Hello World,
This week has been off to a rough start. Hurricane Beryl brought with it tons of destruction to the Houston area. On Monday, my power went out and I didn’t really think much of it until my sister informed me that it might take multiple days for the power to be restored. There was no service so the whole house was in a a state of boredom. I played a few chess games, scrolled through old pictures, and took multiple naps all just to keep me from going insane. All in all, it was still bearable.
On Tuesday, not much changed. I went through the same old routine. Luckily for us, we had a family friend who still had power so we were able to stop by and get some juice on our devices and flashlights. I took a nap in the afternoon and woke up sweaty, not visibly but I felt it internally. The heat was awful. Upon receiving the email that Rice was open on Wednesday, I decided to get some gas to prepare me for my drive to Houston. I was able to find a HEB but waited in line for what felt like forever. I had 57 miles when I arrived at the HEB, but by the time I got to the pump, about 21 miles had been exhausted. Luckily, when I arrived at home, the power had been restored which brought a smile to my face.
We had a gas stove so we were able to cook all this while. We also had access to running water, making the whole process much more bearable. Given our situation, I am very grateful for all the amenities we still had access to because I know that some didn’t have access to their stove and/or running water. My heart goes out to all those who are still waiting for their utilities to be restored.
Wednesday (07/10): Today, the campus was open so I decided to use this opportunity to catch up on some missed work. The drive to Houston was quicker than usual due to the fewer vehicles on the road. I spent the majority of the day working on my abstract draft. I also schedule some time with the rheometer for Thursday and the optical tweezer for Friday. Quite a busy week ahead.
Thursday (07/11): To start off my day, I had the rheometer in which I tested for amplitude & frequency sweeps. This lasted for the whole duration of my allotted time. For lunch, I went to the Siebel servery to get some grub with a few friends from other REUs. After lunch, I went to my cubicle to prepare for my next test with the rheometer, Shear Rheology. However, I wasn’t able to complete my test due to an issue with the machine. At certain shear rates, the machine would start making noises. I am not sure if this was a human error on my part or if it’s a machine error. The instrument handler said that he would take a look at it to see if it needs recalibrating. Back at my cubicle, I spent the rest of my time processing the results that I got from the amplitude & frequency sweeps on Excel.
Friday (07/12): Due to the error from yesterday, I decided to not schedule a time with the rheometer today so that’ll give the instrument handler some time to check it out. Operations will begin on Monday. I spent most of the day with the Optical Tweezer. I was able to bring in my sample and have it tested by the instrument handler. Although I have been trained on it, I don’t feel confident using it myself quite yet as the machine is very complicated and delicate. Once I was done with the optical tweezer, I went to my cubicle to read up on some documents my mentor shared with me.