Thanksgiving update 100

Well, this is the last one, everybody. I've spent a few gloriously relaxing days at home but unfortunately the massive stack of work that I have yet to finish before the end of the year can be ignored no longer. I'm here in my room back at Mudd hunkering down to get some good 'ol fashioned homework done. And I really hope that it doesn't take a long time.

But it might. I was telling my mom today that since I'm not working on normal "problem set" type homework I don't know how long it will take. I need to do some research to answer a few questions I have and if I happen to find just the write article in the first 30 min my work will be easy. I could just as easily spend 10 hours and not find anything of use and then work would be very difficult and time-consuming.

For clinic, I need to figure out a way to take a distributed light source (made up of several LEDs) and 1) focus it as much as possible to preserve the efficiency of our device and 2) distribute it evenly across a 37mm face. I think I've got some solutions that will get me part way there but I'm not sure if this is a problem frequently dealt with in science so I'm not sure how much stuff is out there.

For my independent research on color music, I need to find a way to correlate words like "warm," "heavy," and "active" to the aspects of music that they seem to describe. Hopefully by the end I'll have a system that will tell me how "warm" a piece of music is and likewise how I can make a piece of music more "warm." But like the clinic stuff, I'm really not sure how much of this stuff has been done before. If it has then research might be okay but if it hasn't, then research might be a painfully long process.

But we'll have to see! Thanksgiving is over (too soon some might say) and now its back to a 3 three week push to the end of the semester. In the words of a great sea captain (and I'll do something cool if anyone can name who it is and from which movie I've taken this), "Quick's the word and sharp's the action!"

Thanksgiving update 11

Sitting at my kitchen table at HOME right now trying desperately to do work. It's so hard when I'm the only one in the house who has this much work, though, and all I want to do is be on VACATION and do NOTHING.

:)

Oh well, keep on chugging, eh? Maybe I'll cut back a little bit and give myself a break. Gotta make sure I can afford it first...

And in a minute I'm going to eat the greatest breakfast ever!! Why is it the greatest breakfast ever?

1) My mom made it

2) It has Pilsbury cinnamon rolls. BAM.

3) It also has eggs and bacon.

4) It's in my home!

Then its off to my aunt's house to see my family and eat even more food.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYBODY!!

Thanksgiving update 10

Sitting in my room at school doing work for Analog Electronics now, learning about MOSFET transistors. It's a crazy awesome class but I haven't been doing my work in it recently so I've got some catching up to do. This song started playing on my Pandora station and I like it so I'm posting the lyrics. Enjoy.


"My Hero" by Foo Fighters

Too alarming now to talk about
Take your pictures down and shake it out
Truth or consequence, say it aloud
Use that evidence, race it around

There goes my hero
Watch him as he goes
There goes my hero
He’s ordinary

Don’t the best of them bleed it out
While the rest of them peter out
Truth or consequence, say it aloud
Use that evidence, race it around

There goes my hero
Watch him as he goes
There goes my hero
He’s ordinary

Kudos my hero leaving all the best
You know my hero, the one that’s on

There goes my hero
Watch him as he goes
There goes my hero
He’s ordinary

There goes my hero
Watch him as he goes
There goes my hero
He's ordinary

Thanksgiving update 1

Sitting in coffee klatch writing some long-ass blogs! Enjoying a cappuccino and a cappuccino chip muffin with my two suitemates, Rob and Jackie. Hands down, best two suitemates. Ever.

Thanksgiving break is starting well! Got one more class from 11-12:15 and then I'm free. I've got plans to go home and hopefully get a good amount of work done, catch up on some sleep, yada, yada...

PEACE

Clinic Updates and Fall FTX

If there was an awesome scale to measure the awesome-ness of clinic projects and their clinic teams ours would still be off-the-charts awesome. That's right, we're too awesome for even an imaginary awesome scale!

Seriously though, we've put a lot of hard work into the project so far and things are starting to pay off. Right now the project has us dabbling in every science from optics to photonics to environmental and atmospheric science to fluid dynamics to high-precision electronics and most things in between. It has been a steep challenge but very exciting and very rewarding. It's like someone said, "Hey, Nate Jones, here's a homework problem with no clear solution. You get to decide what to do and the world of professional engineers will tell you if its good enough. Are you up to the challenge?"

To which I of course responded a hearty, "YES."

Right now the team is heavy into proving that we can take optical transmission measurements, a fundamental function of our device. The idea is that if black carbon (the pollutant we're trying to measure) absorbs light, then we should be able to tell how much black carbon is present by how much light gets absorbed. Its a fairly straight-forward idea but there is a lot to work with. For one, building a detector isn't a trivial task. The photodiodes we are using (which generate a current from incident light) only produce a very small current and it takes some high gain amplification before we can read the signal. But of course with high gain comes high noise and it takes some precision electronics to be able to amplify the signal without all that noise. Ideally the op-amps we're using will have input offset currents on the order of a few femptoamperes (fA)! That's like saying, "This device is so sensitive it can measure the flow of a FEW HUNDRED ELECTRONS going into its terminals." Crazy. Also, the team is working hard on an inlet for our device which requires a lot of science we don't know yet. They are precise mechanical setups that filter out particulate matter down to the micrometer range and low to mid range commercial models cost anywhere from $500 to $900.

And Fall FTX was great; bad and great. Always a learning experience with this ROTC stuff, you know? Friday I didn't finish with all my work until about 6PM and at that point still needed to pack for the weekend. Mind you, we were meeting to leave Saturday morning around 4AM. So what did I do? Stupid me went to the Korean dinner my Korean language professor was having at her house and then stayed out till 12AM or so visiting with some friends I haven't seen in a while. Of course when I finally got back I stayed up until 4AM packing and getting ready so I didn't sleep at all before we left for the trip. I got to sleep on the bus ride up to our training site (about 2hrs away) but the rest of that day I still felt really tired.

And for me, I couldn't help but feel like somewhat of a failure. I mean, the rest of the seniors and I have worked our butts off the last few weeks to get this event ready and it was only going to get more hectic when we actually started the exercise. And where am I? About to pass out in the corner. I wasn't present to help out my friends and I felt like a burden most of the weekend. And why? Because I was stupid and selfish and thought that I could go see some friends of mine. That was the coward's way out and I paid for it. The right thing to do would have been to tell my friends I couldn't see them and gotten some sleep. Yeah I don't WANT to pass up on them but at that point I'm a leader making the decision and the sacrifice necessary for me to support my cadets. I didn't make that choice and it cost me. I suppose the one redeeming thing about it all is that I'm able to identify where I went wrong. God help me I hope I don't make that mistake again in the future.

But other than that the weekend went really well! Our freshmen and sophomores got a chance to have some really great training, which included everything from firing live 5.56 rounds on an M16 firing range, using the EST (Engagement Simulation Trainer, basically an M16 video game), practice what to do if a HMMWV rolls, complete an obstacle course, and practice day and night land navigation. It was a full weekend and thanks to the skill and resourcefulness of the seniors in our battalion, it all went off without any major hitches.

We finally got back this Monday morning. A few days left and then Thanksgiving...

A long time coming

Oh man have it got a lot to talk about! A lot has happened is the last few weeks (as you might have guessed since I was too busy to post a blog even once!) so I think I've got a three step plan of action that will get us all back on track:

1) Tell you about clinic updates from the past week or so and about the Fall Field Training Exercise (Fall FTX) that I went on with ROTC this past weekend.

2) Give you updates regarding my Thanksgiving Break activities (so excited!).

3) Direct you to this link, in case you haven't seen it yet: www.getonmyhorse.com

And yes, I apologize for sending you to that link.

I love you too

Whoops, I meant u2. Not "you too". Even though I'm sure I would have some sort of affection for you if I ever happened to meet you.

Ever notice how certain songs or certain bands get eternally connected to times in your life or specific feelings you've had?

Early in my high school years my friends got me listening to u2 and they steadily grew to be one of my favorite bands of all time. I'm sure part of it is the music (they can't have been international superstars for over a quarter of a century playing bad music now can they?) but I'm just as sure that more than that it is the people I think of when I hear u2 playing.

I remember a time in my life when I was growing, when I was glad to be where I was and excited to think about where I was going. I had good friends (the best, some might say) and I got to do the things that I loved (for the most part).

I'm listening to "All that you can't leave behind" right now and it's taking me back to that place. Cause you know, this last week was tough (god help me if I don't collapse from sleep deprivation before the end of the semester) but the weekend was good. Last Friday was all ROTC all day but I got a lot of stuff done and it felt really good at the end of the day. It's a lot of pressure to take responsibility for the development of the juniors (or MSIIIs (pronounced "em-es-threes") as we call them) but if you do your work and don't slack off then you get the immense reward of seeing them grow. Saturday I hadn't done much work but I planned a small ROTC party to get our freshmen and sophomores together to unwind and have a good time. It was great! Some of the cadets who are on sports teams showed up and a few of the MSIIIs showed up and we just had a great time. It went a LOT longer than I had planned but somehow today my schedule opened up and I got to sleep late and everything was okay.

So everything's okay. Bono's sweet falsetto mixes with the Edge's wailing guitar as I continue working and everything's okay. God willing I'll get my work done tonight, I'll get some sleep and this week I'll do it all over again. I wasn't sure if I could keep going on this semester like I had the past few weeks but now I think that I might be able to. :) We'll see how it goes, eh?

Go Taiwan!!

Wow! I just read the Google Analytics report that I'm using to monitor my site visits and it turns out I've got a few visitors from all the way over in Taiwan.

You go, guys! Keep coming back! And let me know if there's anything you'd like to hear from me. Anybody can post comments below, so feel free. Just click on the "# comments" link and it'll take you where you need to go.

Oh what to do at 2AM on a Sunday night (Monday morning?)...

What to do except blog that is?

Answer: nothing. blog now. work later.

Man, let me tell you, it's been a rough couple of weeks. Going 52 hours awake was the worst, by far, but its just been the start. But to keep my spirits up I'm going to tell you a few random stories that highlight why I love Mudd. Maybe it'll stave off cabin fever for a little while longer...

Currently sitting on my desk is a line-up of what look to be the tastiest, most exotic beers a guy like me could ask for. A 21st Anniversary Black Butte porter, an organic stout, a strawberry blonde, and two other exotic porters (with names like Zywiec and Baltika you can't go wrong) round out this all star cast. My roommate, Rob, easily the greatest roommate in the world, and his girlfriend, Jackie, gave them to me for my birthday a week or so ago. I figured that if I drink one a weekend from now on (skipping Thanksgiving weekend) then I'll finish the last one on the last day of classes for this semester. I can't wait.

Clinic is finally as crazy and as exciting as I would hope it to be. Just to keep our team steaming along I need to learn about aethelometers, nephalometers, how light transmits or scatters through a substance, laser diodes, photodiodes, and multi-angle absorption photometers. Its so cool! I'm getting all into analog circuits, photoelectric devices, elemental physics, and device design. It's one of those moments when I think, "Wow I have so much work to do for this ... and I can't wait to get started on it all!"

I just found out recently that when I commission this May I will commission as a Military Intelligence officer in the US Army. And in spite of being in a tough spot right now it suddenly brought home how much I want to be the best MI officer there is or was. When I get there I will have men and women to take care of and superiors who will require only the best work that I can provide. So every time I want to cut corners now I think about that and what kind of leader I want to be. I think about my personal development and doing everything I can to be the best I can be. It's scary at times because it's all too often that I stop and look and think, "I'm so far from the person, from the leader, that I want to be" and it makes me wonder if I'll ever get to be where I want to be, if I'll ever measure up as a leader. It's humbling.

Last Friday night Mudd celebrated its annual Halloween party, Trick or Drink, at West Dorm. Even though I was really, really tired and had so much work to do, my friends persuaded me to dress up and come out with them. I may have stayed out later than I intended, slept in later than I intended the next day, and fallen tremendously behind on my work, but on some level I have to thank them for doing that. I had a lot of fun. It's a great side of this school when people can have fun and forget their stress for a few hours. It reminds us why we all came here: the people. When we get creative we get CREATIVE! And when we have fun we have FUN! I hope that there are more moments like that for me next semester; I want to soak it all up so I never forget how many good people go here.

And that's why I love Mudd. At least, that's what you're getting at 2:30 in the freaking morning when I've still got a massive load of work to finish. :)

Melodic, Jazz Death-Metal

If you're looking for some new muses, check out the following bands, both of whom I found using Pandora and Last.fm with the tag "melodic, jazz death-metal." For those of you into really progressive rock, they're pretty cool.

Cynic: The Eagle Nature and Sentiment (Live 2007)

Gojira: Flying Whales / Ocean Planet

52 hours and done

Wow. I had something really clever planned for this last one but I can't remember what it is now so I'm going to let the both of us revel in the fact that:

1) I'm still alive

2) I'm about to take a nap

It's all over; there were good times and there were bad times. Times when I was productive and times when I couldn't have formed a coherent sentence if one slapped me on my ass. There were good midterms (Analog went pretty well!) and there were bad midterms (none come to mind...) and there were TERRIBLE midterms (Korean! gah!).

But now it is time for sleep. At least for an hour or two.

Just for fun, since 0900 Wednesday morning I've had:
7 - 12 oz cups of coffee
2 - 2 oz bottles of 5-hour energy drink
1 - 3 oz bottle of Monster Hitman energy drink
3 - 16 oz cans of Rockstar energy drink
2 - 16 oz cans of Monster energy drink
1 - glass of red wine

42 hours and counting...

Just finished my Analog midterm and boy does it feel good! There were a few parts I had difficulty answering but overall I feel good about the midterm and consider it a FANTASTIC improvement over the other midterm I took today...

I have to say, these energy drinks are really working. My level of tired has ebbed and flowed a little since I've been up but I can't help but think how much more tired I would be right now without them. From a sleep-depped Mudder to a company who was there when I needed you, thanks Rockstar and thanks 5-hour energy drinks.

And now, to break up the monotony for myself and you, a digression into color science:

"Homage to Homage to the Square," Lee Arnold


"Composition IV," Wassily Kandinsky

Just for fun, since 0900 Wednesday morning I've had:
6 - 12 oz cups of coffee
2 - 2 oz bottles of 5-hour energy drink
3 - 16 oz cans of Rockstar energy drink
1 - glass of red wine

37 hours and counting...

Well, getting going on my second all-nighter in a row and I have to say things aren't going too badly. Yeah today was hell and in spite of trying my hardest to pump my body full of caffeine I was crazy tired and hardly got anything done. But time passes and what was once due is now a forgotten memory leaving nothing but the soft glow emanating from the last two things I need to finish before this hellish marathon is over: study and take an Analog Electronics midterm and finish my homework for ROTC.

Here goes nothing, I guess. God willing I don't pass out mid-task!

Just for fun, since 0900 yesterday morning I've had:
5 - 12 oz cups of coffee
2 - 2 oz bottles of 5-hour energy drink
3 - 16 oz cans of Rockstar energy drink

30 hours and counting...

Well, the Korean midterm didn't go well AT ALL. I have this bad tendency when I'm taking a test super tired to keep writing as I'm falling asleep only to wake up a moment later with gibberish on my test sheet.

Seriously, I was taking a test for ROTC last week and when I tried to describe muscular strength I put, "Because reading another book would have been in Germay." And no, I don't know what "Germay" is. When I was trying to compare the Military Decision Making Process (MDMP) with the Troop Leading Procedures (TLPs) I wrote, "The MDMP is a larger, battalion sized version of < TP/ deg C."

So anyway my Korean test was basically filled with gibberish and scribbles and my half-awake ass was just trying its damndest to make the thing legible. But on the bright side its over now!

I'm a little behind what I was hoping to have finished at this point in the day. Hopefully I can pull this thing out before I run out of time or sanity.

Just for fun, since 0900 yesterday morning I've had:
5 - 12 oz cups of coffee
1 - 2 oz bottle of 5-hour energy drink
2 - 16 oz cans of Rockstar energy drink

24 hours and counting...

Yessiree, I made it to the 24 hour marker! Granted that might not be a terribly phenomenal milestone for some of you out there, but it's certainly a big one for me. I usually need at least an hour or two of sleep to be operable.

But I'm going strong! I spent some time last night doing research (maybe I'll post some cool stuff later) and a few other things. At 0600 I had to stop and get ready for Army PT (physical training). Now I'm off to Korean for a midterm!

Just for fun, since 0900 yesterday morning I've had:
3 - 12 oz cups of coffee
1 - 2 oz bottle of 5-hour energy drink
1 - 16 oz can of Rockstar energy drink

My body is not going to like me after this...

18 hours and counting...

Well, ladies and gentlemen, I hate to have to do this so soon but you would have found out eventually. There just isn't any more sense in pulling the punches! Nothing will come of veiling the truth, hiding the obvious, keeping it all under raps or under a hat or on the down low or so slow you lose control...

Sorry, lost myself for a minute there. You see, Mudd is hard.

I mean HARD. Not your usual "oh-I-forgot-there-was-a-test-in-AP-Physics-today-I-guess-I'll-just-have-to-rederive-all-of-the-crucial-equations-and-get-my-A" kind of hard. I'm talking about your "the-president-just-called-and-he-wants-me-to-successfully-bring-all-our-troops-home-while-fixing-the-economy-and-establishing-America-once-and-for-all-as-a-conscientious-and-respectful-nation-and-oh-yeah-your-significant-other-called-they-want-to-have-"THE TALK"-even-though-you-have-a-104-deg-fever-and-all-this-needs-to-get-done-before-tomorrow-and-oh-yeah-its-now-2AM-GO" kind of hard.

Okay, so I may have been exaggerating somewhat. But I won't lie, its true what they say about life at Mudd:

"School, Sleep, Social life: Choose two."

So here I am, 3 in the morning on the Thursday before Fall Break and I've got enough work to keep me busy without sleeping until Saturday. So guess which two I'm choosing?

Yep, school and more school.

You didn't think that was an option, did you? It's okay, you just need to think outside the box from time to time. Instead of A, B, or C I chose secret answer D. It's kind of like the secret menu at In 'N Out.

Okay, I'm not sure what I'm saying anymore. Plus I've spent too much time on this post as it is. I won't be sleeping for a few days while I get my work done, why don't you join me (by reading my posts, that is)?

I woke up today at 0900. I'm at 18 hours and counting...

You know you can feed my koi by clicking on the image, right?

They follow your cursor too!

Okay, damn, now back to work.

Curse my inability to refuse spending time with my suitemates!!

Thursday morning I was worried that I wouldn't have enough time this weekend to finish all of the tasks that I needed to complete. I sat down to write a list and figured that if all I did from Friday afternoon until Sunday at midnight was eat, sleep, and attend a 2hr Kenpo class that I'm taking on Scripps, I would still need 10-15 hours to finish everything.

So much for doing anything fun this weekend, right?

Well, right, unless you're me. And by that I mean unless you simply cannot refuse an invitation to spend some quality time with your most favorite people in the whole world.

So of course Friday comes, I'm sleep deprived as all hell, and I'm genuinely ready to start a whole weekend of work. Yeah, it's going to be tough but I'm keeping my eyes on the prize at the end of the race--actually starting off a week at Mudd NOT completely drowning in work. A few of my suitemates are not in as dire a position as me and so start to enjoy themselves over the weekend and despite my best efforts I can't help but spend some time with them. A few hours, max, but c'mon, I haven't seen these guys all week! I've been staying up late, coming back late, and leaving the suite early. Plus I just love them to death and can't say no.

So here I am. Sunday night. How much did I get done? Not much. How much do I have due this week? A frackin' ton. How much will I sleep before Friday? I saddens me to think...

New Discoveries

11:23 PM, 05 Oct 2009: Discovered that I can change the font, style, and color of my blogs. Future experimentation is sure to follow.

11:26 PM, 05 Oct 2009:

1. Can also make lists with numbers
   

• And lists with bullets
  

Reservoir Hill, Ft. Huachuca, AZ

Hello world!

Well, here goes nothing.

First off I'm going to say that I don't possess many skills in the way of blogging. I'm not terribly creative or witty. Right now those two seem like the only really necessary skills. Hopefully you can forgive me for lacking in these departments!

Second I'm going to say that while this might not be the funniest blog you'll read, hopefully it will be one of the most informative you'll read. I have many hopes for some great comment-discussions in the near future with you guys, my internet audience.

Third I'm going to say that this blog isn't just about Mudd for me. Yeah its for Mudd about Mudders but there's so much more to being me than just being a Mudder (as much as I love being a Mudder and I LOVE being a Mudder). Hopefully I'll get the chance to talk about a lot of things and maybe get some neat, random posts in there.

Fourth I'm going to say pumpernickel because its funny to say out loud.

Fifth, a little about myself:

My name is Nathan Jones and I'm a senior Engineering major here at Mudd. I love (almost) every minute of being here and wouldn't trade my four years for anything. I've met some of the greatest people I'll ever meet here and it has been a fantastic experience. Remind me later to tell you about why I chose Mudd, its not a bad story.

Going on four years now I've also been a part of the Army ROTC program on CMC campus and I've also really enjoyed that. It's been difficult at times to balance the workload at Mudd (which is significant) with the workload at ROTC (which often entails dragging my half-asleep ass out of bed around zero-dark-thirty in the morning) but the sacrifices have been rewarding. Over the last year I got the chance to look back on my experiences and I realized how much I'd grown, both as a leader and as a person. It makes me excited that in less than one year I'll be commissioning as a second lieutenant in the US Army. I really hope that I can do a good work as an Army officer and actively improve the lives of my soldiers.

I don't really have spare time but when I do I usually spend it hanging out with my suitemates (arguably the GREATEST suitemates on campus). The guy next to me, Rob Warren, has been my best friend ever since he walked in the door of our room freshman year. I don't know what the Orientation Directors were thinking when they put us together but man oh man did they get it right. He is a huge reason that I've had such a great time here; my four years wouldn't have been the same without him.

Sixth, a few more things about me:

Average time between haircuts: 2 weeks
Preferred soap: Irish Spring but right now I'm trying out Dove (Rob encourages me often to try the finer things in life)
Number of metallic things on my desk right now: 11 (cell phone, wine bottle opener, can of beer, thermos, dancing geisha, dog tags, laptop, Palm pilot, alarm clock, car keys, Leatherman)
Last time I cleaned my room: last night (oh yeah!)
Time before that: Erm... maybe a few weeks back. It was pretty messy last night...
Height to weight ratio (inches/pounds): 0.41
Number of US states I could think of right now: 32 before I got tired of thinking (list at the bottom). Apologies to anyone currently residing in a state that I couldn't think of, it was nothing personal.

Seventh,

BAM! No seventh. I'm done. First blog done.

-------------------------------------------------------

US States that I could think of without a map off the top of my head before I got tired of trying:
washington
oregon
california
south dakota
north dakota
new mexico
colorado
florida
michigan
illinois
georgia
north carolina
south carolina
vermont
new hampshire
maine
new york
pennsylvania
rhode island
ohio
montana
texas
alabama
nevada
oklahoma
kentucky
tenessee
arizona
arkansas
delaware
connecticut
wisconsin