I’m losing too many friends unexpectedly way before their time. First former COSI President Roy Shafer suddenly at the age of 54 as I interviewed at COSI, now Columbus Zoo President Jeff Swanagan.

Dottie and I had just been with Jeff and his wonderful wife Suzie a bit over a week ago. They were talking about their new home, the wedding coming up this week of their son, and Jeff and I were plotting our next joint effort between COSI and the Columbus Zoo.

And then Jeff was gone—a heart attack they presume after cutting his grass on Sunday. Just 51 years young. I’m hurting at the loss—but I can’t begin to imagine how much Jeff’s wife Suzie is hurting. She tried to articulate it to me at Jeff’s memorial but the pain was more than words could express. I could feel it, though, as we hugged in mutual disbelief.

Columbus has lost a great community leader in Jeff who was enthusiastic and energetic and driving one of our key assets in this community to the next level of its distinguished service. I lost a colleague who was fast becoming a personal as well as professional friend.

Typical of Jeff, when he and I talked about how this city isn’t leveraging well enough all the national #1 rankings its assets are earning, he said let’s just do it ourselves. So shortly thereafter Jack Hannah shows up here for a photo appearance which has become the double #1 billboard that Jeff at the Zoo and us at COSI have put up with our own money—you might have seen the one on 315 as you sit in the extended 315 traffic;-)

Jeff was like that—got an idea, go for it, make it happen. It would have been tremendous fun to have the years we planned ahead for both of us working together leveraging the Zoo and COSI growing partnership.

We’ve lost a great one. Suzie and their family have lost a loving and proud husband and father. I’ve lost a friend and colleague. It’ll hurt for a long time.

The Rain Garden is planted, thanks in large part to volunteers from Ernst & Young and The Ohio State University and of course the COSI team led by our Director of Sustainability Initiatives, Sharon Tinianow. There is still a little more work to do next week, when mulch will be put in place and a bridge will be installed where the orange fencing is right now. Signs will go in over the next few weeks. But here is a behind the scenes look at what it took to get to this point. Thanks also to Sharon for shooting this great video!

Guest post by Jen Snively, COSI VP of Programs

So, I discovered yesterday that I need to take 18 vacation/personal days before August 25th (my 15th COSI Anniversary) or I’ll lose them forever. Now, this doesn’t mean that I’ll have used all my vacation days for the year – it actually means that I’ll carry over a full 4 weeks of vacation, the maximum amount that I can carry. I’m not the only one in this boat, at COSI or at any other company. Expedia.com did a survey this year and found that 34% of Americans leave vacation time on the table every year. And now we have the economy and job worries to consider, so some people are deciding not to take vacation time at all.

So, what am I going to do?

I’m taking my 18 days, without a moment’s regret! A week on Lake Huron at my family’s house, a weeklong cruise with my guy and his family, a long weekend here and there. I’ve got it all mapped out.

Lake Huron

Now, don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love my job. Working at COSI is the coolest job out there, yes, it does have its moments, but it really is an amazing place to work and the direction that we are taking this institution is exactly where it needs to go! Still, everyone needs a break and we shouldn’t feel as if we can’t make taking time off a priority.

I know I’ll come back refreshed and ready to take on my job with renewed energy. I find I never truly turn COSI off in my mind and I’m looking forward to having a little distance and perspective. I have some things I haven’t taken the time to think about, which I’m looking forward to keeping in the back of my mind while I’m gone.

I think a lot about leadership and how I lead my team. This year one of the ways I’m going to lead is by example; taking some much needed time away from here to relax and spend some quality time with my family and friends. Hopefully my team will follow that lead. If not, I’ll certainly encourage them to do so.

So, if you can swing it. Use your vacation time. It doesn’t have to be a week. It doesn’t have to be to an exotic destination. Just take some time for you. You and everyone around you will be better because of it.

Save me a seat by the pool…

When I joined the COSI team a bit over 3 years ago there was a certain sterility to the seemingly acres of white wall spaces in our big facility. Maybe it’s because I painted houses as one of the ways to pay my way through college, but I’ve always been a big believer in the power of a little paint. Those walls have been begging for color since I stepped foot in our building.

You first saw color added highlighting the pendulum as you come into the building. Now I’m thrilled to see the next steps of our wayfinding program manifesting themselves in the stair and elevator entrances. And in the process, we’re re-invigorating the COSI “O’s”, or cheerios as we call them internally. Hope you enjoy the colorations and the cheerios. What other visual augmentation would you suggest we add?

New paint in the stairwells

I’m getting back “on the seat” on biking as a substitute for driving (although I’m on bike #2 after a Columbus pothole on Lane destroyed my front wheel and tire on my primary bike). Biking makes even more sense now that 315 is such a confusing situation. I swapped out a 24 mile drive to a meeting with a bike ride to Worthington—just glad there was an outside porch where we could meet

I saw lots of folks heading in on the bike trail as I was heading out—seems like the Bike to Work effort has had some sticking power.

Getting back to work, I saw the progress we’re making on the Rain Garden in front of COSI. This is moving us forward in showcasing more good practice related to the environment—something we’re working on expanding at COSI.

A rain garden addresses the problem that too much of the water that hits our roofs or paved surfaces flows rapidly into what has become an inadequate sewer system, taking pollutants with it into our watershed. Our rain garden, thanks to the support of the Columbus Foundation, will help illustrate how water can be captured and allowed to percolate back into the ground in a much more environmentally friendly fashion. It also serves to function as a catch basin for one of our roof sections. You can get a sense of the formation COSI’s rain garden in this video I shot:

It is also great to see the creativity of our team to plan the work on the rain garden at the same time as our Big Machines special activities. I love seeing our effort to be more systemic coming forth!

I watched with great interest and enthusiasm as my old Pittsburgh Penguins defied the odds and won the Stanley Cup championships in hockey.  I was in Pittsburgh the day after and saw the front page special feature coverage, the signs already up around town, and the focus of a community on the success of this small group of young professional athletes.

While driving in town, I drove through the community where Lt. Colonel Mike Fincke grew up.  You might have seen one of my earlier blogs where Mike, a former student of mine, had called me from the International Space Station he was commanding at the time just before returning to earth from his second 6 month space mission.

On the side of the road were little signs commemorating Mike as a local boy made good as an astronaut.  Not much, but at least something.

So which accomplishment counts for more ultimately?

A good friend of mine, Doug King, who runs the St. Louis Science Center often asks, “What would it take to get a town to celebrate being a science town as much as being a sports town?”

Maybe it sounds crazy, but which set of values is more important to our ultimate national strength, economic vitality and security?  Sports or science?

Science center annual attendance in the US exceeds NFL and NASCAR combined—what does that say?

So is it possible that if we would all work together to highlight the science strengths of Columbus we could create a community pride around being a great science town?

Whadya think?