This is my summer break by Lulu L. '09
california, nasa, pedestians, wifi
Fun fact! Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo.
There are no buffalo in california as I write this entry though I’ve searched far and wide.
Today marks the two-and-a-half week anniversary of my arrival at Moffett Field, CA next to the small city of Mountain View. To celebrate, I worked until 8 and started writing this blog entry. There’s much to tell but if a picture’s worth a thousand words, then 18 pictures are worth at least 18,000 words so let’s get started right away no time to waste.
Pictures of NASA Ames: (I’m pretty sure I’m allowed to post these!)
Ames Research Center is the one with the funny hangar- it’s our north star when we’re trying to get home. The hangar is the big thing that towers all over everything else. It used to hold blimps. Now it just holds asbestos and lead paint and people aren’t allowed in it.
The pedestrian in this picture is me. Sad little me, always walking everywhere.
The cool water tower and some pictures of airplanes.
The Dallas-Forth Worth International Airport:
I, as well as most of the other interns, plus a great many Google interns as well, live on base at the NASA Lodge. My mailing address is exactly as following: Lulu Liu, C/O NASA Lodge, P.O. Box 17, Moffett Field, CA 94035. Send me mail! I get lonely on my mile-long walks home across the base and always stop to check my mail :)
This picture was taken straight inside the gate:
So what do I do? I work on a brand new satellite mission planned for launch in 2009 (2010?). I can’t tell you too much more without upsetting my bosses. And here’s another funny thing: my bosses read this blog! Hi bosses! Currently, I’ve been spending the past few weeks getting acquainted with the team and catching up with the project and I’ve delved into a mission design task– coming up with a strategy for sky coverage and modeling each step of the mission and some other kinds of analysis :)
This was my desk when I took this picture, since, I’ve moved a couple of desks down. No matter, this picture is important because this is the Mission Design Center/Small Spacecraft Division where I work!! Fun fact! The mission design center at NASA does not have a license for Matlab! I have to use Octave! That’s why my graphs are ugly!
I’ve been learning how to use STK (Satellite Tool Kit) to do some of my modeling — overall a pretty freaking sweet program.
I’ve met more people than I can ever remember. My phone book has doubled- I HAVE AT LEAST 8 BOSSES!
In honor of my 3rd week on the west coast here’s a poem:
Grass doesn’t grow too well here.
It’s essentially the desert.
There are no cloudy days and
Sprinklers work full time.
The sun rises at 6am
sets at 8:30pm.
You can get a tan sitting in your room.
I took a couple of pictures of Mountain View. Google started a project recently that hooked up the entire city with free wireless internet excluding our lodge. I’ve walked into town about 3 times, driven in at least twice (as a passenger), bought things ranging from sunflower seeds to pears to spoons, sat in bookstores reading and ate at a hawaiian barbeque place and just soaked in the wifi and the sun.
As of today, I’m officially LOCATABLE in the NASA Ames database! This is my email address that I got weeks ago: lliu@-freakin’-arc.nasa.gov (take that, spam-bots)
I haven’t been to the beach yet. But I DID go on an observing trip with a 24 in telescope to Yosemite. Maybe if that’s relevant to MIT I will post some pictures :( I dunno, is it?
In other news, it’s totally not cool to live in California without a car.
Really, it takes something like Mountain View to make weather.com boring for me. I used to think it’d be sooo different in California but it’s really just a wider version of the Northeast stuck on a really nice day:
Maybe I’ve just begun to take good weather for granted. Oh yeah, now I remember:
I do miss the occasional thunderstorm though.
Work is fun!
-lulu
Are you Chinese?
Awww… NASA, 24 in telescope, wifi, satellites, airplanes… what else can you ask for? Sounds like a great way to spend your summer. I’m jealous.
By the way, how did you get that internship with NASA?
Uumm….,amazin!
computational linguistics ftw! and NASA’s pretty cool too — doesnt it feel great to use crazy modeling software and have a NASA email? =D
Buffalo buffalo buffalo my head…
Sounds like an interesting job Lulu, congratulations on getting it! Seems like all you guys have awesome jobs this summer. Thanks for sharing!
Buffalo buffalo. :
It must be pretty cool, working for NASA, playing with STK and whatnot —ordering pizza for astronauts in space (score = 1 for Robot Chicken XD). One would think they’d have Matlab, though.
Yeah, there’s a huge difference between California and Massachusetts.
I had NO idea what you meant by so many buffalo until I clicked the link O.O I feel smarter now =)
If you’re not allowed to post those pictures, we won’t tell
NASA! How exciting!
And your poem accurately captures my past 18 years of life, minus out-of-state vacations. And yes, our public transport system is… not so great. Cars are definitely a plus. But hey, it’s home, and I love it – though I can’t wait for the east coast.
YOSEMITE IS RELEVANT TO MIT. Post photos! =)
Buffalo buffalo – one of the strangest sentences I’ve ever seen! I actually guessed that the link would be to Wikipedia (because I would do that too)! It explained a lot about this ‘grammatically correct’ sentence. I also learned something on garden path sentences! Thanks.
The first thing that came into my mind when you mentioned “Mountain View” was… Google! So I was searching all over for that word – and I found it.
The poem – I really like it. I think I should learn using hyperboles in poems.
I’m not quite used to Fahrenheit temperatures. 75C, that’s 24C right?
awesome!!!
Will is your mail temporary? If not then you’re rising really much in my coolest persons list by having permanent emails in two of the three coolest domains(mit.edu, nasa.gov and … ah, well, there are only two, so you’re the coolest person in email category
).
christ, is nasa this cool, and that secretive?
That sounds so very awesome. How did you get from MIT to a NASA internship?
Also, you’ve gotta love California weather :D. There’s nothing wrong with walking outside to the same weather every day, as long as it’s 75 degrees and sunny.
You should visit the place in NASA Ames where they let Bellarmine use for ROBOTICS!! its pretty cool
i wish my school get something like that. we have a petty little 2 car garage while they get something that fits a plane. good thing that they let other teams share for practice!!
sounds interesting
Cool! My EC (interviewer) was a NASA researcher at Langley. I enjoyed the information about buffaloing Buffalo buffalo. I never knew such things!
Buffalo in California – head to SF, there’s a herd of buffalo in Golden Gate Park!
> By the way, how did you get that internship with NASA?
I applied! Actually, I applied to be on the satellite project and then they sent me to NASA for the summer to do engineering-type work- which I WILL begin presently.
> christ, is nasa this cool, and that secretive?
are you asking me?
if so, it’s pretty cool and pretty secretive! not as bad as one would expect though.
> Are you Chinese?
YES
> doesnt it feel great to use crazy modeling software and have a NASA email?
oh yes, I dont us my nasa email much except to spam though. JUST KIDDING plzdontkillme.
> 75C, that’s 24C right?
I think so!
> Will is your mail temporary?
I dont know, I think I won’t be able to use it after I leave but they didn’t tell me anything about it.
> How did you get from MIT to a NASA internship?
Two flights and a layover
> Buffalo in California – head to SF, there’s a herd of buffalo in Golden Gate Park!
wait, are you serious?
Dude! Lulu sweety, didn’t you know that I live about 10 minutes from there, and my husband works across the street?? Get in touch (I think you know how) and I’ll totally cook you a meal; G will be here most weekends, we could either coordinate or not. You local, you!
(PS: We don’t call it weather, we call it CLIMATE!)
中国人经常在这些时候说一句话是：“朋友，保重！！”来寄托他们所有的情感。
mootmom– I ACCEPT! Can mike come too he will be here visiting for a week!
hongming– thank you!
That’s sweet, working for NASA and the satellite and all:)
You said you applied for the work….how good do you think an MITer’s chances are for applying for a post like yours? Just wondering……
Police police police police! That one is easier to wrap your head around, maybe, because “police” is a more common verb than “buffalo”. (Who polices the police? The police police. The police police police police!)
Oh no, now it isn’t a word anymore…!
Love,
Kelly
hey lulu…I have a question: do you get info these internships from MIT advising itself or did u just apply to it from a website. I’m just really worried that I’ll fall behind at MIT next year b/c quite frankly I don’t have any experience with research/internship wise. How would you go about getting research experience freshman year if you’ve never done it before? I mean do I just become some prof’s lab rat or something or due I have to approach the prof with some original idea in mind…lol as you can tell I’m just really worried
hey lulu…I have a question: do you get info these internships from MIT advising itself or did u just apply to it from a website. I’m just really worried that I’ll fall behind at MIT next year b/c quite frankly I don’t have any experience with research/internship wise. How would you go about getting research experience freshman year if you’ve never done it before? I mean do I just become some prof’s lab rat or something or due I have to approach the prof with some original idea in mind…lol as you can tell I’m just really worried
“Buffalo in California – head to SF, there’s a herd of buffalo in Golden Gate Park!”
WE SAW THEM!!! there aren’t too many though — perhaps they escaped. Surrey pride for the win!!
anonymous-
I hear of many internship opportunities through my old department (course 16) as well as the career office. Some times you do your own research but this one that I’m doing right now I heard through some very helpful career people in the aero/astro department.
-lulu
Do I count as one of your bosses, Lulu? :-D
For everyone else, here’s the Education Associates internship listing. It’s a good way to see some opportunities at NASA Ames here in California. You can also see a bunch of other NASA student programs here. Lulu is a very hard worker and lots of fun to have around!
—
Jessica, Small Spacecraft Division Intern Coordinator
Chinese or…?first time to see you and first time to visit your blog.
nice pictures
if you can work in NASA,that will be great!
I like what u said. We will talk more if u send me a male.