Le Morte d'Nate

Less than 24 hours until Spring Break...

2010-03-11T23:57:00.001-08:00

...and all I have left to do is study for a CLS (Combat Lifesavers) exam, write a book report, attend ROTC classes tomorrow, and finish and draft my clinic design documents.

Granted the CLS exam is probably really easy and the book report is only 1-2 pages. It's that last one that might keep me up all night/day.

But the good news is that once it's all done I'll have made a significant step towards finishing clinic AND I'll be on break!

Which is good. My car is in the shop now and my girlfriend is going on a trip so break will likely mean catching up on lots of sleep and doing lots of work.

And lots of work I have to do. The clinic design documents will include my schematics for our device's analyzer but over break I get to actually layout the schematics on a PCB and route all the traces to get them all ready to fabricate. It's no easy task, especially since there are parameters for EVERYTHING (how wide is this trace, how close can it be to this other trace, how close can the both of them come to this part right here, etc).

But all in all its fun. This is the real engineering! And I'm feeling more confident now that our design might actually work.

This semester has been a lot busier than I was hoping it would be but I guess that's just how it goes. Idle hands, eh? Better to be too busy than bored, although being bored for ONCE while I'm here at Mudd would have been an interesting change of pace.

How many days left to graduate? 65.5 all included. Man that's close.

Schuyler Williamson

2010-03-11T23:37:00.000-08:00

Lieutenant Schuyler Williamson gazed out the bus window at the passing lights of Fort Hood. It was hard to believe that he was finally back in America. Everything looked so strangely peaceful and routine. He felt a slight tremor inside and wondered whether it was caused by exhaustion or excitement.

The convoy of busses came to a stop at the Division parade field. To his left, under the lights across the field, Schuyler could see the crowd of family members and friends who awaited his battalion. He knew that his wife was somewhere in that crowd, and his parents, too.

He filed off the bud with his Soldiers. He and the rest of the battalion from the other busses formed up into a formation in the street, where the line of busses blocked them from view of their families. The night air as cool and smelled like home.

A chant from across the field started softly and grew progressively louder and louder.

"Move that bus! Move that bus! Move that bus!"

It reminded Williamson of the television series Extreme Home Makeover.

As soon as the unit was formed, the busses drove away, and to the wild cheers of the crown Williamson marched forward among the Soldiers of the platoon, the company, and the battalion, that he had experienced a year of war with. The formation halted in the middle of the parade field. A senior officer from the Division spoke some words welcoming them home. Williamson's eyes scanned the crowd for his family, to no avail.

The senior officer's brief comments ended with, "Families and loved ones, go get your Soldier!"

With a roar, the crowd of loved ones surged forward, merging into the formation of Soldiers. It was chaos-hugs, smiles, tears, people everywhere. Williamson kept looking through the crowd, but he could not find his family.

"Schuyler!" It was his father's familiar voice.

Williamson turned to see his dad moving toward him. Then her saw her. Rushing past his dad, moving as quickly as she could through the crowd towards Williamson, was Kristen, his wife. She collapsed into his arms, a year's worth of worry and loneliness flowing our in her tears. After a long embrace, Williamson reunited with his parents. They looked as happy as he had ever seen them.

Then he felt a tap on his shoulder from behind. It was one of his Soldiers.

"Sir," said his Soldier. "I really want you to meet my dad. He doesn't speak English. But I really want you to meet him."

Williamson stretched out his hand to the man. The Soldier's dad squeezed the lieutenant's arm with a firm two-handed handshake. He looked directly into the eyes of his son's platoon leader, offering a wordless expression of gratitude for bringing his son home alive, breaking into tears as his son spoke.

"Sir," said the Soldier to his platoon leader, "I just want you to know, I will fight with you anytime, anywhere."

Watching all this, Kristen finally understood why her husband was so committed to serving his Soldiers. He was their platoon leader.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Call me a sap but this here story nearly made me cry. That Soldier regarded his platoon leader with the utmost respect, a respect that was likely well earned. For me, there would be no greater honor, no greater reward or achievement than to hear these words from one of my Soldiers. This platoon leader did something right, something to build in his platoon a trust of and respect for his leadership. He probably sacrificed a lot of what he held dear. He probably gave up calling his wife once or twice so his Soldiers had more time to talk to their wives. He probably stuck his neck out once or twice to keep his platoon healthy and at peace. He might have had to see a few Soldiers die as a result of his bad decisions. He bore the weight and the responsibility of not just accomplishing the mission but getting his Soldiers home in one piece. As the Army paradoxically says, "Mission first. People always." It is my one prayer in life that whatever this lieutenant did right to receive the respect of his Soldier I one day do as well.

Ben Weakley

2010-03-01T10:30:00.000-08:00

All acronyms are explained at the bottom of the text.

Lieutenant Ben Weakley surveyed the scene before him on a steamy Baghdad night. A PLS truck stacked with Jersey Barriers marked the spot where the next section of wall would appear. An M-88 wrecker was positioned perpendicular to the tail end of the truck, acting as a crane to download each two-ton block of concrete. Weakley's Engineers were supervising an ad-hoc collection of transporters and mechanics who together were tackling a mission that none of them had trained for--surrounding residential neighborhoods with high concrete walls.

As Weakley talked with his platoon sergeant, a man's scream pierced the night.

"Aaaaaahhhhhh!!!"

Barriers on the back of the PLS had tumbled, partially crushing a Soldier under two of them. He was one of the mechanics.

Without a word, Weakley's experienced platoon sergeant took charge of the rescue mission. The accident had knocked the steel cable off the M-88's guide-wire spool, so the cable could not be used to lift the barrier.

"Get breaker bars and tanker bars," the platoon sergeant ordered. Soldiers scrambled to their vehicles and returned with the bars. Teams tried to re-align the guide wire on the M-88's crane and to create some breathing space for the trapped Soldier, but both efforts were unsuccessful. The Soldier was slowly suffocating.

Weakley reported the situation to his TOC and called a 9-line for medical evacuation.

"First Squad," ordered the platoon sergeant, "Bring up your ESV and use the blade to push the barrier off him." The Engineer Stryker Vehicle had a bulldozer-like blade on its front. First Squad rushed into action. The squad leader operated the vehicle. A team leader jumped up on the PLS to comfort his wounded comrade and to position the ESV's blade.

The squad leader inched the blade into position against the barrier. Soldiers grabbed hold of the casualty. As soon as the blade moved the barrier, the Soldiers pulled him free.

Weakley judged that the casualty was litter urgent. There was no time to wait for the helicopter MEDEVAC.

"We'll CASEVAC him directly to the CSH," he ordered. "Put him in the back of the ESV and let's go!"

The Stryker didn't move.

"First Squad, let's go!" he repeated. Then he saw what was causing a delay. The movement of barriers that had freed the trapped mechanic had inadvertently trapped the team leader who had been assisting.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," the squad leader who had operated the ESV was saying to his buddy, holding his free hand. "We'll get you out of here,"

"Sergeant," Weakley told the squad leader, "We have to go to the CSH right now."

"I can't leave him. I won't leave him. Fuck all this!" cried the distraught squad leader.

"The mechanic is litter urgent, Sergeant. Let's go!" ordered Weakley.

The mechanic's CASEVAC convoy was waiting. The team leader's injury did not immediately threaten his life or limb.

"Oh, God, what have I done..."

"Now!" the platoon leader commanded, looking directly into the tearing eyes of his battle-proven NCO. The message got through. The squad leader snapped up, ran to his waiting vehicle, and led the convoy to its destination.

The CASEVAC convoy sped to the CSH in minutes, saving the Soldier's life. The platoon sergeant was able to free the team leader, who suffered a broken hand.

Later on that night, Weakley sat talking with his platoon sergeant in their CP back at the FOB. Neither of them could sleep.

The squad leader who had operated the ESV appeared in the doorway.

"Come on in," said Weakley.

The NCO remained standing in the doorway. Then, looking at his platoon leader, he said, "Sir, we all thought that if something bad happened you were going to freak out and get somebody killed. You proved us wrong tonight, LT."

It had taken a while, but Ben finally sensed that he had earned the trust of his platoon.

---------------------------------------------
TOC: Tactical Operations Center
ESV: Engineer Stryker Vehicle
MEDEVAC: Medical evacuation by aircraft
CASEVAC: Casualty evacuation by ground
CSH: Combat Support Hosital
NCO: Non-commissioned officer
CP: Command Post
FOB: Forward Operating Base
LT: Lieutenant

Crazy week

2010-02-28T23:47:00.000-08:00

Oh boy. Oh boy, oh boy. It's going to be a crazy week. Somehow they all are, aren't they?

Seriously, though, there are a lot of things coming up. This Friday is one of the major training days for ROTC and that means I go into overtime as S4, the supply officer. All of our 80+ freshmen and sophomore cadets need full equipment (kevlar helmet, ruck sack, load carrying vest, mock weapon, etc) and all of the evaluators need special equipment (mock AT-4s, mock claymore mines, radios, etc). But first I have to return the equipment we were using a week or so ago. Plus one of the officers has requested that I issue to all of the juniors all of the equipment that they'll need for the ROTC assessment camp (called LDAC) this summer which includes cold weather gear, wet weather gear, protective knee and elbow pads, protective eyewear, notepads, pens and pencils, and a few other things I can't remember right now. It's not going to be an easy feat and it's not going to be quick. I'll probably be down there in the ROTC office quite a bit this week.

And then on top of that we have a MAJOR clinic deadline for Monday morning in exactly one week. We are finally organizing a formal design review of two of our device's critical components (an air inlet and an analyzer) one of which I am heavily involved with and that means that a whole lot of work needs to get done from now until then.

The analyzer, you see, is an interesting piece of work. The basic idea (as I may have said before) is to shine a light on a filter and see how much light gets through. The less light that gets through, the more black carbon there is on the filter. Simple idea, right? Unfortunately, like most things, its simple to conceive and pretty difficult to actually complete.

You see, there are a couple of main concerns with the analyzer that could adversely affect its performance. The first is electronic noise and stability. Detecting the low concentrations of black carbon that we'd like to involves regulating an LED to +/- 2 nA!! Not to mention that our detector has to be low-noise enough to see these small signals. The second is in making sure the actual optics are doing what we'd like. We just found out that there is a difference in measurement technique if the incident light source is collimated or if it is diffuse; they will get you two different measurements for how much light is attenuated. The third is random artifacts that have to do with particle collection on a filter. Turns out you get all kinds of multiple scattering and things like humidity or particle morphology can affect your measurements. There are a lot of things to work out and its pretty important that we hit a home run at our design review in a week or so.

But like Raffi says, this is the interesting part; this is the actual engineering. Here's hoping we all can pull it through.

Conflict Resolution / What to do when you find out how much you suck as a Clinic team leader

2010-02-11T19:46:00.001-08:00

Clinic is a mighty beast. For some with the right combination of luck and skill, it can be a fantastically challenging thing, perfectly suited to their level of expertise. The problem is technical enough that it appeals to them as engineers and yet contains enough breadth to pretend like it's a full engineering project (which it is). For others, it can be just the wrong problem at the wrong time. Like the homework solution that seems to elude you even after hours of constant struggle or the test problem that seems ever just out of your reach.

My clinic project seems to have been both. At times it feels more the former, and at other times more the latter. Today it feels like more the latter.

Even before I took over as team leader I knew I would have big shoes to fill. The previous team leader, Raffi Attarian, is a stellar engineer and an experienced project manager. His leadership during our first semester took what could easily have been a flaming fireball of hell and breathed life into it. He was meticulous, tireless, and had a knack for thinking about things from every angle.

But it feels like I don't have those skills. Even with what I would consider three years of fantastic leadership training with ROTC I still seem to be dropping the ball. Two weeks ago I scheduled a site visit and only today do I realize (at Raffi's prompt) that I don't know what we're going to do when we get there. How could I not have thought that through? That feels like project management 101! And this came on top of a particularly challenging week for our project where it feels like we've been cornered into a difficult project with no easy way out.

So certain people expressed their disappointment/disapproval over the way I have been handling things. All in all I agree with them. But while accepting it is a big step, it doesn't make it all go away. Now I have the even harder task of constantly accepting those failings while working to correct them.

Along the way I may take criticism from those around me. They may not let me forget so quickly my past mistakes. On some levels it is their right to voice their concerns. I have to have a thick skin, an open mind, and an undaunted spirit to continue where it seems only failure lives.

And I must redouble my efforts to fix what has come undone around me. No, this does not necessarily mean I work twice as hard. It does mean I need to progress twice as much but to do that I have to follow what I've been taught:

1) Assess the situation

2) Create an appropriate plan

3) Execute that plan with fervor

4) Repeat

Here's hoping that I don't make the same mistake twice. That I can do some good this semester on this clinic team. That the leadership mistakes I make in the future never cost me the life of a soldier.

The inability to read anything anymore. Ever.

2010-02-09T21:26:00.000-08:00

Maybe it's just today and the fact that I didn't sleep much last night and that I worked out hard yesterday and twice today, but I just cannot read anything about the philosophy of religion right now!

Two sentences in, while David Hume is using Cleanthes and Demea to argue about something I can't comprehend, I feel the familiar smack of my forehead making contact with my keyboard.

So I redouble my efforts, get up to walk around, then sit back down. But like clockwork after two sentences suddenly Cleanthes is wearing a toga and telling Demea to pick up the box of birthday hats next to him and I know that I've stopped reading the real article a few minutes ago.

So what am I doing now? Blogging, first. But more than that I think you just need to know when to quite, how to apply my time effectively to get the most done. Sure I could sit here for the next two hours and struggle through another 1/3 of the article and remember none of it. I would tell myself I did something but I would have accomplished nothing. Like my friend says, work without progress.

So I'm moving on to something else, something more engaging. Hopefully this way I can actually get some things done tonight, get to bed early, wake up early, and read that article with a fresh mind.

My girlfriend is making fun of me again

2010-02-01T01:52:00.001-08:00

Dear Diary,

Just because I put a lot of thought into writing these blogs she thinks she can make fun of me! Don't worry, Diary, I won't let it get to me. I value our time together.

Nathan Jones

*Obligatory remark about how long its been since my last update

2010-02-01T00:56:00.000-08:00

"Since You've Been Gone" a series of haikus by Nathan Jones

Some finals I took
Their difficulty was astounding
But passed them I did

Then on to Christmas
To spend time with a great family
And relax with them

But break was not done
And to Oregon I went with friends
To see wind and rain

Then back to my school
To begin again for the last time
Four months and counting...

Thanksgiving update 100

2009-11-29T17:25:00.000-08:00

Well, this is the last one, everybody. I've spent a few gloriously relaxing days at home but unfortunately the massive stack of work that I have yet to finish before the end of the year can be ignored no longer. I'm here in my room back at Mudd hunkering down to get some good 'ol fashioned homework done. And I really hope that it doesn't take a long time.

But it might. I was telling my mom today that since I'm not working on normal "problem set" type homework I don't know how long it will take. I need to do some research to answer a few questions I have and if I happen to find just the write article in the first 30 min my work will be easy. I could just as easily spend 10 hours and not find anything of use and then work would be very difficult and time-consuming.

For clinic, I need to figure out a way to take a distributed light source (made up of several LEDs) and 1) focus it as much as possible to preserve the efficiency of our device and 2) distribute it evenly across a 37mm face. I think I've got some solutions that will get me part way there but I'm not sure if this is a problem frequently dealt with in science so I'm not sure how much stuff is out there.

For my independent research on color music, I need to find a way to correlate words like "warm," "heavy," and "active" to the aspects of music that they seem to describe. Hopefully by the end I'll have a system that will tell me how "warm" a piece of music is and likewise how I can make a piece of music more "warm." But like the clinic stuff, I'm really not sure how much of this stuff has been done before. If it has then research might be okay but if it hasn't, then research might be a painfully long process.

But we'll have to see! Thanksgiving is over (too soon some might say) and now its back to a 3 three week push to the end of the semester. In the words of a great sea captain (and I'll do something cool if anyone can name who it is and from which movie I've taken this), "Quick's the word and sharp's the action!"

Thanksgiving update 11

2009-11-26T10:22:00.000-08:00

Sitting at my kitchen table at HOME right now trying desperately to do work. It's so hard when I'm the only one in the house who has this much work, though, and all I want to do is be on VACATION and do NOTHING.

:)

Oh well, keep on chugging, eh? Maybe I'll cut back a little bit and give myself a break. Gotta make sure I can afford it first...

And in a minute I'm going to eat the greatest breakfast ever!! Why is it the greatest breakfast ever?

1) My mom made it

2) It has Pilsbury cinnamon rolls. BAM.

3) It also has eggs and bacon.

4) It's in my home!

Then its off to my aunt's house to see my family and eat even more food.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYBODY!!

Thanksgiving update 10

2009-11-25T10:47:00.000-08:00

Sitting in my room at school doing work for Analog Electronics now, learning about MOSFET transistors. It's a crazy awesome class but I haven't been doing my work in it recently so I've got some catching up to do. This song started playing on my Pandora station and I like it so I'm posting the lyrics. Enjoy.

"My Hero" by Foo Fighters

Too alarming now to talk about
Take your pictures down and shake it out
Truth or consequence, say it aloud
Use that evidence, race it around

There goes my hero
Watch him as he goes
There goes my hero
He’s ordinary

Don’t the best of them bleed it out
While the rest of them peter out
Truth or consequence, say it aloud
Use that evidence, race it around

There goes my hero
Watch him as he goes
There goes my hero
He’s ordinary

Kudos my hero leaving all the best
You know my hero, the one that’s on

There goes my hero
Watch him as he goes
There goes my hero
He’s ordinary

There goes my hero
Watch him as he goes
There goes my hero
He's ordinary

Thanksgiving update 1

2009-11-25T08:09:00.001-08:00

Sitting in coffee klatch writing some long-ass blogs! Enjoying a cappuccino and a cappuccino chip muffin with my two suitemates, Rob and Jackie. Hands down, best two suitemates. Ever.

Thanksgiving break is starting well! Got one more class from 11-12:15 and then I'm free. I've got plans to go home and hopefully get a good amount of work done, catch up on some sleep, yada, yada...

PEACE

Clinic Updates and Fall FTX

2009-11-25T07:40:00.000-08:00

If there was an awesome scale to measure the awesome-ness of clinic projects and their clinic teams ours would still be off-the-charts awesome. That's right, we're too awesome for even an imaginary awesome scale!

Seriously though, we've put a lot of hard work into the project so far and things are starting to pay off. Right now the project has us dabbling in every science from optics to photonics to environmental and atmospheric science to fluid dynamics to high-precision electronics and most things in between. It has been a steep challenge but very exciting and very rewarding. It's like someone said, "Hey, Nate Jones, here's a homework problem with no clear solution. You get to decide what to do and the world of professional engineers will tell you if its good enough. Are you up to the challenge?"

To which I of course responded a hearty, "YES."

Right now the team is heavy into proving that we can take optical transmission measurements, a fundamental function of our device. The idea is that if black carbon (the pollutant we're trying to measure) absorbs light, then we should be able to tell how much black carbon is present by how much light gets absorbed. Its a fairly straight-forward idea but there is a lot to work with. For one, building a detector isn't a trivial task. The photodiodes we are using (which generate a current from incident light) only produce a very small current and it takes some high gain amplification before we can read the signal. But of course with high gain comes high noise and it takes some precision electronics to be able to amplify the signal without all that noise. Ideally the op-amps we're using will have input offset currents on the order of a few femptoamperes (fA)! That's like saying, "This device is so sensitive it can measure the flow of a FEW HUNDRED ELECTRONS going into its terminals." Crazy. Also, the team is working hard on an inlet for our device which requires a lot of science we don't know yet. They are precise mechanical setups that filter out particulate matter down to the micrometer range and low to mid range commercial models cost anywhere from $500 to $900.

And Fall FTX was great; bad and great. Always a learning experience with this ROTC stuff, you know? Friday I didn't finish with all my work until about 6PM and at that point still needed to pack for the weekend. Mind you, we were meeting to leave Saturday morning around 4AM. So what did I do? Stupid me went to the Korean dinner my Korean language professor was having at her house and then stayed out till 12AM or so visiting with some friends I haven't seen in a while. Of course when I finally got back I stayed up until 4AM packing and getting ready so I didn't sleep at all before we left for the trip. I got to sleep on the bus ride up to our training site (about 2hrs away) but the rest of that day I still felt really tired.

And for me, I couldn't help but feel like somewhat of a failure. I mean, the rest of the seniors and I have worked our butts off the last few weeks to get this event ready and it was only going to get more hectic when we actually started the exercise. And where am I? About to pass out in the corner. I wasn't present to help out my friends and I felt like a burden most of the weekend. And why? Because I was stupid and selfish and thought that I could go see some friends of mine. That was the coward's way out and I paid for it. The right thing to do would have been to tell my friends I couldn't see them and gotten some sleep. Yeah I don't WANT to pass up on them but at that point I'm a leader making the decision and the sacrifice necessary for me to support my cadets. I didn't make that choice and it cost me. I suppose the one redeeming thing about it all is that I'm able to identify where I went wrong. God help me I hope I don't make that mistake again in the future.

But other than that the weekend went really well! Our freshmen and sophomores got a chance to have some really great training, which included everything from firing live 5.56 rounds on an M16 firing range, using the EST (Engagement Simulation Trainer, basically an M16 video game), practice what to do if a HMMWV rolls, complete an obstacle course, and practice day and night land navigation. It was a full weekend and thanks to the skill and resourcefulness of the seniors in our battalion, it all went off without any major hitches.

We finally got back this Monday morning. A few days left and then Thanksgiving...

A long time coming

2009-11-25T07:24:00.000-08:00

Oh man have it got a lot to talk about! A lot has happened is the last few weeks (as you might have guessed since I was too busy to post a blog even once!) so I think I've got a three step plan of action that will get us all back on track:

1) Tell you about clinic updates from the past week or so and about the Fall Field Training Exercise (Fall FTX) that I went on with ROTC this past weekend.

2) Give you updates regarding my Thanksgiving Break activities (so excited!).

3) Direct you to this link, in case you haven't seen it yet: www.getonmyhorse.com

And yes, I apologize for sending you to that link.

I love you too

2009-11-09T00:04:00.000-08:00

Whoops, I meant u2. Not "you too". Even though I'm sure I would have some sort of affection for you if I ever happened to meet you.

Ever notice how certain songs or certain bands get eternally connected to times in your life or specific feelings you've had?

Early in my high school years my friends got me listening to u2 and they steadily grew to be one of my favorite bands of all time. I'm sure part of it is the music (they can't have been international superstars for over a quarter of a century playing bad music now can they?) but I'm just as sure that more than that it is the people I think of when I hear u2 playing.

I remember a time in my life when I was growing, when I was glad to be where I was and excited to think about where I was going. I had good friends (the best, some might say) and I got to do the things that I loved (for the most part).

I'm listening to "All that you can't leave behind" right now and it's taking me back to that place. Cause you know, this last week was tough (god help me if I don't collapse from sleep deprivation before the end of the semester) but the weekend was good. Last Friday was all ROTC all day but I got a lot of stuff done and it felt really good at the end of the day. It's a lot of pressure to take responsibility for the development of the juniors (or MSIIIs (pronounced "em-es-threes") as we call them) but if you do your work and don't slack off then you get the immense reward of seeing them grow. Saturday I hadn't done much work but I planned a small ROTC party to get our freshmen and sophomores together to unwind and have a good time. It was great! Some of the cadets who are on sports teams showed up and a few of the MSIIIs showed up and we just had a great time. It went a LOT longer than I had planned but somehow today my schedule opened up and I got to sleep late and everything was okay.

So everything's okay. Bono's sweet falsetto mixes with the Edge's wailing guitar as I continue working and everything's okay. God willing I'll get my work done tonight, I'll get some sleep and this week I'll do it all over again. I wasn't sure if I could keep going on this semester like I had the past few weeks but now I think that I might be able to. :) We'll see how it goes, eh?

Go Taiwan!!

2009-11-02T02:57:00.000-08:00

Wow! I just read the Google Analytics report that I'm using to monitor my site visits and it turns out I've got a few visitors from all the way over in Taiwan.

You go, guys! Keep coming back! And let me know if there's anything you'd like to hear from me. Anybody can post comments below, so feel free. Just click on the "# comments" link and it'll take you where you need to go.

Oh what to do at 2AM on a Sunday night (Monday morning?)...

2009-11-02T02:14:00.000-08:00

What to do except blog that is?

Answer: nothing. blog now. work later.

Man, let me tell you, it's been a rough couple of weeks. Going 52 hours awake was the worst, by far, but its just been the start. But to keep my spirits up I'm going to tell you a few random stories that highlight why I love Mudd. Maybe it'll stave off cabin fever for a little while longer...

Currently sitting on my desk is a line-up of what look to be the tastiest, most exotic beers a guy like me could ask for. A 21st Anniversary Black Butte porter, an organic stout, a strawberry blonde, and two other exotic porters (with names like Zywiec and Baltika you can't go wrong) round out this all star cast. My roommate, Rob, easily the greatest roommate in the world, and his girlfriend, Jackie, gave them to me for my birthday a week or so ago. I figured that if I drink one a weekend from now on (skipping Thanksgiving weekend) then I'll finish the last one on the last day of classes for this semester. I can't wait.

Clinic is finally as crazy and as exciting as I would hope it to be. Just to keep our team steaming along I need to learn about aethelometers, nephalometers, how light transmits or scatters through a substance, laser diodes, photodiodes, and multi-angle absorption photometers. Its so cool! I'm getting all into analog circuits, photoelectric devices, elemental physics, and device design. It's one of those moments when I think, "Wow I have so much work to do for this ... and I can't wait to get started on it all!"

I just found out recently that when I commission this May I will commission as a Military Intelligence officer in the US Army. And in spite of being in a tough spot right now it suddenly brought home how much I want to be the best MI officer there is or was. When I get there I will have men and women to take care of and superiors who will require only the best work that I can provide. So every time I want to cut corners now I think about that and what kind of leader I want to be. I think about my personal development and doing everything I can to be the best I can be. It's scary at times because it's all too often that I stop and look and think, "I'm so far from the person, from the leader, that I want to be" and it makes me wonder if I'll ever get to be where I want to be, if I'll ever measure up as a leader. It's humbling.

Last Friday night Mudd celebrated its annual Halloween party, Trick or Drink, at West Dorm. Even though I was really, really tired and had so much work to do, my friends persuaded me to dress up and come out with them. I may have stayed out later than I intended, slept in later than I intended the next day, and fallen tremendously behind on my work, but on some level I have to thank them for doing that. I had a lot of fun. It's a great side of this school when people can have fun and forget their stress for a few hours. It reminds us why we all came here: the people. When we get creative we get CREATIVE! And when we have fun we have FUN! I hope that there are more moments like that for me next semester; I want to soak it all up so I never forget how many good people go here.

And that's why I love Mudd. At least, that's what you're getting at 2:30 in the freaking morning when I've still got a massive load of work to finish. :)

Melodic, Jazz Death-Metal

2009-10-20T21:46:00.000-07:00

If you're looking for some new muses, check out the following bands, both of whom I found using Pandora and Last.fm with the tag "melodic, jazz death-metal." For those of you into really progressive rock, they're pretty cool.

Cynic: The Eagle Nature and Sentiment (Live 2007)

Gojira: Flying Whales / Ocean Planet

52 hours and done

2009-10-16T13:30:00.000-07:00

Wow. I had something really clever planned for this last one but I can't remember what it is now so I'm going to let the both of us revel in the fact that:

1) I'm still alive

2) I'm about to take a nap

It's all over; there were good times and there were bad times. Times when I was productive and times when I couldn't have formed a coherent sentence if one slapped me on my ass. There were good midterms (Analog went pretty well!) and there were bad midterms (none come to mind...) and there were TERRIBLE midterms (Korean! gah!).

But now it is time for sleep. At least for an hour or two.

Just for fun, since 0900 Wednesday morning I've had:
7 - 12 oz cups of coffee
2 - 2 oz bottles of 5-hour energy drink
1 - 3 oz bottle of Monster Hitman energy drink
3 - 16 oz cans of Rockstar energy drink
2 - 16 oz cans of Monster energy drink
1 - glass of red wine

42 hours and counting...

2009-10-16T02:53:00.000-07:00

Just finished my Analog midterm and boy does it feel good! There were a few parts I had difficulty answering but overall I feel good about the midterm and consider it a FANTASTIC improvement over the other midterm I took today...

I have to say, these energy drinks are really working. My level of tired has ebbed and flowed a little since I've been up but I can't help but think how much more tired I would be right now without them. From a sleep-depped Mudder to a company who was there when I needed you, thanks Rockstar and thanks 5-hour energy drinks.

And now, to break up the monotony for myself and you, a digression into color science:

"Homage to Homage to the Square," Lee Arnold

"Composition IV," Wassily Kandinsky

Just for fun, since 0900 Wednesday morning I've had:
6 - 12 oz cups of coffee
2 - 2 oz bottles of 5-hour energy drink
3 - 16 oz cans of Rockstar energy drink
1 - glass of red wine

37 hours and counting...

2009-10-15T22:34:00.000-07:00

Well, getting going on my second all-nighter in a row and I have to say things aren't going too badly. Yeah today was hell and in spite of trying my hardest to pump my body full of caffeine I was crazy tired and hardly got anything done. But time passes and what was once due is now a forgotten memory leaving nothing but the soft glow emanating from the last two things I need to finish before this hellish marathon is over: study and take an Analog Electronics midterm and finish my homework for ROTC.

Here goes nothing, I guess. God willing I don't pass out mid-task!

Just for fun, since 0900 yesterday morning I've had:
5 - 12 oz cups of coffee
2 - 2 oz bottles of 5-hour energy drink
3 - 16 oz cans of Rockstar energy drink

30 hours and counting...

2009-10-15T11:18:00.000-07:00

Well, the Korean midterm didn't go well AT ALL. I have this bad tendency when I'm taking a test super tired to keep writing as I'm falling asleep only to wake up a moment later with gibberish on my test sheet.

Seriously, I was taking a test for ROTC last week and when I tried to describe muscular strength I put, "Because reading another book would have been in Germay." And no, I don't know what "Germay" is. When I was trying to compare the Military Decision Making Process (MDMP) with the Troop Leading Procedures (TLPs) I wrote, "The MDMP is a larger, battalion sized version of < TP/ deg C."

So anyway my Korean test was basically filled with gibberish and scribbles and my half-awake ass was just trying its damndest to make the thing legible. But on the bright side its over now!

I'm a little behind what I was hoping to have finished at this point in the day. Hopefully I can pull this thing out before I run out of time or sanity.

Just for fun, since 0900 yesterday morning I've had:
5 - 12 oz cups of coffee
1 - 2 oz bottle of 5-hour energy drink
2 - 16 oz cans of Rockstar energy drink

24 hours and counting...

2009-10-15T09:27:00.000-07:00

Yessiree, I made it to the 24 hour marker! Granted that might not be a terribly phenomenal milestone for some of you out there, but it's certainly a big one for me. I usually need at least an hour or two of sleep to be operable.

But I'm going strong! I spent some time last night doing research (maybe I'll post some cool stuff later) and a few other things. At 0600 I had to stop and get ready for Army PT (physical training). Now I'm off to Korean for a midterm!

Just for fun, since 0900 yesterday morning I've had:
3 - 12 oz cups of coffee
1 - 2 oz bottle of 5-hour energy drink
1 - 16 oz can of Rockstar energy drink

My body is not going to like me after this...

18 hours and counting...

2009-10-15T03:05:00.000-07:00

Well, ladies and gentlemen, I hate to have to do this so soon but you would have found out eventually. There just isn't any more sense in pulling the punches! Nothing will come of veiling the truth, hiding the obvious, keeping it all under raps or under a hat or on the down low or so slow you lose control...

Sorry, lost myself for a minute there. You see, Mudd is hard.

I mean HARD. Not your usual "oh-I-forgot-there-was-a-test-in-AP-Physics-today-I-guess-I'll-just-have-to-rederive-all-of-the-crucial-equations-and-get-my-A" kind of hard. I'm talking about your "the-president-just-called-and-he-wants-me-to-successfully-bring-all-our-troops-home-while-fixing-the-economy-and-establishing-America-once-and-for-all-as-a-conscientious-and-respectful-nation-and-oh-yeah-your-significant-other-called-they-want-to-have-"THE TALK"-even-though-you-have-a-104-deg-fever-and-all-this-needs-to-get-done-before-tomorrow-and-oh-yeah-its-now-2AM-GO" kind of hard.

Okay, so I may have been exaggerating somewhat. But I won't lie, its true what they say about life at Mudd:

"School, Sleep, Social life: Choose two."

So here I am, 3 in the morning on the Thursday before Fall Break and I've got enough work to keep me busy without sleeping until Saturday. So guess which two I'm choosing?

Yep, school and more school.

You didn't think that was an option, did you? It's okay, you just need to think outside the box from time to time. Instead of A, B, or C I chose secret answer D. It's kind of like the secret menu at In 'N Out.

Okay, I'm not sure what I'm saying anymore. Plus I've spent too much time on this post as it is. I won't be sleeping for a few days while I get my work done, why don't you join me (by reading my posts, that is)?

I woke up today at 0900. I'm at 18 hours and counting...

You know you can feed my koi by clicking on the image, right?

2009-10-12T00:03:00.001-07:00

They follow your cursor too!

Okay, damn, now back to work.

Curse my inability to refuse spending time with my suitemates!!

2009-10-11T22:41:00.001-07:00

Thursday morning I was worried that I wouldn't have enough time this weekend to finish all of the tasks that I needed to complete. I sat down to write a list and figured that if all I did from Friday afternoon until Sunday at midnight was eat, sleep, and attend a 2hr Kenpo class that I'm taking on Scripps, I would still need 10-15 hours to finish everything.

So much for doing anything fun this weekend, right?

Well, right, unless you're me. And by that I mean unless you simply cannot refuse an invitation to spend some quality time with your most favorite people in the whole world.

So of course Friday comes, I'm sleep deprived as all hell, and I'm genuinely ready to start a whole weekend of work. Yeah, it's going to be tough but I'm keeping my eyes on the prize at the end of the race--actually starting off a week at Mudd NOT completely drowning in work. A few of my suitemates are not in as dire a position as me and so start to enjoy themselves over the weekend and despite my best efforts I can't help but spend some time with them. A few hours, max, but c'mon, I haven't seen these guys all week! I've been staying up late, coming back late, and leaving the suite early. Plus I just love them to death and can't say no.

So here I am. Sunday night. How much did I get done? Not much. How much do I have due this week? A frackin' ton. How much will I sleep before Friday? I saddens me to think...

New Discoveries

2009-10-05T23:23:00.000-07:00

11:23 PM, 05 Oct 2009: Discovered that I can change the font, style, and color of my blogs. Future experimentation is sure to follow.

11:26 PM, 05 Oct 2009:

Can also make lists with numbers

And lists with bullets

Reservoir Hill, Ft. Huachuca, AZ

2009-10-05T00:47:00.000-07:00

Hello world!

2009-10-04T11:21:00.000-07:00

Well, here goes nothing.

First off I'm going to say that I don't possess many skills in the way of blogging. I'm not terribly creative or witty. Right now those two seem like the only really necessary skills. Hopefully you can forgive me for lacking in these departments!

Second I'm going to say that while this might not be the funniest blog you'll read, hopefully it will be one of the most informative you'll read. I have many hopes for some great comment-discussions in the near future with you guys, my internet audience.

Third I'm going to say that this blog isn't just about Mudd for me. Yeah its for Mudd about Mudders but there's so much more to being me than just being a Mudder (as much as I love being a Mudder and I LOVE being a Mudder). Hopefully I'll get the chance to talk about a lot of things and maybe get some neat, random posts in there.

Fourth I'm going to say pumpernickel because its funny to say out loud.

Fifth, a little about myself:

My name is Nathan Jones and I'm a senior Engineering major here at Mudd. I love (almost) every minute of being here and wouldn't trade my four years for anything. I've met some of the greatest people I'll ever meet here and it has been a fantastic experience. Remind me later to tell you about why I chose Mudd, its not a bad story.

Going on four years now I've also been a part of the Army ROTC program on CMC campus and I've also really enjoyed that. It's been difficult at times to balance the workload at Mudd (which is significant) with the workload at ROTC (which often entails dragging my half-asleep ass out of bed around zero-dark-thirty in the morning) but the sacrifices have been rewarding. Over the last year I got the chance to look back on my experiences and I realized how much I'd grown, both as a leader and as a person. It makes me excited that in less than one year I'll be commissioning as a second lieutenant in the US Army. I really hope that I can do a good work as an Army officer and actively improve the lives of my soldiers.

I don't really have spare time but when I do I usually spend it hanging out with my suitemates (arguably the GREATEST suitemates on campus). The guy next to me, Rob Warren, has been my best friend ever since he walked in the door of our room freshman year. I don't know what the Orientation Directors were thinking when they put us together but man oh man did they get it right. He is a huge reason that I've had such a great time here; my four years wouldn't have been the same without him.

Sixth, a few more things about me:

Average time between haircuts: 2 weeks
Preferred soap: Irish Spring but right now I'm trying out Dove (Rob encourages me often to try the finer things in life)
Number of metallic things on my desk right now: 11 (cell phone, wine bottle opener, can of beer, thermos, dancing geisha, dog tags, laptop, Palm pilot, alarm clock, car keys, Leatherman)
Last time I cleaned my room: last night (oh yeah!)
Time before that: Erm... maybe a few weeks back. It was pretty messy last night...
Height to weight ratio (inches/pounds): 0.41
Number of US states I could think of right now: 32 before I got tired of thinking (list at the bottom). Apologies to anyone currently residing in a state that I couldn't think of, it was nothing personal.

Seventh,

BAM! No seventh. I'm done. First blog done.

-------------------------------------------------------

US States that I could think of without a map off the top of my head before I got tired of trying:
washington
oregon
california
south dakota
north dakota
new mexico
colorado
florida
michigan
illinois
georgia
north carolina
south carolina
vermont
new hampshire
maine
new york
pennsylvania
rhode island
ohio
montana
texas
alabama
nevada
oklahoma
kentucky
tenessee
arizona
arkansas
delaware
connecticut
wisconsin