A Most Exciting Day
Posted by Nicole Sharp on 19 August 2005 at 16:56Today has been quite a busy and exciting day. I started out by presenting with others at the Second Year Institute this morning. Afterwards, I stuck around for the keynote address from Stephanie Tubbs-Jones, Cleveland's congressional representative. I'm very happy that I did, actually. Her address was enjoyable, and it was refreshing to hear from a politician I don't despise. (As she pointed out, it's only the politicians who misuse politics that anyone hears about in the media.) I didn't know that she was a Case alum. Next time I feel the need to write her a letter, I'll be sure to mention that I'm a Case student. Maybe that will help it get noticed, ha!
When I made it to the Quad, I found most of the biorobotics lab outside for robot filming. The last couple of days have been hectic around there because a crew from Discovery's Animal Planet has been filming between there and Dr. Ritzmann's lab. So I stopped to watch a few minutes of extraordinarily staged shots of Quinn and Ritzmann carrying Whegs II out of Bingham (a building neither works in) and talking. I won't be anywhere in the final show because I had to leave about the time the film crew showed up yesterday, but I'm still looking forward to seeing the final project. Ideally, I think I'd like to watch it with my mother. As a middle school science teacher, there might be something of interest to her there.
When I got home today, I had a couple of important tasks. I wrote a draft of my first letter of recommendation today. A professor asked me to write one for him as a part of a grant for which he's applying. That was a bit intimidating, to be honest, but I think I've got a strong start on it. I'll polish it some in the next few days.
The other important task hanging over my head is an investigation of costs and options for replacing some of the RoboMoth equipment I've been working on all summer with SOURCE. The graduate student who usually works on RoboMoth is back now, and, seeing the problems I faced all summer in person, I think he may be a little surprised at how far I got. A meeting with all of the important parties happened earlier this week, and I was charged with getting cost estimates for upgrading the system. It's a little scary for me, actually, because I know I'm going to end up being asked for a recommendation, and anything we do at this point is going to have a price tag in the 10^3 range at minimum.
And, finally, the last and possibly most exciting aspect of today is this: a friend that I've known for two-and-a-half years online is arriving this evening. Picking her up at the airport tonight will be our first real meeting, even though we've been pretty close since the end of my freshman year. This constitutes the first time that I've met one of my blogger friends that I haven't already known in "real life" as we say in the blogosphere. To say that I'm excited is an understatement. I just hope that we don't make too frightening a scene in the airport tonight!