My ears are ringing

The One Direction concert was at Soldier Field on Friday night. Tim, my sister, and I headed to Chicago to explore the area around Soldier Field before heading to the event; since it was Labor Day weekend there was a lot to explore. My sister is the biggest fan out of any teenage girl I have met, or at least I thought so before the concert started.

After the expedition of trying to find our reserved parking place in the Chicago traffic, we walked and explored the downtown area. Hanna wanted to be sure that she didn't miss anything, so it was her plan to arrive to the concert 6 or more hours early. Thus, we didn't spend as much time exploring as I would have liked. We walked around Soldier Field, most likely more than once, before figuring out which line we needed to stand in. Since we had seats on the first deck, we had to go in at one of the tunnels. We said goodbye to Tim and went to stand in line. He decided to go explore a little on his own, find some food, and come back when the show was over.

Hanna and I headed down in the tunnel only to be met by a long line and it was only about 3 pm in the afternoon. As we were standing in the crowd I noticed all of the parents that had come along as chaperons. There I was standing in a crowd of a few hundred girls aging from 16 to 10 and their parents. .....To make the experience more ...exciting, as the floor of the tunnel sloped down it provided a small area where the inside of the stadium could be seen. Now keep it mind that it wasn't just an open window. There was a screen and different parts of the wall that prevented you from seeing people clearly. You could tell it was a person, but you couldn't see that person's face or really tell much about them. So when a group of people came to stand in front of the screen from inside the stadium, the entire group of teenage girls erupted into screaming because they all thought it was One Direction. This lasted until the gates were finally opened. One little girl, maybe 7, was crying because everyone one else was screaming, which supposedly meant that they saw one of the One Direction members and she didn't get to see.

Inside the stadium was a little better in terms of the screaming until it got closer to the concert starting. We were sitting on the first deck at the right side of the stadium. This meant that you could somewhat see people moving around backstage. Thus, anytime of the the girls in my section thought they saw one of the One Direction members moving around back stage they started screaming, which meant that the entire section started screaming. At one point my sister was like "OMG Sara I saw Harry. He waved at me." I responded for the sake of my ears, "Do not tell anyone."

A few hours later the concert started. 5 Seconds of Summer played first for about an hour. They were a pretty good opener. Then like all concerts there was an hour wait for the main band. In between the stadium was playing Top 40 songs, so the whole stadium was celebrating in song for a good hour. Much easier to listen to than screaming. However, once One Direction came out the screaming didn't stop for about 4 hours.

As someone that is not a super fan, a word I would use to describe most of the girls there, One Direction gave a great concert. They played 2 albums of songs with so many firework performances throughout the show that you were really never sure when the show was going to end. Come to find out during the show, the stadium was sold out that night and every night for the weekend. The Chicago Bears should be jealous. Just think, 61,500 thirteen year old's all together busting everyone's ear drums for 3 days straight. 

                               

After the concert we were greeted by hundreds of fathers sitting outside of the stadium. Dads of course would not want to sit through something like that, so they did what Dads do and sat outside and waited for it to be over. Tim sat with them. After asking him how waiting went, he mentioned that he could hear the screaming about 5 blocks away when he had gone to get food. That fact did not shock me. He also mentioned that every time the fireworks went off him as well as the Dad's were thinking to themselves, "Great, it's almost over." However, they were bummed to find that those fireworks were followed by another hour or more of music.

Overall, I would say that the concert was a success.

Waiting for closure

Before finding out that my Grandfather had died, My sister, Tim, and I were planning on leaving for Indiana the morning of that Wednesday. We had the intention of going to the One Direction concert in Chicago that weekend while we happened to be in the area. Since the funeral plans were still undecided, we waited for what to do next. My grandfather died on the Wednesday before Labor Day weekend. Due to the three day weekend it was decided that the funeral would be on the Tuesday following Labor Day. Therefore, my mother thought it would be a good idea if my sister, Tim, and I went to the concert and also brought my youngest sister in order to get everyone's mind off of what had happened.

Later that Wednesday afternoon we all were finally packed and ready to head out. Since my grandparents live only 2 hours from Chicago, we planned on staying at their house. However, the drive is about 14 hours so the plan for the first night was to get to Omaha and stay at my aunts house. We were on our way and had just crossed the Colorado/Nebraska boarder and it started pouring. Literally pouring, and it continued to pour for the rest of the trip across Nebraska. We stayed at my Aunt's house that night and then headed the rest of the way across Iowa the following day. Of course, it rained the whole way across Iowa as well.

One weird thing about death . . .

There was one weird thing about my grandfather dying that I realized about death, and that is who we choose to be our bearer of bad news. I was sleeping when my brother woke my up to tell me that my grandfather had died. I then asked him if my middle sister knew, and he said my mother should tell her. Then, I asked about my youngest sister knew. I was going to tell her, when my middle sister said she would tell my youngest sister.

We all preferred to experience the initial shock of knowing that my grandfather had died with a specific sibling. I suppose it has something to do with how the news is communicated. I tend to be more straight forward and blunt, so when I receive bad news I don't want it to be sugar coated. My brother tends to be more blunt with me than the rest of my family members. I suppose the rest of my siblings have similar reasons that fit their own communication preferences.

With that, our family waited to figure out what was next.

Our Last Goodbye

To end my summer trip, one of my younger sisters asked me to take her to a One Direction concert. We planed on attending one in Chicago because it is not only close to where my grandparents live but it is also on the way to Indiana. Therefore, I figured I would be able to use my sister as woman-power and have her help me move. Our last night in Colorado my family went to dinner with my Grandma and Grandpa (Step-grandpa technically) in order to say our goodbyes. My Grandpa hadn't been doing well for some time before that. He found out a few years before that he had cancer in his bones, and by this time it had spread throughout his whole body for the most part. Plus, he was in his late 80's if not his early 90's; so he had definitely seen some stuff in his long lifetime.

That night at dinner he seemed to be feeling better than I had seen him in a long time. He was joking and laughing quite a bit, calling my Grandma cute, the whole sha-bang. I always took it upon myself to help my grandparents walk (for balance issues). We went to leave the restaurant, walked out with them, and went to say our goodbyes. Tim and I said that we would be seeing them both when I came home and when Tim came up for Thanksgiving. The night ended and we were supposed to be off for Chicago and the concert the next morning.

The next morning, my brother was sitting upstairs and woke me up. He told me that my Grandfather had died in his sleep that night. My Grandma had called my mom and dad, and they were down there to be with her while the Sheriff and the Coroner did their jobs and help her with the initial shock.

Finally, Cowtown USA

After spending some time with Tim up in Wyoming, it was time to head home for a bit. I needed to get my car fixed and decided I could spend some time helping my Dad with his business and my Mother with errands. I remember when I was younger and there were times that I absolutely did not want to help my parents, I suppose mainly out of defiance. Now that I am older and only am only able to go home for a few weeks out of the year, I find myself offering my assistance to my parents whenever I notice something that needs to be done.

Sometimes it's kind of weird. I sitting there thinking "Why did I ever complain about doing this, it takes 5 minutes." However, I'm pretty sure this wisdom came from doing things for myself for the last 4 years. When you are younger, it is easy to complain about doing chores or things that you know if they aren't done, there are other people that will do them for you (in some cases). However, in the case of my family, if you didn't get your stuff done you were not only reminded by my parents to do what you were told or you missed out on something that you wanted to do. Looking back, I regret complaining, however I am glad that I have been on my own to learn to not only do things for my self, but also have a more motivated outlook on simple tasks and chores.

A little exploration never hurt anyone

For Tim and I's last trip while I was in Bairoil, we decided to do a little site seeing. After seeing Independence Rock, I was itching to do a little more site seeing. The next place on the list was Sinks Canyon. The canyon has a river of water that disappears into the mountain.

At the beginning of the year, when the snow is melting, the water fills up the cavern completely. Only at the end of the summer and in the winter is the water low enough to see the details of the cave opening. The water level is still to high and fast even during the later months of the year, that the caverns are still too dangerous to explore. 

 

No one knows where all that water goes. All they know is where it goes into the mountain, and in later years figured out where the water surfaces. They placed markers in the water, and found that at least part of it resurfaces only a few hundred feet down the road. However, it takes 4 hours for the water to go into the cave and then surface; the path it takes remains to be a mystery.

At the resurfacing spot, we found the largest Rainbow Trout I have ever seen. The water literally leaks out of the sides of the mountain as well as springs up from the rock. Fresh, clear, and a ton of fish.

The fish of course eat well thanks to all the visitors. 

These are the kinds of things I love to explore the most.

1 Year Down

On my last weekend in Bairoil before heading back to Colorado and on to other adventures, Tim and I celebrated our 1 year anniversary. For our date, we got some sparkling cider ( I know ....kid like, but it tastes so good) and went for a cruise. Tim had said earlier in the summer that he found this heart shaped pond that he would save to take me to for our anniversary date, and so that is where we went.

Sadly the pond has a lower water level than it had when Tim saw it causing it to no longer look too much like a heart. However, the though still counted and the drive was great. Once we got back from the drive we made one of those frozen Chinese meals and attempted a movie marathon. A simple yet great date. It was a good and relaxing way to end the Wyoming part of my summer, and great that I was able to spend our anniversary with my guy rather then celebrating 1200 miles apart.

Off On a Cruise

One thing that Tim and I love to do is go for a cruise, also known as a drive for those that are unfamiliar. A short ways behind Bairoil is Green Mountain. For one of my last few nights in Bairoil, Tim and I went for a cruise all the way up the mountain. On the way up we spotted some wild horses. They were beautiful. It is strange to see an animal seen normally domesticated out in the wild.

As we continued to climb, to Tim's enjoyment we had to go through a bit of mud. 

 

From the start of the cruise till the reaching the top of the mountain, the view only got better.

At the top you can see up to 60 plus miles away. An amazing view that is only possible in the west, and one of the things I miss the most when living in the Mid-west for now.

A Little Spontaneous History Lesson

On the drive back from camping at Pathfinder Reservoir, Tim and I stumbled upon the historic landmark Independence Rock. It was one of the progress land marks for the pioneers as they traveled along the Oregon Trail. The rock is absolutely spectacular.

Once arriving at the rock, the travelers would carve their names in the stone. The rock is covered in names of families and the date they arrived at the rock. It was known throughout the groups of travelers that if you didn't arrive at the rock by the 4th of July, that you wouldn't make it over the pass through the mountains before winter came. If you didn't make it the pass would be blocked by the snow and traveling would lead to death. The oldest name and date we we found was from the early 1830's which is in line with the start of the Oregon Trail time line.

From looking at the pictures it is hard to see, but the rock is smooth and sloped at a low enough angle that you can walk all the way up to the top. Tim and I walked on the trail surrounding the rock and then attempted our climb. On the lower parts of the rock there were many names, but at the top there were many more. Not all the names were from the time of the Oregon Trail, many were from throughout the years adding to the history of the rock.

I love visiting historic landmarks and am putting a few more on the agenda while I will be in Wyoming.

Camping - If it can go wrong it will

Only about an hour from Bairoil, lies Pathfinder Reservoir. For one weekend Tim's family and sister's family in law planned a camping trip out on the lake. Tim's sister Shenah, her husband's family are big into camping, 4 wheeling, boating, and all of the above. Therefore, Tim and I headed up to the lake in the Jeep only to be met by 3 other campers among other outdoor toys. On that note, we were the only ones sleeping in a tent on the ground (the only ones ACTUALLY camping, haha kidding).

From the beginning of the trip, things started to go wrong. When we arrived one of the campers had been visited by a family of mice, and needed to be cleaned out before the family could get settled. A little while later, the little girl fell off of the bunk bed and broke her leg. The poor girl. We weren't sure if it was broken at first, so she was upset for awhile. A little while later one of the dogs ( a boxer) was acting strange. She kept eating grass, hacking stuff up, and rubbing her face in the weeds. This was all in the first night.

Day 2 started a little better off. Most of the family headed to Casper for a relatives birthday party and decided to get the little girls leg checked out on the way. While they were gone most of the day, Tim and I went with his parents to explore the other lakes connected to Pathfinder and the Dam. It was fun to not only explore the Dam, but it was amazing to see something built almost 100 years ago that is still standing and functioning as if it was build yesterday. Thus, the nerdy engineering side of me came out a little while looking at the structure. As we were heading back to the camp site, Tim was picking on his mother and pretending that he was going to drive through the lake with his Jeep.

Once we got back, a few more things went wrong. Everyone that had been gone was one their way back. When Shenah and her husband arrived the dog jumped on the side of a newly painted truck and left a lovely scratch. Her husband was not happy. Later on the family of the little girl arrived after sitting in the ER for hours and hours. Her entire leg was in a temporary cast; nor t fun for a 4 year old. To top everything off the dog was still acting a little weird. That night they looked at her neck and found bite marks. Later on they figured out that she had been bitten by a rattlesnake due to her face swelling (boxers faces usually sag). That night one of the little dogs also became sick. He was having a hard time with his digestive system causing a lot of worry considering his older age. Altogether it was quite a night. One of the more fun parts was celebrating Shenah's birthday and making a cobbler in the dutch oven. Most of the meals were made in the dutch over the weekend and therefore very very yummy.

To finish up the weekend, on the 3rd day Tim and I went for a cruise in the Jeep, hung out a bit with everyone, and packed up to head back to Bairoil. Through everything that happened, it was still a great weekend at a very beautiful place.

Finding the Wyoming Sahara

My first few days in Bairoil were open for exploration. :) Not exploration where people go out and taste the best restaurants and see the top of the line museums. Rather, a little . . .  land exploration, which is my favorite kind. Tim and I, took his Jeep out on some of the BLM (Bureau of Land Management - aka Government Land) roads and went exploring. Earlier that summer Tim had found some sand dunes when cruising around and decided to take me out to see them.

In Wyoming or the west in general, there is a lot of sand. Most people don't actually realize how sandy it actually is; even in Colorado. Some places there is actual dunes, rather purely sandy soil. The hidden Wyoming dunes that we found, actually move. The oil service companies have actually lost entire oil wells in some places. They will go check an oil well one month and go out a few months later and cannot find it.

If you think about it, the fact that they move is actually pretty awesome. Not only is the landscape is never the same twice, but it changes often enough that the fact that it is changing is more apparent. Usually, I tend to think that changes happen over a longer period of time, but in the case of these dunes, that is not the case.

Once we found the dunes, Tim wasted no time in climbing one of the largest ones. Over the sand and though the sage brush we went. For those that don't know, sage brush is not always what someone would call a "small" bush. The farther from the road you go, many of the bushes get larger. Some are about 4 to 5 feet tall.

At the top, there was pure packed sand and a view for miles.

                                             

After sitting at the top admiring the view, and then writing words in the sand with the Jeep, the wind came up and we were caught in the start of a storm. Being pelted with sand is definately not the best feeling in the world. Therefore, we attempted to beat the storm and headed back to Bairoil.

Sibling Squabbles - It's time for a family reunion

After getting to Bairoil, I was on the road again. My car had been having problems and my mothers side of the family was having a reunion back in Iowa the week after I arrived in Wyoming. In order to get my car fixed I had to take it back to Greeley. Since Tim was coming with me to the reunion, he and I traveled down to Colorado to drop my car and join my family on the trip back to Iowa. 

Tim, the brave soul, traveled 14 hours plus (always more hours with my sisters around) with my sisters, mother, and I, back to Iowa for the reunion. Upon completing the long drive we finally arrived at my grandparents house. One of the best parts about Iowa is the food. My grandfather's family was an Iowa farm family. They know how to eat. My grandpa grew up during the depression and was affected greatly by the dust bowl. During that time, his family didn't always have a lot to eat so it is impossible to leave my grandparents house hungry. They, especially my grandpa always make sure that everyone has enough to eat. Plus, I mean farm food, it's the best kind and always followed by dessert. 

Whitey's Ice Cream is theeeee boommb, and has always been a favorite part of visiting.

                                           

The family reunion was held in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Both my grandma and grandpa are from the area with most of their siblings still living there or around there. This reunion was with my grandpas family, more specifically his siblings. He is the oldest boy of 8 children from a very loud purely German family. Since they are all siblings there are always ....family squabbles. However, seeing them all through a grand-daughters perspective is actually pretty exciting and entertaining. I have siblings and don't think we act weird when we are together, but after seeing my grandpa and his siblings, grandma and her siblings, or my mom and her siblings, I now know all sibling groups just act a little weird together. 

My Uncle Paul ( the youngest boy in my grandpa's family), wasn't able to make it to the reunion. My great aunt was sick and had been for many years. I think it was the 2nd or 3rd time she had cancer among other issues with her kidneys. Therefore, she wasn't supposed to travel and instead we called them over Skype at the reunion. It was a bummer that we weren't able to see them in person, but I was glad we got to chat with them a little.

My Aunt Joyce is the youngest girl in my grandpa's family. She and my uncle Paul were the only siblings to leave Iowa. Paul lives on the east coast and Joyce lives in Texas. Joyce is pretty chill. She texts me every once in a while to see what's up and if I get where I'm going when traveling. I appreciate the worry since people don't usually worry about me or if they do, they tend to not voice it. 

Seeing these two, the other siblings, as well as spending time with my more immediate family was a lot of fun and a great added adventure to my first week of my summer break. 

About that opportunity . . .

After my awesome experience with Schlumberger, I returned to MSU for the summer to do research and take a summer class. This last spring I was doing research for a professor in the Cardiovascular and Tissue Mechanics Laboratory. Since I was in Indiana, the research was through email which meant that it was proofreading grad students papers. The professor seemed to like me and asked me if I wanted to work for him this summer and to apply for a program called EnSURE (Engineering Summer Undergraduate Research Experience). However, I had to take this one class this summer in order to stay on track and keep my semesters from being cluttered by ....unimportant classes. Therefore I had to convince them to let me take the class while I was working. Hey, I'm Sara, I can handle it. (I actually have done it before, last summer to be exact, and I am never doing that many classes and an internship at the same time ever again)

So come to find out, this program is geared towards applying to and interest in Graduate studies. I did happen to be thinking about grad school when I was in Indiana because of all the engineers that had decided to go back for their upper level degrees. I am still not sure if I want to go to Grad school. I would like a another degree but the research I would have to do doesn't get me very excited. The other thing is that some of the Grad students that have only done research and never worked in the industry are missing some big skills. The industry teaches a lot of things that you cannot learn in a lab writing papers and reading books. I think I would like to eventually get a PhD, possibly skipping a masters. This program and job has made me realize once again, like I already had mentioned before, that I hate sitting in a desk working at a computer. So in some ways this job is driving me a little insane, which is making me question if I could handle doing it for 3 to 6 years to complete a degree.

Everyone works on their own, only on their specific topic, everyone (about 8 of us) sit in this tiny little room completely quiet all day long, and I never know what I'm supposed to be doing. It is lacking a little bit of collaboration and direction that keeps me interested, happy, and completely sane. The research topics are interesting, don't get me wrong. We are looking at the aorta and more specifically abdominal aortic aneurysms which are really interesting. My grandmother has recently been having a lot of complications with different parts of her aorta as well as her carotid artery, which we also look at. Besides aneurysms some of the topics explored are related to strokes and the relationship between the spine and a aneurysm.. In terms of the topic I am always interested, it's the research part that is a little slow.

You thought this would be easy, I'm sorry you are mistaken.

This summer, for the first class session ( first session - 6 weeks, second session - 6 weeks) I took ME 391 which is also known as Mechanical Analysis. Don't let the name scare away the non-engineers, it is only ....maybe . . calculus 4 1/2. In the range of mathematics in engineering it is a very basic and intro level class. Anyways, I did the usual where I asked my other ME friends how difficult they thought the class was and if it would be possible to take while I was working as a Undergraduate Research Assistant over the summer. All of them were like, "o ya, it's just like calc 4 all over again, except the end." (Calc 4 = differential equations) So I was like, alright I can do this....no biggie. Then I realize which professor was teaching my class.

The professor that was assigned to teach the summer session is known for being extremely challenging. The average final grade in his Thermodynamics course was a 1.5. (4.0 = A, 3.5 = B, 3.0 = C, 2.5 = D, 2.0 = passing most of the time). Now understand that I said AVERAGE FINAL GRADE not the average grade on the final exam. Ya, tell me about it. He is also known for having test averages in the 30 and low 40 percents.

Come Monday afternoon, first day of class, in walks Prof. W. After explaining who he was and the mission to be completed by the end of the 6 week semester, he holds up the book used for the course, Advanced Engineering Mathematics (2.5 to 3.5 inches thick)  and says, "While this book my bring you to believe that you are doing advanced mathematics, you are not, in fact nothing about this class is advanced. This course is a very small introduction to the mathematics that you will do in up coming classes but it is nothing close to the challenging mathematics you would do in Grad school or other higher education." He continued with "I don't believe that everyone is above average, therefore if everyone is doing extremely well in the course that reflects poorly on my knowledge and teaching abilities" This is the moment where everyone in the class, all 15 or so of us, gulps down hard and stares straight ahead thinking " what the hell have I gotten myself into?"

All engineers and engineering students know that quite often you ask yourself this question, especially in moments previously mentioned. Engineering is hard and in order to stick with it you have to continue even after asking yourself "what the hell am I doing? I could be a business major and sleep 8 hours a night, or even a week." (true story) (no offense to business majors) So I asked myself this question, and then brushed it aside like I have since I became and engineering major.

As strict and difficult as Prof W. was I did better in his class then all of the engineering classes I have taken so far at MSU. He is very, very, very (x10) smart and really knows the material for this class as well as many others. This class is actually really important in doing well in the rest of my classes that I have left, which is why I am glad I had him as a professor. Preparing myself for more difficult classes I have to take next spring will only add to my success and enjoyment of those classes.

Sometimes the more challenging the situation and the less the teacher b.s's the material the less I slack and am more determined to understand and work to get it right. I get bored very easily, especially when I am not challenged, and this can make learning the easiest things very difficult. I know many other people with this problem, it's most likely another way to describe "over-thinkers". If you look at the classes where I did well in high school and the teachers that taught those classes, the teachers that had a similar demeanor to this professor are the ones where I enjoyed their classes the most and worked the hardest at.

The last week of the course we had our final. I had been going to his office hours 3/3 times a week and started studying a week early (that's not me being nerdy, it really requires that much studying). I turned over my test, looked at the first question in which he asked for a "really simple" transformation before starting the problem. I could not see it and figure it out. I tried everything and the problem itself was easy but I couldn't start it without the Transformation. So then I moved on tried to complete the other 3 questions as much as possible only to run into some problems with them. After taking the final I was so mad that I couldn't figure out the transformation to start the first question, especially since I knew that it was simple. After the exam I wasn't even able to look at him, I was so disappointed in myself. A few days later, as a class, we received an email from Prof W. "The first question was one that I thought was really easy, however, not one person got it. All you had to do was  .blah, blah, etc. and there was your answer." I was like shit, if that's how the first question (the easier one) went, then I don't even know how the rest of the exam went.

I ended up doing well in the class regardless even after feeling like I completely failed every quiz along with the final exam. I also now have a professor with a very logical way of thinking that I am planing to ask some career related questions. Yes, it all ended up working out, but there was quite a bit of stress throughout those 6 weeks in order to get to that point.

Bairoil, Wyoming - Elevation 6800 ft, Population 106

As soon as my internship was over, I loaded up all my stuff and headed west. On the way I dropped off everything I wouldn't need at my grandparents house in Iowa. They both are awesome in letting me store it there for the month that I will be home until I will have to move it all back to Indiana for the fall.

My first stop for summer vacation is Bairoil, Wyoming in order to see my boyfriend Tim. Now most people know and realize how far away Colorado, Wyoming, as well as other western states are from Michigan. The long distance (1,345 miles) usually means a few days drive. Well the beast that I think I am, decided that I could do it in 2 days, rather than a modest 3. The plan was that I would get to my grandparents house the first day and rather than stopping at my aunt's house in Omaha, Nebraska, on the second day, I would just drive straight through. Yes. I know. 14 hours straight from Iowa to Wyoming, with just me and my rabbit named Peter. (ya, he came along for the car ride. no animals at grandma's house) The poor rabbit and stupid Michigan roads. He was so scared he just sat in his litter box the entire way from Michigan to Iowa. Nebraska roads are the best, in which he was a lot more comfortable and relaxed a little more.

Upon arriving, with the help of Tim's sister, we were able to come up with a plan of surprise. Turns out it worked! I not only surprised him a little ( a few hours), but by about 2 days. It was great, considering I was able to arrive during the weekend so that we would have some time to do fun stuff before his work week.

Now for those that have never imagined a town like Bairoil, it is on the smaller side with 106 people (maybe), no services (no gas, or food, stores, nothing), lots of oil, and its closest neighboring town (larger ones) Rawlins, which is about 40 minutes away. While some might complain about the size and such, it is so beautiful out here. I have really missed the west. It has the roaming hills, and mountains, and SPACE. The lack of people is compensated in space, and I don't mind one bit. You can see up to 60 miles away, its really quite breath taking.

For the first week of my actual summer, this little town is what I need to not only get back to the area I know but force me to take a break from everything. For those that know me, you're like suuuurrrreee Sara, like you're really taking a break. And you're right, but compared to most of the time, it's probably as close as I will get.  

Presentation Time - Explaining the details, with very few details.

When participating in Mid-SURE, as required by the EnSURE program as well as others, the student presenters were asked to evaluate 4 other posters outside of their presentation time blocks. The goal was to to give everyone a chance to present their research and to fill up the hour long period with constant talking. Due to the size of the event, there was many different science fields showing their research such as some social science, biology, microbiology, all of the engineering disciplines, etc. Therefore, it was not surprising to be asked to evaluate a poster from a science discipline that was different from your own. It was however, challenging.

If there is one thing that always confuses me about the science world is criticism from groups with little to no understanding of your topic of research or study. I understand the importance of collaboration and how cool it is to learn some new things in different areas. However, I have a hard time evaluating the effectiveness of ...lets say research on flies and their reactions to spiders if I have no background in the topic. Sure, I can learn some information from the presentation I might not be familiar with, but as far as grading it to see how well the research project was conducted .... it is not very easy for me to form an opinion let alone an accurate one considering my background is not biology.( I did have to evaluate a presentation on flies and their reaction to spiders as one of my four evaluations. Not easy for a mechanical.) 

Another main difficultly in judging someones research, besides lack in background knowledge, is visualizing the big picture surrounding the research and its role. It can be difficult in your own field, let alone a field that is unfamiliar. Part of the research I completed this summer was creating a website that hosts a user manual for a software particular to the cardiovascular field. While the website seems simple (it really is), it is actually very significant to the field. I published another method of using the software that other researchers can not only use, but modify and build upon. This big picture, being the important part of my presentation, was really difficult to describe to those evaluating me. It wasn't hard for me to explain, but because of their background I felt they got caught up in the wrong details. Thus, it made it hard for them to understand how the project I completed fits in the cardiovascular field. 

After the event we received the evaluations written by the evaluators and I was shocked by my results. I thought that my project was fairly straight forward. The areas where I was the most surprised were those related to that big picture idea I mentioned. One of the judges gave me a 1 out of 5 (5 being the best) in my explanation of future works and contributions. This was confusing because I know I talked for about 10 minutes as well as having my poster mention that the website will be used in classes at MSU. I also mentioned how they are hoping to add a discussion forum on the site or link it to one so that researchers that use the software can share their implementation ideas more easily. However, like I mentioned before I think the reason behind the score isn't that I mentioned it or not, its the amount of background understanding of the audience and trying to absorb everything about the topic in order to make a judgment.  

Not all my scores were bad, most were average or above. I personally felt I did better, and was disappointed that it wasn't reflected. But I took my scores with a grain of salt. I concluded that for a decent amount of understanding of anything, a poster and short presentation just wasn't going to cut it.  

Presentation Time - Just a little voluntary exercise beforehand, no need to worry.

My research experience this summer came to an end the last week of July. In order to complete the program all of the undergraduates in EnSURE had to participate in Mid-SURE. (Someone likes acronyms) Mid-SURE is the Mid-Michigan Symposium for Undergraduate Research Experience that takes place at the Breslin Center at MSU. For those not familiar, the Breslin Center is the MSU basketball arena located on the far west side of campus.

The event hosts 300 (ish) undergraduate research students from about 9 different institutions from around the country to present their summer research. There are also quite a few programs represented; those 300 students aren't all from the EnSURE program.

I was sick the last 2 weeks of work. (Literally sounded like a man when I talked) Therefore, on the day of the event, my first plan of action was to look as professional as possible so that I could somehow fool my audience into thinking I wasn't really that sick. It was time to pull out my suit. If I couldn't be a 100% on top of my game at least I was going to look like I was. After making the effort to appear professional, I arrived at the Breslin in order to set up my poster before the presentation time. I retrieved my poster from the front desk and unrolled it only to find that it was the incorrect and unedited version. Since I was sick, I really didn't want to care, but I was forced to to because I was to be graded on how perfect the poster was organized. So I headed back to the front and tried to explain where they went wrong. The lady in charge, promptly handed me her phone to call DECS. (DECS is the engineering computer support division, and because of my 3D printing project this summer, they know me well)

Background on why the poster was the incorrect version: (the week and a few days before the event)

There was an original deadline for the poster so that DECS could print all 300 of them in time. The deadline then got moved to 2 days later because DECS said that they worked at lighting speed. So I turned in my poster by the second deadline. That following Friday I received an email saying that they (EnSURE) didn't get my poster and couldn't send it to DECS to be printed. I then sent them an email saying I turned it in, and then sent them an updated copy of my poster just in case. I never heard back, so the next week (week of the event) I went to DECS and asked if they had received my poster. At first they were like "I'm sure we have it, and that it is just with all of the others." I then asked them to check and then found that they didn't have it. So the guy that was helping me offered to print it right then. I got on the computer, created another updated version and was told I was good to go and that it would be at the event. From that point on I thought I was in the clear.

Going back to the day of the event. I was on the phone with DECS and it was mentioned that there was still time to print the poster before the presentations started. In my suit and all, I walked as fast as possible without breaking too much of a sweat to the Engineering building. (0.6 miles east) I arrived at the DECS office, said "hey, I was just on the phone with one of you and I came to print my poster." Then one of the very polite DECS guys that I has helped me quite a few times this summer asks " Alright, Do you have an engineering account?" Even though I have gone in there almost every day all summer, they still can't remember me, let alone that I am a fellow engineering student. (Maybe it was the suit) So after the nice guy helped get my poster loaded and printed in about 10 minutes, I headed back to the Breslin. (0.6 miles west) I arrived at the event center with 15 minutes to spare before I had to present in which I spent each minute putting my appearance back in order before judgement time.

BAM! In the first 4 hours before the event started I had already walked mile or two, managed to undo half of work I put into getting dressed that morning, and was still sick. But hey, my poster was on the stand 15 minutes ahead of schedule without any flaw.

Research . . .how it really happened (Part 2)

Besides making cool models and 3D printing them, I actually have a research project this summer. It is not the biggest project, nor the most challenging, or anything I consider "real" research, however, that is the task I was given. My mentor gave me the job of writing a user manual for this new software that we use for simulations. I first had to learn the software, which wasn't easy considering it's open source. For those that don't know (I didn't before this project), open source anything is technology or ideas that are open to the public to change. In the world of software that means programs that you can alter to improve or adapt to what you need. There is even open source soda where the recipe is public. The point behind it being that collaboration is powerful and that everyone has the chance to take open source ideas and use them to better things around them. Pretty cool stuff. So anyway, this program that we are using simulates blood flow through the arteries. The more specific arteries we use are the abdominal aorta and the carotid; some of which have aneurysms or blockage. With patient CT scans, one for every year over the last few years, we look at the change in blood flow from scan to scan. Most of the patients have abdominal aortic aneurysms, and from scan to scan we can see in what direction they are growing and the chances of bursting at each stage.

In regards to the manual, I had to learn the software using the process that we use in the lab to look at the patient scans. Since it is open source like I mentioned before, other people use different features of the software and their own unique processes. In order to make writing this manual more  . . . innovative lets say, my first thought was to publish it on a website. Because I am a visual person and also learn by example, I also added color coding, GIF's (those short videos that replay on Facebook and whatnot), pictures, and lots of examples.

Example of Sara Creativity

I basically went all out Sara creative, making the website awesome. Now not only is it informative but it is also easy to understand and follow. I was going to create my own website by learning HTML  . . .but that proved to be difficult in the time frame I have. Instead I used a MSU template and then focused on making the content more effective.

After this project finished I have to present at the research symposium with all the other undergraduates. Until then, I have some work to do.

Research . . .how it really happened (Part 1)

This summer I am working in a lab at MSU that does Cardiovascular research. We look at patients CT images of primarily the aorta and the carotid arteries. One of my main projects included using MIMICS®  to segment the CT data from which we create 3D images. Basically in non-engineering terms; CT scans take about 1000 pictures in each direction (head to feet, chest to back, and shoulder to shoulder) and we look at each picture in one of the directions mentioned and color what we want to keep. By coloring I mean almost (but not really) what you would accomplish in the program Paint. the next step is to add all of the colored sections in each image together and create a 3D model. We then use the models to primarily look at growth in aneurysms from scans at different points in time. the models can also be used for running different simulations where we can look at the flow through the artery in a healthy patient and compare it with that of an unhealthy patient. The goal is to figure out how aneurysms are caused and if there is a way to tell how soon they will burst. It gets much more complicated, especially when it comes to math, but you get the point.

As part of the EnSURE (engineering summer undergraduate research experience) program we participated in Grandparents University where we taught kids and their grandparents the process mentioned above. It was really fun and cool to show people what we work on; making it interesting to people that know nothing about engineering is a challenge. For the event I segmented the heart and aorta using MIMICS®, created a 3D model, and had that model printed with the 3D printers downstairs. After cleaning up the printed objects by taking off the support material, I created a stand that the model would be displayed on. Since these were for the kids I made the model and the stand so that they would come apart and the kids could look at the model by itself. Then, because I'm somewhat awesome and creative, I made the words on the models different colors, which I found to be very popular with kids ages 8-12. Who knew that adding a color choice would make it that much cooler. However, if I was 8 I would most likely want a green one rather than a red one.

                                                                                    

The picture to the left is how the models look after printing is complete.

The center picture is after an hour or two of peeling off support material leaving only the model. 

The picture to the right is the model assembled with the stand. 

I think they are really cool and I am very proud . . . until someone asks me what science fiction movie it's from. 

You may kiss the bride :)

In between going to Oklahoma and my summer research internship starting, I started my summer class for the first session and went home for one of my good friend's wedding. I started class on Monday (MWF class) and left right after class on Wednesday to head to Colorado for the wedding. It was non-stop the entire week.

Wednesday night Timothy picked me up from the airport and we headed down to south of the airport to see his family in Kiowa. The next day we headed back up to Greeley so that I could see my family and go to bachelorette party in Loveland.

Thursday we went out to dinner (just the girls of course) and made shirts for the rehearsal dinner. That night we stayed in Fort Collins, and Tim and I had a date day there the next day before the dinner. Beaujoe's Pizza, Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream, and to Tim's dismay plenty of hippies to go around.

Friday was the dress rehearsal and that was when I realized how much people change while staying the same as time goes on...(if that makes any sense). It was really fun to see every one again. The rehearsal was the first time that I had seen some of my high school friends since high school and it was great. I don't go home very often so it was weird to see them after 3 ish years. I can't even imagine my future 10 year reunion.

Saturday was the wedding and the ceremony was really simple and pretty. Dana and Josh made everything for the wedding. Josh even sewed my bridesmaids dress together, and that is one of the best fitting dresses I have ever worn. Not to mention he did another dress and a few of the vests for the groomsmen. I was super impressed, Dana picked a good one. On thing that I thought was the greatest about the wedding was the couple getting married.

I have known Dana for a really long time and I have always wanted her to end up with the perfect guy; Josh is that guy. As she was walking up the aisle and they were looking at each other he and she both started crying. Now I'm not that emotional about that stuff like that, but after seeing them both tear up I realized that is one for sure way to know that the person you are marrying is the one. Dana and Josh where the first in our high school class to get married and I think they will be the only ones for a little while.

After a crazy weekend of a wonderful wedding, I headed back to MSU to continue my class and start my research job.