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Spokane, Washington or bust...
Apr. 11th, 2015 02:25 pmWednesday I'm getting on a plane and flying from Ottawa to Toronto to Seattle to Spokane (translation: you can't get there from here). I'll be flying the "red eye" from Spokane to Seattle to Chicago to Ottawa (see previous assertion) on the way back... leaving at 8:30PM Saturday and arriving at 1:32PM on Sunday. I believe the administrator's assertion that it was the cheapest airfares they could find ;). While in glorious Spokane, I will be staying at the similarly glorious Super 8, which is only a 20 minute drive to the nearest shuttle service to the conference. It would be nice if we had a car, but we don't. And nothing says undergraduate like having to share a room with another student at a Super 8. But here I go again. I wonder if this roommate will be up all night playing the ukelele like that time in Sudbury? He was really good at least... We shall see what wonders present themselves.
So, what brings me to Spokane I hear you ask? (yes, I'm right behind you this very second as you read this... psych!). I will be presenting at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research about some of the work I have done, specifically the work I did on the small-strip Thin Gap Chambers (sTGC) for the 2018 Phase I upgrades of the New Small Muon Wheel of the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider when I was at Fermilab for that Test Beam last year. I can also preview some of the work I'm doing now for the 2025 Phase II upgrades of the Inner Tracker (ITk) of the ATLAS detector (one slide... just a teaser). I will be going there with two other Carleton University undergraduate students: one presenting on (I'm going to get this wrong, sorry) education strategies for children I think, and the other on Newfoundland folk songs about disasters (I'm a huge fan of east-coast folk music, so I'm looking forward to this one especially... maybe he'll sing in our hotel room... or play a concertina or something... maybe I should bring mine along, lol, and we can jam). The description and time of the talk is here if you are curious or want to drop by to say hello.
The main issue is that classes are still in session at Eastern Washington University where it's being held, but we're into the exam period at Carleton University... I still have a number of assignments to complete and hand in before I fly out, I had to reschedule my feminist research exam because it was to be written while I was away (the professor is graciously allowing me to write it on Tuesday, which is still a panic situation given everything else I've got going on and the fact I was terribly ill all this past week with a high (40°C/104°F) fever and am still really weak, but I still appreciate it... it's easier than trying to get an invigilator in Spokane). I also have what will be a brutal exam on the 21st in mathematical physics that I have to somehow find the time to study for. I also suspect that having an actual presentation when I show up in Spokane would be a good idea (I have most of the bits and pieces already, I just need to buff it up a little, but it is yet another thing). Some of my classmates from the feminist studies course are going to get together tomorrow at noon for a study session, so perhaps some help can be gotten there. I partnered with another classmate on doing the research project for the class and we turned it in on Thursday, so at least that's off the table now (although I don't think it's appropriate that a 3rd year report ended up being 50+ pages long when all is said and done). Well, off to re-read an article so I can summarize it for my classmates tomorrow (who are supposed to reciprocate with ones of their own from our required readings list): Bev Gatenby and Maria Humphries' "Feminist Participatory Action Research: Methodological and Ethical Issues", fyi, is the one I'm doing. Wish me luck.
Oh, I've decided to quit my job as a Research Assistant for the summer and focus on overcoming the serious burnout I seem to be experiencing (yes, I can hear the gasps of surprise... not). I will take two summer courses only. Now, I will be nominally volunteering as a Research Assistant over the summer, furthering the work I have already been doing, but it will be without deadlines or having to come in every day. The two courses I am currently signed up for (this may change, there are many conflicting and competing possibilities and I have a few weeks to modify my choices) are Ordinary Differential Equations II ("Series solutions of ordinary differential equations of second order about regular singular points; asymptotic solutions. Systems of ordinary differential equations of first order; matrix methods. Existence and uniqueness theorems. Nonlinear autonomous systems of order 2; qualitative theory. Numerical solutions of ordinary differential equations.") and Intro to Anishinaabe-Ojibwe ("Introductory study of a selected language. Oral skills; basic reading and writing skills. Language offered: Anishinaabemowin. For students learning the language for the 1st time.").
Over the summer my plan is to finish the renovations in the basement (only one thing left to do: a wall along the stairs to keep the cats out... I've had a wall of boxes doing the job until now) and set up my music studio finally... I have all the equipment, I just need to set up the space and haven't had the time or energy. I also want to paint some of the rooms in the house... I've seriously grown tired of the industrial off-white they painted it before I moved in (and crappy quality paint of that crappy "colour") and need something a little more energizing and fun. Beige is not fun. I am also hoping to work on some of my business ideas, but that is more of a "tinkering" sort of thing than serious work with deadlines as well. I plan to sleep a lot this summer... maybe do some hiking and camping (although I'm a little leery about camping given the rather staggeringly horrific tales I already have to tell from previous [ad]ventures). I really want to head up to the Lusk Caves at least and do some spelunking. Oh, and I'm going to work on my commercial pilot's license too with a view to finishing it up in the fall (yes, I've been working on it for far too long, but I'm quite close now, I just need to get in a lot of practice, which takes time and money... the time part has actually been the limiting factor as I even have cash on my account that I haven't used up... sigh...). There's also a nominal plan of driving down to North Carolina for a week to visit friends, but that's very much up in the air given the fact that I won't be gainfully employed this summer (I have some money, but not lots). While it sounds like I still have a lot on my plate, most of it is optional type stuff to do if I'm up to it, but to pass on otherwise. I really have needed to do some stuff for myself and my household and that is going to go a long way to reducing the stress I've been feeling.
Enough update... off to read academic articles!
So, what brings me to Spokane I hear you ask? (yes, I'm right behind you this very second as you read this... psych!). I will be presenting at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research about some of the work I have done, specifically the work I did on the small-strip Thin Gap Chambers (sTGC) for the 2018 Phase I upgrades of the New Small Muon Wheel of the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider when I was at Fermilab for that Test Beam last year. I can also preview some of the work I'm doing now for the 2025 Phase II upgrades of the Inner Tracker (ITk) of the ATLAS detector (one slide... just a teaser). I will be going there with two other Carleton University undergraduate students: one presenting on (I'm going to get this wrong, sorry) education strategies for children I think, and the other on Newfoundland folk songs about disasters (I'm a huge fan of east-coast folk music, so I'm looking forward to this one especially... maybe he'll sing in our hotel room... or play a concertina or something... maybe I should bring mine along, lol, and we can jam). The description and time of the talk is here if you are curious or want to drop by to say hello.
The main issue is that classes are still in session at Eastern Washington University where it's being held, but we're into the exam period at Carleton University... I still have a number of assignments to complete and hand in before I fly out, I had to reschedule my feminist research exam because it was to be written while I was away (the professor is graciously allowing me to write it on Tuesday, which is still a panic situation given everything else I've got going on and the fact I was terribly ill all this past week with a high (40°C/104°F) fever and am still really weak, but I still appreciate it... it's easier than trying to get an invigilator in Spokane). I also have what will be a brutal exam on the 21st in mathematical physics that I have to somehow find the time to study for. I also suspect that having an actual presentation when I show up in Spokane would be a good idea (I have most of the bits and pieces already, I just need to buff it up a little, but it is yet another thing). Some of my classmates from the feminist studies course are going to get together tomorrow at noon for a study session, so perhaps some help can be gotten there. I partnered with another classmate on doing the research project for the class and we turned it in on Thursday, so at least that's off the table now (although I don't think it's appropriate that a 3rd year report ended up being 50+ pages long when all is said and done). Well, off to re-read an article so I can summarize it for my classmates tomorrow (who are supposed to reciprocate with ones of their own from our required readings list): Bev Gatenby and Maria Humphries' "Feminist Participatory Action Research: Methodological and Ethical Issues", fyi, is the one I'm doing. Wish me luck.
Oh, I've decided to quit my job as a Research Assistant for the summer and focus on overcoming the serious burnout I seem to be experiencing (yes, I can hear the gasps of surprise... not). I will take two summer courses only. Now, I will be nominally volunteering as a Research Assistant over the summer, furthering the work I have already been doing, but it will be without deadlines or having to come in every day. The two courses I am currently signed up for (this may change, there are many conflicting and competing possibilities and I have a few weeks to modify my choices) are Ordinary Differential Equations II ("Series solutions of ordinary differential equations of second order about regular singular points; asymptotic solutions. Systems of ordinary differential equations of first order; matrix methods. Existence and uniqueness theorems. Nonlinear autonomous systems of order 2; qualitative theory. Numerical solutions of ordinary differential equations.") and Intro to Anishinaabe-Ojibwe ("Introductory study of a selected language. Oral skills; basic reading and writing skills. Language offered: Anishinaabemowin. For students learning the language for the 1st time.").
Over the summer my plan is to finish the renovations in the basement (only one thing left to do: a wall along the stairs to keep the cats out... I've had a wall of boxes doing the job until now) and set up my music studio finally... I have all the equipment, I just need to set up the space and haven't had the time or energy. I also want to paint some of the rooms in the house... I've seriously grown tired of the industrial off-white they painted it before I moved in (and crappy quality paint of that crappy "colour") and need something a little more energizing and fun. Beige is not fun. I am also hoping to work on some of my business ideas, but that is more of a "tinkering" sort of thing than serious work with deadlines as well. I plan to sleep a lot this summer... maybe do some hiking and camping (although I'm a little leery about camping given the rather staggeringly horrific tales I already have to tell from previous [ad]ventures). I really want to head up to the Lusk Caves at least and do some spelunking. Oh, and I'm going to work on my commercial pilot's license too with a view to finishing it up in the fall (yes, I've been working on it for far too long, but I'm quite close now, I just need to get in a lot of practice, which takes time and money... the time part has actually been the limiting factor as I even have cash on my account that I haven't used up... sigh...). There's also a nominal plan of driving down to North Carolina for a week to visit friends, but that's very much up in the air given the fact that I won't be gainfully employed this summer (I have some money, but not lots). While it sounds like I still have a lot on my plate, most of it is optional type stuff to do if I'm up to it, but to pass on otherwise. I really have needed to do some stuff for myself and my household and that is going to go a long way to reducing the stress I've been feeling.
Enough update... off to read academic articles!
