Blog Reboot, Big Fun Scary Adventures

In an effort to revamp my web presence, I made a commitment to return to blogging, which in all honesty is more for my own benefit than for any readers that I still may have out there, because I feel it keeps me on track and focused on learning, exploring, and is a nice record of life experiences. It's like a more public version of my journal, (which I have been keeping regularly since 2005). 

Anyone have any good New Years Resolutions? Well, I really hate the term. So I've been sticking to an ollllllld term I picked up from my National Novel Writing Month days, called "Big, Fun, Scary Adventures", or BFS Adventures, which are like resolutions, but they must be big, fun and a little scary; something that takes you outside your comfort zone and grows you as a person. 

I'd like to share a few of mine!

• Get back into archery
• Complete 30 paintings (up from last year's 20)
• Read 30 books (same goal as last year but only read 17... FAIL)
• Start blogging and YouTubing again. Goal: 50 blog posts and 20 YouTube videos. (My channel is www.youtube.com/user/DTHRocket)
• Transcribe 50 children's stories from YouTube in Chinese and learn the vocabulary. This is a new method I've been using to further my Chinese proficiency. My girlfriend Lulu has been helping me a lot!

I have a few others, but one of them I'm a little hesitant to share online!!! Suffice to say big life changes are on the horizon!

Speaking of life, what am I up to these days? I'm currently living in Midland, Texas, and still work at XCOR Aerospace, now as a full-time engineer! Life is pretty good. Lulu is attending grad school in Austin, and I try to drive down to see her a couple times a month. It's pretty hard being so far away, but it sure beats an America-China long distance relationship!

I'd like to touch on one thing I've been struggling with in the past few years. If you've been following this blog since it began in 2008 you probably have a clear sense of how ambitious I've been about reaching space and going far in my field. But to be honest, starting midway through college I've felt a pull in a much different direction. Don't get me wrong, aerospace is a deep passion of mine. But it isn't my everything. After my experience in China and making so many Chinese friends, I really felt God calling me there to serve Him. I don't know what that looks like, but I'm still praying about it. Is there tension between my love for aerospace and my love for China? Sometimes I feel there is, but not necessarily.

The bottom line is that I'm staying the course for now but I'm open to wherever and whatever God leads me to. Life is an adventure, and I see now that the greatest adventure may not be in the direction of my boyhood passion. But it might.

So what's this blog gonna be about this year? Honestly I don't know. I found as an intern that I couldn't really post about aerospace because everything I was doing was proprietary, and that's still true for the most part. Perhaps the deep theme has yet to unfold. You'll just have to keep reading to find out.

Internship at XCOR! (For Real This Time)

XCOR Lynx

Last November I received some correspondence from one of the co-founders of XCOR Aerospace about a possible internship with them. While it didn't end up working out for last year, this year I received an offer that I fully intend to accept.

XCOR... Mojave Air and Space Port. *Droooool*. It's every young rocket scientist's dream. Even just to live there would be great, but getting to work with actual rocket-powered vehicles day in and day out at the Space Port puts the cherry on top.

The link below paints a pretty good picture of what it's like to live and work in Mojave. Living conditions may be harsh, and there really isn't anything to do... except aerospace. And that's why they do a LOT of aerospace.

Mojave Rocketeers

Lunch with Bill Nye

So I was minding my own business in the computer lab one day (like I usually do), when in walks the president of the Iowa State Space Society (pictured above with her arm around Bill). She asks me and another student who is also part of the ISSS club what we were doing on Friday at noon. "Nothing?" she says. "Well then you two are going to eat lunch with Bill Nye."

Fun stuff like that happens at college.

So some back story: Last May at the Space Tech Expo in L.A. one of our members met Bill and struck up a conversation. Bill wanted to meet the leaders of the club, so when he came to Iowa State this week for the opening event of Engineer's Week, we had the opportunity to eat lunch with him. It was great.

So he told us a lot of interesting and funny stories, we talked about science, space exploration, the Planetary Society (which he is now the CEO of), and of course, the Iowa State Space Society. I wished I had a recorder in my pocket or something. Then I'd be able to write down what we talked about.

At the end after we took a group picture with him, I had him sign my motor casing right next to Kari Byron's signature (Mythbusters).

So that was the highlight of my week.

My First LDRS -- In 31 Seconds!

This is basically just a photo dump from my trip, put to some accelerated Gustav Holst, with a surprise at the end. Enjoy!

Adventurous People -- Nick Macomber

At LDRS 31, I had the pleasure of meeting Nick Macomber, who flies the Go Fast Rocket Belt.

Nick Macomber flies the Go Fast Rocket Belt at events and functions all over the world. His passion for Adventure led him to a keen interest in rocket belt technology and someday hopes to design a jet-engine pack for longer flight duration. I hope you enjoy this first installment of Adventurous People!

If you or someone you know fits into the "Adventurous" category, send me a message! I might consider interviewing you (possibly via Skype or email if you are far away) for this series on Adventurous People.



(More info on LDRS to follow! I have a lot of material and not much time to post it, but I will get to it eventually. Stay tuned for a video on my 2-stage "anomaly" and recap of events).

My First LDRS -- Safe Arrival at Campsite

After an 18+ hour drive, I finally made it to Middlesex, NY and set up camp. It was a fun drive. I stayed the night in Cleveland in a parking lot of a Wal-Mart Supercenter o.O No problems, no break-downs, no getting lost. It went very well. Now I am here at the campground trying to relax before tomorrow.

If I'm going to fly Longshot Starkiller, I've got a lot of work yet to do. It's a tossup at this point whether he will fly or not.

This evening I met a guy named Larry who's camping next to me (who I think I already knew a little bit from TRF). I only got to talk to him for 3 or 4 minutes, but he cryptically said something like I'd see things at this LDRS that I would never see again in my life. Hm... he couldn't say more than that. Whatever the case, it will be an exciting event. Also, apparently Discovery Channel and some Mythbusters people will be here.

I like this camping stuff. It's so open and friendly for opening up conversations and getting to know people. There will be a campfire later and I'll get to meet even more people. Picnic tables also make such great workbenches for rockets.

In pictures, departure from home to arrival at the campsite:

My First LDRS -- It's Official!

Yep, it's true. After a few weeks of uncertainty whether it would actually happen or not, it is finally official, and I am leaving tomorrow morning!

LDRS -- Large and Dangerous Rocket Ships -- is the annual Tripoli Rocketry Association meet. It's the biggest high-power rocket launch in the country. Thousands of people will be there, and some of the biggest projects ever.

Believe it or not, I am actually driving. That's okay, I love driving! It doesn't really save any money with just me in the car, but this way I get to bring my own project: Longshot Starkiller, the big two-stage level-2 rocket. While it is uncertain that he will be ready to fly in time, it will at least be great to show it off and talk about it.

I'll be camping at the Flint Creek Campground, just 2 miles from the launch site. There will be lots of LDRS attendees staying there, so hopefully I will be able to meet some new people!

Stay tuned for travel updates, pictures and videos!

USLI -- Departure!

After some long hours of preparation, we are finally embarking on the Great Trip To Huntsville. Looks to be an awesome adventure! Look for a post every day about our progress.

2011 Recapitulation

Way back in the beginning of the year I came up with three "Big, Fun Scary Adventures," referred to herein as "BFS Adventures." The first of these was a concrete goal: to obtain my level-2 certification for high-power rocketry. The story of this adventure was a long and comical one:

My first attempt was in June, using my rocket called "Stinger." I used a Cesaroni J285, which is a very small J-motor. For some reason, the flight was just a flop:



Next month I managed to put together an entirely new rocket (can't remember the name of it). It was a big, galumphing rocket made from thick cardboard tubes. The idea was to build heavy so that the rocket didn't go very high so I didn't need dual-deployment. That idea came back to bite me:



So I figured that the third time is usually the charm, and I came out next month with this rocket, which is the sustainer stage of a multistage project.



I figured that I had failed, but we kinda had to rush off at the end of the launch, and didn't talk much with the certifying member afterward. But a few weeks later I got my card in the mail, which read "cert level 2." So that's the story of how I got my level 2 certification.

My second adventure was less than exciting. I set a specific goal to "earn at least $5000 by working and at least $5000 of non-ISU scholarships." This one was also a success. I failed to find an internship, so I worked hard on a sod farm all summer, some weeks working 60 hours! It was quite the arduous ordeal but I earned about $4500 for school. Previously during the spring semester I had earned about $800 from working at Target. So there's my $5000 by working. And I got a pretty nice engineering scholarship for $8000 which helped me stay in school!

My last BFS Adventure was rather vague. "Invent something cool," I said. I'm counting the payload we built for USLI for this adventure. While it was not entirely my invention, I learned a lot of great stuff from being on that team and helped develop pretty cool technology for it. All of the structural components were designed and built by me. A lot of the programming was me, too. One thing is irrefutable: It was cool.

So there's 2011 in a nutshell. Of course, that leaves out 99% of my life, but now you have the 1% worth talking about.

I sense 2012 has some adventures in store that will make 2011 look like a walk in the park. Bring it on!

School's Out for the Summer -- Time for Summer Goals!

1. Get certified for level 2 high-power rocketry!
2. Create a video game (that's another post)
3. Make a short film (we're thinking Steampunk :)
4. Earn lots of money by getting a good job.
5. Apply for lots of scholarships.

The last two are the most boring but are also probably the most important.

Got any good plans for the summer?

Big, Fun, Scary Adventures for 2011

Unlike New Year's resolutions, BFS Adventures are something that last all year. They are akin to resolutions, but are more... adventurous. So here are mine:

• Get level-2 certified for high-power rocketry
• Earn at least $5000 dollars by working, and at least $5000 dollars in (non-ISU) scholarships
• Invent something cool.

What are your adventurous goals for the year?