This past week has been very busy but also a lot of fun. In VRAC, the main thing that I have been working on is my heart. Not my actual heart, but my model of a heart. I spent a lot of time last week creating a clean model of a heart from CT data. I then exported it as an STL file and cleaned it up in Blender so that it could be 3D printed. It is going to take a long time to print, so the plan is to start the print tomorrow and watch it as it runs all day. In the meantime, I am uploading my model into Vuforia and Unity to start to augment it. What I have learned through this process is that YouTube is VERY helpful. You can figure out just about anything by watching lots and lots of videos.
On Thursday after work, Kat, David, Eli, Emma, and I went to the Ames Aquatic Center. This was such a fun pool to go to! They had a high dive, a diving board, three slides, a lazy river, swimming lanes, and a swimming area. In the two hours that we were there, we explored all of it and had so much fun! I definitely want to go back sometime!
On Sunday, Eli’s family was very kind to invite us over for a cookout before we went to watch the Ames fireworks. They made burgers (and veggie burgers) and had a variety of chips and vegetables. We also got to meet his family and friends. It was a lot of fun to get to hang out and eat good food! We also went to the nearest corn field and took some pictures in the corn. This photo shoot just makes it more necessary for everyone to watch Field of Dreams. I won’t give up on getting people to watch it!!
We went to see the Ames fireworks on Sunday night! Fireworks are so much fun to watch. I enjoy this Fourth of July tradition. As a random fact, when I was in Spain, my friends and I planned a spur of the moment trip to a city called Valencia. When we arrived, we discovered that we had just so happened to have planned our trip during the biggest festival of the year: Las Fallas. Every day for over a week straight, they shoot off fireworks in the city center at 2:00pm. We did not know this and got caught in the giant crowd watching the fireworks during this time. It was a big adventure.
I don’t know if anyone who is reading this is lactose-intolerant, but if you are, I am sure that you can sympathize. Last week, my stomach decided to protest against every meal. So, my response was to go on a dairy cleanse for this week. Even when I found out that I was lactose-intolerant, I had never given up dairy entirely simply because it was too hard. What I have learned about 4 days into this cleanse is that all good food has dairy☹ No ice cream. No cheese. No chocolate. No buttered popcorn. It is a sad world. On the bright side, my stomach doesn’t hurt!
The best way to use old bananas is to make banana bread. Banana bread is absolutely delicious, and Emma is awesome at making it! We made some last night, and she made some Sunday before the fireworks display. It was literally so amazing!! (and also made of butter, but it was cooked in the oven so it doesn’t count)
As a group, we have been watching a show called “The Good Place.” It is on Netflix and is SOOO GOOD!!! I watched it in March of 2020 and basically binged it while I worked on puzzles (I wonder what was going on during that time that allowed me so much time…). Farhan and Emma have not seen it before, and we have Emma hooked! We are still working on getting Farhan hooked. We just have to wait until the last episode of the first season, and everyone will be into it. It is very fun to get together to watch these shows.
Phew! That was a lot! Until next time!!
The Fun Fallas decorations look so wacky and cool 🤡😂