Gone to the Dogs

CRITTER COLLEGE: Tuesday evening, we headed to Seattle Center for a special event. On the schedule was a lecture entitled "Pet College 101: From Stray to Stay." (The subtitle on the PowerPoint slide above is a little wrong, BTW.)

We decided to make the most out of the event by splashing around in the International Fountain at Seattle Center, and enjoying a picnic dinner in the shadow of the Space Needle.

About 6:20, we headed to Pacific Science Center's PACCAR theater for the lecture. But first, we stopped in the theater lobby to visit the kitten cuddle corral!

Once inside the theater, we took front row seats and enjoyed the presentation. I've have the kids tell you a bit about it. 

CJ is up first. ...  

On 17 July 2018, I went to Seattle Center's Pacific Science Center to see a presentation from the Seattle Human Society about training pets (in particular dogs) to be fit for adoption by humans. The presentation started at about 7 P.M, and was two hours long.
Before the presentation formally started, there was an open-roofed cage (I think there's a word for that) with three kittens in it. If I recall correctly, they were six weeks old, and their names were Asparagus, Cauliflower, and Snow pea.

During the presentation, a Weimaraner-hound mix named Kaia was often brought out. Kaia was one and a half years old, and was actually put up for adoption the following day at 11 A.M. Kaia was used to demonstrate how to teach a dog a trick (for example: Getting Kaia to spin in a circle by bringing a treat around her in a circle). Kaia seemed kind of spazzed-out at the attention.

Disa Emerson, the presenter, told us about five different kinds of reacting to a dog's (mis)behavior: Positive Reinforcement (rewarding desired behavior with something the dog likes), Negative Reinforcement (rewarding desired behavior by removing something the dog doesn't like), Positive Punishment (punishing undesired behavior with something the dog doesn't like), Negative Punishment (punishing undesired behavior by removing something the dog likes), and Extinction (refusing to pay attention or visibly react to a dog's undesired behavior).

And here's Annabelle's take on the lecture. ... 

“Pet College: From Stray to Stay” is part of a series of “Member Meet and Greets” at Pacific Science Center. The presenters talked about how they train animals at the Seattle Humane Society. To help with the demonstration, they brought a Weimaraner mix named Kaia to perform some tricks.

One of the first points that was made was that when training an animal, you shouldn’t think about what you don’t want them to do, but rather what you do want them to do. For example, if you want a dog to stop barking at people when they enter, have them grab a pillow and hold it instead. Another method, called counter conditioning, is to associate something they don’t like with something they do (usually food or treats). When a person or thing they don’t like appears, give them a treat as soon as it occurs. The animal will learn that this thing is now immediately followed by food, which makes it a good thing.

It’s always preferable to reward an animal for good behavior than to punish it for bad behavior. If your dog barks at passing cars, only reward it when it is quiet and calm. If you get angry, it may just think you are alerted to the car as well and it’s doing a good job. If you ignore the behavior (known as “extinction training”), something called an “Extinction Burst” may happen where the behavior gets worse before it gets better. An example is if a puppy whines to get out of its cage when it doesn’t need to, if you ignore it the whining will continue to get louder and more annoying before stopping completely.

In conclusion, they showed that animals think very simply and it’s easy to train them if you know what you’re doing. The hardest part is being consistent with rewards and punishments. Even just minutes of training can completely affect a dog’s reaction and state of mind. If you want to learn more and support the Humane Society, you can visit their website at www.seattlehumane.org.

MAKER: This weekend, I was busy with home improvement projects, but I wanted the kids to do something other than sit staring at a screen, so I asked Annabelle to go find our Makey Makey, and make something. 

Less than a hour later, CJ was test driving the guitar she had built out of cardboard and quarters!

Pretty darn cool! (And yes, we know that "S" is not one of the notes of a standard guitar string. She was following the instructions to a T. Or should it be to an S?

ORIGIN-ALLY: Tuesday afternoon we watched a replay of a webcast that happened this morning before CJ and Annabelle saw fit to rise. It was footage of Blue Origin's latest crew capsule test flight. 

Their capsule, New Shepard, is a beauty. Its windows are huge compared to other crew capsules we've seen. The test involved an emergency escape feature the capsule has. During the test, the altitude reached was nearly 390,000 feet, or 119 kilometers. Its top speed on ascent was 2,236 mph.

Incredibly, both the booster and the capsule made spot-on landings back at Blue Origin’s West Texas test site. 

The webcast (embedded below) was about an hour long. The launch took place about the 30 minute mark. However, the whole webcast is worth watching, as there's lots of great info about New Shepard.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRDhdHRyyjc

New Shepard Crew Capsule, July 18, 2018, during descent on Mission 9. - Source - Blue Origin

Connecting

WIRED: Monday morning we had double fun. We got to hang out with my cousin who was up from Albuquerque, and we got to take a (return, in our case) tour of Connections Museum Seattle, a one-of-a-kind collection of all things telephone-related.

The museum is usually only open for a few hours each Sunday, but Monday happened to be a special opening as part of their 30 year anniversary celebration.

Per their website, the museum reports they feature "working Panel and Crossbar electromechanical central-office switches. We also have working Step-by-Step and Crossbar PBX equipment as well as antique telephones, switchboards, outside plant displays (poles, cables, splicing equipment, and tools) and a reference library."

It really is a sight to behold!

 So. Many. Wires. And switches. And circuits. 

 I wanted to push them and flip them and plug them, but I resisted the urge. :) 

 We had some very knowledgeable docents lead us on a two-hour tour.

One interesting spot was this old map of microwave radio routes. What's interesting is microwave signal transmission is actually coming back into favor because it's a tiny bit faster than fiber optics cables.

 I love looking at the various parts and papers sitting around the space.

Below is a bona fide ticker tape machine. The used papers were what rained down on New York parades.

Annabelle volunteered to give an old pay phone a go. By the way, it's worth noting that this is a *working* museum. Most of what we saw is still operational.

 I fancied this cute little Japanese pay phone.

 And I ADORE this fancy pay phone, complete with shell surround!

This Snoopy phone is a blast from the past. I always wanted one, but they were soooo spendy! The only person I knew who had one back in the day was a neighbor whose dad worked for the phone company.

This phone made me take notice! Why? ... Check out its plug. Though it wasn't wireless, it clearly was a portable phone you could carry from room to room.

And lookie (below) what we have all throughout our house. Those four-prong outlets that would have worked for just such a futuristic phone back in the day! 

LAUNCH ALERT: We received notice from Blue Origin (a Kent, WA based aerospace company with Jeff Bezos behind it) about a test flight they're conducting tomorrow.  Specifically. ... 

New Shepard will fly for the ninth time tomorrow, July 18, 2018. We’ll be doing a high altitude escape motor test – pushing the rocket to its limits.   Current launch target is 9:00 am CT / 14:00 UTC, you can monitor twitter for launch updates. The live webcast will be available on BlueOrigin.com and begins at T-20 minutes prior to launch.

We also have payloads on board, click here to learn more about the Mission 9 manifest.

Excited to see you all on launch day.
- Gradatim Ferociter!

Photo credit: Blue Origin - New Shepard on the launch pad the morning of Mission 8, April 29, 2018.

I kind of love that some of the payload on board this flight will be items from Blue Origin's “Fly My Stuff” program. The stuff is payloads from Blue Origin employees. Talk about an employee incentive program!

Rearview Mirror

CAMPED OUT: Time to play catch up on some scenes from camp, where Christian and the kids were last week. 

One of the most entertaining and memorable parts of camp is always 'biscuit' riding, also known as being towed behind the Party Barge while riding inflatables. 

 https://youtu.be/Fu7U97T-BKc

You can see from the smiles they had big fun!

 There was also time to lounge on the unicorn and other inflatables. 

 And back on land, a jigsaw puzzle was one way to pass some time.

Here's how CJ explains the excursion. 

It is an annual tradition on my father's side of the family to visit the Baker Bay Campgrounds in Lane County, Oregon for about one week in July. The Baker Bay Campgrounds are run by the Lane County government, and cost $24 a day to rent a campsite out, according to my father.

At Baker Bay, you don't have internet access or smartphone service most of the time. This, for better and worse, means being cut-off from the outside world. However, at the end of each day, my father was able to call my mother using his work phone. The highlight of the trip was going "biscuiting" (riding on inflatable intertubes in the water, while being pulled by a boat) in Dorena, which often resulted in crashing in the water.

Lastly, visits to Baker Bay mean eating all sorts of junk that's perceived a bit differently at home. This included a healthy diet of Doritos and Goldfish.

What's not to love about that?

Musical

BACK AT IT: The kids and Christian arrived home last night, with loads of dirty laundry, a few mosquito bites and good memories of their trip.

Some of those good memories include songs 'round the campfire. Here's one.


LONG LIVE THE QUEEN: On a hot July afternoon, 33 years and what feels like more than a lifetime ago, I was super pregnant with my first, sweltering through a hot summer, but was so lucky to have cable TV, so that I was able to see a once-in-a-lifetime event.

The occasion was Live Aid. It was a dual-venue (Wembley Stadium in London, JFK stadium in Philadelphia) benefit concert, organized by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise funds for relief of the ongoing Ethiopian famine. 

I was glued to the television for the entirely of the broadcast.

There were so many wonderful performances, but one group absolutely stole the day. 

Full disclosure: I am a big time Queenie. I have loved the bad forever and a day. But on this day, Live Aid, they SLAYED it.

You really should watch this. I've seen it so many times before, but we watched it again today. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A22oy8dFjqc

Long live the Queen. 

Nearing the Finish Line

MY DAYS ARE NUMBERED: Today was Day 5 of the Great House Painting Project.
Since Sunday, I've been working away at it, and by this morning, I was down to second-coating some trim, doing a few touch ups, and installing one finishing touch, new house numbers.

I picked some 'floating' (mounted out, away from the fascia board) digits, in mid-century modern font, since this house, 'born' in 1962, is definitely MCM vintage.

*Do* note how my ladder is tied off for safety. *Do not* look at the semi-precarious blocking beneath it. ;)

Have I mentioned that the dogs are *not* enjoying painting the house. They don't understand all the commotion, why I'm outside 12 hours a day, why they can't be on the ladder, any of it. ... Maybe it's especially confounding to them because dogs are supposedly color blind?

I've tried to keep them outside with me a fair amount of the time. It has been hot, so most of the time, they lounge in the shade, alternatively barking or whining, while I work. 

Below, Kirby embraces her inner mountain goat - and waits for our neighbor's dog to come out to the fence line, just uphill from her.

STEMonstrations: Did you know there's an educator orbiting Earth right now? Yup, that would be NASA astronaut Ricky Arnold. The former middle school teacher is a mission specialist on board the International Space Station, and is participating in A Year of Education on Station, a celebration of a yearlong educator presence on the ISS.

Today, I watched a quick video "STEMonstration," Surface Tension in Space. 

In it, Arnold explains that more than 70 percent of our planet is covered by water, which is is crucial for life, of course. In addition, water has many unique properties, one of which is  surface tension. Arnold demonstrates how surface tension works a lot differently in the microgravity environment of the International Space Station as compared to down on Earth.

When the kids get home (later today), I will share the video with them, of course. Oh, and it's more than a video: NASA has also posted coinciding classroom connections on  https://www.nasa.gov/stemonstrations.
https://youtu.be/34bFgA3H3hQ

Field Day

STARRY EYED: This morning I had to head to the Queen Anne neighborhood of Seattle for a meeting about taxes. Not usually the most fun thing to do, but as  luck would have it, I was listening to local sports talk radio right before I left, and heard breaking news that the Seattle Mariners were hosting a "SeguraFest" party at Safeco Field during the lunch hour. 

The event was a promotion to bolster Mariners' shortstop Jean Segura's campaign to win the last American League spot on the Major League Baseball All Star team.


As I was already going to be driving by the stadium in that time frame, I simply *HAD* to stop in.

After my meeting, I piloted the Honda to the Safeco Field garage, where parking was free for the occasion - hooray! I walked to the stadium, solo, as Christian and the kids  are still gone camping, but was soon caught up in a wave of Mariners blue fans. We entered the stadium through a VIP gate, and were ushered through a fancy lobby with lots of memorabilia I would have loved to stop and stare at. However, we were being urged along by Mariners employees, urging us to vote on our phones while we made our way to voting stations on the field.

Guests were directed to enter through the exclusive Diamond Club area, and then were ushered to the stadium's "basement," where there are a series of tunnels.

Fans were directed to head down the umpires' tunnel, toward the field. 

 The 'basement' walls are filled with Mariners' legends. 

 Finally, some (day)light at the end of the (umpire) tunnel!

It was a beautiful day at the ballpark! The scene nearly took my breath away, truth be told. I;ve been there countless times as a fan, but I'd never set foot on the Safeco Field grass before!

 The big screen had a non-stop series of #SendSegura-related Tweets displayed.

 Ooh, what's that over there on that table? ... Looks like a small stack of t-shirts. ...

Sure-enough, I came away with one (of the few) Send Segura shirts given away today, as well as some arm bands and a Send Segura sign!

The t-shirts have been seen all over these last few days, from an Alaska Airlines flight ... 

This L.A.-bound @AlaskaAir flight is DEFINITELY ready to #SendSegura. 🛫

🗳️ https://t.co/Q16mvWsAww#TrueToTheBlue x @AlaskaAir pic.twitter.com/mbKPVsubSC

— #SentSegura (@Mariners) July 10, 2018

to the charter the Mariners took down to Los Angeles, to play the Angels. (Photo below is from the Seattle Mariners' Twitter account.)

I waited in line between first and second base for a bit, waiting to get to the voting stations near the shortstop spot, where Segura plays.

 Standing behind second base and staring toward home was kind of surreal.

Soon, marketing staff for the Mariners asked people to gather for a group shot.

I took that opportunity to skedaddle over to the voting stations!

Tablets were set up, all ready for us to cast our votes for Jean. Speaking of Jean, Jean, the Hitting Machine Segura, I *loved* that David Bowie's Jean Jeannie was playing over the Safeco PA while I waited.

 I voted three times on site (adding to the couple hundred times I voted at home).

We exited through the visitors' dugout. People were thrilled to get a chance to check that out, myself included.

 I should have sat and stayed awhile.

And the really good news? Our efforts paid off! It was announced this evening that Jean Segura won the final spot on the All Star team! 

He joins fellow Mariners Mitch Haniger, Nelson Cruz, and Edward Diaz on the team. Go Mariners!
Not gonna lie, I actually had a lump in my throat as I was standing on the sidewalk just outside of the stadium as I exited. I realized that I haven't allowed myself to get my hopes up about the Mariners for so, so long.

I've always loved the Mariners, but frankly, there has been no JOY in it for so long now.

This year is different. No matter what happens from here on out this season, 2018 will go down as the year joy returned to Seattle baseball. And for that, I am grateful.