Week 7 (August 4 - August 10)
No More Traveling! ('Nuff Said)
WEEKLY SUMMARY
8/4 - 8/10 1997
By Jeffrey Wills
Note: Before proceeding with this article I would like to make a disclaimer: Whatever information this article contains is not at all the views of the author. These following views are a result of a threat on his life at gunpoint, to state the truth, and nothing but the truth, so help him God.
Monday, August 4, 1997
The day began with the anticipation of the first full week of work with our PI's, well actually three days. However, as Joe proceeded to work as usual at 6:00 am little did he know Kim would forget to bring her badge. She must of forgot that Ames is a secure base. Well, I don't know if secure is the correct way to put things because with a little coaxing Kim and Joe eased their way through with relatively no problem. Kim must of thought she could sneak by again because on the 7:10 am van she forgot her badge again…back to the French House we go.
It was a usual day of PI work, but unlike any other day, our PI's were excited to actually have the RA's for three straight days. The day ended at 5:00 pm and we all had great expectations to see Hank's new van. Little did we know it was going to be the exact same van but with a different key. Kim still thinks Hank has the old van. She decided to test this theory out as she made like Andretti and raced Hank home. Like usual Kim's van got there safe, with only a few scratches and injured pedestrians. When are we going to learn to take the keys away? Research continued its meeting from the van back at the French House. Most everyone else tried to get in a quick workout or run before the much anticipated Jack Farmer presentation.
Jack gave his "Exobiology" presentation at 7:00. The presentation was very interesting and Andrea helped out with some excellent multi-media work. Little did we know that Kathy had some exciting info after the presentation that we will soon be drinking with the Neurolab crew. Yes! When and where was yet to be determined. Of course, there was the usual Wal-Mart run after the meeting to get some items like hangers for all the new clothes we have been buying. Our academy is definitely keeping them in business.
At the return of the trip everyone continued working on the group project to get ready for the Lynn presentation tomorrow. During this time Kathy proceeded to blow herself over…"Did you here that?"….."Uhm! I'11 be back!"….Kathy sprinted to the bathroom to unload her extra baggage and check her underwear for any damage.
Some went to bed early while others stayed up late to please Lynn. At least we finally found out what incorrigible means from Andrea's dictionary. Incorrigible: incapable of being corrected or amended; not reformable; delinquent; not manageable; unruly. Thanks Melissa!!
Tuesday, August 5, 1997
The day began as usual with the drive into work for breakfast. Everyone ate their wheaties in order to sustain another grueling day with their PI's. Today was a special day though, there was no sign of Kevin. Jeff didn't see him all night and in the morning when he awoke Kevin was gone. Later it was found out that Kevin was missing because he stayed up all night writing the proposal to Lynn. I have two words to say "IVY LEAGUE!" Anyways, thanks Kevin for all your hard work! The proposal was excellent if you were an expert in dream study. We found out very quickly that Lynn and Karen were not because, "First sentence, second paragraph", came across in chorus as they were reading.
The RA's at least thought they were experts until Lynn asked, "What are EEG, EMG, and EOG's?" Every RA sitting at the table sat with blank faces trying to figure out how to answer that fundamental question. I am happy to report that it was figured out after a few minutes. The rest of the proposal went fairly well until the budget page. This is when Lynn kind of laughed and said that our 12k was gone and we have no money. So much for the reunion to see everyone next spring.
The rest of the day proceeded with hard work for our PI's. Everyone was picked up at 5:00 pm and Jeff, Kathy, Christen, and Pat went flying, well sort of. After the plane was checked out, by Kathy, "prop clear", and she was off. Pat helped explain to Jeff and Christen that the reason why they yell, prop clear, is in case the mechanics working on the plane fall asleep under the plane. Therefore, they can move before the engine is turned on. Two words, "zero credibility!" We were able to watch Kathy land, or try to. I guess one…two….or five bounces isn't bad. After the first landing Kathy waited "foreeeeeveeeeeer" to take off again. The second landing was much smoother than the first but obviously her co-pilot was not pleased with her work. Not only did she land a third time, but a fourth……..fifth……and an hour later, "sorry guys", no flight today! We understand Kathy, thanks for trying though!
We proceeded over to page Hank. But, Hank was working out and didn't receive the special code (42#) until three pages and an hour later. While boredom was setting in waiting for Hank everyone tried to amuse themselves in their own little way. Jeff asked, "won't somebody play with me?" Little did he know Kathy would get excited about that offer and reach for someplace that was private to many eyes except Jeffs! Wow, I didn't know all we needed to do was ask!
Hank and Andrea picked up Jeff, Kathy, Christen, and Pat at the conclusion of their aerobics class and they headed to the Noodle Place and TCBY. Jeff challenged Kathy and Christen at TCBY with the famous last words of "I bet you can't eat all that." Kathy and Christen both proved him wrong as they downed a brownie sundae after a full meal at the Noodle Place. No wonder why they felt sick afterwards.
The night ended with some usual computer work, reading TV, or socializing before all headed to bed for the last day of PI time! Yes!
Wednesday, August 6, 1997
Today there was a cause to celebrate, for it was the last day of PI time for the week. Everyone woke to their will at the time they decided to catch the van. Well, except for Kevin. Kevin woke and kindly asked Jeff why it was 8:00am instead of 7:00am. Jeff explained he was taking the late van. Kevin replied. "Why didn't you let me know?, How am I supposed to get up?" That is when Jeff realized the difference between a regular education and an Ivy League education. At Dartmouth students don't know how to set an alarm clock because they usually stay up all night writing papers, while at UVM students set alarm clocks so they can get up and take care of their hang over.
Everyone made it to work without any major problems. Breakfast had a twist because Dominick appeared in the cafeteria. Everyone checked for a straggler by the name of Mueller, but he was no where to be found (That's a surprise!) Anyways, Dominick was in town for a presentation and to bring "good news". He heard from a little birdy that there was some interesting tape footage from our wonderful encounter with the other academies during the teleconference. (I HAVE NO RECOLLECTION!)
The PI day continued without any real excitement except for Jeff and Hanks tour of Joe's lab. Not only is Joe a biology, chemistry,…blah…blah….blah…., religion major but he is also a pretty damn good technician. Maybe you should think about switching majors. Everyone met at the close of the day for their ride back to the French House. People did the usual assortment of exercise activities or went to dinner in anticipation of Dave Morrison's talk on asteroids, meteors and comets. The talk was somewhat interesting especially being able to watch Hank swat at what he believed to be bugs in the air and Dave' s heave of his crust pieces back into the untouched pizza boxes. The night ended with Kathy and Christen doing enough laundry for about a month. To make it simple, their rug was covered from wall to wall with about a foot high of laundry. I guess Kathy got a little tired of wearing her underwear inside out. On the other hand "sweet-thing" Melissa snapped at Joe and told him to "screw off'. Must be she was tired of being so nice to everyone.
Thursday, August 7, 1997
Another morning came for the Ames Astrobiology Academy. Today after breakfast there was group project time. The "Dream Team" got together to discuss the next steps in the "Dream Study". After, Dave Peterson gave a presentation on "Rapid Change and Ecosystem Evolution". Lunch for most was at the Ames cafeteria. Others, namely, Jeff, Andrea, Melissa, and Hank ventured to Ming's for some good ole' Dim Sum. The lunch was incredible, not that the group knew what they were eating, because Hank had to order for them. Thanks Hank!
After lunch everyone rushed to Emily Holton's lecture only to frnd out it was Ken Souza in disguise. The group was in and out all day due to the last minute work required for their presentations on Friday.
At the conclusion of the lectures the academy headed to Loral Space Systems for a tour. Most everyone enjoyed the tour except for a few that were stressed about the Friday presentation. Hank was just pissed off at the world because he said, "this is the worst thing I've ever seen!" One thing Hank was probably talking about was Eric's "bunny suit" that he displayed for everyone with great pride. Sometimes you gotta wonder about him.
On the way home Hank went to pick up Kevin who was doing some work on his presentation, and Jeff met with his PI to discuss tomorrow's talk. At home some finished up their presentations. Melissa sang to anyone that would listen. (You sounded great!) And some got to see World War III between Jeff and Kathy.
Kevin decided to stay for a little extra work on his presentation. He probably would have reconsidered if he knew what was in store for the ride home. Due to his printer problems he escaped the biocomputation lab around 11:00pm. Little did he know that no one was going to be around to give him a ride. As resourceful as Kevin is he headed to the gate sticking his thumb out along the way. Lucky for him someone stopped to pick him up. They headed to the Cal train only to find out it was closed. Next to the bus stop to only miss one by a few minutes. Kevin and his new found friend raced down the road to the next stop. Kevin jumped on and sat next to someone who was acting like the guy from 12 Monkeys (I bet he was on something). Kevin jumped off outside of Stanford and jogged to the French house, and arrived around 1:30am. Wow! What a trip!
Friday, August 8, 1997
The day started with eager anticipation for what was to come. A day full of presentations. Kathy and others, including Eric Bean went in early. What? For the rest that were to follow Hank drove us in on the scenic route and managed to get us there with no spare time to eat.
Of course Jeff, the first presenter got the shaft because modern technology never works when needed. This problem continued throughout the day always keeping every one on edge. The day had all sorts of ups and downs ranging from Jeff being the first presentation guinipig, Andrea's multimedia presentation, Nellymar's first English presentation (Great Job!), Don's Bob-bashing session, to Joe being stuck in the afternoon session. Don "surprised" us with his wonderful Netscape presentation. He told us all about "Bob's desires", "Bob's needs", and even went as far as saying, "the new computer system will help Bob out if he ever does any good science". "Well, not that Bob doesn't do good science now."
Chuck Klein spoke to us before lunch. Kim's father spoke to us at lunch and showed us some awesome shuttle footage that he had filmed during his shuttle flights. He answered a lot of questions that we had after too. (Thanks Kim!) After lunch we had two more lectures by Scott Hubbard, and then Byron Wood who spoke on Remote Sensing of Emerging and Re-emerging Infectious Diseases. At the conclusion of the lectures we had a rap session with Juliet and Doug to iron out some of the frustrating problems in the academy. Much was learned during this rap session. Bean informed us that the best way to run or improve the academy is to have a separate one for Eric Bean. Juliet decided to stay the night even though everyone was fighting over who she was going to stay with. For some unknown reason everyone had an opening. (I wonder, as our friend Mark would say, "HOT").
Some went to fresh choice for a 20 minute dinner while a few others worked out. Eventually, we all made plans for the night. Jeff, Kevin, Eric, and Joe went to Wal-Mart while the girls got ready for "girls night out". When the girls left the guys decided to have "guys night in" The night consisted of a little (or lot) of drinking, cards, fire, and a movie. When the girls got back from GNO they seemed to want to party more. Too bad none of them could really stand up! Nevertheless, we partied on doing some sit-up shots and played some cards. Melissa used her beautiful voice to serenade us at the fire. The next door neighbors were upset at all the noise and proceeded to politely ask us to keep the level down. Kathy obviously objected to this as she basically told them to screw off!
Saturday, August 9, 1997
Finally, a day to sleep in! Well, sort of! We got up about 10:00am and headed to Sonoma Valley. Juliet decided to lose Karen and Andrea our other two drivers. "Navigaser" Pat, proceeded to send us in the opposite direction of where we were supposed to be heading to meet the two other cars at the Visitor's Center. After driving around for a while and not finding the Visitor's Center we headed to the nearest winery. We figured the rest of the gang was saying, "Jeff, Pat, and Kevin…..hmmm… ..I bet their waiting at the nearest winery." Sure enough! We gathered at Sabastiani and some toured then tasted, while others tasted….toured….tasted…..tasted… (I wonder who was in that group?) Don went on the train tour and said he had a good time.
We were off to Ravenswood after Sabastiani. So much for being "right around the corner." The 50 mile hike was nice. We were able to sample the best grapes and climb an arch. Jeff regretfully held back from atop the arch and didn't disprove the theory of the earth having only one moon. Ravenswood was very nice but we missed the barbecue they were having by only a few minutes. After, some of the gang proceeded to go to Buena Vista while the smarter group got in the cars and drove there. BV was nice except for the four taste limit. You would have never figured there was a four taste limit by the crazy information guy rushing us inside to make sure we got the last 24 minutes of tasting in. We packed up the troops and headed to Mary's for dinner. Everyone tried to bring back child hood memories by coloring jumping cars, or playing with other random toys. After dinner we went next door to get some ice cream or other candy. We stopped by Juliet's on the way home and checked out her apartment. Again, we proceeded over the Golden Gate Bridge and had no problems with snipers, thank God! At home some watched a movie, while others socialized or went to bed.
Sunday, August 10, 1997
Finally, the last day of my summary, and everyone slept in! Yes! We were all pleased to find out that Kim made it back from Santa Cruz OK! What would we do without her? Hank had an excellent time at Promise Keepers but missed us all dearly.
Once we all finally rolled out of bed some headed to Fresh Choice for brunch. Some of the group went shopping. Pat walked home after his secret rondeveau with Olga, the 800 Ib S & M queen of Pale Alto. Joe bladed home after brunch and Melissa went to see a friend. Brunch seemed to be topped with some great conversations about the Reno hotels. "Too bad Doug didn't stay with us in Reno because we could have sent him something" (Don)……."but Don, you know you would have to pay for her" (Melissa)……"Let's not go there" (Don).
Kathy, Christen, and Nellymar all got matching lingerie. Nellymar got hers for Tatto, but what about Kathy and Christen? Each other? Andrea was not left out from this group bonding experience because her and Christen got matching bra's and underwear. I must say they came back new improved women! Forget about S & M night, let's just do panty night. Yeah!
Later that evening some of us went to church while others just relaxed. There was a group meeting at 6:00 to make sure we accomplished our action points. Joe proceeded to get hit on by a lesbian at the coffee house. This was great because she was good looking until her boyfriend….I mean girlfriend got pissed off. "So much for checking out Christen's new lingerie". Don't worry Christen, I will. After, Nellymar, Melissa, Jeff, Hank, Andrea, Joe, and Christen went to Shakespeare in the Park and watched Much Ado About Nothing. The performance was excellent and we even got to see Karen there. After the show the group headed home. Some went to bed early, others read, and still others tried to type out their 3-4 week old summaries.
Well this brings to a close the seventh week of the Astrobiology Academy. I would say I am looking forward to the remaining weeks of the academy, but due to the tardiness of this summary I already know the future. This collcludes my report! Rock ON!………….Bozack