Musings About Stuff

I am currently backlogged with class work among other things due to family issues. However, I have not been idle. I've been reading up on some of the latest scientific discoveries and ideas, and have come to a conclusion a few days ago as to the reason why I keep putting my research projects on the back burner, so to speak. It's because I don't feel ready to actually tackle them as of yet. I could not reason out why this is the case - until very recently. I was waiting to get these last couple classes done, completed, and out of the way - because in my mind, I wouldn't do my research projects any justice unless I could apply all that I am learning.

While taking these classes, most of my time is devoted to the class work and home issues. So, any past attempts by me to get one or another of my research projects off the ground was always met with class deadlines, or day-to-day necesssity issues - which would force me to put the research on hold. Granted, these research projects are extremely important to me - moreso than some of the more minor issues that might need dealt with. But, in the past when I ignored those minor issues in favor of my class work - I would later get blindsided by a much bigger and more extreme problem down the line because that minor issue snowballed into a catastrophe. Sometimes these later problems would be so bad they'd wreak havoc on my classes and grades. This is not a good thing. These minor annoyances can be quite inconvenient and time consuming.

As I said, I have not been idle. I am taking the paleoclimatology class here at Pitt. And something very interesting came up in today's lecture: the series of basic general steps any scientist needs to go through to conduct and complete their research projects. Boy, do I have a lot of work ahead of me - just from the nice list of projects I already have awaiting my attention. That list I made awhile back on this blog was only a partial listing. And new things come up every once in awhile - like the Deccans. Fortunately, that topic can be rolled into the bigger project of the KT Extinction, since it is a viable part of that event. It also looks like I will be taking our Volcanology class at some point in the future. I still also need to work on my GIS and Remote Sensing. I'm still waiting patiently for the Plate Tectonics class to be offered again.

In essence, I have determined that Research Design is my first major step for all of my projects. I will have to break that down into smaller sub-tasks and tackle them as soon as the opportunity arises - which I am hoping will happen very soon - all things considered and accounted for. I am antsy to get on with my work.

Also, something I learned last semester at a technical writing mini-conference: if a scientist does their own research project - even so far as footing the bill themselves, they are highly respected by the rest of the scientific community. It sounds odd, and kind of freaky, but the guy who said it knew what he was talking about. It makes sense, though - in an odd sort of way. Some of the best scientists of the past have done it exactly that way - usuallly because they had no other choice. I have no other choice but to do this research this way. And I do not have enormous sums of money to do it, neither. But it is what I must do.

I guess it also gives the scientist more maneuverability than those given big grant money by big corporations or big governments. In a way, those scientists are owned by those who are paying them their salary. And I wholeheartedly believe that some of them are forced to compromise their professional ethics as scientists to appease their "bosses". Yeah, I just saw I Am Legend a couple of weeks ago - it really makes you think. Some folks want to blame God for bad things like Hurricane Katrina and Global Warming. But, as Will Smith said so very aptly, "God did not do this to us, we did it to ourselves." Sad but all too true!

Until next time... Adios!