LOI and stuff

Today I am working on more LOI analysis. I took a cool picture for all of you...
This is the furnace where we ash our samples at both 550 and 900 degrees C. This is what 900 degrees C looks like, and there are all my little crucibles enjoying the blistering heat. Now, as I write, they are relaxing in the dessicator before I weigh them. They have to be cool before weighing. I like the 900 degree step because all the crucibles come out a different color than when they are cool. They aren't glowing like the inside of the furnace, but they are a different cream color.

This morning I had a little extra time while the furnace was heating up, so I got a chance to look around for more blogs I should be reading. I actually found quite a few! I will put up links, of course. I haven't found much related to geology. No geology journals that I know of publish an RSS feed. I am signed up for email notices when new journals come out. That is OK, but my husband is subscribed to 5 or so physics journal RSS feeds. I'm jealous.

I am doing my labwork for my thesis this summer, but I also have another job sort of in the physics department. I absolutely LOVE my "other" job! I am working as a quasi-administrative assistant. I've always been big on organizing, and that helped me get this job. But I've been learning a lot about things that I guess I wouldn't normally learn about. The best is the website stuff that I've learned. I am way behind the times but I recently learned how to use Cascading Style Sheets, and I have worked a bit with designing a website and maintaining another. And even when I'm not learning new stuff I love going to that job. I enjoy having a job that is different from what I am researching. That way I'm not overly focused on one thing, and getting lost in the details. I suppose some would say that doesn't bode well for an academic career, but I don't care. I appreciate learning, and learning about many things. Too many people focus on one thing and can't even remember things from basic undergraduate classes. Gone are the days of the "naturalist" who knew many sciences, which is good in some respects and bad in others.

Ever since I read Dune I wanted to be a planetologist like Liet. That's what I'm going for.