Today everyone was much more awake after a good night's sleep:o) Finally, we get to see everyone's friendly and interesting self:o)

Well, we started off bright and early at 8 am and went down to the LANL badge office. There, we got some nifty picutres taken which resulted in our nifty badges that were to stay with us throughout the remainder of the trip. Along with the photo ID that had our name, how long we were staying and other pertinent info, we got some other little pieces of plastic - a place for phone numbers, etc. Unfortunately, we did not get one of those cool black boxes that Don had - you know the ones you wear all the time that measure the radiation level you are exposed to;) Ah well...

We then went to the Bradbury Science Museum, a place we would be frequenting a lot in the upcoming two weeks. There, we went upstairs and joined in on a staff training meeting taking place. We got to watch a slide show that told of the history of Los Alamos Labs, its mission, and all that kinda stuff you would want your new employees to know:) After that was over, we got a quick tour of the museum and all its exhibits.

Later, after lunch (which I believe was the subway next door), we entered the TechLab to learn about the CCD cameras and the software to operate them. The CCD camera basically has this lens that you instruct the computer to open for some time and then close. Light hits the pixels, which causes a reaction and the computer counts up the electrons released by the reaction and forms a picture. So, we learned how to get into the software and actually take a picture, first of all. After that, we learned how to look at different aspects of the picture - how to zoom in and out, how to get some stats on the picture (light intensity, etc), how to adjust the exposure time, stuff like that. Then we got to learn how to do stuff like blinking - making it work like a flip book to look at changes over time. We learned how to manipulate our image - changing contrast, accounting for the heat that affected the picture, and so on:o) We got to experiment with color, too:o) Lots of fun!:o) My only pet peeve is that after the 1 second exposure, it takes like 30 seconds for all the thousands of pixels to be read and for the picture to show up on the screen... *grumble* Ah well - I guess I'm too used to technology working really fast...after having a cable modem, I'm used to pictures on screens coming up in fractions of a second;)
Hehe - can you tell I'm a geek, yet?;) Corinne seemed to get right into things - she seems to be a very curious and hands on person. Holly and Christine seemed a little lost - I guess they're the more artsy ones of the group, rather than the technically minded:o) I dunno what Owen is - he seems like a smart guy, but he seems to be an actor or something...? He seems like one of those who's always the life of the party - he loves to make jokes and tell stories:) The other guys seem rather quiet - at least compared to Owen;)
Yeah! I love our mommy:o) Donna brought us candy:o) We spent quite a lot of time working with the camera - most of the afternoon, actually. But we finally got around to talking that day and everyone got to know everyone better:o) Oh - and then there was the rabid goat;) Hehe - I was drawing and someone suggested I draw a rabid goat... so I did. And then someone else thought the first person had said rabbit goat... so of course, I went and drew one of those too... Hehe - I love these journals/sketchbooks that the Durfee Foundation provided us with already:o)

Later that night, after dinner, we went back the the Bradbury Science Museum for a lecture on "The Nature of the Scientific Method" by Ed Fenimore. It was an interesting lecture - he explained how all sorts of fields come together in science and that with more knowledge in various fields, one can make more connections that may reveal things in others. "Science is not like a tree - it is like a maze". "You get totally immersed in your field - and then there is enlightenment". And of course, "You can claim to be the expert as long as you know 10% more than the other person."
Of course, by this time, we were all tired, having been immersed in Earthwatch activities for 12 hours. The guys were starting to doze off in the back. Corinne and I found ourselves near the front (Ahh - more geekiness! My roommate and I and the weirdos who sit in the front of every class;)), and couldn't doze off without being conspicuous.

Well, we got back to the hotel around 9:30-ish and we headed up to our rooms. Corinne and I talked a little, but pretty much went to bed. (It seems to have gone that way for most of the rest of the trip, too - while others stayed up to do random things or got up early to exercise, etc Corinne and I valued our sleep:)) We were to get up early the next day for our GET(General Employee Training) Test the next day.
Unfortunately, after I wrote a journal entry, I got some Princess Bride quotes stuck in my head... (It's one of my favorite movies). Of course, the only way to get them out of ones head is to say them (of course, I didn't want to bother Corinne too much, so I didn't want to say them *aloud*)... Anwyay, now there's a whole page of Princess Bride quotes written in my journal...*chuckle*
Okay - enough of the random Ewen-tangent *grin* But that is all about this day:o) This is Ewen, signing off;o)

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This page last updated September 4, 2000.