Raina's Quantum Zone

Check your common sense at the door. You are now entering The Quantum Zone. No, this isn't the introduction to a bad episode of The Twilight Zone. This is stranger than fiction; it's quantum physics!

Update Alert!! =)

Well, I finally drove my old 1987 Mazda RX-7 into the ground like I always said I would, so come check out my new 1996 Infinity G20!

Ashly!

My Mom sent me a digital picture of my lovely, intelligent and incredibly sweet daughter Ashly!!! I hope I can get some MORE pictures up of her soon!!

EverQuest

Kilian and my other characters are all a large part of 'me' (Kilian even kinda looks like me =)... I moonlight as Kilian the woodelven druid (used to be a warrior in beta), Jillian the human monk, and Luaidh the half elven druid (and others) amongst excellent companions...including Modius/Modari (who created this BEAUTIFUL logo for me! =), Myleign, Marduin, Zappera, Fallon, Glaneon, Myrra, and Sammuel, as well as WAY too many others to name, all very dear to me! Our core group is very tightknit... honorable people who work really well together! I can't say enough about this game...try it, live it, love it =) For more checkout either the EverQuest site or EQVault.net.

Rose Gardening

My favorite roses are English Roses, one of which (Graham Thomas) is pictured below. I was very excited this morning to wake up to two beautiful blossoms! This is the first bloom of my 'Graham Thomas.' I also immensely injoy my 'Heritage' rose, and a minature which is unidentified. It is the only minature in the English Rose style, having full, flat-cupped blossoms, about the shade of my 'Heritage' rose. If anyone else has seen minatures like this and know any names or genealogy, please Email me and let me know!

Here is a complete list of my current rose varieties.

My 'Graham Thomas' English Rose

Physics

I have just accepted a contract position at Proctor&Gamble in Cincinnati, OH to work in their surface science group on a part time basis while finishing up my degree at Northern Kentucky University!!! Woohoo!!! I am very excited about working at P&G and expanding my knowledge of surface and material sceience for such a great company. I start work on August 2nd! Wish me luck! =)

I completed most of my work at Virginia Commonwealth University, most recently participating in research with Dr. John Carlisle. I only have three more physics courses left to take, and I am done with the math. That leaves all those general education requirements I've been putting off in favour of the math/science courses that I LOVE!!! I will be starting on those GenEd's this fall so hopefully it will go quickly! =)

My research at VCU was on Iron on Silicon (111) and Iron/Silicon multilayers created by Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE). We went to the Advanced Light Source (ALS) in Berkley, California the first week of August 1998 and analyzed some of these multilayers, with different thicknesses and deposition temperatures. We were on Beamline 8.0.

Below is a Reflection High Energy Electron Diffraction (RHEED) pattern I took of the Silicon (111) 7x7 reconstructed surface.

RHEED Image of Si (111) 7x7 Clean Surface

I also worked extensively on the ESCA system (Electron Spectroscopy for Chemical Analysis) trying to get it in operational order. It is always having one problem or another. Every day, something new...<sigh>... We had planned on using it to do sputter-depth charicterization of the multilayers before we went to the ALS, but it stubbornly refused to cooperate with us.

Our (&@%#$) ESCA System ;)