Spring quarter relented and finally ended sometime in early June. The details are fuzzy, which I blame on a lack of sleep at the time, though I remember how great it felt to finish up what was likely the toughest quarter of my graduate career. Shortly after classes ended I managed to sneak away to North Carolina for two weeks at home. Time was spent watching World Cup matches, going to lunch at Times and VDH, celebrating birthdays at home and at the Brewpub, trading Silly Bandz, relaxing with family and friends, and sweating - this San Diegan had a tough time adjusting to 95F+ and super-humid on a daily basis. It was a fantastic and well-earned trip, having not been home since late December of 2009.
Back in San Diego at the end of June I found myself preparing to teach twenty-two high school kids from all across the Golden State about earthquake engineering. The COSMOS program (California State Summer School for Mathematics and Science), four weeks of interactive lectures, demonstrations, activities, and field trips relating to seismology and structural engineering, afforded me the opportunity to hone my teaching skills with a different age group.
Before COSMOS started in early July, however, two great weekends were had both in and out of San Diego. The first, celebrating Independence Day, consisted of a fantastic lunch with Scott, Brittany, and others, then a tie-dye party and catching the fireworks at the Cove. The second was a whirlwind trip to the Grand (Man) Canyon with Mike, Jon L., Jon S., and Justin during which we hiked to the bottom and back up in about 30 hours. Both weekends were fantastic and I feel lucky to have had the privilege to spend them with great friends.
COSMOS came and went quite quickly, kept me constantly busy for four weeks, but proved to be a great experience combining teaching, working with younger students, and applying engineering principles to an up-and-coming generation of bright young minds. I took on a small research project with Professor José Restrepo that will be wrapping up soon, working on some analysis of ground motion records taken during the magnitude-8.8 earthquake in Chile that occurred last spring. It's been interesting and gratifying work, especially given that Prof. Restrepo is well-connected in Chile and his work has led to important updates in their design and building codes.
Did I mention yet that I finally went to Disneyland? No? Well, I did! Cat and Mike took me for the day one weekend during COSMOS and we had a blast! I also joined a yoga studio group with them and have immensely enjoyed learning and growing in practice. CorePower Yoga is a vinyasa-style, heated, power yoga, yielding a great (and sweaty) workout that is generally the most enjoyable hour of my day. My flexibility has increased dramatically and the classes have proven to be effective stress-relief mechanisms. It has also afforded me the opportunity to meet and hang out with a great new group of friends that I hope will continue to grow.
Since late July I've said goodbye to three of my favorite people here, wishing Jon L., Mike, and Cat well as they've ventured off to graduate programs at American U., Willamette U., and Gonzaga U. I miss them all dearly but will get to see each of them in the coming days and months; Jon is meeting me in Raleigh next weekend to hang out! While it's been hard dealing with their departures, I've also had the great enjoyment of getting to know three new roommates Mindy (only here a few more days), Kate, and Alan (the latter two with whom I'll be living for the next year). Many fun adventures have been had already, including receiving massive quantities of peaches at the La Jolla farmers' market, Wal-Mart and 99 Ranch shopping trips, exploring the Del Mar dog and Black's beaches, dance parties, plus many an afternoon simply relaxing at Windansea.
Eliza visited for a week, during which we checked out the Wild Animal Park, Coronado, the Cabrillo Monument, and Mt. Soledad, among other places. Between her visit and the present I've had the pleasure of putting together information for my Change of Status petition at UCSD, in other words, as many documents as possible showing my resident status for tuition purposes. Through the process I've obtained a CA driver license and registration which have proven to be both exciting and expensive.
For now I find myself laying low and looking forward, in a weird way, for the quarter to begin in a few weeks. Thriftiness is the name of the game when technically unemployed for a month and a half, so there have been lots of PB&J lunches, pasta dinners, and time spent outside in the sun for want of free entertainment. As mentioned, I'm headed home this upcoming Thursday to spend a long weekend taking in some time at home including, most excitingly, sharing an NC State football game with Jon and all of my old Quad friends.
That PB&J sounds good about now. I'm off for lunch and to help Scott and Brittany move into their new place - that's all for now!
