| To some of you, this may be old news... I've been in California for the past week and a half, and it's certainly been an interesting trip. Hell, my first day here, I managed to cause Wal-Mart to disassemble their cash register desk for me, and I crashed coming down Page Mill Road (a 2,000 ft vertical descent). So the story with Wal-Mart -I went to buy some CO2 cartridges for my bike pump, and for some reason, they require you to be 18 to purchase. Now, normally, the teller may look at me, and realize that yes, he's got to be at least in his 20's, hell, I don't get carded half the time when I'm buying alcohol. This time though, she looks at me like I've got to really be 15. Crazy lady of course then asks for my ID, and as she grabs it from the microscopic table, that I suppose people are supposed to get the impression that they can write checks on, it flies down perfectly between the main cash register desk and the plastic bag carousel. Perfect, now I'm stuck in this miserable place. I know, it's Wal-Mart, what was I asking for? The terrible thing about it, is that I don't really have that big of an issue with their practices, and I like getting inexpensive prices, but good god, you could spend a little on some stupid caulking between the two parts to keep that from happening! What ensues, is probably the most hilarious thing I've seen at wallyworld in a long time. First we try and find a way to get beneath the the contraption without disassembly, to no avail. Next, we got the maintenance guy over there, and he unhooked the carousel and we lifted it up. Well, guess what, my ID had falling into another small slot that is permanently anchored to the main desk! How to get it out now? I think after three more people, including the register manager, coming over and throwing out ideas, they ended up just breaking the slot off of the desk. Apparently I wasn't the first person to lose something back there, as the guy pulled out a $10 bill and set it on the table. I wish I could have taken it, it might have made it more bearable. As for the crash? I was just being dumb. I'd climbed Page Mill Road, and started my descent and after getting stuck behind a truck, I passed him. Another quarter mile down the descent, I couldn't quite make it around a turn, and slammed into the bushes on the cliff. Thank god for the bushes, I'll say. I got scraped up from the thorns, and my rear tube was ruined as the valve stem sheared off at the wheel rim. I've never seen that before. So, pumped up again, and rode on down, MUCH more cautiously. What bothered me is that a minute after I'd crashed, and was still in the bushes, the damn truck didn't stop. In the past, I've noticed that most people are considerate and will check, but I think this guy was annoyed that a bicycle passed him. Jerk. The rest of the trip has been less crazy than the first day, both enjoyable and frustrating, all at the same time in many cases. I haven’t had any strange run-ins with the disassembly of cash registers again, nor have I crashed either. The wind tunnel testing was a little rough the first week and a half. We had computer issues for almost the whole time, and one of the parts we need to test is still in manufacture. At least we've gotten going, with other testing that we simply used to displace what we were originally to do. Starting about yesterday, the issues subsided, and we started cruising through the different configurations. In the best of news, we've sent nothing aside from some small vortex generators down the tunnel. Much of a change from my first wind tunnel test at school, and the last one here where we had a grit throwing shotgun masquerading as a wind tunnel. Oh yeah, and apparently NASA broke its own tunnel, again. We ran into an issue where the tunnel couldn't hold Mach number within tolerance, and since this happened on my shift, where there is no one to hand off responsibility to. I rather like being here at this hour, if anything because I do have that position of leadership, but when something comes up that requires a decision, I get cautious. I don’t want to make the wrong choice, but if I don’t make one, no one will. Eventually, the issue was completely discovered, and tracked down to the fact that we have a new model load checking system that allows us to push the model harder than before, which caused the tunnel to be revved up higher than before, and thus the speed control issues. Essentially, it's just harder to hold speed because the engine isn't designed to be pushed so hard. Aside from work, I've made my way to a couple of museums. First was the Hiller Aviation Museum in San Carlos, CA. It was a rather small museum, but what they did have was still high quality, and since it wasn't expensive, I'm not complaing. They probably had the best collection of early (1903-1915) aircraft I've ever seen. Later last week, I managed my way over to Alameda to see the USS Hornet. There weren’t as many airplanes there as I would have hoped, but being on an aircraft carrier for the first time certainly was an interesting experience. Pictures from both of these can be found on my Facebook profile. Of course, I can't forget the fact that cycling out here is absolutely amazing. We're staying at a hotel that is much closer to the edge of town than last time, and I am quite thankful for that, as it's made getting out of town so much easier than on my last stay. I can't quote you the mileage total or the elevation change that I've done, but my word, having great roads up in the mountains within twenty minutes of the hotel - I cannot put a price on it. I've ridden more in the last two weeks than I probably did in the last month that I was Seattle. The weather here is almost always gorgeous too, which makes it all the better. I do feel hardened for having dealt with the cold and wet throughout the winter up north, but WOW, I would much rather be here. Real climbs, real descents, and running into a cyclist every 5 minutes. It's just like Italy, only closer, and everyone speaks English. The one problem that I have out here is the lack of personal interaction with people outside of work. I think that this weekend I'll be heading up to San Francisco to meet with a friend from high school, so hopefully I'll be set for the rest of the week. I've just been so busy, that it's been hard to find time for anything but sleeping, eating, and cycling. Then there's that whole work thing... it eats so much of my time. I've been working 3rd shift, which just compounds all of the meeting people thing. Ah well, I'm making the buco dollars for sitting here at weird hours - let's just say it's quite a significant raise over 1st shift. Well, on to testing. Sorry about the terribly long entry. I promise to keep them from turning into books. |
