Week 132 Photo Challenge: Learning

With all the hustle and bustle of the Christmas holiday, none of us gave much thought to the photo challenge card we drew on December 13th.  

But now that the holiday is over and every one is in wind down mode, it was easier to find the time to focus on the challenge.  I took my photo before the holiday and decided to just stick with it for the challenge. 

Kate: Pattern Creation 101

I didn't do any staging for this photo, this is how my computer work area usually looks.  Much of December has been spent learning how to draft instructions for the guild's block of the month program that I agreed to lead this year. Adobe Acrobat is open on the left and Power Point is open on the right. This has been my first attempt to create a new PDF file from scratch.  After much trial and error, I decided Grad Girl was right, build the files in MS Word and save as a PDF.  I know how to format documents with photos in MS Word, it was not as easy in Acrobat.  I don't have a drawing program, but knew from years of presentation creation for work that Power Point has decent and easy to use shape manipulation features.  There has been a steep learning curve, but the block instructions for January are now finished.  

My Guy went back to his school days for his photo. 

My Guy: On the Shoulders of Giants

My Guy is a physicist by training (he's pretty much a functional chemist these days).  His graduate work was in solid state physics. He spent a lot of time with the books and in the lab. To be honest, he still spends a lot of time in the lab and with the books.  When your job is to figure out why something isn't working right, sometimes you have to go back to the literature and learn about the system or material the problem is associated with before you can pin point the why and then decide how to fix it.

Grad Girl's photo about learning combines elements from my photo and My Guy's.  

Grad Girl: Dungeon Master Training

Pairing books with the computer is probably the norm for most students these days.  This is definitely not chemistry!  Grad Girl is taking a two week break before she has to go back and start writing her thesis.  She's a big fan of Dungeons and Dragons. She plays with a group of fellow chemists.  But she's really wanted to try being a Dungeon Master, the person who sets up the world and sets up the challenges.  She's starting a game with her college buddies. They'll have to play on line, but all of them are looking forward to it.  It will be one way for her to de-stress while she's working to finish up school.  

So that was our take on learning.  My Guy pulled this week's challenge. 

This should be interesting. I'm going to have to think on this one for a few days.  Hopefully with everyone off this week, we'll all have time to contemplate and get a photo for next Saturday.