Here's me holding $1.5 million in gold!
Sunday, July 3, 2011
All that glitters...
Some of you may know that my master's research is sponsored by a gold mine. I was up there ~1 month ago doing field work, and I got a photo taken with a gold bar and an award the mine won for safety. They are very safe up there.
Here's me holding $1.5 million in gold!
Here's me holding $1.5 million in gold!
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Christmas and back to Ottawa!
First of all...
Happy MMXI!
(I'm really looking forward to some more interesting years, like MMLXXXVIII, but I'll never get to see anything in my lifetime cooler than MCMLXXXVIII, and I completely missed out on the priceless MDCCCLXXXVIII, because everyone knows that 8's are by far the best numbers to write as Roman numerals, although MDCLXVI does have its merits)
My winter break was pretty enjoyable, but far too short. My only real complaint is that it got too warm, and all of the snow melted before I got a chance to go skiing, and I even brought my ski boots home. It was nice to be home with everyone, despite having a cold (grr...airplanes) the entire time. On the upside, because I was sick, I got to drink the leftover communion grape juice at church on Christmas Eve.
I was worried that the warm weather would delay the opening of the canal, but one section (only ~2 km) opened yesterday! The Rideau Canal is the world's longest ice-skating rink, and I can't wait for the section that goes past my office (Rideau St. to Pretoria Bridge) to open. I'm thinking about using my lunch to skate. My original plan was to do a lap, but the canal is 7.8 km long, which is 15.6 km or 9.7 miles if I do a lap, so I might have to work up to that. For more on the Rideau Canal, check out: http://www.canadascapital.gc.ca/bins/ncc_web_content_page.asp?cid=16297-16299-10080&lang=1
Things at school are going well too. This week, I'm going to make a heavy mineral concentrate out of my buckets of rock sand, and then I can start picking out the zircons, which I'll use to date my rocks. I can also use them to figure out the temperature the rock crystallized at, and how the magma evolved over time. Once I have my zircons, I'll make an appointment to go to UCLA to analyze them, and that should happen in February. I'm also working on grinding my rocks into a very fine powder so I can figure out what elements are in them. I don't think I'll be taking any classes this semester, but I'll be busy with research and TA-ing, and skating on the canal, of course.
I hope you all enjoyed your holidays too.
Happy MMXI!
(I'm really looking forward to some more interesting years, like MMLXXXVIII, but I'll never get to see anything in my lifetime cooler than MCMLXXXVIII, and I completely missed out on the priceless MDCCCLXXXVIII, because everyone knows that 8's are by far the best numbers to write as Roman numerals, although MDCLXVI does have its merits)
My winter break was pretty enjoyable, but far too short. My only real complaint is that it got too warm, and all of the snow melted before I got a chance to go skiing, and I even brought my ski boots home. It was nice to be home with everyone, despite having a cold (grr...airplanes) the entire time. On the upside, because I was sick, I got to drink the leftover communion grape juice at church on Christmas Eve.
I was worried that the warm weather would delay the opening of the canal, but one section (only ~2 km) opened yesterday! The Rideau Canal is the world's longest ice-skating rink, and I can't wait for the section that goes past my office (Rideau St. to Pretoria Bridge) to open. I'm thinking about using my lunch to skate. My original plan was to do a lap, but the canal is 7.8 km long, which is 15.6 km or 9.7 miles if I do a lap, so I might have to work up to that. For more on the Rideau Canal, check out: http://www.canadascapital.gc.ca/bins/ncc_web_content_page.asp?cid=16297-16299-10080&lang=1
Things at school are going well too. This week, I'm going to make a heavy mineral concentrate out of my buckets of rock sand, and then I can start picking out the zircons, which I'll use to date my rocks. I can also use them to figure out the temperature the rock crystallized at, and how the magma evolved over time. Once I have my zircons, I'll make an appointment to go to UCLA to analyze them, and that should happen in February. I'm also working on grinding my rocks into a very fine powder so I can figure out what elements are in them. I don't think I'll be taking any classes this semester, but I'll be busy with research and TA-ing, and skating on the canal, of course.
I hope you all enjoyed your holidays too.
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