August 10, 2007Too tired in Spokane.Today I drove a bit over 500 miles, and made it to Spokane Valley (just east of Spokane), WA. Winnett, MT was fun, I’ll write more and post some photos tomorrow (or, I guess it’s “later today” now). Categories Summer 2007 Comments: 0
August 8, 2007Into North DakotaI made it across the Mississippi today! Guess that means I’m in “the West.” I crossed the Big Muddy where it isn’t so big, nor so muddy, in Brainerd, MN. If memory serves me right, Brainerd is the city where Marge Gunderson is from in the movie Fargo. Well, put a physics teacher behind the wheel of a car for... Categories Science Education/Summer 2007 Comments: 0
August 6, 2007David DiManna in Toledo, Millers in upper MichiganSunday included a drive across the last little bit of Pennsylvania, then Ohio, then a bit of Michigan. The Pennsylvania and Ohio Turnpikes were fairly uneventful, and I made it to Toledo in time to have dinner with cousin David DiManna, his son Danny, and his new gal (who I’m embarrassed to say I forgot her name–but I usually do... Categories Summer 2007 Comments: 0
August 5, 2007Virginia and Maryland: Good familyClick here for larger photos. Thursday I made it up to Flint Hill, VA to the Alexander homestead. Cousin Karen and Steve were home, as Cory was spending a relaxing summer with them (ha! she and Steve had spent the day working on one of their properties). The shock for me was the new workshop/studio out back (see photo). It... Categories Summer 2007 Comments: 0
August 1, 2007Wonderful talk by George CoyneThe capstone of my time here was a talk by George Coyne, SJ. Coyne talk was titled “Dance of the Fertile Universe: Cosmic and Human Evolution.”Coyne is the former Director of the Vatican Observatory (1978-2006), and has written extensively debunking the “Intelligent Design” theory. He gave a quick history of the universe (“if the universe is one year old, scientists... Categories Science Education/Summer 2007 Comment: 1
August 1, 2007So that’s what it feels like…I’m usually really good at directions. I can spend a few hours in a town and have a good sense of which way is north, where to catch the bus, where the health food store is, etc. However, for some reason I have Greensboro upside down. I keep thinking that the north direction is south. Which leads me to mix... Categories Travels Comments: 0
July 31, 2007Slow day… ?Today was kind of a slow day. I let myself sleep in–till 8:00 🙂 I saw one plenary speaker who discussed his role in international physics education. I found it interesting at the time, but can’t remember many of the details now. The second plenary speaker was Janet Guthrie, the first woman to qualify for the Indy 500, speaking on... Categories Science Education/Summer 2007 Comments: 0
July 30, 2007Great workshops at GreensboroI’m settled in the dorms, and have been sharing with a nice guy from outside Ann Arbor (“NOT” UM, our colors are green). He’s checking out tonight, so I’ll have the room to myself tonight. Sunday I spent the morning in two workshops, the first on using VPython (a computer programming language) to have students create models of physical actions... Categories Science Education/Summer 2007 Comments: 0
July 28, 2007Off to GreensboroI finished the Modeling Physics workshop in Charlotte, and am now sitting in the Tate Street Coffee shop outside UNC Greensboro. I checked into the dorm late this afternoon, and am happily preparing for more physics tomorrow. We finished the workshop on Friday with lunch at a nice Greek restaurant across the street from UNC Charlotte, then I started driving... Categories Summer 2007 Comments: 0
July 21, 2007Nice weekend in AshevilleFriday afternoon I took Gabriela to the bus station so she could go visit friends for the weekend, then I took off driving up to Asheville to meet Karen. We’re having a great time roaming around Asheville. We’ve had some great food (Tapas, breakfast buffet at the Grove Park Inn (see photo to right), Indian buffet — if there’s one... Categories Summer 2007 Comments: 0