Feet Issues

For the last two months I have been having some kind of problem with my feet - to the point that it is painful for me to walk with them for more than 30 minutes. Coincidentally, this started when I purchased my new car, and the problem is made 4x worse after I have driven the car.

I fear that something with the car (excessive vibration, as I have complained about earlier) or perhaps the ergonomics (the pedals are in a strange position) may be affecting my feet. Of course, correlation does not imply causation, and it could be coincidental that my feet are having issues that are purely from my own body.

I have an appointment with a podiatrist on Friday, so we will see what happens.

Career Fair Fun

For the last two days, I attended the Georgia Tech Career Fair. Almost 300 employers were on hand and thousands of students crowded the basketball courts in the CRC to get face time with the various employers.

Being an engineering and tech school, it was no wonder that most of the companies present were there hiring aerospace engineers, industrial engineers, computer science people, etc. But I did find a few companies looking for EAS grads. Here is a listing of companies with which I spoke:

• NASA Goddard Space Flight Center - I worked as an intern at Goddard back in 2001 and so I know that they have positions in climate and climate change. Whether or not they are hiring is another story.
• Los Alamos National Laboratory - This lab is mainly focused on remote sensing and cloud physics, but one of my friends told me about an alleged opening for a climate dynamicist there as a postdoc. The guy with whom I spoke seemed interested in my credentials.
• Naval Academy Research Laboratory - Working for the Navy may not be on the top of my list, but nonetheless they are looking for meteorologists, climate folks, and oceanographers so the CV is in there.
• General Electric - The shocker for me. I saw the big booth and decided to stand in the medium-length line and talk with them. I saw a talk at Tech on GE moving toward wind energy and so I thought that they might be in need of modelers or climate people to help them with that venture. Indeed, when I got up to speak with the representative, he was quite impressed with my resume and also enjoyed the break from speaking with all the EEs and IEs at the fair. He told me that indeed they were looking to hire some modelers and also there was a chance that they were looking at hiring climatologists.
• Trinity Consulting - As some of you might know, I have been considering non-traditional job routes for climate scientists, and climate consulting is a growing area, especially with the current threat of global warming looming in the political and public discourse arena. A former EAS Ph.D. grad currently works for them, and so I stopped by to give my resume. The gentleman seemed impressed though he wasn't too thrilled I was still a year away from graduating. Oh well - it is what it is.

So overall, I think that the Career Fair was a good learning experience for me. It gave me a chance to talk with some interesting folks and also to get together a resume and CV. Granted, I still have to revise both of these, but this was a learning experience, and that is what I intended it to be. Nothing will be perfect.

My New Car

I got a new 2009 Nissan Altima 2.5S about 2 months ago. The car is navy blue with a charcoal cloth interior, has a sunroof, alloy wheels, rear spoiler, and radio controls on the steering wheel. I got a ridiculous price for the car - $19,500 + TTL. The KBB value of the car right now, as used, is still more than this (private party sale), so I think I made an EXCELLENT deal.

So far the car has been an "adjustment" for me. I have found some quite annoying things with the car that I am not sure how to rectify. These include:

• Vibrating floor board - This is especially annoying on the highway. I have yet to look into why it is doing this, but my guess is that it has to do with the tires, the wheels, and the wheel bearings.
• Vibrating steering wheel, particularly when the A/C is turned on - I think this is just a symptom of a 4-cyl. car.
• Vibrating pedals - This is by far the most annoying part of the car. The pedals have an annoying vibration / "massager-like" feel to them when operating them, particularly on the highway. It is to the point that driving for long periods of time without cruise is annoying and somewhat hurtful to my feet. I again have no answer for this problem.

But not everything is bad with the car! First off, the car is really great looking (take a look at the pic!). Secondly, for a 4-cylinder car, it takes off! And I mean, it takes off quickly. I love getting on the highway and getting up to 65 - 70 mph in no time. The inside of the car is very roomy (especially for a mid-side vehicle). The dash is laid out nicely and the orangey backlight on the gages and the radio are extremely pleasant and sporty.

So, in the end, it's a mixed bag of sorts, and I am not sure how or what to feel about the car. I am considering keeping the car for about a year and then look into trading it in for another car (e.g., BMW 335i). I'll keep you posted.

Cycling

So I started taking some cycling classes at the Georgia Tech CRC. So far, they have been fun! They are combination classes - one was cycling with yoga at the end, the other with some weights/toning. Today I am trying one where you cycle for 30 minutes and then use these Gravity Machines for resistance and strength training.

Overall, it's getting me to go to the gym and workout, and that is what I need to do if I want to lose some weight and build muscle.

GT Softball

So, as part of my service to the school, I serve as a volunteer for the GT Athletics Department as their "official" weather forecaster. I work on baseball, softball, and football games and let them know before and during the game about the prospects of severe weather. This has already proven more adventurous than even I planned when a severe cell with the history of a tornado passed over Atlanta during one of the games. I had to make the call and actually help with evacuating the stadium (nothing happened, thank goodness).

So today I went to work again at the softball game. Believe it or not, this was the first women's softball game that I have ever been too. It sounds a little surprising, but considering the major popularity of men's sports over women's in the collegiate setting, perhaps this isn't so surprising.

One thing I found annoying - the dugout cheers/chants. Seriously, they sounded like they were straight out of little league. It was actually beyond annoying. This was especially true for the opposing team (University of Washington). They had some chant when a foul ball was hit about let's make sure that ball is pulled back and hit around the wall, or something like that. I couldn't do it if I were a softball coach or a regular for the games.

By the way, the GT Yellow Jackets lost their super regional.

Kris Allen - American Idol 2009

There he is - the next American Idol - Kris Allen!!!  I am so happy that Kris won.  He showed time and time again that he had talent, poise, charisma, and altogether great attitude to be the winner for this season.  Many of the newspapers and even people are calling this a "shocker", as fan and judge favorite Adam Lanbert was expected to win.  Now that he lost, there are charges going around that it was because of his homosexuality.

Complete rubbish.

Rather, in my view, Adam was a polarizing performer.  His style, including the infamous "scream" inserted into almost every song and the lavish entrances, ultimately made some people absolutely adore him and other absolutely hate him.  Undoubtedly, he was one of the top vote getters week in and week out (save for that one anomaly when he was in the bottom 3).  However, his fanbase was saturated.  As contestants fell, their supporters likely went to other contestants, and I hypothesize that Adam did not pick up a bulk of them.  The final nail in the coffin was when Danny Gokey went home.  There was no way that his fans would turn around and support Adam.

I for one proudly voted for Kris for many weeks.  I think he could have a good career is paired correctly.  I will likely download his single "No Boundaries" (although the song's lyrics are so cheesy) to show further support.

Headin' Home

Tomorrow I am heading home for the weekend to see my cousin graduate from URI (although, as I found out, the rain will force the graduation to be indoors and so tickets are limited and I can't attend).  However, I feel it might be a good thing to get out of town for a while anyways and visit family and friends.  I hope all goes well.