Recent Exposures

I drove down to Narragansett Bay in Rhode Island to visit the school on Thursday and Friday. Professor John King had made all the arrangements for me and put me up at the Hamilton Village Inn nearby the college for the night.  GSO was amazing.  The school is very technologically advanced.  Soon after arriving on thursday morning I went out to lunch with two of Professsor King’s grad students - Brad and Chip to Twin Willows for a roast beef sandwich and some beers.  They were really great guys and told me a lot about the school.  After lunch, and some gum provided by the guys to kill the beer breath, I met with Mark Wimbush (Associate Dean) and Merideth Clark (student advisor) and I hit it off well with both.  I then met with Professor Robert Pockalny and Professor Roger Larson who told me about their research in the Endeavor deep and underwater superplumes respectively.  I especially enjoyed learning about the Manihiki superplume off Figi because it was so big it created one of the first mass extinctions in the oceans resulting in much of the oil deposits we depend on today.  Neither Rob nor Roger had any funding to take on new students but it was wonderful talking with them.  I then met briefly with Kate Moran (she appeared in the Discovery Channel show "America’s Next Tsunami") and spoke to her about her innovative and important tsunami research.  That night I ate alone at the Pagoda Inn chinese restaurant down the road (I hate eating alone), and then got a good nights rest.  On Friday I had a wonderful meeting with professor Yang Shen who could clearly see how determined and ambitious I am.  We really hit it off and he told me about several projects I would be a good fit for such as laying down seismic monitors in Tibet (he liked my hiking background for that project) to helping install a wide seismic array out west called USArray.  He told me about a tsunami warning system he was developing that would deploy a device from the bottom of the ocean where it is moored to the surface to transmit satellite data.  I pointed out that at a far depth it could take a while for such a device to rise through the water - a point he hadn’t thought much of yet.  So I think I made a great impression on him.  I then went on a college tour with an Australian student who told me a bout a wooden boat burning ritual at the school that sounded outrageous!  I then went out to lunch with all the GSO faculty to Newport at a cool deli and had a great conversation by myself with the professors, giving them suggestions on how to coax students to going to more seminars.  I left after lunch and really felt like I made a good impression of myself there.  I learned that it is pretty much the Harvard of Oceanography schools so it would be really beneficial to my career to graduate from there.  Narraganssett Beach is about 4 miles down the road (picture on left) and Newport is nearby.  Providence is only 30 minutes away as well.  Lots of ocean activities to do in the area and you can easily tell by being there that it’s a huge tourist area in the summer.  Keeping my fingers crossed!

Just finished applying to the Graduate School of Oceanography at the University of Rhode Island Narraganssett Bay campus.  I’ll be visiting the school later this week so will have more to say aobut it after.  The school looks very promising and I’m excited to visit it.

Just finished applying to the Geology & Geophysics Department at the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST) at the University of Hawaii, Manoa.  My friend Adrianne Oakley from Bowdoin College is a graduate student there.  My very close friend Rachel Seabury has also spent 3 yeas on the remote Islands of Hawaii including Kauai studying albatross nesting areas.  I have been speaking to several faculty members there and may have opportunities to travel to Iceland to study the only area of the world where the Mid-Atlantic Ridge rises above sea lvel or to study the volcanics of the Island of Kauai with a volcanologist.  How amazing would it be if I got to spend the next 5 years of my life in Honolulu?  Click on the link to check out the school.

Kate and Adrian came over tonight to hang out for a bit and watch the Celtics play the Sixers.  Seems like everytime I sit down to watch a basketball game with Josh it goes to triple overtime. Great game but the Celtics lost… oh well… who cares… The X-Games and the Olympics are coming up!!!!

Well, I had mentioned before plans to visit my graduate schools at the end of this month… after days of planning I finally finalized them.  I was able to get a flight to San Diego on the 23rd for $145, a rental car with unlimited miles for a full 10 days for $270 and my flight from Seattle to Miami for the weekend and then home is free because I used 25,000 of my 130,000 flyer miles with United.  To top that I have premiere seating on each flight because of my mileage status.  The tough part will be the 2,000 mile drive from nearly the boarder with Mexico all the way to Seattle along the historic and scenic Pacific Coast Highway.  I’ve heard it’s the most beautiful drive in all the U.S. and I plan to only drive during daylight to see it all.  It’s a two lane road and I’ve heard rumors of 45mph speed limits and traffic in areas such as L.A. so we’ll see if I’ll be able to do it!  It will be nice to see my cousins in Seattle again because I haven’t seen them in nearly a year.  Here are my Plans…. Click the thumbnail….

I don’t know if God hates me or what but yesterday I was looking at my graduate schools and wondered why there weren’t more focused on Oceanography in California so I Google’d it… I missed one.. UC Santa Barbara.  Not only does it have the best program in Marine Tectonics in the U.S. (My primary interest) but it’s in one of the most beautiful areas of California.  I looked at the deadline… January 1st… so I frantically sent out an email pleading with faculty and staff to give me the opportunity to apply.  I got an email this morning saying that they had unofficially extended the deadline and that I could apply.  I then had to frantically ask my Bowdion Professors and one of my old supervisors at ENSR International (my environmental consulting job in Boston) to overnight recommendations to UC Santa Barbara.  Thankully I got it all done and my materials will be there by early next week.  I’ve even set up a few appointments to visit professors at the college on the 24th of this month on my trip.  Kate was nice enough to come over and cheer me up with some tv, sweedish fish and ice cream as well.   As usual, click the thumbnail to check out the college!  I lucked out on this one.  It’s my first choice now and I hope to God I make a good impression when I visit!

Finished up applying to the College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences at Oregon State University.   I may have an opportunity here to participate on a cruise to the Sumatra earthquake epicenter that caused the devastating tsunami in the Indian Ocean over Christmas 2004.   

Decided to go out last night with my boy Jonny Hughes and have a little fun.  We met a bunch of his friends out at Gaphneys.  Kate showed up around midnight but took off to play foosball at another bar.  I got a lot of stragne looks by the ladies last night.  I wonder why, eh?

Finished up my application to the School of Oceanography at the University of Washington today.  Not doing too much tonight because I’m pretty broke still.  Thre could be some great opportunities to study the Juan De Fuca Ridge or the coastlines of South East Asia with this department.

I was planning to arrange my travel plans to visit possible graduate schools today.  I need to call United and use my frequent flyer miles, arrange for a rental car, and make plans with the schools I’m visiting so that I have a place to stay at each.  When I turned on my internet browser it went to my MSN page as always which I had put my daily horoscope on.  I never read my horoscope but happened to glance down at it today for some reason… This is what it said: 

An opportunity to travel with a partner or colleague, perhaps
business-related, could come your way. Any travel planned or begun
today is likely to go well and bring you whatever results you were
hoping for. Whatever it is you’re planning, dear Cancer, it should
excite your enthusiasm and optimism for your future success. Relations
with others, both business and personal, should be warm, cordial, and
stimulating. Make the most of it!

Scary huh?

Oh, and check out the sweet stir fry I made with the giant Wok Rick Sprat-ta-tat-tat gave me.

Well, just completed my application to SCRIPPS Institute of Oceanography at the University of Califronia San Diego.  It’s the country’s leading Oceanogrpahic Institute and the most competitive.  I hope I’ll be accepted but I’m not getting my hopes up! Click on the thumbnail to check out the school.