OMG, I made something!
Life and a doodle.
Last week was insane. The storm that passed by California was a blessing and curse at the same time. California is not made for rain. AT ALL. That was evidenced by the floods on the freeway and the increased stupidity of the drivers on the roads. If two or three inches of rain is on the ground and visibility is limited to two or three feet ahead of you, it is not a good idea to be speeding. People never cease to amaze me. But I love rain. I adore it to bits, let me tell you. Being under an umbrella gives me such a safe feeling, I don't know why - stems from childhood maybe.
(googled pic cuz I fail at taking photos on site)
The Microclub visited JPL last Friday!! That was such an unbelievable and unforgettable experience. JPL, Jet Propulsion Lab, a branch of NASA in Pasadena, is currently building The Mars Science Laboratory Rover, a bigger and faster version of the Mars Rover.
The strange people that comprised the Physics Club (all twelve of them) bailed on us last minute. We couldn't wait for their sorry asses. Rain or no, tell us in advance you bunch of weirdos. This facility caters your branch of science much more than ours. /rant
Our main tour was of their microbiology lab. We were treated with a presentation of what the small contingent of biologist at JPL do; it's termed "planetary protection". Basically, they check and double check the equipment going into space for any microbes or spores and make sure it is below NASA's threshold for space travel. Their microlab was tiny compared to others, with no impressive microscopes to speak of. They did have this nifty spectrophotometer that only needs a micro liter of sample to acquire results, and this PCR machine that requires no amount of liquid. I'm not too clear on the specifics of the latter, should have inquired, but it's still impressive, since results are within minutes? The lab had no high tech equipment but what they do there is quite significant. I don't see myself doing research and development work but that was certainly an interesting branch.
Then we saw the rooms for testing the Mars Science Laboratory Rover and then the area next door where they're actually building it. OMG, that was as exclusive and surreal as it could get. We were looking at the thing that would touchdown on Mars in 2012. It's BANANAS!
Our next stop was mission control. It's not the same place one typically sees in films, obviously; that's the one in Houston. This one is in charge of the information exchange between the ships currently in space. There are three satellites worldwide that pick up the signals from those spacecrafts and this room analyzes and process that information. We had a fantastic view of the whole room.
There were also random deer that showed up on site. There were plenty of them to gawk at. At least, I did.
The geek high that I was on Friday dissappated Saturday morning when I opened my mail to find a letter directly addressed to our club advisor expressing disappointment from the head astrobiologist at JPL.
We were all, WTF?! He was surprised at the tiny amount that showed up (thanks Physics Club) when we confirmed for about thirty people. His other issue was over our level of "enthusiasm". As if such a thing can be accurately measured considering we walked 3/4 of a mile uphill in the rain just to get to his damn lab. Did he expect us to be jumping up and down and shouting praises over his research? We were excited and impressed. We were also tired. We were appreciative of the time they took to accommodate us and for preparing a presentation, but I guess that sentiment didn't get across to them. Now we look bad in our adviser's eyes and probably decreased our school's chances for future visits, all because we didn't appease someone's ego. If we had known that was what we needed to do, I'm sure we would have been accommodating, but we had no idea there were expectations of that nature. Ugh, I hate this situation.
Meanwhile, in Camelot.
Of course they get caught in the act!
I joke, I joke. Gwen just happens to fall on Arthur the same moment Gauis walks in the door.
I've another one that needs coloring. Hopefully I get that finished by this weekend. *crosses fingers*