I'll warn you now that I'm going to have quite a few blogs on the way out in the next couple of days. I've been in the habit of writing blogs and keeping them on my desktop, publishing one a day as I see fit in order to allow me time to focus on writing, but also and more importantly time to focus on what is quickly becoming a more busy work schedule.
It's not that I'm actually doing any more physical work but I've had a lot of projects and the like which are open and running at the same time. All of these things have to come to a close soon, especially as I get ready to finish classes and head into the summer with research and literature reviews. I've been trying to wrap a lot of stuff up this week and the middle of yesterday afternoon finally marked the breaking point where I was mostly done with all pressing matters and I could collapse into temporary complacency on the rest of it. Last night we watched Megamind in honor of that and Amanda graciously sat through a movie which is not her type and smiled along with the dumb humor which I of course was very entertained by.
This week marks the submission of my IACUC proposal for starters which has been a much larger endeavor than I had originally supposed. For those of you who don't know, IACUC is an Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee and every research institution has one of these committees. The main purpose of the committee is to oversee research that deals with animals and ensure the animals' well-being by reviewing the protocols and making sure that the animals will be well cared far, that the research has a practical use in today's society, that animals will not be wasted needlessly in this research and that there isn't some crazy professor doing horrendous things to animals in the name of science. All of these criteria have some very specific reasoning behind them which focus on the 3 R's of research today: Replacement, Refinement and Reduction. For more on that I'll refer you to a parallel blog of mine where I've already commented on this. Let's just say that I spent over a month now refining my protocol and editing in many people's comments, ensuring the staff for the project were appropriately trained and certified and dotting my i's before it was turned in this week. I'm very glad to have it off my chest.
Second big thing on my plate this week was my last homework for my SAS class. I've got to say that apart from the homework, this hasn't felt like a class at all. I've enjoyed nearly every minute in class and out of it when I've had questions for the professor. He is a great guy and we are lucky to have him teaching here. I finished the homework and immediately after turning it in had regrets on the accuracy and appropriateness of my models; hopefully it went better than my gut feeling is always telling me.
Then the third big thing I had this week was a research seminar on the 3 main manuscripts leading to my research proposal. This was for a class and a satisfactory grade so while I wasn't super concerned about it, I have my own reputation to uphold as well and I want to be known for professionalism and a job well done in these things. I tried to throw a bit of pizazz in the presentation with imaging and using our department's new big screen TV rather than blurring my images through the old slide projector and I was really happy with how that turned out. But the presentation itself sometimes felt more like an interrogation session than a talk I was giving. It's something that I'll have to get used to during my time here pursuing my Masters, I think. Based on my impressions from Masters defenses around here they're just prepping for the big show in the future.
So with all of that off my plate, I can refocus on my other stuff obscuring my desk right now. Lauren and I still owe 4-H our final write-up from March and I have a final exam project for SAS along with finishing up data collection from elapsed video shots (~130 dvds in all!). I can't wait to be done with that, it feels like that's all I've been doing the past year.
27 May 2011
My first video chat
I always had a speculation that video chatting was particularly well suited for less legitimate internet purposes, but I cast that close-mindedness aside when I first used my computer webcam this past week for a little chat with an old roommate. The experience was actually pretty cool, but it led to me learning very quickly, or slowly in some cases, things that work well for video chatting someone and things that don't so I thought I'd share a few.
Like many things on my computer, my webcam automatically starts up when triggered by another program. In this case I was called to video chat and my computer responded by opening up that program without even telling me. I came face to face with someone before I even realized they were calling. In this case that was ok, but in the future I plan to have something set up that requests permission before acknowledging and definitely before answering a video chat with video feed. It would be really weird to me to suddenly find out I'm video chatting with someone I don't or barely know. On a side note to that, during the call my video link fell out. That left Tony with just a picture of me but I could still see him; very weird.
Second is where the camera is pointed, etc. I usually sit pretty high above my screen and with the limited range of vision that my webcam has it was pretty much pointed at my chest. Again, while this might have uses in other fields of internet use, Tony was calling to speak face to face with me and so I learned quickly it's important to find a range to sit in where the camera can follow your face the whole time. Similarly, it was important not to move around a lot in the picture. Betsy was running around and I kept trying to pet her or hold her on the couch but then I was rocking the computer screen and moving around a lot - the perfect recipe for the other chatter's motion sickness.
Another important detail is eye contact. I have a strong tendency to multi-task, but answering emails and trying to work on other things at the same time as having a conversation is kind of rude. Unlike just doing this on the phone or in a normal text chat, they can see in this case when you're not paying attention to them or when you're distracted and this is also something to be considerate of during a conversation, depending on how important the other person is to you.
But all in all, I thought for a first call it went pretty well. The voice is kinda choppy and it reminds me of trying to Skype people in a different language with tons of pauses and delays for reactions, etc. Nice thing about it is eliminating the need for stupid type such as "lol", because I can now see if you smile or laugh and don't need to be told what I said was funny. As I posted on my Facebook, very cool little adventure, but welcome to at least a decade ago. I'm pretty sure everyone I know has used that technology before so shame on me for being so far behind.
Like many things on my computer, my webcam automatically starts up when triggered by another program. In this case I was called to video chat and my computer responded by opening up that program without even telling me. I came face to face with someone before I even realized they were calling. In this case that was ok, but in the future I plan to have something set up that requests permission before acknowledging and definitely before answering a video chat with video feed. It would be really weird to me to suddenly find out I'm video chatting with someone I don't or barely know. On a side note to that, during the call my video link fell out. That left Tony with just a picture of me but I could still see him; very weird.
Second is where the camera is pointed, etc. I usually sit pretty high above my screen and with the limited range of vision that my webcam has it was pretty much pointed at my chest. Again, while this might have uses in other fields of internet use, Tony was calling to speak face to face with me and so I learned quickly it's important to find a range to sit in where the camera can follow your face the whole time. Similarly, it was important not to move around a lot in the picture. Betsy was running around and I kept trying to pet her or hold her on the couch but then I was rocking the computer screen and moving around a lot - the perfect recipe for the other chatter's motion sickness.
Another important detail is eye contact. I have a strong tendency to multi-task, but answering emails and trying to work on other things at the same time as having a conversation is kind of rude. Unlike just doing this on the phone or in a normal text chat, they can see in this case when you're not paying attention to them or when you're distracted and this is also something to be considerate of during a conversation, depending on how important the other person is to you.
But all in all, I thought for a first call it went pretty well. The voice is kinda choppy and it reminds me of trying to Skype people in a different language with tons of pauses and delays for reactions, etc. Nice thing about it is eliminating the need for stupid type such as "lol", because I can now see if you smile or laugh and don't need to be told what I said was funny. As I posted on my Facebook, very cool little adventure, but welcome to at least a decade ago. I'm pretty sure everyone I know has used that technology before so shame on me for being so far behind.
23 May 2011
Parenting Practice
I joked when we got the dog that she was our child that we could return to the pound if she was bad. Of course I'd never return her, but there are days I definitely question our moment of insanity when we got her and I wonder how on earth I'll ever deal with the reality of children for 20 years before they disappear to start their own lives.
Betsy is a lesson in parenting every day since we got her in January. Currently she's digesting some jelly beans she snuck from a box of trash by the door (Amanda trying to motivate us to lose weight by throwing away everything good in the house). I pushed Betsy off the bed after she wouldn't stop whining about nothing thus in my mind deserving loss of privileges such as sitting on furniture. It wasn't two minutes before she came slinking back into the room looking guilty. Upon arriving at me, she rolled over and casually tried to drop a half-eaten lemon jelly bean onto the floor as if she had no idea how it got there. Oh, she knew alright, but I told her it was fine, "You'll deserve it when you throw up now." And pretty soon I think you can see how I'm not quite cut out for parenting yet.
We've been through everything from manners towards strangers, not eating dirt, not wetting the carpet (have to re-learn that every week right now), eating all of our dinner, not getting treats unless we're on good behavior, not whining and crying about nothing, when it's ok to play and when it's not ok to bark loudly. None of these are mutually exclusive and I think I speak for Amanda when I say that both of us are exhausted most days trying to keep up with the dog and her antics. Precious though she may be, she is a challenge and the level of challenge which I can rise to right now. Parenting practice continues for now...
Betsy is a lesson in parenting every day since we got her in January. Currently she's digesting some jelly beans she snuck from a box of trash by the door (Amanda trying to motivate us to lose weight by throwing away everything good in the house). I pushed Betsy off the bed after she wouldn't stop whining about nothing thus in my mind deserving loss of privileges such as sitting on furniture. It wasn't two minutes before she came slinking back into the room looking guilty. Upon arriving at me, she rolled over and casually tried to drop a half-eaten lemon jelly bean onto the floor as if she had no idea how it got there. Oh, she knew alright, but I told her it was fine, "You'll deserve it when you throw up now." And pretty soon I think you can see how I'm not quite cut out for parenting yet.
We've been through everything from manners towards strangers, not eating dirt, not wetting the carpet (have to re-learn that every week right now), eating all of our dinner, not getting treats unless we're on good behavior, not whining and crying about nothing, when it's ok to play and when it's not ok to bark loudly. None of these are mutually exclusive and I think I speak for Amanda when I say that both of us are exhausted most days trying to keep up with the dog and her antics. Precious though she may be, she is a challenge and the level of challenge which I can rise to right now. Parenting practice continues for now...
22 May 2011
Worg
Jacob and Mom came over last night to play Scrabble. Needless to say we had a pretty good time because all of us have our word specialties and so it made for a very diverse board. But word of the day goes hands down to Jacob. At the beginning of the game he lays down "worg", and I couldn't believe it. He had us look it up in full confidence it would be approved and sure enough it was perfect. Similar to "Underworld"'s Lycans (minus the ability to change into a human), a worg is a demon-like wolf beast which is stronger and better than a werewolf, and which appears in as notable games and movies as "Dungeons and Dragons", "Lord of the Rings" and "World of Warcraft". So this was just a short post of props to him for keeping the game interesting.
"Words with Friends" brought Scrabble back into our world and since I don't have a smartphone this has been the best way for Amanda and I to play it together. We've had a lot of fun with it so far in the two games we've been able to play and I'm very glad to have the game around the house here. It's a stimulating game which starts a lot of interesting conversations and old-school enough to be way cooler than all these flashy new games that are out.
Credit to vesivus.com for the image since I obviously didn't have an image of a worg.
Failure
Not everything in my life can be a success, it's a fact of life. This was a reminder forced upon me at the Heifer International Fundraiser Lunch this past Friday. This was the 3rd year that our ASGSA has put this on to benefit Heifer International and unfortunately also the worst as far as turnout. I know not everything can be blamed on me - it was a group effort, it was on a really nice day, not all of the secretary's followed through on advertising, etc. - but I also helped in the decision not to pre-sell tickets this year and I think that led to a turn for the worse.
The end result of this is that we didn't raise enough money for Heifer as we had hoped and that a lot of people put in a lot of really hard work for a less than thrilling result. I felt at the end of the day as if I'd let people down a little. I hope that wasn't the case, but then again I more hope that it doesn't get brought up again in conversation in the first place. I don't like things not working out like they should.
But there was also a shining moment from my clouds of despair. The grad students showed up en masse to help with the lunch and for that I'm grateful. It was good if nothing else to get everyone together and to spend some time socializing and working over the food to feed the people who did show up. For that I am thankful and that was the uplifting part of the day. This group cares about service and they're willing to put the time into it. We had a chance to share food with some 40 people and outreach from animal science students is still outreach, regardless of how many people we reach. I just think it's a shame for all the help that we had to have only served 40 people.
The end result of this is that we didn't raise enough money for Heifer as we had hoped and that a lot of people put in a lot of really hard work for a less than thrilling result. I felt at the end of the day as if I'd let people down a little. I hope that wasn't the case, but then again I more hope that it doesn't get brought up again in conversation in the first place. I don't like things not working out like they should.
But there was also a shining moment from my clouds of despair. The grad students showed up en masse to help with the lunch and for that I'm grateful. It was good if nothing else to get everyone together and to spend some time socializing and working over the food to feed the people who did show up. For that I am thankful and that was the uplifting part of the day. This group cares about service and they're willing to put the time into it. We had a chance to share food with some 40 people and outreach from animal science students is still outreach, regardless of how many people we reach. I just think it's a shame for all the help that we had to have only served 40 people.
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