Hello, Geoblogosphere!
I realize I should have posted a more formal hiatus in advance of all of this, but at the same time, I didn't realize I'd be quite this insanely busy.
Which is, I also realize, a ridiculous assumption, given that I was working on my Master's thesis this quarter.
That said, I am finished with it! I defended the thesis on Tuesday, to a surprisingly large audience given that it's technically summer break now. I made the minor revisions, and I officially filed the thesis with the graduate division this afternoon.
I am staying at the same school to do PhD work, and that work will be a direct offshoot of my MS work. In terms of the actual work, there's not a big cutoff or different direction, and I'm still really excited about the work I'm going to be doing next. Even with the direct continuation, there's a definite sense of accomplishment: that I wouldn't be continuing into this third (and fourth and fifth and...) year of work if I hadn't finished the Master's stuff first! So, here's to the last two years, and the next three!
The first big thing I'll be doing as a person who actually has a degree in earth science is going to a conference...in a castle in Slovakia. Seriously. It's a conference specifically on numerical modeling of earthquake dynamics, and my adviser and his other student are also attending. I will be giving a talk on my latest work. I will try to be less of a flake about blogging this than I have about the other conferences at which I gave talks.
After that, I'll be heading up to the Bay Area for July, August, and September to help with some laboratory experiments on fault friction at USGS. Needless to say, I'm beyond merely excited about this opportunity!
Another thing I really hope to do this summer is put up a series of posts on Things I Should Have Blogged About Months Ago. Because I'll be the first to say that I'm behind on this! Topics I plan on addressing are:
The trip to Hawai'i (This was in October of 2009, I am such a slacker.)
The rest of AGU (or, at least, how my talk went)
The Rise and Fall of Snow Los Angeles (purely silly, but to be blamed on a conversation at AGU)
The earthquake in Mexico, and going into the field immediately afterward!
Seismological Society of America conference in Portland
Visiting Mt. St. Helens
And I hope to be more on the ball about the Accretionary Wedge as well.
