Perhaps I shouldn't be so hard on myself while becoming nocturnal.

This whole blog thing is amusing. People write whatever they want in them. I have friends that use them for outlets for all sorts of things: advice, writing, etc. Mine is obviously mostly selfish and about my travels, including the catastrophes I encounter.

I was reluctant to start this. It was suggested that I should write a blog. For a long time I didn't know what I should write about that would be of any interest. Then I started traveling and being without telephone service, so the topic was obvious. It's hard to write in the times when I'm doing nothing but being a less-than-adventurous graduate student. Let's be honest, I get excited about physics, but I'm not about to drown you in details of that. At least, not here. I keep that one for in-person dialogues.

I hit the "Next Blog" at the top of the page and came upon one devoted to screenshots of English female newscasters (including weather forecasters). It's just bizarre what people put in these things.

The strange thing about all of this is that I'll admit how unnerved I become when walking by glass doors at night or how I run after a missed bus or how I get lost in foreign cities and the whole world can read that. But why would anyone want to? The majority of the people reading this are family and friends. It's a way for such people to keep tabs on me while I frolic all over the place. I don't think for a second that my observations and experiences are interesting to anyone who can't imagine me doing all of the stupid things I end up doing. I assume that those family and friends keep reading this because they think something here is interesting.

I sit here and read strangers' thoughts and wonder if I'm as inane. That right there is motivation to stop since this has no practical usage. Then I remember that, in the end, I keep doing this for myself. Ah, so selfish. For one, it's great to have the memories preserved somewhere. I also do it because I love writing. The only decent writing I've ever done stems out of experiences I've had. If this is good for nothing else, it gives me a place to put thoughts into words, no matter how inconsequential they are. Perhaps, in time, they'll turn into something more. But why is there the need to share publicly? I have no idea.

Now, I'm going to go watch the sunrise.

I get nervous walking to the bathroom in the dark of the nearly-empty observatory.

Arizona is severely different than Pennsylvania, but everyone knew that.

There is certainly a beauty in the isolation here. The cacti are quite fun, too. Unfortunately, they don't grow at such high elevations (I'm up around 6700 feet). The most amusing thing about this elevation is that the short hike up to the observatory is not easy. I find myself panting by the time I reach the top (halfway up if I have my backpack).

Kitt Peak National Observatory was constructed in 1958. Since then a number of telescopes have been added. I'm working at the Coudé Feed, which is a telescope for spectroscopy. It is on the side of an observatory with a 2.1-m telescope.

This is the 2.1-m and the Coudé Feed. I use the mirrors hidden in the tower and the shed on the roof to the right of the dome. They reflect light down a light tube to another mirror then into the spectrograph. There the light bounces around and is separated. I'll go into more details when I can draw you pictures or point to the specific parts of the instrument.

So the first day I was up for about 27 hours straight. I learned how to manage the telescope and all of that stuff. I discovered that nothing in this place has really been updated unless it is technology. The furniture is almost entirely circa 1960, see example to the right.

On the second day, my advisor and I visited some of the other telescopes (the massive 3.5-m WIYN and the solar telescope). The McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope was probably the best adventure. We went in all of these places that we probably shouldn't have...like the tunnels that move around the glycol that cools the telescope. But who doesn't want to climb around in underground tunnels?

So the days pretty much consist of sleeping then around 12 hours of observations. During those 12 hours I do homework, read, and waste time on the internet. It's such an exciting life. It's actually pretty great. I get to be in absolute seclusion (there are others in the building using the other telescope, but they don't bother me). I get to see some of the most beautiful sunsets, night skies, and sunrises that I have ever seen. The best part of this is that I'm reminded that this is actually what I want to do with my life.

How touching.

I love the line "You see yourself like a star shining bright" in one of my favorite songs. I'm a sucker for lyrics involving astronomy.

I keep rewriting this entry. It's been more observations on people and life than I can count, but those observations keep changing. What now is so worthy of posting?

I found myself eating a dessert of Nutella and strawberries this evening. It reminded me of how right my choice to spend part of the summer in France was. In fact, the whole act of purchasing Nutella has revived my memories. It sounds so silly, but I ate so much of that stuff over there that it reminds me of my host family, crèpes, and a cool, peaceful evening in Paris. I don't know if I'll ever be able to dissociate Nutella and this summer. I hope the chocolate, hazelnut spread will also remind me of one of my roommates at OWU who walked into my room one day extolling the virtues of Nutella with a huge grin on her face after having just acquired some.

It's such a simple thing, but why question something that triggers memories of a time when my biggest worry was how many croissants is too many? I have also obtained some strawberry juice, which brings back memories from both France and Poland. I get a good smile out of that, too. I found that strawberry juice is more plentiful here in the United States than I realized, although all places in which I have found it have been Mexican restaurants or the Mexican food aisle of the grocery store.

Granted that I am amused by the fact that a mere food can trigger such strong memories, but I think that knowing that those memories are good lets the Nutella, strawberry juice, or whatever new food I discovered, be even better. I'm probably making something out of nothing, but I needed a reminder of my adventures. I guess I really just needed to remember that my life isn't just about physics; sometimes it is easy to lose sight of that. The moral of this story is that sometimes it is easy to lose sight of everything that actually matters in the end. I think I need to do that less. You probably do, too.

I know my life is not just about physics, I spend a lot of time doing other things...like playing viola, for instance. I make my debut in the Lehigh University Philharmonic Orchestra on Friday. We're playing both Friday and Saturday nights. This concert includes Shostakovich's epic Symphony No. 5, Beethoven's Overture "Creatures of Prometheus", and also Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5 ("Emperor Concerto"). Come one, come all. I'm not afraid of self-promotion. Honestly, the Shostakovich should be reason enough to come, but on top of that we offer our conductor conducting from the piano in the concerto. If all goes well, it should be fantastic.

Aside from that non-physics activity, I like traveling (with or without physics being driving force) because it is a way to see more than just what's in front of me. I find these experiences very important, and hope that I can continue to have them. Speaking of which, on Sunday, I'll be heading to Arizona.

How to end an entry appropriately? Clearly, the best answer is by complaining about how there is a stink bug flying around the light.