Going to another school

My thoughts on the educational system (hang in there, not as preachy as you think): We damn well better get it right, because the advanced educational experience (especially college) basically shapes our personalities. At least it shaped mine, and I'm pretty sure I am not the most malleable person (in fact I think I would be diagnosed with some sort of repressed emotion syndrome if I ever let a psychologist near me) but in any case, I have just now come to a realization regarding my time at Gonzaga and college in general:

Going to another university after finishing up at your first one is kind of like dying and then waking up in a place that is neither heaven nor hell. This is especially true for grad school.

The idea behind this statement (along with several---- 10 I think?--- beers) is that whatever one person chooses to do in their life their actions and their personality will be shaped by where they went to college and their social interactions in that school. At this point if i actually cared about this being a decent and respectable journal i would offer evidence for my position, but hopefully you can see where i'm going with this. This is especially true for a school like Gonzaga. I know I was never all that into the prevailing social spirit of the school, but now that I'm at the University of Illinois I am realizing just how many things I took for granted at Gonzaga are not true at Illinois and vice versa. This is not a bad thing, its just made me feel like I've been tripping out for the past four weeks (note for the person to whom I told living in another country would not seem that weird to me: I still believe its true- the complete difference would be fine, its all the eerie similarities coupled with slight differences that are getting to me) (second note to any federal authorities who may be monitioring this post for things such as future security clearance consideration, etc. I have not in fact ever used illegal or proscibed substances as of14 June 2009). I think this may be why so many people who go to grad school end up in academia, because they have adapted to the ever changing conditions and fundamental variations of principle that come attached with such switches.

I'm pretty sure I can't deal with that. This is why i fully intend never to end up in academia (yes I realize I may be eating those words with a large helping of gravy later, but wtf right?). Until further notice (screw it, consider this statement qualified, I'm too lazy to spell it out) I will regard myself as a product of Gonzaga. I'm grateful for what the school has done, and grateful for what it has taught me. I hope that will outlast the festering cynicism grad school is sure to bring, but only time will tell.

Imaginary Transition.......

On a technical note, I find my research quite interesting. We're in the process of building a electrothermal plasmadynamic thruster, and no I do not really understand what that means. We did get a very rough prototype to work though, and as the professor who I'm working with tells us its the first time anyone anywhere has ever fired an electric thruster in non-vacuum or near vacuum conditions. in fact, I was rather astonished that the first time we tried to do it it worked- no fuss, no mess, just flip the switch and bingo, success. If only life were this easy in all respects. Anyhoo, they're will probably be a paper or two associated with it, so whatever, I'm happy with that.

More to come later.