Vote for Space!

We're all pretty cognizant of the presidential candidates' views on many of the issues: Iraq, the economy, immigration, health care, etc. Indeed, if you don't know their positions, each candidate's website covers these. But there's a problem with this... no one talks about space science or exploration.

The complete neglect given to space exploration is a bit odd for a country founded on principles of expansion and discovery. Yes, there are some important short-term issues at hand, but getting off this fragile rock and learning about our universal surroundings should be something for which we continually strive. Whereas I personally hope human exploration gets a boost — it is, after all, the impetus for this blog — both NASA and private space companies deserve our respect and funding for all kinds of research, with or without the human element.

You can help. As part of the January 30/31 presidential debates, politico.com has offered the internet community a chance to submit and vote for questions to be asked during the debates. Until recently, space-related questions had dominated the "most popular" section. Now, however, dull and already-answered questions have pushed the space-related questions out of the top positions. While the issues of immigration, Iraq, and the economy still hold value, it's time to hear something new out of the candidates' mouths. In short, I ask all of my readers to do the following:

1. Visit the Politico website.
2. Click "Vote for Questions Now" and select one of the parties' debates.
3. Click the "Most Popular" tab.
4. For every space-related question, be it about NASA or private spaceflight, click "vote for this question."
5. Repeat from step 2, but choose the other party's debate.

Thank you for taking the time to do this, and please forward this blog posting to all of your friends who you think would care to hear something new and exciting in the debates. If anything else, by voting for space-related questions, you can help put the candidate's on their toes: how much time do you really think they've invested in answering space questions? You can either send your friends the URL in your navigation bar or just click the envelope-with-the-arrow below. Thank you!

Moving On

You might say that I've "quit." I think I've moved on.

For a number of reasons, I've decided to withdraw from my Engineering Mechanics Master's program. I realize that this action may seem like giving up. In some ways, I suppose it is. But I made the decision with good intentions in mind.

All my reasons intertwine in many ways, so it's hard to say that any one particular aspect has more importance than another.

I'll start with my performance: it was not good. Due to the "unflattering" grades I received in a few classes, another semester got added to my expected graduation date. Having spent the majority of my life in the top academic tier, I found this experience to be personally devastating. I know that I'm better than the grades recorded; that's not to say I deserved higher marks, however. I should have done better, and that leads into my second reason for leaving the university: time.

Working 40 hours a week while simultaneously attaining a post-graduate degree seems to be one of those things I simply can't manage. I don't even think I could have done the same thing in my undergraduate years. In this sense, I have become aware of the sheer amount of will that some others have to complete such a feat. Give me an 80 hour week or a 20 credit semester, but not half of each.

Finally, I have doubts as to whether the information I learned was truly worth its price. The classes offered to me at a Master's level simply did not have the practical value that I expected. Sure, there were a number of things I learned throughout the process, but the combined financial and mental toll didn't balance things out.

I'd like to sign off with a heartfelt expression of appreciation to all of you who have provided support throughout this grad school process. You know who you are: thank you.

Coming soon: the beginnings of the application.

New NASA Website

Just a quick post today... you may be interested in seeing NASA's new website. I'm very impressed by the updates: new look and feel, better navigation, and hints of Web 2.0 with its social bookmarking links and tag cloud. Well done, NASA. It's a huge step up in my humble opinion.

Not Beauty, but Geek

You only get one go at life, right?

So this weekend, I decided to take a chance: to apply to be on the show "Beauty and the Geek." It was easy enough; I simply showed up at the casting call at our University's book store, filled out a form, and enjoyed a nice conversation with my interviewers. Apparently, I caught their attention, since they cut the interview short and offered me a callback for the next day. Well, I showed up at the callback and (I hope) rocked their collective socks off. Yes, I'm a geek, but I'm also, I like to think, a pretty likable guy who would portray us geeks in a good light.

If I make it onto the show, here is my promise: to show to the (TV-watching) world that being smart is not a shameful attribute. If I don't make it onto the show, I'll just keep blogging here. Sure, the audience may not be as big, but I like to think of it as a more intimate conversation.

I'll be sure to keep you posted. Until then, geek on!

Crushing Blows

Rarely in our lives do our eyes rest on something so awe-inspiring that our jaws lie agape. Even more infrequently must we raise our hands to protect our wide-open mouths from rock shrapnel. This past Friday, I had such a moment.

Now, because I signed an NDA, I can't get into specifics. Suffice it to say, I visited a company that produces equipment used in the mining industry. Common sense would dictate that such a company would have test equipment designed to analyze the mechanics of their products. For an entire minute, I could have cared less about numbers indicating forces and displacements: there was a machine merely feet away showering rock everywhere. It was a demonstration that would humble any engineer who is used to using screws as small as those found on eyeglasses and is normally specifying intricate rounded corners on exotic metals. This was steel crushing rock. This was awesome.

Just after the demonstration ended, the little man in my head turned off the giant Inject Adrenaline valve, giving me a few more minutes of gradually-subsiding head rush before I returned to planet Earth. It was at this point that I realized a very important and hard truth. The machine I designed and helped to build needs to do exactly that. The valve re-opened.

It's going to be an interesting couple of months as this project comes to a head. Once my company releases the design to the public (and we get our patent stuff in line), I'll show off some pictures here. You won't be let down.

Where has Brad gone?

Breathe deeply, my dear friends; breathe deeply. I still exist, and I still wish to become an astronaut. Things, as "things" are wont to do, have gotten a wee bit crazy in my life.

First and foremost, I have decided to bump up my hour commitment at work from 80% (or 32 hours) to the standard 40-hour week. Coupled with my 6 hours of classwork (and associated travel time), my leisure time has taken a considerable hit. Working on the weekends is now the norm rather than the exception.

So why have I decided to take on a hellish schedule? An obvious answer might be money. And while the extra padding in my wallet is nice, the true answer lies in my workload. Put simply, I noticed that my employer needed some extra work from me. Since working hard only gets so far, I offered to work an additional 8 hours each week. I'm still adjusting to the new schedule, but no one ever got anywhere by taking it easy.

In more specific terms, I have certainly been up to plenty of shenanigans. Halloween is, shall we say, an important Madison holiday. Aside from the typical children under 12, pretty much everyone between the ages of 18 and 30 dons a costume. I tend to take pride in making an original costume that is truly unique. This year, I used my basic knowledge of circuitry to make a ghost costume. This was not any typical ghost costume, mind you: it was a Pacman ghost costume. Beneath the white sheets, I wired up both red and blue LEDs to simulate Blinky's in-game appearance. By my side, my lovely girlfriend Marie dressed up as Ms. Pac-man. We were a hit, especially when we chased each other, turning only at right angles.

More recently, I served as a technical judge for a LEGO tournament last weekend. The participants, aged 9-14, displayed some serious creativity and ingenuity. I can only hope that all of us judges imparted some sense of excitement for the engineering field. The world would do well to encourage them in their pursuit of the sciences.

I close this post with yet another example of my perpetual undertakings: my current location. I am presently in Pennsylvania on a business trip. Rather than sitting in a conference room listening to a paper's exposition, I get to assemble parts of my design into a working rock-crusher. And not just any rock-crusher... no, no, no. This behemoth is a prototype for a lunar-based autonomous mining machine. While I can't delve into specifics due to company secrets, let me assure you that you will not want to get in its stone-obliterating way.

It is here that I now sign off. Thanks for reading. I will strive to keep you abreast of my activities on a more-regular schedule.

Lesson Learned

I promised the readers of this blog some content each day over World Space Week, and I failed. All I ask is that you take it easy on me: I'm very new to this whole blogging thing. So what have I learned? Unless the content is already written or my full-time job is blogging, don't give date-specific promises. Due to Murphy's Law, stuff like work and school are bound to get in the way. Now I've learned.

On a more related note, I will shortly (see how I avoided a specific date? I'm learning!) write about the topics originally intended for World Space Week. These include tangible benefits of the space industry, why we need space science, and looking to the future. I also have a number of other topics I'd like to broach, but I'll save those for later.

Long story short, again I apologize for the broken promises. However, never fear. I still have plenty of material I'd like to share with you. Please feel free to engage in conversation in the comments of each post, whether you agree whole-heartedly or vehemently disagree. Thanks!