Friday, July 11, 2008
Day 19 (Would you like more NASA propaganda?)
Today was a really relaxed day, for the most part. We worked on clips all morning and did not stop for anything. I got the introduction to my video done and started to work on the interviews. I got all of the introductions of the students done and Lara’s interview, the main one, done. I was really pleased with myself. I can’t help feeling the pressure of getting this project done weighing down on me though. I feel really stressed now because there is less than a week until our final product is due. We went to lunch and then went back to the dorm to change because we wanted to film in front of the green screen after lunch. We went back to NIA worked on memorizing our script and then headed over to see Mike and Kevin, the producers of NASA 360. We spent an hour and a half over there basically just talking to them and hanging out. They gave us a bunch of NASA propaganda and I have a ton of stuff to put up in my room now. They also gave us music to use for our video. They showed us the ropes of editing and the tips and trick of it too. They even showed us some footage that was just now being processed! It was one of the coolest things I have ever done and we planned to shoot in their studio tomorrow! I really can’t wait! We went back to NIA and organized all of our goodies and then we went back to the dorms.
Day 18 (Models Galore)
Wednesday was a day of fun… not really. All we did was rip video footage off of the camera and work on it. It took me forever to get all of the footage off of the camera. Then we went to go get our picture taken with a plane. It was awesome because we all got to dress up in flight suits! Then we went to lunch and it was off to the model shop for us. We got to see a ton of stuff at the model shop. We were taught how they make it and got to have samples of a bunch of different stuff. I absolutely loved it there because everything there reminded me of robotics. They use servos and CIM motors on their models. I couldn’t believe that I was seeing things that I would work with every day back at home. After the model shop we went back to NIA and finished up our final script. Then it was time to head back to the dorm.
Day 17 (More interviews)
Tuesday was another day of interviewing. We interviewed Nick first. He talked a lot about his project which was pretty cool and then we went back to NIA. We were planning to interview Lara after lunch. We hung out at NIA till then and I worked on taking off all the video footage I could from the previous tapes. At 10:15 we went over to where Nolan worked and got to see a lunar habitat. A lot happened and all in all Wesley made the habitat deflate while we were inside. Next we went to lunch and then headed over to Lara’s work place. It was pretty cool. She gets to burn things all day which would be awesome. Then Jon and I split up. I went back to NIA where I worked on our clips and started to work on the intro to our movie. We also worked on our research paper periodically throughout the day. Soon enough it was time to go back to the dorm.
Day 16 (The Interviews Begin)
We went to work and, today was the first day of our interviews of our fellow students. But, at 9 AM we had our second interview with Dr. Bushnell because the first did not have audio. We went to his office and he jokingly gave us a hard time about having to do the interview a second time. We did the interview which was just as long as the first and just as informational. After we headed over to Enrique’s work place and interviewed him. His project is really cool because he gets to work with an air traffic control program and write his own algorithms. I wish I could do that! We headed back to NIA and worked for a bit. After we headed to lunch and waited for Jake and Greg to get there. It turned out that they went out to lunch so we wasted a bunch of time sitting there. After lunch we went to Wesley and Sam’s work place. The interview took five minutes and we sat and chatted for a bit. Then Jake and Greg called and told us that they were back. We headed over to their office and then they massively failed at their interview (See face book videos for more info). Jon got really mad about how much they weren’t prepared and then we headed over to Nolan’s work place. We stayed there for a bit, interviewed him and his mentor and then chilled for a bit. Then we headed back to NIA where we stayed for about 30 minutes and then left to pick everyone else up.
Day 13, 14, + 15 (The Fourth and So Much More)
Today was the Fourth of July! We got to sleep and/or stay in our rooms till 11. Then at 11 we went to the mall for lunch. At the mall Lauren Nick and I went to Quiznos. Then we walked around and we went to Spencer’s and bought an awesome strobe light for our rave tonight! We walked around and I bought my sister a webkinz and a poster of the jonas brothers. We had to meet up at 1 and then we headed back to the dorm. Then we chilled for a bit and decided to go to play mini golf. We spent 45 minutes out to the mini golf place and it wasn’t open. So we went back and went bowling. Then had another massive rave and partied.
Saturday and Sunday
Saturday was water country which consisted of bad food, too much chlorine and a pretty bad sunburn
Sunday was parent visiting day... enough said.
Saturday and Sunday
Saturday was water country which consisted of bad food, too much chlorine and a pretty bad sunburn
Sunday was parent visiting day... enough said.
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Day 12 (The Play)
My day started off with me typing up questions for the interview that I had at 9:00 AM. I was really nervous and was hoping that I wasn’t going to mess anything up. Once we dropped everyone off in their designated place we headed back to NIA where we picked up all of our camera equipment. We got to the NASA center and we realized that we had no idea where this building was. We got out and asked at headquarters.
We got there at about 8:55 and started setting up all of our camera stuff. That’s when we realized that we didn’t bring the microphones with us. Jon ran to the car and they were not in there. We decided to do the interview anyways because we thought that the camera would have its own microphone. It turns out that it didn’t so we did a 30 minute interview with no audio on film. Once we got back and realized that we did it without sound we got really mad at ourselves at first and then decided to e-mail Mr. Bushnell and ask for another interview and explain what happened. He was very kind about it and said to be there at 9 AM on Monday.
Soon enough it was lunch and we were off. When we got back from lunch we didn’t have much to work on because the movie files that were sent to us by the producers did not work on the pinnacle software and we couldn’t make any clips from the interview. I started working on my progress report.
Jake Greg and Lara came back to NIA with us and we all worked on our research papers and progress reports but also had fun at the same time. Our research paper is done so I am finished with all my work for this week.
When we got back to the dorm I immediately got changed because we were going to go and see Taming of the Shrew at William and Mary. We had dinner and then left at 6 30 for the play. We went to the play and it was one of the best plays I have ever seen! The actors were amazing and I had never actually seen and/or read The Taming of the Shrew. I had only seen Kiss Me Kate which was nothing like the play at all. After the play it was already 11 o’clock and curfew was at 11 so we drove home. I fell asleep in the car but when I woke up in the car it was really really smoky outside because the wind had blown the Carolina fire smoke in our direction. It smelled really bad and I had a hard time falling asleep.
We got there at about 8:55 and started setting up all of our camera stuff. That’s when we realized that we didn’t bring the microphones with us. Jon ran to the car and they were not in there. We decided to do the interview anyways because we thought that the camera would have its own microphone. It turns out that it didn’t so we did a 30 minute interview with no audio on film. Once we got back and realized that we did it without sound we got really mad at ourselves at first and then decided to e-mail Mr. Bushnell and ask for another interview and explain what happened. He was very kind about it and said to be there at 9 AM on Monday.
Soon enough it was lunch and we were off. When we got back from lunch we didn’t have much to work on because the movie files that were sent to us by the producers did not work on the pinnacle software and we couldn’t make any clips from the interview. I started working on my progress report.
Jake Greg and Lara came back to NIA with us and we all worked on our research papers and progress reports but also had fun at the same time. Our research paper is done so I am finished with all my work for this week.
When we got back to the dorm I immediately got changed because we were going to go and see Taming of the Shrew at William and Mary. We had dinner and then left at 6 30 for the play. We went to the play and it was one of the best plays I have ever seen! The actors were amazing and I had never actually seen and/or read The Taming of the Shrew. I had only seen Kiss Me Kate which was nothing like the play at all. After the play it was already 11 o’clock and curfew was at 11 so we drove home. I fell asleep in the car but when I woke up in the car it was really really smoky outside because the wind had blown the Carolina fire smoke in our direction. It smelled really bad and I had a hard time falling asleep.
Day 11 (Research)
On Wednesday we went to work and Jon and I decided that we should get a lot of work done on the research paper. It is due on Thursday so we wanted to get a head start and maybe even finish the rough draft. Once we got to the NIA building we went inside and printed off the outline for our research paper. We divvied up the work and everyone got to do two sections. I got to do the introduction and the Research questions section.
We did that periodically throughout the day but we also were in contact with Dr. Bushnell, the Chief Scientist of the Langley NASA Research center all day setting up a time for an interview. We have our interview tomorrow morning and it is pretty nerve racking. We worked hard all day and then when we tried to put all the files onto Jon’s computer he messed up the files somehow and we lost the entire introduction to our paper. So then we began to rewrite it and work on putting all the sections together.
Once back at the dorm I worked more on the introduction section and then went to dinner. We were required to work on our research paper for 2 hours so Jon and I sat done and worked. We got done in 45 minutes and got it turned in.
We did that periodically throughout the day but we also were in contact with Dr. Bushnell, the Chief Scientist of the Langley NASA Research center all day setting up a time for an interview. We have our interview tomorrow morning and it is pretty nerve racking. We worked hard all day and then when we tried to put all the files onto Jon’s computer he messed up the files somehow and we lost the entire introduction to our paper. So then we began to rewrite it and work on putting all the sections together.
Once back at the dorm I worked more on the introduction section and then went to dinner. We were required to work on our research paper for 2 hours so Jon and I sat done and worked. We got done in 45 minutes and got it turned in.
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Day 10 (Filming and a Birthday)
Today was Seth’s birthday it was so much fun! First thing Lara and I did was snuck into Seth and Jon’s room during breakfast and wrote “HAPPY BIRTHDAY SETH!” on the window. Then we went to breakfast. Seth saw it when he got back and was super surprised and super happy! Then we were off to work
Today was the day that we went around and filmed everything we needed to film. Cheryl dropped us off on center and we started filming right away. We took some video of me in front of a wind tunnel from 1922 and then in front of the brand new spherical wind tunnels. We drove around for a bit getting shots out the window as we were driving. We got a ton of shots of the F-15s and F-22s that are flying around everywhere all the time. Then we went off and parked across the street from the Air Force Base and took some shots of planes on the runway.
Then Joe said he had a military badge and so we actually got onto the base! And we definitely didn’t break federal law and take video of the entire base and the runway. We went to the wind tunnel at the base and a garage in the back of the wind tunnel was open. We went inside and saw a couple NASCAR cars and broken down models of planes and cars and trucks. It was so cool!! Then we left the base and headed back to NIA to get another tape because we ran out of tape. We got the other tape and went back and filmed a little more of the NASA center.
At 10:30 we had to meet for the employee photo, which the interns were allowed to be in, and we stood out in the hot sun for about 40 minutes with all the other employees at the center. We headed to lunch next and went to Sonic. I had never been there before and it was pretty good. After we had lunch we went back to the center where we sat and worked on a new version of the script, focusing more on the NASA Research Center and its history. I also received a call from Mr. Bushnell, the Chief Scientist for the Research Center. I have to call him or e-mail him tomorrow to set a time and date for our interview. I can’t believe that we get to talk to Emmy award winning producers and the Chief Scientist all in the span of 24 hours!
Then it was time to call it a day so we packed up our stuff and came back to the dorm. This is where the real fun began. Since it was Seth’s birthday we had some big plans for him. Once we finished dinner and everything Jon and I went upstairs to play ping pong with Seth. While we were doing that everyone decorated the Lounge downstairs and got ready for our next surprise. We had coordinated a big volleyball game with all the Governor’s School kids so Jon and I were walking outside with Seth and then I turned around and started spraying him with silly string. Everyone else comes running around the corner and starts spraying him too. So basically Seth got covered with 17 cans worth of silly string.
Then we played some volleyball and went inside for some cake. Seth still didn’t know that the lounge was decorated so he walks in and sees it and is totally blown away. We partied for a bit but then everyone broke off into their own groups and I went and watched Sweeny Todd with Sam, Lara, and Jon. Soon enough it was time for bed and Cara, Lauren and I stayed up talking about stuff. It was pretty fun. But we have to go to bed because we have work in the morning!
Today was the day that we went around and filmed everything we needed to film. Cheryl dropped us off on center and we started filming right away. We took some video of me in front of a wind tunnel from 1922 and then in front of the brand new spherical wind tunnels. We drove around for a bit getting shots out the window as we were driving. We got a ton of shots of the F-15s and F-22s that are flying around everywhere all the time. Then we went off and parked across the street from the Air Force Base and took some shots of planes on the runway.
Then Joe said he had a military badge and so we actually got onto the base! And we definitely didn’t break federal law and take video of the entire base and the runway. We went to the wind tunnel at the base and a garage in the back of the wind tunnel was open. We went inside and saw a couple NASCAR cars and broken down models of planes and cars and trucks. It was so cool!! Then we left the base and headed back to NIA to get another tape because we ran out of tape. We got the other tape and went back and filmed a little more of the NASA center.
At 10:30 we had to meet for the employee photo, which the interns were allowed to be in, and we stood out in the hot sun for about 40 minutes with all the other employees at the center. We headed to lunch next and went to Sonic. I had never been there before and it was pretty good. After we had lunch we went back to the center where we sat and worked on a new version of the script, focusing more on the NASA Research Center and its history. I also received a call from Mr. Bushnell, the Chief Scientist for the Research Center. I have to call him or e-mail him tomorrow to set a time and date for our interview. I can’t believe that we get to talk to Emmy award winning producers and the Chief Scientist all in the span of 24 hours!
Then it was time to call it a day so we packed up our stuff and came back to the dorm. This is where the real fun began. Since it was Seth’s birthday we had some big plans for him. Once we finished dinner and everything Jon and I went upstairs to play ping pong with Seth. While we were doing that everyone decorated the Lounge downstairs and got ready for our next surprise. We had coordinated a big volleyball game with all the Governor’s School kids so Jon and I were walking outside with Seth and then I turned around and started spraying him with silly string. Everyone else comes running around the corner and starts spraying him too. So basically Seth got covered with 17 cans worth of silly string.
Then we played some volleyball and went inside for some cake. Seth still didn’t know that the lounge was decorated so he walks in and sees it and is totally blown away. We partied for a bit but then everyone broke off into their own groups and I went and watched Sweeny Todd with Sam, Lara, and Jon. Soon enough it was time for bed and Cara, Lauren and I stayed up talking about stuff. It was pretty fun. But we have to go to bed because we have work in the morning!
Day 9 (Planning)
Monday was a really good day. I got up and got ready and headed to breakfast. I had a really good breakfast and then we headed to work.
Once we got there Jon and I started to work right away. We had plans for Monday to hand out the letters to everyone so that we could get the interviews planned and ready to go. We handed them all out and now it’s just a matter of time. Jon and I worked a lot inside and on the computer getting clips and other audio off of movies that we already had. Jon and I decided before lunch that we wanted to do some of the audio recording of our voices so that we could lay it over the video clips. We took so long to do it because we kept messing it up and didn’t know if it was actually working.
After that we went to lunch and came back in a tick. Once we got back Jon and I got to meet the producers of the show NASA 360. It was one of the coolest experiences of my life because these men are Emmy award winning producers! And we were talking casually with them. They were really really nice and willing to help us with anything we needed. IT WAS AWESOME!!
After that we sat in on a lecture that Professor Lindberg, the President of NIA, was speaking in. It was all about how children should be introduced to engineering earlier in their lives because people now in high school have no idea what engineering really is. I was really excited because that is exactly what Jon and I are saying in our video. We taped a lot of the lecture but then had to leave because it was 4 o’clock and we were supposed to be picking up the other kids.
When we got back to the dorm I really didn’t do much. Nowadays I’m so exhausted when I get back from work that I don’t want to do anything. We went to dinner and all that jazz and then about 30 minutes after dinner I decided I wanted to go running. I headed outside and started to run the track and Lara was out there. It was really nice because she ran with me for a bit and then we headed inside. I really like Lara and I’m really glad she lives near me because I’m sure we’ll hang out after all this is over. Once we were back in we hung out and Lara and I are really stoked because Tuesday is Seth’s birthday and we have big plans for him!!
Once we got there Jon and I started to work right away. We had plans for Monday to hand out the letters to everyone so that we could get the interviews planned and ready to go. We handed them all out and now it’s just a matter of time. Jon and I worked a lot inside and on the computer getting clips and other audio off of movies that we already had. Jon and I decided before lunch that we wanted to do some of the audio recording of our voices so that we could lay it over the video clips. We took so long to do it because we kept messing it up and didn’t know if it was actually working.
After that we went to lunch and came back in a tick. Once we got back Jon and I got to meet the producers of the show NASA 360. It was one of the coolest experiences of my life because these men are Emmy award winning producers! And we were talking casually with them. They were really really nice and willing to help us with anything we needed. IT WAS AWESOME!!
After that we sat in on a lecture that Professor Lindberg, the President of NIA, was speaking in. It was all about how children should be introduced to engineering earlier in their lives because people now in high school have no idea what engineering really is. I was really excited because that is exactly what Jon and I are saying in our video. We taped a lot of the lecture but then had to leave because it was 4 o’clock and we were supposed to be picking up the other kids.
When we got back to the dorm I really didn’t do much. Nowadays I’m so exhausted when I get back from work that I don’t want to do anything. We went to dinner and all that jazz and then about 30 minutes after dinner I decided I wanted to go running. I headed outside and started to run the track and Lara was out there. It was really nice because she ran with me for a bit and then we headed inside. I really like Lara and I’m really glad she lives near me because I’m sure we’ll hang out after all this is over. Once we were back in we hung out and Lara and I are really stoked because Tuesday is Seth’s birthday and we have big plans for him!!
Days 7+8 (Amusement and Relaxation)
Saturday was our day to go to Busch Gardens! Oh my goodness it was so much fun! I hung out with Seth, Jon, Wesley, Jake, and Lara. It was awesome. We got to the park before the gates were open for the separate countries. We waited and then we sprinted to The Griffin, the most awesome ride in the entire world! We were the first group to go on and the only people on the ride. I was up front and almost at the very edge. It was awesome the 90 degree drop was the coolest feeling I have ever felt.
After that we wanted to get a lot of the rides in by lunch so we started to head towards the Alpengeist. We got to the Big Bad Wolf first so we rode that. I really do not like that ride but basically we went around the whole park and did every single ride at least 3 times. We went on the Lochness Ride and we got a picture of all of us sleeping on the ride.
Later in the day I got an old time photo with Lauren and Nick and then went off and basically played games. We played this one game where you have to throw a ball into a beer stein and it was awesome because Jake got it in and I won a HUGE polar bear and I named him Patrick the polar bear. We saw the show Kinetics which was pretty tight and then went back to the dorm. We all stayed up for a bit and watched movies and such and then we went to bed.
Sunday was a really laid back day. I got up at 8 because I didn’t have to be at breakfast until 9 and we basically just sat around the dorm all day. We got to go across the street for lunch and we went to Moe’s. It was pretty good. Then when we came back we just kind of hung out and I decided I wanted to go running. I ran 2 miles on the track and then came back in. Then we went out and played some volleyball it was really fun because I worked with Taylor and Cara and they got a ton better at it. By Sunday night everyone was dragging and so we all went to bed almost immediately at 11.
After that we wanted to get a lot of the rides in by lunch so we started to head towards the Alpengeist. We got to the Big Bad Wolf first so we rode that. I really do not like that ride but basically we went around the whole park and did every single ride at least 3 times. We went on the Lochness Ride and we got a picture of all of us sleeping on the ride.
Later in the day I got an old time photo with Lauren and Nick and then went off and basically played games. We played this one game where you have to throw a ball into a beer stein and it was awesome because Jake got it in and I won a HUGE polar bear and I named him Patrick the polar bear. We saw the show Kinetics which was pretty tight and then went back to the dorm. We all stayed up for a bit and watched movies and such and then we went to bed.
Sunday was a really laid back day. I got up at 8 because I didn’t have to be at breakfast until 9 and we basically just sat around the dorm all day. We got to go across the street for lunch and we went to Moe’s. It was pretty good. Then when we came back we just kind of hung out and I decided I wanted to go running. I ran 2 miles on the track and then came back in. Then we went out and played some volleyball it was really fun because I worked with Taylor and Cara and they got a ton better at it. By Sunday night everyone was dragging and so we all went to bed almost immediately at 11.
Day 6 (Movies and a Rave)
So I got up and went to my last day of work for the week. Today we planned out what we were going to do all of next week. We worked on clips in the morning and also wrote a letter so we can interview people in a week and a half. Then we went to lunch at the cafeteria. We came back and worked more on the script and I fooled around with the video software again. I am getting really really good at it! We did not do anything eventful but we did leave a little bit early because it was Friday and everyone wanted to get back to the dorm.
Once we got back to the dorm we chilled for a bit and then went to dinner. After dinner we got together and talked about what movie we were going to go see. We got to decided between WALL-E and Wanted. I went and saw WALL-E and I now am in love with WALL-E! He is so cute! And the movie was an awesome movie too. I mean it was a classic pixar movie but it was really good. In the middle of the movie Lauren and I decided that we were going to have a rave that night in our room so we told it to the people around us who passed it on to everyone else.
Once we got back to the dorm Lauren and I decided to go and get the room ready. We shut the door and didn’t let anyone in until we were completely ready. That was both of us calling our boyfriends and telling them why we couldn’t call them later putting up the pink neon lights in our room, putting out food, and making a rocking playlist for the dancing. When we were putting up the lights one of laurens light had a fuse that was about to blow before she can and finally when we put it up it blew and started to burn the rubber. It started to smoke and Lauren and I started to freak out. After that fiasco we invited everyone in and got the party started.
Becca and I ran and got everyone and started pumping the music but it really wasn’t that loud so Seth walks in and goes “Hey let’s move this party to my room”. So we move everyone to his room and set up the lights again and really get the tunes pumping because he has some mega speakers. So we were dancing for awhile and then Cheryl came down the hall and told us we had to stop because there was a field hockey camp staying on the floor above us. So of course we kept going but then eventually we had to stop because they were really getting mad. It was only like 10:30 by the time we had to stop and we all wanted to stay up till one so Nick Lauren and I all went back to Lauren and my room.
We went to our room and we started taking a ton of pictures. Then I had an awesome idea of dressing Nick up as an emo kid. So after a ton of persistence and nagging we finally got him to get into girls clothes and take pictures. It was pretty sweet and he looked like a really cool emo kid. That was basically the rest of the night and then we went to bed around one. Lauren and I stayed up till about 2 throwing glowsticks at each other and finally crashed.
Once we got back to the dorm we chilled for a bit and then went to dinner. After dinner we got together and talked about what movie we were going to go see. We got to decided between WALL-E and Wanted. I went and saw WALL-E and I now am in love with WALL-E! He is so cute! And the movie was an awesome movie too. I mean it was a classic pixar movie but it was really good. In the middle of the movie Lauren and I decided that we were going to have a rave that night in our room so we told it to the people around us who passed it on to everyone else.
Once we got back to the dorm Lauren and I decided to go and get the room ready. We shut the door and didn’t let anyone in until we were completely ready. That was both of us calling our boyfriends and telling them why we couldn’t call them later putting up the pink neon lights in our room, putting out food, and making a rocking playlist for the dancing. When we were putting up the lights one of laurens light had a fuse that was about to blow before she can and finally when we put it up it blew and started to burn the rubber. It started to smoke and Lauren and I started to freak out. After that fiasco we invited everyone in and got the party started.
Becca and I ran and got everyone and started pumping the music but it really wasn’t that loud so Seth walks in and goes “Hey let’s move this party to my room”. So we move everyone to his room and set up the lights again and really get the tunes pumping because he has some mega speakers. So we were dancing for awhile and then Cheryl came down the hall and told us we had to stop because there was a field hockey camp staying on the floor above us. So of course we kept going but then eventually we had to stop because they were really getting mad. It was only like 10:30 by the time we had to stop and we all wanted to stay up till one so Nick Lauren and I all went back to Lauren and my room.
We went to our room and we started taking a ton of pictures. Then I had an awesome idea of dressing Nick up as an emo kid. So after a ton of persistence and nagging we finally got him to get into girls clothes and take pictures. It was pretty sweet and he looked like a really cool emo kid. That was basically the rest of the night and then we went to bed around one. Lauren and I stayed up till about 2 throwing glowsticks at each other and finally crashed.
Thursday (Progress Report Due)
Today was the day our progress report was due so there's not much that i am going to write for this day sorry guys!
Today was an interesting day. The day started off with Cathy and me going and talking to Dennis and telling him I would not return to work with the MY NASA DATA program. He did not seem mad but I still felt a little bad about the whole situation because I know that they had no intentions of “scaring me away”. After, we headed over to the NIA building. Right off the bat Jon and I started working. I spent the entire morning looking up tutorials on YouTube and finding out how to use the Pinnacle Studio software. Right in the middle of it all we went downstairs so that we could get our key fobs. We got to sit and sign a bunch of papers but now we have really cool keys that let us into most of the parts of the buildings. I did not know that the program came with a green screen before I watch the tutorials. Once I found out, I showed john and we decided to play around with the video and use the software. We created the “Harry Potter invisibility cloak” and showed it to Cathy and Joe. That took up most of the morning and then we went to lunch. Once we got back from lunch we were given our new video camera. Jon and I took some time to look at the camera and everything that came with it. We made sure that we had everything we needed and we decided to play around with the camera and its settings for a bit. We recorded more to do another “invisibility cloak” video. We recorded everything and then we realized that we didn’t have to correct cord to upload the video to my computer. We took a long time trying to put the video on the Mac laptop and then trying to move it to my computer. Then after awhile we asked Sharon if she had the fire-wire cord for a PC. She had the cord of course and we had spent all that time trying to transfer it back and forth to the different computers for nothing. I work with the video for a bit but it never actually worked. The video files wouldn’t merge correctly and it got very frustrating. It was almost time to go so Jon and I started to pack up everything and we cleaned up our work areas. Cathy picked us up at 3:45.
Today was an interesting day. The day started off with Cathy and me going and talking to Dennis and telling him I would not return to work with the MY NASA DATA program. He did not seem mad but I still felt a little bad about the whole situation because I know that they had no intentions of “scaring me away”. After, we headed over to the NIA building. Right off the bat Jon and I started working. I spent the entire morning looking up tutorials on YouTube and finding out how to use the Pinnacle Studio software. Right in the middle of it all we went downstairs so that we could get our key fobs. We got to sit and sign a bunch of papers but now we have really cool keys that let us into most of the parts of the buildings. I did not know that the program came with a green screen before I watch the tutorials. Once I found out, I showed john and we decided to play around with the video and use the software. We created the “Harry Potter invisibility cloak” and showed it to Cathy and Joe. That took up most of the morning and then we went to lunch. Once we got back from lunch we were given our new video camera. Jon and I took some time to look at the camera and everything that came with it. We made sure that we had everything we needed and we decided to play around with the camera and its settings for a bit. We recorded more to do another “invisibility cloak” video. We recorded everything and then we realized that we didn’t have to correct cord to upload the video to my computer. We took a long time trying to put the video on the Mac laptop and then trying to move it to my computer. Then after awhile we asked Sharon if she had the fire-wire cord for a PC. She had the cord of course and we had spent all that time trying to transfer it back and forth to the different computers for nothing. I work with the video for a bit but it never actually worked. The video files wouldn’t merge correctly and it got very frustrating. It was almost time to go so Jon and I started to pack up everything and we cleaned up our work areas. Cathy picked us up at 3:45.
Friday, June 27, 2008
Day 4 (The New Job)
I got up at 6 15 again today showered and then went to breakfast again the same breakfast. Today I got to go to the NIA building and work with Joe and Jon on their video projects! Today was a really easy and laid back day but still fun all the least. First thing Jon and I did was talk about the general concept of our story. We came up with what people think NASA is and what NASA actually is. We created a story board and started our whole script write up.
Before we started working on the script Cheryl and Kathy came and picked us up from NIA and we went to lunch. We went to this really cool Italian place for lunch and they had the best food their ever!!
Once we got back to NIA Jon and I started looking for video files and we started to talk more about our storyline and such. I don’t want to give too many details because it is all in the works right now but once we finalize our story I will put it up on here. We are planning to tie everyone’s projects into this video and it will be used for future governor’s school orientations!! This project is so big but it is so cool.
We got back to the dorm and I went to my room and just chilled on the computer and worked for a bit. We went to dinner and they had cheese tortellini, it was yummy. I came back to my dorm room and just chilled for a bit and finished my blog entry for yesterday.
After that I went outside and sat in a tree and read… a very college kid thing of me to do. But after about ten minutes of being out there Seth came and picked me up and we went and played tennis. It was pretty fun I think he won for today. I went back to the tree after and read some more. By the time I got back in it was 9 and I just wanted to chill in my dorm. I was really tired so I just turned on a movie and went to bed. So goodnight everyone I hope you enjoyed my day.
Before we started working on the script Cheryl and Kathy came and picked us up from NIA and we went to lunch. We went to this really cool Italian place for lunch and they had the best food their ever!!
Once we got back to NIA Jon and I started looking for video files and we started to talk more about our storyline and such. I don’t want to give too many details because it is all in the works right now but once we finalize our story I will put it up on here. We are planning to tie everyone’s projects into this video and it will be used for future governor’s school orientations!! This project is so big but it is so cool.
We got back to the dorm and I went to my room and just chilled on the computer and worked for a bit. We went to dinner and they had cheese tortellini, it was yummy. I came back to my dorm room and just chilled for a bit and finished my blog entry for yesterday.
After that I went outside and sat in a tree and read… a very college kid thing of me to do. But after about ten minutes of being out there Seth came and picked me up and we went and played tennis. It was pretty fun I think he won for today. I went back to the tree after and read some more. By the time I got back in it was 9 and I just wanted to chill in my dorm. I was really tired so I just turned on a movie and went to bed. So goodnight everyone I hope you enjoyed my day.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Day 3 (The Weather)
So day three, wow I made it this far already without really hurting myself :P. But got up at 6 15 again today showered and then went to breakfast again the same breakfast but today they had pancakes instead of French toast. I went back to my room and I finally got internet!!
We departed for our jobs and I beat my workshop to the building. I sat around for a bit and just kind of chilled. Then everyone got here and they had big long discussions about what they were going to do tonight. The first thing we did was a talk about weather balloons and we actually got to send one off after the presentation.
Dennis and I left early and he showed me my office in the MY NASA DATA building. It’s pretty small but I get my own computerJ. We went on a tour of the data center and got to see where they store all of the information that they get from the satellites. It was very cool because they are actually still using tapes to record information because it is safer and has less of a chance of crashing. There were about 600 CPUs and they are getting 300 more in the next week!! Next we were off to lunch!
We came back after lunch and we started a project about ozone. We got little cards and a card reader and we calibrated the reader to tell us how much ozone is in the air. We let them sit outside for an hour and during that hour we came in and saw a presentation about ozone and the good the bad and the ugly. The hole in the ozone looks like an evil smiley face now a days because the ozone hole is actually becoming smaller. I photo-shopped the picture and made it my background on my computer I have to say it’s pretty sweet. After that we went back to the building we were in on Monday and just sat there. We started working on my mentorship contract and then Cheryl texted me and told me that I wasn’t going to be there tomorrow. I told Dennis and he was pretty chill about it.
Once we got back to the dorm I colored Jon’s picture that I drew for him at work and showed Seth the picture that I drew from him. I also started watching Hercules. Then we went to dinner. After dinner I went on a walk with Nick and then came back to the dorm. We saw the other side of campus. It was really prettyJ. When I got back I went and played tennis with Seth. He is the only VIMS guy here and he is really cool. We played tennis and I actually got better J I definitely beat him too. But he had the sun in his eyes so that’s probably why. : P We came back in and had some Gatorade and then went out for a walk. We chilled in a tree for awhile and talked about a lot of stuff. Then we came back in and we wanted to watch The Office but the internet died L so we decided to watch 300. The only problem was that we couldn’t watch the movie in English on Seth’s computer so we just decided to watch the whole movie in Spanish. By the end of the movie we had 9 kids watching 300 in Spanish. It was pretty sweet and totally epic. Then by the end of it all it was bedtime. I finished coloring Seth’s picture and then went to bed.
Monday, June 23, 2008
Day 2 (The Mentoring)
Today I woke up at about 6:15 and took a shower. It took a long time to get warm and my roommate Lauren, who took a shower before me, had taken a cold shower! We went to breakfast and it was your typical breakfast foods, cereal (of all kinds), bacon, eggs, French toast, biscuits and gravy, and last but not least hash browns. I saw my friend Alex G and Jeanmarie; they are with the other group staying at CNU. After Breakfast we had about 20 minutes until we had to leave so Nick Lauren and I went back to my room and had internet for about 10 minutes! J But then it sort of disappeared and didn’t come back.
The wind tunnel was really cool and we got to see them test it with a fake race car! But i felt really bad because i was 20 minutes late getting back for cheryl to pick me up. :( the rest of the day was pretty un eventful... we played soccer right when we got back and then we went to dinner. After dinner we played tennis and then i went in and took a quick shower. Then the internet wasnt workign so Cheryl was freaking out. We decided to go on a Ben and Jerry's run for a destressitizer :) We headed back to the dorm and hung out in each other rooms and in the hallway for the rest of the night.
I talked to people back home and i miss you all!
We left for the NASA Center at 7:45 and went straight to the badge building. We had to wait in line for awhile and finally got our cool ID badges that let us go everywhere here. Once on site we went to an orientation room where we met our mentors. My mentor is Dennis Diones. He told me that the reason they chose me for this project was the science fair project I did my sophomore year, basically the effect of carbon dioxide on the ozone.
We had to hightail it out of the orientation building because this week I am part of a teacher’s workshop. I got to the workshop when everyone was introducing themselves. On the walk over Dennis told me that they want me to keep a journal and possibly do a podcast later on in the program! This week in the workshop I’m in charge of taking pictures and creating a journal so there will be lots of pictures from this week especially.
Next was the intro to the website which Dennis did himself and then Penny introduced the LAS (Live Access Server). LAS gives you live data from the specific area you are looking at and you can look at pictures around the world and the United States. It can give you data about the atmosphere, as in amount of aerosol in the air and air quality, clouds and cloud coverage and much more. The maps are very colorful, but I’m not sure if that is a good or a bad thing… I’m going to assume bad. From those pictures you can get lots of data and amounts of everything. Penny and Dennis showed us everything we will need to know and use for the next couple of weeks. I could not get Internet at the center so I couldn’t follow along on my computer for the introductions but I followed along up front anyways.
We had a break where everyone could work on the computer and test out the LAS. After that we had a talk about the Science of Clouds. We learned that every day 50 to 70 percent of the earth is covered by clouds. The lesson was really interesting and I learned a lot. Pim ran the talk and she was very good at it. It was very informative and I learned all about clouds and the atmosphere.
Next was lunch… It was okay we ate in the cafeteria and just kind of hung out there for a bit. I went back to our building early just to go on my computer and just kind of hang out before I had to get to work again. But, at lunch I told Cheryl (the G school director) what I was doing this week and she was pretty upset and she said that she will find another place for me to go. That makes me feel a lot better because I would rather do anything else than make a photo journal for this workshop.
This was a total waste of a day. I sat on my computer and did nothing after lunch and basically just listened to my music and photoshopped a picture. But we went to the wind tunnel soon after.
The wind tunnel was really cool and we got to see them test it with a fake race car! But i felt really bad because i was 20 minutes late getting back for cheryl to pick me up. :( the rest of the day was pretty un eventful... we played soccer right when we got back and then we went to dinner. After dinner we played tennis and then i went in and took a quick shower. Then the internet wasnt workign so Cheryl was freaking out. We decided to go on a Ben and Jerry's run for a destressitizer :) We headed back to the dorm and hung out in each other rooms and in the hallway for the rest of the night.
I talked to people back home and i miss you all!
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Day 1 (Moving On In)
So today we moved into our dorms. It was pretty cool. We left my house around 9 and got down here around 2 ish. Moved in and got everything unpacked and ready and i met my roommate. She is super sweet. Her name is Lauren and she is probably one of the coolest girls i know.
Well after we all got moved in I hung around the dorm... There are a bunch of rec rooms and such and we all like to chill there. We (Lauren, Nick, Joe and I) walked around campus for a bit and saw the library. I love the fiction section there. We walked into some random buildings which were the physch building and the medical building. We went back to the dorm and had our group chat with Cheryl, Roni and Cathy (our RAs).
Then we went to dinner. It wasn't that bad, fried chicken, potatoes, and mac and cheese. Then for dessert slushies and oreo cake :P. Not very healthy but it still tasted good. We did a Walmart run and got most of the stuff we forgot at home. Then we came back to the dorms kind of chilled and now I'm here writing this blog. I hope you all are having fun back at home. See you in 6 weeks :P
Well after we all got moved in I hung around the dorm... There are a bunch of rec rooms and such and we all like to chill there. We (Lauren, Nick, Joe and I) walked around campus for a bit and saw the library. I love the fiction section there. We walked into some random buildings which were the physch building and the medical building. We went back to the dorm and had our group chat with Cheryl, Roni and Cathy (our RAs).
Then we went to dinner. It wasn't that bad, fried chicken, potatoes, and mac and cheese. Then for dessert slushies and oreo cake :P. Not very healthy but it still tasted good. We did a Walmart run and got most of the stuff we forgot at home. Then we came back to the dorms kind of chilled and now I'm here writing this blog. I hope you all are having fun back at home. See you in 6 weeks :P
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
And it all begins...
Wow... So I'm starting this blog for my engineering governor's school. I have 11 days until I start my first day and I am extremely excited. I'm going to write in this blog to keep everyone up to date back at home. Also it will be my personal journal for the trip so I can remember everything that i did. :) I can't wait!! Well start checking on June 22nd because that is the first day :P
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