Summer 2009 – Page 12 – Not Your Average Engineer

Here are a few photos of the CalTech campus and my dorm room. So far as of Saturday, June 20, I have no room mate. Fingers are crossed that it stays that way! Oh, and I also don’t have AC. 🙁

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The CalTech campus. There are olive trees, big oak trees, and eucalyptus trees everywhere. Everything is super green here, too. I figured out why the other night. They irrigate like crazy!

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The desk in my dorm room. It’s a little messier than that now. Papers and electronic devices are now strewn about.

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My room comes with a sink in between built-in wardrobes and drawers. As long as I only eat liquid foods, I will never have to leave the room again!

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My drysuit hanging up in a corner of the room. I used all of my bungee cords to come up with a way to suspend it. Next weekend I’m planning to go diving.

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The desks are located underneath the lofted beds. The loft kit comes down to about 6 feet. In other words, I have to duck in half of the room. The big bright spot is where the window is located.

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Saw these fake guns (squirt guns? airsoft?) at one of the entrances to my dorm. Several of the other entrances have fake guns stationed at them as well. No clue what they are doing there.

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A canon chained to the building outside my dorm. This was the one stolen by Harvey Mudd back in the 80’s. Were it not for the very responsive campus security force and the students who seem to be awake at all hours of the day and night, it would be very easy to drag that thing off campus.

For those of you unaware, I am living and working this summer in Pasadena, California. My professor connected me with some people at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory for a summer internship. Along with the internship came housing in the CalTech dorms. I was assigned to live in Lloyd where I live in the “Virgin Islands” area. The photos below are of my drive down to Los Angeles.

SCUBA gear in my trunk

The packing process proved somewhat challenging. Luckily I found the perfect box for my SCUBA gear. This is how I packed my gear and two tanks into my trunk. The rest of the space got filled with clothes and whatnot.

out of gas

About 20 miles outside of Grants Pass I nearly ran out of gas. Going up the hills became a very exciting experience! Good thing my Taurus has a two gallon reserve.

me in the car

I sent this photo to Emily as I was driving south of Grants Pass. Notice the vintage Serengeti Aviators. Sometimes you just have to look the part.

storms on the Oregon/California border

There were some big thunder cells building on the Oregon/California border. I got a few drops of rain when I descended into the high valley near Weed, California. Had I been a few hours later it probably would have been a deluge.

goodbye oregon!

Goodbye Oregon!

Hello California!

clouds over Shasta

Shasta was obscured by clouds. It wasn’t far from here where I got rained on. The Shasta valley must have gotten some good rain after I passed through.

palm tree on truck 1

South of Stockton on Highway 99 in the central valley I saw this odd sight. At first I didn’t know what it was. This big green mass was sitting on a truck.

palm tree on truck 2

Upon closer inspection I found it to be a palm tree! This is not all that uncommon of an occurrence in California. Everyone wants a full-grown tree without having to wait for the growing process.

uncle on motorcycle

At my grandparents house in Fresno I found this picture of my uncle on the motorcycle he rode to Alaska and back. It was back in the mid 80’s. That’s my cousin standing next to him. She’s a couple years younger than me. As I understand it, that bike didn’t make it back to California. The engine blew up somewhere along the road in British Columbia. He abandoned it and rode a bus the rest of the way back.

The Los Angeles basin

This is at the crest of the Grapevine. The mountains to the north of LA are a pretty effective barrier for old crappy cars. This photo was taken on a good smog day.

Category: Summer 2009

CalTech Campus Early Days

Trip to Los Angeles