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