Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Well, it's been fun!

Well folks, for anyone that even cared to read this (which i don't blame you at all for not), it's been real, it's been fun, it hasn't been real fun. So i think in the end we've learned some things, but also forgot some things as well. I hope you take care and who knows, maybe i'll start my own real blog sometime just for fun! Thanks again!

Friday, December 5, 2008

ArcGIS gets easier?!

Amazing! Today we actually learned that Arc can have some easy properties to it! We learned how to do a legend, north arrow, title, and scale! All of these things were actually kind of easy! The other cool things was that we also added correct colors. I'm still frustrated with the fact that i'm so far behind. I've never been this far behind in this class before so i don't know if i'll be able to catch up. I'll certainly try!
The last movie i saw in the theaters was Madagascar 2. It was alright. The penguins really made the movie worth it!

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

GIS and You

Today was much better as far as the learning aspect goes. We learned about GIS...well an extremely abbreviated version. What we did get to do was go around campus and take some measurements on some garbage cans and light posts so we could enter them into ArcGIS. Frustrations come from the fact that i wish we had more time to learn the material...but it is cool!
Now, what will be the toughest thing this week is everything. Not only do i have a physics test i have to take, but for this class i have an arcGis project assignment to finish, a poster to make, a presentation to come up with, and final draft of the paper to make all for this class. Then, for geomorphology i have a ten page research paper i have to write with a powerpoint presentation to give for it too. I don't know how i'm going to get through all of this. So there ya go!

Monday, December 1, 2008

labels in arc

Well, i think my blog posts keep getting more depressing and frantic as the days go by...and this one isn't much better. I'm getting so behind in everything and it doesn't help that i was deathly ill for the entire thanksgiving break and couldn't do anything to get caught up. It's a sick irony if you ask me...literally. So today we learned how to do labels in arcgis and it's cool but i think there is way too much too it than is necessary. It's pretty ridiculous. I don't even have my shapefiles drawn so i had to make a quick one in order to do anything today. So i'm probably going to forget everything i learned today which kills me because i want to learn this stuff...i just have huge research papers in every other class i have and don't have time for this assignment. I just don't. I'm sorry. Anyway, like i said, it was cool to learn how to do the labels and that it can do all of that.
As far as my favorite internet site goes...probably facebook...i dont' surf the internet hardly at all.

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

OH man...lots of arc

Today was pretty frustrating. I just kept getting behind. I don't know...there's just so much to do and to remember that i have a hard time with everything. However, what was cool was that we did make the dino quarry in 3-d and then we learned how soar as a bird over our creation. That was really cool!
As far as my thanksgiving plans go, me and my sister are going to my Grandma's house in Grace Idaho for a couple of days and we are bringing our friend from back home with us too because he doesn't have anywhere to go. Then, we are going to go to Lava Hot springs and sit in the hot pots and finally relax. That will be nice...then go home and and do papers....arrggh!

Monday, November 24, 2008

ArcGIS again

Well, we've been continuing to to work with Arc and it's a really tough program. I think it's a combination of everything hitting us at once it other classes that makes it hard to focus...at least for me. So, sadly, i've gotten behind in the Arc work. But, it is neat to learn the program as a whole, because once we got it down we'll be able to use it in the future for field camp and those kinds of things. I really think it's cool how you can make your own contacts on a mylar sheet, scan it in, and then overlay it on a topo map and georeference it! It was great. I'm just frustrated because i'm slow in these things. I need to go over it again and again. Oh well, i'll get it.
Now, as for the random questions, the best book i read recently was....oh wait....i haven't read for fun since before the mission. Oh my gosh...that's the saddest thing in the world. I've just read gospel related thins and text books!! I live a sad existence. However, i did start reading a fantasy book written by a professor here at BYU actually, called Elantris. It's good to read something for fun. But i haven't been able to pick it back up for at least a month *sniff*. Also, as far as Christmas music goes...i'm an after thanksgiving kind of a guy. People are just too crazy about it and i think you need to give thanksgiving a chance before you jump the gun and go onto Christmas.

Monday, November 17, 2008

The amazingly counterintuitive world ArcGIS!

Alright then, today we started to learn about the amazing program of ArcGIS!  This is a great program in which you can pretty much do just about anything you would ever want to do with a geological picture.  My a ha moment today was that you can actually type in specific coordinates of an area you want and it will take you directly to that spot.  Also, that pyramids are good!  Click "yes" for pyramids!!!  The only thing I'm still frustrated with is how counterintuitive it really is.  All the bugs don't really help things either but luckily we are in this class so we can learn all about it.  
Now, as far as my favorite places to eat are i would most definitely have to say Tucanos.  I love that place because seriously, not only is there an all you can eat salad bar, fruit, pasta, etc.  but you get all you can eat meat of any kind you want!  I mean come on, it doesn't get much better than that!  

Friday, November 14, 2008

Review!

Today was a full and exciting day of review! We basically just reviewed today for the test. There wasn't any a ha moments and i really don't feel frustrated at this point. However, that paper kind of makes me nervous. Anyway, that's all there is to it.
As far as a good joke goes... What is green and invisible?

Hold out your hand with your palm facing up like your holding something and say "this head of lettuce!" I love it! See ya!

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

The glory of PowerPoint!

PowerPoint is a wonderful tool that i. honestly, don't know how we would get through college without it. In all regards the possibilities are endless. My a ha moment was that when you add a picture you can totally change the angle and all these different styles come up. I thought that was really cool. Other than that though, there wasn't anything too new and exciting because we have all used powerpoint at least a little bit i think. The one thing that frustrated me though was the slide master. I still don't really get how to use that.
As far as Adam's presentation goes, i thought it was fine but there were way too many sounds. Sounds are fun, but too many just kind of gets annoying. But this was all in good fun so it's ok!

Monday, November 10, 2008

Poster Post

Hey, alright! Well, things are really starting to pick up. With papers and tests and projects and homework it's amazing i get anything done at all. However, despite it all, we are still plugging away in this ol' 230 class. Today we learned about how to properly make posters in illustrator. This was really neat for me because i never knew how to do this before. I have always seen the geologic posters around before, but never knew how people made them. I really thought that this whole concept was my a ha moment so i really enjoyed this. what i am still frustrated with is just how much work i have to do. Not just for this class but all of it combined. I am actually understanding what we are learning and catching on, but i am starting to get overwhelmed. Note to self; never procrastinate your work!
On a lighter note...my favorite class i have taken so far has got to be my astronomy class i took freshman year here at BYU. It was the physics 127 class and i absolutely loved it! That along with geology 109, geology of the planets was wicked awesome too. I loved those classes!

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Once upon an AI

Ok, what i thought was really cool and was my a ha moment was actually a lot of things. I really thought it was neat how the eraser tool actually just separated the object you erased into two different objects. I also really liked how you could drag the color you wanted into the gradient to change what gradient you wanted. Most of all though, the reflect tool was wicked awesome. It was sweet to be able to draw one thing and then just reflect it. Those were my favorite a ha moments. What i'm still frustrated with is that not only can i not draw on a regular piece of paper, but i still stink at drawing regular objects on illustrator. I am definitely not an artistic person. Everyone seems to be able to draw cool things but i'm just like, what can i draw, and then i try to draw something and it sucks. But anyway, that's what i'm frustrated with.
Now, as far as where i have lived. Aside from the college life i haven't lived too many places. I grew up in NY and then for one year we lived in south east Washington, but then we moved back to the same house in NY. Then i lived in Ogden on my mission for two years, and then good ol' Provo. I loved growing up in upstate NY though. I love the east.

Monday, November 3, 2008

making a crossection in AI

Today was really cool. I felt like i was right on task, i followed everything Nicole was teaching, and i felt i understood the material. We learned how to use the eyedropper tool as well as the transparency tool. With those tools we practiced making a cross section, and amazingly, i understood it all. My a ha moment came also, with learning how to make the stroke a dashed line. More specifically though, I really thought it was cool to use the multiplicity transparency option. That was my favorite part. I'm only frustrated with the fact that i have procrastinated too much and now i have a huge load on my hands. Hopefully i survive this week. Here goes nothing.
As far as my random question/statement, i'm going to a metallica concert tonight with an old mission companion which should be fun even though i'm not a huge heavy metal guy. Its just for the fact that i can say, i went to a metallica concert. My favorite band, though, is Jimmy Eat World!

Friday, October 31, 2008

Halloween AI

Ok, so today we learned how to manipulate the swatches, use the pen tool, and use the pathfinder with the add/divide tool. This stuff is really cool. My a ha moment was how to make a strat column by using the swatch libraries and dividing the column using the pen tool. We did so much today and i'm just frustrated that i don't ever have enough time to practice using the tools. I wish i had a one on one instructor to help me out and remember all the things we learn. We learn so many cool things but half of them at least we don't use frequently so i forget them. It's ok though...i'm doing the best i can!
Ok, my Halloween plans are crazy. I am in charge of the ward activity so we are all going trick or treating in the ward, then there is a costume contest, then bobbing for apples, then eating donuts on strings, then watching scary movies in some apartments with popcorn. then i'll probably do something else later tonight, we'll see...hopefully night games...that will be fun! Alright, take care!

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

More AI

I think i'm having more trouble with illustrator than i did with photoshop. It's weird because i've actually had some experience with illustrator before and i'm still not quite getting it. I had trouble with the duplicate option for some reason. I think because i don't quite get the fill options with the boxes. But other than that i thought it was way cool that it has lithologic patterns that you can fill shapes with, especially if you are doing a strat column. My a ha moment was using the crystallize tool...that was fun! I need to stop worrying, i'll get it. It's just been a stressful week since i broke my arm.
Anyway, my favorite costume that i ever wore was a captain hook costume when i was little. I had everything for it and it looked great! I also really liked my teenage mutant ninja turtle costume. That was really sweet too!

Monday, October 27, 2008

AI

So we learned about how to use adobe illustrator. my a ha moment was learning more specifically about how to make a correct scientific figures. That means how to make them look better. But learning how to use the basics of adobe illustrator was good too. i'm not really frustrared with anything yet but i just hope that i can find a good figure to use.
Now if i could know anything about the future it would be when the second coming is.

Friday, October 24, 2008


Here is the picture i was talking about before. We were having technical difficulties before and couldn't get the colors right for the web. Well, that has been fixed so now here it is! Ta Da!

Merge the Pictures!

This was a fun lecture to learn how to do. We learned how to merge two or more photos into a panorama of one big picture. The tools i used to doctor up this panorama was obviously, merge the photos. I also used a combination of the dodge and burn tools to lighten and darken around the seam lines where i put the pictures together as well as the eraser tool to make it look more realistic. I also changed the sky to get rid of all the clouds. Furthermore, i adjusted to levels to make the colors a little bit more defined as well as played around with the color levels themselves to make the colors a little more realistic too. Finally, i used to transform tool to make the pictures fit together more perfectly. So here ya have it. My two photos are now merged and they look like they were always one! My only frustrations are that i found out later that there is a wicked easy way to merge them automatically. You can put any images that you want into one panorama and the computer will do it for you almost perfectly. It's amazing. So, naturally, I found that out after i spent an hour and a half on this one. But that's just the way things go. My a ha moment today, however, was learning how to use the clone tool. That was wicked sweet how you can add or take away parts of the image to how you like. So i leaned that you are just replacing it is that you want to replace, with something else. So that's cool!
Now, my superstition is... ... ...I don't really know. I honestly can't think right now if i have a superstition or not. I probably have one that i just don't realize at the moment. So, next time if i think about it i'll post it up. Now, enjoy the photo.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Mini Assignment 2 is now up!


Ok, so i got a little behind in my homework schedule and missed the deadline for mini assignment 2 which was due Friday, October 17. Well, it's now Tuesday the 21, but i'm finally getting it up on here. (that's not too bad right?). Anyway, so with this assignment we were to find an image and, again, doctor it up a bit using photoshop, but with some specific guidlines. So, i found a picture of this shoe and this is how i changed it. I first, corrected the levels and made the color a bit better. Then, because the picture was tilted in a way so the bottom of the box didn't appear to run horizontal across the bottom of the screen, i used to ruler tool to correct that. So now the bottom of the box is horizontal with the bottom of the screen. Then, i cropped the image to give us what we see here. After i cropped it, there was some unpleasant black areas in three of the four corners so i tried to correct them using the paint bucket and eye dropper tools. I tried to get the corners to match the color of the table that the shoe is on, but i couldn't quite get it right. So in an effort to make it a little more normal, i used a combination of the dodge and burn tools to lighten and darken around the seams of where i filled in the new color to make it a bit more natural. It still didn't turn out the greatest, but i was definitely giving it a shot. So there ya have it! More practice will hopefully mean better editing to my photos. I really want this to be a skill that i can continue to use in the future. I'm just still frustrated that i'm a slow learner and that these things take a little more time for me than usual.

Monday, October 20, 2008

Mini assignment 3!


So i have been practicing my photshop skills (which have a long way to go don't get me wrong) and have come up with something. I found this scanned image of this sweet heavy weight lifter kid online and decided to doctor it up a bit. This is what i did. I adjusted the level of the picture to make the colors more real. Before it was really light. I set the white as the guys shirt, the black as the black type on the top, and the grey tone as the handle bar of the weights. Then, i used the dodge tool to do some lightening up. At the top of the page i lightened up the top part of "weightlifting" to give it a cooler affect and i also touched up the "Rover" symbol to make it lighter. Then, i made the kids shoes, socks, and bandages and his shins lighter with the dodge tool. Finally, the white letters behind him were touched up as well. Then, with the burn tool, i made his skin darker, especially his face to look like he had been working a lot harder! I also darkened up the gym floor. Then, using the paint and brush tools i made the words and symbols behind him more yellow and pronounced. Oh, and i forgot to say that i also made the weights themselves darker. So yeah, there ya have it. I'm pretty sure that's all i did to that picture, but it looks a lot better, trust me!
Now, as far as a sports fan goes I do like sports. But, there was never that one sport that i was crazy over. I can pretty much play any sport but i am not necessarily really good at any. I love to play but i'm not a fanatic about any in particular. Unless you are talking about ultimate frisbee. I love that sport, but it's not really an official sport with a huge following. I do love to play though.

Dodge!! or Burn!!

We are still in photoshop which is sweet. It is a lot more fun and interesting than all the word and excel stuff. We learned how to doctor up photo's even more. Specifically, we used the burn and dodge tools a lot, as well as the gaussian blur and eraser. The a ha moment for me was how to use the burn and dodge tools. That was so cool and how you can even make a shape look 3-D. This stuff is really awesome. The only thing is that it is still a lot for me to take in. I think i will just need lots of practice to get the hang of everything. But it's cool anyway.
Now, my favorite fall activity is mainly eating...i'm not going to lie. Specifically pumpkin pie and drinking hot apple cider. Also, i love the fall leaves. I just love the fall. It's awesome!

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Photshop Galore!


Whoa! Today was more amazing photo shop stuff. It's all new and exciting to me. Today went a little bit better as far as comprehension goes. One of the coolest things, i thought, was learning how to change the colors on images. I love that stuff. What i'm still frustrated with, though, has to just do with myself and not being able to keep up all the time. But, i'll get it eventually. I'm also posting the first mini assignment here too.
Now, my worst injury....hmmmm. To tell you the truth, nothing terribly bad has happened to me. I think one of the worst things that happened to me was just throwing my back out one time. I could hardly walk for at least a month. It was so painful. But it was nothing exciting. Anyway, there ya go!

Monday, October 13, 2008

Photoshop plus!

Well, today we learned about the joyous world of photoshop! Now, there is so much to these programs that it is really hard for me to follow along. What frustrated me today was that we went over a whole bunch of things that didn't really seem relevant to what our assignment was. It seemed extremely rushed and i wasn't really able to grasp what was going on. Not to mention that Nicole didn't have to time to really teach us what we were supposed to do for our homework. I'm really dumb when it comes to programs like this so it's hard for me to just catch on. So yeah, today was just rushed which i know happens. But, my a-ha moment came when i realized you can find a picture online and just drag it into photoshop. I thought that was awesome.
Alright, my favorite season is probably the fall. At least it was back home in NY. This is because when the leaves change back east it is beautiful. The whole country side changes and you are engulfed in a glowing brilliance all around of red, orange, yellow, purple, and it's just awesome! So yeah, i love it! I miss it too because i haven't seen those leaves since 2003 (my senior year) *sniff*

Friday, October 10, 2008

Upcoming Test?!

Well here it comes folks, the first exam. Today was mainly a review of everything we have done since day 1. Luckily, nothing came as a huge surprise, but i did figure out again how to do the dot leader. So that was good to know. Frustrations today just have to do with the fact that i am really tired and should really get to bed earlier...but that's my fault huh? I love Fridays!
Also, as far as my pet goes, i had a little dog growing up named (you'll laugh) Skippy. He was a miniature toy poodle, so yeah, just a little guy. But he lived till he was 15 i think. We loved that little dog but he would lick everything thing. Kinda weird. I do like dogs though.

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Charting it up!

Today was an amazing day of chart making using excel. Not only that, but we learned how to use, more in depth, the formula functions and how, basically, to do things more quickly. My a ha moment came when we learned how to use the chart functions. This is because when I took English 316 I had horrible formatting problems when trying to make my charts for that class. What is still fairly frustrating for me is how much there is on one program. I can follow along really well and learn how to do each step, but then its remembering everything we go over. I think it might be helpful if we could have practice assignments. I know no one likes more homework, but something like this would be really helpful i think if we had a chart with instructions on what we need to do to fix it. This would give more practice and help ingrain the concepts so we won't forget them. Just an idea, but that's what i have trouble with...just remembering everything.
On a lighter note, the big high adventure i would take if money wasn't an option would probably have to be something to do with New Zealand. Either that or Australia. I would just do everything i could! Scuba Diving, Sky Diving, Hiking, Camping, and the works. Just everything i could do. That would be a sweet adventure, and money isn't an option! Heck Yeah!

Monday, October 6, 2008

Excelling!

Wow! Today was pretty intense. We learned things that i have never learned before with using excel so everything was an a-ha moment. Specifically, we learned how to use and type in formulas in a spreadsheet. My greatest difference in my numbers was 8592.8 meters. My greatest frustration was when it comes to computers i am pretty slow at catching on to new concepts. I need to have things repeated a lot and gone over again. This is because i will see the new concept and then i will try and do it a couple times and by the time i finish they have already moved onto the next item. So i just need things repeated a lot. Otherwise this is a really good learning experience which i am really happy to learn. The coolest thing was learning about the fill box tool.
I think my favorite breakfast food is crepes. My mom would make homemade crepes with great fruit topping stuff. Oh man, it's awesome. So yeah, that's my favorite!

Friday, October 3, 2008

A day of Excelling!

Alright! Today was a great day of learning. We mainly went over how to submit our assignment 5. However, after we discussed that we briefly went over how to use Microsoft Excel. This is where my "A Ha" moment came into play. I haven't used Excel too much so this was a great review for me. I learned how to merge cells and how to change their widths and heighths. This was really cool. My frustration still comes into effect with how much there is in Excel. I never know how to do the little things so a more in depth training would be really good.
Ok, now, my favorite musical instrument is the saxophone which i have played since i was in fourth grade! More specifically, the Baritone Saxophone. I love that instrument and wish i could continue playing, but sadly, my alto is left at home in NY. I do love to play though. Unfortunately I haven't really played since before my mission. I'll pick it up again one day!

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Weird Relative!

First of all, we learned how to use Adobe Acrobat professional today which was my A HA moment. The entire class period today was new to me which was actually really cool! We learned how to make PDF's of our word documents and how to edit and completely customize the tool bars and all that good stuff. The only thing i was a little frustrated with was the pace is still a little fast. It's a lot to take in for me so i'm still trying to get the hang of it all. But it's all good. I'm really glad i'm learning all of this!
Now, as far as my weird relative goes i don't have anyone that is too out of the ordinary or off the wall. Granted, everyone has their little quirks, but there is nothing too extraordinary. But, if i had to pick, i would say my Grandpa on my dad's side. He used to be a member of the church but completely left after his sister told him she was a prophet. They started their own church and she wrote down all her prophecies and they follow them. Well, she later died and their following has slowly died away, but he's still convinced they need to build a temple somewhere. Also, he broke his hip, but he won't get it fixed because her last prophecy before she died was that if he did that he would die. So he's been running on a broken hip for a couple of years. Who knows how he does it. Anyway, that's my weird relative.

Monday, September 29, 2008

Revisions!

WOW! So today we learned all about making revisions to a word document by adding comments, deletions, insertions and all that fun stuff. This was all an A-ha moment to me because i didn't even know you could do any of that stuff. So today was actually really cool. The only thing i'm still frustrated with is making sure i understand and remember everything i'm learning. There is a lot to take in and a lot of it for me is that it is new. So, i hope i can remember everything. But other than that it is really cool!
Now, the worst movie i've ever seen is called Santa versus the Martians! It was made back in the fifties and it is a gem let me tell you! Amazing! HA! You should check it out. It was actually made famous by the show Mystery Science Theater 3000 where they make fun of terrible movies...so yeah, there ya go!

Friday, September 26, 2008

Proposal sample

Here is a paragraph from my proposal. The italics represent the Issue, the Bold represent the point, and the normal text represents the discussion!


Lake Bonneville is one of the major evidences for the fact that climate has changed over the millennia. Lake Bonneville was a pluvial lake that covered an area of approximately 47,800 km2 (Laabs et al., 2006). This implies that precipitation rates in the Wasatch mountains was much larger (Laabs et al., 2006), and in fact, it is estimated that the lake formed when precipitation rates were ten times that of modern values (Schofield et al., 2004). An increase in precipitation would most likely indicate that there was a change in climate due in part that Utah is now a very arid region. The evidence of Lake Bonneville is seen by the obvious shoreline features across the Wasatch Range and elsewhere in Utah. In fact, there have been 4 main shoreline elevations of the lake discovered. They are, in order of oldest to youngest, the Stansbury, Bonneville, Provo, and Gilbert. This probably indicates a relationship between climate and lake elevation (Schofield et al., 2004). Other geomorphologic features of the Lake are found in the Point of the Mountain and Fingerpoint spit which give an indication of the lake dynamics (Schofield et al., 2004).

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Continue Onward!

Alright! We're still learning how to manage our little web page that we made on the geological department website. Today we learned how to upload our CV's onto the web page so that our portfolios will be all up to date and such. My A ha moment was how to make a hyper link to our PDF version of our CV. I've always wanted to know how to do that been never been able to so that was pretty cool! Now all i have to do is finish my proposal. I hope i can figure out what to do for that. Here it goes!
Now, when i was little, what i always wanted to be when i grew up was a race car driver. I loved to go to the little local racetrack in our hometown and watch the races and i was determined that i would be driver too. Interestingly enough, after that fad died away i really wanted to be a scientist. I had no idea what that meant, but i liked science and that's what i wanted to do. Funny how i'm kind of fulfilling that old dream in a small way!

Monday, September 22, 2008

WEB PAGE!

So yeah, we learned how to set up a web page today which is pretty cool because i have never done that before. For what we are doing it is actually pretty simple. We just have to follow some basic step by step instructions, but for the most part its all set up for us. It is through the geology department so there isn't anything too technical about it. In fact, my main aha moment was actually some terminology; i learned the difference between internet and intranet...i've never known the difference before! But anyway, i'm pretty excited to play around with my own website and get it up and running. It'll be pretty cool!
On a different side of things my favorite food is chicken alfredo! There is something about that dish that is so good. There was a time when i would go to a restaurant and all i would get is that meal. So yeah, i like it a lot! Till next time!

Friday, September 19, 2008

The abstract

So, we are still in writing mode, learning how to properly write like a geologist. More specifically we practiced writing abstracts which is the summary. We practiced summarizing on some fairy tales which was pretty fun. My A ha moment was that usually the only thing people look at when they go through professional papers is the title and the abstract. The superpower that i would love to have is, as boring as this is, to fly. I would just really love to fly and that's about it! whoo hoo!

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

References

We learned about good ways that we can easily cite our references for our research paper. Mainly using refworks and endnote. Unfortunately though, the server wasn't working very well and we couldn't access endnote which was the other program we could use. The one thing that stood out to me was about the hanging indent which is when the first line of the reference is not indented and the rest of the lines are. Also, you can easily change your indents in the ruler bar in word. It was pretty cool.
But, if i could be a tool i would be a hatchet! This is because it is such a versatile tool and can be used for a lot of different things and if you were lost in the wilderness it could save your life! So yeah, a hatchet is a good tool!

Monday, September 15, 2008

Thus it begins...

Here it comes, the dreaded research paper. We all knew it was coming, just wished it didn't have to start so soon. But ya know, i'm ok with all of this. I'm starting to get enough experience doing research that it really doesn't scare me anymore. However, this time, there is a new twist on it which will be new to most of us; that is, writing a proposal. I don't think it will be too bad, i just have to find a topic that interests me. So yeah, today we learned about how to write proposals. The thing that really struck me the most was in proposals they really don't even like abbreviations (why is that such a long word?). Not even little words like "lab" or "math". So proposals are mainly to help you get funding for your project.
Anyway, I'll be fine. On a lighter note my dream vacation would probably be New Zealand. Just from what i've seen it has almost every type of landscape and i just think it would be awesome. It seems like it is just tucked away in the corner of the world. I would love to go there. Anyway, yeah, thats about it. Take care!

Friday, September 12, 2008

The Interview!

So, along the lines of getting a job and making a resume and all that fun stuff, today we learned about how to properly go to an interview and present ourselves while there. The resume is made mainly to get you to the interview. So one of the things that stood out to me today was that there are many things about an individual that can't be properly displayed on paper. You need to show them who you are in person. Also, one of the most important things you can do is to differentiate yourself. Show them how you are unique and make them remember you. So, in thinking about this there is something unique about me. When i was in high school, for prom, my friends and i completely duct taped my entire van and decked out the inside to look like a limo. It was so awesome. It was basically my fifteen minutes of fame for my little town. If you want to hear the whole story i'll have to tell you! But, today was a good day. I learned a lot. Do your research before you have the interview with a particular company. Until next time, take care!

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

An exciting day of Resume

Well, you guessed it. Today we learned all about the exciting world of creating a CV and Resume. I actually had to make one for me technical writing class, but it's amazing how much you do forget after not having to do it for a while. My A-Ha moment came when learning a little more about how to use Word '07. We learned how to make little design things on our papers and how to lock them in place so they aren't always moving around when you type. I can't tell you how frustrating that has been for me in the past so that was a big help. But ya know, I've always had trouble creating a resume. It's always taken me more time than i think is necessary to put one together. So this, i hope, will be a good learning experience to help solidify what i know in creating a CV.
Now, on a lighter note, there is a prank we did back in good ol' scout camp. There was a camp counselor who was pretty annoying and no one really liked him. Well, every night he slept on his own really big blow up mattress. Well, this camp was located on the shore of one of the finger lakes in upstate new york. So, we decided (with the help of some other counselors actually) picked up his mattress while he was sleeping and floated him out onto the lake. He never woke up until he was out a little ways on the water. It was so funny to see how confused he was. I just can't believe it worked. (and no worries, the water front lifeguards were there watching him...a lot of people were in on it.) So yeah, it was pretty dang funny. Anyways, take care!

Monday, September 8, 2008

Word 07 A-HA ./ Scars

Well, today we learned about how to more effectively use Microsoft Word 2007. I've been using it for at least a year now so not too much was new, but there was one thing that struck that i didn't know before. That was how to set the tabs under page layout and then paragraph. This comes in helpful when you are building such things as a table of contents and you can automatically set your tabs. It was very cool.
Now, i have a funny scar story. When i lived in Washington state back in '94 (i was in second grade) i would always love to ride my bike around and then speed into the garage, slam on the brakes, and do a cool little skid on the concrete. Well, as i was speeding home one day, i flew into the garage and went to slam on my brakes and low and behold, they didn't work at all. I had no brakes. So, i went flying right into the back wall of the garage full speed and some little sharp thing sliced my left shin open. There was green stuff coming out and it was really cool. I remember i felt really tough because i didn't cry. But it cleaned up just fine and now i have a scar on my shin from that moment so long ago. And that's my sweet scar story.

Friday, September 5, 2008


So, here we have a few different type of logos that different companies have used. I think the spacing is definitely interesting to note...they all use different types of spacing with the name they use. Also, it is interesting that almost all these logos use san serif font type. I've realized that a lot more goes into making a logo as well as typing things up than just saying stuff. It has to be appealing too!

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Geo 230 class blog.

Well, here it is! The blog that's completely dedicated to what I learned in Geology 23o! These posts will be full of my "A-HA" moments during the class, what I might still be confused about, and then random other stuff during that week. Hope you enjoy and hopefully I'll be a little more tech. savvy after this class!