Adonara Mucek

July 11th, 2011

 

And now we wait for DATA! 😊

July 10th, 2011

Week 2 started off with a blast;

A great big thunderstorm came upon us fast.

It was just our luck that on Monday

We had planned a mock infrasound array.

Half an hour before we were done

The clouds started covering up the sun.

The sky started to roar, then rumble, then CRASH!

 

The lightning and thunder were upon us at last.

We rushed and ran to get things set up,

And finally it was ready before time was up. 

We watched the monitor with each rumble and roar;

The sky was a show with big noises galore!

An instrument or 2 still needed to be tweaked

Before we set up the real thing the next week.

 

The hard work was to continue on Tuesday

With my second Fourier Transform lesson for our array.

I realised that with each explanation

I started to understand Fourier computation.

The rest of the day was spent with the instruments

For me to learn how they worked, and to become competent.

It was going to be my job to put it all together

When we went out into the field, no matter what the weather.

 

On Wednesday I was introduced

To another professor, part of our group.

He was our connection to the people in the field

Where our infrasound array, the results it would yield.

I always forget that professors are human too

And have different personalities just like me and you.

I found that some are harder to get along with than others

But unfortunately we’ve got to make do with one another.

 

Thursday was going to be an interesting day

‘Cause my prof was going to give a talk on our infrasound array.

I learnt the history, what got my prof interested

In infrasound in general, and topics that were associated.

I also learnt that math was a big part of his life;

Funny, because for me, it only causes more strife.

Speaking of the devil, after the talk we had another lesson

The last part of Fourier Transforms, and now I actually kind of understood the abomination.

Transforms are not that hard, but a tad bit complicated

Especially for someone for whom math she absolutely hated.

 

Friday was the last day, building up the excitement,

Preparing for our field trip, listing things that might be salient.

Our setting up of this array could not be rehearsed

And if we made a mistake, it could not be reversed.

I had to prepare myself for the worst case scenario

And make sure we could handle it, no matter what the situation might bestow.

At the end of this week, all I could do was wait

To see what next week, the kind of chaos it would create.
 

July 10th, 2011

 

Welcome to University of Memphis, Tennessee!

I'm schooling at CERI, short form for Center For Earthquake Research and Information!

The CERI layout consists of 5 buildings, labelled House 0 to 4. The buildings were originally red-brick homes,

and have since been transformed into offices 😊

My office cubicle is in the Grad Student Building, House 4.

 

My cubicle has been nicely labelled with my name by the very nice office staff 😊

Following the advice of our awesome mentors during Orientation Week, I have my Daily goals and Weekly goals 

always listed.

In efforts to keep myself organized, I put up my research information on my wall.

 

When we have nothing to do (mostly break time during lunch), Dylan and I draw and make origami.

I found out that Dylan did not know how to draw hearts, so I took it upon myself to teach him.

 

When the day is done, I walk back to the student apartments through campus. If it's really late, I get to see the sunset 😊

 

Thanks for sticking around for this 'virtual' tour of a day in the life of Ado! 😊

 

 

 

June 22nd, 2011

The very first week on the very first day,

I was feeling nervous, needless to say.

We were shown around, introduced to everybody,

It's true what they say 'bout Southern Hospitality!

The place is so quaint, the people so friendly

I'm positive this is the place for me.

I met my professor for the very first time,

Everything seemed to be going just fine.

 

And then we started talking business

And I realised how deep I was in this.

Wave propagations? Yeah, I can solve 'em,

But Fourier Transforms are a different problem.

Not only had I never heard of the term

It was critical the calculations I had to learn.

I was convinced my Prof was a nut,

How could anyone learn transform analysis stuff?!?

 

Tuesday went by and I was in a fit;

I had tried all day, but nothing to show for it.

I knew I wasn't going to give up

But I wished I was at least given a heads up.

Maybe geophysics just wasn't for me

And I was suited more with geology?

 

Wednesday came and I started to doubt

If I could ever figure it out.

Were the professors here all just crazy

That none of this math appeared to them hazy?

Who cared if we were in the time domain

These Fouriers were all just a pain.

So Wednesday passed by with great frustration

No chance of understanding or realisation.

 

Thursday came and I was forlorn

When Prof said "Let's talk of Fourier Transforms!

Does tomorrow sound good to you?"

I said, "Yeah"... what else was I to do?

I sat at the computers, thinking how to be prudent

And who should come along but the Prof's grad student.

He told me not to worry 'bout the calculations

because our Prof was a pro at the explanations.

 

Funny thing happened when Friday came,

I woke up in the morning not feeling the same.

I was determined to asky my questions

No matter what the repercussions.

So the time had come, face to face

With Fourier Transforms, my biggest disgrace.

But then we started to talk education

And how my studies were a complication.

I realised he was under the impression

That I was smart :O, a ludicrous accusation.

To me I felt like it explained a lot,

Why things didn't work out as I had initially thought.

 

When he realised math wasn't my best friend,

Fourier Transforms he taught me, bringing my pain to an end.

It still takes a while for me to calculate it

But at least I can follow and understand it a bit.

This brings me to the end of week 1,

So, for now, my job here is done. 😊

June 19th, 2011

1. When the Heat Index reaches a critical level (thus determining that it is too hot), the bus fares are reduced to 25 cents to encourage residents to use public transport. Their reasoning is that personal transport has produced the pollution that has made it hot in the first place.

2. From the Stratum, following any of the 3 roads at the T-junction, there is a half a minute radius to the closest place of worship. The furthest place of worship is only 5 minutes away. Within these two radii, there is every possible place of worship for whatever denomination you can think of. Muslim, Jewish, Baptist, Catholic, Episcopalian, Methodist, Scientologist, United Church etc.

3. The tallest building on campus is NOT the Campus Center. Do not be fooled.

4. The Fed Ex Institute of Technology has glass panel floors. You can see the cables underneath.

5. It is in my opinion that Sesame Street was based on Memphis. Not only do you have train engineers waving at you from trains, you got firemen waving at you from firetrucks.

6. Never go south of the train tracks. Apparently it is dangerous, even during the day.

7. People arrive earliest at work at 9 am. Lunch is at 12-ish, and people only get back around 2-ish. Everything is locked up by 4.30pm. I calculate approximately only 6 hours of work. And they tell me Hawai’i is laid back.

8. People here (at CERI) have earthquake warnings programmed into their phones. When an earthquake goes off, their phones emit a blaring alarm, similar to alarms if a ship was sinking. You would be surprised how many earthquakes can of when talking to someone.

9. If I were the doggie from “Up”, I would have a field day on campus. There are squirrels EVERYWHERE. I’m not Doug, the doggie, but I still have a field day 😊

10. The math you learn in high school will come back to bite you in the butt.
 

June 3rd, 2011

We're in class right now and Michael has issued us our first task for our first post (oops, I already had a first post 😛 ). Goals, goals, goals.

When I think of goals, for some reason 'money' comes to mind. Maybe because the society we work in always has money as an end result? Anyhow, my goals for this summer:

Obvoiusly, do fabulously well at my summer internship project. I'm still kind of not sure what exactly I will be doing, but I hope it will all be clarified soon (when I get there). Hmmm... Okay, changing my first goal in this case.

1. Be absolutely sure I understand what I will be doing this summer for my internship.

2. Work effectively and manage my time well to balance both internship and senior thesis. I'm going to have to put time into both working on the internship and processing the data for my senior thesis...

3. GRE. Probably the scariest looking acronym I have faced so far. I'm going to have to do it some time in July; the date I'm looking at is July 15th, but that is a Friday. I will need to find out whether I can take that day off...

4. Time management again. I'm going to have to fit in the 'studying for GRE' somewhere in my daily schedule. A completely MUST DO.

5. Learn chess? I bought myself this little magnetic travel chess set a few months ago because Borders was having a sale, and my dad has always wanted me to learn how to play chess. The set comes with a 'how-to' book, so I'm going to learn. And if I get lucky, I'll be good enough to whip Dylan's tush at it (Dylan's going to be in Memphis too).

6. See the sights and sounds? I'm going to have to try some new food, maybe meat? Hmm... I will have to make sure I am brave enough to try some BBQ Southern Ribs 😛

7. Anything else? Right now I can't think of much more, but I will make a very small jump to assume that this list will grow longer by the day.

Summer Goals COMPLETED!

June 2nd, 2011

This is all terribly exciting! It's still orientation week but I'm already excited for the AGU presentation! I know it's kind of ridiculous since it really is many a month away, but I find keeping the end goal in mind helpful for keeping me on track. Like a choo-choo train. Choo choo!