Museum of Science and Industry

My first day started with a bang! Well, more accurately, cheers and a whistle.

The MSI staff, guests and media really rolled out the red carpet for my arrival yesterday. It was extremely exciting although a little overwhelming. I mean, it's not everyday that I enter a building to find hundreds of people cheering and taking photos. (Note to self: convince coworkers to cheer when I return to work… and everyday thereafter.) I was presented with a ceremonial key to the museum, my real keys, badge and my tech package. Ahh, my dear, dear tech package. I'm still figuring out how to use everything but I think I'm in love. Anyway, they say a picture is worth a thousand words so a video is worth - umm - what, a million? Regardless, you can check out some footage here.

Can you tell I was a tad bit excited?

After I checked out the cube and spoke to some reporters (from as far away as Japan and Georgia - the country!), I was allowed to toot the whistle at the coal mine. What a cool honor. Now, I just need to go IN the coal mine. Very soon, I promise.

Day 1 was mostly dedicated to covering the essentials. I can now successfully navigate from my bedroom to the shower and back. I know where the food court is. And, I've started to understand the general layout of the museum. I wouldn't suggest relying on me for directions just yet; give me a few more days.

Oh- I almost forgot: I did science! I mean, it is MSI, after all. I joined the Guest Experiences crew and had a blast. No, literally; we got to freeze, melt, smash and blow up all sorts of things. It first at seemed a little chaotic, but there was a method to their madness. Each experiment was preceded with a hypothesis and conclusions were drawn based on the results. Woo hoo - the scientific method in action! Science geeks rejoice!

After a little exploring (the transportation gallery was my first stop), I tried to get to sleep. Keyword: "tried". There's just so much I want to do and see that it's hard to calm down; my neurons are working overtime. But soon I hope to find that balance of excitement and, well, sleep. We'll see. But last night I crashed in my PQ (aka: my private quarters). I'll do a little tour before too long - just as soon as I have a spare five minutes to unpack.

In the meantime, here are a few photos of my first night at the museum (not the movie, just my crazy new life).

"Keep in mind your nearest usable exit may be behind you."

Breakin' the rules.

Pretending to blog on a locomotive.

Me and myself.

Oh- and I was exploring solo. I'm just handy with a tripod. :-)
Talk soon!

Kevin