200 posts

200 posts! Time for a word cloud of the last 100 posts...

As before, this shows I use a lot of qualifiers and casual language. My thesis word cloud, which I can't show because it's a little too accurate and has certain "terms of art" that would pretty much blow my pseudonymity, has almost no qualifiers.

The other thing I noticed about this word cloud is that while the big words are the same as the 100-post cloud, you can see that I had certain topics that I harped on, like spiders, that don't make it here. Spider spider spider! Instead, "hotel" appears relatively large because I had several posts on various aspects of hotels.

Well, that was fun, but it took way too long to compile all my posts into one document. I won't be willing to that for, oh, another 100 posts...

party pooper

My sweetie is out at the weekly "cheesy 80s movie nite" at the local bar. I used to enjoy doing this, but fieldwork has me completely beat. So instead I stayed in, "cooked" some dinner (1 rotisserie chicken, some reconstituted mashed potatoes, and some frozen veggies), and will be going to bed at about the time they start the movie.

If I'm travelling for work, I don't really get to unwind at all. But the end of a long day, it's hard to be sociable even when get home and could actually meet up with some friends.

It could be that I'm just getting old...

ipod = brunton?

So, I'm pretty late to this discussion about whether we can replace our low-tech gear with high-tech toys.

In environmental consulting, most fieldwork is low-tech. That's not necessarily true for all field people or all geologists; I'm just going on my experience here. With that caveat out of the way...

I could carry around a tablet PC for notes, or I could use an ipod app instead of a physical compass. I don't, and most consultants I know don't either, for a couple of reasons:

1. Equipment fragility. If it's below freezing or above 90, or if the humidity's high, a lot of electronic gizmos have problems. I just dropped my rugged cell phone a few minutes before starting to write this post, and the battery popped out (still works!). The screen has a few dings from being dropped on hard surfaces, and it's only a matter of time before I drop it in water. Finally, if you're in a particularly nasty place, you may need your electronic equipment to be intrinsically safe.

2. Legal documentation. Most regulators and lawyers like to see one field original, in ink. Yeah, you can gin up an electronic signature for your files, but most authorities are most comfortable with a stack of paperwork that can be stamped and filed and tucked away.

3. Incompatibility. PDFs are the gold standard right now for transmitting reports, so this is going away. But you still have relic filing/storage issues. Floppies? (even real floppies)...zip drives? Various drawing programs that have been rendered obsolete? A lot of scientific data retain value for decades. It's nice to put stuff on a network (and how good is your backup, anyway?), but nicer still to retain originals for posterity.

sweetie

I got recently involved in a whole long discussion about using words like “sweetie” or “hon” in a business setting. A fair number of people thought that folks who didn’t like/complained about being called “sweetie” were obnoxious complainers, elitist, or just plain unpleasant.

I don’t mind being called by some form of endearment in a casual setting. At a restaurant? Fine. It's even sort of charming if it’s a diner sort of place and the waitress is old enough to be my mother.

It’s another thing altogether when I’m wrapping up a long phone call about a bunch of technical details with a subcontractor. I’m the client. You know my name. Cooing “bye, bye, sweetie” right at the end is completely unprofessional.

A lot of people will think I’m being overly sensitive. But I’m guessing those same people haven’t had to fight to be taken seriously with every new business interaction.

tick contamination

You know what sucks? Waking up after a nice, restful night to find a tick climbing up the wall right over my head. It makes me wonder what else was crawling around in my hair last night.

I've left ticks in hotel rooms all over the place. Usually, though, I catch them and/or get rid of them in the shower if they don't get left behind in my clothing. If they're on my clothing, I'll find them crawling around the floor.

I did some work in a resort area, and since I was working in the off-season, I was able to stay in a fancy hotel. I was somewhat chagrined when I took my stuff off, took a shower, and came back to find several ticks crawling through the carpet. Over the month of fieldwork, I'm afraid that I utterly contaminated the hotel - not intentionally, but the damn things get everywhere. Especially the little tiny ones that are the Lyme's disease carriers.

I'll have to keep an eye out for flu-like symptoms and joint pain...

long-ass day

I had one of those days today...long day, lots of stress, and then I got stuck in traffic and sat for an hour. I'm sitting on the couch with a big glass of wine and the remains of dinner (takeout - I wasn't feeling up to cooking), watching Discover. Also, I have poison ivy again, and the itch is driving me crazy. The heat isn't helping that bit.

It's really too bad that I have a bunch of non-work related stuff to do. Maybe I'll go to bed early and worry about that tomorrow.

I noticed that blogosphere traffic has slowed down...it must be vacation time for everyone. I know I'm having a hard time being motivated right now.

field fun

I complain about fieldwork a lot, but there are some viscerally satisfying things I get to do. Three of my favorites:

1. Thwacking my way through a big thicket of dried-out reeds. Nothing makes you feel like an intrepid explorer like fighting your way through brush that's way over your head and that offers just enough resistance to make it feel like an accomplishment.

2. Compositing sediment samples. Sticking your (gloved) hands into a big bowl of goo and mushing it around, ostensibly to pick out the twigs and rocks, brings out the toddler in everyone.

3. Prying silt or fine sand off augers. This is similar to #2, but with stiffer material that peels off like modelling clay.

When I engage in these activities, a little part of me still says, "whee! I'm getting paid for this!"