A Day In The Life (Good Morning Good Morning)

I have been asked to report on my day-to-day life here in Flagstaff. Sorry if this post is not very thrilling!

So, most of the time, I don't even do anything during the week. Usually I go out/hiking on the weekends, so the weekdays is when the downtime happens. Lately I've been getting into a morning running routine (experimenting to see if I like morning or evening more). The only downside is that I have to get up at 6 or 6:30 if I want be done in time. Luckily I have no life and go to bed at about 10:30 or 11 (I only say this because even during the school year I go to bed later). Running here is great, and I'm trying out all the nearby trails.

I work 9-5, save for a few days here and there. Since Lowell is about 2 miles from where I live, the three other REU students who work there plus myself carpool. It's not a bad walk, but it's all uphill there, and it takes about ~45 minutes. I don't really like arriving to work all sweaty.

What do I do at work? Well, I'll keep it simple: I sit on my butt in front of a really big mac screen. I think I posted a picture of my office before, so scroll down to refresh. I analyze data and write lots of code in Fortran (I like to compare it to Latin- a dead programming language save for astronomers...). I actually enjoy coding; of course, what I mean to say is that I enjoy it when I can get it to work. Debugging is not my favorite task. I am doing lots of cool things research-wise though. I'm not going to go into detail, but all you need to know is that I'm working with spectra of short-lived massive stars (F-G yellow supergiants to be exact).

I usually take a lunch break with my advisor and/or officemate(s). I think I've brought cheese sandwiches every day thus far. Is this enough detail? :)

I get back to my apartment about 5:15 and usually find ways to entertain myself the rest of the evening. Here are some photos of my apartment.

My bedroom... dramatic lighting.

Teresa in the kitchen.

I don't know if I've said so yet, but the apartment is really nice. Everything looks brand spankin' new and it's really big. It puts my soon-to-be apartment in August to shame... We are slowly making it homey by bringing random junk in. All the pictures I tried to take of the living room were ruined by the bright rising Sun, so maybe I'll put some up later.

I have to find creative ways to entertain myself, so I've recently taken up the harmonica. It was the only instrument I had that was small enough to travel. Suffice to say it's going slowly... all I know is 'The Saints Go Marching In'. I have high hopes though. I am currently reading 100 Years of Solitude, as well as My Antonia. I write lots of letters to people, and now that Teresa arrived, we have a TV! It's great! We get free cable, so I can sit around forever and entertain myself! We even get NASA TV, which is the most boring thing I've ever seen. It's exciting when they are launching things, but other than that I can understand why nobody wants to give NASA money.

Today is sort of a day off for me. A few of the other students drove to San Carlos this morning... it was a 4 hour ride, and they were only going to see some kind of rock (they're geologists...). To me it wasn't worth it. Instead I slept in (relatively). I had to run some errands so I've been walking all over town since about 10:30. I stopped at two bookstores (didn't find anything), then went to the Copper Coyote Cafe. It looked neat, but the Parmesan bagel I got was mediocre at best. I then stopped at Really Good Stuff! thrift shop and bought a shirt and reusable bag. Today and tomorrow is the Flagstaff Music Festival. I stopped by for a bit and saw some group I forget the name of perform.

Flagstaff Music Festival.

I bought a George Harrison and Fleetwood Mac CD at a book sale tent.

Downtown Flagstaff

I am now at the Cline Library, hoping to check out some books after I post this. Au revoir!

I saw this neat flower on my way to the library.

Keytars and the Universe

Whoa. This has been a hectic week (I feel like I say that every week...).

The highlight has definitely been, hands down, yesterday. It was, of course, the much-awaited Dream Theater/Iron Maiden concert. I apologize ahead of time for those of you who don't know them/don't care to hear the gory details of the concert. This blog is partly for my own record though, so I'd like to remember the intense epicness.

To start off, myself and two other members of the REU group, Eric and Nick, left for Phoenix at about 3:30. I like the drive a lot, so it was nice. We made a planned stop at an In 'n Out in Phoenix for dinner. They only have In 'n Outs in CA, AZ, and NV I believe. Apparently it's a big deal or something... I got a pretty dissatisfying veggie burger, but the fries and shake were good. And the other two seemed to really enjoy their food, so I guess you need to eat meat. There is some kind of 'secret menu' that you can order off of if you know what to say. Weird westerners.

Hot Phoenix.

Moving along, we went to the venue next: The Cricket Pavilion, which was smaller than I expected, but pretty nice. Turns out we had superb seats. We were about 20 feet from the stage, which was excellent for my eyes, but awful for my ears. To be honest, I went online looking up DT tours, and was pleasantly surprised to see they were touring with Maiden. So, really, I went to see DT, and got a bonus of Maiden.

Wooo! Dream Theater takes the stage!

I've never seen DT live, but have been spending far more time than I should looking up youtube videos of them recently. In short, they kicked some serious butt. Some of the highlights were: Mike Portnoy (drummer) threw his sticks in the air multiple times and caught them probably 50% of the time... Jordan Rudess (keyboards) PULLED OUT THE ZEN RIFFER! YESSSSSS!!!! I think the all caps and exclamation points convey my excitement. I don't know why, but I have a strange obsession with keytars.

Jordan Rudess and John Petrucci during Panic Attack.

During one song, James LaBrie (singer) came to our side of the stage. When he did so, I was the only one in the area who was fist-pumping (I think everyone was there just to see Maiden...). He looks over at me and points to me from stage. It's really not anything spectacular, but for a brief moment I was one of 'those fans'. I can die a happy girl now (who knew that was all it took?). DT played a pretty great set (although I kept waiting for Overture 1928....). What I remember they played:

-Rite of Passage

-Home

-Panic Attack

-Under a Glass Moon

-Pull Me Under

-And some other song I forgot

But... that was only half of the show. The main entree was of course, Iron Maiden.

Unintentionally caught Steve Harris mid-headbang.

I know hardly any IM so I felt pretty out of place as the crowd got crazy and sang all the songs. I knew maybe 3 or 4 out of the 2 hours they played... woops! They were really incredible regardless, though. I have never seen such an energetic band perform. These guys are at least in their 50's, and they were running all over stage, jumping around, and being generally Crazy. Bruce Dickenson (singer) was running on top of the set, while Janick Gers (1 of 3 guitarists) was doing insane acrobats with his guitar. I think he actually played it 2% of the show, while 98% of the time was spent throwing it in the air (for real), banging it against props (seriously), playing it in between his legs (it looked uncomfortable...), spinning it around himself, and throwing the cord all around stage.

Janick Gers. He seemed to really enjoy playing like this.

Musically useless but visually entertaining.

The best way to describe the way he ran around stage would be prancing. I felt sorry for the drummer, Nicko McBrain, because he was boxed in around his drum set and nobody paid attention to him. Oh, I forgot to mention that at the beginning of their show, Maiden played a little intro movie to Mars The Bringer of War from the Planets by Holst. I didn't see anyone else around me who seemed to appreciate the reference... silly rock fans. They also showed some clips of the Crab Nebula! Something else I also forget to mention and am adding now: The guy next to me looked like Geddy Lee and was doing some serious head-banging and air-guitaring to Maiden... I've never seen anyone air guitar with such passion.

After the concert it took us forever to get out of the venue, and after a gas/coffee stop we were on our way back to Flagstaff. I happened to stick my head out the window and saw the Milky Way! So we got off the highway and pulled off to go look at the sky. We happened to see 4 or 5 other guys who actually had a telescope and chairs set out. They just happened to be astronomy/physics (graduate?) students! It was actually pretty funny that we were all astronomy people and we sat around talking about science and Iron Maiden. It was one of those strange chance moments that happens rarely but is really neat. The skies were phenomenal and the Milky Way very bright.

I don't know what kind of luck I was having, but on the way back I saw a fireball! I've never seen one, and it was really cool! To top off a long night, we went to Lowell to try and see Comet McNaught... turns out it's not visible naked eye or was too low. FINALLY I got back to my apartment at about 3 and got to sleep for ~4 hours.

The result today: I'm really tired and feel deaf!

Rocks, Rocks, Rocks

Flagstaff is a runner's dream. They have a system called Flagstaff Urban Trail System. There are so many cool places to run!

This past weekend we went to the DCT in Happy Jack, about 40 miles from Flagstaff. We got to see the telescope they are building there. It's still in progress, but it was really cool! The dome and telescope were actually much larger than I had anticipated. It was also really astounding to see a 4.2 meter mirror...!

Here I am, looking way too excited, in front of the unfinished DCT.

Sunday we went to Sedona, some place I'd never heard of until I came here. It was really cool though! We went for a hike down the West Fork Trail to Oak Creek Canyon. There was indeed a creek (gasp! Water in Arizona!?)! The rock formations were really neat and exciting. I don't know what else to say... it's kind of hard to describe red rocks.

Christine, myself, and Teresa on a big rock. I am quite afraid of heights.

The image above is a really neat rock wall. It kind of looked like somebody just went through and carved it out. It's hard to get a perspective, but it's actually very tall!

This is Oak Creek Canyon. Water!

The hike was cake compared to the Canyon, but was still lots of fun. That night we went to Kathy, the program director's, house for a potluck. Lots of good food and company.

Pretty much during the week, I wake up, go to work, sit at a computer doing work, leave 8 hours later, and go home. Since I didn't bring a computer here, I have to find creative ways to entertain myself once I get back to my apartment. Lately I've taken up playing the harmonica. I don't know how the other people in my apartment feel about this, but I've gotten really good at 'The Saints Go Marching In'. Tonight I hope to learn 'Hey Jude'. I've been reading a lot, and going old-school by playing the Gameboy Color I brought along (Pokemon Blue and Lemmings anyone?).

On a very mundane note, the other day I bought Rosemary & Mint shampoo/conditioner. It's... interesting. It definitely lives up to the scent. And lastly, I will leave you with this photo of Teresa and I in Sedona. SHOOTOUT!

A Less-Than-Groundbreaking Update

Not much has been happening here (well, anything exciting).

Today is the big advisory board meeting at Lowell, so the building is eerily quiet and seemingly empty. It's really been cooling down here in Flagstaff the past day or two. It's currently 60F, and tomorrow the high is 58! Yikes!

Some various pieces of news:

- Next week a few of the other students and myself are going to see the Iron Maiden and Dream Theater concert in Phoenix.

- This is a perfect time to observe Comet McNaught. It should be visible naked eye next week!

- For those of you who ever nagged me about buying new shoes, well I finally bought some new running shoes the other day. The new ones work really great! Now I don't have to superglue them every week...

- Woops. I had to edit this post. I was going to go to the John Hall Telescope next Thursday with my advisor and his previous summer student from last year. The telescope is 42 inches and located at Anderson Mesa, Lowell's main observing hub that's about 12 miles from where I work. Unfortunately I just realized it is the same day as the concert I mentioned just previously. Bummer. My advisor says we will go sometime in July, though. The things I do for Dream Theater.

I feel that no post is complete without a photo, so here a couple pictures I took on a longer-than-anticipated walk the other day. There are hardly ever any clouds out here so the sunsets aren't that exciting. I'm fairly certain I saw a lenticular cloud the other day though!

Above: to the west

Below: the east

A Big Hole in the Ground

Well! This has been a busy/crazy last few days!

We had our 'first' day of work last Tuesday, but didn't really do much expect paperwork and university stuff, so really I started Wednesday. My research is pretty good so far. I had to do some boring beginning work for a while, but Friday started getting into the real stuff. I'm writing lots of programs right now, which isn't the most exciting, but it's interesting (and incredibly frustrating when debugging).

This is the office where I work. My desk is the one on the right.

Friday night all of the REU students (there are 7 of us right now) went out to dinner to a Mexican restaurant. Afterward we walked downtown to attend the Flagstaff First Friday Artwalk. It was really neat and fun! First we stopped at the Flagstaff CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) to watch a banjo/guitar duo band. It was nice, and there were a lot of hippie looking people. We all did a cakewalk, and three of us won free baked goods! I had a Mexican Chocolate Snickerdoodle that had cayenne pepper... interesting to say the least.

We then headed to the main drag and to Heritage Square, where a kids movie was playing. There were so many people out and about! There were lots of art and photography exhibits. Downtown is really nice! It has lots of historic buildings and quaint shops. It feels nice and homey and reminds me of New Harmony, IN. After looking around there we went back to the apartments and played a fun and competitive game called Perpetual Commotion, where you have to lunge after cards in a chaotic mess...

Friday night we decided sort of on the fly that we wanted to go to the Grand Canyon on Saturday! So... we woke up and arrived at the South Rim at about 8. After taking photos and getting ready, we started hiking down at about 9. The Canyon was amazing! I have never seen anything quite like it. It was fantastic and an unforgettable sight. I took lots of photos, but will post a few here.

The first photo I took. This is before we got to the trailhead.

We hiked down the South Kaibab Trail, to Cedar Ridge, then to a place called Skeleton Point.

Wow!

The view below, from near the top. If you look closely near the bottom, you can see a lodge. We hiked down there! It was 1.5 miles out of the 3 going down.

Altogether, we hiked 6 miles round-trip: 3 down and 3 up. Woo, I definitely underestimated how hard it would be to come back up... It was harder than I thought, but still fun!

Left: The near south end from Cedar Ridge.

Right: The near north/east end from Cedar Ridge.

It got REALLY hot down in the canyon. It was 85 at the rim, 93 at the halfway point, and 100 at the lowest point we went. As you descended, it was very noticeable that the temperature increased. Going down was, of course, not bad, but coming back up, we had to take lots of water breaks.

Left: The Colorado River below!
Right: The view from Skeleton Point, the lowest point we hiked, 3 miles down.

So yeah, the trip was pretty good :)

Today we went to the Flagstaff farmer's market. Sarah, my housemate, and I got some pasta, apricots and honey. It was a pretty good farmer's market (not as cool as Bloomington's though...). Afterward we went to a couple of garage sales, where everybody seemed to buy random things as tends to happen at garage sales.

Now I'm back here in the library! It has been a fun and busy first weekend!

PS- I forgot to mention that now my muscles in, of all places, my butt are sore! I can only imagine it's from walking up the steep canyon trails.

PPS- Somebody seemed to have a problem with my telescope photo from the previous post. It is the 24-inch Clark Telescope refractor at Lowell Observatory!