June 15: Crystal Growing Kit and Dig-a-Glow Dinosaur Kit

Saturday, June 16, 2012 - Posted by 366 White Elephants at 12:36 AM
Given to Bill from Adam.

Ahh, the elementary school science fair.  In fifth grade, Mike Haas (of baseball trading card fame) and I teamed up on a project to grow our own sugar and salt crystals.  It was an A+ effort, largely due to the fact that just the previous year before my older brother Mike and Steve Haas did a project on growing crystals.  My friend Mike and I teamed up to do crystals again in 6th grade and 7th grade.  I think we even used the same trifold poster and swapped out the pictures from year-to-year.  How our seventh grade teacher Mrs. Ollila (like Delilah by Tom Jones, which I used to hear in my head going into her classroom..."why, why, why, O-Llila?...cue the blaring trumpets), did not figure out our little scheme is beyond my comprehension now and beyond my comprehension then as an 12-year old.

Like the Nolan-Bale Batman trilogy, the legend ended in eighth grade when Mike's voice deepened and he decided to work with someone else on the science project.  As a side note, I think the switch was motivated by the baseball card fiasco.  In any event, I partnered up with Mike Morales and we tried floating the crystal project past Mrs. O, but the break in continuity somehow caused her critical thinking skills to be activated and she nixed it.  Instead, Mike M. and I measured the pH of commercial orange juices, and our paper eventually got published in Science.  

Sheryl Crow thinks a change would
do Bill some good
Bill
-Profession: Starbucks Manager

-Favorite Vegas attraction: Dancing Fountains

-What would an accountant be called at Starbucks Corporate Headquarters?:  Bean counter
-If called a bean counter, what should his/her retort be?:  Don't make me cut your beans!

-If you were buying a $1 5th Avenue bar and paid with a $5, would you prefer 16 quarters or 4 "bills" back?:  4 bills.  I hate change.

-You're the 14th bearded gift exchanger.  Are you jolly?:  Sometimes.  It depends on the day.