On the road again!

4.28-4.29

DC is now just a colorful memory, and we move ever onward. Believe it or not, the schedule is just as full as ever, we just have to drive slower because the Northeast is rather populated. Monday can be divided into two separate halves: the part where we left my Aunt's house, and the section where we drove until Newark. However, it's worth mentioning that Shane's girlfriend brought Tucson Tamale Company, and our last meal in my Aunt's house was a taste from home.

We left the bus at the Newark Charter School (NCS), which was the site of our next performance, and met up with an old student of my Dad's. He met us in the freezing Delaware parking lot, and we gave an impromptu presentation to his kids who weren't part of NCS. We all carpooled back to their spot in a nice little neighborhood and dug in to an unreal BBQ spread for dinner. I spent the rest of the evening attempting to catch up on blogging posts, and soon found myself up far too late. I rubbed my eyes to try to make the clock turn backwards, and upon failing, decided to turn in for the night.

We did a couple of lightning fast shows at the school the next day. The folks we were staying with had lent us a car to get back to the school, and we pulled in with time to spare. Luckily, this extra time gave us the chance to figure out how we were supposed to boil down our show into about 25 minutes, because that was all the time NCS was giving us. Honestly, I liked the whole performance better, but it was a tad bit rushed. If we could figure out a way to still connect each separate demonstration, then we would have a real power-packed number.

Once the shows were all done, we hit the road for PA, and accomplished both of our goals for the rest of the day: we found somewhere to rest, and we sniffed the air in Hershey, PA. The air wasn't that delicious, but it's nice to be under the roof of another road trip veteran.

---Tasty Bits:

We finally found something else we can pass on the road: a horse and buggy. That's right, today we crossed through Amish country!

End of the Convention

4.27

Sunday was a reflection of sorts for our booth at the festival. I had stayed out rather late into the evening and as a result slept like the dead well past the time that everyone else had driven into the District. I arrived several hours into the final day of the convention and tapped out Shane and my Dad so they could rest their joints and vocal chords. I helped more people understand what harmony looks like and taught them how to do several sound experiments with everyday stuff.

There were several key differences worth mentioning though. Later on, I happened to be walking past one of the stages when I noticed that the next show was going to be the traveling arm of the Franklin Institute. I have never considered myself above a little bit of spying, and so I immediately ran back to the booth to get my camera. I returned, and watched 40 minutes of well-executed and finely packaged science. Following the show, I grabbed their contact information, so there may come a time soon where they find themselves as members of our own captive audience!

The convention closed half an hour later, and we moved on to evening plans. It took us a while to pack everything away, but you need to understand that our gear needed to fit into a fraction of its original space in order to leave the festival: we had borrowed my Aunt's tiny Honda Fit to shuttle our entire show to the convention center. I believe that there exists footage of our exodus from our booth, but it might take some time to reach you. Until then, trust that we are capable and inventive when the hour demands it of us. The next stop in the day was getting dinner with another old friend of my Dad's out in Bethesda, MA. I had a fantastic time catching up with the guy, because I am starting to realize that I am the age now where I can appreciate my Dad's friend's company fully. We said our goodbyes much later and officially wrapped up the last day of the SCI FEST.

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Tasty Bits:

According to the founder of the convention, it is absolutely necessary to allow for an entire year to pass in between each festival. I believe we scientists are a little harder to host than the Comic-Con crowd.

At the Convention with 35,000 others!

4.25

Today we got to move into our 10'x10' booth in the sub level cavern of the convention center. The time had finally come to show the people of the world what the Arizona Mathematics Road Show was all about. We were in the best shape of our demonstration lives thanks to the 30+ shows that lay behind us across the southern half of the U.S. But wait, something wasn't quite right: where were the crowds of small children who would undoubtedly tear the place apart unless we appeased their every wish? Hmm, it suddenly seemed like we might be able to ease into this booth thing, as opposed to a metaphorical leap of faith.

Really, I won't say that I was disappointed, but by the time the VIP party started, we hadn't even done 50 harmonograph drawings. However, I mustn't look a gift horse in the mouth: the gentle start to the weekend gave us much needed time to fine tune the few instruments that we weren't in the habit of bringing in with us for shows. The harmonograph was creating better and better graphs of harmony, and all of a sudden the PA system boomed above us, “Thank you for coming to the Science and Engineering Festival, the halls will be shutting down in 15 minutes. Please come back tomorrow for even more fun, and STEM.” Holy Smokes I thought, the time was 2:45 pm, and at 3:00 we were basically done. For the next three hours we were invited to wander through the convention center, and explore the other booths that were a part of the Festival.

I mean this place was full of intrigue, where were we supposed to begin? I found it very interesting to observe how information trickled from person to person by word of mouth, and eventually we discovered that there was an opening ceremony happening on one of the halls above. I followed the masses up escalator after escalator until I came to a truly impressive display of bodies in motion. I had the fleeting impression of being a single water molecule flowing down a gradient and coming to rest in a landscape depression alongside fellow molecules. At this opening ceremony, I let most of the pleasantries drift through one ear and out the other; however, one piece stuck, and I filed it in my mind under convention trivia: imagine this, we were about to experience a wave of people numbering somewhere between 30,000 and 35,000. WHAT?? We were going to need at least another packet of paper for the harmonograph.  

Once I had recovered from that shock, I followed my group out to dinner with some old friends, and put any disturbing thoughts of large numbers out of my mind.

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Tasty Bits:

It turns out that you can use other people's mouths as musical instruments if you have a long enough series of straws joined end to end. All they have to do is mouth A E I O U while you blow the improvised reed instrument. 

4.24

This is the day we have all been waiting for: Science and Engineering Festival day one! I would be hard pressed to explain why it is that I am not always interested in chasing down details even if I am involved in the final version of a plan. All I am trying to introduce to you is that on Thursday I woke up, and found out that I was going to be riding the metro into the city with my step mom, and we were supposed to find our way to the convention center. Deal, no prob; I mean, I grew up in the grid system city of Tucson, so navigating DC (also grid) should have been a cinch. So, the two of us went out the door and made our way to where we would catch the Metro. After riding into the District with little or no effort, we emerge into the sunshine with little or no clue of what direction is north, south, east, whatever. Luckily, we looked exactly like the folks who needed a friendly push in the right direction, and that is just what happened: two seconds after looking up and down each street, someone nearby says “The convention center is that way.” Perfect, but my pride wasn't thrilled that someone knew I was a tourist seconds after getting out of the Metro.

We made it to the Walter Washington Convention Center with no further trouble, and pretty soon the rush of activity took the day away. We had the opportunity to give two separate performances, which were now being called workshops. The small difference between a workshop and a show is just the amount of time you take to explain how members of the audience might find themselves in our shoes: “We're not the myth busters,” my Dad explained, “you can try this at home.” The workshops went very well. In both of these separate cases the three of us got into a finely tuned rhythm, and the additional questions from the audience gave us the chance to provide greater depth than what we have become accustomed to. The only noteworthy punctuation between one show and the other was our Indian food lunch break: each of us was soon stuffed to the gills, and their curry was the perfect level of too hot to handle.

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Tasty bits:

I had heard about the DC film festival while I was at the Embassy last night, so today I went off in search of some quality cinema. Just three city blocks from the convention center, I found the Goethe Institut where they were showing the film Cairo Drive. This is a must see Egyptian slice of life all done in the backseats of cars suffering from traffic in Cairo. Don't knock it till you try it.

 

Here's a link to a newspaper article about a presentation Bruce, Devin and Shane did in Maryland.

http://www.somdnews.com/article/20140425/NEWS/140429461/1043/science-show-goes-wild-at-st-peter-x2019-s-assembly&template=southernMaryland

They are now heading north to New Jersey, New York, New England ("new" territory, for sure)!

Great Falls National Park

4.22

The sun came out for a little while today before disappearing in the clouds, but we still found adventure in a drizzly DC area. I woke up after everyone in my Aunt's house had gone on to various activities. My first thought was that it was the middle of the day and I had done a miniature Rip Van Winkle. However, I saw a clock, and Shane came back shortly. He then explained what everyone else was up to: he and my Dad were set to perform at the Immanuel Christian School in Springfield, VA, and my step mom was waiting to take me to Great Falls National Park. 

Pretty soon, Shane's prophecy was realized, and everybody left the house heading in different directions.

My step mom and I went off in search of some nature. Honestly, it was an act subconsciously aimed at the fact we had spent most of yesterday wandering around Sears looking for suits I could wear. The whole place did much more than give us a dose of nature: I felt like could have stayed forever and watched the waters of the Potomac cascade over rocks. When we returned back to my Aunt's house, we were greeted by my Dad and Shane who had finished their performance. According to them, the show went as good today as shows get: the audience was incredibly responsive, and now they all love science. Naturally, after that the two of them were napping on sofas in the living room, and suddenly looking at them made me realize how tired I was myself. I went straight up to the guest room and fell into a solid sleep instantly.

By the time I woke back up, I could smell various aromas that were climbing the stairs, and filling the room. Downstairs Shane was fiddling around with a curry, and by the time I was fully awake, it was time to eat. Well, I have to hand it to him, the man knows his way around a yellow chicken and rice curry. But as I write this, I am starting to smell something altogether new. Allow me to end this short posting here, and I will go investigate the source of these smells.

Till tomorrow!

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Tasty Bits:

My step mom and I almost got to witness a rescue in progress out at Great Falls today. Unfortunately, it looked like the folks at Cabin John Rapid Rescue were only interested in practicing, which consisted mainly of determining the speed that would keep them in exactly the same spot on the river. Even if this is a rather difficult trick, it is altogether unimpressive to watch.4.22

4.19-4.21

Today we were in hunter gatherer mode. Yes, I'm aware that we are near that hot spot of civilization called the District of Columbia, but we thought we should get it out of our system. Although we spent most of the morning hunting and gathering small necessary items, Shane and my Dad managed to evolve as far as being able to use power tools: they spent the afternoon building, and fixing various demonstrations for the upcoming conference. However, I am not sure how their trajectory fared into the evening, because they went to go play disc golf with someone who graduated from the U of A. Either disc golf represents the final rung in humanity's ladder of evolution, or their development asymptotically petered out after using the rental jigsaw cutter.

I on the other hand did little to better myself for most of the day, but instead caught up with my Aunt, and her partner. I went on the errand run in the morning, which took us to four different hardware stores, two toy stores, a Michaels, and finally a grocery, all before lunch. That's right, somebody call Guinness World Records. Our final stop was in a shopping center called Seven Corners. The name has to do with the seven roads which join just outside of this location. Whether this is necessary, or some form of civic engineering jape, it doesn't matter; the plaza is a truly fearsome place, and I barely made it out without turning into a gibbering mess.

Perhaps I'm guilty of exaggeration, but it was a welcome rest getting back to my Aunt's house. After we had eaten lunch, Shane and my Dad began a careful execution of the second half of the top paragraph, and I stuck around to talk to our hosts. At length, we covered just about all the subjects involved in a well rounded catch-up session, and pretty soon her partner said he was going to take a drive to Barnes and Noble to look at a book. I rarely pass up an opportunity to be surrounded by paper and words, so I jumped in his Jetta and shouted “Giddyup!” Actually, that last bit didn't happen, and instead we had a nice drive, talking about diesel engines. Fast forward, neither of us found anything we were particularly interested in, and we returned home. Later on in the evening, the two of us started a French thriller by the name of Cache (hidden), and got very near finishing it. Suddenly, Shane, my Dad, and my step mom all were in the room! I had completely forgotten the date of her flight. Not long after, the excitement subsided, and we all settled down to eat a delicious salmon dinner with broccoli and couscous. .

The following day we planned a trip to scout out the Walter Washington Convention center. Once we were all ready, my Aunt drove us into the city. Shane didn't join us; instead he went to Maryland to visit with another cousin who, according to Shane, has quite a green thumb. There was almost no warning before reaching the District: all of a sudden buildings that housed important offices of state surrounded us on all sides. I began to imagine that it was just a little bit unreal, but DC is really not that big, so I guess there can't be much in between each national this or that. We arrived at our destination, and quickly found the convention center busy with something called “Awesome Con.” Again, I was shocked: my expectation must have been that the convention center was waiting patiently for the science and engineering conference; however I see how little sense that makes now.

We continued our tour through DC after realizing we could do no reconnaissance of the building while it was crawling with costumed creatures. My Aunt then took us to two other important stops: the Swiss Embassy, where we have an evening event this week; the apartment of her partner, which we might use for sleeping during our stay in DC. Now well into our city tour, I began to marvel at the sense of direction my Aunt possessed. Maybe I'm easily impressed because I grew up in Tucson, where everything still largely is arranged in a grid system, but still the nerve center of the nation, and all of its surrounding metro area, are somewhat labyrinthine.

The trip concluded just after lunch time, so we followed it with food, and then I became a free agent with an afternoon to spend in Falls Church. Our party size decreased one more time when my Aunt stayed home to work around the house. This meant the group now consisted of me, my Dad, and my step mom. We drove my Aunt's little car out to get dim sum at the Seven Corners Mall. The food was excellent, and soon we all were groaning happily. The two of them collapsed at home for a short nap, and I went out to find a coffee shop. I almost made it to a fun little spot called SpaceBar, but Falls Church takes Easter very seriously, so it was closed. Taking refuge in a nearby Panera, I spent my next few hours, but soon I returned home to have dinner with the gang. I think I'm starting to get some bearings, because I only got lost once riding back on bike!

The next day I found my way back to Seven Corners (again), and my Dad went with Shane to do a school visit. My step mom and I were on a mission to do some suit shopping, and I have to say I think I am going to have unpleasant dreams about silky things crawling up and down my arms. Somehow I found an argument for a particular set of pants, shirt, and jacket, so we bought them and left to get lunch at a little Thai restaurant. To keep us from plowing into a nap afterwards, we went out for a ride miles along a cute little bike path. Although it leads all the way to DC, we went only 20 miles round trip. Without planning, we got home just before the other two had returned with the bus.

Over dinner I got to hear how the show went without me. According to Shane, the audience was a slight struggle, and he wound up exhausting himself by trying to keep up the energy in a vacuum. He might even go further and write a short description to add to this post after the publication, so keep your eyes out if you want more details. According to my Dad, the show went perfectly, so I think they must have performed at different schools. Anyways, the dishes are done, and everybody is getting ready for bed, so too must I.

I hope everyone had a pleasant weekend!

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Tasty Bits:

The Rufous-Breasted Wren makes a “KettleKettleKettle” noise.

I wrote the wrong name of a wren. Its the Carolina Wren, not the Rufous-Breasted.