blog

the golden gate bridge and san francisco adventures

Wed, 07 Mar 2012 17:51:01 +0100

Another week of craziness!

Eric likes to make himself the target of our pranks by forgetting to lock his room - twice! We decided to take it upon ourselves to rearrange his room for him. I think he has learned his lesson finally!

Yesterday we went to San Francisco to bike across the Golden Gate Bridge. Before and after this, we biked all around the city and parks as well. In doing so, I can honestly say that there is no exaggeration that San Francisco is full of hills. It is sure pleasant to have your brakes on for 3 straight blocks but when you have to go the other direction, a much much bigger challenge. I think I can say though that I only had to get off my bike and walk it up once, and I most definitely wasn't the only one. I also now understand the importance of having the ability to change gears on your bike; it makes life a lot easier.

Here's a little more detail on our path:

We first got to the train station and I forgot that it was Sunday so there was the farmer's market. I wanted to get some fruit to take with but thought better of it because we only had 10 minutes and I did not want to be having to run to get on the train (again). There was a nice guy on the train that was visiting his daughter. He supplied us with paper to play a game (similar to dots or tic tac toe) and suggested some places to eat and see in San Fran.

Once we got to the city we first ate lunch and had some delicious pizza. As we then began our biking, we found the area of the city where, I'm nearly 100% sure, the opening of Full House was filmed. Megan and I decided to pretend that we were having the picnic like the Tanners.

This describes our group quite well.

We then got to Golden Gate Park, which, to my understanding, is larger than Central Park. They were having a Lindee Hop class for free!

After getting through the park, we headed up the west coast until getting to the bridge. We saw the Cliff House and the Sutro Baths. We decided to check that out more at a later date. Getting up the hill of a coast, we had to cut through some paths. This was major off-roading on these paths and I had carried my bike up stairs two times already during the day. I'm pretty sure this was meant for walkers. Our legs were definitely starting to feel the pain from the long bike ride.

We finally got to the bridge. It was really neat.

We biked on the bay side of the bridge so (though difficult to see in this picture, we could see Alcatraz)

Getting across it, we headed into a very quaint and charming city called Sausalito.

From Sausalito we took the ferry back to San Francisco. We then headed back to the train station to return to Mountain View and hurried to bed after the 23+ mile (see map below) mega-hilly bike ride.

View of San Francisco from the ferry

and the pranks have begun...

Mon, 27 Feb 2012 18:08:37 +0100

This last week has been just as crazy as the first. Besides having the flat tire, it was very adventurous.

For our weekly meeting, we toured the NAS (NASA Advanced Supercomputing) Division.

I thought that I'd get to talk to Charlie Bolden again but instead only got to sit behind him. I know that Eric and Megan think that I'm a bit crazy, but hey I'm a NASA fan and was determined. Eric had lots of fun pretending he was going to be the speaker.

Nonetheless, it was a good talk about the FY 2013 budget and I had the chance to talk to one of the NASA HQ people I met in Cape Town last October. Hopefully I will get to see them again come May in DC.

On Friday we went to BJ's Brewhouse which was delicious. I had first been to this restaurant in Houston and loved it so when we drove past one the week before I was determined to go there sometime soon! Afterwards, some of us played Farkle and Phase 10 but Eric decided to go to bed and stay in his room for 12+ hours. Pranks have begun in the office so I felt it was our duty to seal up his door for him since he wasn't planning on coming out for a while.

Saturday we went for a long walk in the morning and then went to a place called Philz Coffee, which was quite tasty, and then University Avenue (a main street in downtown Palo Alto). We also ventured to the new Facebook HQ. After we went out for Mexican food - it's so good in Cali.

Megan and I wearing the SF baseball beards at a Giants store on University

"poke!"

Sunday Megan and I went to the church service on the base and were 2 of about a total congregation of 10. Afterwards we ventured to the San Jose flea market, which was quite an adventure to say the least.

I finally got some stroopwafels from the Netherlands too!!! One of the other interns is from Amsterdam and his dad came to visit and I asked him if I could buy a package of them from him. SOO good!

Megan, Rolly and I had some fun outside of our building too.

thursdays are spanish day

Mon, 27 Feb 2012 17:48:42 +0100

Chief Bill came in the office today and posted signs on the doors that say:

Día de habla española

el jueves es día habla sólo español.

No entre a menos que Ud. habla español.

(Me alegro de que no soy Eric y Austin)

Esta es un orrder de la gestión.

This is very funny, and very unfortunate for the two guys who do not speak Spanish. It has a few grammatical errors but awesome none the less.

Flat tires are also very unfortunate. My tire is not only flat, but basically burst, therefore it is not even merely ridable and I had to walk my bike a little over a half mile this morning to get to work. I thought I could at least make it to the office but it just wasn't happening. Here I was making fun of Eric for having a flat - karma stinks! Some people that were walking this morning said "Hello, how are you?" I was thinking in my head, it's obvious I have a flat so if you want to laugh go ahead and of course they did. Oh well! Brandon fortunately was kind enough to help me and fixed it so I didn't have to walk back to the Lodge.

Don't fall off your bike!

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 17:21:12 +0100

My second week at Ames has been awesome. For a recap, I passed the N.E.W.B.I. test! Yahoo! It was only followed by a fake N.E.W.B.I. test that everyone not taking the test thought was pretty funny to scare us with, given the fact that I don't think anyone without a Ph.D. in everything there is to know about helicopters could pass.

For Valentine's day, a group of us went out to dinner at Outback Steakhouse. It was very nice!

This Valentine's day I also became an aunt and godmother to my beautiful nephew, Finn. Congrats to my sister and Al! Since it was a holiday weekend I was fortunate to have time to travel home to Minnesota to visit them. I appropriately brought him his first NASA t-shirt. He knows what's up!At lunch before leaving, I also informed everyone that Finn being born on Feb. 14, 2012, if keeping out the zeroes, the numbers are 2-14-12, or 21412 - forwards or backwards! How neat! A palindrome! My brother-in-law then followed by saying, "I bet he could have gone his whole life without realizing something like that." Hey, what can I say, I'm a physicist; I like numbers when they work.

Last week, we also went on a bike ride. I had the honor of seeing Eric fall of his bike - not for the first time, and I'm most certainly guessing not the last! Far too much fun to laugh, sorry Eric! We also went to lunch one day to In and Out Burger. It was quite delicious. Megan and I support each other's addiction to the chocolate chip cookies (and Chipotle) that are sold at the Megabites cafeteria. They're SO good! We also know already to get there early, otherwise they're all gone.

Eric fell off his bike - his chain also fell off (disclaimer: don't worry he wasn't hurt, I wouldn't have made fun of him if so.)

This week I will be given a computer that has all of the data I will ever need for my internship. I'm looking forward to getting to start working on some analysis now that I've passed the N.E.W.B.I. though I am also a bit nervous to be a little overwhelmed!

happy valentine's day!

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 16:37:52 +0100

Hope you all had a great Valentine's Day! Early in the morning, I received a very special Valentine - Finn, my nephew! I'm now a very proud Aunt and Godmother. I couldn't be more excited! Congrats to my sister and Al!

Shirley, who works in the office across the hall from us and has been extremely helpful to us as interns, brought us some cupcakes and cookies. I then was summoned to take the N.E.W.B.I. test. Completely ridiculous. The interns who have most recently taken the test are the ones who proctor (per say) the exam. They sure had fun with it, initially giving us a test that had the most ridiculously difficult questions on it that there's no way I could get them. Fortunately I ended up doing quite well on the test. Thank goodness that's over!

I also got to meet with my mentor today, Colin. He's Australian and has done a lot of really cool projects. I'm very much looking forward to working with him on this project. For now I just need to make sure that I understand everything about the helicopter.

For Valentine's Day a group of us went out to dinner at Outback Steakhouse. We were all pretty hungry and I think that the waitress thought that we were crazy after seeing how we devoured the bread that they give you at your table. It was delicious meal. After getting back to the Lodge, we found our friend Jasper outside because his roommate was taking a shower, the door was locked and he had left his key in the room. Silly Australians.

I'm back to blogging!

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 15:21:41 +0100

I'm back to blogging!

A week ago today I arrived at NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California for a spring semester internship through the Wisconsin Space Grant Consortium (love them!). Thus far, I have been loving every minute!

My participation in this internship came unanticipated but is turning out to be awesome (it is NASA of course). I am interning in the Aeromechanics branch working on helicopters, particularly blackhawks. I'll be sure to fill more in on my specific project later once I have more information.

Until I can start getting very involved in my project, I quickly learned that this test for new interns is a real thing (I though my mentor was just joking when he told me about it). It is called the N.E.W.B.I. test, or New Exam for Warmbrodt's Branch Interns. For the past week I've been relentlessly attempting to understand all there is to know about the operation of a helicopter.

The Ames campus is very cool too. There's quite a bit going on and lots of groups to join including a knitters club and roller hockey. I can also take two-step classes!

I've learned that Justin Beiber is also a friend of the branch. He approves pranks in the office. Apparently past interns have placed Chief Bill's car on craigslist for a mere $500 which resulted in 40+ calls in a half hour regarding the ad. This is going to be hard to top but we are surely working on it.

Two days ago there was a colloquium talk that we were able to attend with speaker, and astronaut, Richard Linnehan. He was quite funny and one of his best remarks regarding the situation of doing an EVA and losing tether with the ISS, "If you don't get back, well congratulations, you just became the first human satellite." Afterwards, we got to meet him and have our picture taken with him.

Yesterday we headed to San Francisco for SF Beer Week 2012 festivities. It was a lot of fun. We also went to Fisherman's Wharf and Pier 39. We saw the seals, I got a smashed penny, and I found a cafe that sold speculoos - the most delicious thing to ever come out of Belgium (and I thought it was impossible to find in the States!). At the Beer Week event, we tasted multiple beers from a pumpkin chocolate to a cherry stout. Afterwards we headed to Chinatown for the Chinese New Year Parade. That was very neat to see. We then headed back to Mountain View and ate at Shazan, a Middle Eastern restaurant, which was very good.

Today we biked to the Mountain View farmer's market which turned out to be a great market. I look forward to getting lots of things there in the coming weeks. We grilled out as a group and are now heading to a movie. I will then be back to studying for the N.E.W.B.I.!

As a final note, as I've now been here for a week, I've found myself to be the target of some jokes in the office (which I know that my gullibility has only facilitated) but it's all out of good fun. Our office is great and I'm really excited for this internship. We have a great group and I look forward to our adventures!

Me, Yuly and Megan - Fisherman's Wharf

Pier 39

Seals!

Jasper, me, Megan and Yuly tasting beer

Chinese New Year Parade

Store for left handed people!

the international astronautical congress

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 20:40:59 +0100

This post may be a bit overdue, but I wanted to be sure to be able to include everything!

Here's a final movie made capturing some of the week's events. I also posted this on the "stuff for you" page.

During one of the plenary events, "Human Space Flight: Fifty Years in Orbit", Cady Coleman's phone rang and it was none other than Mike Fossum, who is currently on the ISS. He took a question from the audience too. That is exciting. You can watch the whole plenary here.

This week also concludes my internship with the IAF. I could not say how grateful I am for the whole opportunity.

Very cool too - I am featured on the Carthage webpage!

The Carthage Microgravity Team is also highlighted on the NASA Educational pages - check it out here! That is beyond exciting!

I am now back in Kenosha, Wisconsin working on school work and preparing for outreach events to be held at the Kemper Center and to observe at Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona in early November.

SPACE RULES!

Wed, 05 Oct 2011 12:13:52 +0100

Thus far, the IAC has been far more exciting than I could have ever imagined. I'm super tired but absolutely loving every minute of it so far and have no complaints. I am just overwhelmed with the quality of the program and people in attendance. Once I have some time to actually sit down and write about the whole week, I'm sure that I will have a lengthy entry sometime next week, but for now I just want to recap a little bit!

Lori Garver (NASA Deputy Administrator), me and Charlie Bolden (NASA Administrator)

I am so incredibly grateful for all the people in the field of space science that I have had the opportunity to simply talk to them and meet them. All of these people with a wealth of experience have all been so kind and willing to answer questions I have. My first day, I was waiting outside for some Parliamentarians to arrive from the program I helped co-organize and as I was standing outside, heads of agencies from JAXA, Roscosmos, and others, including multiple astronauts passed by. I couldn't believe that in less than an hour, this many people, who I admire and look up to in my field, were just passing by to attend the same events as myself. Yesterday I had coffee with Michael Griffin and exchanged business cards with Bolden himself.

Two days ago I went to Table Mountain, which I highly recommend for anyone who comes to Cape Town. It was beautiful. It may be the only time that I leave the CTICC (Cape Town International Convention Centre) throughout the week, though I have no complaints.

I am so happy to simply be here and don't know what I'll do when I have to leave!

space space space

Wed, 05 Oct 2011 11:46:58 +0100

Check out this cool video that Carthage made about our Microgravity Team's involvement in the SEED (Systems Engineering Educational Discovery) Program. It's so cool! I always find myself not being able to do anything but smile with so much excitement about the program and how awesome it is.

hello cape town! (and stroopwafels!)

Thu, 29 Sep 2011 21:32:39 +0100

Please excuse my lack of blogging for the last week. My final days in Paris have been beyond hectic getting ready to leave for Cape Town and prepare for the IAC. Nonetheless, I left Tuesday morning and arrived in Cape Town Wednesday morning. Fun fact - by the end of next Sunday, since May 21, 2011, I'll have flown about 1.3 times around the Earth... I think I should get some sky miles for that!

Anyhow, let me just say that Cape Town is AWESOME. It's a beautiful country geographically and full of very very friendly people. I hope to return sometime to do some more adventure exploring since I am going to be at Congress events, nearly literally, the whole time. (but still totally worth it all).

Backing up, a beautiful sunrise (maybe sunset - I don't remember from the whole air travel) in Abu Dahbi.

In Cape Town, our hotel is very nice and we have a roof top pool that looks to Table Mountain too. From the Westin (where the rest of the crew is), they can see the World Cup stadium from last year. (*cough* remember that España won!!!!!)

Last night I went to dinner with delegates from the SGC and the student across from me was daring enough to try a platter of crocodile, ox tail and warthog.... I call that bravery. (I stuck to pasta) There was live music entertainment that was full of the culture and 'happy-vibe' (not sure how to describe it!) of the friendly and welcoming people of Cape Town.

It's been quite an adventure so far and today we began meeting with the Local Organizing Committee (LOC) (nice to put a face with an e-mail!) and touring the venue location. There are currently over 2,000 people registered (and more to be done on site!) and I think it's going to be great. It was also quite a challenge getting all of the Youth Grants I'm slightly in charge of directing as I had one oversleep this morning as I was trying to shoo them onto their shuttle!

Tonight we ended with dinner with the Secretariat staff and a person (to remain un-named) tried to compare the taste of a good wine to buying shoes (since I'm a girl), as you can't just fit into a shoe if it's the wrong size even if you like it.... yes, but unfortunately I also told him that it depending if the shoe was on sale, how cute they are, and that you have to remember that 'beauty is pain'. :)

I've always kind of joked with Scott, the IAF web editor who is based in (so jealous) Leiden about how great stroopwafels for and I advised him to which is the best stroopwafel man in the market and that when he comes to Paris, etc, he should be bringing me lots and lots of them. Today he surprised me with 3 packages from - none other - than the best stroopwafel man in Leiden. This truly couldn't have made my any happier. If you know me, you know just how much I absolutely love stroopwafels (and how much I will let you know that I love them). We're sharing one package and I get two of them. Thank you Scott! My new favorite person in the whole world!

I'm going to go to bed now and I think that I can truly say that as much as it has been a stressful position, I've been loving every single minute and am getting very excited for next week to start!