APP

So all my grades are in...

Adv. GIS--A
Non-Thesis Research--P
Ind. Research--P

So for the first time EVER, I got an A and two Ps. ("P" is good).

It doesn't appear as if there will be any problem getting my diploma on time this go round.

Everybody's working for the weekend...

http://www.ua.edu/commencement/images/commmay07.pdf

Page 20...second from top on left side.

Eight people graduating with MS degrees in Geography. Keep in mind, when I got my bachelor's, there were eleven TOTAL between Bachelors and Masters in Geography.

A few pictures.

The first is a picture of the Int'l Speedway as best I could frame it from the parking lot of the motel. The second a shot of Daytona Beach's, um, highway. (i.e. Driving on the beach). The third a shot of the Daytona Beach Pier (about half the size it was prior to Hurricane Floyd in 1999). The third a shot down the boardwalk between the palm trees.

In Orlando

So I'm sitting in Orlando's airport right now, by a fountain, being overlooked by the Hyatt Hotel on site. It's two hours or so now until my plane takes off. Here are some observations from my trip to Daytona Beach:

1. Daytona Beach has a large race track.
2. The beach has a lot of sand, but it's hard and flat
1. (Look both ways before crossing the beach...since part of the beach is a road and parking lot...and no, I did not almost get hit).
3. The sea breeze was nice, but I imagine it could get rather warm down there.
   
4. The job seems fine, and they seem interested in me. I could see myself living down here/there, but it's not my first choice. It is fairly centrally located and I could live farther in in Deland or out in Daytona Beach.
   
1. I'm still holding out hope for Wendell NC, Savannah GA (though I think that may have passed me by), Chesterfield Co. VA, Tuscaloosa (there are apparently a lot of applicants for that job...), and Matthews NC.
5. It cost $3 in tolls to get from Daytona to Orlando (and vice versa).
6. My bag nearly ended up going on a trip to London, England this afternoon. Details at eleven (or later, whichever comes first).
   

That's about it for right now. Still waiting for about another half hour or so before I try and tackle security. (well, not tackle security, I actually meant go through security).

One more...

So I have one more lecture in my college years. My Tuesday night class is not meeting this week as Dr. Han is out of town, indeed, nearly out of continent at the national AAG conference in San Francisco this week. April 24 is the next class meeting. May 1st the class has project presentations. May 8th (I believe) is the final exam.

It's almost monumental in my life, but I think circa 8:30pm next Tuesday will be just that.

No job search update...

Tuscaloosa still hasn't posted the job officially, waiting to hear back from Savannah/Atlanta, Volusia Co. (need to get application in), and going to work on the Matthews NC application hopefully a bit this evening.

I was right

It's official now, Dr. Han will be the new head of the Geography Dept. as of August. Again, it doesn't impact me a bit, but it is now officially what I expected. (Recall post from 2/17).

http://www.as.ua.edu/geography/news.htm

Born 1961--so just turned 46--still fairly young.

PhD from Nebraska in 1994, Assistant professor at UA 1994 - 1999, Associate professor 1999 - 2005, Professor 2005 - present (all post PhD teaching positions at UA). He's been setting himself up for this position for a while now.

Interviews

Interviews:

Huntsville (3/15)
Daytona Beach (4/13)
Savannah (4/5)

All phone so far.

It still works!

Well, I bit the bullet today and went out and purchased a new HD for my laptop, then installed it myself. The way I figured it, I couldn't screw the computer up much more than it was already. I was just sick of reinstalling OS X every few weeks or so when my old HD ceased functioning. I went over to Birmingham to CompUSA at the Galleria complex and bought an 80GB for $70 (after rebates). I was never able to run tests on it since to run tests on the HD, you can't boot from it, so a gentleman at CompUSA ran a test for me and said it was bad, then went and found a HD for me to purchase (there's a "B" story here about another store associate not knowing what he was talking about, but I pressed on). Got it back home, and opened my computer up to install the new HD. Booted it up and it worked fine (just needed an OS on it). I purchased 10.4.6 while I was at CompUSA so I did that too and now I am back and ready for the world. Here are a few pictures from the "surgery": The first, the pulled off components (sans the screws, they're sitting on a paper guide), then my new HD, The second, the open computer with the old HD still in it and the tools of the trade, The third, same as the second basically but with the old HD removed, the fourth is the computer rebooting and preparing to install OS 10.4.6--this is the first sign that I didn't completely destroy the hardware.

You asked for it (and by "you", I mean Kelly)

Since Kelly specifically requested it a few weeks back, I am going to post copies of my two (now officially completed) non-thesis papers for all who want to observe them. Everyone is of course welcome to view them--not just Kelly.

The First Paper:
Urban Transportation Problems in the Third World: A Study Abroad Experience in Ghana, West Africa.

The Second Paper:
A GIS Based Network Analysis of Fire Station Service Areas in Boise, ID; Des Moines, IA; Mobile, AL; and Richmond, VA.
Plus associated maps and appendix.

I had to create a separate file for the maps in the second paper because trying to include them in the paper file caused their quality to decrease significantly. The maps may not show up properly on your computer as they may well require a specific font set to be able to be viewed which in all likelyhood is not available on your computer (to be fair, unless your computer has ESRI software, it likely won't have the proper fonts). I think I found a workaround to that this morning in the export process, but until I can get to some computer without ESRI fonts, I won't know (such as my laptop, desktop, etc.). All the computers as school and work have ESRI software so I can't tell here.

"Enjoy"!

Simplify, simplify, simplify...

Second (first in order of completion) non-thesis paper is now 99% done...

Changes needed for final copy:

1. Simplify the title
2. Move abstract to another page
3. Create title page (which I'll have to do for the other paper too I suppose).

He also suggested I think about getting it published in a Geography journal. He said it wasn't up to publication standards yet, but with some minor changes, it could easily be published. It probably won't be published in something like Annals of the AAG or the Journal of Transport Geography, but it'll be published nonetheless--those are my words, not his. Dr. Seth isn't the first to suggest publication...Dr. Greg Gaston who chairs the Geography Dept. at UNA (and chaired the geography section of the Alabama Academy of Science) suggested it too. We'll see. Now I just have to get several copies of each paper printed up. One copy of each paper for each reader (subtotal: 4), one copy of each for my file (subtotal: 2), and one copy of each for my own edification (subtotal: 2). So at roughly 70 pages between the two papers, that totals somewhere in the neighborhood of 300 pieces of paper to give their all for my research--not to mention countless hundreds of other pieces of paper "wasted" on drafts.

The much anticipated "downhill slope" is officially here!

Nearly on the downhill slope

Not only is it less than two months away now...
Not only do I have my cap and gown (and master's hood)...

My non-thesis papers are rapidly ending in terms of my work on them.

I got my second paper back from the second reader today in my graduate student box. On it was written: "No substantial changes. Solid non-thesis paper. Please give me a final copy of this and your other paper for your file. Dr. Richetto." It was |___| <---that close to having a gold star, or a smiley face on it I suppose. My first paper is still technically in the second reader's hands, but I talked with Dr. Seth today about it briefly (and by that I mean about thirty seconds--he was getting ready for a class today). He asked me to drop by between 10:00 and noon tomorrow to talk about it. He said it was good, but wanted to sit down with me and discuss it rather than just hand it back with no input--that's his style anyway.

So it appears my two years of graduate school really is about to end, and with great haste at that. The major hurdles have been cleared. After I got done with my comprehensive exams in September, people asked me if I was on the downhill slope. I replied that I wasn't, that it more plateaued rather than getting any rougher and that would have to wait until I got through with my papers. One paper is officially done, and the other is almost there--and hopefully will be so between 10:00 and Noon tomorrow.

If I'm not on the downhill slope now, I certainly can see the edge of the plateau.

(once I get the final papers "in my file", I'll post copies for all to enjoy. Kenny Gilbert Guarantee: "My papers are a cure for insomnia, or your money back!")

Job Search Update

Ahoy all...

Here are job search details as of midnight on 3/13-3/14:

Applied (by locale as known, in order of application):
Knoxville, TN; Charleston, SC; National Park Service; Huntsville, AL; Daytona Beach, FL; Guilford Co., NC (JUST finished this application).

Heard back from:
Huntsville, AL (scheduled phone interview).

Prospects:
Right now, just a job in Hanover Co., VA, but more do pop up daily.

Get in touch with me if you want more details. I'm talking around Farrah Hall to see if any professor knows of other jobs in Alabama. Meeting with a (full) professor some time next week who is an AICP member, and lives in Birmingham--used to teach at UAB...now is at the main campus. He should have a perspective of Birmingham area jobs.

Busy busy busy

Ahoy all...

I've been busy, and mercifully not so much with school work, but that is soon going to change.

Kerry had her baby on Tuesday, about two hours before a tornado warning. It didn't amount to much in Tuscaloosa, but the same system produced a tornado in Greensboro that destroyed a couple of homes. No major injuries, or deaths, so that is good.

As for my papers...
I'm working on a third (and hopefully final) draft on my first. Not a major re-write, simply moving a couple of things around, adding a paragraph or two about a couple of more topics, and generating a better map of Ghana. This is essentially a month ahead of schedule. I'm going to meet with my first reader on Tuesday.

The second one is a bit further behind. I have a first draft in, but haven't heard back yet from it. Hopefully not a major re-write, but I just didn't feel as good about the second as I did the first. We'll see, that should come up on Tuesday.

I also am trying to get my presentation ready for the Tuskegee conference. I'm in the program, so I guess I've committed to presenting. Twenty minutes is all I get, so I'm going to have to whittle it down a bit from now (I'm at a half hour on the presentation, but have yet to cover everything).

It still looks like a May graduation.

And speaking of Geography, there is big news from the department. Dr. Jerry Webster is leaving in June, and is assuming the department chair at the U of Wyoming (he had been there immediately before coming to UA in the early 90s). I thought he left there because he didn't like the cold...but he's going back. It doesn't impact me, but it certainly is news. He's put in a recommendation for his replacement. He won't tell anyone--well, the students at least--who it is, but we all have an idea. Besides Dr. Webster, there are four full professors. One certainly does not make sense (he got his PhD in 68 and was head of the Sociology Dept. before it broke up in the 90s...but he's on the old side), another I don't think Dr. Webster much likes on a personal level (which may well be reason to recommend him for the position...haha), and the other one simply would not make a good chair. That leaves Dr. Luoheng Han. He's relatively young (my best guess is mid to late forties...certainly the youngest of the full professors). So we'll see. My money is on Dr. Han.

Second paper

Well, I'm beginning to wrap it up now. A first draft at least. I should be able to turn it in early next week. A bit behind schedule, but nothing too terrible. I'm going to have an appendix M on this paper.

The first one I can hopefully have a second draft in this week. This one will be ahead of schedule, so I guess it balances out. I've tried to find some statistics on Ghana's environment for the paper, but have proved to be rather unsuccessful. I think I might have found some, but I think I may well just stick it in a final draft rather than wait until I can get the statistics to put in the paper. It won't impact my paper, just have another source for the paper. I'm still hoping I can get this stuff done by Spring Break.

Which reminds me...I'm thinking I'm going to nix both Hungary and Mexico options. They just don't seem to be working out. No worry, here are some tentative plans:

1. Try for a "last minute" trip to some yet to be determined city. I think there can be some good vacation packages (mainly just a flight and a hotel) to some fun cities. I think I might like Chicago since I'm vaguely familiar with the city. I certainly know I can navigate their El.
2. Try for a trip to Charleston and/or Savannah. If I played my cards right, I could be in Savannah for the St. Patrick's day parade there. This one could also be done fairly last minute.
3. If all else fails, I could try for a trip to either Nashville or St. Louis. I have people in both cities, and both could be made in a day, and fairly last minute. It may well too be my last good chance for either city. I always guess I could do both. Nashville would be a good halfway point on a trip back.
4. If ALL else fails, I suppose I could spend some time in Prattville as well (if I go to Nashville, I may well end up in Prattville for a couple of days anyway).

So that's what's happening now. Also Kerry's "Baby Pinky", is due here in just a few days. I'm "on-call". Funny thing: My cell phone rang at 7ish on Sunday morning. I thought it might be Kerry or Paul. No one ever calls my cell phone--I like it that way--but I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter, away to my cell phone, I flew like a flash. Alas, however, it was a number which I did not recognize, so I went back to bed. Since I got no voice mail notice, nor did my apartment phone ring, I figured that all it was was a wrong number.

Work is work. Job search consists of nothing much right now. I did get a job inquiry from a company in Madison, WI. They saw my resume on Monster.com. I'm not interested in the job right now, but it was good to see a response within a couple of days of posting the resume. I might be interested in the job in the future. Who knows. I also saw a temporary job with the National Park Service. It's a "Transportation" scholar, and is given potential for 3, 6, and 12 month assignments to develop sustainable transport within the National Parks. Needing a letter of recommendation to accompany my resume, and a statement of purpose, I'm thinking I'll get Dr. Weber to write me one. Reasoning: He's the transportation geographer in the department, his father was/is a park ranger at Death Valley NP. I'm not saying I'd get "stationed" at Death Valley necessarily, but rather someone who has experience with the NPS, and/or knows someone in the NPS might be able to secure me a position a bit more easily. This certainly intrigues me. I think with my creditentals, I might be a good candidate for the job. We'll see. Once I get my application stuff in, I should hear from them in, say, April, then get an assignment shortly after Graduation.

Ghana Video

Ahoy all...

This is the culmination of seven months of work (well, actually just two days, I let the videos sit around for seven months). This is a compliation of videos I took when I was in Ghana. The quality is not tha great on the videos since I took it on my still camera on which video is not the main function. In hindsight, or on a hypothetical second trip, I might take a video camera as well. It did capture some of the pictures, and certainly some of the sounds that I could never describe (the canoe section has music I added, but it was pretty much soundless, just imagine a paddle hitting Autauga creek, or the James, or the Black Warrior River and you have the same sound).

This is my first attempt at something in iMovie on my Powerbook. This is also my first attempt at Youtube.com. It made sense given the size of the video, as a means with which to share the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbYOqf2GnUM

Enjoy! And share as you see fit.

Brrrr...

Baby...it's cold outside...

Anyway, here's what's up in my world:

1. I got response back on my first non-thesis paper. No major re-write, just need to address a couple of topics in a bit more detail. I was thinking that when I turned it in anyway, but Dr. Weber gave me some sources on what he thought I needed to address further. I hope to have a second draft by month's end.
2. My second non-thesis paper is slow going. However, I am beyond the introduction and am in the procedure and analysis portion. That should go fairly easily. This does not have a terrible amount of sources since it is more a project than a research paper. I did manage to sneak in a reference to Prattville when talking about inter-municipal fire station responses (the Sept. 2002 mill fire called for Montgomery, Millbrook, and numerous volunteer fire departments from Autauga Co.).
3. I might be presenting my first non-thesis paper (the Ghana paper) at a conference in Tuskegee in late Feb./early March. I have a few days yet to make a decision on that.
4. I called the grad school up yesterday. They claim all my forms needed for graduation (degree application, candidacy application, comprehensive exam completion form) are all in. I got a time and a person I talked to in case it all goes awry.
5. I went to the career ctr. yesterday to get my resume critiqued. I now have it updated and am about ready to get it submitted. Related to this, I got a job announcement from the Geog. dept. a few days ago for a position in Mobile (it's a continuous opening I believe). I might send in my updated resume and require forms soon for that position. Even if I don't end up being able to get it right now, or secured right now, it would get my name "out there". Also with an updated and modified (for layout) resume, I can go ahead and start posting my resume on websites as necessary (Monster, Hotjobs, Geojobsource, etc.) and otherwise sending my resume out.

That is all for now...

First Post in a While

I don't post frequently because my life is boring. Kerry has a two year old child and is expecting another one soon. Kelly takes frequent trips to Washington and other exciting places to visit and/or with that RP character. I go to class, and write papers.

I am now about four days into my new assistantship. Things seem to be going smoothly. I have an office with only one other person having an office on this floor, a desk, a phone. It's almost like the real world...though I should be so lucky next year to actually have an office. I've mainly been setting up my computer/office like I want it, then updating the office's website (http://bama.ua.edu/~landmgt/). It is giving me experience in two other pieces of software, so no complaints.

I did get a first draft on my first non thesis paper turned in. I'm sick of reading the paper, but I did manage to get it to the initial maximum range my first reader suggested (he said 20-25 pages). I'm meeting with him on Friday to discuss, among other things, the status of that paper and what I need to do with the next draft. Other things I'm discussing with him:

1. Logistics of my second paper
2. My directed readings course

My one and only formal class only meets Tuesday nights, so I still have a few days until I can report on that. I got an e-mail from Dr. Webster about general things (it was sent to all grad students). He mentioned something about GY-500 for the current class. I had flashbacks. I'm glad that class is over.

I am ready to be done. I'm about 80% sure I'll walk in May sort of completing the cycle of the Gilbert siblings. That depends on my job situation.

That is all for now.

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.