Busy!

I won't bore you with too many details about how I've stayed up way later than I should.  It's getting down to the wire with the Pepsi Refresh Grant (end of spending 6/30), and I want to make the most out of it.  It's been a lot of fun, but my posts have been lacking.  I apologize and hope to get back to spreading super fun Nerdy Science soon.

So in the next 2 weeks, here's my schedule:
Today - BioX Kids Day @ Stanford (doing the Elbow lesson) - if you are there, swing by and say hi.
Tomorrow - Science in the Park Day, 9:30a-noon.  We'll be making rockets fly!  Please email me (see sidebar << for the link) for more information about the location.  There will be prizes and refreshments (and a nearby splash area since it might be over 90 deg).
Next Friday - Marshmallow structures on shake tables with 4-5 yr olds (at a preschool).
Next Saturday - Science in the Park Day, 9:30a-noon.  We'll be making structures out of toothpicks and marshmallows and testing them on our earthquake tables!  Please email me (see sidebar << for the link) for more information about location.  There will be prizes and refreshments (and hopefully not 90-100 deg weather).

Hopefully:
6/29 - Race cars with preschoolers
6/30 (tentative, pending I'm still sane) - Science in the Park Day, 9:30a-noon.  We'll be learning about friction by testing race cars on different surfaces.

Though sleeping is important to me, I'm very energized about Nerdy Science things making progress.  I also finally gave up diet soda in April (which I was supposed to do in August, when the Refresh Project sidelined that idea - power votes were crucial to winning) - so it truly is natural energy getting me through the days.  Words of encouragement are also very energizing.


Oh, ya!  I also have promotional Nerdy Science stickers with the new logo.  If you want to message me your address, I'd love to send you some (5-10) via snail mail (I won't keep or sell your information; I'll delete your address once the envelope is addressed).  I'll do it for the first 20 people to message me (email link on sidebar <<).  It might not make it out in the mail till early July, but you'll get them.

New Logo - Nerdy Science Flask

I have an amazingly talented friend from my high school class who took the time to help me create a new logo.  As much as I love J with the fan, he'll be retired as what I chose for my temporary logo 1.5 yrs ago (things move slowly with a full time job + full time Mommy + part time trying to spread the science passion).  I've been brewing up the logo idea since probably August/Sept 2011, but I'm really not artistic.  I told my friend my idea of a science flask with nerdy glasses, and she ran with it.

Anyways, here are the new logos:

Blog header:

Smaller logo:

Aren't they super cute??

My graphic designer friend is super awesome, but she's also super busy.  I'd love to send people her way and get her exposure and business, but I want to get her permission before doing so.

Next in line, fixing up my actual Nerdy Science website instead of redirecting it here.

***Edit 6/19/12***
Chrissy May designed the logo.  Her website is currently a work in progress, but check her out, tell her how much you love my new logo, and give her some business too: www.chrissymay.com.  Thanks again, Chrissy.

Venus Transit

Wow, two sun blocking events within a month!  This time Venus was between the earth and the sun, officially called the transit of Venus.

This one I didn't even hear about until I saw some guy trying to view it on his house wall as I was passing by on my bike commute home yesterday afternoon, so I apologize for the lack of warning on this one.

Our neighbors (also big science/engineering people), invited us over yesterday (6/5/12) around dinner time, which happened to be the best viewing time (6:30p) to see their contraption to view it.  They actually held binoculars backwards and focused it on a piece of white paper that they had shadowed.

See the small spot in the bottom of the circles?  I think this method to view the transit was really cool and it kind of looks like an owl with "googly eyes".

Since this is a last in a lifetime opportunity, I took J's picture next to it.  Maybe he'll appreciate it one day.

If you missed it, you'd have to wait till 2117 for such an event to happen again.  Maybe there will be some good pictures at the Exploratorium site.  They were streaming live through the whole event from Hawaii.  If all else fails, there's always Google.

Sunflower in bloom

Happy Tuesday!

One of our sunflowers bloomed! It's so exciting! This is J's first time seeing sunflowers (so he's not disappointed by size of the 2' sunflower). It's very tangible at that height for a 3 yr old. It's still really pretty and makes us happy. The other 2 sunflowers are taller and haven't bloomed yet.

Here's our post about starting the garden back in March. It's been just over 2 months since starting our garden. Along with our sunflower blooming, we've eaten ~20-30 home grown strawberries. We're starting round 2 of strawberries this week. I'm hoping J shares the giant strawberries (they're double the size of our first round). The tomato plant is also beginning to form tomatoes.

Hope your week has gotten off to a good start!

Lizards!

Now that I've been here for 7 years and still have yet to do many things in our backyard, I've started a bucket list for things I should do while living in the Bay Area.  One of those things I've wanted to do but never have gotten around to was walking the Stanford Dish.

Well, Big J wanted to go for a family hike, so I suggested this as a starter hike (we haven't been hiking as a family - plus, it's something I've wanted to do).

The day was gorgeous and so was the view (which the cellphone camera picture doesn't do it justice).

Here's the Dish:

Yes J stayed on Big J's shoulders most of the hike.

Anyways, we had more fun science lessons while hiking.  We were counting the animals we saw.

Squirrels: 20
Lizards: 10
Ladybugs: 3
Deer: 1

J has never been close to lizards before.  We were this close to most of them:

Taken with a crappy cellphone with no zoom

Since J was fascinated by the lizards, I figured it was time to dust off my Desert Discoveries "star student" skills from the 7th grade (over 15 yrs ago) and give him some science info to keep him engaged.  Like our 2-minute lady bug lesson, here's what our 2-minute lizard lesson sounded like:

• Lizards are reptiles (compared to humans which are mammals or frogs which are amphibians).
• Lizards are cold-blooded, which means they are the temperature of their surroundings.  These lizards were on the blacktop/pavement because they were trying to warm up.  The pavement in the sun is warmer than the bushes in the shade.  Comparison: humans are warm blooded, we stay ~98-99 degrees F.
• These lizards camouflaged themselves to their surroundings.   We saw quite a few run into bushes and we had to look really hard to see them.  They looked a lot like the dried up sticks that surrounded them.
• These lizards were chasing and eating ants.  Mmmmm, crunchy.
• Lizards are quick when they run.  It helps them get away from anything that might be wanting to eat or step on them.
• Lizards lay eggs.

I've started a 2-minute lesson tag for our unanticipated science lessons and quick general knowledge recaps.  I'm sure there will be plenty more as we discover the world through the eyes of a preschooler (man, time flies).

5/29/12 edit
**Let me clarify.  The Bay Area is not desert - we get ~15" of rain/year, which is more than the 10" or less to classify an area desert climate.  However, lizards inhabit both climates.  I know about them through science, but I think I learned more about them through Desert Discoveries, an elective I got placed into because my school was overcrowded and they were making up classes.