The Graduation Date's been set.

Clearly, just trying to get a dissertation done without setting a completion date is not the best strategy for me. After all, it's been months and I have been working on pretty much the same thing. But, i finally set a date, well..several dates.
1) graduation date: this is important to set first, because it will really determine all the other deadlines and milestones and benchmarks for the dissertation progress. (June)

2) defense date: this has to be when the committee is available, and it should be before graduation, but it should also be inline with the university policies (may/june)

3) dissertation submittal: well, the dissertation submittal date needs to be in time enough for the committee to read the dissertation and provide feedback. (april)

4) my advisor needs to see the dissertation prior to the committee (at least in my case.) and he can provide feedback here as well. (March)

With that in mind, and considering a 5-6 chapter dissertation, i have from november to march to write it. (a chapter per month) doable? it better be! ambitious? YES! but i NEED to get it done!

Chapter 1

I ma working on my Lit review and it sucks...alot of reading and writing and summarizing...i have to find out what everyone else in the world has done in this subject area!! But...i am almost done.

Summertime work...

Summertime is always interesting as a grad student. I am still expected to do research...and of course, if i want to graduate anytime in the near future..i must continue to work on my dissertation. But in my case, I am supported by a research grant that is completely separate from my dissertation research. I am part of a government grant to help test the impact on different algorithms/methods, resolution and surface terrain type on feature extraction. Summer will be busy with several week long conferences and some personal travel as well. I have been sitting in on working groups and all hands meetings to discuss new research and update the grant providing agency with research updates. Of course we have been going non stop and I am exhausted! but they did feed us. So i have to go back and actually do the research I presented, but at the same time i have to find time to work on my own research as well. One of the groups this week was thought to be the brain trust of the generalization and integration industry.

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I'm so behind

of course...it's part of the process right? I need to get focused and figure out how i am going to finish my dissertation before the end of 2010. I tend to get really motivated for a short time, sort of like what caffeine does. So for starters, I decided to think more about what all the elements of my dissertation will be. I can work on parts where I can actually add input, that way I am always working on some part of it. Write something every night/or day is what they always say. Of course i haven't done that. So here we go, it probably won't be written here, but in my dissertation journal instead where it can easily be translated into the actual dissertation. I have a feeling that the longer it takes to work on this, the less significant it may be in the long run. So i have to redefine or better yet, define what is most significant about my work.

Publish or Perish, but what about my dissertation?

I finally have worked on my first publication along side my advisor. "TERRAIN FEATURE EXTRACTION FROM VARIABLE RESOLUTION DIGITAL ELEVATION MODELS" The deadline to submit the publication came shortly after I advanced to candidacy. At that point, with such short notice, the project took on a whole knew look than the one my advisor had asked for. Luckily as i did the research, we still came up with some results. On top of that, on the last day, the deadline was extended. I could breath. But now instead of getting one project out of the way, I also had a paper t review. This would be a great experience for me, if i could ever get to it. I worked on the feature extraction project solely and made some progress. Although now with the deadline extended, i had to go back and do all those things i didn't do when i tried to meet the previous deadline. No worries, it almost took up the whole time, but we worked together at the end to make sure we presented our results and analysis clearly.

I asked for an extension on the paper I had to review because i just wasn't going to give it it's due diligence if i had to do it in the one night left before the deadline. No problem, got the extension and worked on the review. Submitted it the following week.

But no time to take a break yet...My advisor had to go back to the funding agency and present what we had done so far in order to get some more funding and keep any existing funding. So guess what, he needed a presentation. So i had to work on that in the next few days. So i created a presentation based on the paper we submitted, plus added some images and some analysis we didn't include in that paper. I left out the introduction so he could fill that in and i left out the "future work" part so he could also fill that in.

Break time? nope. in all this, about 6-7 weeks have passed and i have yet to work on my personal research. So i am thinking i may shift my research to fall more in line with what we are doing with this project so that i don't lose valuable time and opportunities. next step: future work

Advanced to candidacy!

I passed the written and the next step was to present my research proposal and pass the oral examination in order to advance to candidacy. When it comes to presentations, I usually think are pretty easy to present..but the content can always be a little tricky. Think about the audience and what they need to know, what questions they will ask and most importantly: what is the main purpose of the presentation. In some cases, the oral exam is an extension of the written exam where the PhD students can be asked anything about anything in the subject area. Or we may be asked to elaborate on some of the answers we prepared for the written exam. I didn't have any new questions but I was asked to elaborate on one of the questions. basically, one of the committee members was looking for a different perspective, not the typical answer which is pretty much what i came up with. I worked through that answer and it was no problem.

But that question was after the real questions came -- those based on the proposal presentation. I wrote the proposal about 2 months ago and my committee provided feedback. One of the critical questions I was asked is "What is the central question?" Apparently, i was not clear enough in illustrating what the real question was that i wanted to answer, and i didn't have any data. So I collected some data to present and tried to refine the central question.

Friday June 19th, I put on my shirt and tie, shoes and looked sharp. We started late, but i was confident and felt prepared. While waiting for a committee member to return from lunch, i sat and reviewed my notes (If you are preparing to do your orals, be sure to remind your committee so they don't forget). I began about 15 minutes late. During the presentation, the committee asked questions throughout, or even blurted out comments. Not terribly disruptive but I have to admit, it made me pretty nervous. After a committee member came in late, i pretty much had to start over from the beginning. I presented my research proposal, and then we spent alot of time talking about the data and the central question. Finally, after some questions that i did my best to answer, they asked me to leave the room so they could deliberate.

After about 15 mins, they called me back in. The committee felt like i had proposed a project that may not be able to be completed within a year, or ever. So they discussed the idea of changing the focus a bit to make it a doable project. I agreed with the assessment and agreed to come back in three months and meet with the committee to discuss my progress. And after all the discussion, and close to two hours, they all signed the form and checked off _(X)_Pass!! It was unanimous, and just like that, i was finally a PhD Candidate. This has probably been one of the biggest milestones i have had to overcome in my Academic career and i am glad it is now behind me.

Truth is, it wasn't that bad at all, just had to get up the nerve to do it...When it's your turn, just get ready to face the firing squad and be prepared to survive!

Motivation

Why do we go through these phases of little to no motivation even though the destination does not change. Our purpose for being here does not change. Each day i think i am going to be productive today but lo and behold...i don't get much done. I have to prepare for my oral exam which I would like to complete in less then 2 weeks. I also have this other research project that i am a couple of months behind on. Getting started is the hardest thing and i am so easily distracted. Once i get started i can at least make some headway into being productive. So if you are reading this and have some suggestions about being motivated and staying motivated...then please share. its not the overall motivation, its the daily grind that the issue.

I passed

I finally heard back from my committee. I passed my written exam conditionally since i have to rewrite one of the answers. It must have been the one i started responding to at about 3am. So i have about a week to revisit that question and submit the answers. Of course now the answer should be a very good answer since i have much more time. But I am happy that i only have to rewrite 1 out of the 9 questions. Now I have to prepare for my oral exam! Which means i really need to get cracking on refining my research proposal. My advisor says i am ready to defend it but i don't feel as confident yet in my approach. So I will work on that in upcoming weeks.

We finally received the grant money that we were waiting for. The government agency that is paying us to do some research needed to wait for the stimulus package to be signed before they could release any funds. Even though they were promised we had to wait to wait about 3 months to receive them. Once the money finally reached my school, it was lost in the mail system for about 30 days. Finally I can get my finances back in order. It was stressful at first and since we weren't getting paid, I wasn't doing any work in that area. Now that we have been paid for the past few months I have some serious catching up to do. I still have to make a serious decision about whether i want to continue to do my own personal research for my dissertation and work on this project on the side, or take some piece of this project and make it my dissertation. Ideally, It would be nice to merge the two somehow.

In other news, my turtle, Nueva Espiranza, swam in the back of the pack for a while, but came up strong at the end and made the final turn to take third place. Not a bad finish since she was holding 2nd to last for a while.

The great turtle race

After looking strong in second place last week, my turtle Nueva Espiranza has fallen back several spots. http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/greatturtlerace-map/

5 hours to spare.

I completed my written exam this morning and as you can imagine, I am pretty exhausted. I can't think anymore and am starting to get a headache. I ran out of food...ate all the salsa, blueberries, yogurt, shrimp, salmon...and I drank plenty of tea. I only had two cups of coffee surprisingly, but i never felt the need to crash either. Except around 4am each morning. I been going be strong the last few days and not stressing at all, but now I am feeling like i don't know what to do with myself. Wait...why am i still here. I still have 14 browser windows open, each with at least 10 tabs open to different resources. In addition i have stacks of printouts, overdue library books and i dried up two highlighters. And i managed to not run out of printer paper. My advice to anyone who is going to go through this process is to keep up with the reading...although, you are not going to know it all, you just need to know where to find the information. 2) be prepared physically and mentally. Get your meals ready, clothes, schedule etc. minimize the distractions and pace yourself. And of course don't forget to take a few breaks. I guess i didn't write enough during my exam cause i am still typing away. I wish this was my dissertation i was submitting!!! next year. But in the meantime. W.P.B. let me know if you need to know what that means.

Exams Day 2

Yesterday took me all day to get into the flow to answer the questions. I didn't get any sleep last night and have less then 20 hours to get to these questions which of course, are a little more difficult.

Vegas 09 -- Written Exams 4/1

Last week I traveled to Las Vegas NV, for a NSBE Convention and also presented at the American Association of Geographers (http://www.aag.org) conference. So for 7 days, I had to bare the heat and dry air. I had a good time though. It's always a great experience for me to be able to catch up with people i know and haven't seen or heard from in a while. I didn't spend much time at the AAG conference. I attended my chapter's party Wednesday night and Friday i presented on my research. It was a small audience but I am glad there were a few people there. The presentation itself was not very much technical content but I just wanted some feedback on my ideas.

The NSBE convention went well. I did the parliamentarian thing and made sure we got some folks elected into Regional Offices. But i am back in town and pretty tired. I have a lot of work to do in less then 36 hours to prepare for my written exam that didn't happen two weeks ago. I am probably going to do very minimal reading, i just want to clear my mind, be rested and relaxed come Wednesday April 1st. So i will go grocery shopping later to find me some brain food, and the cook up some meals so i can just pop them in the microwave. I set up a second office on campus so i can be isolated and surrounded by nothing but my books. But if i need a nap or to step out, I have a couch in my office right next door. So I am looking forward to Friday Night/Saturday morning to get past this milestone.

Blogger Mobile Post

I just added this mobile thingy o I can blog from my phone...but I have internet on my phone...s why didn't I just use the site directly...to much technology and access!

Exams on tuesday!

I finally wrote up a draft research proposal and submitted it to my committee on Friday the 13th. It clearly needs some more work but i needed to let them know what direction i was headed in with my research.

But now the exam is coming up. Today is Sunday...i have a 72 hour exam starting on tuesday. I have lots of books, papers, articles, resources ready to go. But i still haven't found a comfortable place to set up shop for this event. I am going to do some more reading for today and tomorrow and try and get as prepared as i can. Monday night...sleep well and Tuesday...get it crackin!

What a way to start the year...

New years was great...had a good time. The quarter started and then i left for a really good conference at GaTech. It was a Minority Faculty Development Workshop and i encourage all aspiring faculty, post docs and Jr professors to attend something similar. I stayed out on the east coast to go see my mom and fam...but i didn't do any work. I tried to get my mind in the research mode for these upcoming weeks.

So my research money has not arrived yet. Well that just means i have to pay tuition and fees out of my own pocket. I have to return my alternative free parking meter because i am no longer employed. All of this is because the grant that is paying me is on a "continued resolution" in congress before fund can be released. Well..i had taken out a student loan to pay off some bills so i wouldn't have to keep robbing peter to pay paul...but before i could do that, the university took out their cut...which was tuition and fees (which is out of my own pocket now with interest). So i stopped working on that research project for now.

While on hiatus, I can focus on my Phd Research and preparing for my qualifying exams. Once a PhD candidate, the cost of tuition and fees goes down, which makes everyone happy. hopefully i can do that before the next quarter starts. So in the meantime, i will be reading, writing and pretty much studying for this exam. I picked up the copy of past PhD exam questions...



Hopefully i can sift thru the questions to help me understanding what i need to be reading up on. Remember the list below? In addition, I have to write my research proposal. I will have a draft ready by Friday 2/6.

It's the end of 2008

SO what have i done? Well i picked up a bunch of more books from the library. I have been reading chapters here and there from different books and writing some notes. But i also hurt my leg messing around...it feels like its getting better, kept me immobile for a moment. But I got my books, downloaded software and now just waiting on my money for the next quarter. Cause i think i will suspend work on the research project if there is no money for now.

I worked on my car, I had the rear struts replaced finally. And I found some problems that were causing my drive belt pulleys to squeal like crazy, every time i started the car. So I went to the autoparts store and bought a pulley, then i replaced it, put the belt on, and all was well for like 30 seconds. then the squealing started again. So thats when i figured out that there was some metal on metal rubbing going on. So i bough some lube grease and worked out the problem. So my car is working well now.

So for 2009 i hope to finally get a new laptop and pay down some bills, of course it means saving money somehow. We'll figure it out! I am out, gotta ready to bring in the new year! Happy 2009 to you!

My Reading list...almost final cut

So i finally have a submitted reading list..and it was approved by my advisor. Now all i have to do is wait for feedback from other committee members and of course..do all the reading. So the page might look messy on here but essentially i cut and pasted..and now i have tons of reading to do and even more concepts to comprehend.

General Geography

1. Abler, R., M. G. Marcus, et al. (1992). Geography's inner worlds : pervasive themes in contemporary American geography, New Brunswick, N.J., Rutgers University Press.
2. Bailey, T. C. and A. C. Gatrell (1995). Interactive spatial data analysis. Harlow Essex, England; New York, NY, Longman Scientific & Technical ; J. Wiley.
3. Clarke, K. C. (1995). Analytical and computer cartography. Englewood Cliffs, NJ, Prentice-Hall.
4. Cronon, W. (1991). Nature's metropolis : Chicago and the Great West. New York, W.W. Norton.
5. Cutter, S. L., R. Golledge, et al. (2002). "The big questions in geography." Professional Geographer 54(3): 305-317.
6. Elwood, S. (2005). "GIS: a short introduction." Progress in Human Geography 29(1): 114-116.
7. Gaile, G. L. and C. J. Willmott (1989). Geography in America. Columbus, Ohio, Merrill Pub. Co.
8. Hanson, S. (1997). Ten geographic ideas that changed the world. New Brunswick, N.J., Rutgers University Press.
9. Hanson, S. (2005). "The dictionary of human geography, 4th edition." Annals of the Association of American Geographers 95(2): 471-473.
10. James, P. E. and G. J. Martin (1981). All possible worlds : a history of geographical ideas. New York, Wiley.
11. Johnston, R. J. (1997). Geography and geographers : Anglo-American human geography since 1945. London; New York, Arnold.
12. National Research Council . Rediscovering Geography, C. (1997). Rediscovering geography : new relevance for science and society. Washington, D.C., National Academy Press.
13. Pickles, J. (2004). A history of spaces : cartographic reason, mapping, and the geo-coded world. London ; New York, Routledge.
14. Maguire, D. J., M. Batty, et al. (2005). GIS, spatial analysis, and modeling. Redlands, Calif., ESRI Press.
15. McKendrick, J. H. (2001). "The dictionary of human geography." Scottish Geographical Journal 117(2): 161-163.
16. National Academies, P. (2006). Learning to think spatially. Washington, D.C., National Academies Press.
17. Unwin, P. T. H. (1992). The place of geography. Harlow, Essex, England, New York, Longman; Wiley.

GIS, Remote Sensing & Natural Hazards

1. Bates, P. D. (2004). "Remote Sensing and Flood Inundation Modelling." Hydrological Processes 18(13): 5.
2. Biza, P., Gimun, V., Knap, R., Ammentorp, H. C., Ihly, T., and Smith, G (2001). The use of a GISbased software tool for benefit-cost analysis of flood mitigation measures in the Czech Republic. DHI Software Conference, June 2001.
3. Bowman, K. P. (2006). An introduction to programming with IDL : Interactive Data Language. Amsterdam ; Boston, Elsevier Academic Press.
4. Campbell, J. B. (2007). Introduction to remote sensing. New York, Guildford Press.
5. CEO, C. F. E. O. (2005). Obtaining and Importing SRTM Elevation Data, Yale University: 7.
6. Cho, J., S. Park, et al. (2008). "Evaluation of Agricultural Nonpoint Source (AGNPS) model for small watersheds in Korea applying irregular cell delineation." Agricultural Water Management 95(4): 400-408.
7. Church, R. L., M. P. Scaparra, et al. (2004). "Identifying critical infrastructure: The median and covering facility interdiction problems." Annals of the Association of American Geographers 94(3): 491-502.
8. Contini, S., F. Bellezza, et al. (2000). "The use of geographic information systems in major accident risk assessment and management." Journal of Hazardous Materials 78(1-3): 223-245.
9. Dass-Brailsford, P. (2008). "After the storm: Recognition, recovery, and reconstruction." Professional Psychology-Research and Practice 39(1): 24-30.
10. Dell'Acqua, F. and P. Gamba (2006). "Discriminating urban environments using multiscale texture and multiple SAR images." International Journal of Remote Sensing 27(18): 3797-3812.
11. Dell'Acqua, F., P. Gamba, et al. (2006). "HySenS data exploitation for urban land cover analysis." Annals of Geophysics 49(1): 311-318.
12. Deng, Y. X. (2007). "New trends in digital terrain analysis: landform definition, representation, and classification." Progress in Physical Geography 31(4): 405-419.
13. Duckham, M. and M. Worboys (2005). "An algebraic approach to automated geospatial information fusion." International Journal of Geographical Information Science 19(5): 537-557.
14. Dunbar, G. S. (1983). The History of geography : translations of some French and German essays. Malibu, CA, Undena Publications.
15. Ehrlich, D. (1992). Multi-temporal satellite image analysis for crop inventories in the Po River Valley (Italy): x, 170 leaves, bound.
16. Elaksher, A. F. (2008). "Fusion of hyperspectral images and lidar-based dems for coastal mapping." Optics and Lasers in Engineering 46(7): 493-498.
17. Gallant, J. C. and J. P. Wilson (1996). "TAPES-G: A grid-based terrain analysis program for the environmental sciences." Computers & Geosciences 22(7): 713-722.

18. Gitas, I. Z., A. Polychronaki, et al. (2008). "Contribution of remote sensing to disaster management activities: A case study of the large fires in the Peloponnese, Greece (vol 29, pg 1847, 2008)." International Journal of Remote Sensing 29(16): 4885-4885.
19. Herold, M., J. Scepan, et al. (2002). "The use of remote sensing and landscape metrics to describe structures and changes in urban land uses." Environment and Planning A 34(8): 1443-1458.
20. Horritt, M. S. and P. D. Bates (2001). "Predicting floodplain inundation: raster-based modelling versus the finite-element approach." Hydrological Processes 15(5): 825-842.
21. Inglada, J. and A. Giros (2004). On the real capabilities of remote sensing for disaster management-feedback from real cases. Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, 2004. IGARSS '04. Proceedings. 2004 IEEE International.
22. Kasturi, R. and United States. National Aeronautics and Space Administration. (1995). Algorithms for detection of objects in image sequences captured from an airborne imaging system. University Park, PA Washington, DC
23. Kennedy, K. and United States. National Aeronautics and Space Administration. (1996). Remote sensing of landuse changes and implications for landuse policy
24. NAG 2-969--final, administrator's close-out report. Washington, DC
25. Kraus, K., W. Karel, et al. (2006). "Local accuracy measures for digital terrain models." Photogrammetric Record 21(116): 342-354.
26. Kraus, K. and N. Pfeifer (1998). "Determination of terrain models in wooded areas with airborne laser scanner data." Isprs Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing 53(4): 193-203.
27. Laben, C. (2002). "Integration of remote sensing data and geographic information system technology for emergency managers and their applications at the Pacific Disaster Center." Optical Engineering 41(9): 2129-2136.
28. Lillesand, T. M. and R. W. Kiefer (1994). Remote sensing and image interpretation. New York, Wiley & Sons.
29. Longley, P. (1999). Geographical Information Systems, Principles, Techniques, Applications and Management, 2 Volume Set, 2nd Edition. New York, Wiley.
30. Longley, P. (2005). Geographical information systems and science. Chichester, Wiley.
31. Maune, D. F. and American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing. (2001). Digital elevation model technologies and applications : the DEM users manual. Bethesda, Md., American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing.
32. National Research Council (U.S.). Committee on Planning for Catastrophe: a Blueprint for Improving Geospatial Data Tools and Infrastructure. (2007). Successful response starts with a map : improving geospatial support for disaster management. Washington, D.C., National Academies Press.
33. Navalgund, R. R., V. Jayaraman, et al. (2007). "Remote sensing applications: An overview." Current Science 93(12): 1747-1766.
34. Neteler, M. and H. Mitasova (2008). Open source GIS : a GRASS GIS approach. New York, NY, Springer.
35. Richardson, T. M. and R. N. Renner (2007). Geographic Information Systems Supporting Disaster Response and Recovery, SSRN.
36. Rodrâiguez, H., E. L. Quarantelli, et al. (2007). Handbook of disaster research. New York, Springer.
37. Roy, D. P., J. Ju, et al. (2008). "Multi-temporal MODIS-Landsat data fusion for relative radiometric normalization, gap filling, and prediction of Landsat data." Remote Sensing of Environment 112(6): 3112-3130.
38. Scally, R. (2006). GIS for environmental management. Redlands, Calif., ESRI Press : Independent Publishers Group (IPG) distributor.
39. Streutker, D. R. and N. F. Glenn (2006). "LiDAR measurement of sagebrush steppe vegetation heights." Remote Sensing of Environment 102(1-2): 135-145.
40. Tralli, D. M., R. G. Blom, et al. (2005). "Satellite remote sensing of earthquake, volcano, flood, landslide and coastal inundation hazards." Isprs Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing 59(4): 185-198.
41. Uitto, J. I. (1998). "The geography of disaster vulnerability in megacities - A theoretical framework." Applied Geography 18(1): 7-16.
42. Wilson, J. P. and J. C. Gallant (1996). "EROS: A grid-based program for estimating spatially-distributed erosion indices." Computers & Geosciences 22(7): 707-712.
43. Wilson, J. P. and J. C. Gallant (2000). Terrain analysis : principles and applications. New York, Wiley.
44. Wilson, J. P., C. S. Lam, et al. (2007). "Comparison of the performance of flow-routing algorithms used in GIS-based hydrologic analysis." Hydrological Processes 21(8): 1026-1044.
45. Wohl, E. E. (2000). Inland flood hazards : human, riparian and aquatic communities. Cambridge, U.K. ; New York, Cambridge University Press.
46. Wolf, P. R. (1983). Elements of photogrammetry, with air photo interpretation and remote sensing. New York, McGraw-Hill.

Change Detection, Disaster Recovery & Post Katrina New Orleans

1. Colten, C. E. (2006). "Vulnerability and place: Flat land and uneven risk in New Orleans." American Anthropologist 108(4): 731-734.
2. Colten, C. E., R. W. Kates, et al. (2008). "Three years after Katrina - Lessons for community resilience." Environment 50(5): 36-47.
3. Elwood, S. (2004). "Partnerships and participation: Reconfiguring urban governance in different state contexts." Urban Geography 25(8): 755-770.
4. Elwood, S. (2005). "Community-based organizations: The intersection of social capital and local context in contemporary urban society." Journal of Regional Science 45(1): 269-271.
5. Elwood, S. (2008). "Grassroots groups as stakeholders in spatial data infrastructures: challenges and opportunities for local data development and sharing." International Journal of Geographical Information Science 22(1): 71-90.
6. Elwood, S. and H. Leitner (2003). "GIS and spatial knowledge production for neighborhood revitalization: Negotiating state priorities and neighborhood visions." Journal of Urban Affairs 25(2): 139-157.
7. Gamba, P., F. Dell'Acqua, et al. (2006). "Change detection of multitemporal SAR data in urban areas combining feature-based and pixel-based techniques." Ieee Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing 44(10): 2820-2827.
8. Gamba, P., F. Dell'Acqua, et al. (2006). "Improving urban road extraction in high-resolution images exploiting directional filtering, perceptual grouping, and simple topological concepts." Ieee Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters 3(3): 387-391.
9. Gamba, P., F. Dell'Acqua, et al. (2007). "Rapid damage detection in the Bam area using multitemporal SAR and exploiting ancillary data." Ieee Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing 45(6): 1582-1589.
10. Jones, J. L., J. M. Fulford, et al. (2002). Near-real-time simulation and internet-based delivery of forecast-flood inundation maps using two-dimensional hydraulic modeling : a pilot study of the Snoqualmie River, Washington. Tacoma, Wash.
11. Kates, R. W., C. E. Colten, et al. (2006). "Reconstruction of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina: A research perspective." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 103(40): 14653-14660.
12. Logan, J. R. (2006). The Impact of Katrina: Race and Class in Storm-Damaged Neighborhoods. Providence, RI:, Brown University.
13. Long, A. P. (2005). "New orleans: The making of an urban landscape, 2nd edition." Public Historian 27(2): 151-152.
14. Lunetta, R. S. and C. Elvidge (1998). Remote sensing change detection : environmental monitoring methods and applications. Chelsea, Mich., Ann Arbor Press.
15. Morin, P. (2005). "Remote Sensing and Hurricane Katrina Relief Efforts." EOS, TRANSACTIONS AMERICAN GEOPHYSICAL UNION VOL. 86(NO. 40): 2.
16. Morrow, B. H. (1999). "Identifying and mapping community vulnerability." Disasters 23(1): 1-18.
17. Mustafa, D. (1998). "Structural causes of vulnerability to flood hazard in Pakistan." Economic Geography 74(3): 289-305.
18. Myint, S. W., M. Yuan, et al. (2008). "Categorizing natural disaster damage assessment using satellite-based geospatial techniques." Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences 8(4): 707-719.
19. Myint, S. W., M. Yuan, et al. (2008). "Comparison of remote sensing image processing techniques to identify tornado damage areas from landsat TM data." Sensors 8(2): 1128-1156.
20. Neudecker, K. (1999). Animations with the ArcView 3D Analyst Extension. ESRI European Users Conference.
21. Parker, D. J. (2000). Floods. London ; New York, Routledge.
22. Paylor, E. D., D. L. Evans, et al. (2005). "Theme issue: Remote sensing natural hazards and geospatial information for characterization." Isprs Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing 59(4): 181-184.
23. Quarantelli, E. L. (1998). What is a disaster? : perspectives on the question. London New York, Routledge.
24. Rossi, G., N. Harmancioéglu, et al. (1994). Coping with floods. Dordrecht ; Boston, Kluwer Academic.
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Still working? Still up?

I have about 73 references in my reading list for now. I am still waiting for some books to get here from inter library loan. These holidays should be pretty interesting work wise. Anyway...i am done for the night. Headed home to get some rest. I set up my computer to back up all my research files finally. I think a daily backup is ok. So my research is being backed up to one drive, but my entire documents folder is being backed up to different external drive. Tomorrow i will set up the back up so that i can save it to my storage space online. God forbid someone should come in here and just walk off with all my external drives or a brush fire come thru here and burn down this trailer. Anyway...why am i still up? 1:20 is not too bad.

trying to pick up the pace...

So things are moving at a slow crawl, but most things start off that way. Only problem is..this is not really the beginning, its the middle somewhere. But i guess it's still the beginning of this part. Anyway, I have been working out more regularly and trying to enhance my physical fitness and mental fitness at the same pace. So the last couple of days i have been in the gym, i played some bball, game after game until i can't really go anymore. i know my legs are gonna give out, but it feels good. Apparently i have a problem with my arches, but i am not flat footed. I play in the evenings so i can wind down, go home, shower, and be ready for a good nights sleep, but i think i must get pretty energized, cause my body says sleep, but i can't fall asleep. So i stay up late being unproductive. Monday I was pretty productive after my morning meeting, and Tuesday i woke up early, but didnt really get started until late. I have been working on my reading list. I have so many references, so many articles, and books to sort through. At the same time i have close to 70 saved pdfs on my computer. So i have been sorting thru the hard copies, and making sure all the references are saved in end notes. I still have a few to go thru, then i have to figure out what i have read and what i havent read yet. Oh and of course i have to organize them all into the different subjest areas they represent. I really should be able to do this all by tomorrow night. Maybe i should stay up all night and get it done. I bought a monster burrito for brunch, then had piece for dinner, then had piece after the gym. So i am good for a while. I am trying to decide whether i should stay here in my office...its after 11pm. or head home. I am going to put in a solid 2 hours and then i guess i can call it a night.

I know this is probably not entertaining like plenty of other blogs...but if you are behind on bills then this may help http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=665847