I had watched this video previously, and this time watching it was a good reminder. I find it quite ridiculous that many people can not tell the difference from tap water and bottled water. Bottled water is essentially tap water! The fact that water costs so much (sorry, I forgot the exact number) and we spent three times that on bottled water.
Another thing that was hard for me to hear was how companies will just pollute water around it and not think of the consequences. The river of blood, that was hard for me to see. Water is sacred all around, water is not just to throw away and think it is limitless. It is slowly getting scarce. Rivers are dropping in depth because bottle water companies think they can just come in and take it because it is free, but then charge people for it. Water is a necessity, and like many people have said before, charging people for water is like charging them for air.
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
WORMS!
Ok, worms are very stubborn creatures. The people I worked with in trying to find the worms tried about 6 different places for worms in a very shaded place where people dont walk very often, as well as near a bike path where many people walk. We were trying to get worms out of the ground for about half an hour. We were about to give up when You said we should try one more place. We tried in a very shaded place and stood around for about 5 minuets. You and me were squatted near the mud puddle we created and started being very sad that there was a lack of worms. Finally we started screaming, we got a worm! then we wattered another area near the worm, and we got another one, and another one! We ended up with three worms, All of which were very small.
Thursday, July 21, 2011
The ONE Hot Day
So probably the hottest day since we have been at the program, we went on a walking tour of the indigenous people's land. Quite honestly, I was so hot and icky I thought I was going to pass out at any moment. But the things that was interesting was the pipe at the Union. Apparently on all the original Union doors, there is a pipe on the handle, and Aaron told us a story about how the white students who where graduating would dress up as 'indians' and dance around a big bonfire and smoke from the pipe. I was really shocked that this happened, because it is really insulting.
After we were at the union we walked up bascum hill, and it seemed to take forever. We looked at some of the land that was important to the idigenous people, I particularly liked the bird, and found it crazy how for the other one, I don't remember what it was (a turtle?), the head was cut off because of lack of respect form earlier times, as well as the plack was wrong, and teachers were teaching right off it. When students went to change it, they were told that it is so old that the plack itself was a monument. I find this ridiculous!
After we saw the landmarks Aaron took pity on us and let us leave because it was so hot and it looked (at least to me) that people were going to fall over at any moment.
After we were at the union we walked up bascum hill, and it seemed to take forever. We looked at some of the land that was important to the idigenous people, I particularly liked the bird, and found it crazy how for the other one, I don't remember what it was (a turtle?), the head was cut off because of lack of respect form earlier times, as well as the plack was wrong, and teachers were teaching right off it. When students went to change it, they were told that it is so old that the plack itself was a monument. I find this ridiculous!
After we saw the landmarks Aaron took pity on us and let us leave because it was so hot and it looked (at least to me) that people were going to fall over at any moment.
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Compare Contrast and Downfall
Shannon and Edward, when they spoke to us, grad school seemed possible. Not only possible, but also like the smart thing to do. When Kelly Burton spoke to us, grad school now seems like a dream that seems almost impossible for me.
Kelly made it seem like applying to grad school is completely different than I had heard before, apparently grades count more than I was told otherwise. I know my grades right now are not that great, but I will get them up, I know I will.
The most important thing that Kelly said was that volunteering for the community is not as important as actual research or practice. Also that extracurriculars are not as important as people think. I know if I am still considering grad school, I still need to get research opportunities done, but maybe I could do an internship next summer. I would LIKE to stay in Madison, or maybe go to Minnesota for grad school, but I am not quite sure what I want to go into just yet. So I suppose I should find what I like doing and working with first.
I still want to go to grad school, but Kelly kind of... Made it seem like how past people told me about grad school, its a waste of time, and there really is no point to it. Kelly showed and explained that it is going to be hard to get in, and I anticipated that, but Shannon and Edward made it seem like it was not that big of a deal. Maybe the reason why is because they are IN grad school right now.
No matter who says what, I make the final decision of where, if I do, to go and who I will work with. Outside influences may swade my decisions, but I still want to go to grad school.
Kelly made it seem like applying to grad school is completely different than I had heard before, apparently grades count more than I was told otherwise. I know my grades right now are not that great, but I will get them up, I know I will.
The most important thing that Kelly said was that volunteering for the community is not as important as actual research or practice. Also that extracurriculars are not as important as people think. I know if I am still considering grad school, I still need to get research opportunities done, but maybe I could do an internship next summer. I would LIKE to stay in Madison, or maybe go to Minnesota for grad school, but I am not quite sure what I want to go into just yet. So I suppose I should find what I like doing and working with first.
I still want to go to grad school, but Kelly kind of... Made it seem like how past people told me about grad school, its a waste of time, and there really is no point to it. Kelly showed and explained that it is going to be hard to get in, and I anticipated that, but Shannon and Edward made it seem like it was not that big of a deal. Maybe the reason why is because they are IN grad school right now.
No matter who says what, I make the final decision of where, if I do, to go and who I will work with. Outside influences may swade my decisions, but I still want to go to grad school.
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Grad Students Speakers
Shannon Roberts and Edward Cole are research assistants here at UW Madison. They came in on Monday and we got to ask them questions about grad school and research, which I personally liked more than watching a movie. Although they mentioned a lot, there were a few things that I personally liked.
Edward, although he tended to go off on tangents and confused the he!! outa me, he drew diagrams that helped me understand more of what he was going at.
One side was a square and it was cut in to two triangles going up from left to right. On the top there was the word, management, on the bottom there was the word technical, with an arrow pointing from technical to management. On the left of this square diagram, there was an arrow pointing up, with the words, money, education, and time next to it. basically what I got from it was the more time you put into your education the less technical things you will do and the more managemental things you will do. The more managemental things you do, the more money you make. This I understood before Edward drew the diagram, but seeing it really helped me realize that this is true.
I really didn't know what to think about the things they were talking about. But as they went on I either had More questions or became more confused. Some things that they made me wonder was about the tests needed to go into graduate school. They mentioned certain tests were necessary for engineering grad school, but they did not provide a lot of useful information on it. I also wish they spoke more about what they themselves were working on,because I feel that would have helped more if they gave us their own story or more of their story. Maybe that is just me.
Like I said, the one thing I really took from it was the diagram, which I will post as soon as my scanner decides to work once more.
Edward, although he tended to go off on tangents and confused the he!! outa me, he drew diagrams that helped me understand more of what he was going at.
One side was a square and it was cut in to two triangles going up from left to right. On the top there was the word, management, on the bottom there was the word technical, with an arrow pointing from technical to management. On the left of this square diagram, there was an arrow pointing up, with the words, money, education, and time next to it. basically what I got from it was the more time you put into your education the less technical things you will do and the more managemental things you will do. The more managemental things you do, the more money you make. This I understood before Edward drew the diagram, but seeing it really helped me realize that this is true.
I really didn't know what to think about the things they were talking about. But as they went on I either had More questions or became more confused. Some things that they made me wonder was about the tests needed to go into graduate school. They mentioned certain tests were necessary for engineering grad school, but they did not provide a lot of useful information on it. I also wish they spoke more about what they themselves were working on,because I feel that would have helped more if they gave us their own story or more of their story. Maybe that is just me.
Like I said, the one thing I really took from it was the diagram, which I will post as soon as my scanner decides to work once more.
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
DIRT! The movie
This documentary focused on, what else but, dirt! Dirt, believe it or not, is alive. A handful of dirt has more organized information than the surface of other known planets. There are so many different organisms in dirt, and they are one big community, there are trees plants and they give our community, the human community, oxygen and they take away what we don’t want, aka carbon dioxide. Everything we make starts in the soil. Paper? Trees, soil. Food, plants, soil. We are destroying the one thing that is our wealth! We have lost 1/3 of topsoil in the last 100 years. We lose more and more every day due to the lack of respect we give dirt. When pesticides are sprayed all over fields, that destroys the earth because only 20% of it or so actually gets into the plant, the rest ends up in our waterways. If we treat the dirt, the soil, the black gold a little better, it will actually be the new gold.
I honestly have no idea what I think of this movie. I knew dirt was important and all, but I never fully comprehended just what exactly it does. I knew it grew plants and such, but everything comes from dirt! It’s amazing to think of that. Seeing what is happening to dirt, it makes me want to do something more. I don’t know, maybe I’ll start composting or something. We need more dirt, or soil, and that is the bottom line. How ridiculous is it that I had to but a bag of dirt to replant a tree in my backyard? Quite ridiculous, especially because we had to dig a hole and had a huge pile of dirt just sitting there. I remember asking my dad why we did not just re-use it, and he told me because it is not good for the new tree. Watching this video made me understand why it was not good, it was polluted, and the new tree would not grow right if it has horrible polluted soil around it. But the way we just get rid of dirt, putting cement on top of it, we must treat it with respect. After all, we walk all over it every day, perhaps respecting it and making it healthier would make it less mad.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Wiscareers
Ok, first things first, I am a Minnesota Girl born and raised. I have no idea what the Wiscareers is. Well... Now I do, but I didn't know when it was assigned. We had to go through 5 different assessments and then it will, not grade us but tell us more about ourselves and what job would be best for you.
The first link was Personal Globe Inventory. This link told me that I was a very realistic person, and I find this true. Even more than being realistic I am a social person. This was a little far fetched to me, because I feel I am more empathetic than social. Perhaps that is what the assessment meant by social. I did NOT agree with the idea of my artistic skills lacking, I am so artistic, I write poems and songs and I play two instruments and dance and so much more. But other than that this part of the Wiscareers was no too far from the truth.
The second link was the Career Interest Snapshot. Now I know what I want to major in, so that is one step to my career. This assessment said I was investigative social and realistic. Realistic, there is that word again. I did not agree with the careers it suggested, Radiation Therapist? Two different types of nurse? A teacher? Now I do admit that I was thinking about becoming a teacher for a while, but then I found Engineering! I am an engineer, that is that.
The third part, Career Skills. It gave me completely different occupations! More or less, it told me my number one job would be a Postsecondary Teacher. The next would be Adult Literacy Teacher and Special education teacher. What is with all the teacher jobs??!!
The next section was the Work Skills Inventory. I had two high scores, Mathematical/Finance, and Self-Management. Finaly a score that agreed with me, I love math and I am pretty good at it too! The next hig was mechanical! THIS is what I was looking for, I am going to be a mechanical engineer, so I need math and mechanical skills.
The last section we were told to do was the Work Values Inventory. My values profile, this was strange. My highest score by a landslide of almost 20 pts was Achievement. I would never think that achievement was that important to me, of corse I like succeeding, but I never would have thought that would beat out respect by 40 pts.
For the Occupations link I clicked the work skills link. I did not really like this, it have different skills one should have and how you define it and how you get information and such. I feel as though most of this was self explanatory.
Under the Education link I went into Major and Degree Info. I know what Mech Eng has to do, but I wanted to see if there was anything else I should know... Nope, not really.
Now I liked the Job Seeking link, I clicked the Employers or whatever it was, and I found a lot of names that would hire a mech eng. This is great if I am looking for an internship next summer.
For budgeting, I did enjoy the math part, but that was about all I liked to do, put in different numbers and see how the rest changes. I don't want to focus too much on the future now do I?
The whole last link thing and WHO AM I thing was strange. I have a lot of half good things that are good for mechanical engineering. :p it's strange to see this all laid out before me, seeing what I need to have and what I actually have...
I don't know how to end this or if anyone will even read it, so I will say, MINNESOTA!!!!!!!!!!!
The first link was Personal Globe Inventory. This link told me that I was a very realistic person, and I find this true. Even more than being realistic I am a social person. This was a little far fetched to me, because I feel I am more empathetic than social. Perhaps that is what the assessment meant by social. I did NOT agree with the idea of my artistic skills lacking, I am so artistic, I write poems and songs and I play two instruments and dance and so much more. But other than that this part of the Wiscareers was no too far from the truth.
The second link was the Career Interest Snapshot. Now I know what I want to major in, so that is one step to my career. This assessment said I was investigative social and realistic. Realistic, there is that word again. I did not agree with the careers it suggested, Radiation Therapist? Two different types of nurse? A teacher? Now I do admit that I was thinking about becoming a teacher for a while, but then I found Engineering! I am an engineer, that is that.
The third part, Career Skills. It gave me completely different occupations! More or less, it told me my number one job would be a Postsecondary Teacher. The next would be Adult Literacy Teacher and Special education teacher. What is with all the teacher jobs??!!
The next section was the Work Skills Inventory. I had two high scores, Mathematical/Finance, and Self-Management. Finaly a score that agreed with me, I love math and I am pretty good at it too! The next hig was mechanical! THIS is what I was looking for, I am going to be a mechanical engineer, so I need math and mechanical skills.
The last section we were told to do was the Work Values Inventory. My values profile, this was strange. My highest score by a landslide of almost 20 pts was Achievement. I would never think that achievement was that important to me, of corse I like succeeding, but I never would have thought that would beat out respect by 40 pts.
For the Occupations link I clicked the work skills link. I did not really like this, it have different skills one should have and how you define it and how you get information and such. I feel as though most of this was self explanatory.
Under the Education link I went into Major and Degree Info. I know what Mech Eng has to do, but I wanted to see if there was anything else I should know... Nope, not really.
Now I liked the Job Seeking link, I clicked the Employers or whatever it was, and I found a lot of names that would hire a mech eng. This is great if I am looking for an internship next summer.
For budgeting, I did enjoy the math part, but that was about all I liked to do, put in different numbers and see how the rest changes. I don't want to focus too much on the future now do I?
The whole last link thing and WHO AM I thing was strange. I have a lot of half good things that are good for mechanical engineering. :p it's strange to see this all laid out before me, seeing what I need to have and what I actually have...
I don't know how to end this or if anyone will even read it, so I will say, MINNESOTA!!!!!!!!!!!
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