Amanda and I got our electricity bill yesterday. It was slightly odd because our usage somehow doubled in the last month, despite our efforts to decrease the amount we use our gadgets that require electricity (including our computers, which as you can imagine, is asking a lot of two engineers). And we turned the AC "on" temperature to 80 degrees. Meaning that the apartment can get quite warm before the cool bliss of central air starts up, but we thought it was worth it to reduce our carbon footprint.
I called the power company this morning and they're sending someone out to re-read the meter "within 3-5 days." We'll see what happens - I'll keep you updated.
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
Do You Know...
1. I sometimes annoy my friends and loved ones by...
Being slightly OCD/anal retentive. Of course, that's how they refer to it. I generally regard it as being super organized when it comes to planning things. This usually comes in the form of making lists. I am a master list-maker. To-do lists, movie lists, travel lists, packing lists, grocery lists, etc. The list goes on and on (hah!). I also become slightly "erratic" when I lose things....tearing everything up and putting it back together slightly more organized than before until I find what was lost. And until I find it, I obsess. This appears to annoy people a bit. :)
2. If I could be best pals with a celebrity, I would pick...
Jodie Foster. Dr. Arroway in Contact has probably been my favorite of her roles.
3. When I am sad I...
Get really quiet. I tend to want to be around people more because I'm trying to snap myself back into being happy or at least content, but I'm generally just observing the crowd rather than participating when I'm sad. I also cry a little I guess...but the crying is often pretty random and comes out of nowhere. The first time Matt saw me cry was when I was feeling really sad and stressed out about starting grad school. We were just sitting on his couch watching TV and I was suddenly balling - and couldn't for the life of me explain why! He handled it well, in my opinion, although he swears that he was freaking out. Crying is an excellent catharsis when everything is overwhelming.
Being slightly OCD/anal retentive. Of course, that's how they refer to it. I generally regard it as being super organized when it comes to planning things. This usually comes in the form of making lists. I am a master list-maker. To-do lists, movie lists, travel lists, packing lists, grocery lists, etc. The list goes on and on (hah!). I also become slightly "erratic" when I lose things....tearing everything up and putting it back together slightly more organized than before until I find what was lost. And until I find it, I obsess. This appears to annoy people a bit. :)
2. If I could be best pals with a celebrity, I would pick...
Jodie Foster. Dr. Arroway in Contact has probably been my favorite of her roles.
3. When I am sad I...
Get really quiet. I tend to want to be around people more because I'm trying to snap myself back into being happy or at least content, but I'm generally just observing the crowd rather than participating when I'm sad. I also cry a little I guess...but the crying is often pretty random and comes out of nowhere. The first time Matt saw me cry was when I was feeling really sad and stressed out about starting grad school. We were just sitting on his couch watching TV and I was suddenly balling - and couldn't for the life of me explain why! He handled it well, in my opinion, although he swears that he was freaking out. Crying is an excellent catharsis when everything is overwhelming.
Monday, August 6, 2007
Do You Know...
Over the next few posts I'm going to answer a series of questions about myself...feel free to answer these questions yourself - I'd love to get to know you better!
1. Walking into a coffee shop, I would order...
Usually a Chai tea. If I needed the caffeine, a small vanilla latte. But I probably wouldn't finish it. If it's the Tutor Cafe at school, a Tutor Freeze.
2. The one New Year's resolution I can never keep...
Thus far in life I've not been very good about making new year's resolutions, let alone keeping them. But it would probably be something about getting my life organized. I start out the year with the best of intentions, but I get to my first set of midterms and things go haywire: papers all over the apartment, dishes that move from the sink to the dish drainer back to the sink, empty water bottles scattered over the coffee table, my desk and the kitchen counters. And when it comes time to move out of the apartment? Fuh-get-about-it. My organization system makes sense to me and me alone.
3. Three things I'd like to have for Christmas this year...
A new camera lens. Scuba lessons in Australia. A cruise to Alaska. A good job for myself near M. A good job for M near me. A nice apartment, preferably near the beach. A Tiffany's starfish necklace.
Yes, that was more than three. But I figured I'd list them because, let's face it, the chances of getting any of the above are pretty slim.
1. Walking into a coffee shop, I would order...
Usually a Chai tea. If I needed the caffeine, a small vanilla latte. But I probably wouldn't finish it. If it's the Tutor Cafe at school, a Tutor Freeze.
2. The one New Year's resolution I can never keep...
Thus far in life I've not been very good about making new year's resolutions, let alone keeping them. But it would probably be something about getting my life organized. I start out the year with the best of intentions, but I get to my first set of midterms and things go haywire: papers all over the apartment, dishes that move from the sink to the dish drainer back to the sink, empty water bottles scattered over the coffee table, my desk and the kitchen counters. And when it comes time to move out of the apartment? Fuh-get-about-it. My organization system makes sense to me and me alone.
3. Three things I'd like to have for Christmas this year...
A new camera lens. Scuba lessons in Australia. A cruise to Alaska. A good job for myself near M. A good job for M near me. A nice apartment, preferably near the beach. A Tiffany's starfish necklace.
Yes, that was more than three. But I figured I'd list them because, let's face it, the chances of getting any of the above are pretty slim.
Sunday, August 5, 2007
An Out of Water Experience
We went out last night. And by we I mean a group that includes people from work and their significant others. Of course, my s.o. is in Minn. right now, but he was there via phone for a portion of the evening. Thank goodness for engineering marvels such as the cell phone. Where would we be without them?
Going out last night made me feel quite like a fish out of water and has inspired me to create a series of posts on the "out of water experience(s)" I have.
I've found that each bar or club I've been in has it's own atmosphere, a certain characteristic that makes it unique and draws a crowd of like-minded people. Now I should say here that I'm no expert on bars or clubs, but I feel that the smattering of places I've been create a diverse sample from which to speak.
The bar we were at last night was on the beach and definitely drew the late 20s to late 30s crowd (with a few outlying ages thrown in for good measure). These were the people holding on to the last bastions of their youth, reveling in their single-dom and "escape" from the real world responsibilities many of their peers have undertaken. I'm sure that a fair number of them were engineers - an assurance stemming from stereotypes certainly, but also from years of classes with the same type of people. Let's call it engineer-dar, for lack of a better word.
From the moment we walked in, I was overwhelmed with feeling as though I didn't belong, and certainly didn't fit in. It was like walking into a group of Lost Boys who wished they were back in college going to frat parties, living out a Peter Pan-like dream to never grow older than 21. The music was loud enough that my conversations were carried out as though I were vying for gold in the Olympic-level shouting competition, despite sitting outside on the patio area. Beer was spilled all over the floor (and my shoes) by guys trying to get lucky. A couple of girls were throwing up in the bar area. It made me wonder, why do people choose to do this night after night?
I guess I can understand it when you're an undergraduate in college, or in the general 18-22 age category. You are growing up, being allowed to sample from a menu of "adult" passtimes. You are away from the restrictions placed upon you by parents. I think that experiencing this growth period, the immaturity that comes from drinking until the world spins beneath your feet, is important. It teaches you limits and makes you figure things out for yourself. Like the fact that getting sick in a public restroom on your birthday is really not that much fun. Nor is feeling like everything in the world is coming at you from behind a thick cottonball-like haze.
For many of my younger friends, the bar scene holds an immeasurable appeal; mostly, I think, because they haven't yet spent a lot of time in it. It's an adventure they've so far been denied, either due to being underage themselves or due to being in a group of friends who are all turning 21 this summer. As soon as the last one of them turns 21 (in a few weeks), I suspect there will be even more bar time in my future - a thought that makes me inwardly cringe.
All in all, this beach bar was not my "scene," as noted by my roommate when I told her the story of my evening. Lately though, I've felt more and more like this when I go into bars or clubs, regardless of their atmosphere. Is this a sign of getting older? Or, as suggested by my roomie, a sign that I no longer have a need of the basic reason why bars exist: I have a s.o. I think I'll have to re-evaluate my feelings when Matt comes back to LA and we go out. That way I'll have a decision less affected by the emotional reelings of a long distance relationship.
p.s. How do you feel about bars that charge a cover to get in?
Going out last night made me feel quite like a fish out of water and has inspired me to create a series of posts on the "out of water experience(s)" I have.
I've found that each bar or club I've been in has it's own atmosphere, a certain characteristic that makes it unique and draws a crowd of like-minded people. Now I should say here that I'm no expert on bars or clubs, but I feel that the smattering of places I've been create a diverse sample from which to speak.
The bar we were at last night was on the beach and definitely drew the late 20s to late 30s crowd (with a few outlying ages thrown in for good measure). These were the people holding on to the last bastions of their youth, reveling in their single-dom and "escape" from the real world responsibilities many of their peers have undertaken. I'm sure that a fair number of them were engineers - an assurance stemming from stereotypes certainly, but also from years of classes with the same type of people. Let's call it engineer-dar, for lack of a better word.
From the moment we walked in, I was overwhelmed with feeling as though I didn't belong, and certainly didn't fit in. It was like walking into a group of Lost Boys who wished they were back in college going to frat parties, living out a Peter Pan-like dream to never grow older than 21. The music was loud enough that my conversations were carried out as though I were vying for gold in the Olympic-level shouting competition, despite sitting outside on the patio area. Beer was spilled all over the floor (and my shoes) by guys trying to get lucky. A couple of girls were throwing up in the bar area. It made me wonder, why do people choose to do this night after night?
I guess I can understand it when you're an undergraduate in college, or in the general 18-22 age category. You are growing up, being allowed to sample from a menu of "adult" passtimes. You are away from the restrictions placed upon you by parents. I think that experiencing this growth period, the immaturity that comes from drinking until the world spins beneath your feet, is important. It teaches you limits and makes you figure things out for yourself. Like the fact that getting sick in a public restroom on your birthday is really not that much fun. Nor is feeling like everything in the world is coming at you from behind a thick cottonball-like haze.
For many of my younger friends, the bar scene holds an immeasurable appeal; mostly, I think, because they haven't yet spent a lot of time in it. It's an adventure they've so far been denied, either due to being underage themselves or due to being in a group of friends who are all turning 21 this summer. As soon as the last one of them turns 21 (in a few weeks), I suspect there will be even more bar time in my future - a thought that makes me inwardly cringe.
All in all, this beach bar was not my "scene," as noted by my roommate when I told her the story of my evening. Lately though, I've felt more and more like this when I go into bars or clubs, regardless of their atmosphere. Is this a sign of getting older? Or, as suggested by my roomie, a sign that I no longer have a need of the basic reason why bars exist: I have a s.o. I think I'll have to re-evaluate my feelings when Matt comes back to LA and we go out. That way I'll have a decision less affected by the emotional reelings of a long distance relationship.
p.s. How do you feel about bars that charge a cover to get in?
Friday, August 3, 2007
To the Moon! (Part II)
The thing with instrument choice is that it can change rapidly. You have a preliminary instrument list so you can come up with an idea about the amount of data you’re going to be dealing with (which can start the design of the C&DH and telecomm systems), but when you make a decision on the mission architecture, everything can change. But you have to start somewhere, and instruments are as good a place as any.
Mission architecture is one of the most exciting and challenging areas of systems engineering. How are you going to launch from Earth? This requires the choice of a launch vehicle, entirely dependent on the volume and mass of the payload your mission will be carrying. So…you can’t even begin to decide on this until after the rest of the mission design is nearly complete. Once you escape Earth’s gravitational pull, how do you get to where you want to go? This seems to involve complex math and a lot of turns to make use of gravity assists. Just to get to the moon there are different stages – where we will be releasing the rocket boosters from the launch vehicle, where we will be firing engines to push the payload into the correct path, where we will be entering the moon’s gravitational pull, where we will enter a parking orbit around the moon, where we will send the lander down to the surface.
Beyond that, the seemingly simple choice of an orbiter, lander, rover, return capsule can turn into a heated debate. You have to have an orbiter to communicate with Earth. But should you have a rover/lander or just a lander? The cost goes up, but your samples might not be as good. And when you launch the return capsule from the moon, should it dock with the orbiter and the orbiter come back to Earth (very Apollo-like), or should the return capsule launch from the moon and shoot straight back home? Again, trades with cost, risk, and complexity (probably just a combined term for dual increased risk and cost!).
We’re using a brand new technology for our rovers in this concept. All of the senior systems engineers we’ve talked to think we’re crazy for using it, but I’m of the opinion that if people aren’t willing to take risks and say that new technology should be utilized, it won’t ever be used – and this is true for everything from space systems to new software. Plus using this solves so many potential issues that may come up because of the unknown terrain and surface conditions. And if we function under the idea that the technological development for this particular robot is being funded by the manned space program….well, we have several fewer issues with the cost AND we can say that it’s proof of technology and demonstration of capability for future manned missions.
Once you have your mission architecture, you can rethink your instrumentation if needed. Otherwise, you start work on specific subsystems. Some become more challenging than others, but in general you have to consider the following:
Communications
Command and Data Handling (C&DH)
Attitude Control Systems (ACS)
Thermal
Power
Radiation
Structures
Propulsion
Slowly, every part comes together, each fitting snuggly against the last. It’s like putting together a dynamic jigsaw puzzle. The nice thing about this type of puzzle, though, is that you can shave off a little of the edge if it doesn’t fit perfectly!
I am really excited to see what our final product looks like. And it seems as though other people are too – I was asked yesterday evening if the team would be ready for “prime time.” Apparently this guy has a new senior level advisor or something that is going to be on Lab next week. And one of the associate directors of the Lab thought it would be a great idea to have us present to this third-highest level in the NASA hierarchy.
It’s an amazing opportunity. But let’s just say that my stress levels are about as high as they possibly could be right now. As M said yesterday, I should be living in my cube with a case of redbull, my computer, and a pillow.
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