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Water Quality Laboratory Analyst Exam (WQE)

By Tina - August 20, 2016

Today I took the American Water Works Association California-Nevada Water Quality Laboratory Analyst Exam (Level 1).

I thought the exam went better than expected. I was very concerned that the test would be painfully difficult, since I had little time to prepare and I didn't have all the resources to study (some of the textbooks are ridiculously expensive and I couldn't find all the recommended references). There isn't a good water core standard available either, which was the biggest reason for my examination worry. The Water Quality Exam page provides a general lab need to know criteria... but it's not super helpful and the ABC peeps are just like dude just know everything!!!!!!! ...Wah cry that's sooooo much...!!!!

But the exam wasn't that bad! There were about 20 questions of the 100 question exam that I flat out didn't know. (Protip: Know the super specifics of the coliform stuff...) However even with a 20 point deduction, I think I answered enough questions correctly to pass. I won't know my test results until the end of September ... my water future will be snail mailed to me then so please keep your fingers crossed for me!!!!

Anyway, if you are planning on taking the exam, I am your best friend now. Below are links to the online resources that I found... yes so convenient for U!

Title 40, 136
Title 40, 433
Title 40, 261
Title 29, Chapter 17, Part 1910
(^^ to be honest I did not have the time to look through the government regulation codes from the links above)
Handbook for Analytical Quality Control in Water and Wastewater Laboratories
Methods for Chemical Analysis of Water and Wastes
Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater

I also ended up buying four reference books as well.

I bought Maria Csuros' Environmental Sampling and Analysis for Technicians and Environmental Sampling and Analysis Lab Manual. If you only have the budget to buy one of the two texts, I recommend purchasing the lab manual (for Level 1 WQE at least).

I also bought Principles and Practices of Water Supply Operations: Water Quality and its accompanying student workbook. The textbook proved to be quite useful but the student workbook is the worst. Don't buy it.

UPDATE: My exam results arrived (super early) and I passed. Hooray! ^_^

Image source: http://envirotestkits.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/certified-lab-hybrid-testing.png, http://www.ppic.org/content/images/GirlDrinkingFromWaterFountain.jpg

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life

Travel diary: Catalina Island

By Tina - July 31, 2016

My friends and I went to Catalina Island over the weekend to celebrate a birthday. It was an exhausting trip and I probably won't go to Catalina Island ever again.

We traveled to Catalina through ferry (Catalina Flyer), which departs in Newport Beach. A huge line of people were getting on board when we arrived. Everyone in line (well, almost everyone) took advantage of the Groupon deal. It is a good idea to. Save money!

The ferry has three levels to sit or stand and throw up.

It was packed inside the ferry. A lot of passengers got sick, including a friend. She stood next to a trash can for insurance... which ended up being a good thing.

The ferry ride took about 80 minutes. It was not fun... but once we got on the island, things were starting to look okay. Catalina Island really has just one main city: Avalon. There is another city that some people go to but I don't think it is as accessible so I won't mention it.

Avalon is a small and quaint beach town. Walking is the most popular form of transportation on the island. Everything is very close by. Our first destination was the hotel since we needed to drop off our luggage.

We stayed at the Pavilion Hotel. The accommodations were nice and there were plenty of lounging spots. I recommend booking the hotel serious months in advance if planning a summer weekend trip. I reserved the hotel through Priceline, which shaved off maybe $30 off the regular summer weekend price.

I really like the pergola sun screen setup. I want to make this in the future for my house.

There are two floors at the hotel. If you spend the extra money, the first floor rooms come with private patio chairs.

The room I booked had double beds. The beds were comfortable but very small. I thought I booked a double queen room (there were four of us staying at Catalina). But no. I think the beds were fulls? We had to squish a little.

A pretty standard bathroom.

We stayed at Catalina for two days. We went snorkeling on the first day. Well, my friends went snorkeling and I sat and watched. No, it only sounds sad, but I had fun. I'm not good at swimming and the ocean waves are strong. I'd probably end up dead, which would totally ruin the vacation so I opted out.

We snorkeled at a place called Lover's Cove, maybe half a kilometer from the hotel. The area is rocky, which is bad. But it also kept the water clear, which is good.

Glass bottom boats also stop by the cove so passengers can view the fish.

Snorkel gear can be rented nearby by the hour.

I bought a waterproof phone case bag from Amazon to take underwater photos (which a friend ended up doing for me). It worked pretty well.

After snorkeling we went back to the hotel for wine and cheese hour in the library. The hotel library is lovely. Classical music played in the background.

The library also had candy jars filled to the brim with delicious taffy.

An assorted array of cheeses.

Wine and cheese time.

After eating a few blocks of cheese, we walked around Avalon for awhile. There isn't much ground to cover so we were able to get through most of the beach town shops and things that night.

After walking a bit on the island, we found two VONS on the island: a regular VONS and a VONS Express. The VONS Express sold firewood and rotisserie chicken. The regular VONS sold groceries.

The regular VONS is located down the street from here.

... I don't remember this.

Some people were fishing along the pier. It looks like the boy is in the middle of catching a fish but no he did not catch anything.

There is a casino down there.*

*edit: It's not a casino. It's called a Casino. But the building is actually a theater?

From afar, I thought that this building was a lighthouse. I am enchanted by lighthouses. There is this romantic quality about them that I love. This building is not a lighthouse. It's some sort of yacht club.

Chinese food for dinner?

Nah let's get San Francisco style cioppino.

My friends sleep a lot. I was up early so I decided to go for a light walk/jog in the morning. I ended up not jogging. Instead I sat on the beach shore and watched the sunrise. This photo was taken at 5 am.

5 am photo.

5:30 am photo.

6 am photo. It was too foggy so no sunrise.

6 am photo.

I am an old person because I was most excited for free continental breakfast on the island. Island Tina is all about the free jam and whipped butter spreads.

I wish I could wake up to a tier of fresh fruits and breakfast juice every morning.

I was most impressed by the presence of Chobani yogurts. Retail Chobani yogurt is like $1 a pack on sale at Albertson's!!

Bacon and sausage and mini frittatas.

Croissants and muffins.

Bagels and bread.

This was my breakfast spread. I couldn't eat the plate on the left because a wasp got to it first. Also look at how cute the little Tabasco bottle is!!!!!!!! I kept it with me. It's in my purse right now.

We went parasailing on our second day. My friend's birthday was that day so we paid a BOGO rate. The experience was fun. The views in the sky could have been spectacular, but the weather was too foggy to see anything.

A photo of the parasail parachute.

Another photo of the parasail parachute.

We flew up 800 feet into the sky.

While we were in the sky, my parasail partner said she saw something big in the ocean- no it was the shadow of the parasail. Don't listen to her.

The boat made a sharp turn while we were up in the air.

The view from the sky.

I think this was us?

After parasailing we walked to Descano Beach Club and rented kayaks.

I think this was the Beach Club.

We rented kayaks by the hour. The ocean waves were incredibly strong that day and the kayak rental employees cautioned us to not paddle too far out. Well, we listened to them as best we could. But we were taken pretty far regardless (I blame it on my kayak partner who was horrible at paddling the kayak. She literally was just scooping and displacing water) and it took us forever to make it back to the shore. NEver again.......!!!!!

A golf cart FedEx truck we passed by while mini golfing ended up being most memorable for the birthday girl. Now that is a little depressing.

IMAGE SOURCE: https://images.trvl-media.com/media/content/shared/images/travelguides/destination/6192/Catalina-Island-30837.jpg

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Water Quality Laboratory Analyst Exam (WQE)

Travel diary: Catalina Island

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