career stuff

Fieldwork

May 4, 2018 filed under: career stuff

I have to admit, my work sometimes can be tedious and a little boring (especially since I’ve been asked to do more supportive tasks for different projects, which is mostly GIS and spreadsheet work, and my main focus isn’t on LiDAR* work, which is what I really would like to do). It’s a lot of data collection and organization.

The upside though: I still get to go out for field work every once in a while. In other professions, you’d probably call it business trips, where you stay at hotels and attend a bunch of meetings for several days. Most of our ‘business trips’ end up in nature somewhere (mostly), so in my field, we call it fieldwork.

Earlier this week, I went to do fieldwork in Sonoma Valley for three days. I know. It sounds awful, doesn’t it? I am sure you must feel very sorry for me. [\not]

It was actually really nice. I was out there by myself. I got to drive around to different locations to collect data, and I even visited some wineries (not to drink wine, though). To be completely honest, I have gotten paid at my job to do many things that were a lot less fun than this field trip.

I enjoyed beautiful views along the way, actually listened to a podcast (the one I mentioned here), because *gasp* I actually spent a decent amount of time in the car and had time to listen to a podcast. Yes, okay, okay, I can actually see now why this might be something for people with long commutes.

Where the river meets the sea.

Do you get to go on work trips sometimes? Where do you go?

*In case you don’t know what LiDAR is, look here.

A week in Colorado

August 19, 2016 filed under: about me, career stuff, travel

Earlier this month, I was lucky to get to travel to Colorado for work. I’d never been and was excited, both to visit a new state and to participate in a really cool workshop. One that I had been looking forward to for months!

I’ve worked on a lot of different, sometimes menial tasks for a gazillion different people in the last few months and the workshop was for a part of my work that I am actually very excited about, but we haven’t had enough projects lately, so I was forced to occupy my time earn my paycheck doing other things.

In case you’re interested in what I (would like to) do (full time), read about the remote-sensing technology that we work with here.

Most people in our agency work with airborne data (that is collected from an airplane), while our office specializes in terrestrial data collection (on a tripod). This is our niche and something we wanted to showcase during the workshop to make people aware of our work and capabilities and start some new collaborations.

Many people gave presentations of their work during the workshop, some people (including me) presented posters that were on display for two days. We had some discussion groups and an innovation panel discussion.

Well, I mentioned in an earlier post that this week was probably one of the most exciting weeks of my career. I am not sure exactly how it happened, but somehow I ended up on that innovation panel (on a stage in front of 200+ people) that was led by the director of our agency. I know I was probably asked because they wanted people with different areas of expertise on the panel, but they could have easily asked my colleague (who is higher than me on the career leader) to sit in. But fate had it that one of the organizers picked me, so I guess I had to step up to the plate (but not without a side of nerves).

There were opening statements, questions, inquiries, audience questions, and closing statements. 1,5 hours flew by in a flash. I really didn’t have enough time to be nervous.

I think overall it went well even; much better than I expected. My hands didn’t tremble too badly when I took the microphone, my voice didn’t shake and I didn’t trip over my own words (I think).

After the panel, I shook hands with the director and the fellow panelists and then I didn’t have much time to waste, because I had to head over to the other ballroom to present my poster. I was definitely on auto-pilot for a bit right there.

And then, the associate director (also one of the head honchos) walked up to me to invite me to have dinner with the director and a select group of (geeky scientist) people.

I mean, WHAT?

I had to turn around and check if he was actually talking to me and not a person standing behind me. Nope, he was definitely talking to me. No case of mistaken identity either.

So, I guess all that was left to do for me was to say yes. Which I did, of course (and I also dragged my very excited colleague along with me).

I am still in a bit of shock. Apparently, this is a pretty big deal and not many people get to have dinner with the director over the course of their career.

But we did. Haha. Hahaha. My colleague and I just kept exchanging glances and kept shaking our heads in disbelief.

Anyway, I am not going any deeper into the thick of things about the workshop, but let’s just say we had a few very fantastic days in Colorado with lots of exposure and networking opportunities, great presentations and discussion group sessions. The highlight for me definitely was to get the opportunity to be involved front and center during this workshop.

We also got to do a tiny bit of sightseeing – not enough though and I’d really like to go back! Here are just a few pictures that I was able to snap along the way.

Downtown Boulder

The Stanley Hotel – Estes Park, CO

This is the hotel where Stephen King stayed in 1973 and where he was inspired to write “The Shining”.

Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO

“The Alley Cat Cafe”

Horsetooth Reservoir

Have you been to Colorado? What’s your favorite place to visit there?

Protected: I change by not changing at all (← name that song!)

August 10, 2015 filed under: career stuff, real life

A lesson in patience

April 22, 2015 filed under: career stuff, I can't make this shit up

Are you a patient person? Most people say that I am and they’re probably right. I have a lot of perseverance, I don’t give up easily and I can wait for things to fall into place. I am an eternal optimist and always believe that things will work out. Eventually.

Although sometimes, I wish that ‘eventually’ was a little sooner rather than later. I’ve done my fair share of “waiting things out” in my life and sometimes I wonder if that was always the right thing to do.

I know, waiting is usually not a good strategy. If you want things to happen, you have to make them happen (or so they say). But what if you’re pushing and working hard and things get within arm’s reach just to be dangled in front of your face always an inch or two too far to grab? When do you stop reaching?

The last few months have just been mentally exhausting. Actually, the last year and a half has been mentally exhausting. I have talked a few times about this “limbo state” at my work that I have been in for (dare I say it? years!) much too long and after being on the brink of almost being let go at the end of May last year and my head spinning out of control with worry about “where am I going to look for a new job?”, “where are we going to move?”, “what are we going to do?”, things turned around (somewhat) last minute and now it looks like we’re here to stay after all.

However, my job situation is still not resolved. It’s frustrating to say the least.

I’ve been working here for almost 8 years. I have had my citizenship for 3+ years now (the ONE requirement that prevented me from being hired directly by the government agency in the first place), and yet, my contractor status has still not been converted to a more permanent position. I’ve missed out on regular raises, job security and the general feeling of being an equal to my co-workers and I sometimes wonder how and why I have “stuck it out” for eight freakin’ years.

Like I said earlier… “the ‘carrot’ was always dangled right in front of my face” and I have a lot of patience and general optimism, or else I would have quit here a long time ago.

More importantly: I love my job (most days). I like my co-workers. I like my physical work place. These are hard things to let go of when faced with decisions you don’t want to make. I know so many people who don’t like what they do or have horrible co-workers and just dread going to work every day.

That is not me. I enjoy my job and I work hard it. But I also think that I finally deserve some appreciation, too. I honestly can’t believe for how long I have been talking about this.

What I do…

March 21, 2011 filed under: career stuff, my so-called life

Today I’ll be participating in “Take a Blogger to Work Day”, initiated by the lovely Gina at hiyaluv.com.
I have a degree in Geography, English and Physical Education and was heading for a career as a teacher, when my life’s path got diverted by an exchange semester and eventually a move from Germany to California.
Now I work as a geologist and data processing specialist for a big government agency. Below, I am going to share on of my more exiting work days.

* * *

… or at least, what I should be doing occasionally anyway. Most of the time, I am stuck in the office behind a computer just processing data (which sounds more boring than it actually is, believe me!)

So, my boss took me on a field trip Monday and Tuesday. FINALLY. I had been hoping to go in the field – to feel like a REAL geologist, you know – for a while, but it hadn’t worked out so far. But I finally got to see a site, actually two sites, that I have been working on pretty much since the day I set foot in this office as an intern 4,5 years ago!
Does the name “Parkfield” ring a bell for anyone?

It’s a teeny-tiny community, with a population of mind-boggling 18 people, in the middle of nowhere in Central California, well-known in the seismic community for it is located in the Tremblor (Spanish for earthquake) Range between the San Joaquin Valley and the Central Coast.

Courtesy of Google Maps

Parkfield lies along the San Andreas Fault, one of the most famous faults in the world. In case you didn’t know, and you probably don’t, I wrote my Master’s thesis about the San Andreas Fault, so I have personal interest in this study area.
The San Andreas Fault is a continental transform fault that runs a length of roughly 800 miles (1,300 km) through California. The fault’s motion is right-lateral strike-slip ( relative horizontal motion). It represents the tectonic boundary between the Pacific Plate (moving north) and the North American Plate (moving south).

Courtesy of: Nationalatlas.gov

Parkfield lies at the southern end of the central segment of the San Andreas fault which is generally considered to exhibit ‘aseismic creep”, horizontal movement without causing notable earthquakes. Parkfield however has documented evidence since 1857 of moderate-size earthquake of about magnitude 6 on average of every 22 years.
The last, slightly overdue 6.0 earthquake (which should have taken place by 1993) took place in September 2004 and I have worked on two surveyed sites in Parkfield since that earthquake:

a) Carr Hill – it’s a depression representing the San Andreas Fault, which is instrumented with a cross array of cylindrical posts, a video camera (which, triggered by an earthquake, records real-time motion) and a creep meter (an instrument that monitors the slow surface displacement (aseismic creep) of an active geologic fault).
Unfortunately, this experimental array will be removed soon, since it was set up on privately owned land and sadly, the owner has withdrawn his permission to use his land any longer.
It’s really too bad because this was such an interesting study site.

See how all the posts are in a straight line and then all of a sudden they start moving to the left (south)?
The San Andreas Fault is – of course – not a straight line like this, but in this area the movement narrows down to the line between the 3rd and 4th post.

b) Parkfield Bridge – a bridge across the San Andreas fault, which runs through a (often dry) creek bed, whose piers on either side have shifted over time.

Do you see the bend in the bridge? The San Andreas Fault is running right underneath this bridge.
The Pacific Plate (far side of the bridge) is moving north (to the right) and the North American Plate (near side of the bridge) is moving south (to the left), bending and twisting this bridge almost in the middle over time.

Over the last 5 years we’ve measured displacement (we’re talking decimeters) on both research sites that accounts for the aseismic creep that has occurred since the last earthquake in 2004. Eventually, the bridge will snap into two pieces, one side moving to the north and the other side moving to the south.
Can you wrap your heads around this? It’s sounds somehow unbelievable, but this is that would happen if the bridge wasn’t worked on constantly.

The two days in the field were both exciting and awesome and long and exhausting. It was hot and dusty, 95°F and even though I had enough to drink and we were sporting a fancy umbrella to shade our sensitive instrument (and ourselves ), I had a dizzy spell just 2 hours into our field work. Just lovely! It was kind of embarrassing and I just hoped the earth would open and swallow me up at that point.
It didn’t last long though and I was OK for the rest of the field trip.

We headed out Monday morning at 6:30 a.m., worked a 12,5 hour-day (including the drive), had dinner, went to bed, started working again at 6:30 a.m. and made it home by 8 p.m.
As I said, it was a LONG, but absolutely FANTASTIC experience.

If you made it all the way down here, I applaud you. You haven’t fallen asleep yet.
But honestly, come on, you cannot tell me that this is not HOT STUFF and truly fascinating! I assure you, seeing science in the field just blows your mind!

{originally posted on August, 27, 2009}

Back from the Islands

August 17, 2010 filed under: about me, career stuff, fun!, good times, travel

You guys, the last two weeks have been stressful, exhausting, and filled-to-the-brim-with-work, but also amazing, overwhelming and absolutely wonderful.

Ok, obviously the “updating my blog”-part of my trip didn’t go so well, hence the lack of posts. I really thought that I would have a little down time in the evening that I could use to catch up on (a prioritized list of) emails/blogs, but not so much. The only down time I had were the 5-6 hours of sleep each night, and that was barely enough to keep me going during our 12+ hour days. Remember, I am usually an office worker and being in the field, actually doing manual labor, is definitely more demanding than just sitting on your butt all day. But it’s also very rewarding.

It truly was a blast to finally be able to see (and touch!) a project site that I’ve been working on for the last three years. We were working on (and checking the stability) of this breakwater, which is protecting a tiny little harbor, which happens to be the lifeline of the island. There only is a very small airport and most goods have to be brought to the island on a barge.

In case you don’t remember, my main job is to put together and analyze digital 3D models of actual geographic sites. In most cases, I just receive the data without actually going out into the field to participate in the survey.
This time though, I had jokingly insisted for my boss to take me to Hawaii – I mean, who wouldn’t want to go on a field trip to Hawaii, right? – and then, he actually did! Who thought he’d take me seriously?
I was able to go and help with the survey and while I wouldn’t want to do field work all the time, it definitely was a really great experience!

And Hawaii?

Hawaii is simply amazing! I can’t even find words for how beautiful the islands are (and I haven’t even seen that much of them at all). But who could really complain if this is the view that you get while working?

It was just incredible to work in this environment, so close to the water and with so many beautiful sights in view.

We didn’t get too much playtime during the week, but we did go swimming one evening and I spent an extra night in Honolulu/Waikiki Beach on my way back. I’ll have to reserve that recap for a separate blog post though, because it was such a fantastic time that I have to share it in detail.

Then last week, I had one day to recover before I was off to another meeting in Phoenix. It was a very productive, very interesting workshop, but by the end of the week, I was just happy to finally go back home to recuperate.
Business travel is exhausting.

I’m still in the process of uploading all my photos, so bear with me. I am also working – but still way behind – on catching up on my Google Reader, email and blogs, but I’ll be doing my best to catch up with all you guys very soon! Things should go back to normal around here for a while now, or so I hope!

Yes, I am alive…

September 22, 2009 filed under: about me, career stuff, friends, fun!, good things, my so-called life

… and doing well absolutely fantastic here in Germany.

I know, I know. I owe you an update.
The last week just has been so insanely busy, what with the workshop and travel that I didn’t really get the chance to write something down. I am trying to catch up a bit today, but I unfortunately know already that I won’t make it all the way up to today. It’s way too late already and I have way too much to talk about.

So here’s last week’s summary: The workshop last week went really well. I am so, so glad that my supervisor let me attend the training, because I learned so much! I am usually very good with the “do-it-yourself” approach, but I really shouldn’t be paid for figuring out a software, but for using it on our projects efficiently. That’s why I think training is very important most of the time. My supervisor will be very happy about all the information I’ll be bringing back to office.

I had a very good time with the other attendees as well. I thought it would be kind of embarrassing to admit it, but we talked about work-related stuff most of the time, even in the evenings when the workshop was over. (Kim called it my own personal “geek-week”. Heh.) It was just so interesting to talk with people who do the same things that I do and to talk about the different work strategies and approaches.
I won’t go into it, because I don’t want to bore you to death, but I want to say this (once again): I really have a very cool job!

I spent most of the evening with the other two girls women that I met at the workshop and we went out to dinner together both Tuesday (Sushi) and Wednesday (Chinese) night.

Thursday afternoon, we went to the U.S. Space & Rocket Center, which is located in Huntsville and which is probably the most exciting and important attraction in a 50 mile radius.

The company who had organized the workshop had also organized a free event at the Space & Rocket Center including a dinner and a presentation. It was really cool. I am not really into spaceships and that kind of stuff, but the exhibitions were very interesting and they had some rides/simulators.

I went on the G-Force Accelerator which spins you around really fast and you experience three times the force of gravity on your body. It’s a pretty crazy feeling. Some others went on the Space Shot, which rockets 140ft straight up in 2.5 seconds. Ah yes, I skipped that. It was a little bit too crazy for my taste.

I bought myself a T-shirt at the gift shop as a souvenir, because you know, I have NO IDEA when or if I will ever come back to Huntsville, AL. ;)

I have to say it was almost kind of sad when the workshop came to an end on Friday. I had a great time, really met some nice people, but hey, I didn’t have much time to be sad, because I was heading off to Germany from there…

… and sadly, I will have to tell you about the reunion with my family in my next post. Hopefully some time this week.

Stay tuned.

Hello from Alabaaaaaama

September 14, 2009 filed under: career stuff, my so-called life, travel, USA

My first impression of Alabama: damn, it’s hot and humid here. I am not used to this anymore, thankyouverymuch, I am here from California, the hot, but dry Central Valley.
I can easily stand an average summer temperature of 95°F without breaking into a sweat, but I get to 85°F Alabama and I am instantly soaked stepping out of the airport. Just lovely. The four pieces of luggage, that I was lugging around with me, did their part to help with that. Damn it, can you imagine how freaking heavy a laptop bag with TWO laptops (one personal, one work laptop) is? And how much heavier it gets if you have to schlep it through two airports? I ask you, where is this razor-thin, featherlight MacBook when you need it? (Note to self: I have to look into that.)

The first sign that I was entering “the South” was the guy on the plane next to me who pulled out “A Christ-Centered Life” and a bible (you know, to cross-reference!) mid-flight. I was slightly amused to see the typical “stereotypes” thrown at me so early into my trip.

The next indication wasn’t long in coming when the people at the airport pretty much sounded uniformly like “Bubba J” to me. Heh.

The flights yesterday were nice and uneventful (that’s the way I like it). On the first flight (LA-Houston) I watched “Before Sunrise” for the umpteenth time, I just don’t get bored with this movie. On the second flight (Houston-Huntsville) we had our own little major sheet lightning show right outside my airplane window. Sweet baby Jesus. I was a little scared. There was this monstrous cloud that was hardly visible, because it was so dark outside already and then the lightning lit the whole sucker up from behind and from all sides. It was breath-taking. I was glad though that we were a safe distance away (it wasn’t even a bumpy ride at all).
Here’s my amateur attempt to capture the spectacle with my cell phone camera (timing it right was pretty much impossible):

I got into Huntsville around 9:30 p.m. and met two of my fellow workshop attendees on the shuttle bus back to the hotel (one of them I had previously emailed with, how funny is that!?). I think the shuttle driver, a sweet young kid, was a little taken aback by my inquiry about traffic conditions for Friday afternoon.
You know, my Californian-programed mind was planning ahead, thinking: Friday afternoon = rush hour =allow at least 1 hour, when it usually takes 15 minutes, to get to the airport. He was shaking his head and said, slightly amused, ” there’s no traffic in Huntsville.” My response, a little embarrassed, “ah yes, of course. That’s good to know.” ;)

I have a pretty sweet two-room suite with a king size bed and the first day of the workshop was great (except for the fact that my laptop was pretty much useless, because I couldn’t run the software for which I am taking the training, and it’s a little frustrating to not be able to do a ‘hands on’ training, to say the least.)
I’ve been frantically working with our IT guy from the office, who’s been a life saver so many times before, but we have not yet figured out what the problem is. I am hoping to have better luck tomorrow.