November 2, 2010

Welcome!

Posted by Evelyn Mervine

Hi!

My name is Evelyn, and I like rocks.

The above sentence pretty much sums up who I am and what I will be writing about in this blog.

First and foremost, let me apologize for the horrible pun / purposeful misspelling in the name of this blog. I contemplated various names for this blog, and- despite many pun-free alternatives- I decided to name my blog “Georneys.” I like the title because my study of geology takes me many places- physically, mentally, and philosophically. Also, geologists seem to have a penchant for puns and jokes. This is not surprising considering that words such as orogeny, eruption, schist, and cummingtonite are common geology lingo. 

In this blog I will write about my fieldwork- past and present- to study geology, both formally and informally. I will also write about my geochemical adventures in lab, taking you to the lands filled with mass spectrometers, microscopes, lasers, acids, magnets, and other fun toys utilitarian laboratory equipment. Since I am currently a 5th year graduate student, I am sure that I will also write in abundance about my adventures in Thesisland.

Since I am a busy graduate student with other obligations, my goal is to blog 1-3 times per week. I hope I am able to stick with it! Nag me if I don’t write for a while!

To help me write on a consistent basis, I am introducing two recurring features:

1. Geology Word of the Week
Every week, I will take you on a geology-themed etymological journey. That is, I will teach you a new geology word and use this weekly word to teach a little geology. Since I am not an expert in all sub-fields of geology, I will also strive to teach myself some new geology vocab. After all, much of being a scientist is sounding like a scientist. You have to know the lingo.

2. Bad Geology Movie of the Month Whenever*
Every month, I will watch a so-called “Bad Geology Movie” and write a movie review. I will also comment on the accuracy / inaccuracy of the science in this movie. Why? Becuase I love “Bad Geology Movies” and have quite an extensive personal collection. I welcome suggestions of movies from my readers!

That’s it for my welcome… I hope you enjoy my blog!

*Revised 4/14/11: Turns out that reviewing a “Bad Geology Movie” every month takes more time than I expected. I will occasionally post about “Bad Geology Movies,” but I have been unable to commit to doing so on a monthly basis. I’ll just blog about bad geo movies now and then as I’m inspired.

Revised 5/19/11: I also have three other semi-regular features:

1. Holiday Rocks
On certain holidays I post about a rock that has some sort of relation to the holiday. For instance, on Thanksgiving I posted about Plymouth Rock.

2. Blast from the Past
I’ve actually had an interest in science and travel from an early age. When I come across interesting tidbits from my past (pictures, childhood drawings, old school essays, etc.), I will sometimes share them with you here, for better or for worse.

3. …in Pictures
Although I have yet to invest in a fancy camera (I plan to do so after I graduate and have a real job), I really enjoy taking pictures on my travels. Sometimes, I will simply share pictures from my travels with minimal text and (usually) interesting picture captions.

Also, for one month (mid-March to mid-April 2011) this was not a geology blog but rather a blog in which I regularly interviewed my father, a nuclear engineer, about the ongoing crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan. These conversations have been compiled along with some additional information in the book “Conversations with My Dad, a Nuclear Engineer, about the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Disaster in Japan.” This book will be available from Lulu the first week of June, so stay tuned! Occasionally, my father and I may continue to comment on Fukushima and nuclear power issues on this blog.