Astronaut!

You know what's cool? Stephen Robinson (a former astronaut) is joining the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering faculty at UC Davis. Professor Robinson is a fellow Aggie, and is looking to give back to the place where he jump started his career.

For the article and *pssss* information on which class he's teaching, see this article.

The Busy Syndrome

I've started my third internship about 3 weeks ago, and I really like this job.  My hours are from 7-3:30, and when many of you say that 7am is waaayyy too early, I just think back to my NASA schedule....waking up quarter to 5 with a total of 2.5 hours commuting...did I also mention that I was taking two classes? Comparatively, this schedule is nothing (in terms of energy/time drainage).

Looking back at my high school and college years, we spend so much time striving for better and better grades and activities...to the point that they aren't fun, but for some reason, nothing is more important than the next step (college or a job). During high school, my day started at 6:30 and sometimes didn't end until 10.  Honestly, I don't know how I did it. College isn't as busy, but it's still tiring as ever. I guess my schedule looks a bit similar, but instead of required physical activity, I'm doing required studying....which saddens me at times.

With that said, I've found this summer to have a substantial amount of free time...and free time I don't know how to fill. I often get like this, especially after finals week.  Final week consists of studying, eating, complaining, and sleeping (if, possible) until it's over. Typically after my last final, I just lay on my bed, and say, "What is the purpose of life?" simply because I don't know what to do with my time.

These last three weeks have been tough too. I basically was waiting on an income, so I didn't have money to work out or go places. I was basically forced to stay at home. (Well it wasn't as bad as I explained, but I'll get to that). I ended up resorting to many tasks that I put off during the school year, such as the following:

• Finding ways to eat cheap (which ended up being a lot healthier)
• Deep cleaning the kitchen, bathroom, and my bedroom
• Watching TED...I'm telling you, I have the TED virus...
• Watching Netflix...I had already subscribed 
• Reading books...Yes, they still exist
• Riding my bike
• Trying to eat my freezer food by making "new recipes"...I hate being broke, lol
• Watching the Olympic Trials
• Sleeping...a little too often

And you know what? It's been a good, relaxing experience. Because I didn't have a lot of money, I forced myself to stay home and relax for once.  I recently got my paycheck and spent some of it on small splurges (such as a mani/pedi), but I also took the time to wash Sally and clean the house again. I look forward to reading my books, and spending some time just to watch movies.  I do, however, look forward to buying my summer gym pass, because I'm in desperate need of a long swim....and I'm also sick of freezer food. It's nice not being super busy for once.

-Serena

I made it in the Washington Post!

See that link there? That one line just boosted my ego for the week. Hard work does pay off!

http://doc.mediaplanet.com/all_projects/10657.pdf

Cheers,

N. Riazi

Balloon Lamp

I've been doing a lot of thinking recently about the design aspect of engineering as something I may want to go into in the future. As a result every time I see something cool I stop and think to myself, someone engineered that. Someone designed it all from aesthetics to efficiency, etc. Just some thought's going through my head as I try to figure out where my lifes going to go now :)

Check this out; this balloon lam by CrousCalogero is beautiful, unique, and kid friendly.

Enjoy,

N. Riazi