APL, NoVA, and the 5-Year
Sorry, I failed to mention that in my last post, I got to hang out with my very awesome friend AMY and ROB and his wife, Kelly, and their dogs. ;-)
I just got back from APL, which was a little bit of a disappointment, only because it seems they're space group isn't hiring right now. The people I met with were in Missile Defense, and they were really nice, and the work seemed pretty interesting, but I think I would be selling myself short if I were to go there to do missile work now, in hopes of doing space work later, when I can do space work now elsewhere. But APL was a nice campus, and the people were all really nice, so it's a little of a shame. I did meet one person on the way to IAC that works in the space department for APL, so I may give him a call tomorrow. I also need to check in with Lockheed Martin Denver, but I can't find the business card of the guy I interviewed with... I'm hoping the Career Center will have his contact information.
Thanksgiving and events in NoVA were also good. Thanksgiving I did a 5 mile run with TJ Crew and Alumni, and I was happy to not stop and not be last. For dinner we had my grandparents, Nik and his fiancee Kristin, her parents, my parents, and Lindsay for a little, which was a lot of fun.
Friday night was our 5-year high school reunion, and while part of me thought it might be lame, I was excited and a little nervous to go. I was pleasantly surprised though! I think over 200 people came, and I got to see people like Elisa, Sam G, Elizabeth R, Jeff P, Beth L, etc. as well as friends with whom I've kept in better touch. Lots of people are engaged or married, and there are actually a lot of TJ couples. Maybe if Lindsay reads this, she can comment on the list we thought of because she's better at remembering than I am!
Saturday I went over to my brother's (Nik's) place for his birthday, and it was fun to hang out with him and Kristin. It's nice that we get along a little better now - maybe it's because we both can drink! haha. Actually, Nik is really changing, and it's awesome to see. Then I went over to Erica's to hang out with her and Leo and the rest of the Other Lunch Group from high school. It was good to see all of them, catch up, etc., and I can't wait till Christmas to hang out with Leo, Matt, and Alex. Those guys are awesome!
Now I'm gonna finish copying these reimbursements from all my trips and see V. :-)
JPL
JPL was a full day of 10 interviews and one presentation while worrying about how I was going to finish my 910 and see old friends that night. The interviews went well, and I got two offers from groups at JPL, both of which seem interesting, even though I haven't read the official job offer yet... It was fun to be back in Pasadena in my old stomping ground, but it felt weird to not have Lindsay there!
I liked the jobs at JPL (maybe one day I'll post all my options and job descriptions), but I'm still uneasy about LA. I also found out that two groups at Northrup are going to offer me a job, and one even has the option of living in Northern Virginia, but it's a smaller office.
Now I'm at home for Thanksgiving, and my grandparents, my brother Nik, his fiancee (Kristin), Kristin's parents, my parents, and Lindsay were all here today, so that was nice. And I realized on the ride home from taking L back to DC that I can't be left alone with my head for too long; it stresses me out. So many good options, and so much indecision about my life.
Northrup Grumman
I've finished my Northrup interviews and am still in LA since I'm interviewing with JPL on Monday (they have me doing 10 30-minute interviews in one day!!). NG put on a great event here, and I liked the groups that I talked to. I interviewed with Modeling and Simulation, Integrated Systems Engineering Center, Power and Control Verification (testbeds), and Space Vehicles. I would rank them 1, 3, 1, 3. Yes, that two two-way ties, haha. They fed us well, let us talk to lots of new hires, and entertained us with an improv group one night.
This area of LA is also a little better than I remember/expected. Housing is about the same as Boston, and the simplest house is 500,000 smackers. But it'd be sweet to live near the beach and not far from work. There's a lot to debate, but Eric is about to be here to pick me up to go to his place for the night (No company wanted to pay for tonight, so I'm crashing as his place).
I did buy a bathing suit today because I found one with normal straps and that came in bra-like sizes. It was muy expensive, but that's what I've come to these days. I also had Jamba Juice (yum!). I should be working on Numerical Simulation, but I hate that class and that homework, so I'll do it tomorrow. Hopefully.
I'm off to Pasadena tomorrow. I'm gonna do my homework, visit Colorado Blvd, go to my old church (Mosaic) see Bob and Christian, and go to 21 Choices. Yay!
Many a-airplane ride
Don't expect much out of me in the next few weeks (maybe over Thanksgiving). I have a very busy schedule with 7 cities in two and a half weeks. So partly for my sake, I will be in:
DC 12th and 13th (Booz Allen)
Boston 14th
Redondo Beach 15th-18th (Northrup Grumman)
Pasadena 19th-20th (JPL)
LA to DC 21st
DC for Thanksgiving 22nd to 26th
ATL 27th and 28th (Mars Grav Meeting)
Baltimore 29th (APL)
Then finally back to Boston...
Lockheed Martin
I visited Lockheed Martin last week in Sunnyvale, CA. I went out on Oct 31st, visited
Muir Woods (Redwoods) and had lunch with
Chris the next day, then returned for an informal dinner with the recruits and young engineers at LM. The dinner was good because all the LM employees were fresh out of school (within the last few years), and they were very personable and seemed to enjoy the company. It's always a bonus when you get along with the people there (even if they are there because they are the more outgoing young employees).
The next day (Thursday), we started bright and early at 7 am at LM. We had breakfast and a quick overview of the Space Systems sector from their VP, and then the barrage began - six 45 minute interviews back to back. What fun! Not. (I learned how to do a "Not" joke from Borat last night, haha. If that doesn't make sense, see the movie Borat.) But in reality, the interviews weren't that bad. I talked about my research, leadership skills, experience in systems engineering and design, strengths, weaknesses, etc. a lot that day, but there really wasn't too much overlap in the exact questions, surprisingly.
About three out of the six interviews I was pretty interested in - two were in Special Programs (their ultra-secretive branch) and one was in the TSat program (I forget what T stands for), but that is for a 6 satellite constellations of the largest satellites (they need 30KW!) ever built. The TSat and one of the SP jobs were for Systems Engineering (trade studies, modeling, interfaces, etc.), and the other SP job was for modeling and simulation, but of a multiple kill vehicle.
Overall, I liked the company and its career-development program, but I just don't know if I would prefer to do defense over space. Defense may be more lucrative, but I've always been passionate about space and would like to work on the CEV if I were at LM. But I have an on-campus interview with LM Thursday, so hopefully I can pursue that route. The Sunnyvale (San Fran Bay) area is also really expensive and doesn't seem all that less crowded than LA, so that's a drawback. They do have the mountains and the beach pretty close by, though, so that's a bonus. Location will definitely be a factor in my decision, but there are a number of more companies to be visited before that happens. Up next and confirmed:
Booz Allen - 13th
Northrup Grumman - 15-17th
APL - 29th
Your Name Into Space!
Dear friends and fans of Mars Gravity (my research project) -
It's been an exciting week for the team! - culminating in a front page
article in today's Boston Globe, which you can check out online at:
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2006/11/03/prime_ad_space_in_space.
So what's all the excitement about??
In a novel bid to pay our own way into space, we are now inviting
people around the world to make our spacecraft their high tech canvas.
This week we launched a new website - YourNameIntoSpace.org - where
individuals and organizations can decorate the satellite and our
website with logos, photos, names, and messages. For a tax-deductible
donation as low as $35, anyone can send their message into orbit! For
a larger donation, you can reserve space on the reentry vehicle, and
at the end of the mission the space hardware bearing your actual logo,
photo, message, etc will be returned to you. At YourNameIntoSpace.org,
kids of all ages can also add their names for free to a DVD that will
fly onboard the spacecraft.
We're thrilled to be able to share the excitement of space exploration
with everyone! With this website, we're opening a new frontier for
public and corporate participation in cutting edge research and space
adventure - and making it possible for everyone from students to
multinational corporations to be involved in our landmark mission.
YourNameIntoSpace.org uses the global reach and immediacy of New Media
and Web 2.0 to make that star-filled frontier just one mouse-click
away. So please, join us in making this satellite a high tech canvas
for photos, artwork, declarations of love, well-wishes, greetings from
space, names - use your imagination!
-The Mars Gravity team at
www.YourNameIntoSpace.org
Waterfire
I've wanted to go back and post about a great night V and I had back in September. We went to Waterfire in Providence, RI. Here, they set floating wooden stands on fire in the middle of the river, playing classical and worldy-music all along the riverbed. There were thousands of people there to watch the fires, but it was so peaceful. V and I walked along the river some, and then we got some champagne and sat by the river, just watching the fire. We were mesmermized. We slowed down. We watched, doing nothing except enjoying the scene and each other's presence. Waterfire was simultaneously playful yet meditative and full of energy yet relaxing. It was a very romantic night that also made me pause the fast-forward button on my life. Just thinking about it makes me happy and relaxed, but I need more.
