| At long last... |
[Jun. 11th, 2008|09:39 pm] |
Another post from me! It's been a long time. Sorry bout that.
So I'm out here in Cleveland having an amazing time. I'm working at the NASA Glenn Research Center in the Advanced Metallics branch of the Materials division. What does that mean? Good question, glad you asked. It means that I get to play with metallic foam. Think like a sponge, but made from an iron-chromium-aluminum-yttrium alloy. It's very nifty.
We'd like to test its tensile strength, but we haven't been able to yet. Here's why. When you do tensile testing, you put the sample in large grips that hold on to your sample while the machine pulls it apart and measures force and displacement. In order to make sure your sample doesn't slip, those grips need to be squeezing it really really hard. The foam just crunches under that kind of force.
I'm reinforcing the foam with an epoxy in order to make it stronger. The epoxy is in liquid form when I mix it, and I use a vacuum chamber to suck it into all the pores in the foam. Then when it hardens, it's strong enough to withstand the grips. I've spent the last week figuring out how best to fill the foam with epoxy.
I'm also doing numerical modeling the foam. That means that we're taking the foam, putting the structure into a computer, and predicting how it will react. This is actually pretty tough because the foam has a random distribution of sizes of cells and ligaments. So we're starting small - modeling one edge of a cell. Then we'll move up to all edges around a cell, then a repeating pattern, finally we'll randomize it.
My mentor, Cheryl, is amazing. She's brilliant, and unlike many brilliant engineers, extremely sociable and very nice. I don't think I could have gotten a better mentor. She's fantastic. My only complaint is the following: she's very short (roughly 5'1") but takes extremely long strides. I have to walk quickly to walk with her. And if that's my only complaint, that says a lot about how great she is.
Some things that I have encountered:
-guys that shoot Jello at 600 mph to hit carbon fiber (to simulate bird strikes)
-my office mate who has 25 pounds of rhenium (a metal that is extremely rare, incredibly dense (denser than lead), and costs $10,000 per pound. You do the math)
-the International Journal of Crashworthiness (yes, a real journal)
-strange units - I encountered a material that holds its properties from 4 Kelvin to 400º Fahrenheit. I'm a bit culpable also: I'm now measuring dimensions in inches and density in g/cc.
-although I have not met him yet, a guy named Ephraim Chen. I really want to know his family history.
-Failing program organizers - the one-page schedule had 2 dates that were just wrong (Tuesday June 2nd [June 2nd was actually a Monday]). That's the worst type of error. Do you trust the number or the day of the week?
-Failing program organizers - on the schedule they put "midterms" and "finals" with no explanation. Apparently, next week I need to give a 20 minute talk about my research. It's good that they told me early, right? Oh, and they expect 35 of us to give these talks. At 20 minutes per person (not counting time for questions, time to change speakers, lunch break, etc) that makes 11 hours and 40 minutes of presentations. Remind me how this is going to work?
-Failing program organizers - cryptic emails sent the day before we're supposed to attend a talk. Sometimes they tell us the correct building number.
-Awesome people who play frisbee. A bunch of interns decided to play frisbee, coincidentally exactly the same time that the NASA employees regularly get together to play. They're glad to have a few extra people, we're glad to meet some more people.
-Control software from hell - it controls the tensile testing machine. I wanted some help getting started, so I went to Ray. Ray works in the tensile test lab. He's only been here 9 months and barely knows the software. He called Bill. Bill has been doing this type of testing here for 6 years. Bill had trouble. Bill called Ron. Ron has been using the software for 12 years. After about half an hour on the phone with Ron, Bill figured out how to run a test. The program tells you when you're doing something wrong by flashing a yellow circle in the bottom corner. No indication on what's wrong or how to fix it. Cheryl had expected me to write my own programs in this software by the end of the summer. Clearly Cheryl and Bill had not talked about this. That expectation is now gone from my agenda.
Besides that, I've been living here in a room of an older lady's house. That's been fine. Her house is randomly thrown together, though. She told us all about her $25 washer and dryer and her $15 range. I really wanted to ask what she did before she got those at a garage sale. The shower is in the basement. Not in a bathroom - it's just randomly a stall against a wall in the basement.
The kitchen isn't particularly well-stocked, but I haven't been trying anything terribly exciting yet. Just stir-fry of various ethnicities and bread. Cheryl (who loves to cook) has offered me the use of things from her kitchen - I want to try a cheesecake this summer.
I got a new housemate this week - a guy going for his Ph.D. at Colorado. Nice guy. I think we'll get along fine.
I've joined the fitness center and have every intention of working out regularly. Speaking of which, I should get to bed so I can get up and go to the gym tomorrow morning.
More later! |
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| Collective sigh of relief |
[May. 2nd, 2008|07:58 pm] |
I finally have time to post my end-of-the-semester post. I've been super super busy this week, such that I didn't even have time to write this post until today.
Big Things to report:
1) Since I got above 90% on both midterms in E84 (analog electrical engineering), I don't have to take the final! I'm one of 5 people maximum who did this well. That is such a relief, because I get diodes and transistors in concept, but the actual equations don't make a whole lot of sense to me. (The final would be roughly 70% on that portion of the class).
2) I finished my hammer! As part of E8 (tools) I had to make a tool tray, screwdriver, and hammer throughout the semester. The hammer is the hardest one - they give you 6 weeks to do it, and, of course, I put it off until this week. I finished it last night (except for sanding, which I did this morning). It's shiny! It has 4 components that have to be to spec, polished, and nifty in all general ways - the soft face (made from nylon), the hard face (made from high grade steel that I then heat-treated), the hammer head (holds both faces together and the handle, made from a lower grade steel) and the handle (made from wood). The important thing is: it's done. ^_^
3) I got a new hard drive! My friend got some money to build a new computer for the Linde Activities Center (the LAC) because the one at the front desk sucks. He accidentally bought 2 hard drives, so he sold one to me at cost. I then bought an external enclosure to go with it, so now I can back up my computer and have movies, etc to watch this summer.
4) Speaking of the LAC, I'm going to work there next year! It will be pretty relaxing - either just chilling at the front desk making sure nobody dies or doing some random tasks as the dean of students' office needs. It will be good. Apparently minimum wage got raised again, so as a junior I'll be making lots of monies an hour.
5) Speaking of monies, I'll also be grading + tutoring = grutoring for CS5 (intro to comp sci) next fall! It's an awesome way for me to chill with the new frosh and some good friends of mine while making more monies. And since I'll be tutoring also, whenever a frosh asks me questions outside of my regular tutoring hours, I can count that also and get paid for it!
6) The school year is almost done! Yes, we all knew this. But here is my list anyway:
-0 hours of class
-6 hours of take-home finals (DEs II and E83 [continuum mechanics])
-15 minutes of group presentation + 10 minutes of questions for E80 (experimental engineering)
-1 tech memo (9 pages max single spaced) for E80 - group thing
-1 hour of fixing my animation for Harmony of Sound and Light - at a certain point the animation gets off the beat and I need to fix it.
-revision of 2 papers - probably about an hour for each
7) I'm tired!
8) I preregistered for next semester! There's this advanced topics engineering course regarding materials science and energy storage/conversion. And I got into it! For next semester, I'm taking exactly what I want to be. Hooray! That also includes a course on musical theatre in America, taught by a former artistic director of the gay men's chorus of LA. I think it'll be awesome.
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| Wheee! |
[Apr. 22nd, 2008|10:50 pm] |
I'm officially half of a dorm president!
I'm an ossifer! |
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| ^_^ |
[Apr. 22nd, 2008|01:59 pm] |
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I am OK. |
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| Boo work... |
[Apr. 16th, 2008|02:00 pm] |
It's that time again. You know, the time when I'm avoiding work so I make a quick blog post about how I'm not doing work.
Next year should be really amazing. I'm applying to work at our activities center as a front desk staff guy. I'm running for dorm co-president. I'm trying to get into upper-division materials science courses all about energy storage and conversion.
I'd also like to grade or tutor for my continuum mechanics course next year. Maybe I'll be able to grade while working at the front desk... mmm double pay...
I've still got 3 pages single spaced of my tech memo to write... it's due tomorrow afternoon. Good thing I don't have any classes tomorrow.
More later!
Bye!
ETA: Dorm President is the only contested spot. Based on our opponents, we've got this one in the bag. I might be cocky, but I think we have the freshman and senior base to ensure that we win. Also, I wouldn't trust these guys to run the dorm as it should be run. |
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| OMG NASA |
[Mar. 23rd, 2008|10:25 pm] |
Guess where I'll be working this summer?
NASA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! |
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| (no subject) |
[Mar. 6th, 2008|05:16 pm] |
This was posted to reddit with the caption "cool":
Shortly thereafter, it was modified:
Also:
And:
But I think the ultimate winner is the xkcd guy who posted the following image mod:
 |
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| Whoooooooo!!! |
[Feb. 29th, 2008|10:24 am] |
It's that time again, the time when I really shouldn't be posting because I've got things I should be doing. Ok, I think I would actually prefer to do my work since it's due soon, but I'm doing science and I'm still alive. I feel fantastic and I'm still alive. Et cetera. |
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| Fiiiiive times with your bro-ther! |
[Jan. 20th, 2008|12:14 am] |
So I head back to California tomorrow. I ask myself, what have I done over the last four weeks? I did a lot in name, but what did I do in substance? Sure, I visited artistic sites, went to the zoo, filled out some internship applications, and directed at some fencing meets, but what of it? This break has flown by. It feels that I've been home for too long, but that I've barely been away from college.
Like everyone else on LJ, I'm probably being emo simply because I'm writing a blog about nothing that very few people will read. That's ok, I really don't mind. To be honest, I'm procrastinating on packing - I have everything laid out, but I don't want to bother fitting it all in my suitcase. Not that I have too much stuff. Exactly the opposite, in fact; I'm afraid my medium-sized suitcase will be too big and things will rattle around and might break. I hope they don't.
To the fencing squad - please don't ever fence like a particular girl I saw today. Worst footwork I've EVER seen, and that's saying a lot. She's also the only person I know to have gotten a yellow card and 3 red cards for covering target area on foil, and she was backed off the end of the strip twice. She was jumping and lurching about, and fell over twice. Even those of you who are brand new to the team are better than this girl, I promise.
To (red) - please call me if it happens again. I'm not trying to be patronizing or condescending, I'm just worried about you.
To Ezzie - Hang in there, and it'll all turn out alright soon enough. I want to call you tomorrow to see if you're around.
To Laura - I felt as though you were really distant this break. Is everything ok? Did you enjoy hanging out with me?
To Meghan - I passed a Caribou at Lunds and instinctively looked behind the counter to see if you were there. Shhh. I want to meet your fellow soon (i.e. this summer?).
To Zoë - I really enjoyed our talk. Oh, and here you go. Good luck. It's not very hard - just chop things up and stir-fry them. I personally added sliced bamboo shoots, too, because I like them. It's one of those recipes where you can substitute anything you want.
To the world - do good. If you're in college, make the most of it. At no other time in your life will you have so much knowledge concentrated in such a small area. I know it can be tough at times to recognize it (I've read all your posts, Michael), but if nothing else, listen to insight that others give in a seminar or discussion. This semester, it's my goal to get to know some new people better than I did before. Take classes you think you will like. That was my biggest complaint in high school - not enough choice in courses. Oddly enough, I chose a college with the strictest requirements around. Oh well, I still get choice. And I would have chosen most of the same courses anyway.
I'll go pack now. |
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| (no subject) |
[Dec. 22nd, 2007|03:09 am] |
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My plane leaves in just under 7 hours. Maybe I'll get a little sleep. |
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| Time to relax... |
[Dec. 21st, 2007|09:34 pm] |
That's it. I'm done. Except for the bit where I have to write up 3 protocols - but I'm going to do that while my laundry is in the dryer. It won't take long.
I feel very accomplished. This week, I wrote a 7-page paper, took 4 finals within 48 hours, watched The Blues Brothers, Dogma, and half of Young Frankenstein (will finish tonight, given time) and tonight I'll watch the Futurama movie.
My plane leaves in just over 12 hours, then I spend the day traveling and then there's a party to go to in the evening.
It'll be good to be home and sleep. The thing I most need right now is the ability to go to bed at like 11 pm tomorrow night and sleep until noon. It'll make me feel amazing.
To all you who are doing stuff, let me know about it, kay?
And Tyler, how did you find my LJ? |
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| (no subject) |
[Dec. 16th, 2007|09:25 pm] |
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Sigh... finals week. |
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| (no subject) |
[Dec. 13th, 2007|04:00 pm] |
I decided that I finally deserved a decent amount of sleep, so I skipped stems and EM lecture this morning. My myth and religion class met for only 15 minutes. Therefore, I have 2 more hours of class.
I finished my Stems lab and my stats experiment.
Due tomorrow:
lab report
tech report (half done)
stats homework
My lab meeting got canceled, so I can go to the choir concert. Hooray!
I also have an appointment at student health. Yay!
My eye was a huge problem today - lots of double vision. I must get this fixed. |
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| SIGH |
[Dec. 12th, 2007|10:04 pm] |
That was both a sigh of relief and of fatigue. I'm so close to being done. Final tallies:
1/2 of a tech report (2-ish hours)
1 lab report (2-ish hours)
1 stems lab write-up (15-ish minutes)
stats homework (3-ish hours)
write up of stats experiment (1/2-ish hours)
1 6-page paper (n-ish hours, where n depends on how organized I am)
review of high-speed camera procedure (1/2-ish hours)
review of atomic force microscope procedure (1/2-ish hours)
6 hours of class (6-ish hours)
1 stats exam (3-ish hours of studying)
1 E&M exam (2-ish hours of studying)
1 Stems exam (1-ish hours of studying)
1 M&R exam (3-ish hours of studying)
I can has sleep?
By the way, I come home on December 22nd and after I spend 36 hours sleeping, I want to see peoples. Ya. |
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| (no subject) |
[Dec. 6th, 2007|11:34 am] |
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Alanna: you need to make Alannacookies and bring them to the fencing meet, where I'll be directing! And you need to win foil, too. |
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| (no subject) |
[Dec. 4th, 2007|08:09 am] |
Wheee! I finally get a little bit of a break. Sort of. I've had a metric boatload of work in the last couple weeks, but it all paid off this weekend.
I prepared a poster from my research this summer and semester and went to the California Tissue Engineering Meeting, and I actually won a Best Poster award! It was really exciting. I also got $100 of monies to go with it! Wheee resume building!
Systems engineering is really cool. Show me any piece of equipment and I can explain to you how Stems fits into it. It's really really cool. I'm finally at the point in my education when I'm truly enjoying the things I'm learning, more so than just for the sake of learning. There's that aspect too, but now I'm learning nifty things and I can see how they will fit into whatever career I end up in.
The year is winding down, as is to be expected. I have:
1 stems pset
3 physics psets
1 6-page essay
1 lab
1 lab report (not the same report as the lab on the previous line)
1 tech report
4 exams
roughly 31 hours of class
a hankering to go to Disneyland
Meghan, you need to tell me about that thing that is totally happening soon.
Laura, you need to make cookies with me when we're both home.
Ezzie, you need to let me know exactly when we're going to hang out.
Anyone else who actually reads this, you need to inform me of this fact so I can give you a task.
STEMS IS EVERYWHERE! AND REALLY REALLY COOL!!!
ETA: Zoe, you need to tell me when we're going to get pie! |
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| Blah |
[Nov. 14th, 2007|11:56 pm] |
All of a sudden, I have nothing to do. I mean, in the next week, I only have to take a 1-hour midterm and write a 6-page paper in English. I have all this time and I'm not worried about anything.
The Leonids are this weekend, and I'm going with some friends out to the middle of the desert to watch them. Last time we went and it was the best sky I've ever seen. I'm looking forward to that (and getting lots of sleep).
The only things I have to do this semester are as follows:
1 6-page paper
revision of 1 8-page paper in French
1 midterm, 1 sheet of notes
3 technical finals - 1 given equation sheet and 2 with 1 sheet of notes
1 myth and religion final - i have no idea what's on it
What am I going to do in the meantime? There's nothing left to do. I'll be... bored? I'll get... sleep? I'll have lots of time to... relax? I have no idea what I'll be doing. |
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| (no subject) |
[Nov. 13th, 2007|01:30 am] |
Finished my paper a whole 40 minutes before it was due. Yes, I finished my 2500-word 7.5-page essay in French at 11:20. That means that I can check off the list of things I will have done in the past week by tomorrow morning:
EM midterm
French paper (the big one of the semester)
STEMS midterm
Myth and Religion paper
MultiV II final
By next Tuesday, I will have added another M&R paper and a probstat midterm.
Why is life so busy?
Laura-I'm with you. Sleep is good.
And I've got a midterm in roughly 6.5 hours. Maybe I should sleep.
I love teal deer! They're so cute. And so easy to ignore. |
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| (no subject) |
[Nov. 12th, 2007|08:22 pm] |
I am one thousand nine hundred and seventy one words into my essay. I need about one more page before it is complete. Why is this so hard for me to finish?
Oh, I remember.
It's a literary analysis paper. I'm terrible at that and really don't enjoy it.
I'm supposed to connect with these novels written by women over 200 years ago. I can't really do that either.
It's for a class I'm not really enjoying that I'm planning on taking pass/fail as soon as I get around to filling out the form.
Oh, and it's in French. |
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| Blagoblag |
[Nov. 8th, 2007|09:17 pm] |
Here is the fundamental difference between Mudders and non-Mudders.
The comic.
Mudders: "I wonder how to get the boot sector back... oh, just use the Super Grub Disk. The worst part is that she screwed with his .conf files..."
Psych Majors: "What on earth did he do to piss her off that much? What kind of deranged childhood did she have to get the idea to mess with his expensive electronics?" |
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