New Chapters

Well, a lot has happened since my last post. It's only been a month and a half, but that is long enough for a LOT of new and exciting things to take place.

First and foremost, my time of singleness appears to have passed, as I am now in a wonderful relationship with an amazing young woman named Rebecca. I think I've mentioned her in a couple other posts. She lives in the Dallas/Fort Worth area of Texas. She is absolutely incredible, and our relationship is blossoming as we come to respect and admire each other more and more. There is far too much I could say about her to articulate it all in this post, so I will make a separate post devoted entirely to her in the next day or so.

The second exciting thing is that I am back at NASA again, but in a different directorate and branch. This semester I am in the Aeroelasticity Branch of the Research and Technology Directorate. In essence, aeroelasticity is basically the study of what happens to various materials as they undergo various loadings and stresses associated with aerodynamic forces. Some of the more common aeroelastic phenomena are flutter and buffet. The most famous example of flutter was the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, which collapsed because of poor engineering which failed to properly account for aeroelastic forces.

In any case, I am already SO impressed with this position and my work this semester. My desk faces a wall of windows, out of which can be seen the exterior wall of the Transonic Dynamics Tunnel (TDT), which my branch is responsible for running. After a tour of the facility, I was very impressed and could hardly believe that I was actually getting to work here! I will be working primarily with Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and likely some tunnel test data from the TDT. In two words: Very cool!!

To make things even better, the work environment is GREAT. I'm one of four (possibly five later on) interns in our branch, and we all sit in the same area, with no one else around. Our mentor is in the other building, easily accessible, but not breathing down our necks either. He's so laid-back and awesome that I doubt he would do that anyway......I really like him and the way he deals with us students. He's very personable and jokes with us a lot.

On top of all this, our facility is actually located on Langley Air Force Base. I have to drive into NASA, through the connecting gate to the AFB, and along a bypass road to our location. The road runs along Chesapeake Bay, and our building is perhaps a hundred yards away from the water as well. The drive along the bypass road is quite scenic, with just grass, wildflowers, the occasional grove of trees, and the blue water. The road runs right in front of the airstrip, and yesterday we were fortunate enough to see four F-15s, two F-22s, and one A-10 take off right in front of us. This morning, I saw a half-dozen F-22s out on the tarmac as we drove by. Such beautiful aircraft. It is so awesome to be able to work so close to such incredible military hardware.

So in a nutshell, I LOVE this internship thus far. I honestly haven't gotten any serious work yet, but it's only the first real day (yesterday was taken up mostly by the orientation). I'm sure things will pick up. =)

The third really cool thing is the place where I'm living this summer. I'm staying in the room over the garage of a really awesome house in Poquoson, a little town that fronts Chesapeake Bay to the northwest of the base. The owner is ridiculously wealthy....he has a helicopter, several sports cars, a massive truck, and assorted other expensive toys including a very nice entertainment system. But the thing that I REALLY enjoy is the back landscaping. The lawn is quite nice, as are the flowers and trees. The property fronts a small waterway which flows out to the open bay. I went outside on a porch swing hanging from a tree yesterday and was just like, "Ahhhhhh...."

I am so grateful to God for providing me with all this. The job is great, the house is amazing, and Rebecca is absolutely incredible. He really is so good. It is so true what it says in the Gospels about how if we, being evil, know how to give good gifts to our children, how much more will our heavenly Father bless us! Even in the dark times like last semester, He never lets go.....and when I come back into better days like now, He reminds me where the blessings came from, and I am so grateful. In truth, it is my stronger relationship with Him that makes these "better days" so much better. Praise Him for His faithfulness and goodness!!