Geologist In Name Only (GINO)

Now see, my degrees are in geology, but I’m not a “typical” geologist. In college I had to take mineralogy but I somehow was able to avoid that dreaded structural geology course and heaven forbid, geology field camp – a summer trekking around dusty Wyoming in a 14 passenger van with a rock hammer and notebook in my hands stopping at every darn highway rock cut the prof could remember from HIS glory days. Did I mention that lowly geology students don’t always have the best personal hygiene and they talk about “Spodiunite” and other such topics all day and half the evening?

My concentration was environmental geochemistry, coastal processes, and watershed studies. So I chose schools accordingly and gravitated toward courses like “Estuarine Sedimentology” and “Clay Mineralogy” – courses which made my future in-laws look at me with puzzlement and ask, “Can you make a living at that??” – obviously deeply worried about what a ne’er-do-well their youngest daughter had latched onto.

So while I hold credentials as a certified professional geologist, I’m not exactly sure why I maintain them any more. There was a time when I used some geological skills in my work in groundwater studies, river and lake chemistry and interactions of pollutants, etc., but not for some time. Yet I still get the monthly magazines from the professional geology associations that I belong to.

I couldn’t resist posting this photo of these two Ph.D geologists, one winning an achievement award of some sort. Now I’m sure they are fine fellows, qualified in their research areas, and I would enjoy meeting them if the opportunity arose.  And heaven knows I’m not a fashion maven myself, as my family can wholeheartedly attest to, but on the other hand I’m not too anxious to be mistaken for a stand-in bass player for Jerry Garcia’s band. Even GINOs haven’t lost all of their pride.