FSP has a recent post up about video recordings of conference or workshop talks.
I've given about a dozen talks at various conferences and was not recorded in any official capacity. I suppose someone could have aimed a webcam at me. I'm still involved with that instructing gig I mentioned ages ago, but that has never been recorded.
Would I mind if one if my talks/lectures were recorded? No, not really. I would rather not have that knowledge sprung on me at the last minute, because I would probably panic about the state of my hair/clothing/whatever. At the same time, I'm not sure I would want to watch the result. I hate how I sound on voicemail (although I hate leaving messages, so hopefully I don't sound that silly normally), and I can only imagine how much I could fixate on my various mistakes.
I was lucky in that I had some brutally honest friends in grad school ("you really like the word 'um', don't you?") and I think they broke me of most of my verbal tics. I don't think an video of me would be traumatic to watch. But ask me again after I see a video of myself...
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Monday, May 10, 2010
accretionary wedge
This month's accretionary wedge is a geo-image bonanza. So here's mine...not a terribly technical picture, but rather a pretty one - a satellite image of Mount St. Helens from the archives of the big picture.
Mt. Saint Helens erupted May 18, 1980 - a wee bit shy of 30 years ago. National Geographic has a terrific article about how the wildlife around the area has rebounded, but it still looks pretty barren in this picture.
Mt. Saint Helens erupted May 18, 1980 - a wee bit shy of 30 years ago. National Geographic has a terrific article about how the wildlife around the area has rebounded, but it still looks pretty barren in this picture.
Monday, May 3, 2010
clothing payment
In environmental consulting, most of the gear is paid for by the company: the equipment, the supplies, the use of a vehicle for fieldwork (or reimbursement for using your own - my least favorite option). The use of specific safety gear is also included, such as steel-toe boots.
When it comes to more personal stuff, however, who pays for it? I realize that boots are about as personal as you can get (nobody wants to share your nasty, broken in boots, whereas jackets are more interchangeable), but they're covered by regulations. But what about other clothing?
Raingear: in the various places I've worked, I have not actually requested a rain jacket/pants etc. But I know coworkers who requested (and got) raingear. Was I just a chump for buying my own stuff?
There are 2 advantages to buying stuff on your own: first, you can get what you actually want, rather than, say, using the common drilling company method of buying everybody $6 rain suits that rip the day you open them (if not the hour). Second, if you buy the stuff on your own, you can use it for non-work related activities and not get hounded by management to return it on weekends and such (true story).
General field clothing: I don't know anyone who has tried to expense clothing. However, after an unfortunate project involving corrosive chemicals and the destruction of two outfits (significantly more than little acid spots), I was seriously tempted to charge my employer the replacement cost of my $75, hard-won field pants.
When it comes to more personal stuff, however, who pays for it? I realize that boots are about as personal as you can get (nobody wants to share your nasty, broken in boots, whereas jackets are more interchangeable), but they're covered by regulations. But what about other clothing?
Raingear: in the various places I've worked, I have not actually requested a rain jacket/pants etc. But I know coworkers who requested (and got) raingear. Was I just a chump for buying my own stuff?
There are 2 advantages to buying stuff on your own: first, you can get what you actually want, rather than, say, using the common drilling company method of buying everybody $6 rain suits that rip the day you open them (if not the hour). Second, if you buy the stuff on your own, you can use it for non-work related activities and not get hounded by management to return it on weekends and such (true story).
General field clothing: I don't know anyone who has tried to expense clothing. However, after an unfortunate project involving corrosive chemicals and the destruction of two outfits (significantly more than little acid spots), I was seriously tempted to charge my employer the replacement cost of my $75, hard-won field pants.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
freelance
The things you learn on facebook...
My cousin is a freelance writer who has a popular blog on writing. She makes enough to live on.
I like my psudonymity. Only two people in my life know about this blog, and one has never expressed the slightest interest in it. And that's fine. But when I found out about my cousin's blog, it was really hard not to immediately announce "I have a blog, too! And sometimes I even have commenters!" on her wall.
Note to self: if you tell 136 of your nearest and dearest that you write this blog called "accidental remediation", you can kiss your pseudonymity aside.
It is sort of tempting, though.
My cousin is a freelance writer who has a popular blog on writing. She makes enough to live on.
I like my psudonymity. Only two people in my life know about this blog, and one has never expressed the slightest interest in it. And that's fine. But when I found out about my cousin's blog, it was really hard not to immediately announce "I have a blog, too! And sometimes I even have commenters!" on her wall.
Note to self: if you tell 136 of your nearest and dearest that you write this blog called "accidental remediation", you can kiss your pseudonymity aside.
It is sort of tempting, though.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
stratigraphy?
Silver Fox's post today reminded me of a common problem I would run into when sampling: unlikely "stratigraphy". In her case, her samples got mingled together.
I quickly figured out that if I had the same soil type in the first couple inches of the sampler (every 2 feet, natch), then I was getting some "slough" in the top of the sampler. There are ways to minimize this - a common and easy way is to only collect 1 sample per interval and not "stack" the samplers. The problem is always convincing the driller that we need to use the slower, more tedious method.
One of my earlier posts complained about my problems convincing drillers to do what I needed. At this point, I think I've been able to overcome my short stature and youthful looks - the key is to be friendly but firm in the beginning...and find a way to work my actual age/experience into the conversation as soon as possible.
I quickly figured out that if I had the same soil type in the first couple inches of the sampler (every 2 feet, natch), then I was getting some "slough" in the top of the sampler. There are ways to minimize this - a common and easy way is to only collect 1 sample per interval and not "stack" the samplers. The problem is always convincing the driller that we need to use the slower, more tedious method.
One of my earlier posts complained about my problems convincing drillers to do what I needed. At this point, I think I've been able to overcome my short stature and youthful looks - the key is to be friendly but firm in the beginning...and find a way to work my actual age/experience into the conversation as soon as possible.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
lunch break
Today was a lovely day. We had a nice lunch break, sitting on the tailgate and enjoying the day. However, I was reminded of a common lunch-time mistake: not securing the heavy equipment/ samples/whatever to your usual standards because you're just going out for a quick bite. This is especially true if you're working at some sort of secure facility. After all, you have security keeping an eye on things, right?
The problem is that when it's a nice spring day, everybody ambles outside on their lunch break. And what do they see? This funny-looking equipment with all sorts of interesting stuff and only a lame chunk of caution tape keeping out the curious.
I was working on paperwork while eating a granola bar (the drillers were out buying lunch), and I had to scurry over and intercept some overly curious office workers.
I don't mind explaining what we're doing - at a safe distance. And lunchtime is actually an ideal time to gather some people and explain some of the technical stuff. I don't have to yell to make myself heard, I'm not (usually) terribly busy, and there's no moving parts to worry about. I just need to make sure I'm there to do the explaining.
The problem is that when it's a nice spring day, everybody ambles outside on their lunch break. And what do they see? This funny-looking equipment with all sorts of interesting stuff and only a lame chunk of caution tape keeping out the curious.
I was working on paperwork while eating a granola bar (the drillers were out buying lunch), and I had to scurry over and intercept some overly curious office workers.
I don't mind explaining what we're doing - at a safe distance. And lunchtime is actually an ideal time to gather some people and explain some of the technical stuff. I don't have to yell to make myself heard, I'm not (usually) terribly busy, and there's no moving parts to worry about. I just need to make sure I'm there to do the explaining.
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
drilling differences
Silver Fox has several posts up recently about drilling. See here and here. One of the reasons I enjoy her blog is because it gives me a new perspective about the exploration biz.
Even though we are both geologists who have worked on drilling rigs, taking rock samples, our actual work is not necessarily similar because of scale differences.
When I'm in the field, collecting rock samples, it's usually just me, a driller, and a driller's helper. If I'm taking a bunch of analytical samples, I may have a helper; if the job is big or complicated, the driller may have 2 helpers. Once you get into the big jobs with multiple rigs running around at once, then you need at least one "field boss" to keep all the balls in the air - God forbid a rig runs out of work and is idle!
Sometimes, we may not care so much about the stratigraphy of the rock - we're just looking to find water-bearing zones and install a bunch of wells. In that case, we may use air-rotary methods and then I'm trying to discern something from the little chips blown up from the hole and caught in a strainer. We know we hit water when a) the rig drops, b) we get water blowing out of the hole, or c) the driller tells me (hey, sometimes I get distracted).
In other cases, we want as much detail as possible. So we'll use a diamond core barrel and collect core samples in 5-foot runs. That's when I get a traditional intact core and can spend some time doing all the traditional rock description work - where are the fractures, what do they look like, what are the minerals (if visible). I tend to set up the core where I can keep an eye on the drilling while I look at the core. If it's raining or the drilling is going fast or we're having problems, the core can get shoved in a corner and I can write everything up later.
We generally aren't in a super-big hurry to finish a particular job (unless the job got screwed up somewhere) and the margins aren't high enough to pay vast amounts of overtime, so we almost never work around the clock. In rare exceptions we work into the night, but I've never had to work past 10 pm.
Environmental geologists should (and generally do) watch the rig themselves. Why? Well, mainly because things are always changing for environmental sampling. We're often taking soil samples, which need to be legally acceptable (no cross-contamination, sampling interval is specified, don't let the samples air out, etc). We're often in high-visibility places and need to manage the public. Monitoring wells installed in the boreholes have to be done properly so that groundwater samples and other hydrologic data are again, legally defensible. And finally, environmental wells tend to be shallow (less than 150 feet in most cases), so there's always something new to do or prepare for.
So between Silver Fox and I, we've covered environmental and metal-resource drilling. Anybody want to chime in with differences for oil drilling?
Even though we are both geologists who have worked on drilling rigs, taking rock samples, our actual work is not necessarily similar because of scale differences.
When I'm in the field, collecting rock samples, it's usually just me, a driller, and a driller's helper. If I'm taking a bunch of analytical samples, I may have a helper; if the job is big or complicated, the driller may have 2 helpers. Once you get into the big jobs with multiple rigs running around at once, then you need at least one "field boss" to keep all the balls in the air - God forbid a rig runs out of work and is idle!
Sometimes, we may not care so much about the stratigraphy of the rock - we're just looking to find water-bearing zones and install a bunch of wells. In that case, we may use air-rotary methods and then I'm trying to discern something from the little chips blown up from the hole and caught in a strainer. We know we hit water when a) the rig drops, b) we get water blowing out of the hole, or c) the driller tells me (hey, sometimes I get distracted).
In other cases, we want as much detail as possible. So we'll use a diamond core barrel and collect core samples in 5-foot runs. That's when I get a traditional intact core and can spend some time doing all the traditional rock description work - where are the fractures, what do they look like, what are the minerals (if visible). I tend to set up the core where I can keep an eye on the drilling while I look at the core. If it's raining or the drilling is going fast or we're having problems, the core can get shoved in a corner and I can write everything up later.
We generally aren't in a super-big hurry to finish a particular job (unless the job got screwed up somewhere) and the margins aren't high enough to pay vast amounts of overtime, so we almost never work around the clock. In rare exceptions we work into the night, but I've never had to work past 10 pm.
Environmental geologists should (and generally do) watch the rig themselves. Why? Well, mainly because things are always changing for environmental sampling. We're often taking soil samples, which need to be legally acceptable (no cross-contamination, sampling interval is specified, don't let the samples air out, etc). We're often in high-visibility places and need to manage the public. Monitoring wells installed in the boreholes have to be done properly so that groundwater samples and other hydrologic data are again, legally defensible. And finally, environmental wells tend to be shallow (less than 150 feet in most cases), so there's always something new to do or prepare for.
So between Silver Fox and I, we've covered environmental and metal-resource drilling. Anybody want to chime in with differences for oil drilling?
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