In preparation of reviewing 2021, I took the time to re-read my post last year’s post—2021 Resolutions + Goals—and I reviewed my weekly recap journalling template. My goals morphed throughout the year.
I had also forgotten about my distinction between a resolution (more of a vague theme for the year) and a goal (a task to complete).
On top of reflecting on accountability to strivings throughout the year, a lot has also happened in terms of life impact:
I graduated Army flight school becoming a commercially rated helicopter pilot, as well as an Army pilot
We moved back to Denver
My sister moved in with us (it’s hard negotiating a roommate again)
My older daughter started kindergarten
My wife started a master’s degree
I started back at work
I returned to my unit and am working through progression as an Army pilot
Here’s the breakdown of everything…
Resolutions
Year of the Family
I’ve tried to find little ways to connect with the girls more. I’ve employed them helping me in the garage just as my dad did. I get it now. I need to find more of my hobbies that I can share with them, because they’ll be excited to just be together. They sure like tape measures 😉
Emphasis on Mental Health
Journaling—Writing in a journal is how I work out my thoughts. I’m much more articulate in my writing than in spoken word. I like finding my way through a problem as the words get typed out. This is an easy way for me to release the pressure building up, like how in Getting Things Done, once it’s out of your head and stored somewhere securely, you can relax.
Therapy—I did see a counselor in flight school, which helped me find ways to deal with the stress of a military schoolhouse, as well as navigate my relationship with my kids better (i.e. finding things to do with them).
Solitude—I love my morning alone time. I need to use that, though, for self-development more. I’d like to wake up, do my scripture study, journal, and exercise all before starting work.
No Social Media on Phone—I’ve been off-and-on with this one for so long, but it’s working out having it on my iPad to play around on before bed but not on my phone where I’ll reach for my device instead of being present.
Stretch Daily with Intention
This one started out pretty good, and I was using a buddy’s ROMWOD subscription to close each day in a thorough stretch, but it just didn’t last. I am finishing my workouts with a 6-minute stretch using the Precor 240i Commercial Series StretchTrainer at the gym. I don’t feel more flexible, and it’d certainly help with my neck, but slow and steady progress, I suppose.
Honor the Sabbath
Honoring the Sabbath has been a good mindset to come back to every Sunday.
Documentary Sunday—We haven’t done one of these in a long time. It’s a nice break in our media consumption, but Shalene’s in a master’s program, so she does a lot of heavy reading on Sundays.
No Video Games—I’ve been consistent with this one!
No Studying—I have not been consistent with this one.
No Caffeine—Nor this one. The idea here was that I have the time and space in my schedule to nap, so choose a nap over caffeine.
Goals
Read the Book of Mormon
My thought process here is that if I’m reading 50+ books per year, I ought to put some of that time toward one of our most important religious texts. I started feeling guilty about not making progress, but I kept saying I’ll do it when we move back to Colorado. I started the audio version in October and wrapped up in January. I’m going to call this a win, because I otherwise wouldn’t have gotten another iteration of the Book of Mormon in this year.
Read The Saints, Volume 1
This is both an overarching narrative of the early members of my faith as well as many personal stories of individuals. I started it at the beginning of the year in an effort to read more religious books, and it’s been really easy to pick up and put down with how short its chapters are.
Read One Academic Paper per Week
The thought was that I would read an academic paper each week to start preparing for a master’s degree and thinking about potential theses or research topics. I’m ultimately pursuing a non-thesis master’s, but I’d like a PhD after that, so it’s still relevant. I was just too busy studying for flight school to take on some more serious reading.
Be Google-free
I’m definitely not Google-free, but I’ve transitioned a lot of my stuff away from Google. If there’s a viable non-Google option, I’m trying to go for that. I’ve been using Brave with Duck Duck Go, but Army websites basically only work with Chrome. I’m still using Gmail, but I’d eventually like to host my own server and not use Google. We’re using Google Calendar for now, but the more I think about it, the more I’d prefer Apple over Google, and they almost always have a comparable product.
Marriage Meeting Template
Finally, a goal that has gone really well! We’ve been earnestly attempting to have a sit-down marriage meeting every Sunday. I’ve continued to refine our template in Evernote that progresses us through the conversation, tracks action items, and helps discuss calendar items. Here’s the current version of my template.
Journaling Template
Here’s what the second half of my weekly recap journaling template looked like for the year:
2021 Resolutions
Family
Year of the Family—Already discussed.
Marriage Meeting—Already discussed.
Faith
Honor the Sabbath—Already discussed.
Read The Book of Mormon—Already discussed.
Read The Saints, Volume 1—Already discussed.
Finance
Entrepreneurship—I already have two jobs, but I thought that by bringing up entrepreneurship each week, it would keep me frosty looking for new ideas. In fact, there has been a company I’ve been working to take over, it has just stalled out a bit. I need to get going on that again 🤔
Fitness
Stretching—Already discussed.
Caffeine—I wanted to limit my caffeine consumption because I’m pretty dependent on it every day (okay, cut me some slack, what American isn’t?). I notice it makes me more irritable, and I don’t drink water without my lil flavor packet that has caffeine. I feel like it’s a vice, and I would have better regulation over my day without caffeine. But we also run ourselves thin, so could I actually survive? TBD. I did attend a 3-week Army course where caffeine wasn’t allowed, so it’s possible I guess.
Mental Health—Already discussed.
Flight
It doesn’t get better than graduating flight school! Now to work my way through the progression process with my unit and become a capable and competent Aviator.
Sustainability
It’s really important to me to do what I can for the environment. I probably didn’t need to be journalling about it every week (and I often didn’t), but in the same way I liked reflecting on entrepreneurship each week, I liked keeping this top-of-mind, because it matters to me.
I ironically enjoyed my 2020 Annual Review notes much more than my 2021 Resolutions + Goals post. It felt much more manageable and much more…me. It gave me the freedom to dabble in things that excite me rather than feel beholden to self-imposed constraints. It’s hard to be halfway through a year and still feel obligated to hold myself to the vision I had for future Jonny at the beginning of the year!
I’m an economics nerd. While I majored in mechanical engineering, econ was my passion, and I was so close to a double-major. Oh well. I suppose that’s what grad school is for. Anyways, one of my favorite concepts from the discipline is incentives. You might think of economics as the study of money, but a more widely accepted understanding is the study of scarcity or the study of choices under constraints. So boiled down, money is just a framework for really studying choices. That’s why it can bounce between business and social sciences departments; it’s heavy on psychology.
When I think of incentives, my mind immediately jumps to the “cobra effect.” From Wikipedia:
The term cobra effect originated in an anecdote that describes an occurrence during India under British rule. The British government was concerned about the number of venomous cobras in Delhi.The government therefore offered a bounty for every dead cobra. Initially this was a successful strategy as large numbers of snakes were killed for the reward. Eventually, however, enterprising people began to breed cobras for the income. When the government became aware of this, the reward program was scrapped, causing the cobra breeders to set the worthless snakes free; the wild cobra population further increased.
Three strong examples of perverse incentives that come to mind regarding the military:
Medical
I’m a pilot-in-training at Ft. Rucker and recently got super light-headed after PT. I nearly passed out (probably fatigue and dehydration), so Cadre had me get labs done just as a precaution, thinking it might have been blood sugar. I was put on a down-slip (i.e. no training) until bloodwork and an echocardiogram came back. I missed my start date for the next training course, which made me pretty bitter. I understand the idea of wanting a helicopter pilot to not involuntarily blackout, but that wasn’t what happened.
In airing my grievances to some fellow LTs (as LTs do), one mentioned getting stung by a wasp and breaking out in hives. LT X got permission to go to UrgentCare (after declining to call 911) to get something simple to clear it up. That’s an automatic down-slip, which the LT didn’t know. That LT got pulled from Common Core and has to wait for the next course to come around in about a month.
So to clarify, the culture of Aviation is to suck it up and say nothing, in case it prevents you from flying. That is clearly the opposite of ensuring pilots are at their peak health while flying multi-million-dollar airframes complete with expensive equipment and priceless Soldiers as cargo.
WiFi
In the recent past, there were security concerns at drill about doing government work on WiFi, so it was removed for us M-day folks. Well, the requirements for online training, etc. were not reevaluated, and the supply of government-issued laptops is very limited. What was the solution? Mobile hotspots. Great. Mobile hotspots have got to be more secure, right? 🤦🏼♂️
Ammo
An all-too-common situation on Range Day is a surplus of ammo left over after everyone has qualified on their weapon system. It is far simpler (i.e. less paperwork and/or questions) to use up all the ammo than to turn unspent ammunition back in. What is the unspoken solution? It gets wasted in a bush. In an age of increasing transparency and scrutiny of military budgets, this seems like a simple fix. There has to be a better way to turn in ammo. Perhaps an amnesty system similar to the amnesty boxes already on installations could be implemented. Units can train to the standard, not to the requested supply. The extra ammo gets collected like brass does and sent back for inspection or kept within the unit for the next range.
Conclusion
In my brief encounter with the Army thus far, there has been nothing more frustrating than proposing a newer, more efficient way of doing something only to be shot down with the classic, “That’s just the way the Army has always done it.” The Army needs to take a deep look at its internal incentive structures, especially with the urgent push for recruiting and retention. If you don’t believe me, just take a look at the comments on r/Armyaviation’s 10 year ADSO is official post.
I’ve recently stumbled into a new passion: vexillology—the study of flags. It’s a little odd, I know, but I’ve gotten so into it that I changed my bookmark for reddit to be r/vexillology so that it’s the first thing that I see!
My collection is minimal. Shalene gave me a Colorado flag for Christmas, and I picked up an American flag for Flag Day.
There aren’t too many flags I see myself flying outside, but here’s what’s on my list currently:
Army Flag—This and the Colorado flag will be my “daily flyers”, since there aren’t as many rules governing how to fly these versus the American flag (see U.S. Flag Code)
Bavarian Flag—I hope to fly this one during Oktoberfest season (three weeks)
German Flag—I’d probably only fly this during the World Cup or on November 9th to commemorate the anniversary of the Berlin Wall falling.
Happy Flag Day! Coincidentally, it’s also Army Day—hooah! We took down our Colorado state flag this morning and put up our newly purchased United States flag. I did hesitate to buy an American flag, though. I thought about buying an Army flag instead, which doesn’t have nearly as stringent rules as the American flag. It’s a lot of responsibility, but I’m excited to learn more about a specific flag for a change, although U.S. Flag Code is no joke.
I’m working on a long-form piece related to white privilege, racism, and the Confederacy. I’m really excited to share it with ya’ll. After publishing this Sunday Shares, I’ll link to my Google Drive doc in case you want to provide feedback before I finalize the essay. I’ve loved doing all this research to form my own opinions.
CONSUMPTION
Read
Tweet:
Children should be raised the same way muscles are built:
Expose them to the largest setbacks they can recover from.
I’ve found that people who’ve only “won” growing up are quite fragile and have a disproportionate fear of failure.
I actually found this last week after going down the vexillology wormhole. I just searched Spotify for the word, wondering if anyone had done music related to it (I honestly don’t know what I expected to find…), and I happened across Deadmau5!
Podcast: This week on Shark Tank – Mark Cuban joins to talk UBI | Yang Speaks (Apple Podcasts | Spotify)
Andrew Yang—former presidential candidate and founder of Humanity Forward—interviews Mark Cuban, and they discuss how they would change the structure of government and voting as well as how people interact with the government.
Learn
Concept: Dutch Baby Pancakes
Shalene calls them German pancakes, which didn’t sound right—plus, I had never had them in Germany. I heard them called Dutch Babies when I first had them. After a quick Google search, it turns out that all of those names are correct, however, it’s definitely an American dish (Wikipedia). By the way, what is it with our habit of naming things after other ethnicities, but then it’s truly an American concoction?
It represents the spectrum of acceptable political views at any given time. I had never heard of this until someone mentioned it in a tweet, but it seems extremely relevant given the political discourse happening over the fast-paced social media platforms these days.
Joseph Overton was the director of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, and this term was coined after he died.
After Advanced Camp, I shipped off for an internship with the Army through the Cadet Troop Leading Training (CTLT) program. I worked (get ready for it) under the following hierarchy in descending order (as best I can piece together):
US Army
Army Materiel Command
Research, Development and Engineering Command (RDECOM)
Communications-Electronics Research, Development and Engineering Center (CERDEC)
Night Vision and Electronic Sensors Directorate (NVESD)
Modeling and Simulation Division (MSD)
Measurement and Modeling Services (MMS) Branch
Day 1, 10JUL2017 (Mon)
I sat on a plane in Louisville, KY for a while before they said that the weather in Detroit was going to delay the flight for quite a while. I would’ve missed my connection, so I exited the plane and boarded a flight to Atlanta. Upon landing in Atlanta, my flight was delayed for weather, so I finally arrived in DC at Reagan around 0130 instead of 2200. I was pretty bitter because CDT Fink’s school bought him a last-minute ticket that had him leaving Sunday before graduation, so that got changed at camp to a direct flight. My school planned ahead, and I got screwed. Oh well. Our supervisor, a Major, picked me up and took me back to Post.
Day 2, 11JUL2017 (Tues)
The next day started at 0900. I’m sure it was a lot of in-processing and touring. We only spent 3 hours doing stuff and were cut loose at noon. It ended up being perfect because I had a really bad infection on the tip of my finger. It started to flare up the night before, and it was the spot where they did the finger-prick to check for iron at the blood drive on Saturday. Swell. Literally. It was a sensitive balloon of pus. They drained it with a syringe, though, and gave me some drugs. That ended up being complicated, too, because they sent me to the pharmacy with a prescription for a different “Johnathan Miles Henderson”. The only reason I caught it was because the guy’s birthday was in the 80s.
After that mess was figured out, it was onto putting out the next fire. The lady-sergeant at BYU-I messed up my orders and didn’t include a rental car. It got resolved, but we somehow had to figure out how to get back to Ronald Reagan in DC. Without a car. Luckily, I was able to call up Patrick, who took us there. We picked up our rental and went to Bdubs. It just so happened to be Traditional Tuesday, so our order was like $10!
Day 3, 12JUL2017 (Wed)
Day 3 had us in a minivan driving around campus with a young lady that works at Ft. Belvoir as a civilian full-time who is also an officer in the US Army Reserves. After work, we went and saw Spider-Man: Homecoming with Katie at The Alamo movie theater. I actually wasn’t super impressed with the movie. I think they did a fantastic job, and Tom Holland plays a great Spidey, but even with my Tony Stark in it, Homecoming couldn’t knock The Amazing Spider-Man with Andrew Garfield out of my Top 5! Looking back, though, and having rewatched it, it was very well done.
Day 4, 13JUL2017 (Thurs)
During my first few days on the job, a two-star General came to receive demonstrations on all the research at the facility. The General scooped us Cadets up and had us tag along to see everything. It was fantastic. So much future tech to see.
That night, I went home, grabbed my siblings, and we went to Reston Town Center for lack of things to do. Not as fun as I remember, and it was initially awkward, as they adjusted to being around me again after so long.
Day 5, 14JUL2017 (Fri)
A particularly beneficial opportunity for us was our lunch with a few Non-Commissioned Officers (NCOs). They gave us advice on how to interact with the Enlisted side of the Army, as well as on how to succeed as a fresh 2nd Lieutenant with no real knowledge of the Army.
Later, I had a follow-up appointment at the hospital. They said my finger was healing fine! After the hospital, I darted back to Ashburn for a delicious dinner with Walt, Blair, and Katie at Carolina Brothers BBQ, followed by a game night. My two favorites were The Grizzled and Fuse.
Day 6, 15JUL2017 (Sat)
Saturday was a blast. What started as hoping to jump on an organized trip from DC to NYC through Ft. Belvoir ended up being Katie and I paving our own way. We bought tickets for like $40 each. We were on the shadiest of Asian tour buses, checking in at what could’ve been an underground money laundering operation in DC’s Chinatown. We took the 4-hour bus ride up, and I didn’t pull any punches. I wanted to see it all. I had a list that, for the most part, worked out. We had a good time and certainly got our 10,000 steps in! My list was as follows:
✔️9/11 Memorial—This was Stuart’s biggest recommendation. The outdoor memorial was fantastic. Unfortunately, time didn’t allow us to go into the museum. This would be the only reason I feel the need to return to NYC.
✔️Empire State Building—Underwhelming
✔️Statue of Liberty—Saw it from across the pond
✔️Broadway Street
❌Wall Street
✔️Times Square
✔️Brooklyn Bridge—Drove under in our Uber
❌Central Perk—The restaurant from Friends. It literally doesn’t exist, and I was heartbroken.
✔️Central Park
❌Grand Central Station
❌Shawarma—Food of the Avengers
✔️United Nations HQ—Just barely missed the window to go in. I’d like to see it sometime. It was cool from the outside, though.
✔️NBC store—JJ’s recommendation. They moved locations though, and I wasn’t about to waste more time on it.
✔️Midtown Comics—Pretty cool! I picked up Captain America: White, which is part of the colors series by my favorite artist, Tim Sale. It’s been on my list for a while. Ironically, it’s still sitting on my shelf, and I haven’t read it yet.
Other favorite memories included eating Shake Shack for the first time, stopping by the Disney store, trying to find food to eat (we really wanted Japanese ramen, but ended up grabbing pizza to eat on the bus ride home), and bonding with the ghetto bus riders. I also asked our Uber (who hauled us across town from the 9/11 Memorial to catch our bus) where Avengers Tower was. He didn’t get it. I did, however, steal a kiss from the security dog at Trump Tower!
Day 7, 16JUL2017 (Sun)
I was able to attend church in the congregation where I grew up (Brambleton Ward). It was fantastic! I didn’t tell anyone that I was coming, and I scooped up Connor and my sisters to attend with me. I got to say “hi” to President Holtom and Jonathan Linton, my youth leader growing up. Another tender mercy was sitting down where I did. A couple walked in and sat in front of us. They looked familiar, so I asked them their names. I had guessed correctly—it was the Dowdles. I grew up with their daughter, Stephanie. So good to see them again. After church, I stopped by to see the Cottones and was there for forever. They were excited to see me, and Bonnie kept forcing food on me (I wouldn’t have it any other way!).
Day 8, 17JUL2017 (Mon)
Our 8th day was fairly uneventful in comparison. We had an Officers lunch (just our immediate supervisor and his supervisor) at the golf course club. Later, we ate a delicious dinner at Pica Taco there in Alexandria.
Day 9, 18JUL2017 (Tues)
Tuesday, our Measurement and Modeling Services department went out for lunch at and MSS lunch at a Peruvian chicken place, followed by an evening out at Great Falls with Fink, Katie, and Sadie (her pup). This was on Fink’s list of things to do, which was fun, because I wouldn’t have picked it myself, but ended up loving it. How had I never (if memory serves) been there, when I grew up right around the corner?! That night, we had Mookie’s BBQ.
Day 10, 19JUL2017 (Wed)
Apparently uneventful.
Day 11, 20JUL2017 (Thurs)
We picked Shalene up! So good to see her. Long overdue. We had been away from each other for 41 days! A guy at work had recommended a local Japanese restaurant, which Fink took his girlfriend to, and they loved it. So that night, Fink, Shalene, and I went, but it was only mediocre. Turns out, we went to the one Fink tried, but not the one that was originally recommended.
Day 12, 21JUL2017 (Fri)
After a delicious lunch at Bozzelli Bros. Deli on Post, the rest of the night was a circus. We had gifted my family an Olive Garden gift card two years in a row with the stipulation that they all have to go out to dinner together. Well, we finally forced them to use it when we were all out there (and not just because it’s Shalene’s favorite). We stopped by to see the Cottones beforehand since they wanted to meet Shalene, thinking it would be a short visit. Bonnie doesn’t work that way! I also forgot to call in a reservation to the restaurant. I never go out to eat in a big party, Shalene and I just show up! We invited Walt and Tamara, who were kind enough to exercise a little patience with the family. They did invite two other friends (Patrick and Cynthia) as a back-up in case it didn’t work out. It was a fine time, though! Walt and Tamara got to meet Shalene, and we all had a good evening just chatting!
Day 13, 22JUL2017 (Sat)
We woke up Saturday morning, drove to Ashburn, and grabbed breakfast with Blair and Zee at IHOP. My favorite server, Tori (a black boxer), was still working there, and she is hilarious. It was fun to have a little double-date. It was also the first time I had met Zee, oddly enough (we’ve interacted through social media plenty). Afterwards, we packed up the fam (those who would go) and headed down to see Monticello and the University of Virginia. It was supposed to be everyone, but Jenna didn’t sleep well the night before, Patrick was his usual self, and Robert was working. Unfortunately, that meant we’d all fit in one car except for one. Dad opted to sit out, which was sad because he had never been.
It was hotter than sin that day. So sweaty and sunny. I came to have mad respect for how much of a renaissance man Thomas Jefferson was! We had a good time though, and after we got to see the sites at Monticello, we drove through UVA’s campus, as I was heavily considering grad school in aerospace engineering there. Shalene and I agreed that we’d ultimately end up in Virginia, as it’s both a perfect blend of all of the defense engineering jobs and historical sites.
Day 14, 23JUL2017 (Sun)
After a terribly long Saturday of driving, we woke up really early and drove down to Yorktown, where we got breakfast with Brandon and Janet at Food Craft (only like a mile away from JJ and Alyssa’s old house!). After breakfast, we headed to Busch Gardens with JJ and Alyssa. They have a season pass, and Shalene and I got in for free (military members get a free trip for themselves and 4 dependents per year)! It was so fun just being with JJ again. It was also the first time I had met Alyssa and the first time Shalene had met either of them. Shalene got super sick from the Viking ship ride, swinging back and forth, plus there was a storm warning that shut down the rides for a while. We ended up chilling in the German village “bierzelt” and played Ellen’s Heads Up for a while. Just spending time together was enough.
Day 15, 24JUL2017 (Mon)
Monday, Shalene was supposed to hang with my dad, but she had a much-needed rest day coming her way. She stayed home to recuperate from a summer babysitting alone, and after work, I grabbed Chinese, and we stayed in the room watching shows. There was also a big storm that day that dropped a tree limb inches away from the rental car!
Day 16, 25JUL2017 (Tues)
On Tuesday, Shalene and Katie went to Mt. Vernon and some other local sites, while Fink and I got to tour the experimental airfield and take a tour of DC in a UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter! Afterwards, we had a fantastic lunch at Mission BBQ, my new favorite Nova restaurant!
Day 17, 26JUL2017 (Wed)
Wednesday, we went down to Quantico to talk drones with another program, then we took Shalene to the airport. Goodbye wasn’t quite so hard, as I’d be home in a week-and-a-half.
Day 18, 27JUL2017 (Thurs)
On Thursday, one of the employees at NVESD took us on a group trip to Arlington Cemetery and the Tomb of Unknown Soldier. He was an excellent guide and gives tours often. He even knocked on the Tomb Guards’ quarters and got us a tour! We got to speak with a few of the Soldiers who serve at the Tomb. Wow! Incredible standards and discipline.
Day 19, 28JUL2017 (Fri)
The next day, we loaded up into the van and drove up to Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland. We met up with a bunch of other Cadets, including one from my Platoon at Advance Camp, and toured the facility, including all of the Army’s new Cyber assets! A Major General met with us and presented each of us with a challenge coin—my first one came from a two-star General! After getting back, I went over to Jarrod’s for a game night. His roommate, Luke, was there, as well as an old high school friend, Brendan! We played Betrayal at House on the Hill.
Day 20, 29JUL2017 (Sat)
Saturday morning, I hit NovaCon with Jarrod and Luke. It was lots of fun! It was at The Ritz-Carlton in Tyson’s Corner, and Jarrod’s sister, Jenna, had a booth with her friend. I picked up a lot of cheap comic books and shook hands and chatted with Barb and the teacher from Stranger Things, as well as the dad from Flash and Lady Deathstrike from X2 (she loved my widow’s peak). Overall, it was a pretty good event for it being their first year. Afterwards, I went to Under Armor with Patrick, and he hooked me up with new running shoes, shorts, and a shirt since he worked there. Then, for my mom’s belated birthday, I treated her to Pei Wei, and we got to catch up one-on-one.
Day 21, 30JUL2017 (Sun)
Sunday morning, Fink and I woke up, picked up Katie at a nearby gas station outside of Post, and headed down to Quantico for The Freedom Fighters 5k/Half benefiting the Semper Fi Fund. It was our (Fink and I) first half marathon. We kept talking about how we regretted signing up for it, especially after a grueling camp experience, but it was a blast. My headphones quit on me at the starting line, so it was a full race with just my thoughts. We ran through Prince William Forest Park the whole time (map of route), which kept the entire course shaded and cool. It was fairly hilly for the last half, but I managed to maintain ~10 min/mile for all but the last mile! It’s the farthest I’ve ever run in one go, and I finished in 2:16:36. After the race, we really wanted chicken and waffles, so we went to Waffle House, which doesn’t even sell them. Instead, we went to IHOP, and I wanted to die after eating way too much.
Day 22, 31JUL2017 (Mon)
The next day, I was sure to try the chicken and waffles in the cafeteria at work—so delicious. That night, we met up in Manassas to get Cafe Rio with my mom and the siblings.
Day 23, 1AUG2017 (Tues)
As you can see, this trip revolved around food haha! We tried Thai Herbs for lunch, which was alright. I was glad to branch out and try some new things. There were a few dishes I loved (Kapow Chicken and Green Curry Chicken), and others I did not…
Day 24, 2AUG2017 (Wed)
There’s a machining and wood shop in the facility where we worked, so we asked for a tour. It was super interesting going through and seeing their capabilities. They even said that their resources are there to make the Army function and that when we get to our units, we can request things to be made through their facility, provided our unit has the funds! That night, we collected nighttime images for one of our projects. It had to be totally dark, as we were collecting thermal imaging, and the ground had to finish releasing its radiant heat. It was also Fink’s birthday, so he celebrated a day late.
Day 25, 3AUG2017 (Thurs)
On the 3rd, we had lunch at Mission BBQ, made last-minute preparations, and then presented on our projects that we worked on while in the facility. We processed so much data for so long, that afterwards, the project manager said he had been waiting years for the results we provided the facility! We’ll also have an opportunity to publish as the research comes to a conclusion! We got dinner at Chipotle, then I drove home. My dad, myself, and another sibling or two went and got froyo at Zinga, then Dad grabbed some Dominos next door. There was a 3-star General sitting in Dominos eating! How random. But I suppose that’s Nova for ya. Then we picked up Robert from work. It was great seeing him in action, in a position that’s pushed him.
Day 26, 4AUG2017 (Fri)
On our last day at work, the staff took us out to El Paso, we said goodbyes, then we hit the road! Fink and his girlfriend, Erin, drove separately from me since Erin wouldn’t be coming home with us. We headed out to Westover, Maryland, where his family had rented a beach house for a reunion. I was super nervous at first, but I ended up having a great time. I beat Fink and Erin there, though, and I was driving through corn fields late at night trying to find a house in the dark after Google Maps cut out. It was a good time haha!
Day 27, 5AUG2017 (Sat)
I actually had a lot more fun than I anticipated! I didn’t get in the water at all (it was windy and choppy), but I read a lot out on the beach and started a giant puzzle on historic Virginia. I also facetimed Shalene and Eva before we ate.
The crab was so good! We ate a ton of crabs that we caught ourselves as well as a bushel covered in Old Bay that someone picked up locally. What an experience. Those suckers sure make you work for their meat! We left much later than I had hoped, so I eventually had to trade out driving with Fink for the last 30-45 minutes. We did, however, finally get our Lucky Charms milkshakes from Burger King—an internship-long quest! They didn’t taste like what I had expected, and I don’t think I’d get another one, but we had been talking about it for our entire internship.
Day 28, 6AUG2017 (Sun)
Sunday morning, we hit the airport. We got all our bags checked and went to the USO. We had never been before, but apparently, most US airports have a military lounge with free wifi and tons of snacks—Monster, microwave meals, popcorn, trail mix, protein bars, etc. Not the lame stuff.
My flight to Minneapolis was fine. I slept most of the flight. I was super uncomfortable, but really tired. The flight from Minneapolis to SLC was also fine. I had to wait in SLC for an extra 1.5 hours, though, as they repaired my plane. Shalene wasn’t super stoked about that. She had shown up to the airport early because she was so excited and ended up hanging out for 2.5 hours with Eva…Luckily, Jim, Sue Ann, and Sara brought Stephen and Tara’s kids down, too. They at least had company for a while. It made for a perfect end to a tough and rewarding summer!
Internship Experience
As for what I did during my internship, I’m not allowed to talk about most of it, so this is what I have on my résumé:
Worked in the Measurement and Modeling Services (MMS) Branch of the Modeling and Simulation Division (MSD) of the Night Vision and Electronic Sensors Directorate (NVESD) at Ft. Belvoir, Virginia. My involvement covered two projects:
Thermal Imaging Field Data Collection
Collected day- and nighttime thermal and visible-spectrum images of various weapons systems at eight different positions
Non-Imaging Based Human ID at Far Ranges
Completed Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI) Group 2 Social & Behavioral Research Investigators training program
Analyzed visible spectrum-based videos for cardiac signal detection
Analyzed cardiac signal for heart rate variability analysis for the purpose of human ID
Analyzed videos collected at various ranges and resolutions, generated databases, and used those databases to understand the limitations of range and resolution on human ID
Provided feedback to developers for improving the Graphical User Interface (GUI)
Wrote §5.4.2 Process of Analyzing Data and §5.4.3 Score Heart Rate for ID sections of GUI user manual
Wrote title and abstract for work-in-progress research paper
Results, user manual, and GUI will be used as part of an NVESD program
