I saw the call to post for Accretionary Wedge 47 and after reading it
I realized this was one I was going to have to pass on because the host
was asking for Field notes. I failed to copy it and make a note of who
was hosting since I thought I couldn't do it. (if I come across it
again I will include it here.)
The more I thought about it, the more I could at least write why it can't be done for me.
There are a number of reasons why I can't do it.
1.
When I was taking my field camp course (my junior year) which is where
most of that stuff that I had - the professor would collect it and grade
it but would not let you keep it. You could ask to see it and refer
back to it but you couldn't keep it. Since we were camping and such
that made sense to me so that he had to keep track of it in his car and
it was no longer our responsibility. Then at the very end we had a major
project to do that was half of our grade. That report we were able to
finish up later at the University where we were suppose to use the
knowledge we had already obtained out in the field. Everything was in
that report. That report I did get back.
A friend of mine
was doing his thesis on that area where I had my field camp. He asked
if he could borrow my report to see what I had come up with. I let him
borrow it. He did his thesis but had some revisions to make.
Unfortunately he got a job offer 1000 + miles away and moved while
putting his finishing touches on his thesis. My report got moved too.
Years and years later he got part of it back to me - his little girl had
found it and thought it was a coloring book because I had colored
pictures in pencils in it. She colored over a lot of it making it hard
to see things. Since by then I was already working and had my masters
degree it really didn't matter much to me.
I read what I could
in it and realized it was pretty pitiful anyway. It was my first
attempt at doing that stuff. The most important thing was all the stuff
I learned from doing it - not the report in and of itself. Shoot- when I
went to field camp, I had never held a Brunton compass before let alone
map with it. After doing that report & others I learned so much
and things gradually improved.
I put it away in a box with a
bunch of text books that I knew I would never use again. Then one time
when I was moving I didn't have the space to move that box and decided
to give it to the library, not realizing that report was in that box -
at lease that's what I think happened to it. To get to gist of the
matter - I lost it and have never found it again.
After
that course, so much of what I did in grad school was for my
professors and their papers or reports and they would keep all of my
material for their stuff since they were the primary author on the
articles and I would get a name citation. I would photo copy what I
could but back then it could only be done in black and white and these
thing were usually in full color. Again this didn't mater much to me
once I started to work.
I do have my thesis stuff but
its packed way back in the attic and with being close to a 100 degrees
out side, I'm not about to go looking for it. There's no telling how
hot it is up there but I know its got to be 100 degree plus. And there's
no telling how long it would take me to find it. I would probably have
to clean out or move the vast majority of the stuff before I could
locate it. I got too many other things I have to do than to start that
project now.
Which brings me to the second reason I have no field notes.
2.
When I was working, it was understood that all that I did belonged to
the company I was working for at the time and they could do with it as
they choose. When I left, I had to hand over all my notes and drawings
and logs books. The first time they even took my Rolodex so I had to
build up a whole new network base. (After that I learned to buy and
keep my own Rolodex at home so that I would never have to go through
all of that again. Nowadays you don't see many Rolodex but I do see
people with company phones. Please keep a separate device for storing
that vital information that's not the companies property. )
Most of the stuff I worked on was so confidential it was not allowed to
leave the room, and was kept under lock and key. We were not allowed
to bring work home and they discouraged us from working too late. The
only thing we could take home was the professional journals we were
encouraged to read - those could keep you busy most nights anyway. All
of this was done so that copying of the material was next to impossible.
So of course during my working years as a geologist I have no field notes to share.
3.
The next reason is after being laid off, I had a severance package that
covered retraining. I started to study bookkeeping/ accounting &
got a degree in bookkeeping. By then I had started a family and I
wanted something that didn't take me from home a whole lot and was more
reliable than being a consulting geologist. For over 20 years I did
bookkeeping, so of course there would be no field notes with that type
of work. I do have a lot of payroll spreadsheets that I used to do
manually but again this is confidential material and cannot be shared.
And finally I just want to share this.
When my youngest started school, I was getting all set to get back into
the workforce as a geologist. Two things happened to me to make me
realize I could no longer be a geologist. I found out I had skin cancer
and I needed to stay out of the sun as much as possible. (Which is
great for a bookkeeper but tough luck for a geologist who loves working
outdoors as much as possible.) At first I wasn't discourage from going
back into geology convincing myself that if I slathered up a whole lot
with sunscreen of 50+ I'd be okay.
But also at that same time I
got bit by a fire ant. To most people that is no big deal, but to me
it was deadly. I had an anaphylactic reaction to it. I found out I'm
allergic to all ants, especially fire ants. How could I be a geologist
working in the field and avoid all ants? I just couldn't see myself
being able to be avoid them.
So now I do carry epi pens with me
and every once in a while I just have to get out into the field to look
at things but most of the time I just stay home. To me that's why I've
enjoyed the geoblogsphere so much because I can still see all these
wonderful things others are studying yet view it from the safety of my
home.
Now when I go and look at geologic things I just go for my
own pleasure and don't try to map it or figure that stuff out. I rely
more on what others have research and publish to figure out what I'm
looking at. I do try to figure things out first and then see if what I
come up with agrees with what others have concluded too. Most of the
time we are in general agreement but sometimes some of the stuff really
surprises me. I guess that's why I love studying geology so much
there's always so many interesting formations out there to see.
I
muse: I hope all those geologist who are working out in the field are
taking proper precautions and are using lots of sun screen, especially
now that summer is here and a lot of field work is getting done. I sure
do wish I had, but when I was growing up they really were not that
aware of how dangerous the sun could be, and I very rarely put some on.
I
muse: When I lost my Rolodex with all my contacts in it, I lost track
of a lot of people I never wanted to. I was so naive back then and
really wished someone would have told me of that possibility. In all
fairness the people I was working with had been with the company for
many many year (some 30+ years) and had never seen a layoff until the
oil bust of the mid 1980's. None of them had ever experience any of this
and it was all new to them too.
For those out there in the
working force buy your own device for storing your network contacts,
that way the company can't take it from you when you leave.
No comments:
Post a Comment