Everyone needs their diversions. Mine now comes in the form of the PlayStation 3. :)
My local Best Buy had an invitation-only Reward Zone event last night. I won a t-shirt for beating my friend at American Idol karaoke and free ear buds for being among the first 100 in the door.
They were also giving 250 bonus point for every $100 spent... and I had a lot of gift card money to burn. So, I picked up the 60 GB model, an extra controller, the memory card adapter, Blazing Angels, and Resistance: Fall of Man.
Thus far, I am very happy with my purchase. The machine itself runs beautifully and was easy as pie to set up. It uses the same multi-out port as the PS2, so I didn't have to buy new component cables or ante up for an HDMI cable to get good picture quality.
I've been playing Blazing Angels this morning and loving it. The graphics are great, the gameplay is fun, the planes are awesome, and Ubisoft seems to have learned from Heroes of the Pacific in that the controls are much more user-friendly. Shooting down Stukas over the Thames has never been so fun!
I can't wait to take a shot at Resistance...
26 February 2007
14 February 2007
Woot!
I finally heard back from the guy at Jacobs. Turns out that he was on travel longer than expected and was unable to contact me until this week. He still wants to bring me in some time over the next week and is going to let me know when soon. So, I'm thinking positive once again. :)
09 February 2007
Throttling Down
My contact at NASA Ames emailed me to let me know that my project has been put on indefinite hold as a result of "programmatics" (read: bureaucratic) issues. I haven't been able to get a hold of the guy from Jacobs that I talked to last week. I'm feeling a little bummed out right now, especially after getting so excited after the Career Fair.
30 January 2007
Career Fair
Rice sponsored a Career Fair today and, for the first time since I became a grad student, NASA contractors showed up to recruit people for full-time jobs! I had forgotten about the Fair, so I dashed home to put on a suit and tie when I saw that Lockheed Martin and Jacobs were going to be there. I wore the same suit that I wore to the Space Exploration Conference. This maneuver paid off, IMHO.
The Jacobs people were really excited to talk to me and their NASA rep turned out to also be an Aggie engineer. "Mr. Jacobs" took a copy of my resume and says that he wants to bring me in for interviews next week after he gets back from travel. He even asked me about my schedule this semester because they might be willing to hire me even before I finish my thesis, so long as it doesn't interfere with my work for Rice!
After that reception, I had a pretty big grin on my face when I went to talk to the LockMart contingent. It was a smaller group, but their engineering rep was just the man I wanted to see. He is the lead systems engineer for the Orion crew exploration vehicle. "Mr. Orion" seemed surprised that I'd put in my resume at the company website already and not seen it, but then mentioned that LM has been in the process of revising the contract to meet the new NASA requirements since their original bid was accepted. LM should be filling their entry-to-mid level positions in the next couple of weeks, though, so Mr. Orion said he would pass on my resume directly to his hiring managers.
In the course of our conversation, Mr. Orion noticed the Space Exploration Conference pin on my lapel and we talked a little about how I organized the Rice student volunteer group at the conference. I hope that got me a few points. When he mentioned the other offices around the country, I was pretty clear that I want to stay in Houston because my wife is in medical school (and, well, Houston is home) here. Mr. Orion grinned and said that he's married to a doctor, an anesthesiologist. Small world, indeed!
Both of the gentlemen I talked to seemed impressed that I've continued working on aerospace-related research in my graduate studies, especially in a department that isn't well-known for it, and that NASA Ames/Intrinsyx Technologies is going to have me do that part-time work on the Constellation lexicon. Mr. Orion was aware of that project, even, and nodded in approval when I mentioned what I'd be doing for them.
Mr. Orion said flat-out that the long-term work for the next generation of human spaceflight is being done here in Houston. Both he and the Jacobs people said that now is the best time for a young, ambitious engineer like myself to get in on this and lay the foundations for a good career. I've got a good feeling about this. I really do.
The Jacobs people were really excited to talk to me and their NASA rep turned out to also be an Aggie engineer. "Mr. Jacobs" took a copy of my resume and says that he wants to bring me in for interviews next week after he gets back from travel. He even asked me about my schedule this semester because they might be willing to hire me even before I finish my thesis, so long as it doesn't interfere with my work for Rice!
After that reception, I had a pretty big grin on my face when I went to talk to the LockMart contingent. It was a smaller group, but their engineering rep was just the man I wanted to see. He is the lead systems engineer for the Orion crew exploration vehicle. "Mr. Orion" seemed surprised that I'd put in my resume at the company website already and not seen it, but then mentioned that LM has been in the process of revising the contract to meet the new NASA requirements since their original bid was accepted. LM should be filling their entry-to-mid level positions in the next couple of weeks, though, so Mr. Orion said he would pass on my resume directly to his hiring managers.
In the course of our conversation, Mr. Orion noticed the Space Exploration Conference pin on my lapel and we talked a little about how I organized the Rice student volunteer group at the conference. I hope that got me a few points. When he mentioned the other offices around the country, I was pretty clear that I want to stay in Houston because my wife is in medical school (and, well, Houston is home) here. Mr. Orion grinned and said that he's married to a doctor, an anesthesiologist. Small world, indeed!
Both of the gentlemen I talked to seemed impressed that I've continued working on aerospace-related research in my graduate studies, especially in a department that isn't well-known for it, and that NASA Ames/Intrinsyx Technologies is going to have me do that part-time work on the Constellation lexicon. Mr. Orion was aware of that project, even, and nodded in approval when I mentioned what I'd be doing for them.
Mr. Orion said flat-out that the long-term work for the next generation of human spaceflight is being done here in Houston. Both he and the Jacobs people said that now is the best time for a young, ambitious engineer like myself to get in on this and lay the foundations for a good career. I've got a good feeling about this. I really do.
21 January 2007
Going Back to NASA
NASA Ames called me today. They need someone to work part-time as an engineering liaison with the Constellation program engineering teams down here at NASA Johnson and they want me to do it. The gentleman I talked to is aware that I am a student and is willing to work around my Rice schedule. He hopes that this work will give me enough networking opportunities to lead to a permanent offer down here in Houston after I finish my M.S. in May.
As I understand it, NASA Ames is putting together a lexicon of technical terms to cover the entire program and they need someone to get input from all of the engineering teams here in Houston. My job will be to act as a communications link between the linguists in California and the engineers at NASA Johnson Space Center. I'll get to meet with all of the different teams working on the new launch and crew vehicles.
I am grinning from ear to ear today.
As I understand it, NASA Ames is putting together a lexicon of technical terms to cover the entire program and they need someone to get input from all of the engineering teams here in Houston. My job will be to act as a communications link between the linguists in California and the engineers at NASA Johnson Space Center. I'll get to meet with all of the different teams working on the new launch and crew vehicles.
I am grinning from ear to ear today.
01 November 2006
Hubble Is Saved!
"The shuttle Discovery will pay the Hubble Space Telescope a final servicing call in 2008, NASA Administrator Michael Griffin announced Tuesday.The new plan reverses a decision made by former NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe in the wake of the Columbia disaster that such a mission would be too risky to attempt."
This is great news for cosmologists and basic science. Griffin has shown that he is committed to accomplishing NASA's primary objectives of research and exploration with this move, IMO.
I just can't wait to see what we have going up next, the James Webb Space Telescope!
http://www.jwst.nasa.gov/
24 October 2006
prologue
Most of the people I know have their own blogs now. I decided that it was time to create my own. I imagine the first question on your mind is something along the lines of, "So, what's with the title?"
A fair question, indeed. Simply put, that is my goal in life.
My greatest aspiration is to cross the vast distance from Earth to Mars, set foot on that red soil, and come back home to tell the tale. I think there is no higher cause than the exploration our universe and no higher frontier than the heavens. Everything I have done professionally (and most things I've done personally) in the first twenty-five years of my life have been to further this goal.
I went to Space Camp. I earned a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering and am now working on my M.S. in Mechanical Engineering with a focus on aeroastronautics. I'm a member of the American Institute of Aeronautics & Astronautics and the American Astronomical Society. I worked at NASA Johnson Space Center for three consecutive summers as an undergrad. Right now, my immediate goal is to finish school and get a job working for Lockheed Martin on the Orion crew exploration vehicle project.
Space exploration is my passion. My love of the universe that surrounds us all is what keeps me going when all else fails. But it's not all I have. I'm married to the most beautiful third-year medical student to ever cross my path. (You can thank her for giving me the idea to start this.) We share a home, our dreams, and our lives. We also share a Jack Russell mix terrier with the most character imaginable that somehow manages to not be a yappy, jumpy dog. We share our hopelessly dysfunctional extended families. :)
My goal for this blog is to keep a record of my path from where I am today to the stars above... and everything in between. It's going to be an interesting journey. I don't know for sure that I'll end up exactly where I think, but I'm sure that I'll land exactly where I need to be and with the people that are most important to me. One of my favorite movies of all time is "Contact" with Jodie Foster. I'm certain that I don't have to explain that one to anyone that knows me reasonably well. If an S.R. Hadden gave me a call over satellite phone and asked "Wanna go for a ride?", I know what my answer would be.
"Not only yes, but HELL YES!"
Let's see where this take us.
A fair question, indeed. Simply put, that is my goal in life.
My greatest aspiration is to cross the vast distance from Earth to Mars, set foot on that red soil, and come back home to tell the tale. I think there is no higher cause than the exploration our universe and no higher frontier than the heavens. Everything I have done professionally (and most things I've done personally) in the first twenty-five years of my life have been to further this goal.
I went to Space Camp. I earned a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering and am now working on my M.S. in Mechanical Engineering with a focus on aeroastronautics. I'm a member of the American Institute of Aeronautics & Astronautics and the American Astronomical Society. I worked at NASA Johnson Space Center for three consecutive summers as an undergrad. Right now, my immediate goal is to finish school and get a job working for Lockheed Martin on the Orion crew exploration vehicle project.
Space exploration is my passion. My love of the universe that surrounds us all is what keeps me going when all else fails. But it's not all I have. I'm married to the most beautiful third-year medical student to ever cross my path. (You can thank her for giving me the idea to start this.) We share a home, our dreams, and our lives. We also share a Jack Russell mix terrier with the most character imaginable that somehow manages to not be a yappy, jumpy dog. We share our hopelessly dysfunctional extended families. :)
My goal for this blog is to keep a record of my path from where I am today to the stars above... and everything in between. It's going to be an interesting journey. I don't know for sure that I'll end up exactly where I think, but I'm sure that I'll land exactly where I need to be and with the people that are most important to me. One of my favorite movies of all time is "Contact" with Jodie Foster. I'm certain that I don't have to explain that one to anyone that knows me reasonably well. If an S.R. Hadden gave me a call over satellite phone and asked "Wanna go for a ride?", I know what my answer would be.
"Not only yes, but HELL YES!"
Let's see where this take us.
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