I went to a friend's house last night for some decent company and food. Like always, I learned quite a bit from talking to several people. Because I like to organize my thoughts, I have divided my night into several episodes of conversation.
Episode 1
Mark Andrews
Manager of Contracts Services
While eating some good food, an elder man named Mark happened to sit next to me. I introduced himself and he introduced himself. Apparently, he is in charge of approving the funding that goes through TEES (Texas Engineering Experimental Station). He used to work for AgriLife and has helped acquire funding for some crops that helped jumpstart Iran's economy after their disastrous war with Iraq.
He's quite an interesting fellow who is well-read in multiple disciplines of science and technology. We talked about renewable energy for a bit. He said that there's quite a lot of algae research in Plano, TX where A&M has some algae farms. The conditions there are perfect for algae growth since the combination of sunlight, carbon dioxide, and open ponds. The carbon dioxide is actually from the byproducts of the oil pipelines that go through there. That was quite an interesting correlation.
Episode 2
Chris Hoelfer (Microbiology Grad Student)
Sat on the couch after dinner and talked with Chris and Carolina for quite a while.
Chris is doing research on microbial communication which is how bacteria grow and develop. He's currently looking at two strands. I asked him how this will affect the average layman like me. The answer is simple: a new antibiotics approach needs to be found. The pharmaceutical industry haven't done anything new in terms of antibiotics development in the last few decades. Their antibiotics only work for a few months before the bacteria gains immunity.
Hopefully, through his research, enough base knowledge on these bacteria can be found so that eventually a new antibiotics approach can be found. Bacteria colonizes as multiple species and live in a dynamic balance. Some bacteria are symbiotic. Some are mutualistic. Some are antagonistic.
Episode 3
Chris Hoelfer
We talked about life for a bit. Chris said something that was really insightful:
"Life escapes most people."
I asked him what he wanted to do after graduation to not let that happen. He said he was still searching. Definitely good to have open options, I told him. He agreed. A lot of people has a passion that has nothing to do with their work. I believe that it's good to have a passion for work that is intwined with life. For instance, if you're into skiing, the ideal life is not where you just work a menial job to save nup enough money to go skiing. Most people give up too easily since they think they don't possess the skills to be a skiing instructor. That may very well be true. However, they can incorporate their passions in other ways. For instance, my friend Katelyn likes skiing but she wants to open a skiing equipment company.
These possibilities certainly exist. We just need to find them!
Episode 3
Chris Hoelfer
Carolina Rivas (Graduated MBA student from elsewhere, originally from El Salvador)
I told Chris and Carolina an idea of mine to help facilitate the university connections. Say a professor wants to find some students to do a certain research. Typically, the prof will spend quite a lot of time going through different applications to find the right one. The same goes for a student trying to find the right prof. Why not have a service where the prof or the student can hire us. We'll compile a list of possible contacts for the prof.
Chris and Carolina suggested that instead of just a simple list which anyone can do. Why not establish the connection? In other words, introduce the two people together. This certainly has a more defined value than just giving information. This minimizes the amount of time to filter noise. For instance, instead of sorting 1000 applicants for 10 slots, you sort 50 applicants for 10 slots.
Episode 4
Chris Hoefler
Carolina Rivas
Talked about spirituality and the Bahai faith for a little while. There's three levels of spiritual understanding.
1. Literal
2. Application
3. Implication
This is why reading and re-reading passages is not a waste of time. Implication is the ultimate understanding and once understanding that, you can apply the learned passage to situations not directly applicable.
We started reading some passages from Reflections on the Life of the Spirit. Some passages that struck me:
"O brethren! Let deeds, not words, be your adorning."
"O Son of Being! Bring thyself to account each day ere thou art summoned to a reckoning."
"Holy words and pure and goodly deeds ascend unto the heaven of celestial glory."
On a more ritualistic note, I learned that the Bahai faith uses a calendar of 19 months of 19 days. Bahais meet once a month and also on holy days for gatherings.
Episode 5
Mark Andrews
Talked to Mark Andrew some more and he mentioned some crazy guys painting an asteroid. I said I was one of those crazy guys. I went on and told him some about our project. He seemed quite impressed. He suggested painting Coca Cola on the moon so that we can see it from planet Earth. Is that feasible? Honestly, I don't think so but I'll do a calculation later. Is projecting Coca Cola on the moon with lasers also feasible?
Episode 6
Mark Andrews' daughter
Afsaneh
I talked with them a bit about nothing in particular. Mark's daughter is this very bubbly enthusiastic girl who's currently getting a Masters at the Bush school with research focused on foster kids. She also has a strong faith in Christianity.
Episode 7
Jon Hart (Formerly from New England, now an optician at the mall)
Sima Hart (Turkish girl who currently manages an apartment)
Right when they were about to leave, I struck up a conversation with Jon. Turns out that he's an optician at the mall. I asked him for his email since he may be able to help me out with making some custom lenses. He said that he'll only do it if I have a prescription. Looks like I have to get creative to get such a prescription. I need the lens to make something like this:
http://www.funsci.com/fun3_en/sky/sky.htm
We also talked for a while about photography. Apparently, both of them like doing photography. Jon likes doing sports photography and Sima likes doing portraits. She also used to go on nature expeditions with friends. Pretty awesome I thought. She has a Nikon D80 while her husband Jon has a Nikon D200.
Jon is actually thinking of getting paid for his sports photography sometime soon. I told him that he'll need a website to promote his works and get his name out there for sure. I told him that thankfully I happened to design websites. I'll have to keep in touch with him to see how I can help him.
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