I love DC, even under 4+ feet of snow...

I can't believe I'm already back in DC.

This weekend/week is the Winter Meeting of the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT) and I'm presenting a poster of this year's SOCK.

(Picture of the Capital: courtesy of Logan, taken Summer 08)

For those of you who I haven't bored with an explanation of my work from the last two summers, here you go: a SOCK, or SPS Outreach Catalyst Kit, is a kit created by summer interns (2008 & 2009) at the Society of Physics Students on a topic chosen each summer. The kit is for SPS chapters to take into their local community and teach people about physics. It is free for the first 25 chapters and only $100 to everyone else (the manual is free from the SPS website, but it will cost under $100 to compile the equipment yourself). This last summer it was on Galileo. I'm here to tell people about it in a poster session Sunday night. Erica and Raina (interns from last summer) are also here. I worked with Erica on the SOCK and she is presenting a poster Sunday and a talk on Monday. I'm really excited to be back in DC and see everyone from SPS, APS, and AAPT. My advisor is also giving a talk on Monday. Unfortunately they are at the same time, so I'll have to choose which one to go to. I'm also excited to go to all the talks I can on women in physics as that is what my research is on.

I'm planning to try to go to some of my favorite restaurants and some of my

other favorite places around the city. I hope to meet up with other friends that live in DC for lunch or dinner some time. I'll be here until Wednesday so hopefully it will all work out.

As for my trip here, it was uneventful until we got here. I'm not staying in the conference hotel because it is crazy expensive; instead I'm staying a a B&B down the street. (picture courtesy of their website) Unfortunately, I forgot the address of the B&B and ended up stuck on a street corner on the phone with my father, who was looking up the address for we. I finally got a cab and arriv

ed.

However, when I got there, the innkeeper was cleaning up a bit and I had to wait in the cold and snow for a bit. When all the news reporters said that it was a Snowpocalypse in DC, they weren't kidding.

I had to drag my suitcase through a couple of feet of snow and it was not fun at all. The picture to the left is the view outside my wind

ow. My floor is at ground level and you can clearly tell the snow is up to my windowsill. They has to shovel the snow away from the window so I could see out of it. Gah!

After I finally got in and changed into something less wet, I met Dr Blue and Dr Harper for a coke. We sat around talking to a friend of theirs in the hotel pub. After that we went to a local Italian place for lots of delicious food and good conversation. I'm very glad that my advisor and I get along well and can do stuff like that at conferences. I'm use to it from Wooster and SPS, but it's so much better as a grad student.

Tonight I have my poster session (from 7-9pm, how great is my Valentine's Day going to be, eh?) and I'll get to see everyone I know. I'm so excited!! Until then, I'm just hanging around my room, catching up on some work and looking for the perfect dog to rescue in two weeks. (YAY I'M GETTING A DOG! Suggests are welcome but I'm thinking about a Schnauzer.) After the session, I think we're going out for dinner.

The pics below were taken yesterday looking out of the window of the plane. The first is of the cloud below (it was beautiful!) and the second is after we landed. I promise if you look carefully, you can see the Capital, Washington Monument, and some other famous landmarks.

Well, I better actually get something done. I need to start my thermo, grade for my online class, read for research, and find some new school to visit/research on in the fall. Wish me luck and lots of concentration.

More updates and pictures tomorrow.

PS. I am majorly upset that NBC won't let me watch hockey online. Stupid NBC, you suck.

PPS. Thanks go to OSU's CCAPP for giving us a card reader at the Third Midwestern Undergraduate Women in Physics Conference at OSU in January. It helped provide the pictures posted from the trip.