Learning to be a teacher

We all have our strengths and I've never considered "deals well with people" to be one of mine - probably a big part of the reason I never considered becoming a teacher. But here I am, in academia, teaching. Obviously I've known for years that I would be teaching at the university level, at least while in graduate school. I've had to attend many teaching workshops and classes as part of my graduate program, and I do take them very seriously because I know I have a lot to learn. I did learn after my first TA experience, which was extremely challenging, that I do sincerely enjoy teaching. Even though it was a difficult course to TA for several reasons, as I'm sure any teacher will tell you, the rewards far outweighed the costs. After that class, I was much more open to a future of teaching.

I am still navigating the the complexities of teaching at the university level - finding my teaching style, learning how to convey expectations to students and what it reasonable to expect, balancing the dry textbook material with examples from my own work, and acting like an authority figure. Last week I had to deal with the aspect of teaching I dislike the most - I had to confront someone about cheating (texting during an exam).

It was such an uncomfortable situation. I'm not a confrontational person, but I had to make a split-second decision to approach the student immediately or ignore the problem. Ignoring it wasn't a very good solution, especially since another student had alerted me to the situation. If I hadn't reacted, I would have been sending a message to the other students that I didn't care if they cheated or I was too timid to deal with someone blatantly breaking the rules. So I confiscated the student's cell phone. The worst part was that after I took the phone, I couldn't figure out how to turn it on. I was thinking "Wow, way to act old, Molly." But I thought quickly-enough and insisted the student show me their texting history.

In hindsight I do think I handled the situation in a responsible way and I don't think there is much I would do differently if I could go back. But I still feel like an imposter in the classroom. The TA who marched up to a student, ripped their exam out from under their pen, and demanded to see their phone was not really me. I never really thought of assertiveness as an attribute that could be learned, but I suppose I am learning how to be in control of a class. I do think it is important, being both a woman and being young, that I act like an authority figure and an adult in front of my classes. Next quarter I'll have to be even more prepared because it will just be me teaching 150 students four days per week. No professor, no labs, no discussion sections.

New Camera?

 

These are more photo taken with the Lumix camera from Cape Disappointment. I am fairly sold on the the Lumix as our next waterproof camera. There are a couple of downsides - the size, the buttons/menus, and the fact that it doesn't internally stitch panoramas. These action shots are pretty awesome for a point-and-shoot though. It's amazing how far digital cameras have come in the last ten years. My first was at least twice as big as the waterproof Lumix and had only one fifth of the megapixels. It took great scenery photos but it could never have taken these action shots. A camera is only as good as the photographer using it, but not all cameras are created equal.

Science Friends in the North Pacific

Bruce, my favorite prof from UAF, and I at a Kuril party

This week my advisor hosted a Kuril project workshop at UW - the culmination of five years of National Science Foundation-funded interdisciplinary research on human and environmental history in the Kuril Islands of the Russian Far East. I participated in the Kuril project as a field archaeologist during the summer of 2008 - an experience of a lifetime, in many respects. I did enjoy hearing the results of the research this week, especially the environmental history side (I know the archaeology since that is what I have been most involved with), but it was also fun to see some of the people again. Not only did I see some of the Russian and Japanese scientists we had worked with in the field, I also got to see two people I worked with at UAF when I was an undergrad who are now also involved in the Kuril project - Bruce, the professor I worked for while I was an undergrad, and Jason, one of his grad students. I was reminded how small the community is of scientists who work in the North Pacific.

Not only did I work with Jason in Bruce's lab, but he also shared an office with Ryan in the geology department at UAF. Jason has also become involved with the Sanak project (which I worked on with Bruce in 2004). Besides catching up with the Finney lab crowd, I was also reminded how many connections there are between scientists who work in the Russian Far East and UAF. For instance, one of the Japanese volcanologists told me that he is a visiting professor at UAF's Geophysical Institute this semester and he knows Ryan's advisor from grad school. One of the Japanese geology grad students also went on a UAF summer field course to the Katmai caldera (how cool is that?!?) and knows some of the UAF grad students that Ryan and I knew. The Japanese archaeologist involved with the Kuril project also worked in Kodiak with my advisor several years ago.

There are certainly a lot of parallels between the environments and people of coastal regions of Alaska and the Russian Far East. It's cool to be involved in such collaborate/comparative research and to remember how small the world really is.

Waterproof Point and Shoot Camera Trials

Some time ago Molly wrote a blog post about the various digital cameras we have owned and the two that we currently use.  Occasionally we post a photo that was taken with a phone or an old camera but for the most part we use our Canon Digital SLR XSI or our water proof Olympus Stylus Tough.  Unfortunately it seems that our Olympus may have gone swimming one too many times. It no longer takes those clean crisp shots that so impressed us when it was we first bought it (used).  All of the features of the camera still work, but I suspect that a small amount of moisture got inside the housing and has somehow compromised the optics or sensor.

We probably need to replace our Olympus now and will definitely need another waterproof/shockproff/dustproof camera. At work we have started purchasing waterproof cameras to document our field work. Using these cameras at work and on weekends has given me the chance to try out the competitors to the Olympus.

First was the Fujifilm XP2; I took this camera to Thailand.  At first I was very impressed that it was 50% cheaper than the Olympus and seems very comparable.  It is slim, fast, and stitches together panoramic photos quite well.  But then I began to notice the unforgivable flaw of this camera: it does not have very good optics.  Distortion is a major problem and can be noticed in just about any photo that has a flat horizon. You can see some examples of this problem in my blog post about oil platforms in the Gulf of Thailand.  The other possible flaw with this camera is the waterproof doors.  They just don't seem to be as well designed as some of the other cameras, and considering that our last camera had a leak, this is high on my list of concerns.

While I would still recommended the Fujifilm for some people, I don't think I would buy it myself.  Those warped horizons and distorted corners are just too distracting in the scenery shots we love to take.

The next camera I tested was a Panisonic Lumix DMC-TS3.  This might be the best point and shoot waterproof camera available right now.  This 14MP camera is waterproof to 40ft, shock proof to 6.5 ft, has a built in GPS with an barometer and heading sensor, 4.6X optical zoom, image stabilization, and takes full HD video.  Perhaps the most impressive feature of this camera is the fact the the optics are made by Leica.  While this might not mean much to all of you, just take my word that Leica does not make cheap optics. When it comes to optics, you get what you pay for.  You commonly see Leica's stamp on products that are all about optics such as spotting scopes and laboratory microscopes.

So how does the Panasonic Lumix perform?  Very Very well. Just as I would hope for a camera that costs $350.  This camera continues to impress me after using it for a few weeks.  Check out Molly's last post to see some photos I captured using the sport mode.  While taking these dynamic shots of Molly and our friends back lit by the sunset I was impressed by the camera's speed. It is probably twice as fast as our DSLR.  So now I have a dilemma.  Do we save up and buy one of these amazing Lumix cameras for ourselves?  Or do we buy the newest Olympus Stylus Tough?  The new Olympus has many of the same impressive features and after all I already own extra batteries and a charger for the Olympus.

Readers, let me know if there are any other waterproof cameras you recommend. Or don't recommend.

"Camping" in Cape Disappointment State Park

Ryan, me, and Jennie on the beach

Jen, Jay, Jennie, and Ryan embarking on our 0.6 mile hike

This weekend our friend Jennie had the awesome idea to rent a yurt in Cape Disappointment State Park at the mouth of the Columbia River. Even though the weather was fantastic yesterday and we hung out outside around the campfire until we went to bed, the yurt was a good call. Not only did it have electric heat and beds for five people, it also rained overnight and we didn't have to pack up a wet tent in the morning!

We went on some short walks around the park yesterday before sunset - the first one we went on was 0.6 miles. After that, we joked that we would only do hikes that were no longer than that. Since all five of us are former Alaskans, we brought our Xtra Tuffs and had a long discussion about the universal functionality of Xtra Tuffs before setting out. I have to admit though, I wore my sneakers even though all the trail head signs warned of mud. It turned out all the trails were either gravel or pavement. No mud.

We caught an awesome sunset on the beach where we had fun taking silhouetted photos. Perfect end to a beautiful day.

Jennie and I

Jen, me, and Jennie

A Pumpkin-Flavored Pumpkin Cake

I've had tons of fun with cake decorating over the last couple of years. It's been a rewarding, if not messy, creative outlet from school. Whenever I have an event to make a cake for, I do some googling and look at my cake books to get ideas and then add my own spin on whatever looks cool/do-able. This one was a pumpkin-flavored bundt cake for Jay and Jennie's pumpkin carving party last weekend. I used this pumpkin cake recipe, which I had never tried before. It turned out yummy in a healthy cake sort of way. It uses both whole wheat and white flour. I also replaced some of the oil with apple sauce because two of the reviews said the cake turned out very oily.

This cake design is two bundt cakes, one turned upside-down, stacked on top of each other. After I baked the two bundt cakes, I took the bundt pan and turned it upside down on a cookie sheet. I filled the hole in the bottom of the pan with batter and baked it to make a plug to put in the to of the "pumpkin." I realize now that I should have taken photos of the cake going together, but unless Ryan is in the kitchen willing to document, I'm always way too frenzied to take pics. I also filled a 1/2 pint glass jar with batter to make the stem. So, when I was done baking all those cakes (which took the better part of a day since I only have one bundt pan - Ryan offered to buy me another one but I adamantly refused because my cake and canning cabinets are already out of control), I stacked the two whole bundt cakes, put the plug in the middle, and cut out a piece from the 1/2 pint jar cake to be the stem. The stem was Ryan's idea; I wanted to frost it brown but he convinced me it would look good with no frosting. That was definitely a good call. I got the idea to bake the extra cake in a glass jar from a recipe recipe Ann Marie sent me just the other day.

I frosted the whole thing with store-bought cream cheese frosting. I knew after baking three cakes I wouldn't feel like whipping up a giant batch of home-made frosting. I attempted to put a face on the pumpkin with black frosting, but it looked like a three-year-old had drawn it, so I scraped it off and re-frosted. Simple and classy.

The real pumpkins - you can guess which one is mine and which one is Ryan's

St. Louis, MO

Gateway Arch in St. Louis, MO

After working in the area for three weeks I finally had a chance to see downtown St. Louis yesterday.  The weather was perfect and people were out sporting their Cardinals paraphernalia.  We didn't didn't have a plan for checking out the city other than to see the Gateway Arch and walk around the city.  I was extremely impressed by the arch.  Not only was it far larger than I had imagined it was very elegant and an engineering marvel.  Wikipedia has a fairly extensive article about the arch and its symbolism if you are interested.

We also visited the historic court house of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial.  This court house now serves as a Museum of westward expansion containing exhibits about the history of St. Louis and the American expansion to into the "Wild West".

Gateway Arch at the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial

Historic St. Louis Court House

Humans vs. Zombies

It's all the rage these days. At least on college campuses. Humans vs. Zombies is a game played on college campuses around the country. It's basically a complicated version of tag in which "humans" (people wearing orange bandanas) go about the normal daily business trying not to get "shot" (with nurf guns or balled-up socks) by people who have been designated or turned into "zombies." If you haven't read about it or seen it in action, check out the link. You can even watch a documentary about the game.

I think it's quite a clever invention, even if I have on occasional been annoyed/inconvenienced by swarms of orange-bandana-clad, and nurf-gun-toting college kids sprinting across my path to the bus stop. The humans vs. zombies game makes me feel old though. When I first saw "kids" playing this game last year, it really hit me that I am of a different generation than they are. Up until recently, I've felt like I can relate to the students I teach. They're just me, but slightly younger. My brother was in college so I could think of them as being like him. But now my brother is almost out of college, he's 22. He's told me he tried playing Humans vs. Zombies at one point, but thought it was boring. These kids are younger than him. They're kids that were born with iPhones and facebook profiles. Humans vs. Zombies are to them as facebook was to college kids seven years ago: brand new, experimental, and only on college campuses. Now everyone is on facebook. Will everyone be playing Humans vs. Zombies soon?

Seattle Food Swap

Ryan's no-knead artisan bread

Making labels at the food swap

Sampling and food-swaping in action

Ryan's fresh bread and swapped butternut squash soup

Yesterday Ryan and I attended our first food swap in West Seattle. I read about food swaps first on Food in Jars. The idea is that a group of people get together with their homemade goodies and trade! It was a bit like being at a farmer's market, but instead of paying $8 for a jar of canned goodness, you could trade for something you'd brought. I found the Seattle Swappers by following a link on The Hip Girl's Guide to Homemaking which lists food swaps all over the country.

I brought a variety of canned stuff, mostly apple sauces, a couple of jams, Mrs. Wages Pasta Sauce, rhubarb BBQ sauce, and yellow squash relish and roasted red pepper ketchup from Put 'em Up. As I suspected, the roasted red pepper ketchup was a big hit and several swappers were disappointed they didn't end up with a jar. I was surprised though that the pasta sauce was so popular. After I made it, I wasn't particularly impressed, but maybe I'll make it again for the next swap! It was such a hot item that someone even went home with my open sample jar.

Ryan made FIFTEEN loaves of Artisan bread, all baked on the morning of the food swap! He made the regular white bread as well as thyme and rosemary and light whole wheat bread. The thyme and rosemary went the fastest (it's my first choice too). Ryan was the only one with bread at the swap, so he had some good bargaining power. And, it was still warm when we arrived.

We came home with two types of granola, salty oatmeal cookies, black bean brownies, macaroons, italian plum jam, concord grape jam, canned italian plums, butternut squash soup, pear ginger chutney, blackberry jam, several types of chocolates, and homegrown potatoes. We already ate one jar of the butternut squash soup for dinner last night with some of Ryan's leftover wheat bread (this is the first time he's made the wheat version and it was delicious) and some of the granola for breakfast.

Working on the Mississippi

Tug boat pushing fifteen barges up the Mississippi River

Two weeks ago I got call on a Saturday evening from my supervisor that we were needed on an emergency survey on the Mississippi River near St. Louis, Missouri.  Within a few hours one of our boat captains and myself were on the road towing one of our small survey boats.  We drove straight through taking turns driving and sleeping and arrived Monday afternoon.  By Monday night we had data for the client.  The client was willing to spend a lot of money to get us there in a hury and I think there were very impressed with our response.  This was the first time working for Tetra Tech that I have billed 24 hours a day.  By the end of the week I had worked over 100 hours.

Working on the Mississippi has been a treat.  There is a lot of American history associated with the Mississippi and I was happy to see that it is still very much alive with shipping and commerce.  Some of the other rivers I have worked on in the Midwest, such as the Saginaw River in Michigan and the Fox River in Wisconsin, used to serve as important modes of travel and transportation. Now their swing bridges go unused and the locks and dams sit in a state of decay.

The Mississippi on the other had, is still traveled by massive tugs and barges moving goods into the heart of the country.  The locks that make the river navigable for these tugs are massive and unlike anything I have seen before.  We traversed one of the locks to get from the boat launch to our survey area.  The locks made us feel tiny.  It was not even necessary for us to tie up as we could easily motor around while they raised or lowered the water.

Surveying on the Saginaw River in 2009.  In the background is a railroad drawbridge and behind that are newer fixed position car bridges.