Public Session @ NAS

Greetings from the STI e-lounge! Today was a great day. I woke up about 15 minutes late, quickly showered and dressed and got to breakfast about 10 minutes late. Fashionably late, I call it (as opposed to Jenny, who was fashionable late in the sense of being taxied to Capitol Hill an hour after the rest of us!!).

After that, we got shuttled back to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), where we took some pictures in front of the big Einstein head--first the whole group, then just the Long Islanders (A.K.A. the cool finalists)! I guess we'll be in some local paper tomorrow. After that, we went to Capitol Hill (where Jenny, Nick, Diane, and Harley finally met up with us) where we took more pictures, mainly the traditional Capitol Hill photo--one of the whole group, one of just the girls, one of the guys, and then one of--that's right--the cool New York finalists.

Then we shuttled back to NAS for the judging and public exhibition of our posters. The first few hours (9 AM through about noon), the judges came around very slowly, spending a lot of time with each of us, up to about three or four per person. Then we had lunch at the NAS, and returned to our posters where the public viewing began at 1, and lasted till 4. We have another tomorrow, I think, same time, same place. Awesome.

I think things went really well for me today. After Siemens, I'd presented my research SO many times that I just got out words that, no matter how hard I tried to really describe the project, were just uttered with no real meaning. Today, though, something clicked and explaining it in so many different ways to different people--from long discussions with astrophysicists to short rundowns with high school students--really made me get back into my project. I feel like it's kind of simple and straightforward, but even if it is, the results are pretty significant and I got a confidence boost on that while presenting today to the 8 or so judges who stopped by. I was learning about my project again while the judges and the public were. It was very nice. I just felt like no matter who I was talking to, I was enthused and animated and really did a good job of conveying the important points and the major significance of my research. I walked out of NAS feeling like I just did as well as I could have, which is all one can really ask for.

After NAS, we came back to the hotel for a bit of chill time, before leaving at 6:30 for...bowling!! Probably the highlight of the week so far (and I don't know if that's a good or a bad thing to say!). I didn't quite bowl my top game (even Kim beat me, and this was her first time ever playing. Ouch! That being said, I maintain I have played much better in the past), something in the upper 40s (ouch!) the first game, and I was on a better track the second time around, before they turned it off during the 8th or 9th frame (I believe) so we could go back! Aw, shucks. But the bus ride back was great and then as we neared the hotel, the best part of all--the announcement that tomorrow, we get to sleep in until 9!! Breakfast and lunch will be combined into the so-called "brunch" at 9:30, and then at 10 we leave for, that's right, the White House!! So you know what that means--late night without feeling guilty.

So, as I write this, I'm in the e-lounge with Jenny. She's a really cool girl--a classical guitarist, a close cousin of my own people, the flamenco guitarists, so we've been listening to Ottmar Liebert all night. The music is gorgeous--I downloaded some live tracks that he has on his Listening Lounge, plus some footage that I recorded at his (spectacular) concert last year on Long Island--and it is really awesome to be able to share it with someone who can appreciate it just as much. That's lots of fun. Otherwise, I've been chatting on AIM a tiny bit, catching up with some friends, and now I believe it is time to go to bed! The e-lounge closes at 11 PM tomorrow night for the last time so the Monday and Tuesday (and Wednesday) entries might be a bit delayed in arrival. Good night!