On Wednesday I got an email from my boss from last summer that the NASA guys were checking my references. At that point I realized they were seriously considering me for the internship. Then, on Thursday I had a follow-up phone interview with someone who was in the same research group as the person in the first interview. This one wasn’t as long, but covered much of the same things as the first one, focusing on my experience with Java. Again, I talked about the Software Engineering class I took with its massive class project as well as a networking class I took that used Java. I also talked about the Java GUI experience I had and general software development practices that I followed at work and learned at school.
I was getting worried because I had to let Lockheed Martin know what I was going to do by this Sunday. It was really coming down to the wire. Last night when I got back to my room, I got an email that I had been pretty much accepted at NASA Ames and only some details needed to be worked out. Today, I sent my response to everyone involved that I would be going to NASA.
This is something I have wanted to do for quite a long time. I really want to see what it’s like to live somewhere far from home, especially with the notoriously awesome summer weather of Northern California. The internship work itself sounds great too and will probably be something that will keep my hands full all summer.
At this point, I’ll probably drive out there so I can have a car. Someone will probably have to go with me since there is no way I can drive 10-12 hours straight for four days. This will combine three things I’ve really wanted to do into one package: road trip, living on the west coast, and an interesting job. For me, it’s about the excitement equivalent of breaking 14 minutes in the 5k. Maybe I can do that in the next few months too, who knows?
It seems there are a few things to be worked out, mainly the starting date and housing. If I run at regionals, I’ll only have a little more than a week to leave school, pack my stuff at home, and get to California. If finals are as tough as they were last semester, things could be rough, but I’ll be finished with those a little earlier in May. With housing, it sounds like there is a hotel/lodge kind of deal on the NASA Ames campus from what I have read on the internet, so maybe I’ll be able to stay there. That would really help with commuting, too.
On the flip side, the internship is at about step 1500 on my to-do-list, and I’m currently on step 5. There is a whole lot of stuff that will happen between now and then. With school, I’ve got some homework assignments and then some projects coming up. With running, assuming I don’t get hurt or sick, I’ve got a lot of training to do and quite a few races. IC4As is in Boston next weekend, which is a pretty big deal. I ran the qualifying time for IC4As at Virginia Tech last weekend that should put me in fast heat of the 5k, but I’ve been worried about my sore calves turning into an achilles injury.
Regardless, there is a lot going on. It was also this time last year that I found out I got into grad school. This year, it’s the internship. A lot of the seniors on the team who have applied to graduate school are hearing back. It should be interesting to see where they end up.
Despite having the promise of an exciting future, I’ve got to take things one day at a time. I’ve only got a few months left of being on the team and I really want to take advantage of that. I don’t have that much more school left, either, so I have to live in the present and enjoy what I’ve got.
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