Jumping in

I still remember, this time last year, during my first summer at NASA Ames, when I had a lot of free time during the day. This summer, it's like I never left. Most of the people are the same, the building is the same, and I still don't have a desk, but I have been able to jump right and hit the ground running with my projects for the next 10 weeks. Yes, I said projects - my mentor offically assigned me one project (which will be my honors project), but also has asked me to help on another project on the side. Plus, Hannah, Tanya and I are still finishing up our microgravity project (paper due thursday!) and are going to hopefully utilize some of the machines at Ames to help with the workup and analysis of the nanowires. Overall, the week just flew by, with all the meetings, paperwork and trainings I had to attend.

I'm living at the NASA Exchange Lodge (NEL) this year, which is through the first of two gates on base and only about 6 blocks away from my building. Thus, my new investment is a bike. I bought a sweet red Schwinn Sporterra, a hybrid bike. This bike is a cross between a road bike and a mountain bike. The tires are wider than a road's, but narrower than a mountain bike's. Also, the tread much more significant than a road bike's, but again, less intense than a mountain bike's. It is a pretty light bike and I have a men's version, which has the straight across top bar. The handle bars are like what one would find on a mountain bike, straight across, not curved like those on a road bike. Overall, it's a pretty sweet ride.

(Picture of my bike)

I've been trying to get good use out of it while down here, and yesterday Hannah and I rode into Mountain view to run a few errands. I wanted to get a library card and she wanted to go explore the greatness that is the Daiso! We had a lot of fun winding through isles full of things packaged with Japanese writing! I found tin foil, a pair of wooden chopsticks, and a mini wok! It was a good thing I brought my backpack on this trip. We also stopped by a mexican grocery and I packed 5lbs of rice home. Overall, through all of our stops, we ended up biking around 9.5 miles! And I hadn't really biked extensively....ever.

The NEL is pretty unexciting. It's like living back in Emerson, but with only one kitchen for everybody. And all the doors open into outdoor halways, like an apartment complex. It can get really boring around here really fast. I am trying to find out new places to go or things to do in a reasonable distance, but today I just slept til 10am, read until 2pm and then biked into Mountain View to get my library card and sit down to do some last bits of school work. I need to get some papers turned in early this coming week and was not motivated to do so in my room. I also swung by Le Boulanger, a bakery, on my way back to Moffett field, which looked like a nice bakery. I wasn't entirely impressed with the baked goods selection, I much prefer Macrina's in Seattle. The muffins didn't appear all that fresh or delicious, so I just ate a bagel. I'll just have to try another bakery another day!