NYC

I am in NYC for a NCWIT Summit on Monday.  But today I went sight seeing.  Took the train to Penn Station.  I love traveling by train.

Edward Tufte Seminar

May 14 my son, Brian came to visit.  It was such a nice visit and I really enjoyed spending time with him.  Monday we both attended a seminar by Edward Tufte on how to make better presentations without using PowerPoint.  He used several famous examples of great graphics, some of which were taken from his First Edition of Galileo's book

We also went to the Kennedy Center's Millennium Stage and listened to this Belgium group that played very original pieces.  We loved it.  The Millennium Stage has a performance every day, 365 days a year.  It is always free and can be music, dance, or drama.

SEED School

One opportunity I have as an Einstein Fellow is to visit different schools.  Last week we went to the SEED Charter School in DC.  This is a public charter school where the students stay on campus Sunday night through Friday afternoon, only going home on the weekend.  They have about 300 students grades 7 - 12.  This is a college prep focus.  Everything is centered around preparing them for college with a heavy emphasis on math and science.

Administration Staff Appreciation Party

Last week was Administration Staff Appreciation Week.  Our division had a party.  All of the admin staff had a banner hung from the ceiling.  We had lunch and played Pictionary.  They even showed a video.  It ended with ice cream sundaes.  We partied all afternoon.  Who says computer scientists don't know how to have fun!

Then after work that evening, many of the office Program Managers (they invited me) went to an Indian restaurant in Vienna to celebrate the Indian New Year.  So it was a long day of partying and food.  Tough job some days.

Ford Theater

Monday, April 25, I attended a lecture by Carl Wieman, from the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.  He is also a Nobel Prize winner in Physics in 1995.  He talked about how to teach science.  The goal is to help students, "think like a scientist".

I decided to walk home.  On the way, I walked by the Ford Theater.  This is the actual theater where President Lincoln was shot.

Meeting Secretary of Energy

Several of the Einstein Fellows volunteered to score scientific abstracts written by students wanting their abstracts to be published.  We each read and scored about 45 abstracts.  The same day we also were invited to meet with Secretary Chu, Department of Energy.  He was very kind and answered questions about climate change and k-12 education.

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.