How I spent my summer vacation

I've been pretty swamped this summer with work related things.  This past week I was at a workshop on remotely operated vehicles (underwater robots essentially) and how to teach students how to build them for a competition and classroom projects.  It was a lot of fun, but pretty exhausting - we had really long days and in addition to all the lectures we went to, we had to build a robot in groups and then show them off on the last day.  We did everything from soldering circuit boards, to waterproofing our robots to writing the control software.  All in a week!  I am pretty exhausted, but excited to share everything I learned with my students.  Here are a couple of pictures of my team's robot and control station:

Yay!  It doesn't leak!

ROV control station

The robot itself is made out of PVC pipe, but that's what makes it affordable for classroom use.  One of the best parts of the workshop was meeting all of the cool people involved.  Our workspace was at a local community college's auto shop and the guys that run the place did an amazing job of hosting us.  One night, during a late robot building session, they even hosted a cook-out on their custom BBQ:

Auto-shop BBQ

That's an old Honda Civic and the engine has been replaced with a huge BBQ pit.  It was pretty amazing.  The trunk was full of speakers too so that while you grill, you can enjoy some tunes.  Pretty impressive.  I can't believe John hasn't done something like this!  If only he had somewhere he could get an old beat-up car that doesn't run ... :)

Bagel's New Digs

This Friday, I'll be 20 weeks pregnant which is half-way through.  It seems like Baby Bagel will be here any day!  While Friday is the half-way point, Thursday is even more exciting because it is the day that we find out if we are having a he-Bagel or a she-Bagel!  There has already been some trash talk, so we're hoping we can contain things at the doctor's office.  It would be a little embarrassing to be known as the couple that found out the sex of their baby and then one of them started gloating about being right instead of paying attention to the ultrasound :)

Since we know we'll both be ridiculously busy once school starts in September (I go back August 23 and Jeremy goes back a month later) we've been trying to get things ready for Bagel now.  The first thing  we did was clean out the room we are using as a nursery.  It is the smallest of our two extra bedrooms, but it is also the closest to our room.  It had a desk and a bunch of random crap in it before, so we had to re-assign everything to other rooms.  We also cleaned the carpet, although with three cats, that is kind of a losing battle.

Once the room was all cleaned out, we painted.  We specifically chose to paint before we knew the sex of the baby, because we wanted to make sure we picked something gender neutral.  If we have another baby, we sure don't want to have to repaint!  Since both Jeremy and I like blues and greens, we found a nice turquoise that we think will work well for either a boy or a girl.  We spent a small fortune on the environmentally/kid/pet friendly paint from Sherwin Williams, so we hope Bagel appreciates it!  Here is the nursery with its fresh coat of paint:

Chez Bagel - sans furniture

We tried to do a good job and (mostly) followed my dad's extremely type-A painting process (with a few shortcuts - for example, we only washed the walls once and there was no bleach involved).  We also used painters tape around the top and bottom, but it didn't stick so well to our textured walls/ceiling.  This led to a some-what less than perfect edge around the walls, but we figure Bagel won't care.

We also bought some furniture for the room, but that is a whole separate post :)

Bagel Update

Last Friday we had our 16 week doctors appointment.  Nothing too exciting because we didn't get new ultrasound pictures.  We did get to hear the heartbeat, but it took the doctor a minute or two to find it which made us both really nervous.  Luckily, once found, Baby Bagel's heartbeat was strong and right in the range that it should be for this stage of things.  Of course, everyone is looking forward to next month's checkup when we get to settle the Bagel gender-bet once and for all.  Speaking of which, if you want in on the gender guessing pool, make sure you let us know before August 5th :)

Danger got to test-drive a baby the other day when our friends Kristin and Geoff brought over their 9 month old Kestrel.  Mostly cat and baby just stared at each other curiously, but Danger was surprisingly interested in what Kestrel was up to.  Of course Kestrel didn't make any sudden lunges towards the cat and he also dropped a good amount of cheese on the floor, so those two things in combination may have made Danger much more tolerant than normal.  We're a little worried about how the cats will adapt to Bagel, but I guess eventually they'll just get used to him.  We've also started to get worried about the vast number of baby items that feature dangling toys - although maybe that just means that the cats and Bagel will be able to share toys for a couple of years - I guess that could be one way to cut down on the cost of raising a kid - does anyone know if cat nip is safe for babies?

Operation Bagel

12 weeks ago, two scientists collaborated on a top-secret experiment to create the next generation of super humans. On or about December 24, this new breed will be unveiled in:

OPERATION BAGEL

If you look closely, you can see its nose and, in the first picture, an arm.

Project 365 - 7/365

This was our alliance for the playoffs. We finished second overall, losing on a controversial non-penalty in the first overtime match of the finals. Given how poorly we did at the San Jose contest a couple weeks earlier, second felt pretty good.

Kate and I both had a lot of fun with FIRST. We were mentors for the Carmel High School team (2035 - the Robo Rockin' Bots!). We're already scheming how to do things better for next year. Wiring boot camp!

This is our coach, Paul McFarlin, on the field as the arena sings "Happy Birthday" to him. His birth was, of course, on April Fool's Day.

Project 365 - 6/365

The playing field at FIRST/Sacramento. We're the red robot in the far right corner. During qualification, we were pretty successful at pushing balls into the goal and at hanging. We were seeded 5th overall after qualifications.

Project 365 - 5/365

Our robot in the pits at FIRST/Sacramento on Tuesday (3/30). I forget exactly what we were puzzling over this time. Probably the kicker again, since it never really kicked the way we hoped it would.