TIV day in Pittsburgh

When I asked Sean if it was okay to get a picture, he asked if he could hug me.  (He asked Hubs the same thing.)  It was 27 degrees and being from California, I do believe he underestimated the cold.  He told us that he realized he had underdressed.

I won't be.  Thank you.

Now, with everything else you see here, you'll notice a battery in the back by the back flap.  It's just there.  Wired in.  I'm wondering how a tornado doesn't haul it away and how rain doesn't make it unhappy.

That's okay.  The geshnudle of wiring they have going on here is enough to frighten me to think how wet it gets in the TIV (she leaks a bit) and all of these things are exposed.  I think that I get the biggest kick out of whatever he has going on with the ignition.  Believe it or not, this was a brand spankin' new Dodge truck with heated leather seats when it started.  It was red.  Its not anymore.  It is cool, though.

Okay, we are science geeks.  We're not apologetic about it.  It is what it is.  Hubs and I met in a Climatology class in college.  We're really not surprised that our beginnings took us to Pittsburgh to meet the TIV team from Storm Chasers.

We started out and were doing okay.  Then, we got caught in a traffic jam on 279 (maybe) where it took us 30 minutes to go 2 miles, only to find three workman looking over a bridge, laughing and pointing. 

We finally got to the Carnegie Science Center and the lot was full.  They had overflow, so that was good. 

Here is the point where I tell you that they have the skinniest parking spaces known to man.  I mean, I think a Smart car might have issues with the space.  Surprisingly, everyone was very courteous about the massive spacial issues.  I mean, you'd have to be a Flat Stanley relation to not have door issues.  Still, no cramalama door marks on the RAV.  Whew.

We crossed the street, were making plans and noticed that the TIV was up front, one other person was there and other than that, no one was around.  I found Sean Casey freezing to death under a tree. 

We were able to talk to Sean for a few, get him to sign the 2009 Storm Chasers season DVD (Reed was on 2010 and we just couldn't go there), got a picture and then we found Brandon.  I did the "Can I do the cheesy fan thing and ask for you to sign this?" with Brandon and Marcus.  So, we got all of them to sign and it was a fun thing.

We walked down to The Andy Warhol Museum.  They've changed it quite a bit since we were there last.  I think that K- was maybe 2 if not a little younger.  This time, they had all 7 floors open, but no photos were allowed.  Bummer, dude.  I took so many photos in there last time.  What was nice was that we were able to go to all 7 floors and read things and not have to rush or have K- pester and hester and bug and be all hungry.  We left K- back here with my in-law's for her swim lessons and a birthday party. 

We found that we kept asking each other, "What do we do now?" since we had time to kill and no 7 year old with us to keep up the pace.

Since we did have some time to kill after Andy, we decided that for my in-law's, we would stop by the casino (The Rivers, if memory serves) and toss $5.00 at a machine for them.  We made it maybe 2 minutes, but probably less.  The noise, the lights, the smoke, the music, the amount of people.  We probably got 50 feet in and Hubs said, "You've got to be kidding me."  Well, not that we thought we were casino people anyhow, that confirmed it.  Yowza.

We had lunch back at the Science Center, went to a few Digital Dome shows (IBEX and one on how telescopes work), then we decided to check out the IMAX thing.  We ended up standing in lines from 6 - 7.  It sort of seemed like the left hand didn't know what the right hand was doing.  You had to check in upstairs, then go back downstairs to stand in line for the movie.  The concession line was separate and l-o-n-g.  Thankfully, I wasn't in it for that long.  They offered popcorn and a medium soda with the lecture/movie ticket purchase.  They had one fountain drink dispenser, but all of the popcorn was popped ahead of time.  Still, I'm thinking that they should rethink the execution of that one. 

We got in and after my tripping up the steps and not face planting, we were able to sit in the middle.  Sean had a very informative power point presentation that he ended up winging.  Earlier, he told us that they wanted him to do this, so he had to have his wife send him the power point that he had done a year and a half ago and he couldn't even figure out why he had some of the photos in there that he had.  He did wing it, did just fine and then we had the movie. 

It was great.  I admit that it was different than I thought, but all along up until last season, I didn't realize that Josh Wurman held the money for his IMAX movie.  It was more a teaching tool, rather than an entertainment bit.  It makes sense though.  We enjoyed it and were stunned that while it was a sold out crowd, everyone (kids included) were all very polite and quiet during both the lecture part and the movie.  HOORAY!

You'd be glad to know that K- survived her first overnight just fine.  She had a great time at the party and at swimming.  She admitted that she missed us, and we missed her to.

We had a great weekend!

ETA:
Hubs asked if he could be the first to comment on my post.  Bless him, as I thought it was wonderful.  Well, that is except he wanted to correct me.  (Argh.)  He said that Sean repaints the TIV each year and works on it.  (I'm sure he does.)  He said that the battery bit in the back was just a temporary thing and that he knows it isn't left out there during chase season.  So, I stand corrected.  I would have wished for a more lovey-dovey comment from the Hubs.