The end of an era.

Today we have everything officially moved out of our office at school. We just have to come back tomorrow and turn in our keys!

What a Snoozer.

Albert Fert, winner of the 2007 Nobel Prize in Physics, gave a talk today on "The Present and Future of Spintronics." He is the second Nobel Prize winning physicist that has visited the Physics and Astronomy department since I've been in Tuscaloosa. Fert's talk went way beyond anything I understand about magnetic materials research (which is almost nothing) and he ended up losing me at the first slide. I thought that Fert's talk would be more general and that I would be able to follow it better, but that was not the case.

I really gave up on trying to understand anything in magnetic materials talks after my first year in grad. school. I went to a few of them, thinking that I would be able to pick something up, but I just don't have the necessary background to follow it I guess. Also, talk about the benefits of one thin film of material over a different thin film of material just isn't that interesting to me. Sorry Scott Brown. :)

Done.

Check this out:


This means that I'm officially done and will graduate on December 15!

Some People Are Just No Good At Problem Solving.

Today is the big LSU vs. Alabama football game in Tuscaloosa. I rode my bike through the chaos on campus so that I could workout at the student recreation center. It was utter madness. When I finally made it back home, I was about to put my key in the door when a girl dressed in Sunday-best asked if I would help her boyfriend put a keg in the back of their Jeep Wrangler so they can go tailgating. After riding up a very steep hill to get to my apartment, all I managed to get out was, "*huff* Sure. *puff* Let *huff* me *huff* just *puff* put *huff* my *puff* bike *puff* away."

I came back out of my apartment and proceeded to help the boyfriend, also dressed in his Sunday-best, put the keg in the Jeep. Their first idea was to put the keg (which weighs 160.5 pounds according to Wikipedia) in their Rubbermaid trashcan and then carry it out to the car. I suggested that we roll the keg to the car instead of carrying it. I was then told that "that's a good idea." It sounded like common sense to me. Once we made it to the car, the girl said that she wanted to put the keg standing up in the trashcan and suggested that we put it in and then lift it into the back of the Jeep. I then suggested that we put the trashcan in the car on its side, lift the keg sideways and slide it into the trashcan, then tilt the trashcan with the keg in it so that it's vertacle. They were both amazed at that idea. Again, I thought it was just common sense.

Both of these people are students here and they are a good example of the average student body.

The Job Search Begins.

I finally submitted my last two papers for publication and my dissertation is submitted to the graduate school. That means all that is left to do is actually look for a job!

Reformat?!

I'm currently reformatting my entire dissertation so that it will conform to what the Graduate School wants. What a pain in the @$$!

Doctor.

I passed my dissertation defense yesterday! Woo Hoo!

My First Publication.

Last night, right before Becky and I were going to head out to dinner, I got an email saying that my first paper has been accepted by The Astronomical Journal. That's really exciting. I feel like a real scientist now. Now I have just 2 more to publish so I can graduate.

Absolutely Right.

Give this article a read.

Here in Tuscaloosa, there are almost no sidewalks in subdivisions. The places where you see the most people outside are along the river walk (where there is a path), the sidewalk around the Quad, and the Quad itself (big open field where people play football and frisbee). I definitely agree that if sidewalks were built in this city, people would use them. You can tell by the number of people crowding these areas in near desperation.

If they built bike paths, this town would go though a major change. I definitely think that a significant percentage of the population would use them. I think people are afraid to ride in traffic in this town, so the people that do ride are on the intermittent sidewalks, dodging pedestrians. If bike paths were built, this town could reduce it's traffic problem, the University could reduce it's parking problem, and people would be in better shape while saving money on gas. The town is not that big, after all. It's just poorly planned.