In the Newspaper and on TV

The Standard-Examiner ran a story the other day that had two pictures of Todd and me (Brent). The story was about the monthly drum circles that we go to. We knew that a reporter and a photographer from the newspaper had been at the drum circle. But we didn't find out until a month later that not only had the article appeared in the paper, but there were multiple pictures of us. The story ran in the January 30 issue. You can read it on-line here.

The first picture shows most of the participants, including the two of us sitting together drumming:

 The second picture is a close-up of our drums and shows just our hands:

You can click on either picture to get a larger version.

At the next drum circle, a reporter and cameraman from Fox 13 News were there filming the whole thing. Our entire family attended. Tonight (2/19/2012) it aired during a segment called Uniquely Utah. There are a couple of shots of our whole family, and one close shot of Alec. Here is the story:

 

This is a still shot of our whole family:

We're not exactly on the road to fame and fortune, but it's fun that we've been in the media lately.

Rita's Career Milestone

I wouldn't say it is her "dream," but Rita has had a career goal for a while now to be a professional counselor. With that goal in mind, back in 2000 she took some extra classes as part of her degree that would allow her to get her counselor's license. As you know, she got a job as a school psychologist and the goal to be a counselor was put on hold...until now.

The requirements to be a professional counselor are quite strict. First you need a graduate degree in mental health counseling, then you need to apply for an associate license. After you've been granted an associate license, you still need to complete 4,000 hours of supervised professional counseling before you can get the full license. It's hard enough to complete 4,000 hours, but you've got to find someone who will supervise you the entire time.

This past summer, Rita started working a few hours a week at the Neuropsychology Center of Utah, along with my sister Andrea. NPCU is a new clinic that opened this past year, specializing in diagnosing and treating psychological disorders. It's in Clinton, about 15 minutes from our house. Rita and Andrea have both worked there as psychologists, administering various tests to help diagnose ADHD, Autism, and other developmental disorders. The clinic also does counseling for patients.

Rita has enjoyed working at NPCU as a psychologist, but the real reason she took the job is that the main counselor there, Dr. Schwebach, agreed that if Rita could get her associate license that he would supervise her. She would be able to not only work as a counselor but also log hours toward getting her full license.

With that in mind, Rita applied for her associate licensure and expected to get approval within a couple of weeks. Her degree was in school psychology and counseling, not mental health counseling as required for the license. But with the extra classes she took, she met the requirements. Or at least, that was what she thought. The license application needed to be approved by the Utah Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing, and one of the members of the approval board had some "concerns" with her courses. The approval got held up for weeks. After multiple phone calls over several days, Rita was finally able to speak to the correct person in charge and plead her case that her coursework met the requirements. She was evidently convincing because a few days later she noticed her license was posted on-line. (You can see it here.) We expect the actual license in the mail any day.

Rita told Dr. Schwebach that she got her license and he is going to start having her work as a counselor. I'm so excited for her. She's already been a counselor to about half the ward, but now that she's official she can actually get paid to do it.

Kenna's (and my) Science Fair Project

Yesterday was the Science Fair for Kenna's school. For a couple of reasons, I had high hopes that her project would do well. The first reason was that Todd did very well when he was that age, going on to win first place at the district fair. The second reason was that I was the one that thought of her experiment and am very proud of myself for thinking of it...probably a bit too proud.

As you know, I have a degree in Physics. It's something that I enjoy, but it won't surprise you to learn that I don't get to use it much. On the rare occasion I get to apply my skills, I really get into it. So when I first learned about the science fair, I started thinking pretty hard of the perfect experiment.

Originally, I had wanted to measure the speed of light. I thought that would be about the coolest experiment that I could pull off. I even thought of a way to measure it using a laser pointer, a mirror, and a spinning bicycle tire. But after a few calculations, I realized that either the mirror would have to be a couple of miles away from the laser pointer or else the bicycle tire would have to be spinning a few hundred miles per hour. I decided to settle on something a bit less ambitious: measuring the speed of sound.

Before formally proposing to Kenna that she use my idea for her project, I decided to do a proof-of-concept experiment to make sure it was even possible to measure the speed of sound using household items. So one night after the kids went to bed, I got my Physics on.

My initial tests went very well. I won't bore you with the details, but I was able to measure the speed of sound using only my laptop computer. Okay, it was so cool that I have to bore you with the details. First I installed a free software application called Audacity that allows recording and editing audio. Then I created a sound file that would play a loud click on just the right audio channel. My laptop has stereo speakers and also stereo microphones. These features allowed me to start recording, play the audio file out of just one speaker, then visually examine the recordings of both the left and right audio channels. Because the microphones are about two inches apart, the right microphone picks up the sound slightly before the left microphone. The time difference is only 1/6700 of a second, but the standard recording takes a sample every 1/44100 of a second. So, the difference is about six or seven samples in length. Using a bit of algebra and arithmetic I was able to measure a speed of about 700mph, which is within 7% of the expected value. Not too shabby.

Measuring the speed of sound using Audacity

The next day I excitedly proposed to Kenna that she use my idea for her project. She certainly didn't get as excited as I was, but she did agree. We knew the final experiment would need to be more scientific that just a single measurement of the speed of sound. After some thought, we came up with the idea to measure the speed through different materials.

Kenna got the idea approved by her teacher and then started doing all the necessary research. You already know that Kenna is great at doing any kind of project. The science fair project was right up her alley. She was in charge of creating the report and the display board. She also came up with a list of materials she wanted to measure the speed of sound through. I was in charge of performing the actual experiment.

My initial measurement had gone so well that I assumed other measurements would be simple. Boy, was I wrong. I was ultimately able to devise a simple way to measure sound through other materials, but it sure took me a lot of time to get there. I spent hours and hours over the Christmas break trying to measure the speed of sound through water. I tried what felt like a million different methods, but finally had to scrap that idea. My final solution required two microphones that I bought for $5 each at Walmart. I connected them with a y-adapter and plugged them into the microphone jack of my computer. I then placed them both on the floor and hit the floor with a hammer. The microphones picked up the sound as it traveled through the flooring. We repeated the experiment for wood, tile, and cement flooring.

I learned from Todd's science fair successes that the key to doing well is the ability to clearly explain the scientific concepts involved. So I made sure Kenna understood the nature of sound waves and why they travel at different speeds through different materials. Of course, my efforts were unnecessary because she did such a good job with her research. She also made a great looking display. I went to the awards night fully expecting her to be a winner.

There were about 80 entries in the school fair. They chose 25 First Place winners and then they narrowed it down to seven Best in Show projects that would go on to the district fair. When they announced the First Place winners, they had them all come up on stage. We were not surprised at all when Kenna was selected. Then they started announcing the Best in Show winners. There was excitement and anticipation, but not any suspense as they announced the winners. They made it to the last two names and I still had full confidence the entire time.They finally announced her name second-to-last. She had a big smile on her face when they gave her her ribbon.

The district fair is February 22. I'm sure she'll do very well.