Hobbies

Contents :
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Hiking
Camping
Fossil Collecting and Rockhounding
Photography
Bread Baking

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Coding is a big part of my research and I enjoy coding for fun! See my github profile and Projects page!

An example star trail animation made from code I wrote to make star trails given a random assortment of stars and a rotational axis.

I have experience with the programming languages Python, MATLAB, Mathematica, C, C++, and cern ROOT. I work primary with Python and I am very familiar with the following packages as I use them frequently in my research: Numpy, Scipy, Keras, Pyroot, Matplotlib, and Pandas.

I also love tinkering with Linux systems and had 2 years experience as a linux system administrator for Telescope Array’s Data Server and Computational Clusters. I used to even host this very website on a Raspberry Pi (Until I thought that was an unwanted cybersecturity risk for my house)!

Hiking

Living in Boulder Colorado, close to the Front Range or being in close proximity to National Parks in Utah, Colorado, Nevada, Wyoming, or Idaho gives me ample opportunity to hike and experience the outdoors.

Hiking on the snow pack at Crater Lake NP with my wife Kiley.

Hiking through the Fern Canyon in Red Woods State and National Parks.

Camping

Again, living out west there is plenty of opportunity to camp in State Parks, National Parks, and our Public Lands or better yet, finding my own campsite in a National Forest or Federal Land Managed by the Bureau of the Land Management (BLM) where permitted. There is much land out west where one can use for dispersed camp!

Dispersed camping near Canyonlands NP.

Dispersed camping near Zion NP.

Fossil Collecting and Rockhounding

Utah has plenty of unique fossils and rocks. While working for the Telescope Array Cosmic Ray Observatory, I had plenty of time to explore Millard County, UT looking at the rocks out there. I have traveled to the Dugway Geode Beds, Topaz Mountain, Fossil Mountain, Sunstone Knoll, and more. On public land you may collect rocks and fossils (always check federal, state, and local regulations and make sure you are not on a active register claim!). Good sources for rules in Utah are: BLM Collection Rules and Utah Geological Survey Collecting Rules.

Cyanobacteria Fossils from one the times when much of Utah was underwater. Left: Stromatolite Right: Oncolite.

Orthocone nautiloid fossils from the Ordovician period found at Fossil Mountain, Utah. Some of my favorite fossils from Utah.

Receptaculites fossil from the Ordovician period found at Fossil Mountain, Utah. I like the nice geometric spirals.

Trilobites, Elrathia kingii, in Wheeler Shale from Swasey Peak, Utah.

Photography

Being around the great outdoors gives lots of inspiration to capturing the amazing views on can being in the right place in time. I enjoy landscape and night photography while outdoors.

I took this photo in Grand Teton NP at the Snake River Overlook. See my Photography page!

Bread Baking

I have a sourdough starter (named Fest) that I’ve been feeding for about a year now. I like to bake bread and find the process very soothing and fascinating that I can make bread from an organism that I raised! Also the bread also comes out tasty and beautiful! I follow this Couple of Chefs recipe, however I use rye flour instead of whole wheat flour. My starter is fed half bread flour and half rye flour.

After forming the dough and kneading to form gluten, the dough is ready for it’s last proof in the fridge in a Banneton.

Left: Dough turned out of the Banneton and sliced with a razor blade. Now its ready to go into the oven. Right: Finished Bread! Got some nice rise to it while baking.

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