AH
So, things have been very hectic since my return to Guelph. I met with my advisor for my undergraduate research project my first day back, after which I had about 15,000 grass seeds from six different grass species to count and sort. So I spent the first couple of days after my parents left doing that, and then I had to plant them.
But just planting them all at once would be too easy. Nope, we were aiming at having them all sprout at the same time, but since all the species take a different amount of time to germinate, I had to plant them all on different days. Which turned out to be a good thing, because just planing one species' worth of seeds ended up taking most of the day. My very first day, I didn't start planting until about 5:30 pm. By almost nine, I wasn't even half way done, but I panicked when I was taking a batch of pots to their respective chambers, and my cart hit a wall and sent all of the pots (AND THEIR TINY SEEDS) toppling forward to empty out on the floor. So I freaked out and called two of my (few) friends in Guelph, Will and Crystal, and begged them to come and help me. So I left to pick them up, and the three of us busted our asses for the rest of the night trying to get the planting done. Even with all three of us working, we still didn't finish until 1 am.
I learned to start planting much earlier in the day. But basically I spent over 40 hours in the greenhouse that week just planting seeds, and countless hours at home COUNTING the seeds.
So I was actually relieved when classes started the day after I was finished planting. Something to do OTHER than work in the greenhouse!
So, I got involved in this project because I thought it would be great practice for grad school, plus, it looks pretty good on grad school applications. But once I started working on it I started to doubt whether I wanted to go to grad school, so then I decided it's value was in helping me make that decision. I'm two weeks into the semester and I already feel like grad school is simply not the thing for me.
That didn't take long.
So today I gave my proposal presentation to my classmates and their advisors. It was the perfect example of how, when you work on something or look at something long enough, it's hard to see it any new way. My presentation made perfect sense to me, probably because I spent the majority of the weekend preparing it. But based on the questions I was getting after, it wasn't very clear. So I have some things to improve next time, I guess.
I don't even know what the purpose of this update was.
I want to go home.
But just planting them all at once would be too easy. Nope, we were aiming at having them all sprout at the same time, but since all the species take a different amount of time to germinate, I had to plant them all on different days. Which turned out to be a good thing, because just planing one species' worth of seeds ended up taking most of the day. My very first day, I didn't start planting until about 5:30 pm. By almost nine, I wasn't even half way done, but I panicked when I was taking a batch of pots to their respective chambers, and my cart hit a wall and sent all of the pots (AND THEIR TINY SEEDS) toppling forward to empty out on the floor. So I freaked out and called two of my (few) friends in Guelph, Will and Crystal, and begged them to come and help me. So I left to pick them up, and the three of us busted our asses for the rest of the night trying to get the planting done. Even with all three of us working, we still didn't finish until 1 am.
I learned to start planting much earlier in the day. But basically I spent over 40 hours in the greenhouse that week just planting seeds, and countless hours at home COUNTING the seeds.
So I was actually relieved when classes started the day after I was finished planting. Something to do OTHER than work in the greenhouse!
So, I got involved in this project because I thought it would be great practice for grad school, plus, it looks pretty good on grad school applications. But once I started working on it I started to doubt whether I wanted to go to grad school, so then I decided it's value was in helping me make that decision. I'm two weeks into the semester and I already feel like grad school is simply not the thing for me.
That didn't take long.
So today I gave my proposal presentation to my classmates and their advisors. It was the perfect example of how, when you work on something or look at something long enough, it's hard to see it any new way. My presentation made perfect sense to me, probably because I spent the majority of the weekend preparing it. But based on the questions I was getting after, it wasn't very clear. So I have some things to improve next time, I guess.
I don't even know what the purpose of this update was.
I want to go home.