An offer of my old job

I've just got off the phone after speaking to my old boss in Alice Springs. Apparently the replacement that replaced my replacement is leaving my old job. My old boss suggested that I might want to take it and work in that position before until they have their next round of recruiting (later this year). This would mean that I'd have to finish my degree by distance. I'm going to look into it. It would be nice to have a bit more money and get on the job experience when finishing off my final six months. Hmmmm, what to do...

Grey water sampling

The past week has been spent conducting water sampling for my SRP subject at uni and so have been getting up before the sun every day. It seems odd to be getting up while it's still dark but usually there is quite a nice sunrise to make it worth it. The water samples I have been collecting have been from a grey water system in Bli Bli. I have been sampling the influent and effluent tanks which will not only let me know what toxins are present in both the samples but also if the membrane filtration system is working. The particular system hasn't been serviced for about a year so it will be interesting to see how it goes.

Me preparing water for the solid phase extraction.

The rest of the day (and I do me the rest of the day) was spent in the lab filtering the samples. The samples have to be filtered through a special filter that collects the toxins in the water. Unfortunatly this can only be done in 6 mL lots and so filtering the samples takes quite a while (on average being about 5 or 6 hours depending on the amount of particulate matter in the samples).

A sigh of relief

I've just come back down to the uni to quickly finish an assignment that I started yesterday. It is a analysis strategy for my biostatistics class. I was expecting to have an all nighter (until 5 am tomorrow when I'd have to leave to head up the coast to collect some water samples) but instead I came in and found that we have a weeks extension. I'm so glad. This means that I'll be able to finish it on the weekend with a lot less stress.

10 Things to do before I'm 32

Here is a list of the things that I want to do before another year has passed. While there are a lot to choose from on my bucket list these are the ones that I think I can accomplish given the fact that I am a student and have no money. I'd like to be able to look back at the past year and say, "yes, I have accomplished something this year" as in the past I feel I haven't done enough. They are in no particular order but I want to be able to do all of them before my 32nd birthday:
1. See a platypus in the wild
2. Be able to touch my toes
3. Climb Mt Coolum
4. Stay up all night long and watch the sunrise
5. Make a fire without a lighter or matches
6. Be able to do a handstand
7. Reduce my BMI from 38 to below 27
8. Be able to run 1120 metres in 6 minutes 30 seconds
9. Pass all courses at university
10. Grow a beard (and make it look good)

Not so weakly wandering

I've just done my walk again and this time and I mustn't be as unfit as I thought. This time I was able to walk the 3.2 km in about 35 minutes with an average speed of 5.43 km/h. I did the walk at about the same time of day and at about the same pace and now I'm here I don't feel as tired as I did before. Must have just been a bad day.

Weakly wandering

I've just walked to the university from home via Woolies and I've just arrived at the uni. I've got to say that I'm absolutely exhausted. So much that my legs were shaking. I must be even more unfit than I thought. That's what uni does to you, a few weeks of no physical exercise (but lots of mental exercise) leaves so unfit you can't walk to the shops and back. It only took about half an hour and wasn't even hilly. Tomorrow I'm going to have to make the effort again to get out and exercise. By the end of June I want to be fit.

31 Today

I'm now officially on the wrong side of 30! Still, today has been a nice was to head over to the other side. This morning started with a nice cooked breakfast which was very nice. The breakfast kept me going for most of the day so there was no lunch but we took Dad to the airport. He is flying down today to visit Laura. Mum and I went to see 'the Clash of the Titans' this afternoon. I've heard that it didn't get a really good write up but I enjoyed. It was action all the way and some amazing special effects. After that we finished of the evening by heading over to Red Rooster. It's been a nice relaxing day. After the busy week I've had at uni this week, I needed it. I think I must be getting old.

Flu shot

Yesterday I had a flu shot. I had one last year and I think it helped. Of course I'm not too sure but as they give them out for free and they are supposed to do you good then I thought It would be beneficial to me if I got one. This year the vaccine contained both the current seasonal influenza virus but also the H1N1 (Swine Flu) Influenza A virus. I was told that I might experience some side effects such as a fever, sore arm or aches but as yet I haven't felt anything. I'm not sure if it will work but I figure I might as well try to protect myself and do my bit for those around me as I wouldn't want to give anyone the flu as well as wouldn't want to get it from anyone.

Wasps in the backyard

It's the Easter holidays now and last week I went back down to Brisbane to visit my parents and friends. I'd been there a couple of days before I noticed a colony of Brown Paper Wasps (Ropalidia revolutionalis) that were setting up a home on one of the pot plants around the house. I managed to get a couple of photos that didn't come out too badly.

A brown paper wasp (Ropalidia revolutionalis)

These wasps weren't at all aggressive and let me get quite close to take photos. I guess they would attack me if I was to touch the nest but they were happy to just watch me as I snapped away.

The nest itself was about 10 cm long with lots of honeycomb egg chambers running down its length.

No good assignment

I’ve just been into to see the academic advisor at uni as I wanted someone to look over my literature review before I handed it in. I came out thinking of what he told me. It was about one sentence specifically. He basically told me that it was crap. I believe that his actual words were that it was no good. The sentence is below:

“Military equipment may have played a major part in increasing the range of the vector mosquito, inadvertently providing receptacles for rainwater in which Aedes aegypti mosquitoes laid their eggs. This equipment was then moved across Asia and the Pacific. Soldiers too were moved across the region and the dengue virus continued to spread. These two factors combined to not only increase the range that dengue fever was able to spread but also provided the means through which the vectors could travel”

I thought that was a bit harsh, especially when I thought that the sentence added to the paragraph. While I wanted to know if my review was okay I guess I was hoping for more constructive criticism. Instead he said the particular sentence was useless. Apart from that all he said was there needs to be more references even if that means on every single line instead of just at the start or end of the paraphrased section. He obviously thought that he had been too harsh as when I was leaving he said that the assignment was very good three times before I left. Good but no good. Now that's confusing!