7/23/97
We have now spent four days here at Los Alamos National Laboratories... in this time we have gone to a number of lectures and spent late nights working with a CCD (charge coupled device). In the relatively short time that we have been together we have learned many things about each other and about each others ideas and opinions . It has been a great experience but as to our main objective of looking at the stars... well things have not been moving at all to brisk a clip. However we are ever hopeful that the rainy and cloud covered nights will change and that we will be able to start our observation of the stars. In the meantime we are spending our time learning all that we can to prepare for the time that we will be actually using the telescope and CCD's in the field. So there you have it, what we have done in the last few days. I figure that you might want to know a little about me, now that you know of what we have been doing in our first few days here.
Well let me start out with one of the more notable things about me. I am thin and about six feet four and three quarter inches tall. I have lived in New York City all of my life, and having grown tall hit my head on a number of subway door frames. However I have still enjoyed every minute of living here. I have a wide range of interests roaming from science to math and working with glass. Recently I have worked in making neon signs and have enjoyed it quite a bit. I like meeting new and interesting people as much as spending time with old friends.
So now you have an idea of who I am and you can see why I am so happy to be here and doing what we are doing. The reason that I find this project so interesting, is that when you look to the stars and galaxies you are looking at light that has taken so many hundreds of years to arrive. So in addition to its other scientific aspects, this would let you look into the past. As we know the future often resembles the past in surprising ways, and this makes astronomy an exciting field.
7/29/97
I have been here for more than a week now. I would say that this has been an amazing and wonderful experience so far and we have all had a fantastic time. I would highly recommend it to anyone as something that is a wonderful experience to be a part of. You are put together with a bunch of people who are interesting and wonderful to be around. You quickly get to know all about these people, starting with where they live and then you continue from there to discover more about the person and about their likes, dislikes, beliefs, ideas, ect. This makes the time here very enjoyable and exciting.
8/2/97
Today is the day before we leave and I would like to put forth my personal feelings about the whole experience. To put it short it has been the best summer program that I have ever been on. It has made me understand more about how science is really done. It has also been a fun and educational experience that I will remember well. But paramount to these things it has brought me together with people who are wonderful to be with and has let me spend time at a place where we could hold an open intellectual exchange. For these reasons and many more that I have not mentioned (like a taste of some real hot food... ect.) I would hope that those of you who are thinking of going somewhere with Earthwatch, my advice is a strong affirmative for going. This has been a very rewarding experience and I am sure that it will be the same for you if you decide to go on one. In conclusion of my web page here I would like to encourage you to go to any of the other pages that the others have written for a more complete coverage of what has been done on a day to day basis.