Solar stickers

This filing cabinet may get tossed, so I'm documenting a few solar stickers that are on it. Sorry for the crazy orientation.

Cy!

I'm baaaaaack

7 years seems long enough, no?

20,000 Leagues Pop-Up Book

After reading the Boing Boing post (10/23/2008) about a new 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea pop-up book being published, I took it upon myself to find the one I remember from growing up

My most treasured book from my childhood was a pop-up version of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. My incessant reading of it led to long-lasting obsessions with: submarines (sated with frequent visits to the U-505 at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago); octopi, preferably of the gigantic variety (never really sated, but I once got a nice rubber octopus toy from Sea World); the Lost Continent of Atlantis, and whirlpools. So I visited the used-book stalwarts of the Internet, and finally found a copy, in pristine condition no less, at some tiny Canadian place online. I paid whatever it was they asked, including that crazy VAT stuff. And now I read it to my kids, share it with them, and keep it on a shelf where it can survive for them to read to their kids.

Model A Club

One of the fun things about being on a solar car team were the opportunities for outreach. Mostly this means taking the car to a school and explaining solar power, the benefits of an engineering education, or some such. But on occasion, you had groups of adults. In this case, the Central Iowa Model A Club drive their vintage Model A's to Ames one sunny day and pulled right into the parking lot next to our garage in Old Sweeney Hall. They got the nickel tour of the facilities and whatever car we were working on at the time (PrISUm Cynergy, our Sunrayce 95 car, most likely). And then I got a free t-shirt!

National Road Solar Car Rally

Sometime in 1998 (I think?) I participated in a small race called the "National Road Solar Car Rally." This event was mostly arranged by Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, a venerable solar car team. They were joined by Ohio State, with observers from Purdue University's team tagging along. I got asked to come as something of an official, even though it was mostly the teams who kept the timing, etc.

U.S. 40 apparently has a long history as a road, hence the designation as the "National Road." This race went from Terre Haute, Indiana (Rose-Hulman's home), through Ohio, and ended in Wheeling, West Virginia. Or maybe it was the reverse...anyway, it was a good time, with a scenic route. At the end, we arranged an impromptu pit stop competition, to see how long it would take the teams to change tires, change drivers, and maybe a few other things. Good times.

PrISUm Phoenix '99 team shirt

As an alum of this school and this team, it was so gratifying to see them finish a solid 5th place in Sunrayce 99 (best finish ever for Iowa State). The car was fantastic, the team was polished, and their "Phoenix" logo looked great. I was lucky enough to snag a team shirt. It was tough trying not to be biased on this race!!