Friday, 25 November, 2022
Song of the Day: Take Me to War - The Crane Wives
So… It’s been a while. It’s been a very hectic semester, and I’ve been going practically non-stop for the past few months. I’m very glad I was able to take a day over break and write code for myself again. I’ve missed it.
For starters, my modifications. I did a bit of a rewrite of my system setup repo, adding support for assorted bash scripts I find myself using frequently, two licenses to choose from (GPL v3 and MIT, in addition to Unlicensed (all previous)), command-line flag configs, and a repo based config. In order of preference, the new system loads the command-line args, then any repo-based settings, and finally user settings. When run, users (me, it’s always just me) will have access to options like –verbose=True, –author=Maurice_Moss, –license=mit, etc. It should be noted that there are some arguments that cannot be overwritten, such as date, which will always be set to the current date.
With that out of the way, a bit of an update on me. I have had something of a stressful semester. After classes making me realize just how much I enjoyed my work at JSC, and learning that 2 of my better friends will be employed down there after this school year, I have been given new direction and dedication towards Houston. I desperately want to work for NASA. I had originally intended to pivot to Goddard in Maryland, but after my connections there failed to pan out, I have also realized that JSC is likely my only hope. So, with the combined realizations that 1. JSC wouldn’t hire a non-Pathways intern directly out of college and 2. people engaged in guidance/navigation typically have at least a masters degree, I have decided that it would be in my best interest to apply for coterm at RPI for aerospace engineering. Unfortunately (I need to stop using that word), I am slightly below the GPA cutoff for coterm due to my dual major, covid, summer arch, etc. and have been informed that I need to raise my GPA to the minimum requirements by the end of the semester. This is easier said than done. With my 14 credits of courses, that math works out to all A’s for 10 credits, and 4 credits of a B- or higher. At the moment, with my current perfect and near perfect scores in my AI/ML classes, I am on track to meet that goal, but it has been a constant struggle. Programming Languages (those other 4 credits) has been significantly worse, with the entire class faring poorly on the most recent exam. I have 2 more weeks of classes and a final to maintain my current position, or else my new plans crumble to dust. We’ll see if I manage to post again before that happens.