WWII Flyover

Today was one of those days where it still amazes me they are paying me to do this job.  In commemoration of the 70th anniversary of VE Day, there was a flyover with WWII vintage aircraft over the National Mall.  There were over 50 planes, including a B-29 Bomber, the last one that is still flying.  Not only did I get to watch it, but I got to watch it from the roof of the Air and Space Museum.  Other than a scary ladder, it was amazing.  We filmed segments for several upcoming shows.  I am continue to be amazed at how awesome our crew is.  It is because of them we got such great pictures and video today.  Below are a few pictures that were taken today.

Paolo Nespoli

Today I got a chance to hang out with Italian Astronaut Paolo Nespoli.  He was awesome!  He filmed segments for three upcoming shows as well as a couple of different teasers and a show open.  Yup, still hasn't soaked in that I get to hang out with astronauts as part of my job.

Yes, he was fixing my mic!

Normal group picture

Dorky group picture (Beth's idea)

Russian group picture - he pointed out that one of his Russian crew mates never smiled for pictures so we took one like that.

Flight 93 Memorial

I went home over the weekend to get my car to help with the apartment hunt.  Over the last two days I've been driving the 16+ hours back to DC.  Today as I was driving I saw a small sign for the Flight 93 Memorial.  It was only about 20 miles out of the way so I decided to go.  It is really powerful.  Below are a few pictures I took.

The visitors center is still under construction.  The memorial itself is done.  It is a long granite wall that takes you to a white wall with the names of the passengers and crew.  The white wall follows the path of the flight.  In the field beyond the wall is a large boulder that marks the front edge of the crash site.

Stuff You Don't See Everyday

Here are a couple thing I've seen in the last two days that seemed a little out of the ordinary. 

Ketchup for dogs. 

A limo pulling a trailer 

Social Media

STEM in 30 is now on social media.  You can follow us @STEMin30 on Twitter and facebook.com/STEMin30.  Below are a few of the cool things you might see following STEM in 30.

Astronaut Piers Sellers

Filming at the Botanic Garden

The guys with Astronaut Don Thomas

Cherry Blossoms

Last weekend I did the tourist thing (along with 50,000 of my closest friends).  Below are a few of the pictures I took.  You can see the full set on Flickr by following the link.

Flickr Set: https://www.flickr.com/gp/12273435@N03/25r888/ 

Spring Break

**Warning**
Lots of pictures on this post, if reading on Facebook click on the link to see them.

This post is only a few weeks late.  I've had internet issues with my laptop.



A couple weeks ago Sarah and Bryce and Sadie made it out to Washington over Sarah's spring break. We had great weather, we only got snowed on once.  It was a hectic week at work because we had a show, but it was cool that they got to see the production.

Sadie got to see her first panda bear.

Bryce got to do his bird show at the National Zoo and was really excited about seeing Grandpa's Eagle.

 

Sadie was right on the edge of crawling.  We were hoping she would start while they were in Washington.  We tried to get her to crawl at my museum.  She didn't crawl.

During the set up for our show, I had a chance to go up on the catwalks and look out at the Udvar-Hazy Center.  It was scary as snot but I was glad I did it.

During our show most of the big wigs from the museum came over to watch, including our director General Daily.

Bryce got to watch the filming.

Bryce doesn't have a chance of not being a nerd.

Tried to get Sadie to crawl in front of the Space Shuttle.  She didn't crawl.

Yeah, she doesn't have a chance of not being a nerd either.

Bryce got into taking pictures on this trip also.

Flying with the Space Shuttle.

I got artsy at the Botanic Garden.

This look . . . I don't have a chance.

Tried to get her to crawl at the Botanic Garden.  She didn't crawl.

If you know about my history with kites, this will completely make sense.

Bryce flying his kite in the museum.

Pretzel shop a couple of blocks from my apartment.

Giant cupcake

Yup, nerd.

Pretty girl X2

Yup, no chance.

On their last day in town Sadie decided to start crawling, not in any cool or historic place but the bedroom floor of my apartment when there were no cameras rolling, but I got to see her crawl for the first time.

Home

Being home is awesome. Even if delays kept me from getting in until 3:00am today. 

Happy April 1st

I think you can file this in the category of "my job doesn't suck."  

About a week ago the guys I work with and I were kicking around the idea of pranking our boss. We got Beth involved with our plan. That night she sent me a text about displaying Wonder Woman's invisible plane. Then things started snowballing. 

Yesterday morning we "raised" the plane and filmed it for a time lapse. Beth and I also filmed a short segment about the plane. One of our digital wizards edited the video, and another digital wizard created amazing signage to put on the floor. 

Today as museum visitors came in there was a TV monitor "under" the plane showing the video along with the sign. The Smithsonian also sent out a blog post and the video via social media. 

http://blog.nasm.si.edu/behind-the-scenes/wonder-womans-invisible-jet/

Then it went viral. 

I've never gone viral before. The closest I ever came was 100 likes when Sadie was born. Pretty soon the video was being shared, retweted, and blogged about. We even had a curator give a talk about the plane. 

A few of my favorites include:

Being retweeted by an astronaut. 

This tweet quoting me. 

Already being included on the Invisible Jet Wikipedia page. 

Being retweeted by Satin Tights. 

And this blog post where we were called adorkable. 

http://www.themarysue.com/ww-invisible-jet-smithsonian/

At the end of the day our web and new media department told me we had reached 3 million people!  

My favorite line of the day was from the adorkable blog that said "This is a level of nerd we all hope to achieve one day."

Workin’ Hard

Friday’s are different at the Smithsonian.  A lot of people work a compressed work schedule.  Most people take Friday off.  My schedule allows me to have every other Friday off.  That means that when you do work on Friday there aren’t a lot of people around.  

Today I was able to get a lot of things crossed off my list.  Yes, I have a list that I am constantly adding to and crossing things off of.  Seems like a lot more adding to than crossing off.  Last week my list was longer than my tablet.  Today I got it down to about 10 different items.  

I also went with a couple coworkers to the Department of Education for lunch (still think they should limit lunch times there to 15 minutes), then went over to the Botanical Gardens to scout a future shoot.  We are hoping to film a segment there for our upcoming Earth Day show.  

Orchids

Cocoa Beans

Botanical Gardens

I also took time to go out to our observatory to take a look at the sun.  Right now there are some HUGE sunspots.

Smithsonian 16" Telescope

I finished off the day by talking with the owner of an aerial imagery company who will be launching a balloon for our show next week that works as an aircraft carrier for drones.  

The best part of the day by far was knowing that tomorrow Sarah and the kids get here!