I went with two of my good friends and it was a blast. Granted, the audience wasn’t nearly as psyched as I was. Who can blame them? After all, it’s been ten years since these movies were originally released. I am ashamed to say that even in their remastered high-definition glory, they just don’t compare to the movies we get spoiled on today. Case in point, compare the cg in Avatar to LOTR sometime.

Still, I was completely thrilled with the showing. I plan to attend not only TTT here at home next Tuesday, but also ROTK the Tuesday after that which, by the way, I will have to watch in Honolulu because I will be in Hawaii! Woot!

So add this three-week theatrical event to the list of unexpected summer adventures. And I will see you all after my kayak trip tomorrow and Sunday. Do not expect an update tomorrow night, but do expect actual pictures! (I’m sorry this blog is so barren. I just don’t take a lot of pictures anymore.)

Until then, please enjoy this exclusive map I made of our kayaking route.

View Larger Map

1. My Hamster
2. Laundry
3. Facebook
4. My Blog

So, with my facebook news feed read back as far as I can go and a pile of neatly folded laundry on the table behind me, I endeavor to fill in the blanks of the past week.

Last Thursday

I promised you all another blog about the GOSTEM camp, but I frittered away my Wednesday on TV and take out food. Bad dieter. Bad.

Thursday followed Wednesday, as it usually does, and I got to spend the whole day with the engineering girls helping them to not kill people on their simulated roller coasters and making afternoon runs to Wal-Mart for more building supplies for their prototypes. Excepting one camper who delighted in heckling me and the other student helper who insisted on always being right it was a thoroughly enjoyable day. The girls made some fabulous roller coasters on the computers.

Friday, the girls presented their roller coasters to their parents, who then cast their votes for a winner. I am delighted to report that my group of girls won. Yay! Of course, I enjoyed none of this at the time because I was having a major panic attack all morning and just wanted to find a hole to crawl in and hide.

The Weekend

Saturday my friend and I went to pick up the pottery we had painted. His turned out amazing, mine less than what I had envisioned. I blame running out of time the day we painted them. Then I packed my bags to come home, planning to pick up dinners for us all from our church’s fundraiser on the way. Then I took a brief nap, took too long packing, and took a phone call from my dad. I was going to be too late to bring food to my uncle and niece and hadn’t I better hurry up and get my a** on the road? Cue second panic attack in two-day span. This one much worse with tears and hyperventilating. Ten minutes later, my cat and I were on the road heading home. I was not going to make my family starve. Right about then I get a phone call from mom telling me everything was fine, dad had gone to pick up my uncle’s dinners, and I should take my time packing and coming home. Instead of helping my panic attack, this launched me into another one and left me feeling totally useless and a failure.

However, I did successfully bring home food and pick up my dad’s father’s day present from my sister on the way. (We celebrated a week early since I will be gone tomorrow and Sunday on a kayak trip.) Miraculously, I seem to have remembered everything I needed from my apartment.

Sunday was an uneventful father’s day. My sister and her husband couldn’t make it because of the lovely weather, so the three of us here at home went to church, came home, and took naps. Dad loved the pendant I made him and his new laptop computer.

continued on next post…

In case you were wondering what happens when you leave your summer open to God’s Will, it’s stuff like this. I really wanted to take part in an outreach program this summer for girls aimed at showing them how much fun science and engineering can be; much like a camp I attended as a high school sophomore/junior. Friday night I was checking my university email while procrastinating my weekly trip home and I had two interesting emails from different professors. Each wanted to know if I would be interested in being an engineering helper for the USI summer GO (girls-only) STEM camp. Heck yes I would! You see, when I found out about this camp at the end of March, I sent the director an email asking to help and got no reply. Today, I learned from another professor that she doesn’t answer anyone’s emails. Lesson learned: ask in person.

So Sunday afternoon I said an early goodbye to my parents house and set off for USI, with a pit stop at home to drop off my traveling companion cat. Right off the bat, I felt needed, being asked to arrive early and pick up some equipment from the engineering building before attending the camp dinner and orientation. The evening went well with the girls (all high school aged) getting to know each other while we adults likewise got to know each other. (Do you realize that by helping with this camp, I am considered an adult by about 50 high-schoolers and the rest of the staff? This never ceases to baffle me.)

Next, the girls rotated around to the different discipline tables (Biology, Chemistry/Nutrition, Mathematics, and Engineering) finally settling for a longer time at the table representing their main area of interest. Here they learned the plans for the week. First, collecting roller coaster and thrill ride data at Holiday World and Splashin’ Safari on Monday. Next, organizing data and an introduction to some energy calculations on Tuesday. Wednesday is a Biology/Chem-nutrition day, Thursday sees the girls working with their main interest group data all day. And Friday they present their data to their fellow campers and parents.We spent the rest of the time introducing them to the concepts of potential and kinetic energy (briefly) and the different engineering disciplines as well as what it means to be an engineer.

They are all staying on campus, which is really cool especially considering their lodging, food, and camp activities are all payed for completely by a grant, making this camp no-cost to attendees. They are a really great group of girls; very smart. Sadly, I did not get to be a counselor that goes with them throughout the day and supervises at night as I think that would be the most fun, but there is always next year. I am very much enjoying learning the ropes and helping my professor teach them about engineering while (hopefully) mentoring them that it is awesome to be a girl geek.

More tomorrow about Monday’s excursion to Holiday World and today’s adventures in learning as I don’t want to overwhelm with a ridiculously long blog post and have the day off from camp. Also, hopefully pictures will accompany. See you then!

TWICE Conference

This was a pretty big letdown for me. I was hoping to discuss ways to reach out to younger students with my fellow academics. Instead, I got to listen to a bunch of industry workers complain about how tough their lives are. Very little of the day was geared toward women less than forty. And a consensus was never reached about anything. I will still attend the next group meeting. However, as hopeful as I was about this group, I fear it is doomed to die out when its current grant expires next spring.

Birthday Party

My beloved uncle’s birthday was last Wednesday, and he had no one but his seven year old daughter to throw him a party. Mom and me to the rescue! Somehow, the two of us managed to go bathing suit shopping for me and shirt and pants shopping for him. His presents and my suits in tow, we traversed to another store for more suits and decorations, wrapping paper, and a card. (And Starbucks for me. If you’ve ever been marathon shopping you know why.) Yet another store for a cake and the number for the Pizza Hut in the town where we both live. On the way there, mom calls them and orders dinner. We pick it up and call my uncle and tell him we’re ready to pick up his little girl. She rides to my mother’s house where in thirty minutes we wrap presents, make a card, clean off the table, set out dinner, put 46 candles on a very small cake, and yell “Surprise!” when my uncle walks into the house.

Needless to say, perhaps, he was very happy and surprised as was his daughter for being able to give that to him. Mom and I rested on a job well done when they had left.

A few hours later the power went out and we played rummy by oil-lamp light with the radio running until my Starbucks wore off and we both went to sleep.

Memorial Day

I decided the Friday before to have a small get together at my apartment instead of hanging out with my family. (My apartment has a pool and this year, for the first time, we don’t.) So I sent some texts and ended up with three amazing attendees. A Sunday evening trip to Walmart for some hot dogs, chips, watermelon, and ice cream later I was all ready- except for the massive unnecessary cleaning spree I went on later that night.

We swam, cooked out, swam more, made a trip to the sauna, and watched a movie. My friends tell me a good time was had by all. I certainly consider it a success. It’s a good thing I took advantage of it too because Tuesday the power went out and on again and in the process knocked out the pump for the pool, causing Brian the maintenance man to have to send all pool patrons out the gate and lock it behind them.

He tells me it will be at least four days to order the part, get it shipped in, install it, and re-balance the pool chemicals. Le-sigh.

Happiness is Me Swimming

Beyond this week, my family reunion is this Saturday, as is my sister’s birthday. My kayaking introductory class is next week, and any number of unexpected delightfulness may spring in in the interim. Stay tuned!

Summer adventures are finally getting off the ground!

• First up, May 20th, I will be representing USI at the Tri-State Women in Computing and Engineering conference.
• June 4th is a family reunion sort of affair with my dad’s side of the family and also my sister’s birthday.
• June 9th I get introduced to kayaking and
• June 18th – 19th is the epic overnight kayaking trip! (What better way to fulfill the USI PE requirement?) Afterwards, I will have just enough time to repack everything because
• June 25th – July 5th I will be in Hawaii!

Also in the works is a Physics Club pilgrimage to Ferimlab and a personal trip to the Tepee Motel. Dates yet undecided.

Take last Thursday night, for example, when I was out with some fellow engineers and, thanks to someone having a girlfriend, a few non-engineers. (read “women”) Now, we engineers are pretty much unanimously a socially awkward bunch. We enjoy sitting in windowless rooms crunching imaginary numbers for gosh sakes. So the fact that we make it out about once a week to enjoy boneless wing night at Buffalo Wild Wings is an accomplishment in itself. We shouldn’t be expected to be witty and or charming at the same time.

Fast forward to me, nobly attempting to divert conversation away from a terrible gross joke someone I’m sorry to say is a colleague of mine eagerly told, feeling quite uncomfortable at the girls end of the table. Of course, I told my joke wrong, but here’s how it was supposed to go: Why did Helen Keller’s dog run away? Pause You would too if your name was “garbledphoneticnonsensesound”. This is the part where everyone laughs. Except no one laughed. Because I didn’t say run away, I said commit suicide. Because that’s how I first heard it from the backwater hicks who populate the town of my birth. All three of the girls gasped with horrified looks. The three guys just looked at their food. Awkward silence.

I covered it up by quickly following up with the other Helen Keller joke the guys always tell: Why was Helen Keller a bad driver? Because she was a woman. Again, the guys failed me by refusing to laugh. The girls just stared at me. The girlfriend pack leader said, “You’re not supposed to laugh at that. You’re supposed to be offended.” And that’s when her boyfriend gave me the look that expressed a rule I’m sure all guys are already familiar with, “Dude, I cannot tick off the girlfriend.” Men…

And what, you ask, was the little voice of the movie-goer inside my head screaming at the screen during this whole ordeal? It said, “Why are you making fun of Hellen Keller?! She was a strong and amazing woman! Don’t laugh at that! It’s insensitive.” It’s true. I know this because I am that little voice, and I read Helen’s freaking autobiography. Most people don’t even know that she went on after the famous water pump scene to write an autobiography. In fact, she wrote 12 books. She also graduated from college, was a strong political activist, and was friends with Mark Twain and many other famous people. She even eventually learned how to speak, in a limited fashion. All while being deaf and blind. Like I said, she was amazing. And I know better than to laugh at ignorant jokes about the pool she didn’t know she had.

So, as a part of my summer of exploring I continue to explore myself, and to realize that I am a little more refined at heart than I have let myself become. To be anything less than myself is to do my soul a great disservice. Here’s me vowing to stick to my guns a little more closely in the future.

Oh, and to the next person who dares me to laugh at a Helen Keller joke, be prepared for a bit of free cultural education from yours truly.

I fought a barrage of helicopters on my porch and landing. Then I went hunting dist bunnies with my trusty purple vacuum. I found homes for many lost books and notebooks in my study. Then I discovered and explored a mountain to be known henceforth as “The Pile-o-Unfinished Projects.” (to be conquered throughout the summer when I get bored)  Finally, I vanquished the legions of dirty laundry and fought back the living-room-invading shoe-o-saurs.

Who says cleaning house can’t count as an adventure?

Enter WordPress.com. Of course, they have already anticipated my need for a streamlined system and have created http://m.wordpress.com ! Advertised (very little) as a mobile blogger for phones, it was very difficult to find the actual web address. But once I did, oh how delighted I was.

The basics are all there: stats, posts, bookmark, and log out. Clicking on the Posts feature, a layout for a new post immediately popped up with the bare minimum of text boxes, but all in their proper order and labeled. A title box, the post box, a categories box, and a tags box.  Below these boxes, two click options: Save to Drafts (hooray!) and Publish.  All rendered almost instantaneously and without error.

Typing was cumbersome, and I have yet to figure out how to add spaces between paragraphs.  But I did successfully type out the first two paragraphs and save them to drafts for editing on my laptop.  Alas, there doesn’t seem to be a way to access drafts from the mobile site.  Also lacking was any kind of spell-check feature, on which I heavily depend.

I will do some more exploring with this mobile site, but all in all I am quite pleased that this summer I will have a basic site to at least leave quick notes to my readers that I can access anywhere I have cellphone reception.

But this will not be easy. My hope is that, in keeping accountability to you all, I will persist in my goal.  Here I will document what I shall affectionately refer to as “The Last Summer.”