Monday was weird--only because Christin and Bridget are gone this week. The bullpen (our work space) was awfully quiet without them, but BT came to visit a few times. I worked in Sketchup the whole day; modeling the ceiling and editing the components I've already added. The more I add, the slower my computer (or should I say my dad's) runs.

Tuesday, I felt like a classic intern. I ran errands for my boss because he was booked with meetings all day. It was nice to get out of the office and breathe in the fresh air. I met with a Director of Environmental Services to talk about the redesign of the Methodist restrooms. It's amazing how design has changed since the hospital was built. The tile in the restroom looked like subway tile, and there was a lot of wasted space. I'm excited to give my take on what commercial restrooms should look like and inspire a design through someone else. The rest of the day, I just continued to work on finishing up the inboard toilet design. It's getting closer. The 3ds Max part is going to be interesting, though. For some reason my mouse won't work with the program.

Wednesday, I ordered samples of wood grain laminates and worked on the Sketchup layout of the inboard patient room. I redownloaded 3ds Max because apparently 2013 has a bug that doesn't allow my mouse to work, but 2012 is fine.

Thursday, I continued working on patient room layouts. Christin came in for a couple hours so we could talk to EVS about how our room designs are or aren't going to make the cleaning of the rooms relatively easy. Also, I got in touch with some floor covering manufacturers and ordered some samples. It's amazing how willing these companies are to give out free samples just for the possibility of us placing an order. The most exciting/scary part of the day was when the fire alarms went off. We had to trek down 11 flights of stairs just to find out it was a false alarm, but it was an overall good day!

Friday, I finished the inboard patient room design. It's pretty much complete. There might be a couple of details that need to be changed, but the layout is finished. I still have yet to decide on the manufacturers of the surface finishes, but that's the next phase I guess. Some more samples came in today of flooring material. Two representatives came to our building just to give me a sample book, then two hours later, I received the same book through the mail. If only it were like that for students...

Only 2 weeks left!

Have you heard of Marina and the Diamonds?

Electra Heart is probably one of my favorite albums that has come out in 2012. I heard "I Am Not a Robot" from Marina's previous album, but when I heard "Primadonna," thanks to Perez Hilton, I was hooked. Every song of Electra Heart has a meaning behind it and/or it's fun or relatable. The melodies are catchy, and it helps that I'm a sucker for accents. She creates characters through her songs and music videos, which I find refreshingly unique.

The first time I listened to this acoustic performance of "Lies" is the moment I fell in love with her voice. Watch below:



"Primadonna is just a fun song all around, and I love how deep her voice gets for some reason. "Pop that pretty questions right now, baby."



Below are some of my other favorites:

Monday was sluggish, to say the least. I wasn't feeling very well with this stomach thing going on. I worked on modeling the 5 patient rooms in Google Sketchup while the other two interns continued working on writing the case study.

We continued to to the same on Tuesday and Wednesday. Wednesday, we talked to Joe about what we're doing and showed him our most promising design of a patient room. Also, it was my birthday. :)

Thursday, we kept mocking up layouts in Sketchup and writing the case study. Also, we made a trip to the Simon Cancer Center to see their current patient room design. They just opened in December, so we thought their designs would help us develop ours, seeing what does or does not work for them.

Friday, Christin and I met at Saxony to interview more patients, then we went to IU Health North to do the same. Saxony is probably my favorite out of all of the hospitals we've visited. The feedback we gained from visiting and interviewing has definitely helped us confirm our design choices.

3 weeks left!

I turned 23 today! I worked all day, then came home to some wonderful surprises :)

Mom made me a sugar-free cake because of my tummy troubles (still have yet to figure out what's exactly the matter). I could barely tell it was sugar free, it was so good!

If you follow my Instagram, you already know this, but I got an iPad. I've been saying I'm going to get one for the longest time, and I finally did. It was a birthday gift from my parents--they payed for part of it and I payed for part. I love it!

Anywhoosers, there's not much excitement associated with turning 23--at least nothing compared to 21--but it was still an exciting day, and I'm so lucky to have the family and friends that I do. I love you all!

There's an apple tree in our backyard, and the apples have gotten heavy enough to make the branches hang low -- so low that we had to use a ladder to keep a branch off the ground.

The dogs have taken full advantage of the situation and get a snack (or two) when an apple is in reach. I caught Rocky trying his hardest to get the last in his reach.

The limbs are so heavy that we had to put a ladder underneath one of them. Otherwise, the dogs would have about 50 apples they could reach.

Check out the video below:

Monday and Tuesday, we generated sketches of elevations and floor plans. I've been gradually developing the patient room in Google Sketchup. We made a mockup room in our work area by putting tape and stickers on the floor. It has really helped gain perspective on the size of the space we have to work with.

Wednesday, Bridget, Christin and I started deciding what exactly needs to be in each hospital room based on our research. At the end of the workday, I went to Simply Amish to talk to their manager about wood grain finishes and the trends they are currently seeing/predicting. We want our design to be timeless.

Thursday was a super productive day. Brandon and I worked on finalizing the floor plan of the inboard patient room while Bridget and Christin created floor plans and elevations for the outboard and in between rooms.

Friday was a very productive day also. We're to the point of finalizing all three room layouts: inboard, outboard, and in between. I figured out how to export a Sketchup file to 3ds Max, and I'm really excited to see our designs to come alive in a realistic-looking image. In the meantime though, we need finish final details on the patient rooms and get more feedback from the RN's and/or patients.

As much as I'm relieved it's the weekend, I can't wait to get back to work on Monday as well.

Friday night, I saw The Amazing Spider-Man in 2D, then I saw it again Saturday in 3D. It was fantastic both times.

I have yet to read the comic books, but I've heard that the reboot's plot is more like the comic book storyline. Instead of shooting webs out of his wrists like in the "old" Spiderman movies, Peter Parker develops a wrist gadget that dispenses spider web material.

I absolutely love Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy. She and Andrew Garfield have real chemistry on screen, and she's one of my favorite actresses besides.

Having seen both 2D and 3D versions of the film, I don't feel like the 3D glasses made much of a difference. Sure, there were some parts where it looked like Spiderman was coming out of the screen a little bit, but it wasn't mind-blowing or anything.

The film itself is great, however. If there's one movie you see this weekend, make it The Amazing Spiderman. You won't be disappointed.

Overall Score: 95%

The official synopsis from IMDb:


If you want a more detailed plot (watch out for spoilers), look here or watch the trailer below.

This week was a little weird. Monday, we met up with the Director of Engineering at the JW Marriott and he gave us a tour of some of the hotel rooms including the Hospitality and Executive Suites. He explained to us JW's design aesthetic and was very helpful with providing information about why the hotel rooms are designed the way they are.

Tuesday was spent developing ideas, diverging and converging.

Wednesday, we took the day off for 4th of July. I think that's what really threw us off. Tuesday felt like a Friday (we even listened to Rebecca Black's "Friday" to get in the spirit) and Thursday felt like a Monday.

Thursday and Friday were diverging and converging days. By the end of Friday, we conceived some space plan ideas for inboard and outboard patient rooms.

Every week I feel we have made substantial progress, and I'm really excited to see how this project turns out!

Yesterday, for the 4th of July, I went to an Indians game at Victory Field with Mary, Katie, and Carla. The Indians beat the Louisville Bats 6 to 1. After the game, the stadium put on a fireworks show, and it was a lot better than I expected it to be! I took a video of the whole 7-minute show below:



After the Victory Field fireworks, we watched the Indianapolis fireworks show from the stadium. They were pretty good, too. They were 20 minutes long, but not as good as Conner Prairie's usual fireworks. I didn't have enough memory on my phone to take a video of the entire show, so I just recorded the finale.



It was weird not shooting off my own fireworks this year because of the drought, but it was nice to do something different. Hopefully next year Conner Prairie won't cancel their fireworks and we'll have enough rain to allow the non-professionals to shoot off theirs too. Either way, I'd definitely go to an Indians game for the 4th again.

My mom was watering the flowers the other day, and a bunch of baby bunnies scattered out from underneath them. She came inside the house to tell me and I of course took some pictures!


This little guy was just sitting in the flowers, frozen.


Another one was sitting in the grass, barely noticeable.


Then we found the nest!


There were 5 or 6 babies burrowed in the mulch.


The next day, I checked on them before going to work and I was able to get so close to them without any of them moving the slightest bit.


After I got home, they were out of the nest, bathing in the sun.

Today, it looks like they are ready to venture out because none of them were in the next when I got home from work.