That busy feeling...

I'm afraid my frequency of blog posts seems to vary inversely with how busy school is... which doesn't bode well for lots of posts on this blog. However, I'll still try to post quick updates here and there.

At this pointI'm in my 5th week of class, (you guys at UW just start tomorrow??) so I'm at pretty much full workload for all of them... and the first tremors of midterms are coming. Also, I'm fairly certain what direction I'm headed in terms of PhD research. I'll be working with Prof. Hod Lipson doing same exploratory work in digital manufacturing (note: digital manufacturing, not digitally controlled manufacturing). Nobody has really done any work here before, so its total uneplored territory, with several potentially revolutionary concepts. There's already a pretty well defined publication to write on the preliminary thinking I've been doing, and some patents on the not-so-distant horizon. So I am very excited, but I have that feeling that I just jumped off the diving board into a big pool of research... and that I won't have much free time for the next, oh, 4 years. Oh well. It'll be fun.

For those of you less technically inclined, what this boils down to is that I get to play with Legos for the next few years. Not "Lego" legos... those are much too limited. More like uber-legos.. that you can "automatically" assemble almost anything out of. Even robots with built in circuits. Yeah, its wild... but you can check out http://ccsl.mae.cornell.edu/ to see what other kinds of research Hod's students are doing.

So far I've still had time to be social, both with my fellow Mech.E grad students and Bible study folk, which I intend to continue as much as I can.

Reasons to come to Ithaca:

Well, despite there not being a "real" mountain in sight, the area around here is still very beautiful, in an upstate New York sort of way. After church (still have not settled on one), I went on a short hike (~5mi) later this afternoon with some friends from my department in one of several nearby state parks (nearby = 5 minutes out of town). Rather than 1000 some odd words, I'll let a couple pics do the talking.

Lucifer Falls

Pathway through the gorge

The flat shale abounds in this region and makes for some very nice waterfalls.

Well, I guess I'll keep this post pretty short. The trees are just starting to change color, so the hills should be on fire soon. I am keeping busy, but life is going well enough.

Having fun...
















...and of course by "having fun" I really mean "having fun in photoshop".

Jimmy took this pic on our ride a couple weeks ago to Lake Roesiger, and I couldn't resist some post-modification. I just looked so... ready! Of course one would never have the front wheel turned to do this, not to mention the cost of rubber in 180mm rear tire form.

Photo Update:

My computer finally made it here! Which means I have some connection to the outside world from my apartment. Here's some photos that should have accompanied the previous three posts:

Cornell and Ithaca area:

View of Cayuga Lake from edge of Cornell campus (above left)

Engineering quad. All my classes are in and around this area (above right)

Suspension bridge over Fall Creek gorge. This location is part of the campus, and one of just many beautiful spots on and immediately around Cornell. (above)

A footbridge in the Cascadilla gorge. (I cross this gorge on the way to class every day, although not by this route) (above right)

Cayuga Lake from Stewart Park. There are several marinas that house quite a few sailboats and a few yaughts here at the south end of the lake.

Now, a couple pics from Tim and Katie's wedding:



The location was absolutely gorgeous. (Notice I did NOT use that word to descride Ithaca... if you ever see an "Ithaca is gorges" T-shirt, you'll understand... they're all over here.)













The happy couple post-ceremony (left)

A nice end to a very nice day (above right)

I don't have any pics of the actual ceremony (since I was up front), so if anyone has any good ones to pass along, I'd appreciate it!

As an aside, I found an awesome running trail today. It starts just across the 6-mile gorge (still another gorge, which I happen to live directly above) and follows an old railroad grade through the forested hills and clefts of upstate New York. The trees are just starting to show tinges of color, and I hear that Autumn is a very beautiful time in this area. Can't wait...

Digging in...

Well, the semester is pretty much in full swing now: Homework for all my classes, starting to get into research, and still learning about the area. I spent the better part of last week catching up from the4 days of class I missed while in Seattle, then today I decided to switch out of a theoretical math course into an applied dynamics course that will actually help me on the qualifying exams this coming spring. (Plus the theoretical math course was rather frustrating... and the homework assignments were taking 20+ hours/week.)

So now this week I get to catch up on 2 weeks of the dynamics course, but the Prof seems pretty nice and will let me make up the assignments I've missed without penalty. He's an entertaining older guy (a "legend" in the dynamics field I was told) that wrote the book we're using, and it looks like the majority of the HW is coming up with problems (and solving them) that he can use in the next edition of the book. Sure, its "slave labor," but it means that the homework might actually have a point (besides learning), so that makes things a little more interesting.

Other than school, I've still been going to the GCF bible study and went to a game night on Saturday with all the GCF studies. I've also been systematically checking out possible churches in the area. I went to one on Sunday with some of the GCF guys... there was good, in depth teaching but the service style was pretty traditional, which at times I find constraining. I dunno... I already know there's not a Mars Hill:Ithaca, (for you non-Seattlites, I attended Mars Hill Church while at UW in Seattle) but I find myself really missing that church. I still keep up on all the sermons via podcast which has been great, but not the same as being there.

OK... off to class. My computer should get here sometime this week from Seattle, so I'll have a better chance of integrating some pics into these posts.

"Vacation" weekend:

Vacation is in quotes because I didn't get any days off school (not even Labor day!), but nevertheless I took several days to go back to Seattle (1) to be a groomsman in Tim and Katie's wedding (friends from UW) and (2) see friends and family after spending all summer away. I flew out of Ithaca Wednesday afternoon (after going to my morning class) through Philidelphia. I had the time zones in my advantage, but a three hour flight delay meant I didn't get to bed in Seattle until 2:30am... which of course is 5:30am Eastern time. Ugh.

I stayed that night (or morning, technically) in the shop (my house last year), and saw everyone briefly as they headed off to their various places of summer work in the morning. Then my dad picked me up on the way back home from picking my brother up at the airport, and I spent the rest of the day at my parent's house. It was VERY nice to play my new acoustic guitar, which I had finished only days before leaving for Europe. I also fired up my motorcycle to get some gas in it, because the whole weekend was to be sunny and 80's!

Friday, I started throwing stuff together to take back to NY (winter clothes, computer, etc.), but after lunch I rode down to Seattle to see Tim (briefly), and to hang out with the guys down in Seattle. We had a small BBQ that night and did a lot of, well, hanging out. Saturday morning got off to a nice, lazy start, but by about 11:00, Stephen and Jimmy and I were motivated enough to go out on a motorcycle ride. (Both of them had gotton new bikes over the summer, which was an unnecessary excuse.) We headed out the eastside through Duvall, Carnation, Monroe, and up to Lake Roesiger, before looping back through Granite falls to my parents house (about 120 mi total... it was beautiful!)

After showing them around a little, they headed back to Seattle and I (again) hopped on the bike and rode up to the wedding rehearsal at 4:00. The whole wedding party was staying up at a military lodge up in the hills past Arlington (Jim Creek Naval Radio Station), since most came from out of town. I had met most of Tim's family and most of the other groomsmen before, but there were alot of people from Katie's side I didn't know. It was a great time, including playing poker with chocolate for chips. (Now there's incentive!)

I went to my parents' house that night, then went to early service at FBC Marysville with them and got to see quite a few people there. Then, I was up to "A Country Location" (as it was named) near Smokey Point for the pre-wedding stuff. Of course, the groomsmen were all in tuxes (a first for me), but it wasn't too bad for an afternoon (although a little warm with the jacket in the sun). The location was very nice and adequately named, and the wedding itself went wonderfully. Afterwards was dinner and the normal post-wedding formalities, then Tim and Katie were off to a lodge near Leavenworth before going to Hawaii.

I skipped out not long after they left (about 9:00) and went back home to pack up everything, which took a while. Then, I got up at 3:45 to get to Seattle in time to catch my 6:30am flight. (Ugh.) It was another long travel day, but the flight to Ithaca was only delayed by a little over an hour. I got back and went to the Graduate Christian Fellowship Bible Study (IV sponsored, I believe) before heading back to my apartment and crashing. I slept long and hard... a little too long and hard it turns out. So, I missed my only class today (in my defense, it was an 8:40 class = 5:40am Pacific time), making it nearly a week since I've been to a class here. So, needless to say, its catch-up time.

Overall, it was an awesome weekend of good time and great weather in Seattle (apparently it stormed here in NY), but I'm ready to not be in an airport for a while. Now, its time to buckle down and tackle my first semester here at Cornell.