Tag: Sweet Tea Science Blog

I want to see mountains! Last day in Yellowstone

Long time readers may recall that shortly after completing our MS degrees (er…we were both so close to finishing, it counts) in the summer of 2012, we embarked on a celebratory adventure lovingly referred to as the Amazing Besties National Park Road Trip.  At first, we were blogging contemporaneously, then we were slowly catching up, then…  The last post in the series was written in October 2014, fully two years after we got back from our two month stent of life on the road!

Like all good Type As, this incomplete set of posts has been bugging us for ages.  Unfortunately, we haven’t had the time to go back through our journals to recall details, and the days without journal entries have gotten fuzzy around the edges.  We still wanted to share our amazing experience exploring public lands with you all!  To this end, over the next few months we will periodically be putting up posts that are mostly pictures from our trip with a few bits of memories that come to mind as we put together the images.  This was one of the most epic friend adventures either of us have ever had, so if you like best friend hijinks these posts are for you.  If you’re into pretty photos of natural wonders, you have come to the right place!  10 states. 9 National Parks and 1 National Monument. One summer of fun!

Want to catch up?  Check out the rest of the series here.

Day 16
Yellowstone National Park
Homeland of the Cheyenne, Apsaalooké, Shoshone-Bannock, Eastern Shoshone, Salish-Kootenai***

When last you left us, we were tired after a day spent watching wildlife, checking out lakes, and learning about early tourists in the park.  Today, on the recommendation of our all time favorite park rangers, the married couple Jim and Dot, we were going to climb two different mountains. (More heart eyes about Dot and Jim here.)

First up, Avalanche Peak.

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Sweet Link ParTEA (September 2018)

Last week was a garbage fire, with the news and all.  As a result, I’m (Rachel) going to give myself a pass on this post being many days late.  We hope these links give you a good distraction and help you welcome in October and the changing seasons. 

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This is a fascinating article about methane entering the atmosphere from thawing permafrost.  They dive into an arctic lake!  “Overall, if Walter Anthony’s findings are correct, the total impact from thawing permafrost could be similar to adding a couple of large fossil-fuel-emitting economies – say, two more Germanys – to the planet. “

If you want to up your #SciComm game check out this huge, free resource.

This is a very thoughtful piece about how teaching students the common underlying point of statistical tests might help them learn more, as opposed to parading as many tests as possible out over the course of the term.

Want to check out a fascinating and strangely beautiful #DataViz of how random the success of an individual published work can be?  Click right here.  I found this weirdly mesmerizing.   

The Atlantic takes a stark look at what was lost in the burning of the National Museum in Rio de Janeiro at the beginning of the month.  “Many of these presumably lost specimens were holotypes—the first, best, and most important examples of their kind.”  We both thought this fire was significant and each added an article about it.  This one does a really nice job of putting into context the importance of museum specimens to ongoing research efforts.

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Managing Your Motivation

Staying motivated in the unstructured work environment of academia can be difficult.  For me, it has always been easy to stay on task during the field season because the summer ticks away regardless of how much I get done.  I have to be organized and get in while the plants are growing and the tides are favorable. As summer gives way to fall, I have often gone through productivity slumps.  This was especially true after I was done with my coursework and, more recently, when I was struggling with some mental health issues. In spite of these challenges, I have been at this graduate school game for (*gulp*) nine years now, and I’ve learned a thing or two about how to bring structure to my days and set myself up for maximum productivity.  In other lucky news, I have tons of smart friends who kindly offered up some of their best advice on a Facebook thread I started. Thanks Tanya, Jeff, Christy, Brendan C, Danielle, Haley, Kevin, Sarah, Brendan H, Anne, Vadim, Ashley, Chhaya, Jamie, Lyndsey, Eddie, Jessica, Caroline, Sacha, Becky, Bjorn, Carlos, Aviva, and Colin!

Here are my top tips for staying focused and productive!

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That time I told the bartender I didn’t want popcorn and he told me I needed popcorn…and he was correct.

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