I've Gone Insane

I have a terrible track record of not blogging consistently. I mean just look at my archives and its obvious. So clearly I must have gone insane. Or my eyes are bigger than my mouth or ambitions higher than my reach or something like that.

Why?

Because I just started a new blog.

And not a blog that replaces this one. Oh no, a blog to write in addition to this one.

Because as I was thinking about this blog, I've realized its come to be mainly about my life, writing, and my beliefs. Which are great things and things I love discussing. But somewhere along the way, the engineering and science part got lost. And I have a lot to say on those topics, more than a randomly assigned day of the week can make up for. So I've decided to start a new blog solely devoted to science and engineering.

You can check it out here.

So let's see how this adventure goes. And please pop over there and check out Tuesday's post as well as today's post.

This blog, my bittersweet fountain one, will still contain all my anecdotes about being an engineer. All the funny, quirky little stories about my life that are caused because I'm an engineer and live on the socially awkward side of the social spectrum. My new blog, Rocket Science Revealed, is going to focus on the hard science facts and explaining them to you, my reader, in terms a layman can understand.

So come by and check it out. Who knows? Maybe you'll learn something.

And if you have engineering questions, ask them. Because I'm here to answer your questions.

Don't let your science fiction lack facts! Don't let fear of science stand in your way from learning. It's not that hard. And I promise not to drop any differential equations on you. :)

Dragon*Con and Amanda Tapping

I know I promised pictures from Dragon*Con, but alas, I do not have them. I took pictures, but with my dad's camera. And I don't currently have anyway to transfer those pictures from my dad's camera to my computer. I need to go to Best Buy and buy an SD card reader, but I haven't been able to fit that into my schedule. So it's still going to have to wait.

But I can tell you about Dragon*Con and its sheer awesomeness.

Dragon*Con was far more crowded than I ever remember it being. I heard rumors of their being 50,000 people. If you've never been to an event like it, it's hard to fathom what this means. Basically imagine crowds that you can't fight. It's like being in an ocean or river, caught by the current. You don't know where you're going or why you're going there, only you can't fight the river of people. And suddenly you find yourself at an escalator that goes down--and you want to go up--but you have no choice but to go down because you CAN'T FIGHT THE CURRENT!

Despite that chaos, it was awesome, and this year I got to meet one of the women who brought to life one of my personal heroes. I met Amanda Tapping, who plays Samantha Carter in my favorite TV show of all time--Stargate SG-1.

I was really excited. I stood in line to get her signature, but the pressure of the line to move quickly meant I didn't get much time to talk to her. Alas. But the next day there was a Stargate Panel that she was attending, so I went to that.

This panel turned out to by awesome. Amanda Tapping and two other actors were present (both of the others were from Atlantis). Usually at Dragon*Con, if you want to ask a question you line up behind a microphone, and the people answer from on stage--where they sit at a table facing you. But this time, the two other actors grabbed wireless mics and ran around the audience, coming to the people who had questions. So people brave enough to ask questions were reworded with getting to talk with, stand near, and shake hands with a Stargate actor.

So being an engineer, I had a question. I asked, "As an engineer, I find myself often saying things then pausing and thinking, 'I can't believe I just said that and its real.' Did you guys ever have moments like that?" Well, Amanda Tapping didn't really answer that question exactly, but her answer was even more awesome.

She explained that one time she was reading the script and there as an equation written in it. She was supposed to write it on a board or something in the episode. At this point she had been playing Samantha Carter--astrophysicist extraordinaire--for quite some time. Looking at the equation, she just had a gut instinct that it was wrong. So she spent a day working it out, trying to figure out the accuracy of this equation. And by the end of the day she realized not only was it wrong but found the correct solution!

She then took it to the writer, all excited, and was like "Dude, this equation is wrong!" The writer then just looked at her and said, "Whatever, Amanda, just fix it."

On one hand, it makes me frustrated that the writer didn't care to double check their accuracy. But on the other hand, it made me really excited that one of the characters who inspired me towards my career path and engineering, actually inspired the actress who played her to look into science. How awesome is that!

So Amanda Tapping is going down in my book as being legit and awesome. Sure she's not actually an astrophysicist, but after hearing her talk I could tell she realized her character's impact on girl's like me and took it seriously. And that's amazing.

*sigh*

I know. I've dropped off the face of the planet since Dragon*Con. But this whole balancing a full time job, taking a class, finishing my thesis, revising a novel, writing a novel, and blogging thing isn't easy.

But I promise I'll be back next week. Promise promise promise. Cross my heart.

I really don't want to cut blogging out of my schedule for a variety of reasons. (1) I love blogging. It gives me an outlet to express a lot of my feelings in an essay-esque form, and I have a lot of things I like to express. (2) Some of my friends back in Atlanta read it, and it helps them keep in contact with me. (3) It makes me feel like a part of a community, the crazy, writer-wanna-be community. But I love being a part of that community.

So I will be back. And I will manage to do all the other things I need to do this semester.

And next semester will be peaches and creme. No more classes. No more thesis. Just work and novel writing. Yay!!

Dragon*Con Prep

I know. I haven't posted at all since I said I was changing the schedule. Bad me. I know. But in my defense classes did just start, my super awesome best friend Alisha did just get married, and Dragon*Con is this weekend.

So I spent last week trying to figure out how distance learning works and writing a speech for Alisha's wedding (since I was maid of honor). And I had to fly back to Atlanta for the wedding and there was craziness.

And this weekend I have to fly back to Atlanta again for a different sort of craziness.

I've been prepping for Dragon*Con all month, mainly trying to get my costume together. "WHAT?" you ask. "YOU'RE DRESSING UP! You nerd." Why yes. I am a nerd. I am also a geek. And as such, I have this quote to counter your judgement of my nerdiness and geekiness:

"Nerds like us are allowed to be unironically enthusiastic about stuff. Nerds are allowed to love stuff, like jump-up-and-down-can't-control yourself love it. When people call people nerds, mostly what they're saying is "You like stuff." Which is not a good insult at all. Like "You are too enthusiastic about the miracle of the human consciousness." ~John Green

Hah. So there. Don't judge me for enthusiasm and excitement.

(I would argue that every use of the word nerd should be replaced with geek, but that's just my personal definition of those words.)

Anyway, I've been getting my costume together and one of them is a steampunk costume. People keep asking me what that is so let me post this video as the answer to that question:


(Note: I am not, nor have I ever been, a Goth--not a judgement of those who are/were, just a statement of fact--but I do love Steampunk)

I think the Sci-Fi janitor videos are one of my favorite parts of Dragon*Con. dc*tv in general is awesome, but the Sci-Fi janitors were a pure stroke of genius. I mean how can you not watch this video without laughing:


So yeah. I should be back on Tuesday with my new regular blogging schedule and a Dragon*Con recap. See you then!

Fall Semester Schedule

It’s a vast understatement to say that this summer did not turn out as I expected it to. If you had asked me last April what I thought I would be doing this summer, I would have told you going to Florida for my co-op, reading a lot of books, and blogging regularly. Turns out none of that was true. I got offered a full time job in Albuquerque, I only read about 10 books, and well, you can be the judge of whether I blogged regularly or not.

Despite my full time job, I’m not actually done with school. I have one more class and my master’s project left to complete. Which means this next semester is going to be crazy. Not only is my work going to be busy, but I have to take a class and complete my research for school. Essentially, if I survive this semester without pulling my hair out, it will be because of the grace of God.

So blogging isn’t going to be exactly high on the priority list (though I love doing it as a stress reliever and stress relief is pretty high on the priority list). Therefore, the attempted daily blogging schedule is going to be erased. We will be going back to a Tuesday/Thursday blogging schedule.

Because I’m only having two blogging days, they will have no theme. I will post about whatever I want to (and whatever you request).

So I just wanted to let you guys know what’s up.

Wish me luck in the following semester.

Killing your...uh...very much loved things

(I know its Wednesday, which means I should post something Western themed, but since I didn't post on Monday I decided to post on Writing today instead.)

I was going to entitle this "Killing Your Babies", but I thought non writers might not get it. They might think I was actually talking about killing your children. Which I absolutely am not talking about or anyway condoning.

I am, of course, talking about your manuscript.

That first shiny idea for a manuscript is very near and dear to your heart. And your manuscript is in many ways like a child, your baby that you've created that you love more than anything. You don't see its warts and wrongs. You think its perfect and wonderful because its yours.

But sometimes, your kid is a punk. Sometimes your kid is spoiled rotten. And sometimes, your manuscript needs to be completely changed.

So Spirit Riddled, my completed MG novel, has undergone many changes at this point, but its still not the manuscript it needs to be. And last year I got a lot of really good feedback, but some of that feedback involved things that pretty much surmounted to completely changing the story, to killing my baby.

This is something I've been dwelling on for a while. Which feedback is legitimate and will make the story better and which feedback is simply because the critiquer doesn't understand my story like I do? It's a fine line, a very fine line.

So last night I called one of my friends and we talked for two hours, mainly about my story, and which changes we thought were actually necessary to the story. We also talked about my vision for the story (the story arc that will hopefully cross multiple books) and how I can condense that so it can actually be sold. (No one is going to sign me for an a million book series, lol).

I think the solution we settled on is still true to the vision of my story but addresses many of the concerns of the critiquer.

But as I mentioned before its still a fine line. An author has to balance their true vision with something that can actually sell. Where is the balance? At what point are you giving up your artistry to be sale-able?

Any opinions, any thoughts?

Engineering Conferences

I attended my very first engineering conference last week. Though I went to two years of grad school and numerous reviews and workshops, I had never had the chance to go to an honest for goodness engineering conference.

This past week I attended the Small Satellite Conference in Logan, Utah.

And it was awesome.

Imagine 500 engineers, ages high school to 90 years old, all in one place. All talking about something their incredibly passionate about.

Essentially, imagine DragonCon, but instead of people going all fangirl over Brandon Sanderson, they're going fangirl over James Wertz, the editor of Satellite Mission Analysis and Design. Seriously, I haven't seen that much excitement over the new release of a book since Harry Potter Seven. And this book weighs four pounds. Literally, everyone I knew at the conference bought one.

Personally, I went from booth to booth, trying to find vendors of reaction wheels. And when I came across the reaction wheels for CubeSats my mind was blown. CubeSats are satellites that are 10 cm by 10 cm by 10 cm. So basically their reaction wheels are the size of quarters.

Mind blowing.

It's amazing how technology adapts and changes. How people can find solutions for the impossible. And that's the great thing about conferences. You get to discover what everyone else in your field is doing: the work that has been actually accomplished and the work that is cutting edge theory. I sat through four days of lectures and I only fell asleep in a handful of them.

And the falling asleep is inevitable, because engineers love to party.

Granted its not always what you imagine a party to be, since a lot of engineers tend to be socially awkward, but its our version of partying. I saw three movies (Cowboys and Aliens, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, and Captain America). I went bowling four times (won two of those games). And went to two "socials" (officially approved events by the conference). But the "real" party-ers spent all their time at "The White Owl", Logan's only bar. (It's not exactly a big city). I don't drink and think movies and bowling are MUCH more fun, but apparently its like the whole conference shows up there every night.

So that's what engineering conferences are like. Anyone else out there every been to an engineering conference? Any great stories? I have plans to go to several more this year (now that I'm a real person and all), so I imagine I'll have many great stories.

Especially since I don't plan on getting sick for multiple days the next time. (Yeah, it wasn't pretty. I hate being sick on travel.)