Week 8: Kiss and Ride

I can't believe how quickly time is passing. We only have a week and a half left, which is crazy. I am really enjoying the projects I have been working on and really like the other interns. It will be so sad to go our separate ways in just a few weeks. This week also signifies an end to my time at NIST. It has been so amazingly fun and a great learning experience. It has also inspired me to think about possible directions I want to go with my career.

But, before we get to all of that, we'll start with the weekend. On Friday night, my cousin, Becca, arrived from Boston to DC. We ate a quick dinner before heading out to buy some groceries at Target. I also did some laundry that evening. I decided to start her DC trip off really unexciting, so that the bar would be set low.

Saturday was fun. Becca and I went to Ford's Theatre and took a tour. It was really interesting. The national park rangers do the tour and he did a fabulous job. He was VERY animated and a quite good storyteller, so it was very captivating as we listened to how everything played out that evening. We then grabbed lunch at Kanlaya, a Thai restaurant before heading to the International Spy Museum. My friend Julie met up with us there, and it was really cool to see all the old spy equipment and to hear the stories. After the museum, we were pretty tired, so we grabbed milkshakes at Ted's Bulletin and headed home. That evening, my cousin Becca and I watched Top Gun. I had never seen it before, so it was nice to finally understand all the phrases so often quoted from that movie.

Sunday we went to church with Amy, which was fun. It is crazy how different it is compared to the DC 2nd ward. That evening, we went out to Toni's house for dinner and to watch the Wizard of Oz. It was really fun. Burgers were delicious and it has been a very long time since I watched the Wizard of Oz.

The work week has mostly been focused on wrapping up the Summer Institute. I have been working on going though the assessments from the teachers of all the activities that they had done. It has been interesting to see the difference of opinion for the same activities. Overall, the reviews were very favorable. I also started working at ACP and I am working on the write ups for the SOCK activities.

 I also did some fun things with my cousin, Becca, this week. Monday night, we walked around to all the monuments. It was really nice. Tuesday we went to the temple and did inititories. It is always amazing to be in the temple. Funny story, there is a temple shuttle that goes between the metro station and the temple. Every time I go, I chat with the driver. As we were pulling into the metro station, Becca read the sign "kiss and ride" sign and asked what it means. In jest, I said, "some cabbies charge in kisses." As we left the shuttle, I thanked him, and he said, "What, no kiss?" Sadly, I didn't hear it, but it was mentioned to me later. A terrible opportunity to miss! ;)

Wednesday, we went on a tour of the pentagon. It wasn't that great of a tour. The fun part, was that we organized it through my grandma's cousin, so we had a navel officer meet us at the top of the metro escalator. He got us through all the security without even the slightest check. I don't know what my grandma's cousin does, but clearly, it's important.

Also, Becca made it to the metro station before me. While she was waiting, a man walked by who was probably in his mid-fifties. He was looking at her and made eye contact. Well, she loves making eye contact, and since he was still making eye contact, she was kind of playing the staring game and looked right back at him. He looked away and she started texting. When she looked up he was looking at her again. He then proceeded to ask her out for a drink. It was quite funny.

Thursday my cousin, Becca, left to return home to Boston. It was also my last day of work at NIST. It was sad to turn in my badge and to leave. I really loved working there and working with Mary. It was really incredible to work with all the teachers and the scientists and to make so many amazing contacts.

Friday, we had a tour of the capitol and the Hill interns took us to their office. It was really interesting. I find politics and policy really interesting, but I feel like I don't know much about the whole process. I learned a ton about the process and the ways that the interns are involved. I was kind of bummed that I couldn't apply for the SPS Hill internship in the future.

Week 7: The Bees Knees

Friday night, I came home and crashed hard. It had been an exhausting week and I really needed the down time. Plus, the weekend was going to be busy.

Saturday, I cleaned up in the morning, and then headed out to Prince George’s Plaza to grab lunch with a mission friend, Rebecca Carver. It was so good to see her. I thought she was so cool on the mission and she was so sarcastic and funny, it was great. She ended up marrying and American and is now living out here. It is amazing how many people live out in this area. I am more popular than I thought.

Saturday night, I headed out to Alexandria, Virginia to help the city celebrate its birthday! Julie and I decided to walk around the city a bit before heading to the party. We grabbed dinner at the Fish Market. We got crab stuffed avocado for an appetizer and then split the salmon plate for dinner. It was the perfect amount of food. We got to the park for the party, just before it started to pour. Luckily, they had built little rain shelters, so we stood under the rain shelters for maybe 15 minutes before the rain cleared up and we headed back out for the party.

They gave us free cupcakes! The symphony played while they shot off fireworks, and they also fired the cannons. It was really cool. However, the highlight was a little boy named Oliver. He was about 18 months old, and he came up to Julie and started sitting in her lap. Oliver’s mom came up to fetch him, but we were okay with it. The family ended up moving their picnic blanket up next to ours and we spent a good chunk of the evening playing with him. He really liked touching my knees for some reason and pretty soon he was hugging Julie and me and sitting on our laps. He was so adorable. Okay, mother nature, I am getting the baby memo.

The rest of the weekend was pretty relaxed. And Monday started another week! I continued my work at NIST, which I would write about each week. It can be read here. The sad news, was that on Tuesday, I broke my computer. I was working on it while I was sitting on my bed, and I set my computer down a little too close to the edge, and when I went to get up, it fell off the bed. The good news, is that the computer functions just fine, however, the screen is completely ruined. So, I have been looking into whether I want to buy a new computer or just buy a new screen.

This next weekend should be exciting because my cousin, Becca, flies in on Friday night!

Week 6: Fly Me to the Moon.

This week has been crazy. It was fun spending the weekend with my cousins, but the trip back to DC was a bit of a mess. I few back from Atlanta to Charlotte, North Carolina and then from there to Baltimore. Unfortunately, I was flying US Airways, and airline that in my experience is quite poor in terms of their service. My flight from Atlanta was delayed because they book the flights so close together that any little problem can cause a big delay. Because of the delay, we arrived late, and I had less than twenty minutes between when I stepped off the plane and when it was to push back from the gate. I was told the wrong gate, so I headed to another terminal. Luckily, I checked the boards and found my gate was back where I was originally. I walked straight onto my plane but not before they made me check my bag. I was not happy about that.

My flight headed to the runway, and then we stopped. The captain came on and explained that he had been told by the tower that they couldn't take off for 35 minutes. I wouldn't have bothered for much except that I had one friend picking me up at the airport who had school in the morning and another friend coming to stay with me that night. When we landed, I went to claim my bag, and, of course, my friend Amy, who was there to pick me up, had just been told by a police officer, but two minutes before I was ready, to move and had to circle the airport to pick me up. It took her about a half an hour to make it through the traffic and back to where she was originally waiting for me. I had R let my friend, Candice into the building because my roommate, N, wasn't home yet, and I wasn't either. I finally arrived home at about midnight and hurriedly went to bed. 

Monday started the NIST Summer Institute for Middle School Teacher, which I was helping with. Most of my adventures can be found here. I really enjoy working with the teachers, and I am learning so much about NIST and techniques for teaching science. I really enjoyed the Ballistics Lab Tour. They let us try on the bulletproof vests and they let us take a test shot at one of the vests they were testing. It was a really cool tour.

On Wednesday, we got to take a tour of NASA. It was really cool, but a bit long and at some points boring. The first thing we saw was really cool. It was a giant sphere that had different images projected on it. We looked at earth pictures showing flights around the world, pollution and other things. We also toured a facility that had very large equipment, including a four story clean room and a giant centrifuge, which were being used for the new James Webb telescope. We also talked with Darren’s adviser, which was really interesting. He has had an amazing career. 

I also had a really fun time with my friend, Candice. She was in town for a few days, so we went out to have dinner together for and then grabbed ice cream on Monday night. Tuesday we went and saw Despicable me in the park, which was fun. All the fun tired me out, because I ended up staying up pretty late every night and waking up pretty early.

Week 5: Georgia Bound

Saturday we went to the Folklife festival put on by the Smithsonian. They had booth set up about the Americas, fashion, as well as a bunch of booths for Hungary. It was fun walking around and seeing all the displays. They also had food, so we got some Chicken and Waffles and fresh fruit. It was fun but really hot. That evening we went to McFadden’s Bar because J won an open bar. I went to help her try and win two bottles of champagne. I didn't stay very long, but I stayed long enough to drink a sprite. The rest of the weekend was pretty relaxed. 

Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, I was focused on helping Mary prepare for the Summer Institute. I had to finish ordering supplies, unpack the boxes of supplies and reorganize them. I also worked on an evaluation that we will be giving to the teachers to help make the summer institute better. I am also in charge of finding a good way to document the week and provide the teachers a way to find that information. So we discussed ideas and different types of online sources we could use. Right now we are thinking of using a blog and pinterest. We’ll see how that turns out.

Tuesday night I went to Institute. I really like the institute group. They are really fun and it is nice to have the spiritual boost once a week. Plus, Sister Fulkerson makes delicious treats. I really like going and I need to make that a big part of my life.

Wednesday night, I flew to Atlanta! My cousin and his wife just had a baby boy named Hans. He is SO cute! Since I am here on the east coast, I decided this was a good opportunity to come and see him and visit my cousins before I move to Oregon for the fall. My trip to Atlanta will be for four days and It should be fun.

Thursday was the fourth of July and was pretty uneventful. It has been raining in Georgia, so the fireworks were canceled. It was nice though to spend time hanging out with the family. We played Dance Central on Kinnect and Betrayal at House on the Hill. It has been a really fun trip and I am really glad I got to see my first cousin once removed. I will get home just in time for the summer institute to start, which should be a crazy adventure.