Monday, June 21, 2010
Breakfast – Breakfast in the cafeteria was filled with the usual morning banter as we joked about CNN’s endless and tiring reporting of the oil spill. Somehow the topic turned to high fructose corn syrup and its goodness. Robyn asked: “have you seen the commercials touting high fructose corn syrup as being good for you in moderation?” Kylee quickly responded in her now well-known West Virginia accent: “Well sure, if it comes out of the ground, it’s gotta be good for ya.”
Rap Session – Kylee, Adam, and Chelsey took advantage of the oven in our “conference room” and provided a much needed baked treat of cookies and brownies. Yum! Kylee amused herself during the meeting by doodling caricatures. We were all very impressed.
Laundry Debacle – Chelsey was severely and verbally chastised for doing laundry in the “conference room” (and we use the term ‘conference room’ lightly). Apparently, unbeknownst to the A-team, the washer leaked…badly, very badly. So bad that the 2nd-shift desk clerk said that the “whole ceiling in the room below needed to be re-done.”
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Tuesday morning and what a dreary day! We leave for work as scheduled. We had decided that we would issue planet assignments during the breakfast meeting. With 8 group members and 24 systems to research, everyone got their picks. However, poor little Nathan was left with the scraps. It was a mostly toned-down breakfast meeting; not very lively. A few giggles came from Kylee and Robyn. It’s the weather we decided was to blame for the somber atmosphere. And as far as the oil spill, Adam had a “brilliant” idea. He suggested pressure-washing the oil soaked birds, establishing an assembly line to hose ’em down. This was yet another one of Adam’s diabolical plans. Ron added that the pressure of a pressure-washer is about 1500 psi, which would just put a hole straight through the bird.
After a long, hard day of work, everyone except Adam and Ron were knocked unconscious from the exhaustion of activities. But apparently, we were supposed to be getting ready to present our infrastructure information on the next morning, so when 8 PM approached everyone was frantically trying to finish.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Our morning jaunt to the Center is never complete without being cheerily accosted before we head out the hotel door by the borderline-insane happiness of one particular front desk clerk. We try to leave on the sly (which is really hard to do with a group of 9 people), but we never make it out before she enthusiastically asks: “Where’s my happy group?” Our response is a mixed bag of silent groans, a lone “yay” from one overzealous Academite, and the mumbled “goodbyes” and “have a nice days” from the rest.
After work, five-eighths of the A-Team (Robyn, Shanita, Kylee, Adam and Ryan) went in search of an ATM for Shanita and Robyn and a post office for Kylee. We successfully located a money machine where Robyn and Shanita performed some fancy ATM banking maneuvers. Next, we headed to a post office on Lorain. When we arrived it was a little after 5pm and we were shocked to find it closed. The hours listed for this location on the internet stated it was open until 5:30pm. Undaunted and vowing to get Kylee to a post office, we hit the streets again in search of another government building specializing in package delivery. Our efforts were rewarded because we found another post office (thanks to GPS) that was open until 5:30pm. Crisis averted. Kylee disappeared inside the dimly lit building and when she surfaced an hour later she reported that the delay was due to the power being out from today’s earthquake. Earthquake!!!
Most ironic moment – “Oh, bacon!” Adam exclaimed in surprise at breakfast when he discovered a rogue piece of bacon on his French toast. This was ironic because he just had finished saying “everything’s better with bacon.”
The evening’s festivities included a night out bowling. Howard, Chelsey, Ron, Ryan and Adam played two games. Howard won the first game and Chelsey won the second.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Building 110 was evacuated this morning while Shanita and Robyn were walking towards it. They heard a shrill noise and noticed groups of people coming out. Security arrived and several officers manned the front entrances and exits. After about 15 minutes, a nicely built guard announced that all was clear.
After work, the A-Team had just enough time to close one eye for 10 minutes before we were whisked away to the Great Wall Chinese restaurant to have dinner with their guest speaker, Mark Hyatt. Ryan and Mark shared their overseas adventures with us as we ate.
After dinner, we headed back to the hotel for Mark’s presentation: “Living on a Dusty Moon.” We got to see footage of astronauts in space punching the accelerator on a lunar rover causing plumes of regolith and another clip entitled “hammer dance” of an astronaut trying to pick up a hammer in his rigid, pressurized space suit.”
Friday, June 25, 2010
Bedbugs – Chelsey woke up to find fresh munch marks on her arms. She suspected that bedbugs were the culprits, sneakily feasting on her during the night. She was itchy and irate.
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Well, today started out interesting. We all gathered around 12:00 PM to go downtown to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Science Museum. Kylee and Robyn stayed behind to take care other business. We were undecided of who would be driving, so about 3 minutes were wasted. So, we finally hit the highway, but when we got to the exit, we were met by a parking lot in the middle of the road. It was obvious that there was some kind of parade going on. A gay pride parade lasted for about 25 minutes. After the parade ended, we had to find parking, and on the way, around the corner from where the parade was, we passed a group of protesters. Apart from the beautiful array of Roy G. Biv was the excitement of the Michael Jackson fans at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Michael Jackson impersonators were everywhere. Once we left the hall of fame, we headed down the street to the Science Museum. There were all kinds of fun and games there! Chelsey stated that she could have spent all afternoon playing at the science museum…if all those little kids weren’t there anyway!
Sunday, June 27, 2010
We spent the whole day at Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio. We had a blast! Howard, Shanita, and Robyn even found “that guy” waiting in line to get on the Top Thrill Dragster. The best rides, judging from the banter at dinner at Steak & Shake and on the drive home were the Top Thrill Dragster, the Wicked Twister, the Raptor, Magnum XL-200, and the Millennium Force. Part of the A-Team got caught in a downpour, but that didn’t keep them from going on more rides after the rain subsided. After a fun-filled day at the park, the A-Team headed for their vehicles. Ron, our ever-caring and fearless leader, even picked up a wayward, 4 foot tall stuffed gorilla in the parking lot. It was apparently abandoned by other thrill-seekers who didn’t have room in their vehicle to take him home. So, Ron, with Kylee’s help, picked him up and put him in the bed of his F-150. Nice job, Ron.