Class of 2023!?! Are you serious? I spent today playing with the incoming class of 2023, or for those of you not spending every minute with children, the incoming class of kindergartners. It was a wonderful experience despite the fact that I performed poorly in my morning 5K because of worrying about work in the afternoon. Our volunteers did an amazing job interacting with the 200+ guests and making the new students feel very special. It was a day all about their big day and making the best of this upcoming experience.
I got to read them a book and perform two science shows and it's all worth it when you get comments like, "you're that funny lady that made the girl fly...you know she wasn't really flying right, you were just carrying her" or "that book made me feel better about kindergarten. I'm not nearly as scared now." You never know the things that are going to shape someone's life in the future.
We had great support from the local school districts, police department, fire department and other community organizations. I love when events come together and have a great impact on our guests and I get to have fun doing things that I love like playing with kids and reading to them. What more could I ask?
Showing posts with label Sciencey Stuff. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sciencey Stuff. Show all posts
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Saturday, July 17, 2010
10 Things I learned in DC
In June my museum sent me to the Smithsonian Affiliations Conference in Washington, DC. Now not only did I come home with all the normal conference knowledge, but there are a few tasty tidbits I thought you might enjoy as well.
1. If you are dressed professionally and riding the Metro in the morning people will ask you for directions. You can either choose to tell them the truth that you're really as clueless as they are or follow my lead and slyly glance at the huge pillars that list the stops and give directions. Don't judge. I only got myself lost when trying to use the buses. Never once on the Metro rail system.
2. A Smithsonian Visitor/Employee Pass is the greatest little piece of plastic in the area. No lines to get in and out of the museums, no opening or closing your bags for security, entry before the building is open to the public and a discount on all the nerdy books you want to buy in the giftshop. Woot!
3. If a tour guide tells you there will be no bathroom access during a tour, especially in a Federal Building. Head this advice. Go before the tour starts. Follow that wisdom your mother shared with you all the time when you were little "just try to go". It'll be worth it in the end. Otherwise you could be the mother of a four year old that is drenched in pee and reeks to high heavens.
4. The Smithsonian Affiliations Employees are amazing. They'll recommend restaurants, give you directions, write grant support letters, meet with you during/after hours, give you a ride home (even when its out of their way and you've only known them for 2 hours), let you borrow their phone charger, tell you "there's a app for that" and have it actually be useful, and most of all because they go above and beyond and are genuinely nice people. Oh yeah, and when they give you a ride home they'll tell you all the cool things you otherwise wouldn't know about the city and show you the "Exorcist stairs" in Georgetown.
5. Escalators are still the devil. Not only am I just generally fearful of them, but the ones in DC are insane. Too steep, too long and always breaking down. If I'm already afraid of something having it literally stop working while I'm on it is not going to make that feeling go away. Screw you DC Escalators.
6. Strasburg is the real deal and if you don't believe me check him out in person or ask someone that understand and loves the game of baseball. It was totally worth the crowded Metro ride that almost got me stuck in the doors.
7. I'm a huge museum nerd. I spent hours devouring a majority of the museums that DC has to offer. There are still some that I missed and others that I happened into because of friends that I am glad I visited. I always find something interesting in a museum, be it a fun fact, a cool toy, or even an amazing contact. There is always something. Strangely enough one of my favorite museum experiences was the Crime and Punishment Museum. I just might be a little morbid, but it was AWESOME!
8. People are always running in DC. Seriously, I was sweating just standing and felt gross in the humid hot nastiness and people were running all over the place. People ran on the treadmill at my hotel, people ran through the streets of Georgetown, people ran on the green, but mainly people ran to catch their trains.
9. I might love baseball to a slightly unhealthy degree. When everyone around me was concerned with catching a glimpse of the president I wanted to scream at them to sit down and stop blocking my view of the field. I wasn't there to see Obama. I was there to watch Strasburg pitch and see my man, Adam Dunn.
10. A 2 mile walk to the Metro station seems much closer and manageable in the daytime. At night just flag a taxi. I can't even recommend the buses, because my only experience with the busing system had me riding around who knows where in DC and spending 2 hours being lost.
1. If you are dressed professionally and riding the Metro in the morning people will ask you for directions. You can either choose to tell them the truth that you're really as clueless as they are or follow my lead and slyly glance at the huge pillars that list the stops and give directions. Don't judge. I only got myself lost when trying to use the buses. Never once on the Metro rail system.
2. A Smithsonian Visitor/Employee Pass is the greatest little piece of plastic in the area. No lines to get in and out of the museums, no opening or closing your bags for security, entry before the building is open to the public and a discount on all the nerdy books you want to buy in the giftshop. Woot!
3. If a tour guide tells you there will be no bathroom access during a tour, especially in a Federal Building. Head this advice. Go before the tour starts. Follow that wisdom your mother shared with you all the time when you were little "just try to go". It'll be worth it in the end. Otherwise you could be the mother of a four year old that is drenched in pee and reeks to high heavens.
4. The Smithsonian Affiliations Employees are amazing. They'll recommend restaurants, give you directions, write grant support letters, meet with you during/after hours, give you a ride home (even when its out of their way and you've only known them for 2 hours), let you borrow their phone charger, tell you "there's a app for that" and have it actually be useful, and most of all because they go above and beyond and are genuinely nice people. Oh yeah, and when they give you a ride home they'll tell you all the cool things you otherwise wouldn't know about the city and show you the "Exorcist stairs" in Georgetown.
5. Escalators are still the devil. Not only am I just generally fearful of them, but the ones in DC are insane. Too steep, too long and always breaking down. If I'm already afraid of something having it literally stop working while I'm on it is not going to make that feeling go away. Screw you DC Escalators.
6. Strasburg is the real deal and if you don't believe me check him out in person or ask someone that understand and loves the game of baseball. It was totally worth the crowded Metro ride that almost got me stuck in the doors.
7. I'm a huge museum nerd. I spent hours devouring a majority of the museums that DC has to offer. There are still some that I missed and others that I happened into because of friends that I am glad I visited. I always find something interesting in a museum, be it a fun fact, a cool toy, or even an amazing contact. There is always something. Strangely enough one of my favorite museum experiences was the Crime and Punishment Museum. I just might be a little morbid, but it was AWESOME!
8. People are always running in DC. Seriously, I was sweating just standing and felt gross in the humid hot nastiness and people were running all over the place. People ran on the treadmill at my hotel, people ran through the streets of Georgetown, people ran on the green, but mainly people ran to catch their trains.
9. I might love baseball to a slightly unhealthy degree. When everyone around me was concerned with catching a glimpse of the president I wanted to scream at them to sit down and stop blocking my view of the field. I wasn't there to see Obama. I was there to watch Strasburg pitch and see my man, Adam Dunn.
10. A 2 mile walk to the Metro station seems much closer and manageable in the daytime. At night just flag a taxi. I can't even recommend the buses, because my only experience with the busing system had me riding around who knows where in DC and spending 2 hours being lost.
Thursday, May 20, 2010
From the mouth of babes...
No matter how long I work with children there is always something that surprises me or even just amuses me that I never expected to see. Thank you letters are pretty normal in this line of work. You're sort of a celebrity when you only interact with children once or twice during the year and do all the "cool" experiments. This "celebrity" affords you many things in the form of child adoration, hugs, smiles, the awkward half leg hugs, fan mail, squeaky shouts of your name, and the teacher forced thank you letters. All of these things make me love my job and generally outweigh any negatives. This week is definitely tipped in the positive favor even though I've put in extra hours and been out of the office more than I've been in the office.
I started the week with two assemblies at a kindergarten center. Kids are still cute at this age. Their innocent and sometimes sweet. If some anger slips out, it does just that, it slips. They're not premeditating jerks. I always enjoy working with this age group because everything you do is amazing and wonderful. These kindergartners were no different. The entire show was a joy for them even though the Electro-Static Generator wasn't at peak performance. I even got loud cheering and hugs. However, the best part of the day was when I asked the kids if they had any questions. This can be a double edged sword, you get to show the adults you care about the students minds and thoughts, but you also have to wade through all the "stories" before you get a real question. These kids were on top of it though, questions from the very beginning, but the best are those kids you're sure were listening to something else while you were presenting. Case in point, my favorite question from this group "How does water get in the ocean to begin with?"....ummm, color me shocked that this was so important to the little girl. I was there to talk about Electricity.
The next day I went out to a local school and did a program called Slime Time. Its always fun to make slime. Who doesn't enjoy sticky, slimy goo? Rarely is it the case that all the classes you work with are well behaved, listen and answer questions. I hit the kid jackpot and as an added bonus I left with the obligatory teacher forced thank you notes. Always entertaining and generally variants of the same letter the teacher wrote on the board for them to copy. Now most of these were the same form letters as always. "Thanks, you're nice. Can you come again? My slime was cool." and insert the random vocabulary words you taught while in the classroom. However, there were some outside the box thinkers in these classrooms and either the teachers didn't read the letters or were just excited that the kids put words on paper and let them slide through. There are two that stand out in my mind from the five minute or so read I had before handing them off to the marketing department. One of which was well thought out and very genuine in their enjoyment of the program. I know this because it included the phrase "I liked when we added the goop part. When it combined my slime looked like blue boogers. That was cool, but the girl next to me had green boogers and that was even better!" Then there was my favorite letter. It went a little something like this
"Dear The Works, (as you can see this child was paying so much attention that my wearing of a name tag and sharing my name with them 6 or so times didn't even matter)
Thank you for coming to my class. Slime time was cool.
I have a turtle. I feed him every day and clean his tank. He has grown since I got him. He is green and cute and you would like him. His name is Reggie (or some random name it really doesn't change the story if I got the turtle's name wrong). I love him. My mom says I am doing such a good job that someday she will get me another turtle too. Thanks for coming to my school.
Your friend,
Kid X."
The thing that made this letter even better is that it was spelled completely phonetically so "a" was actually "uh". This kid not only didn't give a crap about what I taught, but really wanted me to know about his new pet turtle. I know it should be something that peeves me off, but come on it took me way too long to read the letter because English is a crazy ass language and phonetics is super difficult because words "sound" different to everyone. I'm not sure if the thing that makes this the best is the spelling, the lack of even knowing my name, the fact that it has NOTHING to do with the program or the fact that the teacher either never read it or was just excited the kid wrote anything that it didn't matter to them.
Today was a cluster of insanity that started with teaching polymers at work and then rushing to a school to shock small children. While at the school I remembered just how jaded and bratty 5th graders can be, but got to enjoy the undying love of 1st and 2nd graders. Fun from today was the Indian child that will be spending the summer in India whose name is "Raul". I couldn't pronounce his real name if I were forced, but I find it funny that his parents or the school or whomever decided that Raul was a good substitute for the real name...I don't even think his real name started with an R. Other than that I can't remember anything major other than the disappointment one child had when he realized that not every presenter had brought a pig with them. Sorry, pigs are part of my other show. Whatever.
All in all, the week has been crazy, but definitely more ups than downs and though I'm tired I wouldn't trade it for the world.
I started the week with two assemblies at a kindergarten center. Kids are still cute at this age. Their innocent and sometimes sweet. If some anger slips out, it does just that, it slips. They're not premeditating jerks. I always enjoy working with this age group because everything you do is amazing and wonderful. These kindergartners were no different. The entire show was a joy for them even though the Electro-Static Generator wasn't at peak performance. I even got loud cheering and hugs. However, the best part of the day was when I asked the kids if they had any questions. This can be a double edged sword, you get to show the adults you care about the students minds and thoughts, but you also have to wade through all the "stories" before you get a real question. These kids were on top of it though, questions from the very beginning, but the best are those kids you're sure were listening to something else while you were presenting. Case in point, my favorite question from this group "How does water get in the ocean to begin with?"....ummm, color me shocked that this was so important to the little girl. I was there to talk about Electricity.
The next day I went out to a local school and did a program called Slime Time. Its always fun to make slime. Who doesn't enjoy sticky, slimy goo? Rarely is it the case that all the classes you work with are well behaved, listen and answer questions. I hit the kid jackpot and as an added bonus I left with the obligatory teacher forced thank you notes. Always entertaining and generally variants of the same letter the teacher wrote on the board for them to copy. Now most of these were the same form letters as always. "Thanks, you're nice. Can you come again? My slime was cool." and insert the random vocabulary words you taught while in the classroom. However, there were some outside the box thinkers in these classrooms and either the teachers didn't read the letters or were just excited that the kids put words on paper and let them slide through. There are two that stand out in my mind from the five minute or so read I had before handing them off to the marketing department. One of which was well thought out and very genuine in their enjoyment of the program. I know this because it included the phrase "I liked when we added the goop part. When it combined my slime looked like blue boogers. That was cool, but the girl next to me had green boogers and that was even better!" Then there was my favorite letter. It went a little something like this
"Dear The Works, (as you can see this child was paying so much attention that my wearing of a name tag and sharing my name with them 6 or so times didn't even matter)
Thank you for coming to my class. Slime time was cool.
I have a turtle. I feed him every day and clean his tank. He has grown since I got him. He is green and cute and you would like him. His name is Reggie (or some random name it really doesn't change the story if I got the turtle's name wrong). I love him. My mom says I am doing such a good job that someday she will get me another turtle too. Thanks for coming to my school.
Your friend,
Kid X."
The thing that made this letter even better is that it was spelled completely phonetically so "a" was actually "uh". This kid not only didn't give a crap about what I taught, but really wanted me to know about his new pet turtle. I know it should be something that peeves me off, but come on it took me way too long to read the letter because English is a crazy ass language and phonetics is super difficult because words "sound" different to everyone. I'm not sure if the thing that makes this the best is the spelling, the lack of even knowing my name, the fact that it has NOTHING to do with the program or the fact that the teacher either never read it or was just excited the kid wrote anything that it didn't matter to them.
Today was a cluster of insanity that started with teaching polymers at work and then rushing to a school to shock small children. While at the school I remembered just how jaded and bratty 5th graders can be, but got to enjoy the undying love of 1st and 2nd graders. Fun from today was the Indian child that will be spending the summer in India whose name is "Raul". I couldn't pronounce his real name if I were forced, but I find it funny that his parents or the school or whomever decided that Raul was a good substitute for the real name...I don't even think his real name started with an R. Other than that I can't remember anything major other than the disappointment one child had when he realized that not every presenter had brought a pig with them. Sorry, pigs are part of my other show. Whatever.
All in all, the week has been crazy, but definitely more ups than downs and though I'm tired I wouldn't trade it for the world.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Dinner Conversation
I have discovered that one of my many flaws, yes, flaws, is that I have little to no sensor and feel that anytime is a good time to share information that I find interesting. If you have ever had a face-to-face conversation with me then you know this is true. However, I have recently learned that many things come out of my mouth at the dinner table that no sane, or otherwise socially adept person would say. I will provide evidence.
Approximately two weeks ago the boy and I were at Applebee's having a rare dinner out together during which he told me his throat was feeling sore. There are many normal responses to this statement, such as, "Do you feel like you're coming down with something?", "Did you have to do more talking than normal today?", or even "I'm sorry, that sucks." I said "Did you know you can get gonorrhea in your throat?" It is probably for the best that instead of being shocked or horrified that I had said this aloud in a dining establishment he just said, "No, I did not know that." I followed with, "Well, generally you have to be immunocompromised first, but you still CAN get gonorrhea in your throat. I doubt that's what you have though, and if it is we probably need to be having a talk." Another winner of a comment at this dinner involved talking about one of my favorite books. I don't think the family dining behind us at all enjoyed my giddy excitement while describing the awesomeness of "Stiff" by Mary Roach, or the fact that my favorite chapter is about body farms. They were however, troopers and stuck it out through their entire dinner and even a dessert. I guess I'm not quite to the stage of scaring people away.
So, would you still like to join us for dinner?
Approximately two weeks ago the boy and I were at Applebee's having a rare dinner out together during which he told me his throat was feeling sore. There are many normal responses to this statement, such as, "Do you feel like you're coming down with something?", "Did you have to do more talking than normal today?", or even "I'm sorry, that sucks." I said "Did you know you can get gonorrhea in your throat?" It is probably for the best that instead of being shocked or horrified that I had said this aloud in a dining establishment he just said, "No, I did not know that." I followed with, "Well, generally you have to be immunocompromised first, but you still CAN get gonorrhea in your throat. I doubt that's what you have though, and if it is we probably need to be having a talk." Another winner of a comment at this dinner involved talking about one of my favorite books. I don't think the family dining behind us at all enjoyed my giddy excitement while describing the awesomeness of "Stiff" by Mary Roach, or the fact that my favorite chapter is about body farms. They were however, troopers and stuck it out through their entire dinner and even a dessert. I guess I'm not quite to the stage of scaring people away.
So, would you still like to join us for dinner?
Friday, May 1, 2009
Planes and Rootbeer
I took a small vacation from Sunday until Thursday and as some of you may have realized I hopped a plane to St. Louis. Why? Well, mainly because airfare was cheap and I've never seen the Arch. There you have it an entire vacation built on the premise that I wanted, neigh, needed to get out of Dodge. The time off was definitely enjoyed.
Planning on a boring flight from Columbus to Chicago (Where I would then be eternally saddened by the fact that I could not visit one of my favorite cities) we arrived at the airport and began the waiting process. However, this was not to be your normal flight. I take that back it was for approximately 9/10 of the passengers, but for me it was AWESOME, even though we had a delay leaving the ground because of an engine not coming online at first. You're wondering why this flight was awesome when I was stuck on the ground longer than anticipated and had to run to catch my connector flight, well, in short, SOCCER PLAYERS! Not just any soccer players, professional soccer players. That's right the Chicago Fire were on my flight! I spent the hour waiting for my plane being incredibly excited about the fact that the entire team (minus Brian McBride) were going to be on my flight. While in the waiting area one of the news anchors was of course discussing Swine Flu. The Chicago Fire coach and assistant coach, were seated beside me and the players were spread throughout the waiting area, they were discussing there next game against a team from Mexico. Some of the team members were joking about the "impending" Swine Flu outbreak. It could have gotten really funny, but only got to "They're ordering masks for all of us to wear on Wednesday" and the ass. coach told them to "keep it in line". Stupid coaches and their sensibility. I was also glad to find out that I'm not the only person to think that airplanes are always cold. I was reaching up to close all the vents in my row of seats, yes, I am that person and noticed the Chicago Fire player in front of me doing the exact same thing and commented. He talked to me a little while and then offered me his second blanket. I kindly declined and reveled in the fact that I was talking to a professional soccer player. :-)
When we landed I parted ways with the Chicago Fire and ran to catch my already boarding plane to Saint Louis, however, the run seems unnecessary looking back and knowing we then spent an hour on the runway waiting for lightning to stop. Finally arrived in STL a little late, but unscathed. While in STL we visited the zoo, the Science Center, the City Museum and the Arch. All in all it was a cool time and I even walked away with a new pair of running shoes and two amazing pairs of pants. Also, if you are ever in STL I highly recommend Fitz's. Microbrewed rootbeer and other carbonated beverages. I enjoyed them so much that I brought home a 4 pack of Diet Rootbeer and Cream Soda. Amazing! I even got to hear the background of Fitz's depsite the lack of a bottling tour duringo our visit. One of the Rangers at the Arch grew up in STL and enlightened me while I looked out at the city. Apparently they used to be a truly awful (health code wise) restaurant (Grade C) where the fly paper was more black than yellow and your frosty mug probably showed lip prints from its previous user. However, the place was still packed with people wanting their rootbeer. Now they have cleaned things up (Grade A) and are a top rated restaurant in the area. I've got to admit my Rootbeer float was definitely worth it. I even would have endured the black fly strips, but probably not the prior user lip prints. If you're in the area look it up!
To continue my brush with professional athletes that no one else knows. We saw the practice rink for the St Louis Blues while on a random mall visit. Yes, you read correctly, mall visit. There were only two players there practicing while we walked our 4miles of mall, but it was pretty cool to watch their stick work. I've never acquired the love of hockey, but I think with time it could blossom. The skills are just so gorgeous when present. I always manage to find beauty in well executed sports. Now, if only my running could reach anything close to that level.
My flight home was just as plagued as my other flights. We were delayed because of connectors flights and being the LAST flight back to Columbus, OH. So all in all good trip other than the flights, which were sadly my worst experience with Southwest. :-(
I never manage to truly vacation and leave all thoughts of work behind. I came home with new plans and ideas for one specific area of the museum. As soon as I get approval for ordering we're going to have some very cool new additions to the Science of Art area.
Planning on a boring flight from Columbus to Chicago (Where I would then be eternally saddened by the fact that I could not visit one of my favorite cities) we arrived at the airport and began the waiting process. However, this was not to be your normal flight. I take that back it was for approximately 9/10 of the passengers, but for me it was AWESOME, even though we had a delay leaving the ground because of an engine not coming online at first. You're wondering why this flight was awesome when I was stuck on the ground longer than anticipated and had to run to catch my connector flight, well, in short, SOCCER PLAYERS! Not just any soccer players, professional soccer players. That's right the Chicago Fire were on my flight! I spent the hour waiting for my plane being incredibly excited about the fact that the entire team (minus Brian McBride) were going to be on my flight. While in the waiting area one of the news anchors was of course discussing Swine Flu. The Chicago Fire coach and assistant coach, were seated beside me and the players were spread throughout the waiting area, they were discussing there next game against a team from Mexico. Some of the team members were joking about the "impending" Swine Flu outbreak. It could have gotten really funny, but only got to "They're ordering masks for all of us to wear on Wednesday" and the ass. coach told them to "keep it in line". Stupid coaches and their sensibility. I was also glad to find out that I'm not the only person to think that airplanes are always cold. I was reaching up to close all the vents in my row of seats, yes, I am that person and noticed the Chicago Fire player in front of me doing the exact same thing and commented. He talked to me a little while and then offered me his second blanket. I kindly declined and reveled in the fact that I was talking to a professional soccer player. :-)
When we landed I parted ways with the Chicago Fire and ran to catch my already boarding plane to Saint Louis, however, the run seems unnecessary looking back and knowing we then spent an hour on the runway waiting for lightning to stop. Finally arrived in STL a little late, but unscathed. While in STL we visited the zoo, the Science Center, the City Museum and the Arch. All in all it was a cool time and I even walked away with a new pair of running shoes and two amazing pairs of pants. Also, if you are ever in STL I highly recommend Fitz's. Microbrewed rootbeer and other carbonated beverages. I enjoyed them so much that I brought home a 4 pack of Diet Rootbeer and Cream Soda. Amazing! I even got to hear the background of Fitz's depsite the lack of a bottling tour duringo our visit. One of the Rangers at the Arch grew up in STL and enlightened me while I looked out at the city. Apparently they used to be a truly awful (health code wise) restaurant (Grade C) where the fly paper was more black than yellow and your frosty mug probably showed lip prints from its previous user. However, the place was still packed with people wanting their rootbeer. Now they have cleaned things up (Grade A) and are a top rated restaurant in the area. I've got to admit my Rootbeer float was definitely worth it. I even would have endured the black fly strips, but probably not the prior user lip prints. If you're in the area look it up!
To continue my brush with professional athletes that no one else knows. We saw the practice rink for the St Louis Blues while on a random mall visit. Yes, you read correctly, mall visit. There were only two players there practicing while we walked our 4miles of mall, but it was pretty cool to watch their stick work. I've never acquired the love of hockey, but I think with time it could blossom. The skills are just so gorgeous when present. I always manage to find beauty in well executed sports. Now, if only my running could reach anything close to that level.
My flight home was just as plagued as my other flights. We were delayed because of connectors flights and being the LAST flight back to Columbus, OH. So all in all good trip other than the flights, which were sadly my worst experience with Southwest. :-(
I never manage to truly vacation and leave all thoughts of work behind. I came home with new plans and ideas for one specific area of the museum. As soon as I get approval for ordering we're going to have some very cool new additions to the Science of Art area.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
ASTC Long Edition
Ok, so I promised a conference recap. You would think after being home for a week I would have finally digested, but you would be incredibly wrong. There was just so much going on that I find that I discover/remember new things everyday. Scary I know, but true none the less.
I spent an entire week with “my kind” as a few friends have put it and we covered all sorts of issues relevant to museum life.
I spent the first day of the conference a little terrified and out of sorts…surprisingly I still find these sort of professional events terrifying (and in case you read my previous post the escalators were no help with this issue). ASTC kicked off for me with the fabulous NEON (National Education Outreach Network) session, and coffee (tea if you’re me) with a person I mistakenly thought was from Denmark. In actuallity Ruth, as we will call her, was from a Denver museum though she had a heavy foreign accent I swear and since none of you were there you cannot discredit this claim. NEON was basically a room full of people that love to travel around and present science of some sort to kids and adults alike. This was an awesome intro to the conference and I met some pretty cool people, some of whom will make later appearances in this post, however names will be changed to protect the innocent and because I didn’t ask if I could talk about them.
I also learned that conferences are occasionally just an excuse to go out and get drunk. I only managed that feat one night…I am certain the singular occurrence was something that made Eric very grateful.
As the days went on I am not sure I could recount every event that occurred, but I met some awesome people, traded business cards and will be in touch with all of them. I learned that it is always better to get support, even if external than go it alone.
However, going back to my drunk comment. Saturday was the big day for most things ASTC. The conference officially kicked off with a free breakfast and Key Note Speaker. If you’ve ever worked in the non-profit world then you know the best way to get attendance is to offer something free and food is one of the best somethings you can offer in my opinion. This seemed to be a shared opinion because the conference hall was packed. We were welcomed to Philly by none other than Benjamin Franklin. For those of you that believed he was dead you have not been to Philly recently. He was present to welcome us and yell “Huzzah!” a lot. Then we moved into the business meeting, which I claim most people ignored and talked to the others seated at their table, or maybe that was just what I did. Then we got to the Key Note Speaker. I was actually looking forward to this talk. We were supposed to be hearing about Global Sustainability and the Science Centers Role. Please take note that I said supposed to be in the last sentence because what we really learned about was his book that was recently published and all about the cholera outbreak in England. While I now know never to drink water from the Broad Street pump and that who you know has throughout history proven to be just as important as what you know, I have no idea what my museum’s role in global sustainability should be. From there I bought concealor with a friend, Bob, and then attended back to back sessions all day. I have notes and will refer to them when work calls for that, bur for now let us just say I sat around and listened to a lot of people talk and took a lot of notes. Then it was off to the PARTY! The Franklin Institute opened their doors to any and all of us offering free food and drink (including alcohol). In case you missed the comment earlier free anything is a good way to get people to attend and now I will admit to you that free ALCOHOL is one of the best ever. So…imagine packed museum with many drinking people. I’m not sure how this became a good idea, in fact I blame the alcohol consumed, but after the party a group of us headed out to a local night club. While the atmosphere was dreary when we first arrived after mass quantities of drinkage being consumed and many other people arriving it turned into a fairly enjoyable night/early morning. Unless you are Eric and then you lost sleep because I called for no reason other than thinking it would be a bad idea for me to go to sleep at that exact time. He was however fabulous and put up with me being both crazy and drunk and seems to still like me after I have arrived home.
Sunday was another packed day with sessions and more sessions, again I could recount them by looking at my notes, but what fun would that be for everyone else. Monday was more of an exploring day than anything else. I spent the first half of the day at a school in Philly observing Outreach programs. Some were fabulous and some were not so fabulous. Even the not so fabulous were decent but could have used a nicer presenter. We’ll call her Jerky McJerkface and she nearly made a child cry. Jerky McJerkface was not my favorite person and I think she is a bad example of outreach, but the program itself was incredible. Then we walked to The Franklin for another free day of exploring the museum. If you have never seen the American Museum of Natural History’s Mobile Museum you really should get yourself on one. They are amazing! It’s a huge ass Winnebago that is decked out from front to back inside and out with everything they need for the exhibit. I was in dorky heaven! After that I met up with another friend, let us call him, Eagle Eye. I will admit that Eagle Eye was quite possibly one of the coolest people I met at the conference and we’ll probably keep in touch the most, but otherwise there are some fun stories to be had from this day. Eagle Eye and I decided it would be wise a decision to let the all knowing iPhone tell us where to get lunch. After a couple shakes of the fancy gizmo we discovered a little gem of a place called “Hot Tamales” (I kid you not that was actually the name.) and though I can truly call it a gem now after spending a mere $6 for lunch (drink included) and enjoying it I honestly decided we HAD to eat there because it had an awesome name. Eagle Eye is partly awesome in the fact that he agreed to eat at some random place my phone found for us and for other reasons as well. I spent the rest of the day watching random shows, some involving always cool and always exiting, FIRE and others being totally cute 3D cartoons with flies. I fully endorse and recommend you see Fly Me to the Moon if and when you get a chance for sheer cuteness factor alone. After spending the day doing nothing I had worked up an appetite and it seemed that only Ealge Eye and I were left in the museum. We made plans to meet up a little later for some dinner. We again let the all mighty iPhone choose a place for us. However, I am sad to admit that this time the iPhone let us down not once, not twice, but three times. Finally after wandering the city for two hours we found the restaurant we had initially set out in search of and had a great vegetarian dinner.
Tuesday involved saying Good Bye to everyone and wishing I had booked a flight home as well. Strangely enough when you see someone everyday you begin to miss them after a week. I had to hold out however until Wednesday afternoon when I flew home on one of the most empty flights ever. The rest of the week was a whirlwind of catching up, cleaning, and events at my place of employment and home.
We capped off the week with a Halloween Party. I will attempt to find some pictures and possibly post them at a later date. I have sadly discovered that pictures are also not my strong suit because I get caught up in the action and forget all about the camera. You’ll all have to forgive me. It seems like a billion other things have also happened since I returned home. I however do not believe I can handle putting anything else in writing and I am certain none of you can handle reading more. Hopefully I have not bored you to the extent that you will never stop here again. If I have I greatly apologize and you will be missed.
I spent an entire week with “my kind” as a few friends have put it and we covered all sorts of issues relevant to museum life.
I spent the first day of the conference a little terrified and out of sorts…surprisingly I still find these sort of professional events terrifying (and in case you read my previous post the escalators were no help with this issue). ASTC kicked off for me with the fabulous NEON (National Education Outreach Network) session, and coffee (tea if you’re me) with a person I mistakenly thought was from Denmark. In actuallity Ruth, as we will call her, was from a Denver museum though she had a heavy foreign accent I swear and since none of you were there you cannot discredit this claim. NEON was basically a room full of people that love to travel around and present science of some sort to kids and adults alike. This was an awesome intro to the conference and I met some pretty cool people, some of whom will make later appearances in this post, however names will be changed to protect the innocent and because I didn’t ask if I could talk about them.
I also learned that conferences are occasionally just an excuse to go out and get drunk. I only managed that feat one night…I am certain the singular occurrence was something that made Eric very grateful.
As the days went on I am not sure I could recount every event that occurred, but I met some awesome people, traded business cards and will be in touch with all of them. I learned that it is always better to get support, even if external than go it alone.
However, going back to my drunk comment. Saturday was the big day for most things ASTC. The conference officially kicked off with a free breakfast and Key Note Speaker. If you’ve ever worked in the non-profit world then you know the best way to get attendance is to offer something free and food is one of the best somethings you can offer in my opinion. This seemed to be a shared opinion because the conference hall was packed. We were welcomed to Philly by none other than Benjamin Franklin. For those of you that believed he was dead you have not been to Philly recently. He was present to welcome us and yell “Huzzah!” a lot. Then we moved into the business meeting, which I claim most people ignored and talked to the others seated at their table, or maybe that was just what I did. Then we got to the Key Note Speaker. I was actually looking forward to this talk. We were supposed to be hearing about Global Sustainability and the Science Centers Role. Please take note that I said supposed to be in the last sentence because what we really learned about was his book that was recently published and all about the cholera outbreak in England. While I now know never to drink water from the Broad Street pump and that who you know has throughout history proven to be just as important as what you know, I have no idea what my museum’s role in global sustainability should be. From there I bought concealor with a friend, Bob, and then attended back to back sessions all day. I have notes and will refer to them when work calls for that, bur for now let us just say I sat around and listened to a lot of people talk and took a lot of notes. Then it was off to the PARTY! The Franklin Institute opened their doors to any and all of us offering free food and drink (including alcohol). In case you missed the comment earlier free anything is a good way to get people to attend and now I will admit to you that free ALCOHOL is one of the best ever. So…imagine packed museum with many drinking people. I’m not sure how this became a good idea, in fact I blame the alcohol consumed, but after the party a group of us headed out to a local night club. While the atmosphere was dreary when we first arrived after mass quantities of drinkage being consumed and many other people arriving it turned into a fairly enjoyable night/early morning. Unless you are Eric and then you lost sleep because I called for no reason other than thinking it would be a bad idea for me to go to sleep at that exact time. He was however fabulous and put up with me being both crazy and drunk and seems to still like me after I have arrived home.
Sunday was another packed day with sessions and more sessions, again I could recount them by looking at my notes, but what fun would that be for everyone else. Monday was more of an exploring day than anything else. I spent the first half of the day at a school in Philly observing Outreach programs. Some were fabulous and some were not so fabulous. Even the not so fabulous were decent but could have used a nicer presenter. We’ll call her Jerky McJerkface and she nearly made a child cry. Jerky McJerkface was not my favorite person and I think she is a bad example of outreach, but the program itself was incredible. Then we walked to The Franklin for another free day of exploring the museum. If you have never seen the American Museum of Natural History’s Mobile Museum you really should get yourself on one. They are amazing! It’s a huge ass Winnebago that is decked out from front to back inside and out with everything they need for the exhibit. I was in dorky heaven! After that I met up with another friend, let us call him, Eagle Eye. I will admit that Eagle Eye was quite possibly one of the coolest people I met at the conference and we’ll probably keep in touch the most, but otherwise there are some fun stories to be had from this day. Eagle Eye and I decided it would be wise a decision to let the all knowing iPhone tell us where to get lunch. After a couple shakes of the fancy gizmo we discovered a little gem of a place called “Hot Tamales” (I kid you not that was actually the name.) and though I can truly call it a gem now after spending a mere $6 for lunch (drink included) and enjoying it I honestly decided we HAD to eat there because it had an awesome name. Eagle Eye is partly awesome in the fact that he agreed to eat at some random place my phone found for us and for other reasons as well. I spent the rest of the day watching random shows, some involving always cool and always exiting, FIRE and others being totally cute 3D cartoons with flies. I fully endorse and recommend you see Fly Me to the Moon if and when you get a chance for sheer cuteness factor alone. After spending the day doing nothing I had worked up an appetite and it seemed that only Ealge Eye and I were left in the museum. We made plans to meet up a little later for some dinner. We again let the all mighty iPhone choose a place for us. However, I am sad to admit that this time the iPhone let us down not once, not twice, but three times. Finally after wandering the city for two hours we found the restaurant we had initially set out in search of and had a great vegetarian dinner.
Tuesday involved saying Good Bye to everyone and wishing I had booked a flight home as well. Strangely enough when you see someone everyday you begin to miss them after a week. I had to hold out however until Wednesday afternoon when I flew home on one of the most empty flights ever. The rest of the week was a whirlwind of catching up, cleaning, and events at my place of employment and home.
We capped off the week with a Halloween Party. I will attempt to find some pictures and possibly post them at a later date. I have sadly discovered that pictures are also not my strong suit because I get caught up in the action and forget all about the camera. You’ll all have to forgive me. It seems like a billion other things have also happened since I returned home. I however do not believe I can handle putting anything else in writing and I am certain none of you can handle reading more. Hopefully I have not bored you to the extent that you will never stop here again. If I have I greatly apologize and you will be missed.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Conference Crazy...
Things that have occurred this week that are of note, but I cannot seem to get my get my mind to settle in one spot for long enough to turn them into a post. This would be another one of those reasons I am a poor example of a blogger. When things go crazy around me I get caught up in them and actually enjoy being entirely immersed. Though, there are times that I hate being this sort of person it has been incredible for this conference. I’ve spent the entire time totally immersed in developing relationships, developing programs, and developing my museum. While, this has been awesome for me I realize it has been very difficult for me to provide in a succinct manner for those of you that keep track of me via blog. I did also realize that blogging is difficult for me because not only do I tell a story better in person I also prefer the face time talking provides.
I’ll provide more at a later date but for now I will wrap the ASTC Conference up as…immense amounts of fun, incredible networking, making amazing friends and discovering I’m just at the tip of the iceberg for everything I want/need to accomplish, oh yeh, and my own personal hell of escalators EVERYWHERE!
I’ll provide more at a later date but for now I will wrap the ASTC Conference up as…immense amounts of fun, incredible networking, making amazing friends and discovering I’m just at the tip of the iceberg for everything I want/need to accomplish, oh yeh, and my own personal hell of escalators EVERYWHERE!
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