Day 2

       The other interns and I began the day today with a trip to the Red Barn, an actual barn that has rock climbing walls. At the barn we did various team building activities. The first was simply to pass a fake squid around(we named him Oscar) and tell each other our names and an interesting fact about ourselves. After that we had to remember who we passed Oscar to and repeat the order in as little time as possible. We discovered that we could minimize time by standing as close as possible in the right order and simply have the first person turn in a circle allowing each f us to brush Oscar. After this activity we were split into 4 groups and each group received a bag containing pvc tubes and connectors as well as a rubber ring. We had 10 minutes to build the tallest freestanding tower that could hold the rubber ring at its' top. After that activity we were split into two groups and each group was given a large mat. We had to stand on the mat and flip it over without stepping off the mat. To accomplish this task each group worked separately even though it wasn't a requirement. I actually thought of a way for both groups to work together to easily complete the task. One group could've gone onto the others mat, flipped the empty mat then repeated the process. However by the time I thought of this plan the other group was nearly done flipping over their mat. After completing several other activities in the Red Barn I returned to the Chester F Carlson building to meet Professor Jeff. He put John and me through the vision boot camp where we learned about the optics system for a few hours. We covered various topics from optical illusions(really neural illusions) to different eye movements to how different parts of the eye work. I learned various eye movements such as fixations, stable moving, and involuntary movements. I also learned about photo receptors and the differences between rods and cones.Today was mostly spent getting background information about my project as well as getting to know the other interns a bit better.