Journal #4 - E-mails!

So, I sent out my e-mails to various meteorologists in both academic and professional fields over the past week or so, and I’m beginning to get some replies back. Some of them are “sorry, can’t help you” with a subtle undertone of “I’m really much too busy to help you”, however, these e-mails usually included another name that the meteorologist suggested I contact (Professor Lindzen, from MIT, suggested I contact William Gray, from Colorado State University – I thanked him for his recommendation, even though I had already e-mailed Professor Gray). Another e-mail I received, from Mark Bourassa from Florida State University, gave me a quick overview of what I wanted to know, letting me know that his answers were short, but good. So far I’ve gotten a few of each e-mail, and these e-mails are going to help me in my quest to define my research for this second semester of my project. My goal is the once I collect more and more of these e-mails, I’ll have an idea of where I should go with my research project. I must say, however, it’s been incredibly reassuring to receive some e-mails, any e-mails at all. When I first sent them out, I was almost positive that I would get no response, or that the response I would get would minimal or unimportant. I have been pleasantly surprised that experts in the field of meteorology are willing to take a few minutes to respond to my question.