ImSci Intern Challenge #1

So almost a week ago now I teased the beginning of the ImSci Intern Challenge. As you'll notice on the "official" rules, solutions are due Fridays by 8:45A, so I had to wait until that time last week before I could safely divulge any information on the challenge lest I risk leaking any information to the competing interns. Now that Challenge #1 is safely behind us, I can now share some of its secrets - though not all of them, since parts of each challenge will repeat in each subsequent challenge.

For Challenge #1, interns were given a mock Archimedes Palimpsest that they had to use IMAGING SCIENCE techniques on to read the hidden message. Once discovered, they had to do what it said to a satisfactory degree as deemed by The Officials. If you read last week's blog, then you already know all this... So, now for the new stuff. Here's a scan of the document they had to image:

Scan mercilessly stolen from Denise's blog

The background text was magenta, and was printed over with perpendicular bold dark green Greek text. After printing out the sheet I tested out the challenge myself to make sure it was easily doable, and sure enough I was able to separate the text in a matter of a couple minutes with some not-so-clever image processing in ImageJ. The magenta text said:

To satisfactorily achieve this challenge you must prove that you used Imaging Science techniques to read the following message Unscramble this word: "SOTIARA" Once you have determined the password report on its significance to your officials to complete your mission This message will now repeat

The text was somewhat readable to the naked eye, hence the requirement of proving you used Imaging Science techniques. There were a lot of different approaches one could take, and awesomely enough it seems that pretty much all of the groups did something different. Two of my favorite examples are:

One group shone light through a Mountain Dew bottle to act as a green filter, and then did a little processing in Photoshop

Another group removed the green channel and inverted the image, and then utilized a little manual character recognition to make sure they didn't miss anything.

Once the text was readable, unscrambling "Astoria" and reporting on its significance wasn't too hard, so sure enough we had a few groups complete the challenge in a matter of hours. So then, most of the groups actually went about translating the Greek overlay text, which I didn't think anyone would be motivated enough to do. There was one team who came through with this before the end of the day Tuesday, and translated the whole thing by hand (after optical character recognition didn't work - major props on the attempt). You should totally read Henry's blog about it, because it does a good job of illustrating the passion the interns have for the challenge and the positive impacts it has on them.

I told the teams they could get extra bonus points if they figured out where the text came from, which as it happens was here. I initially used this text because it was a long chunk that I could easily copy/paste, but I later realized the added advantage that by including it as a bonus puzzle, a bunch of kids would actually be forced to read it word for word (...and how many people do you think actually have ever read that much of that text? How much did YOU read?). Hopefully they paid a little attention to the words they were translating and it helped them discover more about Imaging Science at RIT. 

At the conclusion of Challenge #1, with bonus points and handicaps all accounted for, there are 6 interns tied for first place with 0 points; 2 with 1 point; 2 with 2 points; 2 with 6 points; and 2 with 10 points, because they blew off the challenge entirely and were penalized with the max. But at this point, it is still totally anyone's game.

I was really impressed by what the interns proved themselves to be capable of with the challenge this week. I think it was a great experience both socially (Sadie's blog has a good example of this) and educationally, while maintaining some playfulness (In Christina's words, "it's quite a lot of fun."). I am looking forward to the next few weeks of challenges, and hope the positive effects we witnessed this week don't diminish. Hopefully the enthusiasm over the game doesn't wane, because right now it's pretty high and gives everyone a little something to be excited about. I know the anticipation of the release of Challenge #2 was pretty high on Friday, but that's for another blog post to get into...

Phoning it in this time.

So I need to post a recap of the ImSci Intern Challenge #1 (and a preview of #2), but I have been so busy that I've run out of time. But it may be just as well, because now when I write it (on Monday probably) the interns will have written their blogs about the Challenges, and I can hopefully make references to their feedback. So, stay tuned for that... and in the meantime you can check out pictures from today's wonderful volleyball game during the cookout here.

ImSci Volleyball superstars

Introducing: The ImSci Intern Challenge!

So following the aftermath of Derezzed, we were determined to come up with a new team building game for the interns - preferably one that did not rely on physical prowess in any way, and more importantly something that would be more directly tied to Imaging Science. After some brainstorming, we came up with The ImSci Intern Challenge (cue fanfare - sorry, I know it's not really that exciting of a title). Each week, teams of two randomly paired interns will be assigned a challenge related to research that one of our labs does. They are required to use Imaging Science to successfully complete the problem, and must send proof of their solution to "The Officials". Teams will be scored in order of successful completion, and additional awards will be given to the best solution each week. With these basics in mind, we set about writing up the Challenge on the Reading Room whiteboard for the interns to discover at lunch time: 

Full rules, including The Fine Print.

The truth is we hadn't made the challenge yet at this point, but waiting to reveal it just added to the surprise and anticipation anyways.

It wasn't long before the new game was discovered and excitement started to spread. During lunch I secretly started prototyping the first challenge which mimics the Archimedes Palimpsest, but when I went in to the Reading Room to use the scanner there were already a bunch of interns in there, so I made off with the scanner and hid in my office to complete my proof of concept. I would have thought this was a dead giveaway that the scanner would be instrumental in the solution, but strangely no one seemed to be jumping at the scanner once 1PM rolled around and I posted the challenge...

Challenge #1: Click on the picture to read the specifics.

Basically, for this challenge some instructions and a secret code are hidden in a document which has been turned 90º and printed over in another color (and alphabet, for that matter). The interns have to use IMAGING SCIENCE to read the hidden message, and then have to do what it says. I really like this problem because it involves a few steps to get to the final solution, all of which should be fun, challenging, and even educational. I am happy to report I witnessed some interns seeking out professional help around the building, to which I overheard some really important and useful lessons being given in response. I think the ImSci Intern Challenge really will prove fun AND educational, and am looking forward to seeing what solutions we start getting (and how soon)! 

I'll post more details about Challenge #1 and its solution(s) once the Friday submission deadline passes (or earlier if all the teams submit far enough ahead of time). Until then.... GAME ON!

PS: In case you couldn't tell, I think this is so awesome, and I am very proud and excited... Have I ever mentioned I have the best job ever?

TGIFail.

Today was our first attempt at encouraging the high school interns to bring in friends of theirs who might be interested in learning about what they're doing all summer. Half of the interns brought someone in, which was pretty awesome. We went around and all introduced ourselves and what we do at the morning meeting, and then the group sat in on a demo with Joe and two students from last year's freshman class. I had to sit this part out (I was assembling folders and SWAG for the interns and their visitors) but I got Bob to take some pictures:

A visitor gets his head 3D scanned with the modified system that uses different colored projected light to simultaneously record the head's surface around a full 360º.

The demo took place in the new classroom on the 2nd floor.

And then the group went upstairs to visit the actual Freshmen Lab.

Because we were going to have guests (and we weren't sure until this morning how many would actually come), CIS offered to buy the burgers, hot dogs, and buns for today's intern cookout. This week I remembered to bring in my Ladderball set and one of the interns brought in Kan Jam -

 - but the real entertainment was happening out in the parking lot:

OOPS!

So the green car must not have been in park, or not had its parking brake engaged or something, because at some point it rolled on down the hill and took out the two cars below it. It pushed the silver Vibe right out of its spot; there wasn't any visible damage to that car, but I can't imagine that was good for it. The champagne Infiniti, meanwhile, visually got it pretty bad:

See that empty space the interns are standing in? That's where this green car USED to be.

Awwwwwkwardd! Even more awkward? Being spotted taking pictures of the scene by the girl who walked up and timidly said, "I... uhm... that's... that's my car. I don't even know what could have happened." I offered to call Campus Safety and asked if there was anything I could do, but right then an officer pulled up, so the other interns and I jetted. (We couldn't be much help anyways, since we didn't actually witness the accident take place - though I admit I do so devilishly wish I did.) To make matters worse, a car (obviously driven by a very courteous individual) waited for us to get out of the empty parking spot, and proceeded to park right in it. So the runaway car was blocked in. It's a dog-eat-dog parking lot, out there. Anyways, the car must not have been blocked in too badly because it was gone by 25 minutes or so later... Leaving the other cars' owners to wonder, "WTH happened?!" 

Another sighting shortly thereafter was a guy, arms full with big racks of soda bottles, running after his cart of additional racks of soda bottles as it rolled away down a slight decline. Is the Earth slightly more tilted off its axis or something today? (For the record, he caught the cart very quickly, and he was too far away for any of us to actually help with whatever he was doing. We would have assisted if we could have.)

Well this has been one long week of excitement and destruction, hasn't it? I should have known this was coming on Monday when the interns were saying a whole bunch of them got injured and scraped and dislocated over last weekend... Obviously this is all fallout from last week's Friday the 13th. Thankfully the week is almost over - but before I can go home and start enjoying my weekend I am off to help at a College and Careers Parent Reception for a couple hours. I'll try not to twist my ankle on the way there/back.

Happy Bethany Day 2012

Today's my birthday, NBD. I spent it working, that's how I roll. (I've only been celebrating my birthday in various ways for like, 2 weeks already, anyways.) This morning the interns sang Happy Birthday really awkwardly so I left the meeting (for the record I did show my gratitude on my way out the door). This afternoon was the Staff Council annual retreat, which started with a fantastic lunch from Brick City Catering:

This picture would look better if it were outside.

There we go.

The feast included BBQ ribs, roast chicken, corn on the cob, salt potatoes, corn bread smothered in honey, and oh darn I ran out of room on my plate for the salads. Oh and watermelon, too! It was very summery and also very messy, but I managed not to get anything on my pretty dress (that's a first!).

The retreat was incredibly positive and productive, which actually made it rather uneventful (in a good way). All in all, a very successful retreat. During break time I was subjected to another round of Happy Birthday singing, this time even more awkward and reluctant than the interns. I couldn't leave this meeting though, so I had to sit there and blush through it; luckily I was rewarded in the end by being served the first plate of strawberries and angel food cake:

That was worth it.

And then I went on working and wrote this blog. The end! Happy birthday to me!

Yesterday's aftermath - Necessary Repairs

Yeah.

So the "incident" yesterday involved a knocked over floor heater, which today is (noisily) getting fixed. As for what REALLY happened in all this, your guess is as good as mine... I welcome your imagined scenarios in the comments. Best story wins a prize!

Yesterday's leftovers - Ninja Kaila: Locked and Loaded

Helmets were probably a good idea. And closed-toe shoes, definitely closed-toe shoes next time.

Apparently Kaila was hiding behind the door to the Reading Room yesterday and shooting people as they came in for the 8:45 morning meeting, even though Derezzed didn't even start until 9:10. Think the interns were into it much? Hopefully we can come up with another team building activity soon that will generate as much excitement. Or rather, for our safety and theirs, hopefully a little less excitement.

Well that wasn't very long resolved.

Today was the first - and last - day of the interns' game of Assassin Deresolved. Each of the interns plus myself were assigned one other intern/me as a target. Basically, you were supposed to Nerf your target without being Nerfed by whomever was targeting you, starting at 9:10 this morning. Official rules were:

1. No derezzings allowed in the morning meetings 
2. You are not allowed to guard the punch in clock waiting for your target to arrive 
3. No derezzing during lunch / while clocked out
4. The only weapons allowed are of the nerf variety 
5. If you derezz your target, it is then your job to derezz your target's target 
6. If you "derezz" the person who is trying to derezz you then they are not allowed to try and derezz you for the rest of the day 
7. It is advised that you do not tell anyone who your target is 
8. The derezzer rules are like the U.S constitution, there is an elastic clause built in. This means that rules can be added or changed if the need arises 
9. The game will continue as long as it has to, it will not be over until there is only one person left "with resolution".
10. This should not interfere with work being done in or around CIS.  Please be cognizant of your surroundings. 

Sounds easy enough, right? I've never had a Nerf gun but luckily my husband has a few from when he was a kid, so I came in today with a vintage piece:

That's the face of a serious shooter right there.

Secret Shot, Circa 1994, OH YEAH. Hey what's in the handle, oh there's nothing in there, OHHH WAIT!

Yeah, I wasn't expecting much from this slow-loader, though I did have the SECRET SHOT. So knowing my major vulnerability, my strategy was to hide in my office with the door closed.

That got pretty lonely, so around 10:30 or so I ventured out with Bob on a number of actual work-related missions. First we picked up intern Nick who needed to drop off a piece of paperwork and wasn't sure where to go. I hid behind the door of his lab but luckily none of the 4 interns in there started shooting at me, so I figured I was safe. On our way out we decided to stop by intern Sadie, since I got an automated e-mail saying she probably missed a punch yesterday. I suspiciously peered around the corner into the grad offices where she sits, but everyone inside said she had just stepped out. As we walked down the hall, Bob, Nick, and I speculated as to where she could be - we could stake out the bathroom, and so on - when just as we got to the vending machines I thought, maybe she got a snack! So Secret Shot ready, I went ahead - She totally shot at me first but missed, and I got her right in the jugular. She claims it wasn't fair, but she had her Nerf gun and was totally ready for me (seriously, who couldn't hear me coming down the hall?), and besides I did have actual work-related reasons for hunting her down. So one target conveniently down, we proceeded to deliver the paperwork. 

As we got outside, I was thinking we wouldn't run into anyone so I stashed my gun in my backpack. Sure enough, as we came through the 7A/B tunnel there was the Insight Lab group returning from their morning coffee meeting - and all hell broke loose. I ran straight into Booth to hide while a total massacre took place outside. I got my gun back out from behind Booth's doors and just as everyone was walking away, out of nowhere I ran up behind and deresolved Maddie, Sadie's target (so at that point, mine). She was slow to tell me who her target was, though, and by the time I heard her yell "Nick!" he had already reloaded and gotten me 3 times!! Turns out she had just then been trying to deresolve him when he got her first, so he was safe for the rest of the day; and then once I derezzed her it was immediately clear that I needed to be deresolved by Nick so he could remain safe for today. Boo. So then we were on our way, again.

Paperwork successfully delivered, we decided to stop by Kaila's lab on the way back since she was apparently decked out in all black even with a helmet on, super ninja style, and I wanted to get a picture. I tried to peer around where I guessed she might be sitting, and at first got very strange and suspicious looks from a couple grad students, when BAM two Nerf darts came flying at me from the corner of the room. I can't remember whether she got me or not, but it didn't matter because I wasn't her actual target. At first I threatened to keep the darts for my own arsenal, but I caved and gave them back. Turns out she had changed out of the ninja getup because it was too hot, but she had a picture on her phone that she promised to share. And we were on our way again.

As we re-entered the building from the southwest corner, the Insight group was descending the stairs right above us - so I bolted, just in case. So I don't know what happened back there, and I totally ditched Nick and Bob, but we were done with actual work tasks anyways so I ran around to the front of the building and quietly snuck back into my office. Just call me Brave Sir Robin.

It wasn't long before I got a phone call with negative feedback about the game - apparently one of the groups was having a little too much fun in a hallway outside of a morning meeting - so a new rule was enacted that the building was a safe zone and the game could only exist outside from then on. I was relieved to be able to sit in my office with the door open again and not have to have my Nerf gun at the ready. So I didn't emerge for a while since I normally eat lunch in my office, and apparently the interns saw this as being a continuation of my hiding strategy; so unbeknownst to me they hatched a dirty scheme to get me outside.

Around 1:30 Bob came into my office to ask if we could go out to look at picnic stuff for Friday (when the interns are supposed to each bring in a friend). I didn't even think to bring my Nerf gun with me, and as we went down the stairs I saw there was a group of interns sitting in the lobby. While I found that a bit strange, I went ahead with Bob to the front lawn, where I then GOT AMBUSHED! 

Womp womp. Game over for me. I jokingly told Bob and the interns who had gathered to watch that that was dirty and that I wasn't helping with anything fun anymore, and Bob wasn't allowed to know the secret knock for my door for when Round 2 starts since he was a traitor. Since I had lost at Deresolved I needed a new game to play; so my new game was to make everyone worried that I was super angry at them and going to hold a grudge (the classic, "Ha! That'll show them!"), and to that end I went in my office and closed the door and said I wasn't going to answer anymore. So when a minute later Bob came knocking at my door I ignored him.... until he said, "One of the interns got injured. No, really."

I still had my doubts, but sure enough, an accident had taken place, and there was blood. Blood! Agh! I can't be around that. I got the basic story that a student cut her big toe on something in the building and was going to lose the nail, and I was asked to call Public Safety to report the incident. I was told to say it was not an emergency and we didn't need medical help, we just wanted to document it - but even so I was connected to 911. 911, really?! I started by saying it was not an emergency, which I don't think was something they wanted to hear - but anyways, I said what I knew (which was very little) and then told them that the situation was under control, the bleeding was stopped, we just wanted to call it in in case a statement needed to be taken. The 911 operator then asks the Public Safety guy (who was still in on the call) why they were contacted since it didn't sound like a criminal matter or an emergency and any statements could just go through them. Turns out, any time anything medical-related happens at RIT it is protocol to call 911. Gee whiz! So then I had to answer all these questions like, is she conscious, is she lucid, is she breathing normally, and is she a hemophiliac, and I had to take note to gather all her medications, not let her eat or drink because it might make her sick, and press down on the wound to slow the bleeding and if that didn't work to press harder. Well the bleeding was already stopped at this point anyways, but I said okay and the call was over. I tried to be calm but I'll be honest, it really freaked me out to be talking to 911 and the operators there are so abrupt and to the point that THEN I was starting to panic. Public Safety showed up, and then later Henrietta Ambulance (does RIT Ambulance not work for the summer?), and eventually statements were all made and the toe in question was all bandaged up. Her dad showed up and was relieved that it was just her toe NAIL that might fall off, and not her entire toe - guess there was some miscommunication over the phone. Everyone split up and went their ways, and I tried to calm myself down after feeling awful and responsible even though I wasn't even there for the whole thing.

And with that, Deresolved was OVER. (As was my little fake grudge game, obviously.) I don't mind - hey I was derezzed anyways - but that's not why I don't mind. My main concern was that our injured intern was okay, and that everyone involved was also okay and not feeling freaked out, or guilty that this happened or that the game was over. We still have all summer to think of other team building games; preferably ones that don't carry as much risk, and that stay outside the building. Ironically enough, this whole incident didn't even really happen as part of the game, other than the connection that they wanted to watch me get ambushed outside and were trying to get a better view out a window.

One last note, I would like to commend the Public Safety officers and Henrietta Ambulance responders. They were incredibly friendly, calm, and caring, and really helped put us at ease. One of them was even nice enough after it was all over to ask if I was feeling okay (I must have had quite a look). They did a commendable job and I am very grateful.

Hot town, summer in the city

Today I made a flyer for our upcoming happy hour event on August 1. The event is only two weeks away and no one has signed up yet! Hopefully with these posted around the building and on Facebook we'll get some registrations...

TGIF'in it up

Today was the first intern cookout of 2012! Things were off to a bit of a slow start, with only a few interns making their way out around 11:45. You know what else was missing? The GRILL. Whoops! Joe realized around 10:30 that he never ordered the grill to be delivered thought he meant to. He called in a favor (and also requested a grill for the remainder of the weeks of the internship) and we were supposed to be good to go. 11:30 ticks by....11:45...12:00.... no grill! Around 11:50 Joe had called to ask where it was, and according to records it had been delivered at 11AM. This obviously was not the case, so they said they'd rush another one over and in the meantime everyone snacked on chips and pretzels. The volleyball net was up but it was so hot out no one was playing, until I asked the interns who were present to pretend to play something so I could get some good promotional pictures. Well they came up with something - it definitely was not volleyball - but I was able to get a few shots nonetheless:

And you can see the rest of them here.

The interns also started planning a game of Assassin to play amongst themselves. I'm not familiar with the logistics, but it involves Nerf guns and assigned targets. They all sounded pretty excited about it, so I'm willing to help make it happen (so long as it doesn't terribly interfere with them actually getting work done). I'm all about getting these kids invested in their summer and having a great experience that they'll want to talk about and look back on fondly, so why not? I know my favorite aspects of my high school internship here were the people, the laid back atmosphere, and the weekly volleyball, so if I can pass along and perpetuate some of those positive experiences with future interns, I think I've done my job.

The grill finally showed up around 12:10 - perfect timing for the fire to get hot just in time for me to leave. I am taking a half day today - so I'm out of here! (Sorry to have to miss the rest of the cookout!)

A better picture of the Reading Room lounge area!

How inviting.

And now for the Reading Room BIG REVEAL!

So in between all the intern happenings of this week, Bob and I have been hard at work finishing up the Reading Room redesign, and I think (with exception of future A/V additions, and a coffee table we're waiting on from Joe) we are DONE! Yeah!!! 

Much of our mornings were spent getting everything while our afternoons were spent assembling and decorating. It has been a LOT of work but the results are staggering. Take a look (via my lousy cell phone camera... Maybe I will take some better pictures tomorrow:

Tuesday's progress: We bought a rug, two lamps (& 10 CFL light bulbs), 4 leather chairs, a couch cover (bet you didn't even recognize the ol' couch), some appliances (see below), removable/restickable Angry Birds decals (as a joke, but most people don't seem to get it) and an RIT felt banner.

A new mini fridge and microwave!! But they better be kept clean, because NINJOE POW IS WATCHING...

These are the leather chairs we got. Nice, huh?

Wednesdays' progress: Got a cord so we could actually plug the lamps in....

and removed the vertical blinds (YES!!!) and replaced them with curtains...

and applied some lovely wall decorations...

and since we were so pleased with the outcome of the couch cover, we got one for the ugly (and gross) random wing back chair, too (bet you didn't recognize this guy, either!). We also got a cork board and mounted it above the printer in the front corner, but I didn't bother to take a picture.

Thursday's progress: We bought and assembled a small kitchen cart for next to the fridge/microwave to create a small prep area. We also got some fake plants for on top of the credenza, and hung up some posters, and....

VOILA!!!!!!

Looks pretty darn good, if I do say so myself! I hope the students love it when they get back in the fall (and appreciate it enough to keep it clean). It feels like a nice cozy space; I know I want to hang out in there, now! It's hard to believe that it's even the same room. The people who have seen it so far have had very nice things to say, so I think it's safe to assume that all of Bob's and my hard work has not been in haste. In the future we hope to also install a projector, speakers, and another screen, and maybe (probably?) even a huge LCD TV - But those are things I can't do myself, so they're not going to happen as quickly as all my impatience-driven updates did this past week.

Enjoy!!!!

No dice were harmed in the making of this blog post.

We found a game die in one of the corner conference rooms, so I pocketed it and left this note.

And then later I got this e-mail... So I dropped off the die to the main office.

It turns out there had been a clever response waiting. (Thanks for playing!)
Dicey was safely returned.

I <3 my job.

2012 Interns: Day 1, Part B - The party's oooooverrrrr...

So after the great fun of the videos it was time to actually get to work, RRRRR rrrrrrrrr (sad trombone noise, obviously). So we took the group around and dropped them with their respective labs - so long as there was someone there. Although a few labs were ready and waiting, a few others were unprepared, or didn't tell us where to find them, or just plain weren't there. This was really frustrating for me, because it was a lousy first impression to make on fresh interns, and made the Center as a whole look pretty unorganized and just plain bad. The interns who didn't have anyone to meet with ended up going home, and it was only 2:45. And the interns didn't appreciate this much either - a few of them noted in their blogs that they were annoyed or disappointed. In all fairness, in the case of one lab, one person had to leave early while the other was stuck in a meeting; so that was totally understandable, and some of that lab's interns stuck around until they could meet. Though, there were two interns who stuck around for another reason... they had no lab to meet with anymore.

You know I don't hold back, so here's the basic truth: One lab asked for two interns, and at the end of last week decided they actually could not take them anymore. They were too busy with other projects to be as hands on as they would like, and they didn't want the two interns to suffer with a poor experience because of it. (To be fair, this lab typically does go above and beyond to provide an excellent summer for its interns, which has definitely made for great experiences in the past and is much appreciated by everyone; and it would indeed be a shame to only provide a portion of such an experience.) So basically, we had to see if we could figure out something else for these two interns to do all summer, with pretty much one day to figure it out.

Although we were able to come up with one opportunity over the weekend, I didn't feel satisfied that it would give these two interns what they wanted to get out of their summer. A lot of kids are just looking for a fun experience and some coin, but I got the impression that these two in particular were also looking for something to give them a head start on their future career; and I didn't feel certain that what we had in mind would do it for them. So, while the interns were all out on the Hunt, we were scrambling behind the scenes trying to find more research options. Surprisingly, there were a number of people eager to take on interns even at the eleventh hour, and they were downright excited at the prospect! It was a lot of work to get everything coordinated, but in the end we had three options to present to our two lost interns.

I was really really worried about how the two would react - Would they be really upset with us? Would they accuse us of a bait and switch? And, worst case scenario, would they end up wishing they had done something else for the summer? Luckily, none of these were the case. While the two interns looked a bit worried and uncomfortable at first, after some discussion (and strong assurances that this was not a reflection on them in any way) they each picked new projects that they were both very interested in. We told them they could sleep on it, but they were both confident about which new projects they wanted to do, and in fact seemed pretty excited to get started (or maybe that was just relief that they weren't fired or in trouble for some reason). Either way, they each got to meet with their new labs, who were likewise excited to get started with them. And we breathed a big (but still nervous) sigh of relief.

This was all super stressful, but I think it's all going to be okay. We are committed to doing everything we can to make sure ALL of our interns have a fun and meaningful summer, and doggone it we will make it happen!

2012 Interns: Day 1, Part A - The title of "Best Interns EVER" may be in jeopardy.

I know I've said a few times that last year's summer interns were our best ever (not considering my own tenure as an intern, of course), but after today I think they've got some pretty stiff competition! We had a really awesome time with the 2012 interns on their first day today, and I can't wait to see what's in store for the rest of the summer.

The day started off a little quiet and nervous, but before too long we broke the interns into three groups (The Newtons, the Edisons, and the Eastmans) to compete against each other in the third annual intern version of the Hunt. I was happy to see the groups eagerly and enthusiastically venture off into the vast space that is RIT's campus, but got a little worried when, two hours in, a lot of the interns seemed to be struggling to find much of anything. Oh boy. We all gathered back in the Reading Room at noon for pizza and to relax before the groups would get down and dirty with video processing. Similar to past years, not a single kid in there had ever used iMovie to make a video... One team thought ahead and started their processing while they waited for the pizza to arrive, and the rest followed suit once they were done chowing down. I set video viewing time for 1:30, even though I knew none of the groups would be done by then. Sure enough, 1:30 rolled around and they asked for 15 more minutes. 1:45 rolled around and, while they THOUGHT they were ready, none of the groups had actually exported their videos to transferable files - and one group even LOST their project! (They ended up resurrecting it from the Trash; don't ask me how that all happened.) We judges took the time to get started on paper plate awards for the teams, since we were already seeing categories worth recognizing, such as: the "I'm ready! Oh wait, no I'm not..." Award, the "My video got trashed :-(" Award, and the "First ones done!!! (...but still late.)" Award. Finally, around 2, it was SHOWTIME!

First up: The Edisons - Whoa. These guys set the bar pretty high. They got a ton of the mystery items and threw in a bunch of special effects - someone managed to figure out iMovie just fine (and went overboard, if you ask Joe). I appreciated that they really made use of their resources and the fact they they kept reminding us that they were good interns for doing so. 1,000 bonus points for finding Zoran, and then jokingly calling him their "NON-helper (with an accent)". You can watch the video on intern Denise's blog.

Looks like someone sacrificed video quality for a quicker export time... No wonder they won the "First ones done!!!" award.

Next up: The Eastmans - They led their video by saying it was dedicated to me, so that right there earned them 2,000 bonus points. And then their video totally delivered - tons of hunt items (which they interacted with/presented incredibly well), great production value, and interspersed clips of me awkwardly waving which obviously made it that much better. You can watch Team Eastman on intern Kyle's blog.

Taking advantage of traditional Hunt bribery and appealing to my vanity.

And lastly: The Newtons - A.K.A. the Kaila show, because she seemed to be the only one willing to get in front of the camera. Bonus points for team member introductions at the start of the video and for Kaila dropping the dictionary thesaurus. This team got a ton of hunt items too! I'll post a link when I get one.

Final verdict, after much deliberation: Eastmans take #1 (overall best production value), and Edisons and Newtons tie for second/last (losing points for extraneous FX, and not enough team member representation, respectively). We also awarded a Crowd Favorite AKA "Biggest Mouth" Award to one of the teams (since they won basically by cheering most loudly for themselves).

Overall, the videos TOTALLY blew us away! I couldn't believe how many items all the teams got and how well produced their videos were. Sorry, 2010 and 2011 interns, but these guys totally owned you!

Next up, Part B- Scandal!

Whistle while you work, do-de-do do do do do

If anyone actually reads this blog regularly you may have noticed I have been absent for some time. As my twitter would hint at, I spent last week (June 24 - July 1) in Disney World! But I've been back this whole week, which anyone else who works can tell you was a very odd week what with Independence Day vacation right in the middle. Most people avoided suffering through two Mondays by taking the whole week off, which made for a very quiet return to work for me. Even so, I've been busy with catching up on my regular goings on from last week and also getting ready for the interns, who START ON MONDAY, yippie! While most of that prep work is not interesting enough to warrant mentioning here (besides getting to walk all around campus collecting fresh images for the intern scavenger hunt, and "performing a dry run" for the upcoming weekly BBQs, booyah my job is awesome!!!), there is one time consuming albeit incredibly satisfying manual labor project that has given my week a very exciting conclusion:

CLEANING UP THE READING ROOM!!!!!!!!

I have been saying for years now that I was going to redesign the Reading Room, and with a little help and elbow grease we have finally made some significant progress. Anyone who has seen the room anytime in the past forever would recognize that the somewhat-lousy-yet-surprisingly-sohpisticated panoramic image above from my phone looks TOTALLY different. At this point we've really only cleaned out clutter and rearranged some furniture - it's like those tv shows where they stage houses to help get them sold. So we're still not done, but the progress we've made is totally impressive and you can imagine so much more with the space now. I'm really excited to see everything coming together! I wonder how confused the interns will be when they arrive on Monday to a totally different room than they were expecting?