Another day in the life of a rocket scientist

Have you noticed my diary entries are getting much shorter compared to my entries from Switzerland? There's two reasons for that:

1. My life is boring; I am not meeting and greeting exotic peoples from all over the world; I am not in some exotic location, I am in Houston. So, there isn't much to comment on. As a matter of fact, I have pretty much been watching TV and reading and cooking after work every day. I intend on changing this by possibly meeting some new people to hang around with (as of yet, I really haven't found anyone), and adding flying, sailing, and graduate classes, and possibly horseback riding lessons to my life.. but I am trying to hold off at least until I get a couple of pay checks under the belt.

2. Work is actually entertaining. So far they have kept me busy and interested here. Which is more than I can say for ye olde thermoacoustics group. There they had about enough work for me to fill 50% of my time, allowing the other 50% for emailing, surfing the web and writing massive diary entries. Here, well, I take a break when a program is running. But otherwise, I am busy. Its a good feeling.

This morning I woke up early to sit in on an Ascent Sim. in Mission Control. It was very cool, and much more exciting than the entry simulations I sat in on when I was here for the week back in June. But both are exciting. The whole idea of NASA is exciting.

But now, I am back to my desk, and having a "I am an idiot" afternoon. To keep the technobabble to a minimum, I have to explain a little to explain my idiocy. Last week, one of the other people helped me find a problem in the input deck I am using to run this program. I ran a trial case and the error was corrected. Anyway, I did not incorporate ALL the changes into the master file (I actually don't know how that happened since I was only cutting and copying). Then, I ran all the files, and never noticed that the error started reappearing. I continued my work happily away until I realized it today. It makes me feel really stupid. Its not that I wasted a week of work (since I am still learning, I am not actually doing much work, just running trial stuff to learn how things work). But its still frustrating.

In other news, I can't wait until I get paid next week...

This morning I found a 2 CHF piece in my wallet. There were times in Switzerland that I was so broke (what stupid idiots only pay students' once a month, anyway?) that I really really need that coin. And here I am with it and its totally useless. What a shame! Then Jen had one of the songs that used to be on the radio over there all the time posted on her web page. I decided I finally miss Switzerland.

I definitely had a love-hate relationship with that place. I went from extreme highs to extreme lows about living there. By the time I left, I was so happy to be going home, that the words "I'll miss this" didn't even enter my vocabulary (even though I did experience SOME nostalgia on my "last" bus ride, train ride, walk to the grocery store, gossip session in the nunnery, etc..). Now, I can definitely say I miss it. Not enough to want to live there for 10 years, mind you, but enough to get all nostalgiac because of a coin and a song.

Otherwise, nothing exciting planned for today, I was kind of a slacker yesterday, so I have to catch up on some stuff.

A terribly normal weekend

So, much to my mothers' amusement, on Saturday, I went to a Pampered Chef party. Now, let me explain - I didn't really have much choice about going. The woman I am living with invited me, and she knows full well that I didn't have any plans for the weekend. AND she also knows that I have next to nothing for my kitchen. It would have been a hard one to say, "Thanks for inviting me, but those things are silly, but you go ahead and have fun." So I went. There was food there anyway. (For those of you who do not know what a Pampered Chef part is, its like a Tupperware Party, but instead of plastic bowls, they try to sell you high priced kitchen items).

Anyway, it turned out to be very fun. All the women there either worked for NASA or met each other through a Star Trek club they all belonged too. I guess having this party was like the last vestige of girliness left to these people :). They weren't very comparable to the normal housewife set on Savage Dr. (where I used to live) that had weekly tupperware parties. But I'm glad that my going amused my mom.

Then, on Sunday, I got my cellphone re-connected (yeah!) so you can call me again. Then, I spent the whole afternoon doing one of my favorite things - sitting at the Borders' coffee shop, reading the New York Times. It was very pleasant.

And in the mail room

I was also very excited to get a letter from Karen. This is a rare but special event when she puts pen to paper and writes me a letter. In other mail, I got my TX drivers' license, my car title, several bills...

Oh, and the PS newsletter. The newsletter I found even more amusing. It could really be titled "the Karen newsletter." There were 4 articles. Karen's picture appeared in two of them (one in the backgroun of Jen on the Vomit Comet and one in the center of a picture about Sara Cames' internship with the Supreme Court). Her name appeared in the article about Jen winning a new scholarship. And in the article about Andy Ozmet winning the Marshall Scholarship, Karen got 2 of the 6 paragraphs. That makes Karen's precense in 3 out of 4 of the articles. I have to admit, I was mentioned once - in the Jen article. But my name was spelled wrong. Even funnier was even though I was in the Jen article "Becca Kutri-Cohart (AE 01)" that acknowledged my graduation date, I did not make the list of graduated seniors (I know I sent a blurb about my exciting post-graduation plans). But I don't feel too overlooked. Karen, the star of the newsletter, did not make the list of graduated seniors either.

Yesterday, my badge got keyed to go into Mission Control. (Not that I have any reason to go there.. yet..) This is very exciting for me. They gave me a key to Mission Control. A little part of me thinkg, "What? Are they crazy?" and finds it so funny that this type of stuff is mundane here. Anyway, for me this is a pretty cool thing. When I worked down at KSC in Florida, I didn't get a key for anything, only temporary authorizations, 'must be escorted at all times' kind of passes. I guess the awe and mystery thing hasn't left me yet. :)

Other than that, yesterday was a normal, productive day (one more day without a cell phone, how sad). That's about that.

And since I haven't posted song lyrics here in a while, my tribute to Texas is this Dixie Chicks song, Wide Open Spaces (since it seems like the country music channels are the only ones with halfway decent music in the mornings).

Who Doesn't Know What I'm Talking About

Who's Never Left Home, Who's Never Struck Out

To Find A Dream And A Life Of Their Own

A Place In The Clouds, A Foundation Of Stone

Repeat Chorus

She Knows The High Stakes

She Knows The High Stakes

She Knows The High Stakes

She Knows The High Stakes

A Blah Day

Yesterday was a very blah day. I spent most of the day strangely tired and writing a MATLAB code to make something go faster and more effeciently than it had before (I'll skip the boring technobabble on the subject). Actually, I didn't get much done because my splitting headache kept me from concentrating to hard. But today I woke up totally refreshed.

Identity Problems

I've had three days of excitement over my cell phone. And now the excitement is over. Why? Because VoiceStream discontinued my service. This really really infuriates me, because I signed a contract with the dealer saying I bought the phone at a special price ($50 instead of $200 some other places were selling it for) and I would only have 3 days to return it. Of course, it was the fourth day when my coverage was discontinued.

Why, you ask, would they stop providing me with cell phone service. I have about as reasonable credit as any 22 year old could have (no loans, only a little credit card debt, a history of timely payments...). Because, they don't believe I am ME!

This may serve as a warning to Karen, I guess, but I have had the worst trouble re-establishing my identity since I have graduated college and return to Switzerland. Matters were already bad when I had half my bills going to my Florida address and the other half going to my Atlanta address, but that was explainable because of the whole college thing. Matters got worse when I went to get my Texas drivers' license and they shredded my Florida one, only giving me a sheet of paper to serve as a temporary license until they mailed me a new one - what kind of backward state is this, where they can't print you a drivers' license on the spot? Thank god I have my passport and my pilots license (that proves my social security number, since my social security card is with the movers) or I would totally be at a loss. Oh, yeah, and to get car insurance I even had to provide my Swiss ID card and my work permit to prove I had been living there.

So, to get my cell phone reinstated, they need no less than the following: 1. Passport 2. Permanent Drivers' License with Photo 3. Utility Bill with my name on it (impossible until I move to my new apartment) 4. Swiss ID card 5. Copy of a pay check stub 6. Copy of my social security card 7. Lease agreement (again, impossible until I move into my new apartment)

Oh, yeah, and all this information must be faxed to them from an authorized VoiceStream center. Apparently the place in the mall where I bought my cell phone is not one of these, and the nearest one is somewhere in downtown Houston.

Grumble grumble. This is very very frustrating.

So, the point of the story is don't call my cell phone anytime soon.

I am completely wiped out today for some reason. I don't understand why. I am well rested, well fed, well oriented. Well, everything.

Last night I went and saw the astronauts debrief. It made me want to become an astronaut (ok, so, I already wanted that... but if it didn't, it would've made me want to be one).

Work today was quasi-productive. I am writing a MATLAB code to make something faster. The technobabble would probably be beyond 95% of my readers, so I will just stick to that. Anyway, I, as usual, frustrated myself looking for the right command to make MATLAB do what I wanted it to do. But its working now. I am becoming more of a programming whiz everyday, in the last week, I learned more about UNIX than cumulatively in my entire life. What an accomplishment!

I have decided after being here two weeks, I am about ready to find some friends. Its very strange working. Not like school, or an internship, where there's this group of people all thrown into a new situation together (the extreme example of this is the intern crowd in Switzerland). Instead, everyone I have met so far is already entrenched in their world here. I think, hopefully, I will meet new people in the Training Academy classes that start on Feb. 5. But that's a long time to wait to have movie and dinner and other random stuff companions (though my roommate is fabulously entertaining).

So, that is my excitement. I am still thrilled with my cell phone. And I have scheduled a day for the movers to drop off my stuff (thank heavens for President's Day holiday..) Oh, and even better, Sarah, Karen and I are planning "AE Female Mafia Takes on the World, Part Kabillion" by taking a road trip in Scotland next fall. I am very very excited about that.

So, I actually tried this once, and accidently put the entry on Sarah's page, because my office computer had somehow stored her password and I didn't notice. AND THEN, when I tried to go back and delete the entry, when I finally did notice it posted to Sarah's instead of my journal, the computer conveniently forgot her password. So, now I am sitting here running code, and I can try again.

Where am I?

There is a lot of speculation as to this question. My current address is:

131 Greenshire Dr., League City, TX 77573

On Feb. 15, I will move to my new apartment at:

1201 Enterprise Ave., Apt 713, League City, TX, 77573

Don't worry about mail during the transitional period, I will stop by and pick up mail at the Greenshire address until everything is crossed over.

I am really really excited about the new apartment. When I was 12 years old, the fact that my address was on Enterprise Ave. would have amazed me and excited me so much I would be shaking in my boots (I'm working on that Texan slang, but I haven't quite perfected it to my valley-girl level). Now, I just think its pretty darn cool.

This weekend, while shopping, I also broke down and bought a cell phone (I had intended on waiting, but... well, I was going through withdrawl). The number is:

832 - 419 - 0602

And, I have to say, I think my cell phone is really impressive (though Karen is the only one who could understand why, possibly). It has the European chip in it, and through an agreement with Deutches-Telecom, it can actually be used in Europe. So, if I ever go back for a visit...

And, on furniture shopping..

I also went furniture shopping this weekend. I need SOO much. I fell in love with this light brown couch that I could sink into. It was made of soft leather (almost suede like, not couchy leather) and looked like bomber jacket. But it didn't meet my other two criteria: cheap and with a roll out bed. All I can say on the furniture front is thank the heavens for IKEA.

Today was fairly uneventful. The newly appointed NASA Administrator, Sean O'Keefe came to speak today. He seemed fairly likeable and personable. He's only been on the job 3 days, so he really hasn't make any specific decisions about NASA, so the content of his speech was fairly limited to: "NASA's cool, keep up the good work." We'll just say that the Becca-era at NASA started at nearly the exact same time as the O'Keefe-era, so you can decide who to blame when things go wrong (lowly, inexperienced staff engineer or political demigod?). Give me a few years, maybe I will be running the place.

Today, once again, work was good. This is coupled with the fact that the weather is UNBELIEVABLY nice. Unfortunately, it looks like it is going to rain all this weekend (which, happily, is a three day weekend - isn't working for the government fun?). The only frustration is trying to get Exceed on my computer (yet one more evil Microsoft product).

And along that line of thought... Irwin emailed me to let me know he's either going to Japan or Barcelona over the week of July 4th. Maybe if he picks Japan, I'll try to save up for a plane ticket to meet him there. The incredible non-sequitor: is it really the Irwin I used to know that is VOLUNTARILY leaving the country? of his own free will?. Some people amaze me sometimes when they do things that out of character. I don't know if I am more impressed or surprised.

Working Girl....

So, quick update: I picked an apartment in League City, about 20 minutes drive from work with a beautiful marina view and allows large dogs. Work started mostly uneventfully, they already had a stack of things waiting for me to do, so I've been kept busy. Starting Feb. 5 I will be in Training Academy classes pretty much full-time. I am really really really excited about my job though, so far the people have been awesome, and the work looks like its going to be interesting (though, that's hard to judge after only 2 days).

Let's see, the only work snag is my current background check statis. Though I submitted the forms back in June, they didn't appreciate the fact that I filled in too many blocks of foreign countries traveled to (and this was both BEFORE my backpacking trip and Switzerland experience). Somehow, they want me to find the PRECISE dates of ALL my visits to Canada in the last TEN years. Yeah, sure, right. I petitioned for a waiver of that particularly lengthy process, and I think they've settled for knowing the approximate months.

FYI you international travellers (Sarah, Jen, Karen, et al.), apparently if you ever actually apply for a Secret clearance, not just a standard background check, they need the exact dates of each country visited (no waivers) in the last 5-10 years (depending on the agency), so start keeping track now.

Let's see, other news and excitement.

The radio situation here is rather sad, unless I can grow to appreciate Spanish rock, Christian music, or Country Western. I am slowly growing to appreciate Tex-Mex food (having eaten it for several days in a row), maybe I'll be a convert.

Right now I am wreathing in disappointment becausae Sarah just told me that Tom Cruise, Penelope Cruz, and Tom's kids were touring the center yesterday for some IMAX movie he is narrating and I missed them!!! I didn't even know they were here (neither did anyone in my group). My one opportunity to see how sexy Tom is off-screen, wasted!

And the weather is ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY beautiful - clear skies, cool breeze, sunny warmth.

Musings...

I am using a computer at the Kinko's right next to the Homewood Suites. High speed internet is SOOOO wonderful. Anyway, Sarah, Jen, and Karen, I am reminscing about our microgravity trip (unlike Karen's recent memories of miserable illness during that trip, my nostalgia is fairly pleasant.)

I also really enjoyed the laugh I got out of reading Jen's random ramblings of the resume of our AE profs. She has discovered that our revered and much loved (by everyone but those of us that didn't enjoy being spoonfed airplane designs from 20 years ago) senior design prof Jenkins not only has never earned a "Dr" before his name, but in fact, never actually even earned the equivelent of a bachelor's degree. No wonder he resents those of us with motivation to pursue our education. Though I would have thought that Dr. Schrage or V. Smith would've won the award for the oldest degree. She was also suprised the Mavris and M. Smith got their degrees at GT - So did Professors Eric Johnson, Tim Llewyn, and Stefan Dancila (actually its been about 5 years that we've gotten a professor from outside GT) ...

And the house hunt continues...

So, as you may know, I toyed with the idea of buying a house. But unfortunately, all the places I found that appealed to me both in location and being less than 10 years old fall in the 200,000 dollar price range. Humph. Now, I could get a fairly nice house for 100,000 dollars or a condo (but one with no view). BUT I also found this lovely, if small, brand new apartment in League City that I adore that has a view of a harbor, resort, marina, and lighthouse from the patio (and it allows dogs up to 100 pounds)!!.... And then there is the inevitable trade off from the other apartment I found with 100 sqft more, and a kinda water view, but mostly a park view, in a much older complex, no dogs allowed, but is a $150 savings.

Whatever will I decide? Family - I may make random phone calls to you tonight about the subject. Or call me: 281/334/0906

But the most entertaining part

The women who show these condos are definitely from the same mold that I can describe in detail now: 20/something, too much makeup, Barbie-like figure, a plaster grin... They ask the same questions. The conversation everytime goes something like this:

Becca: Hi, I need a place to live.

Barbie: And how much are you looking to spend?

Becca: Oh, about 700 dollars a month, give or take. I'd like to see your one and two bedroom floor plans.

Barbie: Oh! Big spender! You must have a great job. Where do you work?

Becca: NASA

Barbie: (gushing) How exciting what a great job it must make you rich and famous.

Becca: Um, not rich. Probably not famous either.

Barbie: Oh, but if you work for NASA let me show you our 1000 per month unit.

Becca: Look, I just graduated college and the government is not actually known for its competitive salaries, give me a break.

And the final rant of the day...

When did cell phones get so expensive??? I went cell phone shopping and it seems I can't get long distance without paying something like $60/month. And even then, most of my time is after 9 p.m. or on weekends... And the only phones you can get for free are those disgusting hershey bar shaped Nokia's, the old school kind. I have to pay $200 for a flippy phone!

It was a lovely, wonderful time skiing in Killington, VT. The conditions were absolutely wonderful. And, suprising for a holiday weekend, there were no lift lines and no crowds. It was just the right mix of low intensity skiing with Rob (my half brother), Rob (my cousin), and Katie, all very cute beginner ski bunnies and more intense skiing with our family friends. I have to say I did chicken out of some of the double blacks that I probably could have done - but I figured my two week lapse of no health insurance probably means I should at least kind avoid things that may cause me to break a bone. Anyway it was fun.

More eventfully, I learned something horrifying/ridiculous about my family. It will definitely go in the soap opera-book I tend to write, kind of fictionalizing my family's life (don't worry I intend on changing some of the names and toning down some of the more racey scenes). But, I'm afraid, you will have to wait to hear the whole story when the rest of it unfolds. All I'll say is women's intuition is a wonderful thing, and I completely lack it, but apparently Alex, a 17 year old family friend, has it in full force...

As for my move... well all the stuff is gone. My car. My computer. Everything. Movers are wonderful. I breathed a sigh of relief when they left. A few hours later, panic hit: I just gave all my worldy possessions to some total strangers. Will I ever see them again?

Happy New YEAR!!

I know its been a little while since my last update. Ok. A long while. We had a lovely drive up from Florida (no traffic, unlike the hideous trip down). I introduced my Aunt Diane to the wonders of driving without stopping for an hour every two hours - strait through, with running in for gas, food and bathroom. She was whining a lot about it, but then was suddenly delighted when we arrived in D.C. at 7 pm instead of her original projection of 10 pm.

Florida was awesome. Wish I could've stayed longer. I loved visiting everyone! I need to start planning for my next trip, but now this work thing will probably get in the way (sigh).

And the inevitable party

Anyway, after one of the best pizzas I've had in my life (thanks Karen for pointing out the local Pizzeria Uno to my Aunt Diane), I headed to old Alexandria to the twins' house for a New Years Eve part. First, I have to say, I loved their house. Its one of those brownstones that you only find in urban residential areas like in DC or Philadelphia or Boston. Three floors. A beautiful living room with bookshelves built into the wall around the fireplace. Oh, I wish I could find a place like that in Houston - but somehow, I picture it as more a northeast house layout.

The party was great. Somehow I think they made a profit by charging a 10 dollar cover. Their friends were awesome. It was even cooler that they were all "normal" people... By "normal" I mean they were NOT engineers or scientists. I need to find more of these people to hang out with. I talked to a few International Relations students specializing in strategic studies of eastern Europe. Then I talked to some law students about product liability. Then I talked to an aspiring fiction writer (she's actually writing full time) about exercising to encourage creativity (something I need, because despite all my expository writing, I find it almost impossible to write fiction). Then, I argued Israeli politics with some very right-wing zionist extremists. Oh, and we drank and gambled for prizes.

I met Sharon's new cat - Etilda Archibald. ETilda is because it looks like ET. ArchiBALD because, well, its BALD. Its a kitten (a sphynx) and looks like a baby Mr. Bigglesworth. So ugly, she's kind of cute. Unfortunately, there were also two other kittens in the house that did actually have hair, which triggered a post midnight allergy attack and I had to leave before 2 am. But it was a really awesome party, I am so glad I went. I really miss the twins. My high school friendships and my college friendships are about 180 degrees opposite. Both types I value completely, but they are completely different. I formed my closest friendships in college because of shared interests, shared activities, shared career goals. I have none of those things in common with my high school friends, but everytime we get together, everything is instantaneously rekindled. Sometimes I feel like my college friendships would become much more strained if we weren't in constant contact (there are a few exceptions to that generalization, and I consider those exceptions my closest college friends). I don't know, its just different. Maybe I will see more of them if I go back to DC in a few years from now to do my masters in Public Policy (an idea that sounds more appealing everyday).

And, finally, on the move

Well, the movers are here and packing. Its so satisfying. You know, all my life, I have done my own packing. My parents never worked for a big company that provided movers, so when we moved, at least in my memory, we moved ourselves. And then, there's the coming and going from college - I had help, but still, by myself and the kindness of famiy and friends. But it was a nightmare. It is a nightmare. I love living in new places, but the process of moving is AWFUL. Oh, how I love movers...

Now, I just need to find a place to live in Houston that I can afford and has a nice view of the water. Anyone looking for a roommate??