Fourth of July Celebrations

I am finally back on the NASA Ames campus after a long, exciting weekend away for the 4th of July!

The week before I left, I mostly did a lot of internet research to gather information that could be useful for the design of Dr. Cagle's product. I combed over a lot of patents, articles, and other documents to gain information.

I also went to some really cool lectures:

• Mars Geography & Exploration, hosted by NASA and the SETI Institute
• How to incorporate electronics into fashion, with Kitty Yeung
• Taking advantage of your internship & career opportunities at NASA, hosted by George Gorospe of NASA Ames

I learned so much at the lectures, and it is so awesome to hear about different people's projects.

Finally, on Friday I got meet Elle Stapleton, who works full time at the Singularity University Innovation Lab. (I mentioned Singularity in a previous post; they are a think tank here in the Silicon Valley that runs a summer program for post-docs.) She showed us the 3D printers and other cool resources in the iLab, including Virtual Reality games, laser cutters, and Arduino tool kits. It was really awesome, and I've already spent a bunch of time in the lab since the tour on Friday. I think the iLab will become a really great resource as we move forward with Dr. Cagle's project.

This past weekend I went back to San Francisco to spend time with Maddy, Freddie, and Abe. On Saturday I hung out with Maddy, and we headed to Fisherman's Wharf. Fisherman's Wharf is a big tourist attraction in SF. There are a lot of good restaurants, and a bunch of souvenir shops. Maddy took me to In N Out Burger, which is a California fast food chain that is really hyped up. It was definitely worth the rave reviews; it was a damn good burger considering it was fast food.

In N Out Burger on Fisherman's Wharf.

The next day, Maddy, Abe and I went to the Castro Theater for a Sound of Music sing-a-long. They played the movie and encouraged everyone in the theater to sing along. It was really fun, and lots of people in the audience did really funny callbacks during the movie. That night, Freddie, Abe and I watched Rent on DVD at home. I had never seen that musical before, and I absolutely loved it. I will definitely be adding it to my list of favorites.

The next day was Monday, and Abe and I accompanied Freddie to her class at the City College of San Francisco. It was a Women In Film class. The professor lectured for a while, and then we watched an Afghani film called At Five in the Afternoon. It was really interesting, and definitely showed a different perspective than that experienced by women in American films.

After class, Freddie, Abe and I went down to Fisherman's Wharf again. We went down into the San Francisco Dungeon. It's a kind of live-action museum that takes visitors through the history of San Francisco from 1849 to 1915. It was really cool and also really spooky. I would definitely recommend it to anyone visiting the area. We also went to two classic attractions: Madame Tussaud's and Ripley's Believe It Or Not.

Walking with The Beatles on Abbey Road at the wax museum.

Finally, on Tuesday the 4th of July, Freddie, Abe, their parents and I went to an Oakland A's baseball game. We had really awesome seats, and it was really sunny. I had to be really careful not to get sunburned! Luckily I succeeded. The A's were winning for most of the game, but in the top of the 9th the Chicago White Sox scored a bunch of runs and tied the game 6-6. But then, in the bottom of the 9th, the A's took back the game with a home run. It was truly magnificent. I am so glad I got to go to an MLB game on 4th of July. It was a truly American event.

Myself, Abe and Freddie at the A's game on the 4th of July.

I got back to the NASA Lodge late last night. Thankfully, I got to sleep in after the long weekend. Then today I went to mess around in the Singularity iLab, and met with Dr. Cagle. It was a pretty productive day after a fun, relaxing weekend.