A Million Things

This past week has been a whirlwind of random but very fortunate circumstances.

As I mentioned in my last blog post, I went on a tour last Tuesday, August 1st. We went to the SHARP (Systems Health Analytics, Resilience, and Physics modeling) lab, where they create Artificial Intelligence (AI) that can help pilots, astronauts, and other NASA personnel make decisions quickly and effectively. For example, if something is damaged on a space shuttle, the AI can analyze the situation and provide a course of an action. Ultimately, the pilot or astronaut must finalize the decision, but the AI can make evaluating the situation much simpler and faster. It was cool to see the computer programs and equipment that make AI possible for NASA.

On Wednesday the 2nd, we continued to work on one of our last prototypes for the summer. We once again used the FormLabs printer to create the prototype. Half of the mechanism worked, but the other half didn't fit together exactly right. We are still working this week on making the second part of the prototype work correctly.

Thursday was by far the most exciting day of last week. Last Tuesday, my friend Freddie texted me and asked me what I was doing on Thursday. I told her nothing, and wondered what she had up her sleeve. There was supposed to be an event at the San Francisco Exploratorium that night, so maybe she wanted to go together? But no. She replied to me and said "Do you want to go see Hamilton?" Ummm... is that even a question?

For those of you who don't know, I am very into musical theatre, and I am just as obsessed with Lin-Manuel Miranda's Hamilton as the next person. I have been dying to see it since I got into the musical last summer, and it seemed especially unfair this summer; Hamilton was playing right in San Francisco, but all the tickets were super expensive so it was nearly impossible to go. So when Freddie told me that her family had been given tickets because her aunt couldn't make the show, I did not hesitate to take the opportunity.

However, before I headed to SF on Thursday to see the show, I went to a lecture from Nanoracks. Nanoracks is a private company that launches cubesats (small satellites) from the International Space Station (ISS). They talked about and showed us the cubesat deployment device that they use to put the cubesats into orbit from the ISS. It was really cool to see a real piece of equipment that had been in space.

So later that day, Hamilton was at 8:00 PM. Beforehand, Freddie's family and I went out to dinner, where we chatted and got hyped up to see the show. Then we went over to the Orpheum Theater for the show. Freddie and I took this picture by the big Hamilton sign outside:

Outside the Orpheum Theater with Freddie.

We had really awesome seats. We were in the Orchestra section, but we were far enough back so that we didn't need to tilt our heads up to see the stage. But, we were close enough to see the actor's full facial expressions. Here is our view of the stage (with my very excited Snapchat caption):

Stage at Hamilton

The show was absolutely amazing. During the opening number, I was just gaping. I couldn't believe that I was actually seeing the show! Also, the guy who played Alexander Hamilton sounded exactly like Lin-Manuel Miranda, who played the character in the original Broadway production.

Some of the songs I hadn't listened to so much (like "One Last Time," which is sung by the character of George Washington) became some of my favorite songs, because hearing them live changed the experience completely. Everyone in the cast was so talented, and I am so grateful that I finally got to see the show. It was a truly a small miracle that allowed this dream of mine to come true.

I stayed over on Thursday and hung out with Freddie's family on Friday. Her mom Sara took us to See's Candy, which is a big candy store on Market St. She said that if I came to SF, I "had to go to See's." The chocolate was really good, and it was definitely worth the trip. We also went to dinner that night with one of Sara's friends from high school. She and her family were really nice, and I'm thankful that I was allowed to tag along.

On Saturday I left San Francisco for the last time this summer. Since my internship is ending this week, I will not be returning to the city again. I was definitely a little sad to be leaving, but I will be seeing Freddie, Maddy, and their families at Smith again soon.

On Sunday I worked with my teammate Maca to make up for the work that I missed last Thursday and Friday. We have a few more things to prototype and print before our internship ends this coming Friday. We continued our work today, and we are trying to get everything done before we have to give our presentation.

It's hard to believe that my next entry to this blog will be my last, and that my internship is ending so soon! Keep an eye out for the ~final~ update.