On Giving Exams

Sitting here in my classroom laboratory, it's amazing to me how different it feels being on the other side of the exam. Yep, today is the final laboratory practical for all of my students. They need to prove they've learned a lot and can think through geologic ideas.

I need to prove that I've created an exam that is fair, covers all the relevant material, and can be completed in a two hour segment of time. So really, testing day is a way to test the students to make sure they have attained some knowledge, but also it's a day to test the teacher to see if they got important information to their students.

Watching my students, I wonder if it's possible to tell how comfortable they are with the exam. One student looks like they just woke up and are wearing old man glasses. I bet he lost his contacts earlier in the week because I've never seen him wearing glasses like that.

Another student of mine still hasn't taken their coat off yet. I'm in a t-shirt and I'm pretty comfortable. I wonder if he keeps the coat on as a way of saying, "Hey, if this material gets too tough or I feel uncomfortable in any way, I'm getting the heck out of here." He doesn't interact with anyone else in class and is really quiet. He's super respectful and all that, I just wish he would involve himself a little more. I think he'd get more out of it that way.

I have another student with shifty eyes, who I keep a look out for. It's hard to distinguish between nervous shifty eyes, "I wonder if that fossil is free to look at" shifty eyes, or just plain, "I wonder what answer that other person put down" cheating shifty eyes. For the most part I'd like to think my students are honest and the material is fair, but you never know. So every once in awhile I do the room eye scan, just to make sure.

All I can say is, I'm glad I didn't have an exam to take today!

Half-Marathon

Because I forgot to mention this earlier... guess what I did over Thanksgiving break?!?!

I signed up to run a 5K in Chicago in March and a Half Marathon in May.

Looking at that sentence, I'm a little bit shocked. Five years ago my mile time was literally 12 minutes. I couldn't jog, let alone run.

This past Thanksgiving break, I ran a 5K in under 24 minutes. I was running faster than an 8 minute mile. I've literally taken off a fourth of my running time. Sadly, it took me 4 years to do it, but gosh dangit, I CAN RUN!

It was the day of the 5K that I realized I can do more and try harder and be better. Accomplishing goals and breaking down barriers only leads me to want to keep breaking down barriers and seeing how hard and fast I can continue.

It's sort of a personal challenge to see how much butt I can kick this year.

So now, when I wake up in the mornings and know I have two miles to run that aren't even in my workout plan, I'll be thankful that they are there, getting me ready for May! Wish me luck, because I have a crap ton on running ahead of me!

Dragging bootie

This morning when I woke up was the darkest yet of the year. In the summer months, I usually forget that 6am has anything BUT sunshine in December. It's the most painful way to get moving and out the door to work out.

So of course that's what I did. I ran out the door, (and then back inside because I had forgotten clean underwear for after my swim), and finally started the upward mile run to the gym. The first part of that run is always the hardest because I choose to run up the only "hill" on campus. (Thank god I don't live in the mountains.)

But then a weird thing happened today. All of a sudden, I was at the gym. I don't remember passing my old apartment or the Armory or even the complex of dorms. I literally ran 3/4 of a mile with no immediate recollection of what happened. I do remember being "in my head" though. Due to this new-found knowledge, my goal for the rest of the week is to have a lot to think about on my runs to and from my apartment so that they go faster.

Honestly the only reason I made it to the gym this morning was because I was supposed to meet Ed for our "pre-Curacao" swims. I didn't want to let him down. So I dutifully did 15 minutes of an ab workout and headed to the pool. The swim team and the diving team were practicing, so I watched as I got my cap and goggles on. It reminded me of all those early mornings of yore (high school). Once again, I was thankful that my life had changed for the better. I wasn't being FORCED to the pool at 6:45 am. I CHOOSE to drag my butt there instead.

Ed didn't make it this morning, due to his new puppy keeping him preoccupied, but his absence did get me thinking. What exactly is it in each person that keeps them moving to set goals and accomplish them?

Holiday Perfection

My very best, favorite thing about the holiday season is sitting on a couch next to a brightly lit Christmas Tree, listening to Christmas music, drinking hot coco and relaxing. Truly, life can't get much better than that.

Except that it can. If one were to share that space with a special someone (family members, friends, significant others, etc.), then life would be perfect. No worries, no concerns and someone to share that space with. Someone who understands you and loves you and loves spending time together without expectations.

And in my mental picture I always have to add a fireplace, soft white snow falling rapidly to cover the earth and silence throughout the house. Those evenings are probably my most relaxing and memorable. Usually they follow a very active day playing in the snow, sledding, shoveling, ice skating, making snowmen... you know, all the glorious outdoor activities that make living in the midwest bearable.

Then, to top off those perfect nights, a bath with peppermint bubble soap and a good book could make that fairy-tale complete.

Here's to fulfilling most of my holiday fantasies every night this holiday season!

Thanksgiving (TG)

Tomorrow is that blessed day, which occurs only once a year. Everyone gets together to celebrate giving thanks. It started out as pilgrims giving thanks for a harvest after they all starved their first winter, but now it's really all about the food.

I mean, what would Thanksgiving be without the turkey, cranberry sauce (with the rings), stuffing, gravy, black olives in dishes, corn, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, a veritable barrage of pies and all those people to eat it with you?

You could still give thanks. Right? I mean, if thanksgiving in this country is so popular because of the strife and peril that our ancestors went through, shouldn't we honor that a little more? Did they sacrifice so we could stuff our faces into a food coma? I don't think so. They sacrificed for religious rights, freedom, and for some, just for the spirit of adventure to see unseen lands.

I wish our country was a lot more like that of old. Where people put in a days hard work and felt the satisfaction from the sweat and blood and tears. They lived with the seasons and felt alive! How many people these days aren't connected to life? People have eye strain because of how much time they spend on the computer or watching TV. Spines have curved due to all the sitting, and abs of steel are only found in gyms.

So tomorrow, I propose giving thanks for accomplished tasks or of hardships now past, instead of being thankful for our material possessions, large bank accounts, or prestige. We should all be thankful for the things that aren't so tangible. Family willing to look past our shortcomings, friends who have our back through think and thin, good work ethics which help us achieve more out of our life and for accomplishing something meaningful on an individual level. Maybe people should be thankful that they can be the change they want to see in the world. They just need the courage to try.

Kicking Butt

Sometimes friends can make all the difference in the world. I'd been stressed out all week with proposals, homework, little sleep, etc. By Friday, I was running on basically nothing except adrenaline. My bestie Brett showed up in the last 20 minutes of my proposal writing tornado and said, "Take your time, we do have the next 48 hours to do nothing."

It hadn't hit me yet how true that was. I'd been working on an INSANE schedule, freaking out and generally not being a human being. I was frazzled, and didn't realize that the weekend had in fact arrived!

So true to our athletic natures we decided to go rock climbing after dinner and did some great climbs. Brett had never climbed before, so he had the virgin climber fear of falling, which meant he only got half way up the first time. I was just calmly belaying him when his hand slipped a little on a caterpillar hold and heard the word, "DOWN!" as clear as day.

Deciding to be nicer to him than I was to my friend Ian, I let him down and started releasing him from the rope when he decided that he wanted to climb again. His fear apparently mastered, he managed to get to the top and did a nice job.

My first climb had an overhang in it, but was pretty "juggy" so not too bad. I had a rough time at a spot in the middle, and totally cheated, but felt pretty good about it for the most part.

And here's where the story gets good. There's a guy named Noah who works at the climbing wall, and has the biggest crush on me. He's this tall, gangling brown haired human monkey-man. He tries to be nice to people, but is one of those "trying way too hard for female attention" kind of guys. It can get pretty annoying. I try not to abuse that too much, but him and his friend were doing a run right where I wanted to go. They climbed it maybe 5 times before I decided to ask Noah if he'd belay me, incidentally on the run that they were at.

It was a 5.9, which meant it was going to be rough, but I don't feel too bad hanging on the rope with Noah on the bottom. He's actually a pretty supportive belayer. He's patient and doesn't hurry climbers.

So long story short... Noah helped me a little on a rough part, but I finally managed to climb up a 5.9 on an overhang, using an under-cling and kicked just a little bit of butt.

In order to really haul my butt over cliffs, I need to drop a little weight, but until then, I've defeated a 5.9. And that's something.

Specialized Nerd

Almost on my way home today I remembered that I had to pick up my Geology Club bar crawl T-Shirt from my friend Dan who is Vice-President of the club. ;)
Upon reciept of said T-shirt, I took the time to read it. No joke it says:
"We're cumingtonite to poikioblast your cleavage"
Equally classy, the back says, "We'll be subducting all night long!"
Obviously I start cracking up. Whoever came up with these T-shirts was pure genius.

And here's where the head scratching begins. In order to understand how funny this saying really is, you'd have to know that the word cumingtonite is actually a metamorphic silicate mineral... AKA a mineral made under intense heat and pressure. Poikioblast is a mineral with bits of other, older rock bits inside of it. It's a product of deformation. And cleavage... well that's where two sides of a crystal meet. Hard not to figure that one out eh?

Among others... here are my favorite geology puns.
"Geology Rocks"
"Schist Happens"
"Gneiss Cleavage"
"Hot igneous body"
"Geologists make the bedrock"
"Subduction leads to orogeny"

The beauty of being in the "know" is that you can appreciate these little nuances.

Not only do these nerdy little jokes make you feel at home, but it defines people who understand the essence of who you are in your working world.

If you don't believe me, here's some examples from other places.

Teachers talking about "No Child Left Untested"
Engineers celebrating Pi day.
Microbiologists saying "Titer this!"
Nurse pun: Nurses are I.V. leaguers.

Just to let you all know... everyone does it.

Face it: Everyone is a nerd in some way or another. The trick is embracing your nerdiness and loving yourself even more for it!

Doesn't that just rock?