Train ride to Upstate NY.

Thursday, Heidi and the girls and I took our first train ride.  They stayed Wed. night at my house.  The taxi came for us at 3:00 am to take us to Union Station.  There we caught an Amtrak train to Penn Station in NY city.  Changed trains to Albany, NY.  Got a rental car so that we could drive around.  Total time traveling was 7 hours.

The purpose of our trip was to find a house for Marc and Heidi.  They are moving to that area the end of May.  But we also had a great adventure.  Our hotel was very nice with a small living area, two queen beds, big flat screen TV, and a swimming pool.  The girls especially liked the swimming pool.  They are both great swimmers.  Heidi and I swam also, but our favorite was the hot tub.

We looked at several townhouses and Heidi decided on one that met all of their needs, so our mission was successful.

On the train.

The winning house.  It is two levels.

Dancing in the elevator was a must.

Waiting in the train station to begin our trip back to DC.

It was snowing, changing to rain, when we left.

The trip home proved to be a lot longer.  We caught the train in Albany and traveled to Penn Station without mishap.  But just outside of NY city, our train had engine troubles.  They sent for a mechanic.  Then they sent for another engine.  Still problems so they put us on another train.  Trouble was, it was already full, so we would have to stand.  We decided to get back on the first train and wait.  Then they put us on a different train.  Finally, three hours later, we were on our way again.  Total travel time was about 11 hours for Heidi and the girls.  Once we got to Union Station in DC, they still had to take the metro to the last stop on the orange line and then get a ride (about 17 miles) to Manasses.  It was a long day.

NCTM conference in Indianapolis

Another conference.  This time I was in Indianapolis at the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Conference.   Some conference highlights:

Opening session was Jeffrey Travis, director of the new IMAX 3D movie Flatland: The Movie. He showed movie clips.  If you have any love for mathematics and thinking out of the box, this is a must see movie.

Arne Duncan, Secretary of Education for the Obama Administration spoke on Friday.  

Dinner with other Einsteins.

Midterm Reports

Well, I am well over the halfway mark of my Fellowship in DC.  One requirement is to turn in a written Midterm Report and give a oral Midterm Presentation.  Many of us presented on Monday.  It was very interesting to hear how other Einsteins have been spending their year.  Each of our fellowships is very unique and we all do very different things.  I am always impressed with the quality of people I get to associate with and marvel that I get to be a part of this great group of educators.

We were encouraged to be a little creative with our presentations.  On the the metro ride, I came up with this little ditty.  It is my effort at creativity.  It goes to the tune of The Beverley Hill Billies theme song.

Come listen to a story of a woman named Brenda.
A hard working teacher in secondary ed(a).
And then one day she was surfing on the web,
When up popped an opportunity that won't leave her head.
Fellowship, that is.  One year.  Washington DC.

Well, the first thing you know ol' Brenda's an Einstein.
Kathryn calls and says, "Get away from there."
"NSF is the place you aught to come"
So she loaded up the car and she drove to Washington.
DC, that is.  Monuments and politics.

THE EINSTEIN FELLOWSHIP!!

Yes, I sang it for them :-)

Cherry Blossom Parade

I bought tickets to sit in the bleacher seats to see the DC Cherry Blossom Parade.  I did not know that they would be the best seats along the whole parade route.  Our seats were next to the announcer booth where they were filming for TV, so all of the entries stopped right in front of us to perform.  It was great.  Ashlyn was in the Youth Chorus.

Boise, boys, and baby

I spent two weeks in Boise so that I could help Anna and Mike with the new baby.  I had a great time.

Meet Madilyn Marie.

Rylan and Corbin at the zoo.

Tyler and Merek loved feeding the goats.

Grandma with Anna's boys and baby and Jon's little ones. What a group of busy bodies.
From left to right: Sammy, Rylan, Merek, me and Madilyn, Alivia, Corbin, and Tyler.

NSTA Conference in San Francisco

Last week I was in San Francisco for the National Science Teacher Association (NSTA) conference.  I have never been to the science teachers conference before.  It was so fun. Science I am a math teacher and not a science teacher, many of the sessions were not something that I could use.  Instead, I signed up for the field trip options.  On Thursday, I toured schools in SF that have school yard gardens.

I am becoming more and more convinced of the value of school and community gardens.

Saturday I boarded the Robert G Brownlee, an educational and research vessel on the San Francisco Bay.  We threw out a net and collected samples of the fish, shrimp, and jelly fish.  They talked to us about what we found and the health of the Bay waters.  We also collected a water sample and looked at the plankton and other small animal life with a microscope.  Lastly, we collected a mud sample and using screens and water to see what kind of things we could find.  The scientists talked to us about the history of the Bay and how it has affected the plant and wildlife.

National Laboratories

On March 8 we flew to San Francisco for the National Science Teacher Association (NSTA) conference.  But first, we took a field trip to the Lawrence Livermore National Ignition Facility.  Security is very tight and we were not allowed to take any pictures.  The science that is being done there is amazing and almost looks like science fiction at times.  I was exhausted by the end of the day with trying to gain some kind of understanding of the science that is so beyond my understanding.

NIF is the world's largest and highest-energy laser system.  Its goal is to ignite a self-sustaining nuclear fusion reaction and produce net energy gain -- the same fusion energy process that makes the stars shine and provides the life-giving energy of the sun.

The scientists that work there are very optimistic that fusion energy is very close to being a reality!

We also visited the Lawrence Berkley Laboratory.  Because they do not do research with nuclear weapons, they let us take as many pictures as we wanted.

Again, the science was beyond my understanding.  They do "bend" light beams into a very large circular course that intensifies it and then conducts experiments.

We did smile when among all of the very high tech equipment, we saw the widespread use of "aluminum foil".