GSRP Complete!

I finished and submitted my GSRP renewal proposal today. In plenty of time for the Feb 1 due date, too. I'm also excited because tomorrow I'll be heading to Tucson for the Gem and Mineral Show.

I've done three pages (out of five) of my GSRP renewal. It's 5:30 now, so it's time to cut out and go home. Hopefully tomorrow I can finish the rest, including two figures of spectra.

I met my goal for this week...finishing section 1.1 of my dissertation, entitled "Evidence for early life on Earth". It's just a brief summary of our current knowledge of microfossils, stromatolites, and biomarkers before I get into the nitty gritty of the rocks I'm studying (sections 1.2 and 1.3). This intro chapter is going to take me a little while because I am referencing about 10 papers per paragraph, most of which I'm reading or re-reading to make sure I get it right. Next week I have to cram and get my GSRP renewal proposal written. That shouldn't take too long, but it's one of those things that requires all sorts of people's signatures.

So I got a new haircut yesterday. I let Tennille do whatever she wants, and she was feeling "short" and "adventurous". So she gave me a military-type cut, that's sort of like a really mini-mohawk with a tail. Kelly thinks it's totally awesome, but Jace laughs every time he looks at me. I think Beth is more my friend now.

I had one of those big "Oh SHIT!" moments yesterday when I found out that the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference abstract was due today instead of next tuesday. I've been writing and making figures like crazy since then. I just submitted it, about 30 minutes before it was due. Whew!

I'll admit it. I've purchased ringtones and wallpapers for my phone, mainly because my newest cell phone had few good default choices. Yes they are a ripoff, but if you're into art (both modern and classic) two really good wallpaper services are START Mobile and Pixurez. The former has more good art (including kozyndan and Braveland Design!) than the latter, but Pixurez does have Junko Mizuno. I just wish START Mobile was available to Verizon Wireless customers like me, but I guess that keeps me from wasting my money on overpriced, low resolution images.

Most ringtone sites are pretty similar, but the polyphonic tones from YAMAHA seem to be of slightly higher quality than the rest. Unfortunately, they don't have Maps by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

Our sink backed up last night. I don't want to lay blame, but it might be related to the pile of carrot peels that Kelly shoved down the garbage disposal. Anyways, today I stayed home to fix it. It turned out to be pretty easy. All the pipes were plastic and they had screw-on connectors, so I could easily remove the section of pipe that was clogged. Now everything flows normally, but I still have to reseal the connection with the garbage disposal with plumber's putty.

Oh, I should mention that Kelly got me this totally awesome digital camera for Christmas. She really shouldn't have. She told me for weeks that she got me a drill, and I was completely fooled. When I was opening the present, I thought to myself, "Hey, Canon doesn't make drills?!?...Oh!" Thanks Kelly!

I'm back on the face of the Earth now. Kelly and I have been to Four Peaks for the past two weekends now. It's really awesome country there, and it's not too far away from home. Here's a picture of Ed in front of Brown's Peak from the first weekend. It was more of an exploratory hike, and it turned out both our guidebooks were wrong or misleading. This past weekend, Kelly, Ed, and I camped, and we hiked with Kelly's parents out to the amethyst mine.