Day #31 - Holiday Lights

Every year, from the middle of December forward, the process of driving anywhere at night includes trying to find as many houses with lights as possible. Why? For nothing other than hearing Marisa repeatedly say, "Wow. Aw-awesome. Yay!"

It doesn't matter to her if the display is in all realities, quite lame. She just likes the lights. If the display is impressive, Marisa is likely to clap and cheer in addition to her typical exclamations.

With every holiday, things are magical for Marisa. Always.

Day #30 - State Store!

I didn't do anything very productive today other than go to the State Store.

Usually when I go, I get only one bottle of whatever because I'm heading home from work and need to take Public Transit. Don't want to look like a wino on the trolley.

This time I was with my dad though. So I got everything I needed and a couple things I wanted. 6 bottles for me, 2 bottles for my father.

I guess it wasn't a huge trip, but it was nice to refill my stock of liquor.

Day #29 - Remembering Mischief, round 1

About a year and a half ago, some kid mailed his Flat Stanley to the Franklin Institute. All mail not otherwise directed goes to Finance to be opened. When they saw what it was, Finance sent it to Museum Programs. Museum Programs then directed it to Workshops. Then the Workshops Manager assigned the project to me. 

So I set about taking Flat Stanley on adventures. One of a kind experiences he could only have at the Franklin Institute.

We went to all of the most notable exhibits and activities that people want to see when they visit the museum. And we used our secret access to get a guided tour of the Curatorial Vault that has items like the Wright Brothers' Airfoils and shards of the Hindenburg. The Franklin Institute's Chief Astronomer, Derrick Pitts, even gave Stanley a tour of the Observatory and showed him how to use a telescope.

In the end, I made Flat Stanley play with electrical charges on the Van de Graaf Generator.

Day #28 - Rube Goldberg

I know a 4 year old who is obsessed with the building of Rube Goldberg devices. He's been that way since he was roughly 18 months and started watching videos of them. Everyday he builds several. Some very simple domino effect style but most are actually quite complicated. Anyway.

Pulled from the web: "A Rube Goldberg machine, contraption, invention, device, or apparatus is a deliberately over-engineered or overdone machine that performs a very simple task in a very complex fashion, usually including a chain reaction."

I grew up watching a certain chain reaction video at the museum. I always watched it even though it is actually about 35 minutes. When I was older, I bought a copy of the video and would randomly put it on at home. Der Lauf Der Dinge was made in 1988 in a warehouse by two Swiss guys. If you've never seen it, check it out.

Since I One of my more recent favorites is this one from 2D House. I love it because of all the photography and camera elements.

Day #27 - Sometimes I don't like the trolley...

Sometimes I don't like the trolley...

This morning I needed to get to work a bit earlier than usual for the All Staff Meeting. So I left the house about 10 minutes before 7. There was supposed to be a trolley passing my station at 7:05. Not a problem. I had 15 minutes to carefully walk the four icy blocks to the trolley. When I get there, I remember that I'm going to be stuck riding the same trolley as all the high schoolers... since there is a whole horde of them already waiting. 

They are not the reason I didn't like the trolley this morning.

When I arrive, I notice that there isn't even a trolley at the end of the line (4 stops further than mine) to be waiting for. First sign. So I check twitter. There is a post that says there are issues with outbound trolleys on my route because of a disabled trolley about halfway along the route. Second sign. Okay. Just wait a bit. It's usually pretty quickly cleared. 

So we all just keep waiting. It's getting close to 7:30... normally at this point, the third trolley since 7:00 would be getting ready to go by, but still no trolleys have even made it past us to the end of the line. I call my father an ask him for help connecting to a different route that'll get me into work. When he gets to me at 7:46, I ask him to drop me at the regional rail train station that is close by for the train that should be passing at 7:51. We get there just as the train pulls up so I run and jump on. 

So everything works out and I get to work when I needed to... for $6, when I usually just swipe my bus pass. That being said, just as we're pulling over to the train station, the double trolley that was supposed to leave from the end of the line at 7:01 finally is almost there... it'll only be about an hour and 7 minutes late... it's immediately followed by another double trolley... and probably also the next two rounds of single trolleys. 

As much as I love the trolley usually, there is one thing that really is a disadvantage; if something happens that blocks the route, be it a car poorly parked, a broken down trolley or whatever... it can't detour. It has to follow the tracks. Always.

I never checked, but I would assume the issue with the disabled trolley was weather related. It's not usually good to blend the two pictures below together. It just doesn't end well.

Side note: removing the R# from the Regional Rail Route names was pointless. It makes things confusing. Plus everyone still uses then... even employees.

Day #26 - Attention Span

I've been watching the episodes of Game of Thrones, one at a time. Even for things that I enjoy watching, I just don't have the attention span to watch several in a row. At least not when I need to be concentrating a little bit. 

Tonight while watching an episode on my computer, the cat decided it was going to accompany me. Usually this entails the cat rubbing it's face on my elbow or foot until I bat it away after it becomes annoying. Instead, the cat actually sat there and watched the show. The entire show. Even when she would change position, her eyes stayed focused on the screen. And not just the computer screen in general, but the specific quadrant of the screen that had the video playing. 

Just what we need. The cat learning how to torture people in medieval and barbarically human ways.

I can't even think of a picture that would seem appropriate for this. I guess I don't always have to have an image or anything.

Day #25 - Not present or antisocial?

I'm really not sure what the general consensus would be.

Not understanding how insular I actually prefer to be, it is generally assumed by my parents that if I stay in my room for any length of time to mean one of two things. Either I fell asleep or I'm angry about something. It never occurs them that I just want to be quiet by myself. Usually I get asked what I was doing... as though it is bad to spend time by oneself... as though they can't hold conversation without me... as though I never lived 1500 miles away and only saw them once every 6 months or so.

Usually I'm relaxing in my room after getting home from work because while I am outwardly outgoing at the museum and when out in public, it is really draining. By the time I get home, I'm drained of the ability to viably interact with other humans. I need to recharge my social/emotional battery. Without those (at least) 15 to 20 minutes to read, interact via a chosen medium or mentally process through the interactions from the day, I can not function as a member of the household without being a complete and utter jackass to the other bipeds.

So I ask. Is it more antisocial to physically remove myself from their presence by remaining in my room for the waking hours before and after dinner... or should they be bothered more if I isolate myself by use of my laptop and headphones while sitting in the livingroom with them but not engaging with them in any way?

Physically absense or physically present but mentally absent?