The end of the semester is nigh - scratch that - over!

When I originally drafted this post, it was still the semester... now that it's been over for a couple of weeks and I'm going to start teaching a summer course in another couple of weeks, I thought I'd better post these Grand Canyon photos sooner rather than later!!!


By sheer luck I was invited onto a private trip down Grand Canyon, there was a spot, and I snagged it. It was an excellent opportunity for me to take photos of the Canyon for my Android mobile game on Geologic Time that I built this semester. Yes, you did read that correctly. Soon I will figure out how to make it available for you, should you want it, and should you have an Android device to play it on. iOS is a long way off. Take your issues up with Apple.

So anyway, there I was minding my own business when suddenly I was surrounded by the most amazing opportunity that I didn't have the time or money for but absolutely couldn't possibly turn down. The following are a few of my fave photos from the trip.

 

There was a random petting zoo at a gas station in Scipio, UT. It had an ostrich.

 

It turned out that we were only taking one raft down the canyon, the rest of the boats were... DORIES!!! It was pretty epic. I got to row a dory for a little while, that was also pretty epic. Hi! I'm rowing a hand-built dory down Grand Canyon right now! Yup, that's right.

There was no point at which the views were tiresome.

This was the toilet system - also known as the "groover"...

We hiked up North Canyon, a slot canyon, which had outstanding rock formation walls. Hooray for lithified dunes having been carved by running water!

I did mention earlier that we never tired of the views...

...didn't I?

Mississippian-aged straight-shelled nautiloid fossils (in Nautiloid Canyon)

My "office" for a week.

I think I might have said something about the views before.

We hiked up to the Anasazi granaries above Nankoweap

 

They were high up there. Those Anasazi had some mad skills.

 

Finally, as is customary for whenever I am at Grand Canyon, it snowed. I have never been there in winter, and I have never been there when it didn't snow...

Things you don't expect to read in a paper...

So I'm casually reading this paper that discusses the prototype and implementation of a system of "SpaceTags", which are this sort of set of digital objects, time and space limited, overlaid onto a real-world place. Difficult to explain, sorry. You can read it yourself if you wish, it's not long (reference below). Anyway, there I am, casually reading, when I see this:

I read it a few more times... yup, definitely suggesting that this application can be used to solicit sex from strangers. WTF?


Then later I saw this figure, which is definitely not the most illustrative figure I've ever seen, but moreso, they are using a spastic raptor and a lion to lend symbology to these SpaceTags. WEIRD.



Tarumi, H., Morishita, K., Ito, Y., & Kambayashi, Y. (2000). Communication through virtual active objects overlaid onto the real world. Paper presented at the International Conference on Virtual Environments

voltage + chocolate... why?

Included in my heavy course-load this semester is a Geo-Mechanics class. Our professor brought in the book Rheological Methods in Food Process Engineering for examples of material properties and their reactions under different stress regimes. For me, things like the data table outlining various materials (Newtonian, shear-thinning, etc.) and their properties and property values was hilarious because it also listed example foods, like "fish paste". Imagining the rheological behavior of fish paste under shear stress makes Geo-Mechanics highly entertaining. I downloaded the book and began perusing for other gems. This is my favourite so far...

Why do you think one needs to zap chocolate with various voltages? Why?

faults

We went on a local field trip to check out the East Cache Fault, it's right at the mountain front, but when you're on it (on the golf course) it's pretty subtle. I took the liberty of labeling it clearly.


I also tried to capture it in panorama looking north from south of the golf course. Mostly I took the photos to try out a function in photoshop that I had just learned about: photomerge. If you've not discovered it, it's under "file" and "automate" and "photomerge". Then you just select your photos and photoshop totally figures out how to connect them for you, seamlessly. Pretty damn cool.

Niter Ice "Caves"

This weekend I went on a geology field trip to the Niter Ice Caves, which is a really odd name for this (singular) lava tube. There was, however, ice in it. In the form of super cool looking ice stalagmites! They were way too much fun, I kinda wish I could have a "garden" like this of my own to wander though. Talk about a wonderland.



Of course, some idiots have to ruin every geological wonder out there, and just about every wall in the entire 1/2 mile long lava tube was covered in stupid graffiti.


On the drive after the lava tube we spotted this pipe that was leaking off the side of the road. This produced more ice wonders of a completely different, and equally delightful, nature. I suppose something will have to be done about this pipe, but meanwhile it is gorgeous!

shoplifting dog

Sometime before the fish incident, there was a bread incident, that might have gone something like this...

dog again

After the last cartoon, I was asked to continue and make a Quincy's Adventures series. Several weeks ago she was returned to our door by the husband of one of my geology PhD mates. What actually happened between escape and return by good samaritan remains a mystery, however the reek she brought back with her made me imagine this scenario (as doubtful as it may be in Logan, Utah in January...)

dog...

Below is a poorly (and hurriedly, and while laughing) drawn cartoon of what I came home to yesterday after school...

Goodbye 2011

In a last ditch effort to shove one backpacking expedition into the year 2011, I insisted on carrying my gear in to the cabin on skis despite the availability of a friend with a snowmobile and cargo sled. 4 of us went in to the mountains to have a peaceful and rustic New Years eve at "Doc Daniel's" cabin, built for USU forestry studies back in the 50's, and generally not used to its charming potential. We had gorgeous sun, and mostly nice snow (a bit of nasty ice in places), a lovely wood stove fire, and lots of tasty treats. It's really nice to shrug off the last remnants of my BC years and know that not one single part of 2012 will involve dealing with those particular administrators. Even though that's all part of the Gregorian calendar we currently abide by, it's still feels like a bit of closure somehow...

back in a winter climate

Ahhh, winter. It's been a long 6 years that I've lived without it and only gone to "visit the snow". So, with one housemate away (leaving behind Q, the dog), one exam and one final report left for the semester - a plan of "exhaust the dog so that majorly productive studying happens" was concocted.

A snowy night hike followed by a sunny x country ski the next day occurred and all participants had a great time, however the dog exhaustion only seemed to last the one evening/night. As I type this post (not studying) she is whimpering for "more skiing! more snowshoeing! more! yay!" which is just not going to happen today.

mountains in my backyard

behaving herself to pose for a photo... moments before tearing off after a deer or something

the snow here is ridiculously deep and dry powder, I hardly know what to do with it... but I am pretty sure that my snowshoes will be of inadequate size to contend, and I will sink like a stone when I use them...

"yay! I'm a dog! I'm bounding through snow nearly as deep as I am tall! wheeee!"

...And then, a couple of days later, we tried a real challenge: 4 dogs, 3 girls, 2 skis (each), and 1 Honda Element. We skied into Idaho- it was fantastic!

"treats!"

meet my lab

For my media tools class I needed to learn how to use InDesign, and with it, make a poster or flyer of a biographical nature. I used my lab as inspiration, and now we have a 3 foot version of the poster on our door (it's also been handed in for my class, I'll let you know what I got on it later).

my life as a math word problem

Part A. If a PhD student runs a trickle of water overnight into a flume that isn't draining:

1. how many gallons of water will spill over the top of the flume onto the geology department floor?
2. how many gallons of water will leak out the flume seams onto the geology department floor?
3. how many gallons of water will the PhD student have to bail out of the flume the following morning between classes?

Part B. If the PhD student is bailing the flume with a 4 gallon bucket that doesn't have a handle at 4 gallons per minute, and the janitor is bailing the flume with a 5 gallon bucket that does have a handle at 2.5 gallons per minute, how long will it take for them to clean up the flume?

I had raked out the flume to set up a braided stream system, onto which I will plant sprouts in order to create a meandering stream system, and accidentally set up a Lake Bonneville system. Amazingly enough, despite the epic mess on a Friday morning, I did end up with a lovely braided stream, and as an added bonus, a lovely "flume delta".

Catch up 3: Podcasts about canyons and then rafting them.

Field work officially began last week, and my labmate (let's call him OSL) and I took off for the Moab area to do some scouting before our adviser joined us. The first thing we did was score a super sweet base camp location and important supplies.

Image of super sweet base camp location and important supplies.

Our adviser arrived with our field vehicle, and we got set to start sampling. Rough life, eh? Well actually, trying to "steer" that thing is not what one would expect. Especially considering one (me) began rowing 2 decades ago. Let me just clarify for you, this inflatable rubber thing is not svelt like a rowing shell, and those oars are not sleek and lightweight. But I digress.

One could have a worse field area to sample in.

One's challenges could be worse than finding a living tree to dock at.

A conveniently located outcrop of Cutler formation on the river's edge... now where did I put that GPS?

This one is not griping.

Wildlife bums.

Related only because of canyons and things, I had a podcasting assignment for my media tools class, and that resulted in this. It's not any of the following: good, complete, interesting. But I'm sharing it with you anyway.

P.S. I oared that raft over 2 sets of rapids and only got stuck on one rock and no one died and nothing/no one went overboard and lots of stuff/labmates/advisers got wet.

Catch up 2: Geology, Awards, and Stuff

Almost immediately after I returned from my sister's wedding in Canada, did I have to get on another plane and head up to Minneapolis for the Geological Society of America's Annual Meeting. This meeting is pretty much always awesome for many reasons:

1. free beer
2. reunions with geology nerd friends/colleagues/GSA buddies from last year/profs/friends who are the authors of the textbooks from your u-grad education
3. field trips
4. making new GSA friends
5. meeting the program director for the exact NSF grant you intend to apply for over free beers

I started this meeting off with a geology field trip called "cycling the Mississippi Gorge", it involved learning local geology, riding bikes, eating really yummy yogurt, making new GSA friends, and learning local "fun facts" like: when Minneapolis was emerging as an up and coming mill city it was also the biggest producer of prosthetic limbs, and no, not peg legs (I asked), real jointed top-of-the-line-for-the-early-1900's prosthetics. There was also this random park with giant polished slabs of hematite in it. And giant mirrors glued to other rocks. It was a little weird...

I was not presenting at GSA this year, but instead going to enjoy the meeting and be flashed momentarily on the 2011 Hall of Fame screen.

Oooh - there I am! Don't blink or you'll miss it! Really there was a big fancy (and extremely nerve wracking) luncheon with presentations and speeches and things. The 4 of us getting awards and our "citationists" (the people introducing us) all had to eat lunch awkwardly on stage while everyone in the audience got to eat their lunch while NOT sitting on stage, which would have been far more preferable.

There was an amazing quilt that someone had (painstakingly) made of the geology of Minnesota. Unbelievable!

I finished off the event with another field trip, although I completely FUBARed the original plan. I was supposed to go on a relevant field trip, but stupidly scheduled my flight back in the middle of the trip. Amazing. So, since I realized this exactly 1 week before the meeting I could not get a refund and changing plane/hotel would have been too expensive, so I traded trips. Unfortunately this other trip involved much less learning and cool geology and fun facts. I did find a handful of fossils, which I gave to a guy from New Zealand who couldn't seem to find any himself and was far too excited about these run of the mill crinoids and brachiopods.