Southern California is entirely too hot

The first two weeks in SoCal have been pretty good.  Work is interesting although I can’t really talk about what I do anymore.  I can say that I work on badass stuff though.

This weekend a couple friends (Jesi and Sondy) and I went out to Malibu where Sondy’s grandfather lives (he was the Snoopy animator, a B-50 test pilot, and many other crazy things.  his neighbors are Tom Hanks, Jim Carrey, and Pamela Anderson.  He’s 95 and likes to have two martinis per day.) to do some SCUBA diving.  We managed to get all of one dive in before the surf got too high for our liking.  We COULD have done some dives but in reality it was just too much surf for us to have fun.  Who wants to get their gear full of sand?

We checked the conditions all the way from the Ventura county line to Longbeach.  Nothing that we wanted to dive for fun.  All of the lakes and reservoirs within a two hour drive are either private, restricted access, or so polluted and nasty that we’d probably die if we touched the water.  For the next dive trip we’re looking at either taking a dive charter around Catalina, going to San Diego, going to Monterey, or out to Lake Mead.  If the weather is rough there just aren’t any alternative dive sites in this part of California.

Currently I’m sitting in my dorm room trying to stay cool.  It’s about 95 degrees outside.  At least my SCUBA gear is drying fast!

Next weekend I have four days off.  I need something to do.  Death Valley is probably going to be too hot even for me.  Anyone have any ideas of awesome things to do for four days in the California/Nevada/Arizona area?

Pictures of the last week or two of activities (including our one dive) later!

JPL and Robots

Working at JPL has its perks.  For instance, getting to go check out the Mars Science Laboratory rover known as Curiosity anytime the mood strikes.  Here are a couple photos around campus and in the spacecraft assembly clean room.

spacecraft museum
The main auditorium for guest presentations is in the middle of the spacecraft exhibit hall.  They have full-scale mock-ups of most of the major spacecraft to come out of JPL.

deer at jpl

There is a significant resident deer population on the JPL grounds.  These deer let you walk right by them without batting an eyelash!  Talk about lucky deer!  No predators, plenty of green healthy grass, and many devoted followers.

MSL crane

The MSL crane assembly sitting on the cleanroom floor.  It looks like most of the components have already been attached.

MSL heat shield

The MSL heat shield covered in protective foil waiting for final assembly and a fiery death in the martian atmosphere.

MSL rover bits

Some MSL rover bits waiting for final assembly.  The launch date for the MSL was pushed back to 2011 so construction has been slowed down a bit.  No one was out on the floor when I was there.

more MSL cleanroom

All of the badges on the wall are mission patches from the successful and unsuccessful robotic spacecraft that this clean room has seen pass through its doors.  Soon the MSL patch will be put up there.

JPL this summer?

It’s looking like I will probably end up at NASA JPL in Pasadena, California this summer. The work is directly tied to my research and is in fact based off of my research proposal. I am currently working on negotiating a reasonable compensation package.

The unknowns currently are:

  • Where will I live?  I am aware that CalTech rents out its dorm rooms in the summer but have not been able to find any information about this.  Does anyone live in the general area who wouldn’t mind me crashing on their couch for 10 weeks?
  • How will I get to Pasadena?  I can drive my car or my motorcycle, or take a plane.  If I drive my motorcycle I will end up with the worst monkey butt ever.  The drive is 902 miles of freeway fun.
  • How much will I be paid and what other forms of compensation will I be given?  Currently the offer stands at $800/wk for 10 weeks of work.  Depending on living expenses, I will make either very little or actually lose money going to JPL for the summer.  Pasadena is an expensive place to live!

Too bad the work isn’t at NASA AMES.  I have many friends and relatives that live within close proximity of that facility.  As far as I am aware, I don’t know anyone in the LA area.