Lent: Day Two

I'm trying to walk to school everyday. It's nice because it's a good time for reflection and it really does make a difference in my perspective. I feel happier. On the other hand, I'm also sleepier. Correlation?

Also I get the opportunity to snap photos as I walk along. This one isn't actually from a walk, this is from outside my last apartment. I haven't downloaded any new pics onto the computer yet. Most of them are close ups of flowers and cacti and such. So you'll know when I've uploaded the next batch.

Today I spent a bit of time in the SEM lab...
Here is the result, an awesome picture (if I do say so myself) of a tea leaf. what you see is the outline of where the plant cells used to be as the wax they excreted was left behind.Pretty pictures are awesome!

Hangovers

It's not an alcohol induced hangover, at least I believe not. But the weekend always leaves me with little things left undone. Thoughts at the back of my head, just waiting for some attention to be paid to them. And so my head is overfull and its only Monday. I'll post some pics from my SEM work (Scanning Electron Microscopy) later when I have something awesome or at least interesting to show off.

Tucson

I can feel the warmth of the sun here,
it's late winter, but there is no snow,
it's a piece with everything here.
There is no reality, not as I've come to understand it
Living my life revolving around campus,
I've found the fount of youth,
for here, only I get older.

It's not something you notice,
not everyday anyway,
but sometimes I look in a mirror
and see myself
and wonder, what am I doing here?

I go to the market between classes,
run home on a quick errand,
and I feel so frivolous, as if there is something indefinably wrong with being home
when everyone else my age is trapped behind a desk
waiting for five or six o'clock to come.
I have no time limits on my work-day,
which means its as flexible as it is demanding.
I am my work, there is no difference between me and it anymore.
How very boring.

Tick-tock

Waiting for students makes up more of my time than I would like. While interacting with them I feel as though I'm accomplishing something, but when I'm holding office hours and no one shows up, it's a wasted hour.
I know that I could do something, focus on other work, study for classes that I'm falling behind in, but honestly that feels like I'm not really doing what I get paid for. So instead I surf the web, play freecell or minesweeper and generally doink around.
Today's websearch: corrosion in artwork. So okay, this really is for a class, but its not obvious for most people. I've found a few sites that may be helpful, but honestly I think the automotive industry has this area covered. I really wish that I had a question that I could poise in the area of materials science and engineering, but since coming into the area almost a year ago I have yet to find a really great question that I can write a thesis on. I'm supposed to be going through "the process" of solving problems. Problem is "how does one solve a problem without aforementioned problem?" (Maybe I'll talk about synonym usage in the next post.)