Week 2 (June 30 - July 6)
A Sarcasm-Free Look
Week 2
by
Patrick McKenna
Monday, July 0, 1997
Unlike the first day of week one which was marked with such anticipated events as badging and Dan the Safety Man, week 2 started off on a more settled pace. Monday was spent with our PI's which allowed most of us to finally get off and running on our projects. We were all pretty glad that although this was the first day of the work week, tomorrow would be the last. This realization seemed to be the source of an unexplained energy that somehow kept most of us going on a scant few hours of sleep. This was good too because the extra energy was needed to tell everyone we encountered about our eventful trip to S.F. the days before.
At last five o'clock came, and after we woke Eric up in the conference room from his nice little nap, we were off to the French House for a rap session with Doug and a host of surprises for the unwary attendees. Kevin got hit first with cake and presents from the O'Handley's. Kim watched the presentation wholly unsuspecting that she would be next when Christen gave her the "traffic necklace". Either Kim has opted not to wear the necklace or is completely immune to its charms because little appears to have changed. However, while I may tease Kim about her driving, as of ten o'clock on Monday, she has still NOT been in an accident and I'm fully convinced she can hold off at least another week.
At that meeting we also heard the first of these reports from Andrea. As a disclaimer before proceeding any farther, I did not pay a writer to do this log summary for me which, as I have sat down and tried to write this, become positive that she did.
Tuesday, July 1, 1997
School was canceled nation-wide and all government employees (except those at Ames) were given the day off in honor of "Eric Bean Day", a glorious celebration that was enjoyed by all…except for Eric Bean. This comment was punctuated by Hank's exclamation on the way to dinner that night: "O.K., you're my hero Big Poppa <Eric>, just take your fingers out of my mouth!" The last part of that comment was obviously some Cupertino slang.
We went off to work again on Tuesday anxiously awaiting working with our PI's. Kevin showed of his keen Dartmouth dress with a snazzy bowtie while Don topped the lot of us by working himself into a frenzy of anticipation at another day of partitioning a hard drive. The dedication that welled inside all of us lead to extreme disappointment at the prospect of having to miss the rest of the week to go to southern California.
At five o'clock, Hank and Kim had to drag us away from our work as we reluctantly packed up shop for the day and headed out for some Mediterranean food. After Joe spent an hour on the phone calling to secure reservations at one of the busiest restaurants in town, we headed out. After having to wait for what seemed like an eternity to be seated, the hostess finally squeezed into a table amongst the crowd. The food was excellent (thank you, Joe) and the conversation was perplexing. In fact, it was not until the car ride home that all-wise Nellymar figured out that the man shot himself after eating albatross because he was allergic (I just can't get anything by you can I, Nellymar).
Dinner was followed by an awesome athletic display by Kathy on the basketball court. Amidst her repeated scoring, she even found time to wrestle on the side. This lead to the knee injury we ALL now know about and are so thankful for the daily status update she has been willing to share.
After the ball game we got ready for the weekend and packed for Pasadena. Some of us got a short nap in before we all piled in the cars late that night and headed for L.A.
Wednesday, July 2, 1997
Wednesday started with a very educational car ride through the San Joaquin Valley en route to Pasadena. I managed to learn quite a bit by taking notes along the way of all the interesting geology and geography we drove past. After a stop for gas, the first of the card games began. After a hard fought battle, Kathy and Pat were narrowly defeated by the skeptical card playing of Jeff and Joe (they seemed to be a little creative in their scoring from time to time). The game was actually going along fine until it was suddenly interrupted by Nellymar's sudden need to go to Jack-in-the-Box. When you've gotta eat, you've gotta eat.
Soon after this we came cruising over the San Gabriel Mountains to behold a breath-taking view of L.A. However, the only thing about the view we got was that you couldn't take a breath as we encountered one of the worst smog days Pasadena has seen in a while. An hour break for lunch was capitalized upon with a trip to Big Ben's or to the H.I. restaurant and then it was off to J.P.L. to hear Bill O'Neil (a fellow Wisconsinite) talk about Galileo.
With our learning experience for the day behind us, we departed J.P.L, although not before a group picture session with some AIRBAGS (this whole group picture thing is starting to get a little out of control!). With our minds now full, it was time to fill our stomachs so off to Crocodile Cafe we went.
"I'll bet you guys a dollar….." The fateful words rolled across the table as we dove into our appetizers. Eric and Pat immediately sacrificed their dining experience on a lesser known of the basic principles of engineering: anything for a dare. By the time dessert was being complicated, our table had a free-standing bridge made of straws spanning nearly eight feet, a Kodak moment of Eric and Pat holding their well-earned dollar, and (the most ironic thing yet to encounter this group) no camera in sight.
We made our way back to the hotel and jumped in the car for what would be the first of many trips to "Hughes". After returning fully stocked, some played cards to Jackie Chan while others dozed off to The English Patient.
Thursday, July 3, 1997
"You can't lift that, you're a woman! Let us do that, you need to bear children someday!" Kathy, and the rest of us, took those words to heart and made sure not to over-exert ourselves under the unceasing work orders that Sun systems jammed down our throats. This allowed for breaks to raid the sales at Banana Republic where Eric and Kevin set new fashion trends and Victoria's Secret where Jeff could not stop trying stuff on. Throughout the day we met the folks from the Goddard and Dryden Academies who, overcome by envy and jealousy at their inability to attend Ames, pretended to like their respective academies. The highlight came in our meeting Story Musgrave, a truly phenomenal man who, in the period of five minutes, gave us more ideas for group projects than the eleven of us had mustered in two weeks. Our labor was capped off with a massive box relocation effort which successfully drained the last of our energy.
After a short break to recuperate, we attended an opening forum for PlanetFest which was headlined by none other than Dan Goldin. His thoughtful words of hope and vision struck a chord deep within us all. A bunch of us had a wonderful opportunity after the speakers to meet with Dave McKay and Ev Gibson, the scientists who made the discovery off the Mars meteorite a while back, as well as Gerry Soffen. The rest of us headed back to meet Kathy's friend from the area and head out to see Pasadena. After Eric, Jeff, and Pat were shot down from entering McGillicuddy's, we headed back to Hughes and onto the hotel for another fun-filled night at the Holiday Inn.
Friday, July 4, 1997
Friday was a fairly uneventful day. I had cereal for breakfast and Kim got lost coming home from somewhere that night.
Saturday, July 5, 1997
Everyone popped out of bed bright-eyed and bushy-tailed Saturday morning, eagerly anticipating any new discoveries made by Pathfinder over the night. Being some of the first people to arrive at PlanetFest that day, we all spent the first few hours gladly lending assistance to the Internet-illiterate kids who populated the Sun workstations we were supervising. In the afternoon, most people sat in the lectures of their choice while others took a chance to exercise in the nice, clean air. Plans were made to go out to dinner with all the Academies at a restaurant of Doug's choosing (a wise idea, we are quickly discovering). Just before dinner, we were treated with a quick address to our groups by Dr. Robert Zubrin, an engineer with a visionary approach to Mars whose name could well pop up into the big picture in the not too distant future.
We all drove to Malibu for dinner at "Duke's". Arriving early, some went on a quick jaunt to see the nearby residential neighborhoods. We quickly found the Malibu natives to be a warm, neighborly bunch who even extended an invitation to Pat to climb onto their roof to take a picture.
Dinner was unbelievable…and so was the conversation!! Eight times, nuf said.
Kathy even claimed to have found her future husband, although outdone by Jeff who found his ten future wives. The cuisine was magnificent: salad, seafood, steak, and HULA PIE! Our first exposure to this awesome dessert will certainly not be our last. Watch for further updates on this dessert following our Lake Tahoe excursion. Dinner also boasted the celebration of Pat's birthday, again.
We made our way back to Pasadena in a winding tour of Bev.Hills, Hollywood, and L.A. in general. Luckily, we had Kim to negotiate the treacherous driving conditions. Without her driving skill, I hate to think of what might of happened. The car ride was excentuated by some on-the-go photography from Hank's van and a realization by Kevin to turn over a new cheek room the back seat of the B-M'er.
Goddard Academy failed to show up that night for some "bonding" so a few of us met up with Kathy's tour-guide-friend's and went out for a while.
Sunday, July 6, 1997
The sins of our trip were repented by most with a trip to a local place of worship Sunday morning. Those of us who didn't hear about the trip or simply needed some shut eye met up with the group later on to attend an extraordinary presentation by Story Musgrave, the last of our PlanetFest experiences. Rushing to checkout, we loaded the vans and were on the road by 12:30. The first leg of the trip was filled with Euchre for some (Christen and Pat rock) and sleep for others. After lunch, the Pitch duel continued as the traffic congested on the road home. After a while, card playing was given a brief rest in favor of hot-woman movie trivia in Hank's van while Kim 's van needed a final stop just an hour before Doug's. Kim nearly created the Lichtenberg Memorial Hedge when she nearly too out a row of bushes.
Back on the road for the last stretch, the games switched to Spades under Hank's guidance in which Jeff and Melissa found themselves easily outmatched. Striking out in the anger of defeat Jeff scarred Kathy's leg for life, or at least that's how it sounded from her yelp at the time.
Doug's house was a welcome relief to the long car ride which had yielded a loony, yet revealing conversation involving items from a grocery store and such gems as: "Just call me Mr. Hispanic!" by Hank and "I hope your talkin about with a girl, Mr. HAND!" We rejuvenated ourselves with the help of Little Ceasar's and then sat down to our first group meeting to square away some business. An hour later, it was Pat's birthday, again.
Some then ended the week with a dip in the wonderful jacuzzi while others braved the journey home with Kim to jump into bed and await dreams of another awesome week of the Ames Astrobiology Academy.