damned if you do damned if you don't

Goodbye Idaho!!! I am just about done here, in fact the end may be sooner than thought but I had better not get my hopes up. So the experiment I was supposed to run Wednesday-Friday is going to probably be postponed due to the moron effect. This other group was running experiments and has been taking up part of the loop we need. They were supposed to be done about 3 weeks ago and that has caused much delay. Well last Friday they told us they were done, it turns out they are not and will be running tomorrow. So tomorrow I am going to find out from my mentor if I will be able to even do anything by Friday. If not, I am out of here. I can't stand to sit in my office and do nothing, I am sick of that. I just want to go home now.

I am very disappointed with this summer. I have talked to many people that had internships at other labs. When they got there the lab had their housing check ready for them as well as travel reimbursement. The other labs also have your computer ready to go with all the security clearances you need. This summer I get here, I do not have an office to begin with. I mainly took over someone else’s office. The housing and travel reimbursement I did not get until about my 5th week here. My project has been up in the air all summer. I have had to do mini projects to keep busy, and to help on other peoples projects. It has been frustrating to get anything done.

Most interns do not come to national labs for the money; they come for the practical experience. So far I have had none. Last summer I designed some stuff on the computer, and was promised this summer when I came back we would run the experiment the first two weeks I was here, and for the rest of the summer I was supposed to write a CFD code to match our experiment. Well so far I have done neither and it is frustrating and very disappointing. This lab is trying to become a world class lab, and if it keeps screwing around its interns like it has this summer then people will spread the word and no one will want to work here. Especially at the site, because riding a bus for 3 hours a day is not worth it. If you work at the site for 30 years you will spend 2 full years on a bus, that means 24 hours a day 365 days a year on a bus. That my friends is sad, you figure if the lab wants someone to go through that then they should at least treat their people the way a world class lab would.

If you want an idea of what it’s like here read "Catch 22" that is what the politicians are like here. They want you to do something but at the same time the thing you do is against their policy. It is just a cluster jam.

The good news it that I only have less than a week. I will be coming home soon and far far away from here. I will be glad to get home it has been a hard summer. Particularly being away from Kailey. I miss her a lot and I go a little bit stir crazy without her. The first week here I didn't really eat dinners because I am used to eating with her (ie she cooks most of the time I admit it). Anyways I miss Kailey a lot.

Love and kisses,
Rick

To leave you with a quote:
"Yossarian looked at him soberly and tried another approach. "Is Orr crazy?" "He sure is," Doc Daneeka said. "Can you ground him?" "I sure can but first he has to ask me to. That's part of the rule." "Then why doesn't he ask you to?" "Because he's crazy," Doc Daneeka said. "He has to be crazy to keep flying combat missions after all the close calls he's had. Sure I can ground Orr. But first he has to ask me to." "That's all he has to do to be grounded?" "That's all. Let him ask me." "And then you can ground him?" Yossarian asked. "No, then I can't ground him." "You mean there's a catch?" "Sure there is a catch," Doc Daneeka replied. "Catch-22. Anyone who wants to get out of combat duty isn't really crazy."
~Catch 22