Sunday, June 30, 2024
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To begin the week, I worked from home (which brought very little progress on my code), and took a brief virtual meeting for my other job at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum here in DC. At the conclusion of the workday, I decided to try my hand at painting (inspired by the many paintings seen in the Smithsonian’s no doubt). Much to my chagrin, it IS actually a challenging skill and I’ve got a long way to go before anyone lauds my works. To get my mind of my apparent lack of creative genius and innate talent, I played spikeball with the interns down at the mall, then hosted a Quiplash game night in my room.
The next day I worked from ACP where I finally started launching queries into the VANDELS survey data. I was able to recreate several plots from the data release papers, ensuring that I was analyzing it correctly and not, in fact, making things up. Once finished, a group of the interns and I went to a trivia night at a bar in Arlington. For any readers out there interested in trivia night, I will provide three warnings: 1.) get there like an hour early because apparently there are a lot of try hard trivia dorks out there, 2.) the place will be swarming with millennials, and 3.) check the website thoroughly and call if you must because there may be a theme. The theme in question (unbeknownst to us) was Shrek and it involved a lot of millennials in costume and a ton of Smash Mouth.
Wednesday I ventured once more up to Baltimore to work from the Space Telescope Science Institute’s (STScI) headquarters. Aaaannd once more, my Amtrak was delayed on the way up, aaannd once more it was delayed on the way back. For any of you keeping track (ha, train pun), I have not yet had an Amtrak train to or from Baltimore arrive on time. Despite my high speed hindrances, I was able to get a tour of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) Mission Operations Center (MOC), which is basically Mission Control for the entire telescope and I’ve learned is only a floor beneath where I’ve been working. I also learned that most of the people working the control room have attended a mysterious and enigmatic program referred to only as “mission school”, which apparently qualifies them to run a 10 billion dollar machine from a million miles away with a meager 6 person crew. Such an incredible experience. I then met with Dr. Kumari to go over my work, attended a quick astro lecture, and went home (delay be damned). In the evening the interns and I watched Scott Pilgrim vs. the World for movie night.
Thursday was another work from home day, after which I went to the disappointingly underwhelming Cleveland Park Night Market with Kai and Charlotte. We made the most of it though and found a spot with $5 margs to watch the end of the US Copa America game. Afterwards I hosted interns in my room to watch the Presidential Debate. It was an awful end to the day!
To end the workweek, I went into ACP and grappled with code issue after code issue. After probably 12 installations, uninstallations, and reinstallations of various pieces of software and a million error messages, I was finally able to determine that the FITS files I pulled from the VANDELS data release are corrupted beyond repair (or are, in fact not even FITS files somehow?) and I have to either write code to reformulate all of the data within them, or find a better source to get the data from (for reference, I got the files from the official VANDELS data release website database, so go figure). Such a fulfilling, rewarding, and productive day! To unwind I laid by the pool for awhile before joining the rest of the interns for a free outdoor movie night at The Kennedy Center. The sunset was doing its thing, Remy was cheffing it up in Ratatouille, and the wine… remained unopened because I forgot a bottle opener.
The weekend began with a group trip to the Natural History Museum featuring: Dino skeletons (large), famous diamonds (kinda weak not gonna lie), and ancient sea life (1000% just aliens). We then walked around the Smithsonian Folklife Festival for a little while, where I learned how traditional indigenous paints are made (turns out you basically cheese grate rocks, super cool). Afterwards, I had the chance to attend the National Orchestral Institute’s (NOI’s) phenomenal symphony performance of Jennifer Higdon’s “Blue Cathedral” and Beethoven’s “Symphony No. 9 in D Minor”. Thank you to Dr. Jack Hehn, who is not only a supporter of the SPS internship program, but of the NOI program as well and graciously offered tickets to Charlotte and I. We even got to hear Jennifer Higdon herself describe her composing process and the meaning of “Blue Cathedral” in a private Q&A session before the show.
Sunday morning a group of us squeezed into two cars in what I can only assume was an illegal manner and drove up to Cunningham State Park where we enjoyed a nice hike. Oh yeah, and there was a waterfall so, pretty dope. As we went to cool off in the lake post-hike, Muji unfortunately suffered a tough trip and messed up his ankle. With the opinions of a podiatrist, 18 year old life guard, and park security guard received, we decided that Muji should probably go to an urgent care or ER just to be safe. With a broken ankle ruled out, the joint sufficiently wrapped up, and Muji in good spirits, people enjoyed the sun and water briefly before heading back home (again, in almost certainly a manner befitting illegal occupancy, at least we could use the HOV lane though). Kai made a hella scrumptious chocolate cake, which we all enjoyed a slice of before watching Cars for movie night.
To conclude this week’s ramble, I’ll give a summary update on several items: Presidential outlook=hurting, code=hurting, Muji’s ankle=hurting, painting/museums/symphony=cool, Amtrak=late, JWST MOC=very cool, and to do=buy wine opener. More next week.
Jaden Sicotte