It's amazing...

I am in the process of planning some sort of wild and crazy Spring Break trip right now (by wild and crazy, I mean sort of out of the blue type, some place I've never been before). I'm a transportation planner and I know that there is really no rhyme or reason as to the pricing scheme airlines use in calculating their ticket prices, but I've been really amazed at some of the results for some cities I've been considering, that they're all ALMOST EXACTLY THE SAME PRICE FOR THE SAME DATES. No biggie, you say? Here are some of the cities I'm considering for March 7/8/9 - March 14/15:
Helena, MT
Anchorage, AK
Honolulu, HI

Again, no big deal--they're US cities, and capitals of their respective states, but here are two more cities I've looked at:
Edinburgh, Scotland
Budapest, Hungary (Why Budapest? I know someone who teaches at a Christian school there from Trinity in Montgomery and has an open invitation for anyone to come visit him).

They're all within $100 of eachother, despite the fact that I HAVE TO CROSS AN OCEAN AND FLY INTO A DIFFERENT COUNTRY COMPLETELY. (I have to cross an ocean to Honolulu, but it's still in the US). I think the Edinburgh flight may actually be the cheapest of them all (granted, it is a direct flight out of Atlanta, but still).

Anyway, here are my plans for Saturday:
1. NOT STUDY
2. Straighten/Clean my apartment and car
3. Help Colin & Heather Chapell move across town (PCA folks...might recognize that name: Colin is Bryan Chapell's son and is a Ph.D. student here at UA, Heather is the Director of Youth and College Ministries at Riverwood, basically what Tim was doing before July, but without the ordination).
4. NOT STUDY

Exam run-down:
1. Urban Analysis Planning: One essay. Professor said with kind of a smirk on his face, "I don't think you'll find this too painful. You've had enough pain all semester." Half the class of all grad students, including me, finished it in a half hour. The rest were probably 35 minutes finishing it. I was struggling to get three pages--going only one line onto the third page (not "front and back", one whole page front and back, then one line onto the front of the next). Ask me about the mutant race of clowns.
2. GIS-T: Took two hours, but not too bad. One (of six) definitions I was weak on. The essay I wasn't terribly strong on, but I think I got it (and hope I clearly articulated what I was trying to get across). I felt good about the two procedure questions. One we had to find the distance between two places using the gravity model with known variables. It was basic Algebra, but if you didn't know how to work the equation in the first place, you'd be lost. All my results came out nice even numbers, so I must have done something right there (and I plugged them back in and got the right answer). The second was calculating a network autocorrelation/Moran's I on traffic accidents for a 100 mi. stretch of I-10 in Arizona. This is something that can be done easily in Excel, or in GIS with a simple algorithm, but we had to do this by hand. I got my results (Moran's I = 0.93 for this stretch--meaning higher accident values tend to cluster together), and looked back at the map where we got the accident data, and it seemed to be reasonable.

I also got my second non-thesis project idea approved. Basically it's my Richmond project from this semester using ONLY Richmond, then adding three other cities of similar size across the country (Boise, ID; Des Moines, IA; Mobile, AL), add a few more things to look at (fire station coverage of schools, population, etc.) and compare and contract the four cities. I start this up on Monday, and thus ends my holiday--which is why I'm planning a big shebang of a Spring Break trip, since all my non-thesis work should have final drafts turned in by then (to the first reader at least...the second, from what I can ascertain, is somewhat of a formality to avoid any conflicts of interest)

Misc.

It's been a long time since I Rock 'n' Rolled. No wait...it's been a long time since I posted--that was me being a music nerd. Here's what's shaking:

1. Thanksgiving (the majority has been ehmpasized by my lovely sisters in their blogs). I went to the Florabama with dad on Friday just so I could stand with one foot in one state (Alabama) and one foot in the other (Florida) at the same time. I went home by myself that Sunday up US-43. A VERY pleasant drive--aside from nearly getting killed as I got into Linden. Fun towns along the way: Mobile, Mt. Vernon, McIntosh, Jackson, Grove Hill, Thomasville, Dixon's Mill, Linden, Demopolis, Forkland (Mom...that's where those hey sculptures are...between Demopolis and Eutaw), Eutaw. Was able to knock off four more counties (Washington, Jackson, Marengo, Greene) from my trek to drive my car in all 67 Alabama counties. I'm a geography nerd, I admit it.

2. Wrapped up semester papers and presentations. Got a few positive comments on my presentation on waterfront (re)development, though I thought my presentation on Fire Station Coverage in Richmond VA went better (it was the second presentation, so maybe I was warmed up).

3. Now is the time to start my non-thesis papers/projects. It will be no Christmas "break" for me...rather it will be a grand opportunity to get some work done. I got the official go-ahead to resubmit my Ghana transportation paper. I have to restructure it, re-title it, and add a few pages on sustainable transportation (which I have a few articles on...so THAT shouldn't be too bad). I'm thinking about expanding my Richmond project a ways since I think I might need to do a major GIS project for a non-thesis. I'll talk with professors involved in the coming days.

4. Had a going away luncheon for the girl I'm replacing over at land management. She got presents. Maybe I'll get some presents when I leave in May...then again, she had been there a year and a half, I'll have been there four months. Oh, Kelly, they had some raspberry shortbread bars VERY similar to yours (but not better, of course).

5. Prattville plays Hoover today at 3 for the state title at Legion Field. I had thought about going to the game, but I have WAY too much to do here in Tuscaloosa:

1. Study
2. Clean/Straighten
3. Grocery Shop
4. Christmas Shop

I should be able to manage to keep myself busy most of the day. It's SO nice not having to plan my entire day around Alabama football. I'll catch the game on TV (it's playing here on UPN-68). I don't think Prattville will win, but I certainly WILL be pulling for them.

6. UA can't seem to find a coach for its football team. I say hire me. I have a proven track record. I have 150 wins compared to two losses and eight straight national championships (and 9 out of the last eleven seasons). Mind you, this is in NCAA 2005 on my Nintendo Gamecube...

7. Had my first Christmas party/open house of the season last Sunday night at the Liens'. Last time they had one I was there from 7pm until 2am--so were several other people. This time I wasn't there quite as long...6:30pm until roughly 10:00pm.

8. I turned my heat on for the first time two nights ago. Apparently the teens is my threshold for turning the heat on. Dad should be proud of me.

9. I have two exams. One Thursday morning (I THOUGHT it might be a take-home...but it's a regular in-class exam), then one Friday morning after which I go to Suzanna's Christmas pageant/program.

10. I have to return a book to the Bruno Library today (which is were Paul works). No reason for anyone having to know that other than I didn't want Paul to feel left out since I've mentioned everyone else's name here in my relatively immediate family. Also I wanted a nice even number of talking points.

That is all for now.
See-ya!

A few key things:

1. My computer HD crashed last Wednesday/Thursday. Thanks to a number of people (Kerry/Paul, Dad, and Tim Lien) I've been able to get back pretty much up and running again. Kerry/Paul let me use their computer to try and figure out what went wrong and use their Firewire cord to recover my critical data before wiping the HD clean and starting with a clean slate. Dad sent/is sending a copy of a later version of the OS X recover disk than I had on hand at the time of the crash (I have 10.2.7, he has 10.3.4 I think). Most of MS Office for the Mac won't run on the earlier system (it needs a newer version of 10.2), and for that matter, many of the programs I had also need either higher versions of 10.2 or a version of 10.3 to run. Tim Lien let me borrow his copy of Microsoft Office for, um, evaluation purposes to try and get up and running on my Windows PC (which he and I re/built a few weeks ago). I may just try and see if this thing can get me through the March-May time frame of 2007 then possibly scrap it (it'll be 2.5 to three years old then, having been in my hands for 2 years) and look into getting a newer Mac then.

2. I may be leaving the Cart Lab for my final semester of grad school. I was informed of this yesterday. I'll still be employed elsewhere on campus and still keep my assistantship and stipend, just no longer at my current place of employment. Craig is losing three geography grad students at one time, and possibly a fourth (anthropology who could, in theory, get a teaching assistantship at any point thus meaning she'd have to leave the Cart Lab) all of whom will have been there for 2 - 2.5 years a piece. He's looking at hiring a couple of current undergrads who are considering grad school and wants to break at least one of them in for my job before he starts grad school (he's a good guy, he's one of the folks who went to Ghana this past summer). If I end up leaving the Cart Lab, I'll end up at the Office Land Management for my final semester (Land Management too is losing a geography grad student and the geography department wants to keep that position...so I suppose I'm serving as a placeholder). Little will change. I'll still do GIS work, I'll still do it for 20 hours a week (though probably at a higher hourly rate). I'll even be within a baseball's throw of Farrah Hall (Land Management is in Hayden-Harris Hall, which is along Hackberry between Burke and Farrah). I'd work under the University Geologist whom I've worked with on projects before (Handicapped accessibility map in tandem with Dr. Judy Bonner--University Provost, and the Google Earth project). I'd also work in close contact with the Cart Lab. I don't really want to leave the Cart Lab, but I also really don't have much control. If it's a terrible switch, it's only for a semester...it may make me more encouraged to get my non-thesis requirements done.

3. Speaking of non-Thesis requirements, I've approached Dr. Seth (Appiah-Opoku) about resubmitting my Ghana paper for a non-thesis paper. He seemed to think it was a good idea and is currently (allegedly at least) looking over it again. Then we'll meet and discuss how to bring it up to non-thesis standards. (I think I'm on his good side again after that first fifteen minutes of comps--yeesh). I'm still trying to think about a final non-thesis paper/project. If all goes well on my current GIS-T project, I may try and expand it a bit more (in terms of project breadth and paper length). Today was a good day on the project (Kelly, I found out through initial analysis that all but the extreme SW portion of Chesterfield county is within 15 minutes of a fire station, and four select key sites are within five minutes--St. John's Church, The Capitol, The Diamond, and The Richmond Coliseum--of a fire station). I judge a good day by everything working out well in data gathering, manipulation, compilation and analysis. I'm about |___| <-- that close from being ready to start the paper writing and necessary map production. It is indeed true the axiom that seventy-five percent of the time, effort and frustration of GIS is the data gathering.

4. My thoughts are now turning to Thanksgiving. Can't wait!

5. I also bought two old maps on e-bay last week. They came in (thanks Kerry for serving as a "c/o" for me!). I'm currently getting them custom framed at Michael's. They are a 1930 map of Gold Coast (that is, Ghana), and a 1905 map of Japan. They're both smaller than I thought, but they're old maps...so I like them.

Hooray!

I just looked at my time sheet for the first time this pay period (in theory, I should have looked at it the past few days, but whatever...). For the first time since May, I'm actually ahead in hours! I have a +0.5 by my name. Keep in mind, the day I got back to work after going to Africa, I had a -77 by my name, meaning I owed 77 hours. It's been a long, hard five months, but I finally broke even (and that's including two and a half days off for comps, a week off for Virginia, and a day off last week for a head cold from which I needed to rid myself).

On a completely un-related note, Tim Lien was officially installed by Warrior Presbytery as Senior Pastor at Riverwood PC. Now maybe the PCA's website will update the RPC entry on their church directory (assuming the stated clerk of Warrior Presbytery informs the folks in Atlanta in time).

Spring 2007

Here's my final schedule (tentative at this point) for the spring semester:

1. GY536--Advanced GIS-->T 6:00-8:30 (4 Credit Hours)
2. GY598--Non-Thesis Research (3 Credit Hours)
3. GY506--Directed Research in Human Geography (1 Credit Hour)

So basically that means one class a week, do/finish two 20-25 page papers, and read some articles and discuss them with a professor and/or do a write up on them.

Seems easy enough. Let's hope so!

*snort*

It MUST be something in the Tennessee River if now Smokey is getting as nasty as the human UT fans.

Dog bites man

Me in GY Dept. Newsletter

My write up on my trip to Ghana is featured in the 2006 Geography Dept. Newsletter.

http://www.as.ua.edu/geography/newsletter06.pdf

Page 9, right before the Memoriam.

I'm famous!

Welcome to America, where you can sell anything

Just a few minutes after the Razorbacks of Arkansas felled the hated Tigers of "Moo U", I saw someone walking around campus selling something taunting Auburn. It was a picture (he had several desk sized versions, as well as a poster sized one) of a skeleton sitting in a lawn chair with an Auburn jersey on, and a pennant in one hand, and in his other hand a cardboard sign that said "Still Waiting on National Championship". Supposedly it's floating around on the internet somewhere, but I have yet to find it.

To sum Satruday up:

Auburn loses (AT HOME!) to Arkansas.
Alabama wins (at home) against Duke (though I had my doubts after the first half when our defense looked like Georgia's 4th quarter defense where they gave up 27(!) to the Home Dep...I mean...Tennessee Volunteers)
The Yankees (who perpetually have 100 win seasons) were felled by the Detroit Tigers who, prior to this season, had perpetually had 100 LOSS seasons. The Tigers took the series 3-1 and play the Oakland Athletics for the ALCS.

The day's only offical downside was Georgia losing to Tennessee. Can't have it all I don't suppose.

Friday

Today was a good Friday. The best Friday I've had in quite a while (honestly!). The weather was exceptionally nice. We still have an Indian Summer to look forward to, but this gave a taste of what was to come. Work went great. Craig was out of the office and while he's not an overbearing manager by any stretch of the imagination, it was a light hearted day the whole day regardless, while still getting work done (no goofing off), everyone was in a good mood.

I met with one of my professors today to talk about the paper in his class, and he liked my idea and gave me some direction that I could go on it (riverfront redevelopment in general, then a specific case study in Montgomery) and he suggested "dovetailing" it with a non-thesis paper to, in his words, "minimize work while, at the same time, maximizing output".

I also met with another professor yesterday (Dr. Weber) and he liked my idea for a project in his class about accessibility of fire stations in Montgomery. I actually wanted to do Prattville, but he suggested Montgomery because he and I both thought a larger data set would be better. He also gave me some early guidance on a non-thesis paper. I got asked to write a letter of recommendation for a professor who is up for tenure this semester, which I will do. This is for Dr. Weber, my program advisor. He's always very helpful in papers and projects, and was great in easing my tattered nerves about comprehensive exams. He's met the publication requirements, and I'm certain he won't have problem getting it, but it was humbling to write one for him.

Luke Henderson passed the bar exam. I was almost jumping up and down in the mall when I called him and he told me the good news. The fact that the state of Alabama has said that he can practice law is rather scary (I say that tongue in cheek, of course)...he's earned it.

One of my friends from Riverwood is moving to Birmingham tomorrow. While that isn't the fun part, the going away stuff was fun. About 5 guys and four girls (including this guy's girlfriend) went out to Nick's in the Sticks way out past Stillman along Culver Road/US11/43. Met a girl from Richmond (Kelly, she claims her parents go to Third Pres.), AND a girl from Montgomery.

And to top it off, it's Suzanna's 2nd Birthday.

This is exceedingly better than two Fridays ago (dinner w/ Dave & Amelia Nolen that night salvaged that day).

Today was just what the doctor ordered.

Does this count as rubbing "it" in?

Just put on my car today.

Celebration Day

Again--further evidence of me being a music nerd, and in keeping in tune with titles having song titles based on the subject matter of the post, I present to you a song off Led Zeppelin III (their acoustic, folksy album from 1970).

Comps are over. I passed. I'd write more right now, but my brain is fried. Just thought I'd put it out there.

Later!

Under Pressure

In again trying to attach song titles to blog entries, I have chosen Queen's "Under Pressure" featuring David Bowie. (John Deacon's opening bass line Vanilla Ice...um..."borrowed" during the early 90s for his reprehensible song "Ice, Ice Baby"). I'm a music nerd, I know.

Anyway, so the pressure of about twelve to thirteen people having taken and passed comps in a row comes to me. I see no reason I'll break the streak. There are two approaches I could take to this: (1) Statistical--the more people who continue to pass it, the more likely it is the next person will fail, and (2) Perpetual Motion--an object in motion will stay in motion unless acted upon by an outside force. I'm trying to keep the perpetual motion idea in my head while I study, and ultimately once Friday comes up.

I feel fairly confident on most of the stuff right now. I think I have Dr. Weber's stuff down, I think I have the lion's share of Dr. Seth's stuff down, and I'm feeling better daily on Dr. Richetto's stuff. Mind you, there is still stuff for each I'm weak on, but that's reality. I don't expect to know or be able to answer everything they ask me off hand, but I certainly hope I can, with a little leading (there is precedence, Dr. Richetto once got me started on an answer on a test after everyone else had left) on that stuff, be able to convince them I DO know what I'm talking about, and know enough about Geography for them to feel confident in giving me a degree.

I'm just sick of studying, and looking over all this stuff again and again. It'll be over Friday though, then I just get to the normal rigors of school.

*snicker*

Which Princess Bride Character are You?
this quiz was made by mysti

Comps

I have an offical date for comps. I saw the schedule as it is posted in the Geography Dept. office this morning:

Friday, September 15
1pm


I'm the third one to go.

Two weeks to study. Hopefully I can have some time to eat and sleep during it.

Comps/Loan

So I heard a tentative date for my comprehensive exams. This isn't confirmed, but I heard it from another grad student who I have my MWF class with (and whose session will be right after mine). He said he saw me down for Friday, September 15th at 1pm. That gives me a time frame with which to work. About two and a half weeks. It works great because I get to have a feel as to the professors' general mood, while not having to dread it for too long. Plus now I have a finite timeframe with which to study and can guide my studies much better. That will be life between now and then.

Oh, and I got my loan check in the mail today. I won't go on blurting out how much it was for all to see (if you want to know, and know how to get in touch with me off the blog...just let me know). I fought getting the loan--to a fault, but when the University can't seem to figure how to pay it's graduate students for a month--long story, it was something I needed to go ahead and suck up. It was odd getting a check for that much in the mail, and it was particularly odd getting a check for that much with just a Pittney-Bowles type 37 cent stamp on it (apparently the actual cost to ship was 37 cents, not the standard 39...but whatever).

So I can get that in the bank tomorrow (I'll split it between checking and a fairly liquid investment fund) and can finally begin paying back those to whom I owe money before they break my legs as collateral (folks like my credit card companies, and mom).

Comps/First Day of class

Well, I talked with one of the professors who is on my board this afternoon about it (not my program advisor, mind you, I meet with him on Friday). Dr. Richetto answered some of my pressing questions about exam structure and such. Basically what he told me is that Dr. Weber (my program advisor and presumably my review board chairman) will sort of get me to talk about myself. Things like why I like Geography, why I chose to study it at Alabama, and some career goals. This, I suppose is to loosen me up a bit. Then each professor including Dr. Seth (Appiah-Opoku) will get a twenty minute session to ask me basically anything from any classes I've had with them, or any broad topics I should know as a geographer, specifically a second year master's student. For instance, Dr. Weber will ask me about GIS and Transport Geography, Dr. Seth about Africa, Environmental Management, and broad planning ideas, Dr. Richetto about some more specific (but still fairly broad) planning concepts on the public and private sectors, some broad human geography ideas (which will probably be encompassed in other planning sections), and since Dr. Jerry Webster isn't on my board, he will ask me some broad questions from GY500 (history, traditions, etc.). From that point, they each get a ten minute session with me to follow up on any questions they answered in their first round, or to get clarifications on what I meant, etc. Then I'll leave the room while they talk with eachother to get a concensus on whether or not I pass. This takes about ten minutes, at which point they'll call me back in and give me the 411 (pass/fail) and perhaps reasons why I failed (assuming such). I'm still nervous and apprehensive, to be sure, but now that I have some specific structure on what to expect I'm a little less worried (I've moved from a 10/10 to a 9/10 on the apprehension scale you might say).

I meet with Dr. Weber on Friday afternoon to discuss what I should study specifically for his section, then a more broad idea of what to expect on the exams, and how I should prepare. Things as serious as what to say if I don't know the answer to a question, to nominal such as what I should do in terms of dress for the day (the girl I work with who took it January was dressed up a bit more than usual the day she took them).

I should have a date by this time next week. Then my apprehension shoots back up to about 55/10.

On a related note, my first day of class this year went fine. Typical first day, to be sure. This class has only grad students. Except for GY500, this has been the only class that has had only grad students in it. GY540 had one undergrad, that was as close to no undergrads. I guess Dr. Richetto expects more from the class as a whole in this one.

websites

All my journal entries are now up. I have left a space for an epilogue of sorts in the future, but I'll tackle that at a later date. I may also attach a picture or to from the picture page to the journal entries in the future as well just for some visual aide.

http://www.krgilbert.net/ghana/

Also, Alabama Maps is pretty much back up and running again. I believe we've managed to recover all of our nearly 14,000 or so maps online and about 99.2% of our 5500 or so air photos. That 0.8% was the last few we did before the crash and hadn't had a chance to be backed up in any way, shape, or form. I'm thinking those will just be scrapped.

http://alabamamaps.ua.edu/

Yay

Just saw on the news (well, about thirty minutes ago, but whatever), that Kristen Trotter boarded a cruise ship over the weekend and is now out of Lebanon (presumably in Cyprus for now, eventually back in Alabama). So that's good news.

Also, I've gotten all my May journal entries up on my Ghana web page. I'll work on the June ones in the coming days. Enjoy!

http://www.krgilbert.net/ghana

(for the journal, click the "Journal" link at top).

Strange liquid

There's a strange liquid falling out of the sky right now. Someone, quick, remind me what it is. Is it this "rain" they've been saying we're so short on? I'm so dumbfounded!

Ghana Page

I'm working on getting some changes done to my Ghana page. Among the changes:

1. Journal entries (I finally got it back). These will take a while, but I've gotten about six of them done thus far--through May 25. I hope to have the rest done by month's end.

2. Picture descriptions. This is partially for my own memory. Again, I hope to have this done by month's end.

3. Spiffy new front page image. Simply an outline of Alabama with the Ghanaian flag contained in its boundaries. (Photoshop is a great thing!). I'll work on this some to make it fancier eventually, but I thought it looked good on the front page.

http://www.krgilbert.net/ghana/

So see some photo descriptions, read journal entries, marvel at the front page image, and enjoy the page! (And keep checking back every couple of days for changes and updates).

Apparently I know someone in Beirut, Lebanon right now. (If you happen to have seen it on the news, it's Senior UA Journalism Major Kristen Trotter). Apparently she's interning with Beirut's main newspaper. She's an RUFer, attends Riverwood, etc. I'm reasonably close to her, so as you can imagine I'm a bit concerned. I just thought I'd share that.

Almost Back

Well, it looks like Alabama Maps will be back up and running soon. Most of the historic maps are back up, but the aerial photographic collection is still down and may well be fore a while, but this is better than we were two weeks ago, indeed better than we were as of 11:45 on Friday morning (the point at which the new server came online and the new linking method was discovered).

It's not as glum as we thought previously. Yay! Please patronize us!
http://alabamamaps.ua.edu/

yay!

even still...Go Black Stars

Well, "my" Black Stars couldn't pull off the impossible in beating Brazil today. The final was 3-0.

However, said Brazil's coach: "It wasn't easy and we knew it wasn't going to be easy, 3-0 seems easy, but it wasn't."

Said Ghana's coach: "[Ghana] faced a great team, the world champions, they are the best in competition, defending champions. It is not a shame to lose to Brazil."

Go Black Stars!

Dancing in the streets of Accra (and Kumasi, Cape Coast, Takoradi, Axim, Sunyani...well, any city of any size in Ghana).

Final score:

Ghana 2
USA 1

Ghana advances to the second round with Italy.

Back in Alabama

I'm sure some of you are already aware, but I'm back in the states. Specifically in Alabama. More stories and pictures forthcoming, but here are two. The first is of me drinking a Heineken in Amsterdam...just so I could say I did it. The second is proof I'm a geography nerd. It's me with my feet in the other side of the Atlantic Ocean (The Gulf of Guinea at Axim, Ghana).

I'll post more later, and tell stories ad nauseum.

peppers!

As Kerry can attest, these are larger now, these pictures were taken just a few days after I got the plants. On the left, the bell pepper, on the right, cayenne. If you look closely in the right one, you can see the front of my car. Enjoy!

Riverwood goings on

Well, this happened earlier than I had expected. The congregation voted today about 90% in favor with one abstination (Melissa Lien I suspect) to give the green light to the session's recommendation that Tim Lien be the next senior pastor once Bryan leaves at the end of June. He had to have 80% since there is no BCO provision for an assistant pastor to become the senior pastor at the same chruch at which he was asssistant. This is allegedly to prevent any sort of assistant coming in and forcing the senior pastor out. Both Tim and Bryan were allegedly cornered at the last meeting of Warrior Presbytery and grilled about it. Now all that's left is for Warrior Presbytery to vote on the congregation's decision (it's just a 3/4ths vote there) then an installation on or around July 2nd.

Now what's left is finding an assistant/associate to serve in the position Tim has held the past two years (youth guy). We're at an odd position now since most seminaries have already graduated and already sent their graduates to their first calls. I think it's something the laypeople in the church are going to suck up for about a year until they can find someone qualified for the job.

That's what's happening. A last pre-Africa post forthcoming on Tuesday.

zing!

Final grades in for the semester...

Industrial Development & Location (GY-532)-->A
Research Methods & Traditions in Geography (GY-500)-->A
Transport Geography (GY-566)-->A

I haven't had a GPA this high since Jr. High (roughly a 3.83 now), and if I continue this, I'll end up with a GPA in the range of 3.93 by the time I graduate! I'm also off the "restriction" that I came in under because of the 900 I got on the GRE. (Had to keep 3.0 for the first 12 attempted hours). Hooray for me!

We got married in a fever, hotter than a pepper sprout...

Again, the post title is a line from a song, relevant (somewhat) to the subject matter. The song is "Jackson", a duet featuring Johnny Cash and (at the time--they weren't yet married) June Carter, particularly I'm thinking about the version sung live at Folsom Prison in 1968.

Remember what I said a couple of days ago about my pepper plants being droopy? Well, when I put then back in the sun the next day, they had already exploded (particularly in terms of leaf size). They had grown about about an linear inch, then a couple of the leaves at the bottom of each plant (cayanne, and bell both) had about doubled in aeral size. They're still going on the fertilizer that was in the potting soil, and I've watered them probably just once because every couple of days--including about 6:30 this morning--we get a decent rain through and everytime I finger test the soil (stick finger in to see how moist the soil is), it doesn't feel like it needs watering and the plants never look droopy from a lack of moisture. They're even beginning to start sprouting (now if only I can attract some bees)! They should be putting out peppers in mid-July.

Celebration Day

In keeping with my policy of song titles in post titles as they're appropriate to the subject of the post (do you follow?) the title of this post is a Led Zeppelin song from their Led Zeppelin III album full of mainly acoustic and folksy stuff.

But anyway, I'm done with finals. Finito. Sayonara. Well, until comprehensive exams, then finals in December, then...well, you get the picture. Final analysis:

GY-566-->
Nailed it, got an A in the class. I felt confident about everything I answered, except for that one question's calculations. That really verified that I am a transportation geographer. I looked through the notes twice, maybe three times.

GY-532-->
Well, this remains to be seen. Ironically, the one class I struggled with the most was at an undergraduate level. It dealt with planning, but not transportation (though it did dabble into transportation issues...Infrastructure, networks, you get the picture). In stark contrast to GY-566, I read though these notes six or seven times, but didn't feel nearly as confident (again, consistent with how I felt throughout the semester).

GY-500-->(geeky moment, a la Kelly, forthcoming)
Turned it in 7 1/2 hours before it was due (i.e. at 2:00pm). Department secretary said that she thought I should get extra credit for that (I agree). I was the second person to put it in his box (which is not necessarily to say I was the second to turn it in as we had an e-mail option as well). Basically I rip into post modernism as it applies to the sciences:

1. Post modernism's criticisms of modernism, while superficially valid, do not hold any water. How can a post modernist, the very foundations of which emphasize the lack of absolutes, say that anything that arose out of modernism was bad? (The failure of the nation-state in Africa, for example).
2. If "Nothing exists out of the text" (according to deconstructionist and postmodernist Jacques Derriea) and everything is left up to the individual for interpretation, then who is a post modernist to say that what Adolf Hitler, Josef Stalin, Idi Amin, Pol Pot, or Saddam Hussein (among others) were wrong in how they killed thousands and millions? Where not they doing what they interpreted as right in eliminating subversive peoples?
3. Since science (geography specifically) and academia in general seek out universal truths, post modernism is a pox on the sciences--the arts are a different story.
4. Post modernism has led to the disunity in academia that exists today wherein people specialize in singular fields, rather than diversifying their knowledge. No one (generalized statement) knows about Mozart AND molecular biology AND American History anymore, which is bad according to E.O. Wilson and, after having looked at it some, myself.
   

That is the essence of what I said. I go on for five pages about that using notes, texts, handouts, and readings from class. I felt pretty decent about it, but I haven't a clue as to what to expect in a grade. If Dr. Webster is a post modernist, an A, if not, then who knows? (get it? haha!)

Now I get ready for Africa. Two weeks from now, I'll be hurdling across the Atlantic Ocean in a piece of metal at several hundred miles per hour.

My pepper plants are droopy. They were out in the rain and the wind today. Hopefully they'll perk up tomorrow, less I have to get stakes.

Exam Update 1

Had my transport geography final this morning. After having gotten my final project back in the class (9.5/10), I came home after the final and figured I could get something like a 79 on the test and still make something like a 90.01. A C gets me an outright A.

I didn't come close to getting a C (on the positive side, of course).

That was the most confident I've felt about an exam in quite a while (if not ever). I didn't know everything, but the ones I did know I felt like I nailed (we had choices on what to answer, 6 of 8 definitions, 4 of 5 analysis, 1 of 4 essays). I think I botched the calculation on one of the analysis questions (I calculated it three times and got something different each time). Dr. Weber isn't necessarily concerned with exact calculation, but rather conceptual understanding, which in spite of potentially erroneous calculations, I had the questions concept down.

Now I have to finish up the last assignment (presentation critiques) in my Industrial Development and Location class, then start on Dr. Webster's final exam which is due by 9:30pm on Wednesday. That is an optional take home/in class final. We can do it at home with everything in front of us and take as long as we want, or we can be in class with everything in front of us but only have the exam period. Two 4-5 page essays is what it amounts to, nothing too tough, especially considering I have everything in front of me. I hope to have it done by Wednesday afternoon (tomorrow afternoon would be MUCH better, that's what I'm actually aiming for).

So I'd better get back to the books for about two more days, then I'm freeeeeeee (sort of).

Ground Control to Major Tom

It's a song (by David Bowie), but it has nothing to do with this posting other than that I'm listening to it as I type, unlike my last movie reference.

This semester is steadily winding down. I talked with Dr. Weber today about the final project, the final exam, and his portion of the comprehensive exams. I'm supposed to get an outline of my Intro to GIS course (taken as an undergraduate) and my Transport Geography course (taking now) then go over it with him. He said he'll be here in June so he didn't seem to think there was a huge rush (particularly since I don't plan on studying until July) since I'm in the midst of dead week/finals. I have my Intro to GIS notes around somewhere, but I took that in Spring 2003, so I have no clue where they might be. Fortunately, a girl I work with took the class last semester and said she'd give me her notebook (both she and Dr. Weber said that the course didn't change much, and besides, it's likely he'll ask more recent stuff anyway), as well as the comprehensive outline she typed up. I'll do my own, but it's always good to have something else to help guide. She also gave me her GY500 notebook which helped IMMENSELY and probably helped me get an A on the mid-term (she took it last spring). As for Dr. Seth (Appiah-Opoku) and Dr. Richetto, I haven't talked with them yet about details, but I'll get to them by week's end.

So once I get through this paper on an ongoing transport project, I can start studying for finals. They are as follows:

GY-500-->Take-Home due by the end of the scheduled exam period (Wednesday night I believe), and available now --though I haven't yet picked it up. Two essays. One required, one a choice of two.

GY-532-->Wednesday 8:00-10:30

GY-566-->Monday 8:00-10:30.

So I'll be done by Wednesday afternoon at the latest (depending on when I finish my GY-500 exam). Then I can start focusing on Africa. Hooray!

back

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I've been busy with school related work and this does after all take a backseat to my master's degree. I'm taking a break tonight from academia just to relax. I don't have anything due until Friday morning, so I can work tomorrow afternoon/night on the last page or so of my paper on Hyundai, then proof and source it. Then I have something due on Thursday of next week, as well as a presentation on Monday AND a final proposal for my Ghana paper.

I've taken the last of my typhoid fever medicine. Now I give it a week to work through my system and I'm vaccinated against Typhoid Fever for five years. The malaria vaccination I start taking a week before I go, then while I'm there once a week, then for a couple of weeks after I get back. I may actually need a couple more pills, but I'll address that after I get back.

I get another night of house/dog sitting for the Liens. Melissa called my apartment today and sai they're staying at the beach another day. It's not a problem as they said they might end up staying another day. Oh...the good time that must be being had by the soon-to-be interim senior pastor (and by all accounts the Senior Pastor once the congregation can officially offer it to him when Byran leaves).

"I know what you're thinking...did he fire five shots, or six?"

"Do you feel lucky? Well, do ya punk?"

Famous (albeit paraphrased)Clint Eastwood line there from "Dirty Harry" (1971).

Well, they shot me five times today, not six as I had expected. I ended up with an oral vaccination for Typhoid Fever. I was worried about it after talking with Dr. Seth a bit later, but I talked with a lady at the health department, and looked at the CDC website about the oral vaccination and didn't see any reason not to be able to take it. Dr. Seth just e-mailed me a few minutes ago and said that his experiences (he got a mild case of it over there while on Ph.D. research) were based on Canadian pills in the mid 1990s (he got his Ph.D. from the University of Waterloo in Ontario). He said that the other professor going on the trip (who went last year) took the pills and had no problem. I take four pills over the course of about eight days (one every other day). It gradually builds my immunity to typhoid fever. The run-down is available here:
http://www2.ncid.cdc.gov/travel/yb/utils/ybGet.asp?section=dis&obj=typhoid.htm

So what I got today in terms of actual needles:

Yellow Fever (certified by the CDC too, I have a yellow sheet to prove it!)
Meningicoccal (meningitis)
Hepatitis A&B (actually just part one of a three series shot, I can probably get the second one before I go, and probably in Augauga county. Only one is needed, but they recommend three. One today, one a month from now, and one six months from now. The more I have, simply means the more my system is immune. The RN said I could get the second and/or third shots anywhere basically that has it, hence thinking Augauga County Health Dept. a few days before I go, because the next time I could get scheduled with Tuscalooca Health Dept. was the day I leave for Atlanta and subsequently, Ghana)
Polio
Tetanus

That means I have five band-aids on my arms right now. Two on my left, three on my right. I'm not sure what went into what arm, but the RN at the Health Dept. had a system (the weaker ones go in my dominant arm).

So yes, as a matter of fact, I DO feel lucky................punk! (http://www.folloder.com/sounds/punk.wav)

visa

It's a bit of a disappointment. I had anticipated it being a separate document wholly. As it turns out, it is just a sticker (but a full page one) in my passport. I mean, it's official "Republic of Ghana" and has stamps and such on it, but I expected something different. Looking on the bright side, however, I don't have an extra document to keep up with. Goodness knows I have enough with my passport, and proof of vaccinations to keep up with.

Oh! The perils of going to Africa!

paper, visa, and hair cuts

I got my Maury paper back today. I got a 93 on it. Dr. Webster was a little concerned (if that's the appropriate word) about why I had left so much about John Maury in the paper. I thought it was important to link why Matthew decided to join the Navy and establish that he did it against his father's permission. Dr. Webster also made a point to note that it was double the required length. Also, there were some words I changed from the source to my paper (in paraphrased sections) that he wanted clarification that they were my words and not the source's. I added them for some more color is all. I'm not disputing anything, I'm happy with the grade. There was surprisingly little red ink on it. I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing.

And the visa came in today. I don't have it in hand, it's wandering around Tuscaloosa now. I got a notice in my mailbox about an express delivery. It's available after 4pm at the main 35401 post office in downtown. The mailman also called me to let me know. That really means a lot. I guess he has my name on record, or the number was on the package, or in a database attached to the package or something. There's this nice message on my answering machine that he tried to deliver it about 11:30 and that it would be available in downtown at 4pm.

I got a hair cut today. Actually, I got most of them cut (haha). The next time will be right before I go to Ghana. I want a nice short hair cut for the tropical/sub-tropical weather I'll be experiencing for about three weeks.

The vast majority of the afternoon will be studying. Probably at Gorgas. I've spent more time at the library this semester than I have since I studied for my poetry recitation for Sra. Saphore at Spanish Competition during high school. There really is a lot of neat stuff (books!) at libraries. I highly recommend going if you've never gone before.

The Real Thing

Title shamelessly plagarized from Kerry.

My visa didn't come today. The USPS site says it left Birmingham at about 6 this morning. I thought if it didn't come with the actual mail that it might come later. My thinking is it will come in tomorrow ("Overnight" delivery allows for Sunday delivery, but being Easter Sunday, I don't know), or Monday. Just great, I'm not going to be in most of the day. It'll probably have to be picked up on Tuesday. Whatever, just so long as I get it before going.

I've had a craving for Coke all day. Fortunately, I have some Coke around, and for the thrid time in my life, I won a free coke on one of Coke's bottle cap give-away type thingies. So drink up! I can get another 2L bottle (Cherry/Vanilla) for free!

this and that

I checked on my travel visa application today. You see, I have a tracking number on it from the USPS for the overnight delivery. Today was the first day when the USPS site showed something for it. It shipped out of Gaithersburg, MD today. Presumably since it's overnight, it'll be in tomorrow. We'll see. I'm not sure if it's a signature for delivery type thing, and how that works with the USPS and apartment complexes so I'll have to be in through noon tomorrow (I probably would be on Saturday anyway. The mail almost always runs around noon here. If I come back from campus at noon, if the mail hasn't already run, the mailman/woman is usually in the complex distributing the mail to the boxes.

Oh, and I spent a bunch of time last night trying to calculate roadway congestion index (RCI) in Alabama. I kept getting stuck, and until I got that one done in excel, I couldn't do any of the other ones. I e-mailed Dr. Weber today, and he gave me the answers for that one and I played around with the numbers until I got that answer, then applied the formula to the other problems, simply plugging in the appropriate numbers. I had the numbers correct, and the basic idea for the formula correct, it was just too much for me to get in one formula, so I had to calculate the three parts of the final formula separately, then calculate the final formula from the thee subtotals. Doing it that way caused much less gnashing of teeth and I was able to figure out the RCI for the other ones within just a few minutes (once I figured out the numbers I needed for them, which was laborious). All the data for that project is gathered and compiled, all I have to do now is the analysis part, which is easy.

I ate at Mugshots today with Paul. It's a burger joint in downtown. My burger was a tad charred (not overcooked, just charred), but the Swiss cheese, mushrooms and Tobasco sauce all but covered it up. A tad on the pricey side for a struggling graduate student, but not unreasonable. The service was great and quick.

Oh, and I'm probably going to call Liz this weekend at some point to see if she can talk with me about her experiences in the former Zaire. Specifically my main concern now is how she reacted to her vaccinations. I think I'll have similar ones to her, but I just want to see what I should expect on Wednesday morning when they shoot me up with Hepatitis A&B, Typhoid, meningitis, and Yellow Fever vaccinations.

Larry M.

$116 for the drug. Apparently I don't have prescription coverage, but according to the pharmacist, most plans wouldn't cover it anyway. Still, I'd rather spend $116 now than contract the disease. While insurance might cover that, I'd much rather spend $116 now than have to deal with having malaria. Not so much fun.

Here are the possible drug side effects from RxList.com (emphasis mine):

"This medication may cause stomach upset, stomach pain, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, fever, hair loss, ringing in the ears, dizziness, drowsiness, headache, insomnia, strange dreams, or lightheadedness. These effects should subside as your body adjusts to the medication. If these symptoms persist or become severe, contact your doctor or pharmacist promptly."

Lovely, just lovely.

Lip pt. 2: Kerry

Well, since Kerry gave me lip about not posting enough for her tastes, here's a post of my exciting life.

I went to Dr. Lovelady today. Got a larium prescription. They also scheduled an appointment at the health dept for me to get the aforementioned shots. 8am on April 19th. I can do it on my way into work since the health department is (sort of) on my way in. That's what's happening. I'm tired now, kind of headachy. The appointment threw me off. Didn't get lunch until 3:30, then took about a half hour nap. It was one of those where you sleep hard, but wake up harder.

There you have it. An obligitory post. Why haven't you posted today, Kerry? (hahaha)

misc.

I vacuumed today. It's amazing, the carpet looks so much cleaner. I don't know if I actually vacuumed up that much, but having the carpet fibers going in a different direction gives at least the perception of clean. (Also the popcorn kernels are off the floor from last night, so yeah, I think it's clean).

I got my car registered in Tuscaloosa county today. I now have a "63" tag.

I went grocery shopping today. I was proud of myself. I think the least healthy thing I got was the pepper jack cheese. I even had some cookies in my basket, but took them out in favor of Edy's whole fruit popsicles.

Along the lines of health, I have an appointment with Dr. Steve Lovelady tomorrow (of Trinity membership here in Tuscaloosa). This is regards to getting shot (or shots, that wasn't clear) so I can go to Africa. I'm supposed to get:

1. Yellow Fever
2. Hepatitis A&B
3. Meningococcal Vaccination
4. Typhoid shot
5. Make sure Polio and Tetanus are up to date
6. Larium pill regimen

I called the student health center and they said they had the Hepatitis shots, and the meningitis shots (as well as tetanus) around. They told me I'd have to see a doctor about typhoid and Larium and polio (though that should be on record at the student health center) and I'd have to call around about yellow fever. Hopefully he can get it, but at the very least he can tell me where I can get it, and maybe refer me.

Finally, Riverwood has officially dissolved the pastoral relationship with Bryan as of June 30. That means Tim becomes Interim Senior Pastor as of July 1. We also voted nearly unanimously to form a pulpit search committee giving the responsibility over to the session (in accordance with the BCO chapter 20). They're already unofficially offered the full time senior pastor position to Tim, but I think will hold off on the official call until after Bryan leaves officially. If that's the case, they're also going to be on the look out for someone to take over the duties of youth pastor which Tim would vacate upon taking the senior pastor position (or if he leaves Riverwood totally, which is a possibility, then when he leaves).

That's all for now. Time to go eat dinner!

Paper at last!

My Maury paper as it will be turned in in about twenty minutes. I apologize for a couple of random physical gaps in the paper. I had a devil of a time trying to get the images to fit properly and not mess up the formatting too badly. I was (somewhat) pleased with how it ended up (as opposed to having a gap of greater than a half page which I did in one case). So here's the paper. Enjoy!!!

http://www.krgilbert.net/share/Maury_Paper.pdf

Matthew Fontaine Maury

So I have gone through about three "read out louds" of my paper on Maury. The paper requirement was 5-7 pages. With my references page, I have fourteen. No kidding! I don't really think I can take anything out. A lot of the early biographical items set up for why he ended up contributing to Geography, which is what the key part of the paper is. I have yet to digitally fix it yet, but my first paper draft has all sorts of comments of mine on it. I'll have it converted to PDF format and posted here tomorrow night after I get in from class on my webspace (what's the point of paying $5/mo. for webspace if you can't actually use the allotted bandwidth?).

An expert on Maury? Hardly. But I do really now want to learn much more about him. This man from northern Virginia really did help to change the course of the world, and nearly ended up occupying a house just about a block and a half away from where I'll be turning the paper in tomorrow night (Farrah Hall in relation to the President's Mansion).

Oh, Kelly, I used your photo in my paper when talking about Monument Ave. I even gave credit! ("Picture of Maury Monument in Richmond courtesy my sister, Kelly Gilbert, who lives and works in Richmond.")

Air Photo

The grand prize of my respect to whomever recognizes the house in the general area of center of this picture. It's a site I found today at work today http://live.local.com. It's a site run from the old http://www.mapblast.com by Microsoft. This is the best imagery I've seen from a commercial site (and for that matter, any government site I have access to). Similar imagery in Prattville, but not near mom and dad's house.

Who can guess?!?

time change = evil

It just is. Also thunderstorms at 5:30am, and birds at 6:30am. They're ALL evil.

On a side note, my Matthew Fontaine Maury paper has exploded to well beyond what Dr. Webster required. I'm pushing ten pages right now, he only required five. I still have at least two more pages I can attach to it. I'm going to HAVE to slim it down a shade. He really was an interesting character. I'll post a link to the paper after Wednesday evening, just so you can read it, or portions of it if you desire.

First post

I thought I'd jump on the bandwagon that my sisters have apparently also jumped on (although Kerry quite by accident, Kelly did it quite purposefully). We have done this in birth order, which is as it should be I suppose.

I honestly don't know what to say in this first post, but I do look forward to keeping up with Kelly on a more regular basis as opposed to my normal method of one call every couple of months. Kerry, well, I look forward to witty comments that I have come to expect from her. Mom, too, I suppose will read this as well (so I'll keep it clean, hahaha), and this can serve as a way for know what is going on in my life on a semi regular basis. I also know how excited she was about Kelly and Kerry's blogs when first published and I hope to contribute further to it.

That is all for now. I need to go set some clocks forward.