Date: Tue, 22 Jul 1997 21:10:05 -0700
Subject: July 22: PI mania
Greetings to all again. Another beauftiful day in Palo Alto and Moffet Field.
Today was another PI day. It started off slowly. The late van mistakenly left at 8:45 rather that 8:15 so I got in late. That's okay. I used the time to work on my web page.
When we got in, after another fabulous breakfast at Ames Cafe, I journeyed over to building 245, where my office is, to begin another wonderful day of PI work.
Doug's office happens to be in the same building (I'm 115 and he's on the second floor); The academy "work" room where some computers are also is there. Doug was moving into a new office so I helped him as well as check my e-mail. I also did a little research into what we will be seeing on Thursday, Bob Miller (??), governor of the great state of Nevada. He's a demo and is chair of the national governor's association. Bottom line, slow start. I didn't get to PI work until around 11.
The lead I had yesterday on the networking quickly turned disasterous. Bob also started asking for the impossible. By the afternoon, frustration set in. Then I did some thing right. I asked the right person the right question and he offered to configure linux so you can dial up Ames and transfer information directly into Linux, which is exactly what Bob wanted. Why do something hard when you can get some one else to do it for you? The scary thing is that this guy knew what he was doing. He knew more about the operation than all of the others combined. Needless to say he's in my resource book as well as number one on the brown nosing list.
Now, the majority of my computing problems appear to be solved. My PI did pull a few fast ones on me, though. He decided that since he could get netscape for Linux, he wanted me to put it on there. That's the biggest concern I have left. He also told me he will be using Linux 99% of the time and that he has no real need for Windows 95. Then why did I go through all the work of trying to get the two operating systems to co-exist? I guess all things are done for a reason and I can retrieve valuable system data easier from Win95 than I can from Linux because I know Win 95 a lot better.
My PI also told me that they are starting to download new Hubble Space Telescope images of Orion from Johnson Space Center. He has his other student working on those. Hopefully I'll get to see some of them. Looks like there's plenty of work to do in that area. I hope I'll get to be a part of it.
This is probably going to be the last e-mail until at least Sunday night. Ya see, we are traveling again. Another weekend trip. This time, we are headed to Reno to visit the Desert Research Institute, have dinner or lunch with the governor, and tour University of Nevada Reno, which is where one of the RAs just graduated from. She should be able to show us the town. We will be staying at the big Hilton near the highway. From what I've heard, it's got tons to do. Has a movie theater, golf shooting range, night shows, an awesome virtual arcade, and of course, plenty of gambling. Should be fun. Looking ahead, next week we will be heading to visit the Dryden Academy on Wednesday. We will also be touring Jet Propulsion Labratory. Then on Saturday, I believe, we get to go see the biggest mouse experiment of them all (ie Disneyland). A full schedule ahead. Still having tons of fun. Also got tons of work to do on my project, group project, and the academy webpage.
So until Sunday, hope you have a great weekend and that life treats you nicely. So long from the 1997 Astrobiology Academy.
Don