Interests

My Interests

Science

My interests are rather varied, due to exposure to a variety of people and places that I've experienced over the years. The downside is that it all has a tendancey to take more time than I have to give when I try to do it all at once. Ces't la vie.

Astronomy

Physics

Geosciences

Fine Arts

Jewelry

Music

Theater

Sports

Ultimate Frisbee

Photography

Martial Arts

Hockey

Dance

I am a member of the Los Alamos Ultimate Frisbee team, named (for now) Da Bomb, even though we really aren't. We host the Atomic Blast tounament every year and, so far as I know, we lose every time. We have a great record in that respect. It's more about playing the game anyway. We do have some great players though, including some that play all year long and have gone to nationals. I certainly haven't.
Our team is comprised just about 100% of Los Alamos National Lab employees, which might explain our record a bit but what we lack in talent, we make up for in diversity. We have members that are from all over the US and the world who come together for the love of the game. The important thing is that it's something to do in the evenings after work and we have a good time at it. For more info, visit our page at http://www.losalamos.com/ultimate/

As can clearly be seen by my backgrounds, I have an interest in astronomy. I've had an interest in the stars since I was little and my dad would take my brother and me outside in the middle of winter, when we were driving my mom crazy being indoors all the time, and with his telescope, he would show us the stars. By the time we were done, we were all a bit cold and my brother and I were more settled.
By the time I got into college, I decided to take some classes on the subject and found it to be interesting. Afterwards, I got a summer job in computer modeling at Los Alamos National Lab working with an astronomer and since then, I've taken advantage of the clear skies in New Mexico and visit with the local astronomy club on occasion. To get to my background images, the astronomers club, the lab and more info on this whole subject, visit NASA at http://www.nasa.gov , the Pajarito Astronomy Club at http://www.la.unm.edu/~beach/pajarito.html and Los Alamos National Lab at http://www.lanl.gov

I have a strong interest in music of all varieties. I enjoy the opera, classical, rock, techno, alternative and some folk music. I have seen only a few operas but my preferences in opera follow my preferences in classical music. The opera I liked best at this point was The Marriage of Figaro. My favorite composer is Mozart but I also like Vivaldi and Beethoven to some extent. In general, I am a fan of Baroque period music over others.
As for the other styles of music I like, I am a big fan of Audioslave (and Soundgarden), Lenny Kravitz, Santana, Evanesence, Godsmack, Lifehouse and a number of other performers and composers. I enjoy most any club I go into and will dance somehow to anything.
I am a flutist and I play mostly classical pieces as well, although there are some more modern French pieces I like as well. I played the flute through all of middle school and high school but have not had the chance to play much in college. I participated in Solo and Ensemble competitions since middle school and have done moderately well.

I've always had an interest in jewelry for asthetic reasons but it's only recently that I've been able to creat the jewelry I like to most.
Most of my jewelry pieces made before high school consist of bead work and string although some were made with beads and wire but were uncomfortable so few were made. In high school, and only the last year for that matter, did I actually work with metals and stones that required working with a torch. Most of what I did was in silver with less expensive stones or simulated precious gems. My favorite method of creation is casting but I was particularly good at piercing as well and have done several pieces with difficult piercing work. Examples of my work can be seen in the current projects section of my site here.

While I enjoy both watching and playing hockey, I have not yet been able to participate with a team. In relation to the game however, I do have skills that are important. I was a figure skater for 6 years so I am able to hold my own on the ice and deal with contact with the ice. I was one of the few people I knew in figure skating that did not have stitches on their chin. I also have experience in contact sports to some extent but not quite as much as anyone who played football.
In any case, living in Wiscsonin almost makes interest of participation in hockey madatory.

As a natural extension of astronomy, I have a vested interest in physics. ?To really understand the way these astronomical systems work, I needed to have some understanding of the physics that controlled them. The further I got into physics, the more interesting it became and it also afforded me new opportunities for employment, namely my work at LANL. Being involved in astrophysics there presented me with the chance to join the American Astronomical Society, where I have since learned that there is positively no end to what is to be discovered in physics. Perhaps once I get enough math and physics courses under my belt I'll be able to understand how to calculate my income taxes.
Check out the AAS at http://www.aas.org

On the other end of the sceince spectrum is my interest in the geosciences. It all began with my interest in jewelry and other shiny objects and the discussion of their value and properties. I became curious and so I decided to look further into gems and jewelry and I found it fascinating! Later on, I also saw Dante's Peak and thought that would be a really neat job to have. I mean come on! Who wouldn't want to drive a truck across molten rock while looking like Pierce Brosnen?
I always liked geology but it took a back seat to my other interests for a while until I became more aware of the work going on at NASA that involved Mars and I thought that if I couldn't live the exact world of Star Trek, I'd get as close as I could. From then on, I wanted to be an astronaut with the hopes of being one of the first people on Mars and who does NASA need to go to Mars? Geologists!
So I've joined the American Geophysical Union and have been working on geology projects since then in the hopes that it will help my chances for Mars.
Look at the AGU website at http://www.agu.org and the USGS site at http://www.usgs.gov for more info on all the different branches of geoscience

Who in this day doesn't do a bit of martial arts? Well, I'm no exception. I started at Karate America in middle school and continued for a few years before I gave up on it for some reason. Don't ask me why.To be perfectly honest, I only made it to orange or yellow belt, whichever one's higher. I didn't go often enough and didn't practice as much as I probably should have if I wanted to get anywhere.
However, I still had an appreciation of martial arts and would have liked to pick it up again but school (as usual) made that difficult. It was only last year that I got the chance to learn some new material in the form of a sports and rec class. I took Okinawa Kabudo weapons and man! was it COOL! While I can see the value of karate, I like weapons so much better. Given the chance over the summer, I think I might pick it up again but who knows what will happen by that time.

I love dancing. All kinds (except for perhaps line or square) in all places (but maybe not on someone's grave. it's very rude). While I've never been formally trained, I fell that I'm not all that bad and that I can keep a beat.
I would love to learn ballet but I don't know if my feet could take being up on point or if I would be so dedicated to try. So I satisfy my ballet dreams by appreciating the work of others and prancing around when no one is looking. Seriously, prancing is so underrated these days. Everyone should try it.
My current favorite form of dancing is latin dancing. I suppose it's just that I have a long latency period for dance because I wasn't so into it when I was in Brazil. Now though, I love it and can't get enough of it, providing my hips don't give out first. It's quiet the workout.
Finally, I have to save a place for ballroom dancing because every little girl who dreamed of being a princess waltzed around their room with an imaginary gown on. I guess I haven't grown up all that much since that time.

Before I realized that science was really my calling, or at least the one which would secure me a job and that I was good at and still liked, I thought I might want to be on the stage. This was just another one of those childhood fantasies but it was still a fun one. I tried to follow up on it in middle school but with little success. I participated in forensics club but some of the things I chose to do to showcase my, um... talents were just a little weird. OK, they were very odd. Imagine Robin Williams in the form of a 13 year old girl and thats kind of what it was like. I had fun at least.
In high school, I was no more successful in getting on the stage but this time, I built the stage. I worked on stage crew for a number of years and, at the risk of sounding concieted, was damn good at it. It eventually happened that I formed my own little working group and while we may not have been the fastest of builders, we never had to go back and fix mistakes and the structures were solid.
After the stage was built, I also worked as a makeup person backstage, which was fun at the time but now, I don't think I would want to do it. It's just too cramped back stage for me but there were some good times anyway. One of my favorite memories was during Fiddler on the Roof, where I was using brown mascara to fill in all the guys' beards that were just too light to show up on stage and teasing my friend Ryan relentlessly about it. By the way, sorry about that Ryan.

I've always enjoyed art and photoraphy is no exception. I feel that I'm good that lining up a shot and getting the lighting right but I never seem to go through any film. It takes me forever to go through a single roll. I'm better (and more timely) with photo editing. I've had to tweak many pictures to get it to show up right, either on paper or on the computer screen. Whether that's how things really look is another matter.
I've done much more work with modeling for photos. I've posed for both an artist friend who lives in Los Alamos and for my brother's photo class final project and I find it rather fun. Maybe I'm a little vain too.