Too Much to Ask?

Flying into Salt Lake City.  Not much snow in sight.

All I want is some snow.  Talking to a semi-professional skier friend of mine who grew up and still resides in Salt Lake, I found out that this is the worst ski season of at least the past 20 years.  Pretty much all the snow on the mountain is man-made and quite a bit of it is icy.  Frankly it's what I'm used to skiing in the East except now the runs are much longer.  I always seem to have big ski trips at times when the weather is not cooperative.

This being said, I'm still having a fantastic time here in Utah, I enjoy the skiing, love being with family, and I am thrilled to see mountains.  Even with horrible ski conditions, I still consider this trip a great success.  Merry Christmas to all!

2 Days and Counting

Photo: www.zimbio.com

This is going to be me in 48 hours.  My flight leaves tomorrow morning so by Saturday I will be hitting the slopes as if I was born to do nothing but ski.  Yes I am also excited to see my family and I feel like that goes without saying.  Other than last winter when I went for a day in Maryland, I cannot remember the last ski trip I've taken.  It is time.  The weather is not in our favor with a terrible lack of natural snow but even if it's man-made, at least there will be something to ski on, I'll be in the mountains, and I'll have my family with me.

On My Mind

I am not a needy person.  It's because I really like her and spent a week and a half with her non-stop that I am constantly thinking about Christina.  There's no dependance or even reliance on her but instead it's simply the fact that I love spending time together (even if only a phone call) and always look forward to it because she makes it so easy for me to be happy.
 
I've been trying to piece together a divemaster course for a friend.  Due to time constraints, it's been killer so far.  She leaves on Thursday and it is only going to get harder from here to fit everything in.

Speaking of leaving, I am headed to Utah on the 23rd!!!  I have never been there before and I am seriously looking forward to it.  The last time I went skiing was with Nathan last year in Maryland.  Before that?  I can't even remember.  It's one of the millions of things I love in life so I assure you all that I will be having a fantastic time out there.  Not only will Utah fill my skiing quota but it will also give me a long overdue dose of mountains, something that Floridians are constantly starved of.  Here's hoping for snow!

I have been slacking bigtime on my housing search.  I have made no progress in the past 3 weeks and I'm embarrassed to admit it but it is the truth after all.  I'm going to need to get on it because I really am ready to move out of here and into my own place.

Developments

Wow, a lot has happened and I've been so busy that I haven't been able to say anything about it.  I won't quite pick up where I left off but I'll at least hit the highlights that have been going on since then which consist of three things: end of the semester, motor boating certification course, and Christina.

1) The semester finished up about a week and a half ago.  It marked the first time I have ever had to grade twelve 8-12 page papers which as I have discovered is not as exciting as one might think.  For my first semester, I think I have performed well in my new position.  The lab that I manage on main campus is much more organized now than it was when I first arrived and every one of the diving students is much improved from day 1.  There are 1 or 2 who are still struggling but they are at least as good or better than the average recreational diver.  As for the others, they are far beyond recreational dive industry standards and are really great divers now.

2) Over the past week, I have been taking the Motorboat Operator Certification Course (MOCC).  This is a course offered around the country by the Department of the Interior and is designed to give a lot of academic and hands-on training at operating a small power boat.  The day I heard this class was offered through UM I was begging to be put on the waiting list for it and that was when I was willing to pay for it.  Now they've enrolled me and haven't asked for a dime because their plan is to eventually have me teaching this course as well.  The course was a bit of a breeze since I have so much boating experience but it was still loads of fun.

3) There's this girl and her name is Christina.  I have liked Christina since early October which makes about 2 and a half months.  I didn't know it then, but she has liked me since pretty much the same time.  She is a masters student from Texas, is essentially a dive instructor, and we can't seem to get enough of each other.  The only thing that's really caused a problem is that she has been one of my students.  Due to something called conflict of interest, I am forbidden to hang out with students outside of class until grades are out of my hands so until the night of the 8th, we were forced to be apart.  (We actually did such a good job of it that I still questioned if she really liked me - that being said, I am pretty oblivious to that sort of thing.)  Since the 8th, we have been spending as much time together as possible (which includes the MOCC course we were coincidentally signed up for together by UM).  A few hours ago I finally dropped her off at the airport and it is starting to sink in that a week and a half of being together non-stop is going to make a month apart particularly difficult.  Christina really is absolutely stunning but my stance is one that is reflected by one of my basic life philosophies: if it is meant to happen, it will come together but if it dies away then so be it.  There's no sense in forcing anything that shouldn't have to be forced.  If instead it grows, which is what I'm really hoping for, then that would be wonderful.  I'm not committing myself to what may or may not be but I'm along for the ride and I'm going to make the best of whatever happens.

There is a lot to look forward to in the coming month but since it's getting late and I'm terribly tired, I'm going to have to save all of that for later.

Hold Your Breath

My goal is to post about my recent life and adventures within the next couple days.  Keep an eye out.  A lot's happening and life is ever wonderful.

Through My Fingers

I am, I was, and I will always be a Physics major.  I did it.  I spent 4 years of hard work, late nights, grueling exams, and probably knocked several years off my life, but I did it and no one can take that away from me.

In the 2 and a half years since then of hardly doing a single Physics problem or exercise, I think I've lost it all.  I still have the fundamental intuition that will hopefully never fade, but can't really do it anymore.  I can't walk the walk anymore.  I can't list off the postulates of relativity, find the eigen values of a matrix, solve a non-linear differential equation, simplify a wave equation, know the shortcuts for solving even and odd functions, use the cross product to find the flux through a loop of wire and with that calculate the magnitude of the magnetic field created, I can't do any of it.  It's all been slipping away and what's worse is that there is no indication that I will need to use any of these skills in my line of work so they will slowly continue to completely disappear.  I still proudly say that I majored in Physics and will do so whenever I am asked until the day I die, but my foundation that backs up that statement has fallen away.

Sun Goes Down Over Shark Lab

Sometimes things come into our lives for good, but often times we get tired of, grow out of, or change our minds about things. This is the case for my participation in the lab I've worked as an intern catching and tagging sharks.

When I was accepted to be an intern in the program, I was warned by a few friends at RSMAS about the lack of focus on scientific content that is found in this lab but brushed off the comments as rumors that were not backed up by first-hand accounts. Last semester I had a great time on all of my trips and even putting in extra time to help put equipment together and re-structure an underwater video rig. I was even one of 4 interns that spent 5 days on a tiny fishing boat in the Dry Tortugas this past spring and loved it.

Tending the lines on the way to the site.  Photo: Anonymous

When I came back this semester I was excited to hear about all of the big plans that have been put in place to draw more media attention through newspapers, local news channels, internet posting, local educational outreach, and even big players such as National Geographic. As the semester progressed, I became exposed to a little more about how the program is run and I was not pleased. The best thing about the program is that everyone involved in it absolutely and firmly believes in what it stands for. The problem is that it lacks internal structure.  The program will undoubtedly continue to grow without me but it frustrates me to know that under different leadership it could be booming in both the scientific and media worlds.

I do not want to say anything more about what has led me to my decision since this is a public forum and do not want anyone to read this and misunderstand my issues and then give the program a bad name because it really does do a lot of good. It's been fun and I have memories that will last forever but my decision has been made. If the program turns around and really establishes itself structurally and things run more smoothly then I would consider offering my time to help them if they would take it. Until then, I'll spend my free weekends doing other things, perhaps running dive courses or traveling around southern Florida. Who knows!

Circling

History has a funny way of repeating itself in slightly different settings and contexts.

10 Minutes to Bingo

Obligatory fan photo.  Photo: Ashley

There's a new show on ABC called "Ocean Mysteries with Jeff Corwin" that explores various marine (or other underwater) environments which are sources of great unknown.  As I have mentioned several times before, UM has a very special underwater archaeological site about 3 and a half hours away from Miami called Little Salt Spring.  Thanks to the way and the time that the spring formed, it is home to countless bones and artifacts from the Paleoindian era some 11,000 years old.  Thanks to the anoxic conditions of the water, these clues to the past are left intact and preserved in astonishing quality.  Needless to say, the site fit the bill for Corwin's show and incredibly enough everything came together and he and his crew ventured south to North Port, FL for a day of filming.

I will not reveal very much in the interest of keeping the theme of the show.  Actually, I don't want to say much because I urge you all to tune in at 11am EST to ABC and see the 30minute segment yourselves.  The things I will expand upon are those things that you will not get from watching the final edit.

Me managing surface supply.  Photo: Mark

Jeff Corwin is good at what he does.  He is a television personality who is the star of his show, brings energy and excitement to anything, and makes science understandable for society.  He's reasonably down to earth but years of being in front of the camera seem to have had an effect.  He was genuinely interested in the site, the science, and the wildlife on the compound of Little Salt but largely disinterested in the little people like me.  It was difficult keeping him engaged in conversation so I stopped trying, even when I sat near him throughout all of lunch.  I never met Steve Irwin but after meeting the guy most commonly compared to him, I wish I would have had the opportunity.  After seeing so many shows and interviews of Irwin, I really do feel that his heart was really into everything, not just putting on a good television show and "paying for my wife's Lexus" as Jeff seemed to be.  Perhaps I'm being too critical and really I'm just disappointed that he had more to think about than showing any interest in the little people.  As I said above, he is very good at what he does and no one can take that from him.

Delayed Gratification

Sad times are these that I don't post for weeks.

I'm afraid during that lapse, significant detail has fallen through the cracks.  At any rate, I will do what I can to hit the important parts.

Marc inspects the inside a full face mask while Jesse prepares to dive.

A few weekends ago, I was at Little Salt Spring.  Nothing has changed there since the last time I saw it (and probably for about 10 years prior for that matter).  This time however I was the one driving the van, setting up equipment, helping teach, buying groceries, and being much more in charge than last semester when I was there as a student.  We managed to have loads of fun making up a plot for a horror film, looking for shark teeth, having bonfires, telling stories, playing Taboo, and hanging out together.  Like last semester, we spent an entire morning at the Florida Aquarium where the students who earned the top 6 scores on the midterm were allowed to dive in the aquarium.  It was much more exciting this time as there are now several new sand tiger sharks in the tank.  Everyone who had the opportunity to dive there had a blast and those of us watching them enjoyed the show.  We then traveled to Venice Beach where we spent a dive in search of ancient shark teeth and I managed to find 9 within 20 minutes, 9 more than I found during the entire trip last semester.

The rest of the trip was eventful and enjoyable but will be sadly scratched from the record in the interest of hitting other parts of my life.

I am helping to head up the Science Diving Club at the university, something that has been in the works for over a year but lacking the resources and time to be put together officially.  The time has finally come and I am on the forefront.  There has been more than just talk about turning the classroom portion of the class I help teach into an online course.  I have been the driving force behind it and there are many reasons we want to do it.  Our program has been referred to as a bottleneck since we can safely only have 12 students per semester.  The plan is to turn the lectures into online modules which would give us enough time to offer twice as many in-water training sessions (which is the limiting factor - student/instructor ratio) and thus work through twice as many students.  It has a long way to go but I feel very empowered to be the one pushing the envelope for creative and resourceful ways to expand the program.

I was talking to a friend of mine recently and over the course of a long conversation was able to lay out very clearly an important observation which I will simplify for you all here.  I am exactly where I need to be.  I wake up every morning excited to go to work and it would take a lot to get me to give that away.  I feel important, useful, appreciated, and happy and I couldn't ask for more.  Praise God.