Howdy ya'll!
Just checking in again. Today I finished the presentation for the Underwater Archaeology STEM program. I was responsible for putting together a brief presentation for the museums on Underwater excavation and a few of the excavations the Underwater Archaeology Branch of the NHHC (aka the group that I'm interning for) was a part of. It really was a great learning experience. For instance, I learned that I don't think I'd ever want to volunteer for the headache that is underwater excavation. Besides the fact that there is no air down there, visibility is poor, you have to worry about the local wildlife a bit more, and by the way, YOU CAN'T SEE ANYTHING.
After turning in the presentation, it was right onto another project. This one is still dealing in the same section. With each presentation is an activity. I'm currently working on the excavating activity, geared towards high school students. It's pretty cool. Basically we're trying to simulate a dig in any way we can. Excavation teams of students have to "dive" and document three-four different artifacts from a "ship wreck". They need to document their location in the wreck, give a thorough description, provide measurements, and even make a little sketch.
But here's the catch. They can only "dive" in pairs and trios, and only for 5 minutes at a time. That's all the "oxygen" they have. Also, their forms aren't waterproof, so they have to take notes on "waterproof note cards" and bring them back to the surface to document each piece and draw the item from memory.
Because of the time constraints of an excavation season, their season will only be thirty minutes long. So they're not racing each other, but they are racing the clock. And the better and more thorough the data, the easier time they will have identifying the ship they were excavating later on.
Pretty cool, huh? I thought so. The only thing is, I'm a little uncertain about the difficulty. These are high school kids (like honors program high school kids), so I wanted to make it challenging, but at the same time it's difficult to judge what is challenging for someone who isn't an archaeology major. This activity might be difficult for me. If that's the case, then it might not be possible for the high schoolers. I'm going to have to run some sort of test. The good news is, I'm not making them set up their grid system in shifts. That's something I'm recommending they do beforehand with the teacher so that they have a nice and easy grid to work with on their plans. Their grid and their scale already set up, they can focus on the artifacts and documenting them. Grids always take forever anyways.
Tomorrow I get to start researching which artifacts I'm going to include. We want to use examples of actual ships, but we can't just take an artifact out of a museum case. So we're thinking photos of the artifacts, maybe blown up and cropped so they can see the details. It's supposed to be, essentially, a more durable, two-dimensional version of the actual thing. Might seem a bit lamer than the real deal, but I think museums would appreciate it better.
Just one more thing before I sign off for the night. Today on my way to work, I had the fortune of running into an acquaintance from school. You know who you are if you're reading this. All I've got to say is that it is indeed a small world and we should get together some time down here in D.C. Shoot me a message.
Nighty night folks!

Well here's another post.
I don't really have anything interesting to tell you guys because I've been off of work for the last week. My bosses are in Scotland, we already have off on Fridays, so they just said "hey, take Thursday after Fourth of July too!"
For the Fourth of July, I walked around a bit. I went to the Museum of Natural History which was fun to go back to. They had this interesting anthropology and forensics exhibit upstairs. Basically it looked at some of the early American settlers and showed people how much we could find out from their remains. We could figure out if they were sick, how they died, even if they broke their finger at some time during their lives. It was really quite fascinating, in a morbid sort of archaeological way. You know us...
For Fourth of July I went down to the Lincoln Memorial. It was PACKED. But then what else would you expect. It was still one of the best views of the fireworks at the Washington Memorial, hands down. We even got to hear the music to go with it because they piped it through to the memorial. The walk home was an insane crush of people all headed for the metro. THAT was a nightmare. I'm really not that fond of crowds.
After that it was pretty much boring. Did some work on the STEM program I told you about last post, or maybe two posts ago...It's an on going thing.
I go back to work tomorrow. Yay!
And that be about it. See, short post. Not much going on. I did spend some time with my co-worker Claire over Fourth of July but it was otherwise uneventful.
Right now it's raining. Well, thunderstorming. It's been on and off but I'm not complaining. I want to say goodbye to 100+ days and I think everybody in DC and the surrounding area would AGREE with me. You step outside your door and completely lose all will to go anywhere. Probably why I didn't really do many cool things during my work break. I'm hoping for a good storm maybe. I like thunderstorms =]

First post in July! I know I'm three days late, but it was the weekend!
This week I only had to work today and yesterday because tomorrow is the Fourth of July! It's my first time being in D.C. for Independence Day and I'm pretty excited. My roommate is in the parade in the morning, so I'll be watching that, and then there are fireworks at night! I'm thinking about going down to the Mall, but hesitant because let's face it, EVERYONE IS GOING TO BE ON THE MALL.
This week I really started getting into the Underwater Archaeology work. I'm creating a powerpoint about underwater excavation that will be used to educate kids. I have to talk about techniques and processes and some of the advantages and disadvantages of underwater excavation, as well as some alternatives. I also have to research some case studies, specific excavations done by the Naval Underwater Archaeology Branch, and include them. Which means as of Thursday, I will be in the Library of Congress. I've heard they have everything. We'll put that to the test!
And yes, I did get my reader's card. It took a LONG TIME. There were only two people in the office and for some reason there was a sudden influx of people who wanted to do research at the Library of Congress. This one guy was a professor in front of me in line and he kept worrying over as sign that said something like "This card is for RESEARCHERS ONLY". Well a researcher is anyone who needs to do...you know...RESEARCH. But he thought he had to have documentation from a university saying that he was an academic, blah, blah, blah. In the end, this guy threw down a neat little stack of papers and cards. The office lady plucked his driver's license off the top of the pile and told him he didn't need the rest of it. Haha! The guy actually looked a bit disappointed!
After filling out paperwork, I waited in line to get my picture taken. But it was a LONG LINE and there was only one desk open, so more waiting. By the time I finally got up there, I was just so tired that I kind of missed the whole "1, 2, 3, Smile!" So my photo is pretty bad. No I'm not putting it up here!
Today one of the volunteers who lives on base brought her dog into the office in the afternoon. Polly is a two year-old yellow lab and SO CUTE!! And she's a therapy dog working with veterans in the hospital. How nice is that? Polly has quite the personality. She was trained as a search-and-rescue dog. But when it came time to take her test, Polly decided she didn't want to do anything she was trained for...so she failed. She doesn't seem all that sad about it either. She likes playing with her tennis ball and can do a forward somersault, if she puts her mind to it. She's trained so that if someone says "Hello" to her, she lifts her paw and gives them a shake. Nifty!
This week I'll probably go to a few museums. I haven't been to the Holocaust Museum yet, though everyone I talk to tells me I should go. I'm kind of uncertain though, not because I don't think it would be interesting, but because I've been in a fairly good mood recently. I definitely want to go to the Museum of Natural History, and a visit to Air and Space might be in order, just because it's been AGES since I last went. I doesn't seem like I'll have any trouble filling my days off.

So this post will conclude my first week here in D.C. It's been a lesson in adaptation, that's for sure. This is the first time I've really been living in a large city for a length of time. I've dealt with ridiculously high prices, broken metro trains, and of course the seemingly endless supply of PEOPLE.
If there's one good thing about a city, it's that navigation is more simplified. I love city blocks. In my home town, and many towns like it, roads were tacked on as new housing developments were made. They are never straight and one road might look like it leads to the place you want to go, only to stop abruptly in a cul-de-sac only 100 feet away. But city streets, everything is nicely squared. The biggest thing you have to worry about is one-way streets, and for someone with no car, it's not really an issue. So I am honing the art of orienting myself to a point. Basically, I pick a spot (like the metro station) and keep that spot in my mind while I navigate vertically and horizontally. It might not be the straightest distance between two points, but I've yet to get lost! Always good when you're in a place you don't really know.
Food has been an ongoing issue. Prices are high in the city, and with a limited kitchen back at "home" (my residence here in D.C.) it's difficult to get good food. I mean, I could easily eat pizza and burgers every day, but I feel like that wouldn't be a good idea, health-wise in the long run. So I've been attempting to keep up my fruits and veges by finding places that use more raw ingredients. It costs a bit more, but it means that I don't have to worry about buying fresh stuff at the supermarket and then having it go bad because I don't eat it in time.
One such place that I have found is Roti Mediterranean Grill. What's great about this place is that you can get a hot meal with all the food groups and it's not ridiculously expensive. My favorite is the Chicken Roti wrap. For all those who are Avengers movie fans, it's Shawarma, people! It's nice because you get meat, fresh vegetables, all wrapped up in a wheat wrap. It's a full meal and it's $6. The meat is roasted on a big skewer and shaved off and you can choose between steak or chicken. Then you can take your pick of assorted sauces and toppings and all of them are fresh. The wrap is pretty filling. I wasn't able to finish it all, and this was at one o'clock in the afternoon, after I hadn't eaten anything. If you don't like the wrap, you can get a platter with three sides and rice. They also have salads and falafel. I went to the one in L'Enfant Plaza (during the lunch break unfortunately). It was one of the more popular options in the food court.
At the museum, things are about to go into flux. My two supervisors left yesterday for my main supervisor's wedding...in Scotland. I know, right??? They'll be gone for two weeks and we have some projects, but I'm uncertain if they are going to last the full two weeks. The nice thing is, we have off July 4th-6th. So I only work two days next week. More sightseeing!
Yesterday I went to the Library of Congress and looked at some pretty amazing architecture and really old books. Unfortunately you need to have a legitimate reason to be down in the main reading room, and you have to go through this whole check-in process to get permission. But they allow tourists up on the balcony and you can look down at the reading room. There was no photography in just about EVERY section of the library. I can understand it, of course. I know I wouldn't want a bunch of people taking my picture if I was trying to...solve world hunger or find the cure to cancer, whatever researchers do in the Library of Congress. I also went through this exhibit that was about books that shaped America. We're talking books from the 1700s, all the way up through 2000s. Let me just say, I LOVE OLD BOOKS! Seriously, they are so freaking cool to me. Not just the bindings but the paper the way the typeset sometimes leaves ink outside of the words. They just don't make books the same anymore. They had original copies of Franklin's "Almanack", "Uncle Tom's Cabin", Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle", just everything you could think of and a lot of things you maybe didn't. It was really cool to look at the progression of books too. You can really see how publishing changed over the years in an exhibit like that.
I also went through Jefferson's Library, and then through an exhibit about Armenian books. That was interesting because most of the books in that exhibit were of the handwritten and illuminated variety. Most of them were some form of the Bible or prayer books. The exhibit talked about the formation of the Armenian alphabet and then worked its way through the years, up through World War II. I spent a bit more time with the older stuff. Sorry, archaeologist.
Another exhibit I went to that stood out in my mind was an exhibit on Bob Hope. For those who don't know, Bob Hope was like the Stephen Colbert of World War II. Interestingly enough, the exhibit was narrated by Stephen Colbert! Go figure! Hope went around to the battlefronts and gave variety shows to the troops. Sometimes he brought along girls (most of the time). He sang, he told jokes, I know I would've loved to see this guy in action. Looking at the exhibit, it was amazing just how much the guy did for the troops. He also did Radio, Film, and Broadway. He was declared the "first and only honorary veteran of the U.S. armed forces" by Congress in '96. Understandable, the guy appeared in and/or hosted almost 200 shows.
I didn't go to anything else yesterday, choosing to save some stuff for next week when I have time off. I still haven't been to Congress or the Supreme Court yet, but I've kind of been avoiding that last one, just because of all the stuff going on with ObamaCare. It's kind of a hot place at the moment.
Anyways, so that's my update.
Oh and by the way...

TRIUMPH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hello! And welcome to another episode of what Katie did today! Today's lucky number is 120 because that is the number of pipe cleaners that I folded into six-pointed star connectors today.
The Navy Museum does this program called "Lesson in a Box" which is actually a great learning tool for home-school kids. It is a STEM program (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) and it is a box that includes a lesson manual for the teacher/parent and every material that the child needs to complete 4-5 hands-on activities. Pretty cool right? I think so.
So Claire, one of the other interns at the museum is working on one of these lessons. We're actually going to use it with the engineering summer camp later on this summer. She's building a Geodesic dome. If you don't know what that is, here's a picture.

And another one.

And here's a famous one.

So geo-domes are really cool because they are being used as housing options in third-world countries and they look supermegafoxyawesomehot. It's a great sort of mini project for an engineering camp. Only problem, well let's say that scotch tape doesn't like becoming round. It was super hard to keep the dome's structure with tape because there are often times six different spokes connecting at the same point.
So Plan B. Use pipe cleaners, twisted into six-, five-, and four-point connectors. It started working really well, until about the fourth level when we started to realize that the weight of the structure was driving the base outwards. Because the straws weren't really connected to the pipe cleaners, they were breaking apart and the dome was failing around level three. NOT GOOD.
This took Claire Monday and Tuesday to figure out (it takes A LONG TIME to make these intricate suckers). Today I started helping her because I was idle this morning while the archaeologists had meetings in a five-sided black hole. We quickly determined that we needed some sort of support around the base while we were building the dome, that could then be taken away once the structure was in place and there was an equal amount of force being exerted on all sides. I suggested a hoola-hoop. Unfortunately, all we had were kiddie hoops, which were too small for the structure. Back to the drawing board.
After lunch,we went on a search of the museum, but unfortunately using one of the antique helms was out of the question. So we made a hoop out of paper strips and began anew. And it worked! We made it to the very last pentagon and snipped the paper hoop and voila! We even got a picture with it. And then we called in our boss, Karin.
Geo-domes are supposed to be able to handle weight. IN THEORY. But ours was made out of pipe cleaners and plastic straws. So you could lift the thing up as a whole, but no weight. Karin didn't know this...so the first thing she does is ask if it can hold weight and plops her hand right on top of the center. Before Claire EVEN HAS A CHANCE TO ANSWER, the structural integrity fails and a wide crack opens up in the side of the dome. It's still standing, but we dare not touch it to fix it. So there goes that plan.
Tomorrow we begin plan C, which involves longer connectors. Hopefully with longer pipe cleaners, more friction and support can be applied to the inside of the straws and the structure will be more stable. It still WILL NOT BE LOAD BEARING...but it might be able to stand for more than five seconds...
So let's tally it up.
Four days...
Two interns...
230 pipe cleaners...
330 straws...
1750 cm squared of paper...
We hope that tomorrow will yield this...

But with our track record so far it probably will end like this...

Cross your fingers. No matter what, tomorrow should be interesting, and there's a 99.99999% chance of more pipe cleaners in my future. Haha, and we're expecting 6 year-olds to be able to do this...

First full day in D.C!
I got in yesterday, but I don't start my internship until tomorrow. So I thought I'd do a dry-run of my morning commute and then take in the sights. A solid plan, right???
Haha! So here's the dealio.
I take the metro from my residence to the Navy Yard stop. That was easy. When I got off, I decided to use my phone to navigate to the museum. Solid. But here's the rub...
Google Maps pays no attention to whether or not you need an ID. They tell you the nearest gate and expect you to go through it. But since I'm an intern, I don't have an ID yet. FISH BUCKETS! So I asked a very nice gentleman coming out of the Navy Yard to direct me and ended up heading to the 6th street main entrance. But because I was technically a visitor (again, no ID) I had to walk all the way around to the 11th street entrance. So, in short, I walked almost the entire perimeter of the Navy Yard. It's quite big and the red brick wall has cameras every few hundred feet. I'm sure the security guards were getting a laugh.
After finally making it in, I managed to catch my supervisor just before she went out to lunch. HALLELUJAH, A BREAK!!! From there I found out that I get to dress casually every day and I don't have to report until "9ish". Booyah!
So after taking the scenic route my future place of work, I decided to play tourist. And what do you do when you play tourist, you walk A LOT. I had already walked quite a lot that day, but the last time I was in D.C. I was in middle school and many of the monuments were closed because it was fairly recently after 9-11. So what was a bit more walking to see iconic American monuments???
I got off at Smithsonian and hiked it on down to the Washington Monument. Looks nothing like the guy, I'm just saying... Along the way, a bunch of cop cars were racing by. If you've ever lived in a city, you'd know that there are constantly sirens going off. Police, Fire, Ambulance, whatever. Well apparently a family of tourists didn't know that because as I passed the mother was screaming at her boys (who were a few feet in front of her) that they needed to stay close because she thought there was some sort of threat to national security... Oo, ah, overreacting.
After the Washington Monument I walked down to the Lincoln Memorial, stopping at the World War II memorial along the way. The Reflection Pool was reflecting workmen and cleaning equipment today. I know I wouldn't want that job. Out in the middle of this big white ditch with no shade and hundreds of summer camp groups and families on vacation staring at you...good luck my man!
I paid a visit to Uncle Abe, asked him about his vampire hunting technique. He was suspiciously tight-lipped on the subject and one of the number one signs that someone is lying is purposeful eye contact. Don't trust someone who doesn't blink!
After my visit with Abe, I decided I would go wave hello to Barack. I went to the South Lawn first and joined the throng of people clamoring at the gates. While I was there, someone came out onto the second floor porch. I was much too far away to see if it was anyone noteworthy, but it prompted a large group of teenagers to start shouting in unison "OBAMA!". Mhmm...
Just to be thorough, I hiked around to the North lawn and then began my return journey to my temporary residence. But not before I decided it would be an okay idea to carry a 24-pack case of water five and a half blocks from CVS. Not my brightest idea, I'll admit, but I won't have to do it again because now I have water galore!
So all in all, today was a very informative day! And now I know what NOT to do and have a plan for tomorrow when I officially begin my internship. HOOYAH!