Friday, July 5, 2013
By:
Friday, Caleb and I went out to NIST, where I will be doing the other half of my internship. We met with Mary, my new mentor and talked about how we were going to incorporate the SOCK with the rest of the program. We decided that we would do a demo show for the teachers and then have them build an optical theremin. I also met Brian, one of the teachers from a previous summer institute who returned to NIST this summer to work with a scientist for a few weeks. We left NIST at about 1:30 to head back to ACP so we could finalize our supply list and send it to Mary.
Saturday, I got up early to go to Eastern Market for their Farmer’s Market. They had beautiful produce. I got a carton of tomatoes, squash, peas, strawberries, blueberries, and 5 peaches for a little over $20, which I thought was great. I went home and Jamie cut my hair before I headed off to a Nats (Nationals) baseball game with Julie. The game started at noon, so it was hotter than anything. It was fun though. I’ll be honest; I mostly go to baseball games for the food and company, especially since it is a slow paced game.
Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday we worked on finalizing the order list for the SOCK and worked on writing up instructions. We ordered the materials, but decided we had to scrap the laser harp because it was going to cost too much and we aren’t sure we could build it in time. We do have more types of sensors like pressure sensors and bend sensors.
Tuesday, Ro, Jamie, Darren, Caleb and I grabbed a bite to eat before heading on the Boomerang Pirate Cruise of the Potomac River. It was two hours of fun, although it is surprising how warm the city is even after sunset, so it was a little sticky and hot. We had a lot of fun and got to see some of the beautiful monuments.
Wednesday after work I went straight to the National Museum of Natural History. It was really neat. I saw dinosaurs, a giant squid, a whale, a giant sloth and the hope diamond, to name a few. It became more fun when I started to text my sister and friends some of the fun facts I was learning.
Thursday was my first day at NIST. The first order of business was getting my badge and my computer account set up. It wasn’t until almost the end of the day that I realized that I had the wrong name on my badge. They accidentally spelled my last name Quiet, which seems like a message to me. I had to leave work early to go to a reception at ACP. It was really fun to meet with the members of the development board.
Friday was a busy day. I worked on ordering parts and Mary and I went through the schedule for the Summer Institute. I also left early because we had a dinner with the SPS Executive Committee. After dinner we all headed downtown to see Capital Steps. It is a musical comedy show about politics. They make fun of both democrats and republicans, so it is completely offensive to everyone. It was really funny and a very fun night.
Nicole Quist