"Rapture tomorrow!  You know what's worse than the rapture?  The Velocirapture...If Jurassic Park taught us anything they can open doors, so no one is safe."
-Quote from a Paleo-Geek friend on facebook

:D

Presenting in T minus 2 hours 40 minutes.  Actually feeling pretty chill about it.  Managed to get the time down from 18 minutes to 12 minutes.  \o/  It's just a shame no one in my research group is going to be there, since one of the other girls is presenting in the exact same time slot, and another one presents 15 minutes after her.  :P

Oh well.

Wish me luck!


Heh, my icon?  Totally the subject of a couple of the talks this week.  Ah Creationist, where would we be without you. :P

No, not the musical kind of rock.  Rock rocks!  \o/

Since I'm a Super Geochemist, I am presenting at the Geological Society of America (GSA) Annual Meeting in Denver, CO next week.  The conference runs from Oct 30 - Nov 3, but I'm going up early for a short course.  While I've presented before at conferences, they were just tiny things with only 1 session running at a time.  At this conference, they have 156 sessions running over the meeting, and each session is generally 1.5-2 hours long, filled up with presentations.  There is a lot going on here, and so many geologist in one place.  

While I'm super excited to go, I'm also terrified.  I mean, in a small conference, you get to know the people there and presenting isn't as intimidating (for me).  With so many people there, who knows who will be in the audience and what kind of questions they'll ask.  They could grill me over an open flame!  ACK!  Mostly, though, it'll be nice to present my research and maybe get other peoples perspective and insight on my project.

Only question is: what do I dress up as for Halloween?!

So I was happily minding my own business, playing on the SEM (scanning electron microscope) at the GSC (Geological Survey of Canada) in Ottawa for research purposes, when THE ENTIRE BUILDING STARTS SHAKING AND ROCKING.  I, being from Manitoba, aka the most seismically stable place on the planet (not shitting you, it really is), sat there like a deer in the headlights going 'omg this isn't happening CRIPES THE CEILING IS CRACKING' before the other geo I was with shouted  "EARTHQUAKE!!!!111" with glee and bolted for the doorway, and I followed because that's what they do in the movies.

And then the entire GSC got evacuated out of the building, and 200 bitterly disgruntled geologists sat on the steps and watched updates on the Canadian earthquake from the USGS (United States Geological Survey).  Security had a bitch of a time getting the geophysicists to get out.

There might've been some pouting.  :D