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To get the hang of things
Jun. 2nd, 2010 04:01 pmThis is going to be a crazy summer.
Well, it basically already is summer, and basically, a month of it has passed already.
That's just about what I mean.
Insofar as school goes, I'm still scrambling to finalize the protocol for my final experiment. Ideally, I'd like to finish some old data analyses so I have a better idea about some of the measurements I'll make for my final experiment. It's generally a terrible idea to go into an experiment completely blind, that is, having no idea of how the experiment will turn out.
That leads into the next chain of events. The software package that worked so nicely for some initial data analyses is not set up well to let me do just exactly the procedures I want to do. So I decided it would be a good time to switch software packages and work with the open-source software package R (yes, the software package of pirates!). The new software package is command-line driven, which is to say it sits and waits with a little prompt while the user tries to figure out how to talk to it without making it angry. Not nearly as simple as figuring out how to navigate through an unfamiliar, (inevitably) clunky GUI.
I started out by trying to decipher the somewhat cryptic standard introductory manual. It's reasonably well-written, but does not exactly explain how to use R for particular statistical purposes. So then I ordered a book on just that, how to use R for statistical analyses. It's much, much more straightforward and organized according to the things I want to do. But it still takes a lot of effort to read it and retain what I'm learning from it. I have finally resorted to note-taking and feel like I'm almost ready to start using R now.
Once I've learned how this dragon works, I'll harness it to finish up those analyses, plus another set of analyses. Meanwhile, I'll keep working on other aspects of summer experiments.
My summer employment situation has also finally been resolved, or so I hope. At first, I was assigned to TA introductory Plant Biology for non-majors, which sounded reasonably interesting. Not interesting enough to the undergraduate population, unfortunately; it was canceled due to low enrollment. I only found out at the last possible minute.
When I got up this morning and checked my e-mail, the department had come up with a scheme to pay me an hourly wage for the equivalent amount of work but for half the amount of money. Less than ideal. Later in the day, the department developed another scheme to transfer me into being a lecture TA for general Genetics. So that's what I'll be doing for two hours a day throughout June. It could be worse; I could stand to spend some time reviewing genetics concepts, and hey, I'll be earning enough of an income that I won't need to look for a second job.
For now, back to reading about R. ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRR.
Well, it basically already is summer, and basically, a month of it has passed already.
That's just about what I mean.
Insofar as school goes, I'm still scrambling to finalize the protocol for my final experiment. Ideally, I'd like to finish some old data analyses so I have a better idea about some of the measurements I'll make for my final experiment. It's generally a terrible idea to go into an experiment completely blind, that is, having no idea of how the experiment will turn out.
That leads into the next chain of events. The software package that worked so nicely for some initial data analyses is not set up well to let me do just exactly the procedures I want to do. So I decided it would be a good time to switch software packages and work with the open-source software package R (yes, the software package of pirates!). The new software package is command-line driven, which is to say it sits and waits with a little prompt while the user tries to figure out how to talk to it without making it angry. Not nearly as simple as figuring out how to navigate through an unfamiliar, (inevitably) clunky GUI.
I started out by trying to decipher the somewhat cryptic standard introductory manual. It's reasonably well-written, but does not exactly explain how to use R for particular statistical purposes. So then I ordered a book on just that, how to use R for statistical analyses. It's much, much more straightforward and organized according to the things I want to do. But it still takes a lot of effort to read it and retain what I'm learning from it. I have finally resorted to note-taking and feel like I'm almost ready to start using R now.
Once I've learned how this dragon works, I'll harness it to finish up those analyses, plus another set of analyses. Meanwhile, I'll keep working on other aspects of summer experiments.
My summer employment situation has also finally been resolved, or so I hope. At first, I was assigned to TA introductory Plant Biology for non-majors, which sounded reasonably interesting. Not interesting enough to the undergraduate population, unfortunately; it was canceled due to low enrollment. I only found out at the last possible minute.
When I got up this morning and checked my e-mail, the department had come up with a scheme to pay me an hourly wage for the equivalent amount of work but for half the amount of money. Less than ideal. Later in the day, the department developed another scheme to transfer me into being a lecture TA for general Genetics. So that's what I'll be doing for two hours a day throughout June. It could be worse; I could stand to spend some time reviewing genetics concepts, and hey, I'll be earning enough of an income that I won't need to look for a second job.
For now, back to reading about R. ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRR.
