Winter Break

Break is going well. It feels nice to have a break - it sounds like actually having a job is kind of a bumb deal in that you dont get a winter break. My parents take time off, but it seems to be such a stressor. Fortunately I quit my job.
My sister Lynn graduated in December from the University of Michigan with a masters in social work. Way to go Lynn! So we threw a rockin party in her honor on the saturday before christmas. Unless my parents have had more parties than I know of, this one ranked in the top three with our previous graduataion parties.
Christmas was a ton of fun! Thoguh I may damn our materialistic society, I must say it was nice to get stuff. I got a sweet book on fly fishing, a 65 cm excercise ball, some cash, a climbing helmet, a summit/ultralight pack, slippers, a nice wool sweater, and some other stuff.
Also, I bought myself a nintendo wii. Its pretty amazing. I like it for the fact that its a social gameing console and that it has worked to revolutionize the way games are played - in a much more active (rather than passive) manner. So far wii sports are fun, though a little limited and graphically unimpressive (raising the question of whether they tried or not). Your character (your mii) has no legs or arms, but has hands. That said, its still pretty fun and social - even my parents played and enjoyed. Zelda is an amazing game that I think is setting the first person control starndards for the wii. I'm excited to have one.
Just got back from some snow-boarding in WI with Wade and company. It was good. I'll try and post the video of Kara (wade's sister trying to do a jump).

Killing Time

So, part of the reason its been so long since my last post is because of an interesting wiki I read on why to stop blogging (google wikihow how to stop blogging). Basically it says that there won't be much new or worthwhile content on your blog, you won't have the perseverance or find the reward you expected out of it. Nevertheless, I will continue for my loyal readers. When I feel like it.

Life carries on. I last left you with my applications to graduate school pending. Since then, all applications have been processed, a school visited and acceptances granted. I was initially concerned about getting in anywhere so I was trying my best to be diplomatic with email responses to a few professors. Dr. Kinsey, a professor that I continually gain respect for, said to me, "Don't marry the first girl willing to go on a date with you." Wise advice that served me well. Though, in the end, I accepted an offer from the Pennsylvania State University. They flew me out to visit the campus, and it was a great trip. The town of State College is about half way between Phily and Pittsburg. I had a jam packed day out there of visiting professors and touring the campus. After its all said and done, I'm a little concerned that I just made a 4-6 year commitment to working with a professor based on meeting with her for an hour and dinner. I chose Dr. Colina as my advisor even though she is a new professor because she seems so upbeat and excited as well as the extensive overlap of interests we share in terms of materials research. Her work will have a strong theoretical and compuational component to them, but I think that I will do well with the mix of theoretical and experimental work. Oh well, I'm excited about it! Enough so to start studying text books on my own.

Other than that, I feel like I'm killing time before I go to Pennsylvania. I'm just trying to earn as much money as possible working my job at CompUSA. I do that for like 5 days or more per week, then I set routes on my days off at Vertical Endevours which pays free climbing plus $10/route. I figured the rate is about $4/hour, and so much more satisfactory than CompUSA. I've been pretty bad about doing stuff, like entertaining myself or haning out or really anything at all, but hey, its cheaper. I guess thats my Rice syndrom kicking in - the "I won't be here long enough for making friends to be worthwhile."

I've been working lately to put together a compilation of covers. I borrowed a recording device from Wade into which I can plug a mic and my guitar. Garageband is pretty killer.

Thats the latest from around here.

the latest

Well, I got my appliction to UC Berkeley completed before leaving for Montana. Getting back a few days before the deadline allowed me to pester my advisor enough to write my recomendation. Since getting back from Montana, I tied a bunch of flys (for fly fishing - way cheaper than buying them), learned Ob-la-di Ob-la-da, El Scorcho, and started working a few other DMB and Led Zeppelin songs on the old guitar. I also completed applications to the Materials Science grad programs at UW Madison, U of MI Ann Arbor, Penn State University Park, and the electrical engineering program at UC Boulder. So much coordination getting all the info there and to the right people (not to mention a butload of cash).

So all that was pretty exciting. So much so that I applied to a few more jobs (real and temp). It'd be really sweet to get hired at REI, work their through Christmas and then go to whatever of the 5 grad schools that accepts me. Not that I'm holding my breath on acceptance or getting hired, but it'd be nice.

I re-read Ender's Game today. Solid book. Really quite motivating. I'll get started studying so I can be the best ever at physics or something way less flashy than saving humanity by killing a deadly alien race.

Well, check back later for more amazing updates.

The West is Heaven

My dreams of moving west are once again reignited after a brief visit. I spent the last 10 days in Montana, just north of Yellowstone and the Wyoming border. First, Wade, Erin, and I attempted to climb Granite Peak, Montana’s tallest peak, then we did a little climbing around Bozeman. Taking a shower has never felt so good.

Granite Peak is 12,799 feet. It presented us with a formidable challenge. We camped the first night at roughly 7,000 feet in a nearby valley. The second night, we camped at roughly 12,000 feet on the Froze-To-Death plateau, where I got my ass kicked by the elevation. A few advil, several hours of sleep, and lots of water later, I felt good enough for our early morning start. The third day, our summit attempt, started at 3am. We hiked the last mile or two to the base of the mountain and began our ascent. At the notch just below the triangle snow patch, Erin got sick from elevation so we watched the sunrise and then hiked out.

From Granite Peak, we moved further west to the Bozeman area for some rock climbing. We spent the first two days climbing in Hyalite Canyon at Practice Rock. I did my first trad lead there! As the rock’s name suggests, we got some really good practice. A bit of rain sent us further south and west of Bozeman to Gallitan Canyon for our last two days of climbing before retuning home to Minnesota. In Gallitan Canyon we surprised ourselves by climbing two big multi-pitch climbs: Gallitan Tower and The Waltz. Gallitan Tower was a 4 pitch climb to the top of a pinnacle overlooking the river and canyon. We did the first 2 (of 3) pitches of the Waltz which is a three tiered cliff across the river from the Tower. It was awesome. For more technical information on the climbs, the Falcon Guide’s Rock Climbing Montana is very thorough.

So my writing does little justice to the overall amazing trip, hopefully the photos that I get uploaded will do a bit better.

The Grind

This is a high quality, no frills post sure to please all my avid fans and readers. Since the 4th of July, I started working through a temp agency at Andersen Windows. I work to test windows for structural integrity, water leakage, and new components. Its not a dream job, but hey, its $15/hr cash in the pocket (minus those fucking taxes). Unfortunately the house building market just turned south spurring a series of company wide cutbacks. All contract employees (thats me), summer help, and even some new hires were let go. I'll take it in stride like a pro - now I've got some new experience testing windows, guarenteed time off for a back country trip in a few weeks, and more time to look for my dream job of renewable energy. Curiously enough, two people at Andersen in the group I work with were physics majors that are now essentially meche's.

The job search is slow. Working 40 hours a week puts a dent into the amount of effort one can put into job searching. I think grad school is on the horizon. Any thoughts on what degree I should aim to get (and from where) to get involved in renewable energy (collection, storage, or transport)? It was reassuring to watch the film, "Who Killed the Electric Car?" and see many people interviewed working for companies to which I have applied and to get some new ideas.

Other news - I got a used fly rod and reel from Wade's dad. Last weekend, we went fishing friday afternoon/night, saturday and sunday. Though we didn't catch much, it was tons of fun.

4th of July

Once again, my fourth of July returns to Wade's cabin. Its been a few years since I've been there for the 4th - I spent the last few in Traverse City, Michigan, Washington DC and Houston. It was damn good to be back! Erik, you were missed immensely.

A few months ago, at the annual Twin Cities boat show, Bruce (Wade's dad) bought the best toy ever, the Wego Kite Tube. One of Bruce's favorite activities other than hunting and fishing is to drive Wade and I (or anyone else) around the lake on water skis, wakeboards, tubes, or any other towable object. This is by far the stupidest and most entertaining of devices. We tried it out last weekend a little, but with little success. This weekend, with a little help from some good wind, we got flying!

It is both fun and scary. As a rider, you have slight control over weather or not you take off, maintain balance, and land. You are truly at the mercy of the driver and the wind. The skull and crossbone logo of the kite tube sum it up well. We had some pretty rad flights and crashes. The video is exemplory, but we had higher and longer flights as well as bigger crashes. I took a good tumble from ~15ft or so, the result is a plan to install a nut cup into my board shorts.

Aside from kite tubing until exhaustion, we got some good redneck fun in. On Monday, we did some clay pigeon shooting. I was really craving a good shooting session. I shot pretty well considering I haven't shot in years. We also got some good fireworks, some sunflower/plane style spinnters as well as the morter shell style. Its always more fun to shoot them yourself than see a show. In addition to all that, I read a few hundred pages of "You Shall Know Our Velocity," by Dave Eggars. I really like the book so far (thanks Robin).

The weekend was pretty sweet all around. Good fishing, good food, good company, good entertainment. Its hard work playing that hard!

New Car

So the process of life after college continues. On one hand its kind of a downward spiral of debt that you are continuously trying to pull out of. On the other hand, its pretty cool and you get to do a lot of stuff that you've never done before. One of the cunundrums of life after college is money - you don't have any so you can't do anything. So like any good American, I go a little more in debt and buy a car. I figure now I can look for jobs more effectively and gain a little independance. So here it is, a 1996 Saturn SL1. Dark Green, 100K miles.

This was my first car buying experience. I get the impression that its cold hard capitalism at work. Everyone wants to make a sale at the highest price, and put as little money into fixing the used car as possible. I looked at blue book prices, I checked with mechanics, I test drove the car, I did all sorts of stuff. I think the only way to do it is be a mechanic and be able to fix the cars you buy. Here's hoping this car turns out to be a million mile car!

Mmmm, 4th of July weekend for the next 4 to 5 days... Will post pics and hopefully video of kite tubing and wakeboarding.

To Cloud Peak and Back

So last week, Nate and I went on our great western adventure. Borrowing his mom's styling and practical mini-van, we headed west. We drove from the Twin Cities to the Badlands of South Dakota in 9 hours. We made a breif stop in Albert Lee (middle of no where MN) to change the oil and watch some of the France vs. Switzerland game. Midwest-Mex is no Tex-Mex, and the oil change Nate's mom got while forgetting to add the new sticker in the window cost us $30! Once at the Badlands, we took the scenic drive through the park to the campground. We met a couple of girls from Nate's high school that recognized his honor student status proudly displayed on his bumper.



From the Badlands, we drove up to Rapid City to buy fuel and groceries before heading south to Custer State Park (CSP) via Mount Rushmore. For two months before the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, there were plenty of choppers. It was a great place to drive with curvy roads and beautiful scenary. At CSP we did some mountain biking on the famous Centenial Trail (a 100 mile trail spanning all the state's habitats). It was really hard but fun nonetheless.


From CSP we headed west to Devil's Tower, an intermediary stop on our way to Cloud Peak Wilderness. Devil's Tower is a rather isolated place. The tower is stunning to look at any time of day or night. Make sure to get there early to get a campsite with a view of the tower. The best hike there is the Joyner Ridge Trail. It is quieter and provides a view of the tower in its surroundings rather than peering straight up from the base. The other oddity is the extremely high level of repitition of the information in signage and posters. "...The top of the tower is roughly the size of a football field, only slightly domed... Climbers share the top with chipmunks and the ocasional snake..."


From the Tower we headed further west to Buffalo, Wyoming to stage for our backpacking trip into the nearby Cloud Peak Wilderness. A quick deffinition of wilderness: an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammelled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain. The Cloud Peak Wilderness (CPW) is extremely rugged, situated in the Bighorn Mountains. Cloud Peak itself is about 13,000 ft tall.

Though we orriginally intended to scramble to the top of the peak, we found out that the closely spaced lines on the topographic map are much more difficult in person. We adapted our hike to simply explore and enjoy. We met a few families from the Twin Cities at the trail head, but saw only one other group in passing while in the wilderness itself. We saw many moose at our second campsite along a boggy lake. Fortunately, the only signs of bears and mountain lions we saw were old footprints. Walking many trails has piqued my curiosity in reading footprints and tracking. I'll be reading up on that a bit more instead of something useful.



I'll be doing my best to post some pictures soon. Any thoughts on a good picture posting site? Photobucket is awesome!

To The Next Step

After a long (9 month) haitus, now that everyone is spread out across the country again, I'll restart this blog.

Since the last post: I returned to school, had a wonderful senior year filled with lots of studying, good friends, and good memories; I earned my BS in Physics, I won the Heaps Prize for the best undergraduate physics thesis for my research project (We saw nanotubes, email me and I'll get you a copy of my thesis). That one paragraph will have to pathetically suffice for the entire year's summary.

I'm moved in back home looking for employment full time. Its curious to note that James, a history major, has a job while I, a physics major, don't. I'm currently aiming work in a research lab. I've applied at ARL UT and will be applying to other similar locations as I find opportunities. Working at ARL UT would be a rather ideal job - working in Austin, doing research, stay near to a large university in a fun city, and have the opportunity for good connections to graduate schools.

Lately, my interest is in renewable energy. I feel that energy is an important issue the world faces and also something I could work on passionately. For an interesting look at the world energy crisis, check out the stream from the Lewis Group at Caltech ().