Tuesday, August 22, 2017

The Nice Girl From the Science Department

So my husband is a geek and because he is a geek he has geek friends. They do things like have official NASA-sanctioned solar viewing glasses made for the fun of it. Oh, and to advertise their solar photography hobby, which is a really geeky hobby in case you didn't know.

Because of this I had not one but two official NASA-sanctioned pairs of solar viewing glasses yesterday during the eclipse. I also have a problematic eye so I was leery of looking at the sun even with NASA's permission. However, thanks to a super enthusiastic coworker I grabbed up my two pairs of solar shades and ventured into the sun yesterday.

My coworker had been trying to drum up interest in his pinhole solar eclipse viewing rig that he put together. And by "put together" I mean plucked off the bulletin board. See, once upon a time the marketing department where I work made round cardboard flyers advertising our business. They were round because our logo is round.  Because of their roundness everyone felt compelled to hang theirs up up jabbing a thumbtack right in the middle and that's makes for the perfect solar eclipse viewer.

I confess to being skeptical of the geekery involved in a pinhole viewing rig so I just had to see how that was going to work.  Well, it was truly impressive, made even more impressive by then slapping on the official NASA goggles and staring at the sun. So much so, that my coworker ran off to round up everyone he could to come look at our pinhole eclipse viewer and stare at the sun with our shades. More and more people came while I was standing around with a piece of cardboard and two pairs of glasses. I was more than happy to share in the awe that is a partial eclipse.

Because our piece of cardboard had the logo on it people were muttering about the official Pima College Solar Eclipse Viewer we had and saying how it was nice it was to have the opportunity to see the eclipse.
I swear there is a pinhole in there.
And I'm holding the logo crooked.
It was a lot of fun even if I did later curse my geeky husband for making me have to stand in the sun for an hour and a half and talk to people. At least I had something cool to talk to them about. You know a lot of people are going to remember and talk about the day they came to college and ended up seeing the solar eclipse. I just hope none of them go prowling the science or astronomy departments looking for me since I'm just not that geeky. Really.
The Fine Print: Official Pima College Solar Eclipse Viewer by Pima College. Stampin' stuff by Stampin' Up. 

7 comments:

Heidi MyLittleStampingBlog said...

You were lucky to have the glasses, we couldn't find any! Glad you enjoyed the eclipse, we did too.

I love the cute boat card, very fun, loving nautical themes this summer!

Sarn said...

It certainly was an amazing event and I have seen some gorgeous pictures online. Had I been anywhere near you, I'd have had a go with your glass and pinhole wotsit for sure!

Love your SU card too. Very jolly.

Hugs, Sarn xxx

Fikreta said...

we didnt have it here.
your card is so nice!
hugs

stampingbowd said...

Oh, wow! What a fun way to observe the eclipse!!!!! I WISH I had just done a pinhole cardstock one. I am SO NOT geeky and SO off the grid- sort of - that I didn't realize that the eclipse was even going to be a big deal until about an hour before it happened! Which is when I made my cereal box viewer. I have seen pics of the pin hole in cardstock and really WISH I had just done that. I DID see crescent shadows on my porch but once again, I am so....not tuned in that although I noticed they were different from anything I had seen before I didn't actually put together what I had seen. So no pics and then later that night I got on FB and saw other people's pics. Duh, Dumb! LOL What I did see was a tinny looking afternoon. As if someone turned down a dimmer. It was so cool and kind of eerie. The temp dropped too. My cat went berserko for a bit. Anyway. It was a really cool experience and yours sounds even more fun!!! How cool to share around the glasses and have a bit of comaraderie over a science thing! Your card is so pretty! I just love the little waves, the swirly sun and pretty sailboat!! So pretty!!!

Bernice said...

At least you had an excuse to sit out in the sun for a while! No eclipse here - in fact no sun either - just lots and lots of rain - so much so that bridges, roads and even cars were washed away!! Cute card.
Bernice

Bonnie said...

I tried to make a pin point viewer but got carried away and my hole was bigger than a pin hole and it didn't work. I didn't have any NASA glasses so I came inside and watched it on TV. We only had a 93% eclipse so I was able to see the total eclipse....multiple times! We used a pin hole projector in 1970 when there was a total eclipse where we lived. We did it right back then and it was really cool. Love that sailboat! If I had a sailboat, I'd want one with sails like that!

Barb said...

A great post Judy and I love your lovely card. Barbxx