friday takeout

Russell Bahl

Testing Technician | Dubuque Center

When you were growing up, what game or activity did you absolutely dread playing, and why?

When I was young, my older brothers would play a game on hot summer days that I absolutely loathed. You may not have heard of it before, as it's quite obscure, but it was called "Pretend Russ is a Rock All Day and Ignore Everything He Says and Does." To this day, I still don't understand what they saw in that game. Personally, I always found the experience to be boring and extremely frustrating.

What is the age in your life that stands out as the most memorable, and why?

Today (not due to memory loss). The old me constantly looked to fond memories of the past; I suppose I was just in search of simpler times. Today, I strive to distance myself from that way of thinking. It's not that I am running from the past, in fact, I wouldn't change a thing. My mindset now is that every day we have on this "mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam" is an absolute miracle. Keep learning. Keep helping. Keep living.

If you could start all over again, what would be your career choice?

If you couldn't tell from the Carl Sagan quote above, I like astronomy, so that would likely be my do-over career. A few years ago, in a backwards kind of way, I nearly found myself achieving that dream. Prior to coming to NICC, I worked in the laser/electro-optic field, mostly within the medical device arena. That, however, didn't stop me from applying with the Keck Observatory multiple times in hopes of making a transition to something I was passionate about. After many unsuccessful attempts, I eventually broke through a few years ago, and was flown out to Hawaii to interview for a job working on the Adaptive Optic & Laser Guide Star Systems on the twin telescopes. In short, these systems allow astronomers to produce images from Earth-based telescopes at a level of quality that was previously only achievable by space-based telescopes such as Hubble. Really cool stuff.

It was between me and one other candidate, and that person ended up getting the job, but I'm at peace with that. They did create a new position a few months later and asked me to apply, but in all honesty, and in the spirit of transparency and vanquishing stigmas, I had FINALLY begun addressing decades-long brain health issues, so I decided not to apply. Will I always have the dreaded "What if?" lodged in the back of my brain? Of course I will, but at least I won't be working at nearly 14,000 ft. above sea level on top of a volcano every day. Island paradise or not, there's snow and limited oxygen up there!

Give your colleagues a suggestion: what are 1, 2, or 3 of your favorite smart phone apps?

SkyView. Have I mentioned that I like astronomy?

Coolest personal SkyView story: I'm at a friend's house in Dubuque and their son, who was five years old at the time, was playing with my newly downloaded SkyView app. He asked, "what's that?" so I crouch down to see what he's looking at on the screen and see that it's the International Space Station (ISS). So, we all looked up and, sure enough, there it was ... whizzing by in Low Earth Orbit at 17,130 mph and, lucky for us, in a position where we could see the sunlight reflecting off it. That was the first of many times I've been able to see the ISS with the naked eye, thanks to SkyView, and the inquisitive mind of a five-year-old, who is now a total science nut in the second grade.

SkyView is free, but I totally bought the upgraded version for a couple bucks that shows much more, including all the old rocket bodies and such that we've littered our orbit with.

If you could choose one cartoon character to be your best friend, what character would you choose?

Scooby Doo. I've never been so certain in my life that someone would "get me." Scoob would. Guaranteed.