Time is winding down here like a trickling cold spring. I already have feelings of missing the summer rapidly being replaced by the joys of the exciting fall semester coming up real soon.

After the summer, I’ll wholeheartedly miss:

• the community of nerds
• the few amazingly mental and livingly appreciative friends that I’ve made here
• the free golden breakfasts and dinners (seriously)
• the lack of humidity and the cool, crispy delicious mornings
• the vacant worries about so many obligations - the vacation-like atmosphere
• having the top fire scientists merely a few feet away to talk to and learn from
• peeking through the vast fire science library - like no resource that I have seen before
• the ability to SSH into a sea of 40+ linux computers to calculate my FDS curiosities
• sitting by the pond having lunch with a dear friend, dear deer, geese, and a shady tree in the breeze

This fall, I explodingly and excitedly look forward to:

• sharing what I’ve learned here for the rest of my life, scholarly and real-life related
• getting to teach classes!
• learning more and more about Fire Dynamics Simulator and the beauty of the dynamics of fire for the rest of my life - I’ve only been working with FDS for a year now, after all, I know nothing…
• the sickening number of trips, and thus, experiences that I will be able to take around the world
• growing with the dedicated students at UHD who wish to be something in the fire protection world
• writing non-stop all week long
• meeting more and more progressive people in the world
• moving into a new house and making the most mentally conducive, fire studying, brain leaking, progressively thinking, and soul soothing place in my universe
• wondering how the weather will be in Massachusetts in a year
• having a comfortable amount of money to perform my goods in life

It really has been a fantastically mind-expanding experience. It’s not over yet! I still have two projects to work on, a presentation to give, a paper to publish, a lab notebook to fill, and many more days and nights to grow.

Also, I am bursting for Wednesday to come, when I get to visit one of the coolest and most robust smoke detector laboratories as well as the headquarters for the Society of Fire Protection Engineers and meet the director and such!

If you ever wonder what else you can do in life, take a moment to just start writing what you are thinking.

Where is halfway on this never-ending journey? Nonetheless, I have about five weeks left here, and if they were anywhere as amazing as the first half of my time here, well then this exceeded my expectations by about 482,000%.

The things I have learned pertinent to my studies have been astounding, but there has been so much more. Friendships, community, and resources that I can never forget.

Oh, in case you haven’t seen, here is a picture I took here a few weeks ago when walking home from the bowling alley on a rainy day:

The weekend has been good so far, very relaxing after a busy week at work. Well, busy bursts of work.

Finally, of all things that I have learned here, I have learned that I do not think that I would like to be a pure researcher. I don’t think that it would be for me to work at NIST. Granted, I am working with the people who do research and development on the number one project in my life, but I feel like my job is to teach. The life of a professor seems much more fulfilling to me.

Not to say that the summer is wasted, at all. I learned more about Fire Dynamics Simulator and fire research than I would have in years without working this fellowship. I just want to share the ideal that sometimes experiences will let you know what you don’t want to end up doing in life, and that is just as valuable as anything. I love experiences.
This has certainly been a life changing summer and a great part of my life so far, and considering the short length of time, I’d say that is pretty amazing. Time that would have otherwise flown by at home and dissolved into daily routines and overlookings.

I had an incredible weekend as AMi came to visit. I just left her at the airport a couple of hours ago and watched her fly back - heading 2000 miles home. We had very full, exciting, and vivacious days that make you happy to be alive wherever you are.

She was able to meet the quirky and great people here that I call my friends, do a lot of walking around Gaithersburg and DC, and chillax by the grill at night in this lovely weather that they have been experiencing here.

The week was certainly packed full of night frisbee, quirky social gatherings, delicious grilled food, a touch of good beer, lots of fun, oh and a ton of good productive work done by me. I’ll be sure to post more stuff as this week will be a bit more wound down.

Week four is coming soon! Ami is going to be visiting me this coming weekend: can’t wait! See you soon!

I added a few new pictures to my Google Picasa Web Album. You can see them by clicking the link below or anytime by using the link on the right side of the pages.

From NIST SURF 2007

Coming this week! Pictures of the robot that my roommate is working on, pictures of the autonomous Hummer that drives around the NIST campus, and the NIST boat! Stay tuned and have a great week wherever you are.

Today I did the ASSIST Evaluation at the Aberdeen Test Center, which is a military proving grounds. It was sweet. I volunteered to participate in a field experiment involving soldiers and facial recognition and real-time processing software. They also test high explosives on site, and you can hear/feel the bomb and artillery detonations from miles away. Inadvertently, the bomb explosions every ten minutes were definitely the coolest part of the day. That was very weirdly soothing.

I got to play an Iraqi student and a soccer player. All in all, very cool. I also got to hang out with my peoples and play ball and stuff.

I also got to think quietly. Waiting in very long lines can sometimes force one to do this. It is those quiet times that come that make you wonder what it is that you are doing in life. Loving? Thinking? Socializing? Living like an animal day to day in this world? Why do I do this or why don’t I do that. How am I living back at home?

THESE are the things that I am thinking. What do I do here in Maryland that I LOVE that I totally ignore at home? How can I change them? Should I change them? After going on and on about how this is the perfect community and all, why not change things? Here are a few of my notes on my progress, thinking, and whatnot:

WRITE MORE:
I love to write. Writing is my thing. I scribble, blog, doodle, technically write, etc. I love to write. I love to think. I must tie these things together better. By writing more, I can say things better. I can use the right word, just like my favorite authors write up thought processes. This comes with lots and lots of practice. Years even. Write letters, books, manuals, essays,etc.

By writing more, I think better, and become more interesting, which feeds the other values. I can have a tangible life. I can have output things that others can read and think about. Writing lives forever. WHO writes? Not many people do. That doesn’t mean that I can’t write. I can love deeper. I can express myself in weird poems to technical manuals. Everyone can read.

READ less:
Why less? I can’t take up ALL of my time, input, and thinking by reading about it! I have to write about it! I have so much stuff in my head, let me get it out there. Admittedly, this stuff came from reading a lot, but I am referring to where I am NOW. I can also read less as to not overwrite my passions. I push to avoid redundancy. How many books have I read about time management? Am I effectively managing my time?? Then why another book about time management??? And, by reading less, but very pertinent books, I can of course build vocabulary and in turn not overwrite or define my experiences with too much reading. Very important for me.

SOCIAL MORE:
Social life is definitely a huge thing here in my experience so far in NIST SURF. Point-ful socialization is a big part of every big thinker and successful person’s life. However, letting intellectual thought overtake your social interaction can break that very point. As one person (Proust) said: he does all of his intellectual work within himself and he doesn’t let that stop him from talking to anyone, as will I follow this wise concept.

I do this now, but I have to remind myself of this ever so important fact of social being. Also, socialization should be very open. It should be your closest physical friends that you can share ANY idea or opinion and get good feedback from. Not necessarily knowledge, but the sharing of experiences can be highlighted here. Onto comfort. This is important so that you aren’t filtering your thoughts and mind at any level because you are nervous or hesitant. And finally, platonic. You may or may not have a platonic relationship with someone. Not with your parents or significant other, but a good, platonic, true friend or friends. Platonic in the sense that Plato meant it. Not shallow, but a relationship that extends beyond the bounds of physical and even the mental world. One of spiritual closeness.

LOVE MORE:
Following on with the idea of socializing, then comes loving more. How can you love more? And why? It can be very different for everyone. Spending real time with your loved persons is key. Real, free, true time together, with no regrets, no appointments, and no obligations. Just fun life experiences. Funny how you learn that only when you are away from your loved one.

VARIETY MORE:
This involves sports and new people for me this summer. Play a new sport, go outside more, and meet new people. Of course, it’s easy in an environment of forced socialization. I’m in a hotel with over a hundred similar young students who are up for that kind of randomness. How then in the real world? Simple: do more stuff like that! Join a group, find that person that you need, and communicate. It really is simple, but I don’t do it enough at home. This is one of those times that I just say to do it. Get out there. Don’t ignore your other obligations, but do more to expand, every day. It’s hard when you have routines, too. It’s also hard to share good wisdom about improving this area because this is a largely self-motivated part of life, but one that gives the biggest and best results.

Well, that is where I am for now in the areas that matter most to me. These 2.5 weeks have been a fantastic part of my life.

Thanks for listening.