The second week of my internship was just as good as last week, actually it was better than last week, mostly because I’ve become more familiar with the building, the lab, and the routine. Also, I’m happy to say that my hand-eye coordination has improved exponentially. Both, charcoal analysis and loss on ignition (LOI), are extremely hands on and require close attention. I wouldn’t have considered myself clumsy or butterfingers before but my abilities have drastically improved.
This is our set up for LOI. The grey box is the oven and the middle box holds the crucibles and keeps them dry while I weigh them in the scale to the right.
The charcoal analysis process was almost delayed this week when we ran out of bleach but luckily we had just enough to last one more batch of petri dishes. The LOI process has been steadily moving forward without a problem (knock on wood).
My host family and I have been enjoying late evening trips to Dairy Queen or the frozen yogurt place (we’ve only gone three times). Thursday night Dylan and I were headed to pick up some ice cream when we saw an owl on the roof of the house across the street, turned to get into the car and saw another owl on the roof of our house! I tried to take a picture but of course the infamous iPhone cameras don’t always take quality pictures. The picture turned out looking like a small, dark blob on the edge of the roof. However, the owls looked absolutely great in person!
Also, this week Nicollette’s adviser, Jonathan Overpeck, came back from Nepal and I got to meet him. I was also able to watch how scientists work and talk together when I watched Peck and Nicollette talk about Nicollette’s research and data.
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