Zachary McCauley's Blog

I GOT IN!!

2011-10-19T08:39:00.000-07:00

So, as you can tell by the title, I am a confirmed NASA Tweetup attendee. I will be going to watch the launch of the Curiosity rover, as well as attend some tours and special tweetup related events which will be discussed later. I was so excited when I got my email, that I just can't put it into words. For those going to the tweetup, I will be in FL from the 21st until ....I get a ticket back. :) As always, I will keep you all updated! Have a nice day. :DD

News

2011-10-16T13:14:00.000-07:00

So, the second wave of good/bad news comes in tomorrow. With any luck, by this time tomorrow, I will be a NASA Tweetup confirmed attendee. If not this round, hopefully by the next. Either way, I am absolutely excited about the chance to just be on the waitlist for the tweetup, as that means that I could (very likely) be a part of the tweetup anyway. Wish me luck! I will post tomorrow if I get news.

NASA Tweetup??

2011-10-14T15:18:00.000-07:00

So, I got an e-mail yesterday saying that I had been wait listed for an upcoming NASA event. Oddly enough, I knew what was. The moment of truth had arrived. Was I selected to go to Florida to attend the NASA Tweetup? Sadly, I was not. I had been wait listed. Don't get me wrong, I'm excited to be part of the wait list, but I have never been to a tweetup. With any luck, I still shall be able to become part of the tweetup at Kennedy space center in Florida. There are many people there that I'd love to meet. Only time will tell if I will be accepted officially. I'm still patiently waiting for the e-mail from NASA, giving me the good news about the tweetup. In the meantime, I'm still making plans to head down to Florida either way. I'm still very excited about heading down there. This will give me an experience any chance that I couldn't pass up. I've been interested in space and science for a very long time now. This would be the second time that I would be in close contact with like minded people in my life. The first time was during a conference in DC. I would say I made some new friends there, ranging from NASA employees to everyday bloggers. @flyingjenny gave me my lanyard, but I still have my keys on to this day. The educational outreach people at NASA, actually gave me some NASA swag. I thought this was awesome! I'd be grateful to have the experience again, but this time at the NASA tweetup in Florida for the Mars Science Laboratory. Anyways, I'd better check my emails. Maybe the good news has already arrived!

Inspiration

2011-09-24T14:45:00.001-07:00

So, I was just listening to my iTunes music library, and I came across one of the few Symphony of Science songs that I have in it. It reminded me why I love science, and where we all came from on an atomic scale. It made me feel all connected to everything around me for a brief second. The paper that I write on, the cans that hold the soda that I drink, all came from a star at some point. Not to mention me, on the atomic level. All the carbon in my body, came from some distant place at some point, which surprises me.

Life so far

2011-09-14T05:28:00.000-07:00

So, just an update on my college life to this point. SEDS-PSB is practically created, except for finding an advisor, which I'm not sure I'd be able to do at this point in time, seeing as the guy that handles the astrophysics on campus practically shot me down. He thinks that I should combine SEDS with the astronomy club, which while possible, would mean that SEDS wouldn't be recognized as a club or official organization. In turn, that means no SGA funding. Anyways, other than that, it's been fine so far. I actually have my first calculus test later today, which is just going to be a heap of fun.

In my free time here, I'm either walking around, fixing routers, eating, or holed up in my room to study and do things l
Ike that. Some of it is alright, but sometimes the monotony gets boring and I have to find something else to do.

Behind doesn't have a huge population of women, and those that do live here are usually in some type of relationship, which really sucks for us nerdy guys, who become attracted to them very easily. In the mean time, however, I've been making tons of friends, which is the important part of college.

Anyways, I must leave you all now to get ready for my chemistry class today, so have a good one and be safe out there.

Moving in

2011-08-17T14:09:00.000-07:00

So, tomorrow I move into to my dorm room at Penn State Erie, The Behrend College. It's going to be an exciting time as well as a sad one. This isn't the first time I've been away from home, but it will be the longest time. I have things that I want to do while I'm there, like start a SEDS chapter.

Oh, and I really want to make Dean's List, although, I know that the feat alone will be very tough. However, I know that I could easily make it.

I want to wish others that are moving in into their dorms and apartments good luck. I hope the upcoming semester and school year treat you well. :)

Recent Thoughts

2011-08-14T22:07:00.000-07:00

OK, first off, I'm not a big blogger, but I feel that I should apologize for not posting here more often. Anyways, this is going to be a mostly philosophical look into what I was just thinking about as I was brushing my teeth and retainer, in preparation for bed.

My generation is the most important on this planet right now. Now, you must be thinking that my generation isn't, but the one after mine is. I understand why you might think this, but let me explain why I think my generation is the most important. We are the ones who will create the technology that will push the human race forward (or potentially backward, if we don't do this right). Let me explain further. I'm going to start my freshman year at Penn State in a mere three days. I plan on majoring in Aerospace Engineering. Engineers create things that help advance human life. I'm (hopefully) going to see the first colonies of humans on different worlds. We will finally leave our pretty, blue, magnificent sphere that we call home. The human species will finally become redundant. A single asteroid impact wouldn't be able to annihilate us. We will be better than those that we succeeded on this planet.

Now, all of this comes with a downside. We still have nuclear proliferation, and the very real threat of nuclear war. Granted, it isn't anything like it was during the Cold War, but it is still there. We could end up destroying ourselves tomorrow, thereby extinguishing any hope of moving on from this planet. It would indeed be a horrific time. Not only that, but there are still other factors and natural disasters that could be deadly to the human race as a whole. I don't want to see us perish on this planet without at least making an attempt at extending our reach.

If we can get through all the problems that we currently face as humans, I think that we'll be able to move on as a species. We'd finally be able to live on new planets. Maybe in a few generations time, we'll be able to travel between stars. Although, I would find it amazing to live in a future time, I'm excited for my generation. We are the ones who will help push humanity to the stars, and I feel immensely privileged by this.

ChipIn!

2010-10-27T19:05:00.001-07:00

SpaceUp DC

2010-08-31T14:42:00.001-07:00

I was a participant at SpaceUp DC during the weekend of the 27th through the 28th. This conference was my first conference ever, and definitely not my last SpaceUp. I met many people, including Jen Scheer (@flyingjenny on twitter), Ben & Cariann Higginbotham (@bencredible and @cariann on twitter), Mike Doornbos, who hosted the event (@mrdoornbos on twitter), Doug Ellison, JPL visualization expert (@doug_ellison on twitter), CraftLass, a singer/songwriter that has been recognized for her song, "Bake Sale for NASA" (@craftlass on twitter), Jim Adams and his son (@nasajim on twitter), Gene Mikulka, founder of Talking Space podcast (@genejm29 on twitter), and many others.

I made so many new connections with people that I have been talking to on twitter beforehand, and connections with people that I otherwise wouldn't have had the closest chance of meeting. Meeting all of these people has really given me the courage to step out and say, "I am going to take an active role in making space more common around here. I need to, as a human, to show my fellow peers the wonders of the stars." SpaceUpDC and the participants there have really pushed me. They have given me the support structure needed to push myself and others.

Now on to what I actually thought about the conference. Day 1 was great. I was able to start recognizing people right off the bat, just from their twitter picture, or from other SpaceUp pictures that I have seen. Off the bat, I was able to recognize Ben and Cariann, Dave Masten, Jen Scheer and group, along with CraftLass (just a good inference on this last one). After the Ignite talks were through, CraftLass gave us our own little "concert", letting us listen to "Bake Sale for NASA". All in all, that song was good, in my humble opinion.

After all of the festivities for the day, a group of us went to dinner together. Eventually, we found about 14 others that went to a restaurant near where we were. Combined, there were roughly 20-30 people having dinner together in one area. Tim Bailey and I (@tim846 on twitter) discussed what I could do as a teenager for a future job in the field. He gave me all kinds of interesting tips, and I went to the hotel that night and registered for the SGAC (Space Generation Advisory Council).

When I came back the next morning, I decided that I was going to attempt to give a talk on teenagers and STEM. I watched two of Emory's (@VAXHeadroom on twitter) presentations on various things, ranging from nuclear thermal rockets, to SeaDragon, a ultra heavy launch vehicle. After that, the fun began. We had lunch, and then Thinkgeek showed up with Tribbles and we did an insane game where we threw tribbles at eachother. Team 2, the team I was on, won. Since we won, we were able to pick two tribbles instead of just one like team 1 did.

Anyways, that is enough talking about SpaceUp DC for now. It was great fun, and I am happy that I got to meet all kinds of people in the field.