The past

I got an email from Alex H. yesterday regarding a this video we put together a few years ago. We used to make the new undergraduate researchers watch it under the pseudonym "Safety Video". It is really silly, but it reminds me of some good times, and some great friends. Alex now works for himself in the start-up NUB labs. They do a lot of cool things. The coolest thing is that Alex is moving forward with his ideas. He isn't afraid to get out there and do what he has always talked about. It is quite contagious actually. Enjoy the video and check out their website.

I love high speed photography

I really love taking pictures of things that happen quickly. If that involves fluid dynamics I usually like it even more. This past week we took a whole bunch of really cool milk drop images that I need to post. Here are a few of my favorites. Our newest graduate student said that she sees why we like what we do so much. I guess it helps to have the right equipment too! These aren't quite exactly what I have in mind for the perfect shot, so I hope to take a couple more next week and get things just right. All of these photos were taken with a Canon 20D, Nikon 105 mm macro lens with Canon adapter, 580 speedlight flash, and a Timemachine timing box with infrared trigger. One of the interesting things you can do with a photo shoot like this one is try to take a series of drops at different stages of imact to get a sense of what happens at impact (that is the method that Worthington used, who was the first person to photograph water and milk droplet impacts). Another fun thing to do is compare and contrast the differences between a drop of milk hitting a surface like the one above, and a milk drop landing into a pool of milk. The difference is quite phenomenal.

Reach the Beach

Last weekend I was able to have one of the best runs of my life. I ran two 10 km races and a 5 km race all within 20 hours. Twelve of us signed up to run the Reach the Beach relay race, which runs from the White Mountains in New Hampshire to Hampton Beach. 209 miles total, with everyone running 3 legs of this 24 hour endurance race! We started on Friday afternoon at 3:30 pm and ended a little before 6pm on Saturday! What a strange feeling it was. I was the eleventh runner so I was really anxious to run for over 7 hours while I drove and waited to run my first leg. It began at 11:30 pm and I ran harder than I ever have and recorded my best 10 km time of 46:16 min by my watch. That is just a little under 7:30 min/mile! Really a fantastic pace for myself. Then I felt sick and tried to sleep for two hours before our van had to move on again. At 6:30 am I was running again and this time completed a 6.3 mile course in 48:26, which is just a little slower than the previous times... still not bad for going on 24 hours without having slept more than 2 hours! Everyone else was running so well I felt pressure to bust out as fast as possible. When my final run at about 4:00 rolled around, I was primed to run all out. it was only 3.1 miles so I knew I could just waste myself. I got the wrist bracelet (like the baton) and ran as hard as I could. 8 minutes later I heard honking from our van. I figured they were cheering my amazing pace onward. Every time there is an exchange the van passes the runners (usually about 12 minutes after they begin) and they go the next stop to exchange runners or sometimes stop at the half way point to cheer them on. This time though my team was trying to tell me I had gone the wrong way! I had missed the turn while exchanging the wrist bracelet. It was an honest mistake. Immediately after the exchange you had to cross the street and take a right. I was so excited to bust out the 3.1 miles I just ducked my head down and started to pump my legs into action as I tried to find a nice rhythm. I turned around and began running back. All told I think I lost about 1.5 miles of ground, but I ran really hard and passed a few people on the way back. I felt really bad, but I ran what felt like a really fast pace. Either way everyone had a great time, and we were all exhausted. Will I do it again next year? Honestly, I hope we don't live here next year! By that I mean I really hope I graduate in the next few months. Enjoy the pictures.

Perhaps the best hike ever.

Pictures.
Last weekend was amazing. It began late on Thursday driving to New Hampshire's White Mountains to hike the Presidential Range. We arrived around 7, made camp went to dinner, then drove 40 minutes south to drop off a car and pick up some of our other hikers. We slept the night in a campground that only lets 4 people camp per site, others can join you for a fee of $10 per person per night.... New Hampshire apparently needs the income, without a state tax how can you blame them I guess? Aside from that little hiccup everything went perfectly. We woke to a beautiful sunrise around 5:30 am, headed to the trail head and hiked up to the base of Mt. Madison, by Mt. Quincy Adams, over Mt. Adams, past Mt. Jefferson and Mt. Clay, up Mt. Washington (largest in the region), down and over Mt. Monroe, Franklin, Eisenhower, and Pierce. All told 19.1 - 19.8 miles! And it only took us 13 hours 5 minutes! Not bad for a bunch of old desk workers! Eat that commadore 64. We went back to camp for some chili, smore's, and sleep. The drive back on Saturday was fun and we found a great spot for root beer. The pictures are also up so please enjoy them here. The weather was amazing, Washington was shrouded in mist that slowly ebbed and flowed from the peak. The sun was out most of the day, and the temperature was in the upper 50's and lower 60's which made the trip perfect. The second half of the trip was a lot easier than the first half, but everyone hiked like champs and I think our pace was really fast. I even enjoyed a swim at Lake of the Clouds. The AMC has a bunch of huts up their which make it unnecessary to bring a tent. If you are interested I think that is the way to go but you have to make reservations.

Work is going great. I am answering the last of the comments I got back last week on my first peer reviewed paper, and I hope I can send it back to the editors the first of next week. I talked to a few people at different Universities last week and am going to apply for a few faculty positions in the next week or two. I also found a couple more post-doc grants that look like they might fit into some of the ideas that I have had either on my own or with other people. Of course, if they involve others I have to contact them, which I have begun. Other than that, the thesis is on the top of my mind constantly. I plan on working a bit later today, but the weekends have become sort of sacred. I try to spend them with family and some time on the resume / website if I get time. Oh I almost forgot, I was invited to speak at Mathworks in October. That is the company that makes matlab, a program that I use constantly! I am excited to talk to them about how useful their product is and give them some feedback on some things I would like to see added (i.e. drop the ugly java interface, and improve the plotting functionality!). Honestly the product is awesome, my comments are mostly asthetic and lets face it superficial, way to go matlab you rock. Now if I can just manage to keep my productivity at a level where I finish this darn thing before 2008 is over so I don't have to change the date on my ring!

I guess I should underline the importance of getting this first paper published. It isn't my first, but it is my first peer reviewed, longer than one page, and is setting the stage for the next couple to go out the door. What it means is that I could potentially get an academic job now. I am by no means the most qualified or most prolific of my peers, but having one major contribution out thier for people to see makes it a lot easier for me to get an interview and etc... Of course, I will be competing against a few hundred other nerds and that means I have to keep my fingers crossed, prepare well, and hope I get a few interviews. Devine providence will play a role I am sure.