I guess the moving bug is going around, school is starting again and people are off about the country. I myself moved up to East Millcreek in Salt Lake City. The move wasn't too traumatic, though my spine may never be the same again. I only own one major piece of furniture, but that one piece happens to be a credenza that weighs enough to be made of gold. In fact, my friend Brady, who helped me move, decided that Chris Lambson and the Credenza of Gold would be a good movie. It took three of us to lug that thing around, and not one of us liked it. But the credenza is awesome. It's painted black and red and really comes in handy to store all the other stuff I have. Enough stuff to fill two Jeep Grand Cherokees with the rear seats folded down. I have a lot of stuff, especially for a single guy. And as a geologist, I am obligated to have a few boxes full of nothing but rocks. I felt like I should get my friends t-shirts that said, "I survived helping a geologist move," or something like that. It was quite a production and left me exhausted for days afterward.
My new home is the same as my old old old home. By that I mean that I am living where I lived when I was 4 years old, my Grandma's basement. It is taking a little bit of getting used to, I've had to move things around down here and what not, but it's not too bad. The biggest thing to overcome is the low low ceiling. If I'm not careful when I walk out of my room, the ceiling will catch me right in the eyebrow. Next time you see me, I may have either a black eye from walking into the ceiling, or a hunchback from crouching below it. Only time will tell.
So yeah, we'll see how things go from here. I am still busily looking for a job. I've decided to attend the singles ward here in the area, so Sunday will be my first chance to go. Hopefully it will be a fun ward and I'll be able to make friends and get out and do stuff. Not that hanging out in my Grandma's basement isn't fun... Anyways, I'll hopefully be able to get back into the rhythm of writing every week again. And I'll see what I can do as far as taking pictures of stuff. Maybe for next weeks post I'll have to go to the zoo!
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Friday, August 13, 2010
So Good To Be Finished
Well, yesterday I took my Calculus final. After studying for what seemed like endless hours I finally felt prepared enough to go and face the beast. The test itself took me two and a half hours to fight through, the longest test of my BYU career. The experience left me drained physically, mentally, and emotionally. I do have to say that I felt good about it. Well, good about it in the sense that I was able to answer the questions, not good about it in the sense that I really care about what I learned in the class.
Calculus class is a giant hurdle for those of us in the geology department. Speaking generally, most of us in the Geology department love science but hate math, which is why we chose geology in the first place. Let's face it, calculus is not all that applicable in our field. When the other members of my calculus class found out that I was a geologist, their collective response was, "Well why the heck are you in this class?!" I have found myself wondering that on more than one occasion. At one point, I even asked one of the geology professors why the department subjected us to the mathematical hellscape that is calculus. They responded by telling me that it was to help develop our problem solving skills. I personally would have rather done the sudoku in the newspaper every day, that would build problem solving skills in an environment that would not make me want to jump off a building. Other students in the department have suggested that calculus is a class to weed out the students who don't belong in geology. In response to that I was forced to wonder if a department with a graduating class of 12 really needed any less students.
Despite all the arguing and wondering and pain and suffering, calculus 112 and 113 remain required classes for geologists. It is a hurdle that we all have in common. 95% of being a geology major was awesome, it was just two classes that drove me out of my mind. Is there a corollary here to life? I'm sure there is. Life is full of wonderful experiences, dare I say that about 95% of the time, it is awesome. But sometimes it seems like that other 5% is enough to drive us out of our minds. Everyone has bad days, it is an experience that anyone can relate to. The trick is to persevere. God requires us to suffer the bad times and the good times, and in the end, I'm sure it will help our problem solving skills, our faith, our character, and a myriad of other traits that our Heavenly Father wants to build up in us.
This week I went on a trip to Goblin Valley. It was quite a drive, about three hours, but totally worth it. The scenery was beautiful, both on the way there and on the crazy back roads that I took on the way home. Feel free to check out the pictures. Till next week.
Naturally, as a geologist, I could tell you all about how and why the goblins formed, but I wouldn't want to bore you with the details of how the Entrada Sandstone fractures and then spheroidal weathering coupled with differential errosion formed the valley full of goblins, so I won't...
Calculus class is a giant hurdle for those of us in the geology department. Speaking generally, most of us in the Geology department love science but hate math, which is why we chose geology in the first place. Let's face it, calculus is not all that applicable in our field. When the other members of my calculus class found out that I was a geologist, their collective response was, "Well why the heck are you in this class?!" I have found myself wondering that on more than one occasion. At one point, I even asked one of the geology professors why the department subjected us to the mathematical hellscape that is calculus. They responded by telling me that it was to help develop our problem solving skills. I personally would have rather done the sudoku in the newspaper every day, that would build problem solving skills in an environment that would not make me want to jump off a building. Other students in the department have suggested that calculus is a class to weed out the students who don't belong in geology. In response to that I was forced to wonder if a department with a graduating class of 12 really needed any less students.
Despite all the arguing and wondering and pain and suffering, calculus 112 and 113 remain required classes for geologists. It is a hurdle that we all have in common. 95% of being a geology major was awesome, it was just two classes that drove me out of my mind. Is there a corollary here to life? I'm sure there is. Life is full of wonderful experiences, dare I say that about 95% of the time, it is awesome. But sometimes it seems like that other 5% is enough to drive us out of our minds. Everyone has bad days, it is an experience that anyone can relate to. The trick is to persevere. God requires us to suffer the bad times and the good times, and in the end, I'm sure it will help our problem solving skills, our faith, our character, and a myriad of other traits that our Heavenly Father wants to build up in us.
This week I went on a trip to Goblin Valley. It was quite a drive, about three hours, but totally worth it. The scenery was beautiful, both on the way there and on the crazy back roads that I took on the way home. Feel free to check out the pictures. Till next week.
Naturally, as a geologist, I could tell you all about how and why the goblins formed, but I wouldn't want to bore you with the details of how the Entrada Sandstone fractures and then spheroidal weathering coupled with differential errosion formed the valley full of goblins, so I won't...
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Imagine What We'll Know Tomorrow...
Graduation inches ever closer! Soon I will be a Geologist with a degree to prove it. A geologist, like any other scientist, is someone who is searching for truths in the world around them. The only problem with scientific truths is that they are liable to change. It reminds me of a quote from the movie Men in Black:
"Fifteen hundred years ago everybody knew the Earth was the center of the universe. Five hundred years ago, everybody knew the Earth was flat, and fifteen minutes ago, you knew that humans were alone on this planet. Imagine what you'll know tomorrow."
My seventh grade science teacher had another way of putting it. She said that science was the search for "little 't' truths". Science is always changing, and the field of geology is no different. In 1938, a ceolacanth, a fish believed to have been extinct for 80 million years, was caught off the coast of South Africa. In the 1960's the theory of plate tectonics revolutionized the way that geologists think about the planet. Just recently, Pluto was relieved of its status as a planet. All these discoveries and theories and ideas changed the science of Geology. The truths that we know today, may not be the truths we know tomorrow.
Because of its ever-changing nature, science is an imperfect discipline. That doesn't mean that it's not important or not exciting and fun. In fact, because it is always changing and new discoveries are always being made, science is very fun and exciting. The future of science and geology is filled with limitless possibilities. There are new discoveries waiting to be made every day. With new discoveries comes new knowledge, and like Agent K from Men in Black said, imagine what we'll know tomorrow.
This week I went on a trip to Nine Mile Canyon, not on purpose though. I was just out driving and saw a sign that said, this way to nine mile canyon. I thought, why not? I had no idea that I was on my way to see a bunch of awesome petroglyphs and enjoy a pretty awesome drive. Anyway, you can see my pictures from the trip right here.
"Fifteen hundred years ago everybody knew the Earth was the center of the universe. Five hundred years ago, everybody knew the Earth was flat, and fifteen minutes ago, you knew that humans were alone on this planet. Imagine what you'll know tomorrow."
My seventh grade science teacher had another way of putting it. She said that science was the search for "little 't' truths". Science is always changing, and the field of geology is no different. In 1938, a ceolacanth, a fish believed to have been extinct for 80 million years, was caught off the coast of South Africa. In the 1960's the theory of plate tectonics revolutionized the way that geologists think about the planet. Just recently, Pluto was relieved of its status as a planet. All these discoveries and theories and ideas changed the science of Geology. The truths that we know today, may not be the truths we know tomorrow.
Because of its ever-changing nature, science is an imperfect discipline. That doesn't mean that it's not important or not exciting and fun. In fact, because it is always changing and new discoveries are always being made, science is very fun and exciting. The future of science and geology is filled with limitless possibilities. There are new discoveries waiting to be made every day. With new discoveries comes new knowledge, and like Agent K from Men in Black said, imagine what we'll know tomorrow.
This week I went on a trip to Nine Mile Canyon, not on purpose though. I was just out driving and saw a sign that said, this way to nine mile canyon. I thought, why not? I had no idea that I was on my way to see a bunch of awesome petroglyphs and enjoy a pretty awesome drive. Anyway, you can see my pictures from the trip right here.
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