Change is in the air here at OIMB. Most of the students have finished their classes and are now packing up for their moves back to Eugene or whichever part of the country they came from. A handful that are taking an intro stats class remain, but campus has quieted down significantly. Despite not being in class with them, I got to know most of them pretty well, and it\u2019s been a pleasure spending the summer with a great bunch of up-and-coming marine scientists.<\/p>\n
Due to fog and unfriendly seas, the urchin surveys didn\u2019t happen last week. It was also a short week due to a mandatory furlough day for ODFW on Friday. Much of my time was thus spent assembling my Power Point presentation and measuring a few samples of pink shrimp that came in. The toughest part of my presentation is definitely the results section. I feel like I pretty much have the interpretation down, but the organization as far as slide order and how to tie it all together for effective communication is a bit tricky. Scott has, of course, been great with helping me to fine-tune it and in providing constructive criticism, but it\u2019s ultimately up to me to finalize it and present it effectively. Oddly enough, the final \u201cthank you\u201d slide is also posing a bit of a challenge. The list of people to include is quite long, and as I whittle it down to be more manageable I feel a tinge of guilt as I remove names and relegate them to the \u201cthanks to everybody else\u201d category. These things must sometime happen. Other than that, I\u2019m very happy with the way my presentation has come together. I look forward to the symposium this Friday with a little nervousness but mostly optimism and high hopes.<\/p>\n
My last week here in Charleston may or may not involve sea urchin surveys. As with the previous week, it\u2019s all weather dependent. So far the forecast is for more fog, so I\u2019m not getting my hopes up. It would be so nice to finish up with some fieldwork, though. The last two weeks have largely been spent in the lab or in front of the computer, which I\u2019ve learned is not my favorite place to be despite the satisfaction of seeing the results of my project and gaining much-needed software skills. There\u2019s been talk among the remaining students here of having a bonfire on the beach tonight, so maybe I\u2019ll do some sort of ritual to stave off the fog and reel in some sun.<\/p>\n
I bid you peace.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Change is in the air here at OIMB. Most of the students have finished their classes and are now packing up for their moves back to Eugene or whichever part of the country they came from. A handful that are … Continue reading