FolkLife Fest starts Wednesday...ahhhhhh!!!

Party like a ROCKSTAR!!!!!

Friday: June 20th = Day off #1 freakin' amazing....i slept in late....i read my book out in the sun for 4.5 hrs and got interrupted by stupid ants....and then I lounged around the house and dealt with uber drama...that spread like the black plague around our lovely household

Saturday: June 21st = JJ's trip to the National Zoo, of which I took the metro to the Addams Morgan/Woodley Park zoo station...walked uphill 1 mile and arrived at a busy and highly crowded zoo. Many of the habitats were under construction which was a bit disappointing, but since its free there is no telling how many times i will go back and then see what has reopened and changed. I saw the panda bears, the red pandas, the red-ruffed lemurs, and the pygmy hippo that was sitting on the stairs, and so many more animals. My least favorite part of the zoo besides the fact that it was like 100 degrees F outside was the orb weave spiders exhibit...its' open--no glass, wires, of anything or sort...creepy my hand was in the exhibit!! After taking pictures and looking at everything I walked into Addams Morgan and then took a metro home. I slept and rested the rest of the evening including reading my book.

Sunday: June 22nd I went to Eastern Market to get a loaf of potato bread--but i should mention my epic exploration walk past 7th street and to the Marine Barracks & the Navy Yard...guys reading this avert your eyes and close those ears...because damn no man could ever compare to the men i saw in uniform--my jaw dropped, i hung up on my friend because i was gosh darn distracted by the smexy-ness that passed before me. I found a card shop, a craft store, a blockbuster, a dunkin doughnuts/baskin robbins, a really cool home/gift store called Homebody--similar to Apples to Zinnias in Winter Park, Florida, and an Irish Pub! Good times!! I walked home then read some more andoh yeah updated the blog and then at 9 pm we had our first house meeting..i still have no roommate, but i think i am happy about this...no one can annoy me yet so...

Monday: June 23rd I got up at 7:15 am and was out the door at 7:30 am--I met the breakfast club at 8:05 am and stepped in a gigantic hole on my way to work...the sidewalk is under construction and the crew forgot to put caution tape around the big-ass [pardon my French] hole in the ground so naturally i ended up in the hole...long story short i found an earthworm and a rock in my shoe when i got home this afternoon. This morning i assisted John Steiner in the new Ocean's Hall in the Natural History museum and then at 10:25 am found Joe, Jim, and Ken in the Rose room which is aka the anthropology seminar room and then waited for the other interns and photographer's to arrive. Pizza and drinks were served and Hugh Talman, Joe's dad gave a presentation of past Folklife work and expectations/run-through's. After the meeting i finished inputing the proper metadata to the files and then converted the color tifs to bw using the new filter in CS3. Around 5 pm Iheaded home to beat the rain...it poured on me and then i ate dinner and talked with the roomies...made some phone calls and plans for this weekend and right this second I am going to stop blogging-read- then fall asleep.

Much Love and thank you Mema, Popeye, & Mom for providing me the opportunity to live in DC this summer...I know I don't always say this as much as I should, but I love you guys and am very appreciative of all that you continue to do for me. Peace out!! :o)

Invocation of the Muse 101

Take 5: updated release of happenings and whereabouts of Jennifer J. Hill

Friday: June 13th Printed out posters on the Epson printer for 2 scientists; the objective was to print a copy of the poster to give to Christan Samper, the acting secretary for the Smithsonian as a gift to honor his service and commitment to encouraging and promoting the well being of the museum. The poster was an image of a new species of daisy that has been named after him. I discovered a printing tone difference cool vs. warm--the scientists chose warm tone and after 2 screw-ups via pshop and me the poster was printed successfully.

Then at around 4:30- 5:00 pm Don, Casey, and I headed to Pre-poets in the Botany lab with Barrett and friends; where we sampled beers from around the world and all over the US in beakers and had brie with bread and honey plus Chinese cracker cookies. Yummy! Then around 7:30 pm we all headed down to Poets; I stayed until 9:45 ish. While there I met other interns and me, tony, sean, malorie, katie, Beverly, and others went to Artomatic until 12:45 am. Artomatic is an exhibiton of over 1000 artists, with 12 floors of madness for 40 days & 40 nights. It was truly amazing--we did almost half of Artomatic--I bought a t-shirt for the memory.

Saturday: June 14th I went to eastern market to get some fresh produce and then in the afternoon went back to Artomatic and finished what I could.

Sunday: June 15th I relaxed--end of story...I slept late and read all day.

Monday: June 16th Don had a meeting so Casey and I couldn't shoot Monk seal skulls so Casey helped Joe shoot snails and I edited photos and worked on the Black & white challenge of the glass positive lantern negative that James DiLoreto gave Joe and I. I figured it out via 2 missing steps--thanks RIT!

Tuesday: June 17th I shot Monk seal skulls with Casey Ross, Ken's other intern out at the Museum Support Center where we got to have a tour of the American Indian Museum storage center and other studio that had accordian lights...freakin' awesome!! We got stuck in the mega storm that blew down two tents on the National Mall that ended up injuring several children from Florida. Don and I got soaked walking across the Mall on the way back to the museum. Barb and Don gave me a ride home so i didn't get drenched because i forgot my umbrella...oops. Then I went to Union Station to get a book to read.

Wednesday: June 18th We finished shooting Monk seal skulls out at MSC then took the shuttle back to Natural History Museum to begin editing

Thursday: June 19th I finishied editing the monk seal skulls and went with Don, Jim, and Joe to the raven canoe launch into the Potomac River via an Anchorage Alaskan tribe; the ritual and ceremony was awesome and I got to be an assistant/runner for Joe, Jane, and Don. Afterwards Don and I went to lunch and then Joe and Jim joined us as well as Court and Leana. At 2:45 pm I met Barbara to go on the Behind the Scenes Folklife festival tour...kinda a snooze fest, but interesting none the less. After the tour ended I went home and got ready for the greek dancing and dinner in Alexandria, Va. It was so amazing we took the metro to Alexandria, had wine, danced, broke plates then came home. Alix, Kate, Remy, Michael, and I all went to Georgetown for an after party until 3:30 am. :o)

Friday: June 20th Day off--relax and recovering from the madness, blogging, uploading pictures, making pita bread , charging batteries for tomorrow's zoo venture!!

A week behind...oops sorry--I get tired too sometimes!!

Take 4 & More

Wed: June 4th + Thursday & Friday = Mali CD project with Don E. Hurlbert Wednesday we had minor [ rather a difficult time] with Mr. Epson R260; first the inks kept running out and then the contacts of the cartridges were defective

Thursday and Friday: I continued to finish the 98 items [including CDs & contact sheets] for Don; this project mind you is already a year-old...oh and yeah it took 3 days to finish!

Saturday: June 7th = JJ learns how to use the metro and goes to Dupont Circle. I walked all the way to GW and then back to Dupont for some yummy lunch at Teaism. Teaism has bubble tea and yummy eggs with cilantro & green peppers. Then I went back to Union Station towards home. All the while taking pictures! The head of security in the metro accused me of being a terrorist because I was taking pictures of the inside interior of the Metro! Puh-lease!! If you have Facebook--look forward to those pictures being put up soon-ish. I rested until Ladies night @ Hawk and Dove, a local bar located approx. 5 blocks from our townhouse. Not my type of place, but interesting none the less.

Sunday: June 8th = Trip to Eastern Market located at 7th Street and North Carolina to buy affordable/fresh produce. It's basically similar to the Winter Park and Rochester farmer's markets, but also includes crafts, antiques, and junk. I bought the ingredients to make Mom's grape salsa for Family Dinner/Potluck, which is a tradition we have started in our house. No matter what's going on we all try to eat dinner together on Sunday nights before the work week starts to catch-up and kyvetch. Everyone makes a dish and then switches the next week--it went amazing! We had shrimp 'n pasta, a salad, grape salsa, bread, and strawberry shortcake for dessert. :OD [talk about glamorous]

Monday: June 9th = I finished the remaining CDs for Don and talked pshop with Jim and Joe while they finished shooting 165 mya snail fossils

Tuesday: June 10th = ONE OF THE MOST AMAZING OPPORTUNITIES EVER!!!!!!! I got to participate in an archaeological dig. Scientists, visitors, soldiers, & photographers were present in Congressional Cemetery to witness the excavation of the top commanding US general of the War of 1812. The tomb was located 8-12 feet under ground. He was buried in a zinc coffin with his first wife and possibly his father as well. By the end of the dig, a total of 2 bodies were accounted for--the father still aloof. It was 100 degrees out and we were all sweating bullets. I found a tooth, phalanges, metatarsals, and other bone fragments while sifting and screening buckets of dirt from the dig site. It was an awesome experience and I really got to enjoy Archaeology, which I have decided to pursue as my minor during my last year at RIT. It stormed really bad, luckily Mr. Chip Clark, the photographer I was working with throughout the day generously offered to take me home :0).

Yesterday, I went to the Museum Support Center with Don for a tour of the facility and storage "pods". I finished a project involving retrieving negative numbers for artifact retrieval via database; process similar to stock photography. I also met Walter, another researcher/photographer.

Today: June 12th I was at Natural History retrieving images for 170 negative numbers that I had processed on Wednesday. I went through hundreds of CDs looking for images to place in a folder for Don. [All artifacts pertained to Anchorage Loan--Arctic Artifacts] This morning I also helped Jim, Joe, and John photograph the Korean exhibit on the 2nd floor of the museum before 10 am when the throngs of people start arriving. Roomies and I went to the Pour House, a bar located on Pennsylvania Avenue to visit Valerie, my cuz and hangout! That's it for now stay tuned...tomorrow's broadcast = JJ gets to shoot the skulls of a new species of Monk Seal!! Fun in the studio with Don!

I'm Official!!

Take 3:

It's official...I got my badge!!! Yeah!!!! Now no one has to escort me from museum to museum etc. This will be a short post because 1) I smell bad and desperately need to shower 2) I'm tired 3) If you want the nitty gritty details call me after 5 pm tomorrow.

8 am: Breakfast Club with Barbara's yummy Gruyere Cheese from Switzerland
9:45-10:30 am: Morning meeting with Don, John, _Joe?____( the name of the other guy that works there; I can never remember his name), and Joe the Intern.
10:30-11:15 am: Joe the Intern takes me to the Capitol Gallery to get my badge

By 11:30 am I had my badge and went back to Natural History.

Things I learned today:

• How to use a Hasselblad with a digital back hooked to a power back and usb'd to a mac running flexsoftware
• Gray Card insertion and 18% gray balance test using automatic/manual software adjustments
• How to use the server at Natural History Museum
• How a SEM [scanning electron microscope] works...the controls, the beam, the aberrations, the balance of contrast/brightness
• How to apply plasma argon alkaline metal to mounted samples [this time of prototypic spider parts]
• How to glue back a specimen that has fallen off a mount using a stereo microscope
• Observed John the Intern who works for a Senior Scientist named Dr. Curano, who is Head Curator for Dinosaurs, analyze crystalline structures of samples that were inside the SEM from fractured bits of Dinosaur eggs!! [Coolest thing ever the whole John Williams "Jurassic Park" theme song riveted in my head. I also had the coolest and most easy to understand lecture about calcite crystal formations which was.....EPIC!

That's it for now...stay tuned (Oh, I also baked chocolate chip cupcakes with an Orange Pumpkin Spice Glaze for tomorrow morning's breakfast club!!

Love Ya'll--JJ

First Day

Take 2:

Today was my first official day at my internship; it was epic! I finally got to meet Carl Hansen, the executive director of Smithsonian Photographic Services--talk about a cool guy!! It was an early start...

Wake Up: 7:05 am
Out the Door: 7:25 am
Arrival Time: 8:00 am on the dot [traffic is a lot different during the beginning of a Washington work day...not to mention if you walk over 20 blocks to get to and from work each day.

Most of the day I spent waiting for my expedited security clearance so that I could get my badge; unfortunately, I will have to wait until tomorrow to actually obtain it. Which means figuring out where the Capitol gallery is located...oy vey...I'm bound to get lost.

I was the only one in the tunnels at 8:00 am; I had arrived way too early--Donna Greene let me in after I had been frantically searching for the right door by knocking. She stayed with me for a bit then took me over to the Natural History museum. There I met with the REAL breakfast club and then headed up to the third floor [which can only be accessed by the left staff elevator...hehehe the things you discover] I had arrived and got introduced to John Steiner, a staff photographer that I might be working with. He is hilarious and really interesting! He gave me a tour of the lab and showed me around some of the "staff only" areas of the Natural History Museum. We then went down to the basement where Scott Whittaker does work involving the SEM [scanning electron microscope], but he wasn't there; so John brought me back to Ken Rahaim at the American History museum, where I was to meet Carl Hansen.

Carl asked me to sit down and shut the door...meanwhile I'm freaking out thinking that somehow I've already done something wrong...boy! was I dumb--he merely wanted to explain my situation, the details of my internship, and say that I am already an accomplished photographer, but what I will learn here this summer will not only improve my skill set, but distinguish me from all the other bobs and nancies out there! After meeting with Carl, Ken took me to see Leana, the other intern that works for John Dilenger, head of image editing. Leana and I talked until it was time for Ken and I to meet John Steiner for the 12:00 pm Keith Connelly lecture held at the Ripley gallery across the National Mall...we were a few minutes late, but did not disrupt the presentation.

After the hour presentation, John walked with me back across the Mall to the Natural History Museum then I went up the elevator to meet with Don. I was surprised to see Ken there; he and Don were discussing what I would be doing for the next 3 days while Ken is away shooting a conference at Capitol Hill. Ken left after giving me my very own Smithsonian email account, then I had to complete a security safety test and then Don gave me another tour of the different wings and shared some of his experiences while working at the Smithsonian. We both made our way back to the lab and then he escorted me down to security to return my temporary badge. I got to leave early; so i grabbed a hot dog special with chips and a soda for $5.45 at the Sculpture Garden cafe and relaxed by the fountain for two hours.

Then I walked home and collapsed into a deep sleep. I made dinner a bit later and packed for tomorrow's early journey at 7:05 am yet again. I get to meet the Breakfast Club at 8 am tomorrow morning.

I'm going to sleep now; you guys should check out the link below for some awesome hip-hop drumming:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=osHT73lWMD0

Later days,
JJ

Sex and the City

Sex and the City Take 1:

Alas to my dismay our entire house is girls girls girls! But the Swiss family Robinson we shall be. The oldest gal is 23 and so far the youngest is 20. After mom left, I walked back to the house...a couple of the girls went to mass and then at 2:30 we left to go see Sex and the City starring Sarah Jessica Parker at Union Station. The theater was retro and had really comfy black leather chairs and it kind of smelled like diapers. The movie was really long, but well worth the $7.50 matinee price. After the movie we hurried back because it looked like it was going to storm pretty bad. When we walked thorough the door we discovered we had a new roommate..shocker...it was another girl! I went to the market and bought some eggs, potatoes, and a bag of little kisses. I really wanted something sweet and a pint of ice cream is like $5.00; which is not in the budget right now. Then after shopping I made a sandwich for dinner and afterwards went for a walk to the National Mall with Dana, the new housemate. We got back about an hour ago and now that I've blogged today's happenings...I'm going to go pack my lunch for tomorrow and bring my stuff upstairs. Love ya'll and write me letters...despite what my mom says I might actually write you back or at least mention you in this fantastic blog! The first one to guess what the name of my blog means gets a signed free print of anyone of my photographs!! [Mom, you are not allowed to guess...sry]

Much Love as always,
JJ