This work week was a short one for me. On Tuesday, I worked on some new ideas for the tsunami exhibit. We are considering abandoning the Lego idea altogether and using per-fabricated wooden structures (similar to an idea used by OSU’s wave lab). For most of that day I was doing research on what the wave center had done and coming up with prototype models for use in our wave tank. It is still a work in progress and will make an interesting last minute twist to my project presentation this Friday.  Wednesday was a relatively normal day at the visitor center  with the exception of a few hundred  students that arrived for a morning tour. The yellow submarine that we painted last week still looks shiny and new; a nice greeting for our visitors.

I was lucky enough to use some accumulated days off and have a five day weekend. It was nice to go home for a day and then on to our annual family weekend camp out.  I also spent a lot of time working on my presentation for Friday. While I was away it hit me that the summer is almost over and I realized how much I enjoyed it and would miss my co-workers. Becca and Mackenzie have been great supervisors and I have learned so much from them and from my mentor Bill Hanshumaker.   My fellow interns are good people and while we are all very different, I have come to admire each of them.  Brian for his nearly encyclopedic knowledge of tide pool organisms, his ability to keep a cool head even in crazy circumstances (such as when all of the water pipes in the visitor center randomly break) and his handy skills, whether it is building a mock up of a wave energy device or creating very elaborate looking homemade fishing gear.  Diana for her ability to pick up things so quickly. In the short time she has been here she has quickly become an expert on all things Oregon and she brought with her an exceptional knowledge of the octopus to share.  Julie for her ability to cheer up people all around her. She has been working hard on her climate change/ free choice learning project while still having the time to work in the visitor center whenever we are short. I consider myself extremely lucky to have had the opportunity to work with all these fine people this summer.