2009 11 23. Monday.

While working at the compost area, I got a call from one of the Biotech College teachers asking me if I could meet with some 1st year Masters students about a compost project. I'm already coordinating with some 4th year undergrad students on a short term project, but the Masters students can do a longer, more in-depth project. Cool. I said "Sure." and the 4 Indian female students came by after compost. Unless I'm missing something, it appears that almost all of the biotech students are female. I showed them how we make the compost and then we shared about some project ideas. They want to focus on studying the microbial population in the compost pile. They're going to do a literature search and see if there are any universities that have active compost research programs. I bet a researcher could spend a lifetime studying the microbes in a compost pile! So much microbial activity going on with so many variables to play with. They said they'll contact me soon to explore the project in more detail. Should be interesting.

OK Dear Readers, get ready for a lot more whining, moaning and complaining to be appearing in the next two months in this sorry excuse for blog. The room next to me is controlled by the Indian Accommodation Office. Amma is coming soon so that means I'll have a parade of Indian families staying there. There's a little bit of sound insulation between the rooms but not much. A family stayed there the past 2 days and, typical of many Indians, the adults spent 20 minutes in the morning loudly coughing and hacking. In the West, a cup of coffee is our morning ritual. In India its very accurately imitating a cat trying to bring up a particularly large and recalcitrant hairball. Maybe its some kind of Ayurveda thing. I don't know. Imagine trying to do a little morning meditation with that racket happening. Fun. If there are any Indian readers of this blog perhaps you can illuminate the reasoning behind this prevalent and popular morning ritual.