once again it's on …
Hey y’all,
Welcome to the new flux.fm! It was time to update the old site. I’ll also try to blog on a more regular basis. You can check out the blog at https://flux.fm/blog/
Thanks for stopping by.
Cheers,
Flux
PS Since I live in Texas now I’m required to use “y’all” at least once per day. 🙂
1. To instill in ourselves these qualities essential to professional excellence
2. To always be aware that, suddenly and unexpectedly, we may find ourselves in a role where our performance has the ultimate consequences.
3. To recognize that the greatest error is not to have tried and failed, but that, in the trying, we do not give it our best effort.
2015 seems to be a big year for me. I lived somewhere outside my hometown for the first time ever. I just finished an internship at NASA, a place at which I’ve dreamed of working since I was eight years old. I walked in my college graduation ceremonies this past weekend.
So, my birthday seems an appropriate time to tell everyone that I have accepted a full-time position as an International Space Station PLUTO flight controller and I will be working on site at NASA Johnson Space Center permanently. Which also means I will be moving to Houston permanently.
Here’s a link to what a PLUTO controller does:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flight_controller#Plug-in_Port_Utilization_Officer_.28PLUTO.29
The majority of the work is IT support for the computers and networks on the Space Station.
I start my new position the first week in June. So much to think about and do before then. But first I want to thank some people.
Thank you to Natcho, James, Liz, and everyone here in Houston for helping and supporting while I pursue one of my passions. Thank you to the NASA NA Directorate and especially the NE family – Bill Mcallister, Desiree, Bill McArthur, John, Peter, Matt, Sarah, Barbara, Larissa, Kristi, Alan, Deborah, Lori, Patrick, Helen, Chris, Mike, and Mesha.
Thank you to the entire Spring 2015 intern and co-op class. You all are great people and will have incredible careers where ever you end up (hopefully at JSC). Special thanks to Izzy, Jonathon, Andy R (no Flux), Tyler, the guy with two first names: Christopher Patrick, Ryan, Matt. Thank you for making me feel like family. I expect to see you all back so we can run the place 🙂
Thanks to my Sherman family for supporting me in this crazy adventure: Mikey, Robert, The Real Deal Neal, Danny D, G-Man, Slammers, Steph, Traci, Big Daddy, and D and Terry. You are the best team, and people I’ve ever worked with. I’m going to miss you all.
Thank you to my boys back home who’ve supported me: Quinn, Farley, and Egyptian Mike. You are my brothers. Family always.
Thank you to my blood brothers and sisters. Amy, Dan, Elizabeth, and Christie. Always there for me.
To my Mom who is no longer with us, thank you for teaching me to follow my dreams. I hope I’m making you proud.
To the most amazing friend anyone could ever imagine who I met while I was here: I feel like we’ve been friends for ages. Thank you for your help and support. You’re intelligent, kind – wonderful in every way 🙂
Thank you to my Dad and my son. You have been more than understanding and supportive. I couldn’t have done any of this without you. I love you.
It’s going to be a fun ride 🙂
8 weeks down, 8 weeks to go. I’ve done some incredible things already and met and bonded with some incredible people! I can’t wait to see what the next 8 weeks hold, and then what comes next.
I’m working hard to find a permanent position at JSC. On Friday (20 Mar 2015) the interns and co-ops heard from Ginger Kerrick about her inspirational story of going from intern, to co-op, to the first non-astronaut CAPCOM, to Flight Director. Wow! What a story. It reassured me that it’s not crazy for me to be here in this situation. If you ever have a chance to meeting Ms. Kerrick or hear her speak, jump at the chance – you won’t regret it!
The other interns are SO dope! We’ve bonded over board games and St. Patrick’s Day parties (where I finally got to break out the tables). Thank you for making me feel like family.
And speaking of family, my friends that have been here for a while have been so incredibly gracious and helpful. I can’t thank Natcho, James, Liz, and Jess enough. You’ve made me feel at home when I’ve never lived away from home (the Greater Cincinnati area) before. You’re freaking awesome! You are family! Damn kids! Get off my lawn! 😉
I really want to stay here and work, and enjoy life outside of work with these amazing people.
This place really feels like home. 🙂
PS If you or someone you know wants to intern at NASA check out the OSSI page for NASA Interns, Fellows, and Scholars
Well Week 6 of my #NASAIntern is almost half complete. I knew this experience would go WAY too fast.
Since the last post we’ve demoed one of the projects I’ve been working on and it was received well. People are already using it to gather historical Space Station telemetry data orders of magnitude quicker. To be fair the base portion of the app was accomplished by the great work of the interns that came before me. Thank you for leaving with a great base upon which to build.
The Interns and Co-ops also had the honor of meeting and having a picture taken with the crew of International Space Station Expedition 40 (http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition40/). I also was honored to meet and chat for a bit with European Space Agency Astronaut of German descent Alexander Gerst. What a pleasure!
Time to iron clothes for today and then off to the “office” – one of the best jobs in the world!
Later y’all 🙂
Wow! Week 4 is beginning (and my journaling skillz are weak). I’m doing a good job journaling the work things in OneNote though so that’ll help. I promise I will journal at least four times per week.
This week is the big telemetry demo for John (one of my mentors). I absolutely have to get that form complete today so he can test it tomorrow.
Last week we went on a tour of Building 9, Mission Control, and historic Mission Control. The picture you see in this entry is of us in the ISS mockup in Building 9.
We get to see such amazing things being an intern. I can’t wait to go full-time. It WILL happen 🙂
OK, off to work!!!
Week 2 of my JSC internship has begun. The first item on my project plan is complete. I’ll have to get with John to see if that’s what he had in mind.
Yesterday was the big #StateOfNASA address. Administrator Bolden was at Kennedy Space Center but we watched from the Teague auditorium at JSC. The Administrator outlined all of the accomplishments of 2014 and laid out what’s ahead for the Agency. I have to say it’s an exciting time to be working at NASA.
Another surreal moment happened when our division director, former astronaut Bill McArthur, walked by me in the auditorium and said “Hi Flux.” I was almost speechless.
I worked late again, leaving at around 19:30. I have to get in as much time as I can while I’m here 🙂
I was a little deficient journaling/blogging last week. I will do better this week.
Day 3 was a little surreal – being at JSC for NASA’s Day of Remembrance. It was 29 years ago that Challenger broke apart 73 secs into her mission. NASA designates one day to remember the crews that perished during their missions – Apollo 1, Challenger (STS-51L), and Columbia (STS-107). Nobody in the branch really made a big deal out of it but as I was walking back from lunch I walk passed Mission Control and the flag was flying at half-mast. I had to stop and take a picture and just honor the fallen crews.
I then thought “I’m going to walk through the Mission Control building when ever I get a chance. I may never have a chance to do this without an escort after this internship.” So I did. No escort. Just me.
So that is my goal – whenever I walk past the MCC building (30) I will alter my path so I have to walk through.
Surreal.
I guess I’ll try to write in the mornings because I was wiped out last night.
Yesterday was the first day we reported to our organizations. The first half of the day was introductions and getting settled in. Bill Mcallister showed Chris (my fellow intern) and me around the division and gave us the required fire safety drill.
After that we were shown our desks and Desiree helped us out with our computers and office supplies. She’s so nice and helpful. It seems like she’s always smiling (even though I’ve only worked with her for one day).
The interns were invited to be bi-weekly status meeting so that we could introduce ourselves. That went very smoothly and everyone in the organization is so nice and helpful.
We left the meeting and Bill took us over to the ISS Conference Center for a small surprise retirement party – with cake!
The real joy of the day was toward the end of the day when Chris (not the intern), John, and Mike were talking about all of the anomalies on Station last week. I knew about the MDM but now they were going into super technical details of what happened. Since I don’t know how much detail I’m allowed to share I’ll just leave it at that. Just incredible though.
I cannot believe I am getting paid to be in this environment! What a joy 🙂
Well I need to iron my shirt and head to work for day 2 in the office (day 3 overall).
😀
Today was way better than I could have ever expected! Orientation day as a JSC NASA intern! Every one of the interns is really cool and super smart. They told us today that the 18 of us were selected from over 4000 applicants! Crazy. I feel even more privileged. Just to be included in these people is an honor.
We launched paper rockets that we built from scratch. Team Rockinators (name courtesy of Rihab) came in second. Obviously the competitive side of me was not satisfied with that result but we’ll come in first next time.
Had my first tofu burrito at Chipotle with Isabelle, Matt, Scott, Mike, and Ryan after work (how can you even call working at NASA work!?). Not too bad.
We were going to meet some of the co-ops at Fuddruckers but Ryan and I were early and felt like a beer so we went to Boondoggles. I found out his grandfather worked at KSC back in the day and that’s where he got his space bug.
Tomorrow the work begins.
Later,
Flux.