By the way, ripped up jeans look really cool in LWIR

Today I visited Port Byron High School, which is about an hour and a half east of Rochester. I presented to a chemistry class, an open period mixture of chemistry and physics students, a physics class, and then a careers in science class - around 50 students overall. The school was very nice and some of the students were really great. I particularly had fun with the physics class, who were very interactive and intelligent. Often times students will play guessing games when I ask questions, but those students really knew what they were talking about and applied good critical thinking skills. It was no surprise to learn both the class valedictorian and salutatorian were there. The careers in science class was fun too, because there were a number of kids in there who were really engaged and you could tell were interested in pursing science after high school (fingers crossed for Imaging Science!). I had a great time in Port Byron and am really appreciative of their invitation to visit! Thank you!

Talkin' it up, on the ImagSci talk sho-ow
Talkin' 'bout Mars Rovers... Talkin' 'bout, shiny gold medallions (well not those so much, really)

Surprise! YOU'RE ON THERMAL CAMERA

Uh-oh, we have a new contender for best ice fu manchu - Watch out, Utica

Well you knew this was coming - the classic kid-in-a-garbage-bag trick

Ah, but we don't normally get pictures of the glass pane trick! Where'd he go...

Ooooo, foil - shiny shiny, even in thermal IR. Oddly enough, this is the first time anyone has ever suggested trying aluminum foil.

AS-TRO! PHY-SICS! AS-TRO! PHY-SICS!

On Wednesday CIS hosted our second alumni reception in King of Prussia, PA. Whereas last time we did a sit-down dinner, this time we decided to go a little less formal and do more of a happy hour-type event. Joe & I flew down and met up with 6 alumni and 1 current distance learning student in a small party area at the Rock Bottom Restaurant and Brewery, which was a fantastic venue for this sort of gathering (I would definitely go back!). We ordered platters of fruit, cheese, tortilla chips, soft pretzel bits, and swedish meatballs - MMMMmmm! The event was free and CIS generously foot the bill for the food - oh which there was of course too much of, but Rock Bottom was nice enough to let us take some with us in take out containers. (I took a large container full of soft pretzel bits, which would make up about 75% of what I ate the next day. Not kidding.) I'll let some pictures tell the rest of the story...

The spread, SWAG-wise. I told everyone I wasn't taking any of it home with me. A pair of sunglasses got left behind, so we left them in the glove box of the rental car (since I found hidden treasure in there in the form of a champagne glass from a wedding with chocolate in it; I figured I should pay it forward.) We also may or may not have covered the restaurant windows and bathroom stalls with window clings and magnets and left a koozie behind on one of the pint glasses.

The spread, food-wise. EACH platter served 25, so each one would feed about 3x as many people as we had there. But, you've got to have variety! I was very grateful because even though the banquet guide said they don't allow you to take leftovers with you, they gave us all take out boxes. You're awesome, Rock Bottom!

From left: Kris, Chris, Joe, and Greg (conveniently showcasing one of our koozies, totally not on purpose or anything.)

From left: Joe, Rachael, Chris's arm, Justin, Kris, Samantha

I don't think any caption could do this picture justice, considering how amazingly awesome it is.

Check out the rest of the pictures on the CIS Picasa site.

The event was a lot of fun, and it was especially enjoyable for me since a lot of the alumni there were classmates of mine that I haven't seen in a while. It was fun to reminisce and also update everyone on what's going on back here at the ranch. And, we even drummed up interest in our CIS Ambassadors Program! Yeah!

I just barely got beaten by a dog, but at least I came in ahead of the strollers.

What's the perfect remedy to make up for a night of unrestrained eating and debauchery? A 5k run, of course! Yesterday was the Brick City 5k run/walk, one of the last events of Brick City weekend. It was free, so I figured: why not? The weather even looked like it was going to cooperate: ~55º, partly sunny. The only problem was: WIND. WHOA.

Matthany, pre-race

The race was underway at 10AM. We took kind of a funny route around campus - starting at K lot, we went south around the loop, turned up the road by S-lot, past global village, turned right at engineering, ran up the quarter mile to the sundial, took a left past my old dorm (Bldg 32!), left again down the path that goes down by the field house, up the main drag by the info booth, along Andrews Mem. Drive until C lot, and then back up to Gracie's for the finish. Phew! Not a course I have ever traveled in that order before, and not even the direction I normally travel in (I do everything counter-clockwise; it's the figure skater in me). 

To add to the confusion, there were no mile markers; so even though I was keeping time on my watch I had no idea what my pace was. To throw another variable into the mix, the wind was really strong, and much of the course we were running straight into it - I felt like I was going nowhere! Okay, this sounds like a bunch of complaining, but it's really not - I liked the weather anyways, because it was nice to have moving air; and I almost liked that there were no distance markers, because the whole time I pushed myself, thinking I was behind my normal pace. There's only 1 thing that disappointed me - my shoe came untied! Right by engineering, we had finished coming up a hill and were on a downhill so I was in the middle of a nice surge of energy, and my laces went flying despite the double knot. Boooo! Next time I'm triple knotting.

The last bit of the race felt pretty horrible - as evidenced by this picture I'm in right before the finish line:

UGGGGHHHHHH

Not flattering but pretty accurate for how I was feeling. Meanwhile, where did those 2 guys come from? Right at the very end, they pushed by me (almost literally pushed) on my right. I always heard that if you had the energy left to sprint that hard to the end, then you weren't working enough during the rest of the race. Just saying.

I don't know whether there are official results anywhere, but I read the clock as 30:29 as I ran by. Which I know is not impressive to any of you real runners out there, but that is a new personal best for me! In fact, my best training time this year was 30:12 around the loop of campus; and I figure that once you factor in the time it took for me to even get to the start line (I was far back) and the time wasted re-tying my shoe, this was my best time ever. So, yeah, I was pretty happy with that.

At the finish there was a truck giving out milk - wha? I guess it makes sense, but I really didn't want milk seeing as I was struggling to regain my breath. What I did want was an Intense Milk-branded squishy moo cow, which they gave me - yay! I also scored a steel water bottle from Alumni Relations which is really nice quality. So I may not have been winning any races, but I still came away with prizes, score!

Anyways, what a fun way to close out Brick City Weekend. My spiRIT is at an all time high and I'm already looking forward to next year!

"What happens at the Ball, stays at the Ball."

Last night was the 2011 RIT Presidents' Alumni Ball, WOOOOOO!!

As the title of this post suggests, I won't get too far into details about the events which took place at the Ball. ;-) But, I can say that it is one of my favorite events all year and we always manage to outdo ourselves somehow. We had 9 alumni, 8 current undergrad and grad students, and 3 faculty at our two CIS tables. A mix-up resulted in our tables not being adjacent to each other, which was a bummer, but we all still had a ton of fun anyways.

The evening began with a cocktail reception where everyone got to mingle, snack on hors d'oeurves, and get their picture taken with Ritchie (all decked out in his bow tie!). Afterward we moved on to a 3 course, way delicious dinner - this year our main course was surf & turf, filet mignon and salmon - mmmmm. During the dinner there were presentations going on up front at the stage, and they also showed some videos - one of which had me in it! (Totally random.) After dinner the live band came out (this year the musical genre was Motown) and the "vegas-style" games began. I started out with a little dancing, but I'm not really a big fan of Motown, so I went and played some Texas Hold 'Em instead, and I was a big winner - $400k! Okay, that's an exaggeration - we had a very generous dealer - but I did win a few big hands. The dollars were exchanged for raffle tickets at the end of the night, but unfortunately none of us won anything. Though, a few of us may have made off with some of the centerpieces... My lips are sealed on that. Anyways, always an amazing time, and as usual I am now suffering Ball Withdrawal. So I'm going to go play some Hold 'Em to help cope.

A bunch of the gang with Ritchie!

More pictures are posted on the CIS Picasa site. (Psst... even more can be found on the CIS Facebook page.)

Stay tuned for my third installment of Brick City Adventures: The Brick City 5k!

Brick City, Brick Brick City

This weekend is Brick City Homecoming & Family Weekend at RIT, woooo! The event as a whole is a chance for students, alumni, and their families to spend time together, connect with RIT, and participate in some amazing events such as the Horton Distinguished Speaker Series (which this year brought in Michael J. Fox, what!), a big name comedic act (Kevin Hart), the homecoming hockey game downtown at the Blue Cross Arena, among others. There are also countless reunions and other events - to try to look through the full schedule of events practically takes hours (trust me - I tried). 

My Brick City itinerary kicked off yesterday with the the Faculty/Staff Alumni lunch. All faculty and staff from across campus who are also RIT alumni are invited to enjoy a tasty lunch, enter raffles, score some swag, get their picture taken with Ritchie, and see who wins a Golden Brick Award. The Golden Brick Awards, in their second year, are awarded to RIT Faculty/Staff Alumni whose engagement with RIT alumni has furthered the mission of the Development & Alumni Relations Division, as well as the mission of the University. So I didn't win one this year, but I doubt they award back-to-back Bricks - that's right, I won in 2010 (woo! -though I had to leave early to present at a high school class, so I never had my moment of glory :-(  ). Anyways, I didn't know a whole lot of people there but I did run into some newly-made friends from the College of Science, thanks to the retreat we had a few weeks ago. The food was fantastic and we all had a great time - especially getting our pictures taken!

Ritchie & I made the cover of Geek Weekly.

A bunch of us COS gals, exhibiting some model behavior in an attempt to further RIT & Alumni Relations' missions. *cough cough* 2012 Golden Bricks *cough*

We had a lot more pictures taken with a lot of funny poses, but they haven't been posted online. I'm hoping I can contact the photographer directly to get them... If so, you know I'll be posting them here!

Stay tuned, further updates of Brick City shenanigans are to come. Up next, the event we've all been waiting for: The RIT Presidents' Alumni Ball!

sniff sniff

So the Staff Recognition Awards were today! Yay! But I didn't win. Boo.

Haha - Just kidding. It's not all about winning! Anyways, what a great day. As if the anticipation leading up to the awards wasn't enough, the excitement in the Fireside Lounge in the minutes leading up to the ceremony was so energizing, I felt like I was getting ready for a wedding or something. It was great to see the faces of the other nominees, especially people whom I actually know but did not realize were nominated! I was so happy for so many of my fellow staff members, but let's face it - that room was full of some stiff competition! ;-)

We all filed into Ingle Auditorium and waited for the ceremony to begin. Everyone was so excited and happy, it felt wonderful to be surrounded with such positive spirits. After the usual pomp and circumstance and introductions, professional images of all of the nominees were projected and we each had our names and positions read aloud. Despite there being around 50 nominees, this was a surprisingly smooth and efficient presentation - though I felt kind of bad for the interpreter, who was probably suffering from arthritis by the end of it. 

As the winners were announced one by one, I felt like I was in some kind of winner's circle - first someone right behind me won, then Michelle on my left won, then Jenn right behind me won, and the person next to her won! Unfortunately their luck did not rub off on me, but I was so proud to see people that I have worked closely with get recognized for all they do for RIT. Well, and especially Jenn - since I'm the one who nominated her :-). I felt like a mommy watching her child graduate Kindergarten, or something - knowing I helped get her up there! YAY!

At the end of the ceremony everyone went back into Fireside for the reception and socializing, and all the nominees received certificates. It was such an honor just to be nominated and to be involved in such a phenomenal event. All of the winners and nominees are all such wonderful and devoted people, and to be included with them is a distinction in its own right. Also I loved seeing the campus community come together in celebration. It's too bad we don't have reasons to do events like this more often. Well, at least I have Brick City to look forward to next week, hooray! Can I get a shout out for the ALUMNI BALL, WOO WOO!