I checked out your links, and HOLY COW, you are an AMAZING Artist! Seriously, I was blown away…the ultra vibrant colors, the materials, the designs…it was like walking while awake but through a dream. I’m speechless.
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Personally, I am the father of a 14-year old girl in gymnastics (since preschool?,) MESA (Math, Engineering, Science, Achievment - a school program,) and advanced classes in school. She’s also a fan of Dr. Who, Supernatural, Sherlock (the British one,) and we’ve just started watching Firefly. I’m also husband to a feisty redhead that likes watching Supernatural with our daughter. I’m a vegetarian. My daughter just joined me. I love technology, computers, and building stuff. I suppose that is how I became attracted to the Glowforge.
Professionally, I used to be a preschool teacher. I was in a car accident resulting in a traumatic brain injury and that produced some changes that made supervising children professionally no longer possible. So, currently lost in the wilderness professionally. I’m hoping to stay connected to this field by using the Glowforge to create things to use in classrooms (or in the home) that I develop through the lens of child development research and best practices. If that fails, I’ll have a machine versatile enough to change course.
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If your daughter continues to excel at science etc, have her apply to the National Youth Science Camp that @dan and I are alumni of. Here’s a link to info, followed by link to application area.
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Why did I not know about this when I was a kid?
They are some of the most awesome, drama free people I have ever known. I might post (when I find them) a few pics of the awesome things one might experience at camp.
I sincerely appreciate this. She is considering something of a career in the sciences, so this would be great! I’ll look into it.
I forgot to mention that woodshop is just about her favorite class. Her’s is the last middle school in our area that has one.
Hi GF comunity, just almost emptied my savings account in the purchase of the GF-Pro.
Professionally: I’m active duty U.S. Army Engineer, 12H38 Construction Supervisor for 15 yeas. But aside from my construction background in the military I’ve picked up wood working and have been learning quickly. I also enjoy dabbling in fine art of various mediums, you name it I’ve most likely tried it. As a result I have been selected to work in a particular special assignment in the Army. I will be working with hard woods in several wood working projects from cabinet making to building podiums and anything in between. For about two years I have been build shadow boxes and wooden plaques for retiring Officers and enlisted military. I started using a wood burning pyro-engraver to add detali on the plaques but it takes for ever to finish a project by hand. With the GF I plan to open up a small business and make good use of my talents. I’ll be posting some of my work for you all to see and comment on improvements or suggestions. Thank you for your time SSG Velasco, Rafael.
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Welcome @ryohan109. Thank you for your service. I was just talking to a retired airman and he said that there are lots of opportunities for shop work on the bases in the Air Force. He’s invited me over to check out some of his tools.
Tour of top of radio telescope at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory a few miles from camp.
img src=“//cdck-file-uploads-global.s3.dualstack.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/glowforge/original/2X/b/be060d4542b8b3ee53ec92d85802175f620ed895.jpg” width=“309” height=“206”>
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That would be just amazing! The two areas she has mentioned specifically are engineering and some sort of lab work. Although, recently, space came up!
I checked out the website. She did a mini local version of this here in Washington state called Tech Trek this last year and she really loved it. I mentioned the National Youth Science Camp to her and the only disappointment she had was that she’d have to wait as long as she would to apply! @dan, if you guys are looking for a group to support that fosters young girls STEM development, check them out. The link gets you to the Washington State page, but it’s bigger than that.
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That’s the big scope in Virginia right? The largest steerable dish in the world -Where there is a RF blackout zone, no cell phones or other interfering frequencies…
Astronomy and astrophysics are keen interests of mine. So much of what is a focus of study today was science fiction within my lifetime.
Radio scopes can see through obscuring dust, and gave us our first glimpse of Sagt.A -the black hole that resides at the center of our galaxy… and frequencies across spacetime that were emitted in the xray but are so far away that expansion has red shifted them far below visible light. Nothing there for your eyes.
We continue to devise instruments to extend our senses, to see more and further across space and into deep time.
We are a way for the Universe to know itself. - Sagan
Thanks for sharing that!
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It’s in Green Bank, WV. They had another 300 ft scope before that one that collapsed in 1988. A real underwear changing moment.
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Wow!!
Didn’t know that. Bet it could be heard for quite a distance!
I expect wind load was the biggest threat, do you know the reason for the failure?
I expect every living creature in the area got a shot of adrenaline!
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It was just structural failure under it’s own weight. No wind that night. They were moving the antenna from the control building in the picture. Can you imagine? No one was hurt. I’m in the amateur astronomy community in WV. Sat in on a lecture about the collapse and development of the replacement. Kind of cool. My interests are more in optical astronomy as an amateur. One of my toys in the picture. Not the perfect spot because my view is quite limited toward the west, so I haul a scope over to a nearby knoll for horizon to horizon viewing.
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Hi marmak3261, its an honer to serve my country as a soldier. Yes, there is plenty of opportunities but for me my work keeps me very bussy. I’m currently serving as a Carpentry /Masonry instructor for Army, Navy, and Air Force Soldiers. It’s quite time and labor intensive, but very rewarding to train the future of our armed service. Once I have a GF and get settled in my new duty station I’m planning on establishing a deal as a vender in the retail store on the base. The retired Airmen sounds like he has quite a wood shop set up, I on the other hand have very few wood working tools.
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Yeah, I can’t imagine what those poor souls in the building experienced. With modern engineering prowess I’m surprised it just fell.
Very cool toy! You have a light bucket dedicated to that, and a portable scope?
The topography and your location give you good skies I’ll bet. Wish I had a dedicated enclosure. The winter skies are rich, and there is something primeval about shivering at the eyepiece…
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Y’all have some amazing work. Wow! Professionally, I used to do OSHA training for a very large EPC. I grew tired of the corporate politics and other great corporate things and decided to take a hiatus. In my time off, I decided that I want to see Big Bend National Park. I geared up and headed west! I camped for a week at Big Bend, camera in hand most of the time and then the decision had to be made whether I should return home or just keep on going. I kept on going - not 100% sure where I was heading but that was irrelevant; except to the border patrol - if they ask where you’re going and you reply I have no idea, expect to be detained. Oops.
I ended up traversing the mountains and white sands of New Mexico, the Grand Canyon, Sedona, Zion National Park, Moab/Arches National Park, the Grand Tetons and finally Yellowstone. After 5 days in Yellowstone, I woke up one morning, after a month sleeping in my tent and decided that I should head on home - for a little while, at least. I posted a few of the images on social media that I had made along the way and people started to really enjoy them. They would share them, they would offer to buy prints, I sold several to an interior designer doing a new office.
I’ve honed my craft since then and am lucky enough to be able to be able to make a career out of something that I love doing. I’ve been able to travel much of the United States by car (yes, I love driving), spend time in some of the most untouched and exquisite places in the country, paddle a canoe between the US and Canada (shh), travel to South Africa to do a book, and met so many people with incredible stories.
The Glowforge will be an outlet for the photography side of my business as I plan on doing some jigsaw puzzle work using mine and select photographers work at local mom & pop businesses in amazing destinations and also a valiant attempt to make life personal again and do some puzzle postcards. A few other things will spin off of that but the 'forge is mainly (at least at this point) going to be utilized for those purposes.
Here are a few random images that I had on my desktop.
Wild Horse of North Dakota
Portrait work from South Africa
Paddling in the BWCA near the MN/Canada Border
Cloudcroft, NM - just down the road from the Sunspot Solar Observatory
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Beatuful images.
I like the meteor/satelite between the trees with the galaxy in the background, great composure!
I saw one recently with Roman ruins in the foreground, with the Milky Way in back, and recorded the pass over of the ISS.
The ancient ruins framing the space station was glorious, such a stunning contrast across time!
Your work reflects the joy you derive.
Thank you for showing us!
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Very nice! I love both the images and the fact that you get to make a living visiting those places. At one time, that would have been my ultimate dream job.
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