The Start of a New Year! More to Come in 2019

Hello everyone and welcome to 2019, the year where  have a feeling a lot of great things are going to happen to everyone!

I hope everyone had a smashing Christmas and an energetic new years celebration. I will tell you, a silent disc on new years is the most ecstatic thing you can do!

Now, right to it. I have been a little bit about this blog. I looked over my previous blog entrees and noticed something...the lack of posting in 2018 was appalling. After some thought I decided that I want to be more attentive with my blog and consistently update every 1-2 weeks (maybe more if a lot happens!). So, I now aim to be on top of my blog and stick to updating and posting. Even if the weekly blogs are small I will still post something for you guys to read.

Let us begin!

Before I give you all an update on my research I want to share something with you. If you are more interested in my research then you can skip to Research Plan for 2019 down below. Every graduate student looks for a new way to take breaks, something different from the typical escape to Netflix, Reddit, and YouTube. Since May 2018, I found a new way to take breaks from research. Podcasts! Now you are probably thinking "but I already know about podcasts, why is this an interesting thought". Well, after talking with my colleges, friends, family, and other students I discovered the majority prefer to listen to music or watch videos in their spare time. I told a few I listen to podcasts when I am on the bus to and from university, and whilst travelling, and they asked "oh cool, can you send me the name of the podcasts?" Of course I can :)

I listen to a few depending on how I am feeling: Gradcast (Society of Graduate Students podcast and radio at the University of Western Ontario), Ologies (hosted by Alie Ward, @alieward), BBC Inside Science (hosted by Dr Adam Rutherford), and Game of Thrones The Podcast (for fun!). 

I would highly recommend listening to some of these podcasts. I download them from the app called Castbox. Downloadable from GooglePlay.

I know this was a little bit different from what I normally post but I thought I would share this with you guys.

Now, let us get to the research!

Research Plan for 2019

2019 is already looking like it is going to be a busy but exciting year! Already I am close to completing the final draft of my manuscript, which will be ready for journal revisions. I have finished collecting more Mistastin impact melt samples to be cut for thin sections. I have a lot of optical microscopy, electron micro-probe analysis, and digital image processing planned for this semester. It is going to require a lot of hours in front of the computer and microscope but in a couple of months I will have a wealth of data ready to be analysed and written up into my manuscripts. So stayed tuned for more blogs on data collection updates and findings in the next couple of months.

Data collection is not the only big research theme this year. A couple of destinations for research and side-projects are being planned for this summer. Iceland is one of the destinations where I will be applying the same methods and science goals that I used during my Craters of the Moon research. The main aim of the project is to compare the surface roughness, geochemistry, and petrography of the Holuhraun lava flow. The volcanic eruption began on the 29th of August 2014 and ceased on the 27th of February 2015. It is the youngest volcanic lava field in Iceland and it is the perfect place to study fresh lava flows. Details at still in the work but I am in charge of logistics for the field season so a lot of work needs to get done asap!

I will be doing some local travelling during the next 3 weeks. I will be travelling to Ottawa from the 21st-23rd of January for the Exploring Earth Project Launch. The purpose of this event is to promote CPSX, engage in outreach with an attendance of 600 K-12 kids, and attend the launch party of blogs that will be released by Canadian astronaut David St-Jacques on the International Space Station. David will be taking images of requested natural features on Earth, and the image will be released to the public along with a blog written by graduate students and faculty at Western University. 

From the 1st-3rd of February I will attending the Queen's Space Program. Our aim is to spread the word about CPSX and get a chance to network with leaders in the space industry. I think both of these events deserve a blog of there own. If you wait around for these dates you will see a blog released talking about the events.

Now as I said, I aim to be more consistent when it comes to updating my blog. I promise to release a new blog new week.

Just to give you guys a nice photo for the blog, here is a shot of St Andrews I took during my trip with my girlfriend home to Scotland.

I will see you guys later, and happy new year again!