skeptical and we'll have to be extra convincing with our final paper. The amount of work we have to do in the next 4 weeks is a little scary. We have to have a progress review about mid quarter, but need a draft of it completed before then and since the 2nd week is already finished...4 weeks it is! We're hoping to have the review sometime during the 8th week so it gives us a few weeks to get a draft written and handed out. I mean...The quarter is finished in 2 months! The last day of the teaching week is the 3rd of Dec with finals the week after. Goodness...Time to buckle down and stop slacking!
Other than that...This week has my first homework assignment! And I'm utterly stuck on it. It sucks. LoL I can't figure out if my research question is not a good modeling question or if I just can't model my question well. I feel like I'm missing something to be able to retool my question to model well or missing a state or rate (or misunderstanding a rate) to make it work. Hopefully I'll figure it out by Sunday because the assignment is due Monday! And we have another assignment due next week since we ended up with 2 labs this week (usually once a week). I have to be on campus to finish it and I need my friend because my R got messed up on my account (or maybe it was just that computer...?) and requires a re-installation. Anyway, environmental modeling sounds fun, but I feel like the prof kind of through us into the deep end. It's like I semi-know what she's talking about, but there is some terminology and math I need a refresher on or more explanation. So it's a little frustration too. I'm sure it'll get better (or I hope so), but we'll see. CBA is easy. He lectures once a week and we do a discussion once a week. I'm afraid the final is going to be horrible! My paper should be good (doing a proposal based on a topic I did last quarter), but the final might not be good. We have no assignments at all so it's basically "in your face" once the final arrives. I did ask him to do a practice exam, so hopefully he finds time to accomplish that. Being here for only 1 quarter and working with another prof too means he doesn't have the same amount of time as other profs may have (even my enviro modeling prof since she's here a year).
Well...with that...Time to watch Bones and eat dinner!
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