(ICT) Reflection

ICT reflection, originally uploaded by dalmond.

So I have made it through the gaps that are the first week back at university. Somehow, I am in a year that I get to graduate at the end of. This has only happened once before, but this time they will accept my application to graduate instead of me dropping all the winter courses and going to work at a soil lab.

I have several interesting classes this semester, at least they are interesting to me. First, Physical Hydrogeology is largely about groundwater and it is in a terrible class room (SA 104). The class room is a mini lecture theatre at the West end of Science A and it pretends to be modern with a projector and a console computer, but really it is an impostor with tiny (smaller than a piece of paper) wooden desks under the uncomfortable wooden seats.

Second, I have Solid and Hazardous Waste, which is in Engineering E in a nice class room with comfortable chairs. The comfortabiliy of the chairs is important because it is a class from 5-6.15 two days. The professor for this course seems to enjoy trying to get the class to discuss and the time of this course makes everybody there actually want to take the course so the discussions are much more productive than they would otherwise be.

Third, Water and Wastewater Treatment is about what the title would lead you to believe. The classroom for this one is in the basement of Earth Science and it has a nice window looking on a hill down to the loading dock, which is a bit distracting because many university trucks are parked down there so a steady stream passes over the course of the class.

Next, there is Engineering Hydrology and this is going to be about flood prediction. Thus far it seems like it will be good; even though there are statistics at the beginning of it. It is in the same room as Solid Waste. It is nice having all the regular course not to far apart. Finally, no walking from Engineering to Professional Faculties then back to Engineering. (Not that I have anything against walking.)

Finally, I have a group design project. We will find out on Thursday which project we are going to be working on. My first choice was designing a stormwater treating wetland, second was improving the efficiency of a water treatment plant in Colombia and last was selecting the alignment for the SE LRT. Of course, I shouldn't get the 3rd choice because it is outside my minor (Environmental). This class is not run every scheduled lecture. But we have yet to receive the schedule of when it will run. Though I imagine that will be something to find out after we know which project we are doing.

In other news, I started working at Parking again and it is still a good job. The only thing to complain about it was my choice of what to buy for lunch today. The Vietnamese place on campus just wasn't as good as I remembered. It is possible that they had a bad day but I don't think that is the case. Oh well, the stuffed buns are still good and Opa! is tasty, but I think I will bring lunches on Saturdays to work from now on because that is just easier and cheaper. (PB&J is always good.)

Also, I am applying to a couple Masters programs at UofT (if their system will let me) and McMaster. So far, I have one referee and am going to talk to another this week in hopes that I can have this all organized before my life potentially gets hectic with course (though that is unlikely as it never really has before). I am applying to do some water related research. When I applied to a scholarship in the summer, I told them that I was thinking about this and wanted to study constructed wetlands as a way to mitigate stormwater contamination. At the time, I was specifically thinking of Toronto, where they have a combined sewer system in much of the city that overflows in wet weather. When this overflows it release untreated (though diluted) sewage into watercourses and this is obviously not ideal. I also believed that these constructed wetlands could be useful to mitigate the impacts of road salt on the watercourse by using plants that are tolerant of salty conditions.

That's enough of me boring anybody who read this far (you can have a gold star). I think that will be all for the moment, but I think I will go out and take some photos tomorrow.