Saturday, March 26, 2011

26 March 2011 Buried in paper no hole punch

This week the Volcanology course became markedly more difficult. The lack of physical geology preparation and long absence from using Excel with anything harder than household finances became a greater problem.

The task of preparing geologic cross sections has my desk covered in graph paper, data results logs, pens, pencils, and other miscellaneous materials and tools.

Of course, both in-service printers ran low on ink this past week. I found replacement cartridges for my printer but the fake cartridge store had none available for Gloria’s printer. The replacement black cart I installed was immediately noted as a “USED CARTRIDGE” by my printer. It punished my sin against HP by demanding a print heat calibration, using ink for no real purpose. It will not monitor the ink levels in fake cartridges. Empty status will happen with no warning.

I have managed to spend quite a lot of the day building Excel spreadsheets and graphs of data points, depth of ash fall vs. distance from vent. My major experience with Excel dates back to the earliest releases and ended in the 1990s. The latest two releases have major differences from those programs I was familiar with. It’s been a learning day.

I’ve copies of isopac maps all over my desk; I’ve downloaded graph paper templates. I have yet to draw contour maps of two different ash deposits. I need to complete both plan and section views. All of this paper needs to be collated and added to hand written answers to questions, and then placed in a three ring binder for Dr. Gregg’s review. I have no hole punch and no plans to acquire one.

Still, despite the rainy day, despite the cooler temperatures, today has been an extremely great day. I look forward to more like it!

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