May 2005
Spring
Fling ’05!
Amazons, aliens, and animated vegetables took to the stage
in this year’s Spring Fling, as staffers set aside
their everyday work clothes and got decked out for a 1980s-themed
lip sync competition. The May 6 event at the Mesa Lab, featuring
food, music, and a chalk-drawing contest for kids, drew several
hundred staffers and family members. (See
all the videos.)
Five groups entered the lip sync contest, wowing the crowd with rousing
music and cunning impersonations of iconic scientists and weather models. Master
of ceremonies Lucille Ciambrone (VSP) introduced each act and provided comedy
between performances.
“I was
very happy with this year's Spring Fling,” says Mark
Mulholland of the Employee Activities Committee, which sponsored
the event. “All five lip sync acts were high quality,
which made picking the winner especially difficult.”
COMET kicked off the festivities with Cole Porter’s “Experiment.” Wendy
Abshire (left), Vickie Johnson, and others portrayed some
of the greatest scientists of the ages. The scientists, alas,
grew testy, and their experiments were punctuated by an exploding
flask, smashed glasses, and a fistfight. The act won the
coveted Miami Vice award. (See the video.)
Next
up, RAL performed Robert Palmer’s “Addicted to
Love,” tweaking the original lyrics to more closely
represent UCAR/NCAR sensibilities. As the performers contended
with such issues as in-flight icing, short-term forecasts,
and the Weather Research and Forecasting model, Carl Drews
sang, “Gonna have to face it, you're addicted to weather.” (Click
here for the complete lyrics.) He was accompanied by (left
to right) Deidre Brucker, Tressa Fowler, Carol Park, Lacey
Holland, Arnaud Dumont, and others. The act won first place. “There
are only a few words that rhyme with weather and I think
we used all of them,” reports Carl, who penned the
lyrics to “Addicted to Weather” with Anne-Marie
Tarrant. (See the video.)
CGD then
performed an alternative ending to Star Wars, featuring Dani
Coleman Bundy as Yoda, Taotao Qian as Mon Mothma, and Nan
Rosenbloom as Chewbacca, along with EO’s Tim Barnes
as Darth Vader. The act featured dazzling swordplay and dancing
to the Kenny Loggins song, “Footloose.” The group
won the coveted “Big Adventure” award. (See the video.)
Next, HAO took the stage with a vegetarian-friendly version
of “The Jolly Green Giant,” by The Kingsmen.
Tom Bogdan played a fetching Amazon, while Amy Knack portrayed
celery and Hanli Liu played broccoli. The group won
the coveted “Day at the Beach” award. (See the video.)
Finally, Jennifer Strange (left), Belinda Goody, Karla Edwards
and others in F&A performed a medley of 1980s favorites,
including Bob Seger’s “Old Time Rock ’N
Roll” and Cyndi Lauper’s “Girls Just Wanna
Have Fun.” The group won the coveted “Better
Than the Real Thing” award. (See the video.)
The five
judges—Andrea Hahmann, Tammy Kepple, Mark Mulholland,
Sonja Stevenson, and Dennis Ward—had their work cut
out for them. “All the teams had great performances,” Dennis
recalls. “I was proud of my fellow judges—we
managed to make some tough decisions.”
After the
lip sync, partygoers then enjoyed a barbecue dinner, courtesy
of Event Services, and listened to live music by the Sweat
Brothers Band. The root beer floats and Sno-Cones proved particularly
popular as desserts.
• by David Hosansky
Addicted to Weather
by Carl Drews and Anne-Marie Tarrant
(apologies to Robert Palmer)
Your lights are on, but you're not home
Your mind is not your own
Your heart sweats, your body shakes
Another storm is what it takes
You can't sleep, you can't eat
There's no doubt, you're in deep
Your throat is tight, you can't breathe
Another storm is all you need
Whoa, you like to think you're feelin' light as a feather, oh Yeah
It's
closer to the truth to say you're not gettin' better,
Gonna have to face
it, you're addicted to weather
You see the signs, but you can't read
You're runnin' at a different speed
Your data streams in double time
Another storm and you'll be fine, a one
track mind
You can't be saved
Vorticity's what ya crave
Convective weather's exciting for you
Throw in some turbulence too
Whoa, you like to think you're feelin' light as a feather, oh Yeah
It's
closer to the truth to say you're not gettin' better,
Gonna have to face
it, you're addicted to weather
Might as well face it, you're addicted to weather
Might as well face
it, you're addicted to weather
Might as well face it, you're addicted
to weather
Might as well face it, you're addicted to weather
Might as well face
it, you're addicted to weather
Guitar solo (once around)
MM5 - JViz;
It's a habit - that's what it is.
Weather station - set up at home;
Tim Killeen - he's on the speed-dial
phone!
Whoa, you like to think that you're feelin' light as a feather, oh Yeah
It's
closer to the truth to say you're not gettin' better,
Gonna have to face
it, you're addicted to weather
Might as well face it, you're addicted to weather
Might as well face
it, you're addicted to weather
Might as well face it, you're addicted
to weather
Might as well face it, you're addicted to weather
Might as well face
it, you're addicted to weather
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On the Web
Spring Fling Photo
Album
Spring Fling Videos
Also in this issue...
Playing it safe
Spring Fling '05
SERE news
UCAR casuals
Taking the LEAD
Delphi question
Just One Look
Staff Notes home page | News Center
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