I'm sick with a bad cold right now, so I'm sitting here staring at the computer instead of staring through a microscope at pollen. It doesn't feel much better on the eyes. My monitor stinks - I really need a new computer. The one I'm using is old and fryed.
Anyway, there hasn't been much time for blogging in my life lately. I don't have a hugely hectic schedule at school, but during most of my downtime (i.e. not in class or teaching lab) I am counting pollen. It is going well so far. I've mastered the common types in my area (diploxylon pine and artemisia are the big ones, then there are some chenopods, spruce, fir, sometimes a tubuliflorae). I have seen some neato grains, like a linguliflorae, and a caryophyllaceae. I've seen some alder too, which is a nice change of pace from artemisia. I'm trying to power through the pollen.
Last weekend before I got sick I finished counting my charcoal. Now I just have to "analyze" the data - read: blackbox it. I don't want to talk about the black box. Ugh. This is supposedly for a semester project in the class I'm taking from my advisor this semester. Something I can do for that class and also incorporate into my thesis. Not a bad thing, but not too interesting either. I have a semester paper in my other class too, and at first I thought, "Oh, I want to do some more thesis research for that paper too, so I don't 'waste' any time this semester." Then I got to thinking, "How boring!" I like learning new things, and recently I've been realizing that I am really interested in something completely different. So for that paper, I'm focusing on something I'll really enjoy. It'll be a literature review paper instead of a data paper, but that's fine with the professor so that's fine with me. I feel much better for choosing that too, like I'm doing something I want with my time, not just trudging on to the final thesis product.
So I haven't had much time for blogging. I have also been "being pregnant" which is cool. I had an ultrasound last week which was super cool! I also started feeling my baby move around last week, which was also way exciting. I've been feeling it every day since then, and it's pretty cool. Other people can even feel it if they touch my belly - it's already that powerful! So, yes, thinking about mommy-hood is taking up some of my time.
To tell you all the truth, I also haven't felt too much like blogging lately. I don't have time to surf the net, so I don't find interesting newsy things to talk about, and I don't read all that many other blogs. Reading what happened to BotanicalGirl really made me sad too, and that put a wedge between me and my blog. There are some things I have been thinking about related to academia and my PhD (?) but I'm questioning whether or not to put them on here. My husband says I should, because we don't talk to a bunch of other people about our problems/thoughts on academia, so I should maybe get other feedback. But I'm leery about it still. Maybe the next time I get some quality time in front of the computer I will post about some of that.
1 comment:
If you are (understanably) leery about putting things out on the internet but still want advice, you can always email me (science dot woman at hotmail dot com). We have some commonalities and I can at least be a good email listener. Good luck with the pollen, black box and mommyhood. Take Care
Post a Comment