It is really interesting moving to a new place and not really knowing anyone. You have so much time to do stuff. I want to say it is nice but I don't know if I would be lying or not? I don't enjoy people. This is not to say that I don't need company or companionship but I do enjoy my own company. I find myself to be very interesting and thought provoking, hahaha. I also have really good taste in music and movies and I know the funniest jokes. But I guess if this is not true for everyone then maybe something is not correct?
I have accomplished a ton since I have been here. Being without internet and sitting in a mostly bare apartment gives one lots of free time. I am not one of those people who likes to explore or sight-see either. Mostly I just like to explore my mind. I submitted a grant to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art or LACMA to create a human/bacterial communicator. I requested $30k haha. It was fun to write.
I am finally finishing up my paper on language analysis and hope to put it up on arXiv soon! YAY! I have been working on that paper for years. Maybe since 2011. If anyone wants to help me proofread or tell me if it makes sense I would be glad to send a copy.
Today I hope to code a little and work on my XSEDE proposal which was creating a correlation matrix analysis tool for determining groups in hydrogen bond dynamics over the course of a molecular dynamics simulation.
I also started experimenting in the lab. Well.. creating competent cells, hah. YAY!
I have also been filming a personal documentary about moving here and about Science. I want to include other people. The goal is to give people insight into what it is actually like working as a Scientist. Probably just post it on youtube in a year after I finish all the filming and editing. Just for fun. If you have a decent camera and want to film yourself let me know and maybe we can collaborate!
I finally have a bike! I can now ride to work everyday. It is only like a 1 mile bike ride and is mostly relaxing. The bike lanes are on the outside and I need to figure out how not to be hit when people are turning right and not signalling. hah.
I really enjoy my new apartment even though it is not that large there is plenty of room for myself and I have already planned out how I am going to set it up. I just need to figure out how to obtain all the stuff I need. I just have one question do I need more than a quad monitor setup?
I will be super excited once my workstation and stuff arrives from Chicago! Then I can build stuff and hack stuff and have a good old time. I miss my soldering iron!
Saturday, January 25, 2014
Sunday, January 12, 2014
Life in California
What!
I just arrived in California and it has been a crazy week!
I am currently living on the NASA/Navy base in the lodging they have. It is pretty decent. I have a microwave and a fridge and it is pretty quiet(It is the off season as most of the visitors come in the summer). Looking for a place has not been as bad as I expected just not as easy as in Chicago. In Chicago you go around to a few places and have a credit check for the one you want and then move in. Here everyone just goes out and puts in like 20 applications and then based on which ones are not taken by other people they choose from the ones they are approved from. So for every place you are usually hoping the people before you don't want it and you are quicker than the people after you.
So I found a place. It is a 500 square foot studio for ~$1400/month. It has about a 60 square foot covered private patio which adds to the place but it is pretty ridiculous in price. You can rent a pretty swanky apartment in Chicago for $1400, at least on the south side. It is actually one of the nicest/largest/cheapest that I found.
NASA is super cool. Everyone is so laid back. It really is so much different from any University environment I have been in. There is no pressure from anyone. Not that I plan to be lazy I plan to work really hard but I want to do it on my owns terms. If I want to be lazy for a day and not do much I don't want to be hassled by a PI. Not that the PIs I have hassle much but they act like your boss instead of your colleague and they usually think your only job is to produce results for them.
California is much more relaxed than Chicago. Though most people in Chicago are pretty nice and relaxed(at least when not driving). I think the weather here has the effect of making people more laid back. I really enjoy it here and I am excited to be more settled and less stressed out. Because travelling staying in hotels, crappy food, stress have all taken a toll on me. I completely forgot how hard moving is. Hopefully it will be a bit until I move again.
I just arrived in California and it has been a crazy week!
I am currently living on the NASA/Navy base in the lodging they have. It is pretty decent. I have a microwave and a fridge and it is pretty quiet(It is the off season as most of the visitors come in the summer). Looking for a place has not been as bad as I expected just not as easy as in Chicago. In Chicago you go around to a few places and have a credit check for the one you want and then move in. Here everyone just goes out and puts in like 20 applications and then based on which ones are not taken by other people they choose from the ones they are approved from. So for every place you are usually hoping the people before you don't want it and you are quicker than the people after you.
So I found a place. It is a 500 square foot studio for ~$1400/month. It has about a 60 square foot covered private patio which adds to the place but it is pretty ridiculous in price. You can rent a pretty swanky apartment in Chicago for $1400, at least on the south side. It is actually one of the nicest/largest/cheapest that I found.
NASA is super cool. Everyone is so laid back. It really is so much different from any University environment I have been in. There is no pressure from anyone. Not that I plan to be lazy I plan to work really hard but I want to do it on my owns terms. If I want to be lazy for a day and not do much I don't want to be hassled by a PI. Not that the PIs I have hassle much but they act like your boss instead of your colleague and they usually think your only job is to produce results for them.
California is much more relaxed than Chicago. Though most people in Chicago are pretty nice and relaxed(at least when not driving). I think the weather here has the effect of making people more laid back. I really enjoy it here and I am excited to be more settled and less stressed out. Because travelling staying in hotels, crappy food, stress have all taken a toll on me. I completely forgot how hard moving is. Hopefully it will be a bit until I move again.
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