Vacation.

There was no work for me to do at the MIRL today so after my exam, I had no commitments. Wow. I sat in the physics library for half and hour pawing through website and trying to figure out what to do with myself. I think it's a good indication of how hard I've been working on school that I didn't have to urge to bury my head in supplementary class work; the reason I go crazy over the summer, fussing about learning everything I can is that I feel like time is slipping away unused otherwise. This week, I don't feel like I failed to use every last drop of my alloted time. Actually, another good indication - the bad kind of good indication - that I've been studying hard is that I feel coldish. Have no doubt, it is cold in my apartment (I refuse to turn the heat on until November), especially during the night times when I'm supposed to be getting all the sleep that keeps me healthy, but we all know that more goes into a cold than cold itself. 

If you're wondering what I did with more free time than I've seen in months, here it is: I did enough laundry to get me through until I go home next weekend, I washed the week's dishes and I played some guitar.

Mom and Dad will be here soon for dinner. 

Thanks for reading.

Going on record.

I'm in the midst of another test week but I have a few free minutes so here go.

First, on the subject of baseball: when people suggest that one ought to root for the team that knocked one's own favorite team out of the playoffs, this is the sort of situation they must imagine. In the Greater Scheme, it ought to be more satisfying for Red Sox fans to see the Rays win the World Series than to watch the Phillies dispatch the 2008 Rays as though they were, say, the 2007 Rays. Or were they the Devil Rays then? I can't keep it straight. But on a more personal level, I want to go on record as saying that I will root for the Rays because I have a soft spot for them. Of course, I wanted most to see the Red Sox take a second ring in as many years but now that that's not an option, I would like to see the incredible story of the 2008 Rays come to a fitting conclusion. It's like seeing the youngest child in a family of five be graduated from high school. Maybe I'm just less concerned about the Red Sox because I have more life to handle this year.

Second, there's school. I'm struggling in physics lately and, though the stress of being pulled many directions certainly contributes to my ability to focus, I think a large part of the problem is that there is has been less math involved. I never realized what a central focus I had placed on learning formulas and analytic methods until I couldn't rely on mathematical tricks to bail me out. Physics is definitely a math-heavy discipline but there is much more involved than the mathematical manipulation I have spent so much time learning to employ. I think I knew that there would be conceptual techniques to develop too, but I'm only realizing how much of the discipline they represent. And I had hoped I wouldn't have to think for myself until next year. Damn.

Time's up. Bye.

Lift off

Part of launching rockets into middle space is moving lots of equipment around and it just happens that undergraduate research assistants of fine stock and build are perfectly suited for the job. My back hurts but it's nothing a little bed time can't fix. Of course, I don't want to spend all of my time moving heavy and expensive equipment around but I actually like a bit of MANual labor to supplement my geek work. It builds character. When I become a character, I want to be an ampersand and anyone who has tried to write one of those things knows that it takes some time to build one.

&

So I been thinkin'...

I divided my shift at the MIRL today between making large and small holes in the front plate of Hyomin's circuit box, and moving a bunch of awkward equipment from one storage bay to another, which gave me plenty of time to think. It occurred to me while I was filing and filing the edge of a hole, that one of the subtler benefits of my job is that it reminds me of the reality of a degree in physics. I interact with and perform duties for people who are physicists and it's encouraging to have tangible evidence that this degree will put me in a similar position. 

As you likely know, I let shed my anthropologist habit largely because I couldn't figure out how to be an actual anthropologist, at least not in a way that motivated me to pursue a particular job. Now as I study physics and when I find myself thinking "This is neat, but is it real? Can I do anything with this?, " I have only to show up at the MIRL. 

Like I said, I worked on the box today; it looks nice. I've finished making the holes into which we'll stick all the meters, switches, LEDs and the like. I think I've gotten pretty handy with a drill and a set of files so I guess I finally have something manly to talk about at parties.

Kisses!

For no good reason.

Other than to cling desperately to the promise that I would post whenever possible.

I need to eat something and I shall do so as soon as I finish writing this. I try to avoid the dining hall between 11:45 and 12:45 because it's so difficult to find a place to sit around that window of time and I've already explained to you that lunch is often the only opportunity at a break that I have in my day. I'll feel especially relaxed since I killed my time finishing up homework for tomorrow.

We had a Moses Irons gig at the Pub last night. I was up way past my bedtime but we made a few bucks so I call it even. You might find it humorous or embarrassing to know that I was almost late to the show because I was too caught up writing a computer program. Ha.

I guess that's all for now. Power Vote has been pushed entirely to the margin of my life so I have one less facet on which to update you. That's the way life works when you're focussed on school. I can write off a lot of stuff in the name of dedication. Just watch me.

Laterzz

I told you so.

We're a month into school and I'm neglecting this blog right on schedule. Thank goodness everyone else gets busy at the same time. Nice job, team.

I don't often talk about my weekends but this past weekend is worth talking about, though I believe that two-thirds of my fan base was in attendance and the remaining one-third probably knew about it anyway. Here's the summary: Jill's parents roasted a lamb, fried a turkey, cooked loads of food and, in general, opened up their house to a group of lucky folks including me, Mom, Dad and a handful of Doverites. We talked about their animals, we talked to their animals and we listened to Dave Ketchen rattle off tales of shooting coyotes from his basement doorway. Mom got lots of compliments on her hair, even after she left. I know for certain that the Ketchens were very pleased to have my parents as their guests because they mentioned it no fewer than four times after Mom and Dad left.

At school today I was caught off guard and under-prepared, which hung over me throughout the day. I didn't forget any hand-in work, but when we started off with a problem to consider, it took me too long to get my brain going and we moved onto other topics before I could work on it in depth. I really didn't come up with a satisfactory answer until after class was over which means that I have to wait until tomorrow morning to run that answer by my professor. This happens a lot - I arrive at a solution or resolution long after class is over; I think it's because I don't always respond well to the competitive-answer-shouting portion of our program.

I did respond well to my afternoon at the MIRL. Hyomin has charged me with the task of building the piece of equipment that will house some data collection circuitry; that means designing the layout of the components and cutting out holes of many shapes and sizes. The challenge for me is that though we have a very competent machine shop on hand at the Space Science Center, they're really busy with more complicated and interesting projects so I have to machine all the holes, large (for a plate of mounted input/output jacks) and small (the wee on/off switch) with a drill, a little metal snipper called a nibbler and all the differently-shaped files a physics undergrad could ever wish for. I think it's coming along well. Hyomin certainly seemed please with what I got done today and I'm just tickled to think that I'm producing something that will be part of someone's research.

And that brings us to our final subject. Today's work at the MIRL reminded me of some of the aspects of the restaurant biz that have really gotten under my skin over time and are likely the reason that I can't stand to be at Friday's for more than twenty-five hours each week. I hate sweating and hurting myself in a process that I'm just going to have to repeat the next day. I hate putting my time and energy into a batch of food that, by the nature of the job, I will have to remake soon. These aren't the only things that aggravate me when I'm working at a restaurant but they were on my mind today as I worked on the equipment for Hyomin - a step in the research process that I won't have to do all over again tomorrow, that I can think about and take my time with, and that I can leave for the next day when I've worked long enough on it. I think that's all I wanted to say about that...My intent wasn't to bitch and moan; my intent was to highlight some of the reasons that I'm so excited to be working at the MIRL.

Go to bed.

Okay.

Validation

With the promise of some honest-to-Higgs free time (5 points to anyone who can explain that reference), I think it's a good idea to post for the first time in too long.

The most important news is that two tests were returned this week and I earned a 94 and a 98 in calc and physics, respectively. Phew. Some of you might say in response well sure, you've seen this material before and you take your course work seriously, both of which are true but it means more that meets the eye to get a few high grades in the bank right from the start. I am still working on convincing myself that I belong here, in a major university physics program and the most concrete way to gauge that is to get an A on a test. There are many other ways in which to be successful as a physics student and more and more advocates for alternative grading methods come out every year but tests don't seem to be on their way out so I will continue to worry and fret over getting good grades on them. Okay.

We had our Green Jobs Day of Action yesterday. Did I mention that? I don't think I've written in a while so probably not. The national Day of Action was on Saturday and we were supposed to hold our day last Friday but rain made us reschedule. The weather just barely held off yesterday but the important fact is that it did hold off. I think we got a solid number of signatures and I know that were got a good deal of media coverage so we continue onward piece-by-piece. Or maybe it will be more accurate to say that they continue onward piece-by-piece since I weekly grow busier and busier with greater priorities.

Work: yes. MIRL: good. Farm party: this weekend. There's your update. I'm going to eat lunch.