I think I'm going sailing this weekend...

No other plans, but maybe some sleeping. The weather is pretty foul (rainy) today, but that's ok, because I can count the number of times it has rained since I moved to Houston in Jan. on one hand. And it keeps the temperature pleasant and mild. I don't see why all these people complain about the Houston weather, this is the first place I have ever lived in my life where it hasn't been stifling hot by Memorial Day weekend. So, I am expecting a few really hot, oppressive summer months, before it becomes fall again. But that's the norm - too be expected from Phildalephia, Atlanta, and South Florida, so, I am not too concerned. At least we have air conditioning (unlike many public buildings in Philadelphia - such as the schools!)

I bought a ticket to do a stint in Philadelphia the weekend of June 15 - yippeee, another random trip!

Sarah put more pictures of our Half Dome hike HERE. I guess she was properly chastised about no pictures of me :) because there are a bunch on this page. Make sure you read the sign that says "If you go over the falls, you WILL die." It made me laugh thinking about it the whole hike.

My Onion horoscope said this week:It's been said that there are only two things that come out of Texas: steers and queers. You're going to change all that.

Sarah has posted the pictures of our Half Dome Hike here. So you can see the absolutely lovely scenery and hear a lot more about our trip. Unfortunately, it seems she didn't take any pictures of me (except the last one in Mist Falls, but the shadow with the walking stick - that's my outline) - or perhaps all the pictures of me were hideously ugly, and then Sarah wisely hid them from public consumption (which I thank her for). When I get my pictures developed, I'll post them online too - but I didn't take all that many, I don't know why - the scenery was actually very inspiring. But the good news is, you can see all the beautiful scenery we passed and get an idea of just how huge Half Dome is.

The rest of my trip was wonderful. Despite my claims of pain in my description yesterday of the Half Dome hike, I am really glad we did it, and I am overall, very glad I made the trip out west.

I saw Spiderman (again), toured a bit of Stanford (the hill-less part), and at Sarah's suggestion, we went out to a sushi dinner. I was so happy - not since Irwin and George moved to the tundras of the Pacific Northwest has anyone other than me suggested sushi for dinner. Yesterday, I basically traveled all day. And today, work.



FYI: I posted some of the better pictures on my geocities picture site, here.

Iam back from the Yosemite Half-Dome adventure. Pictures will be forethcoming from my hiking buddy Sarah

Otherwise, tomorrow or Wednesday, I will post links to the pictures.

Now, before I get into the REALLY long portion of this diary entry about my fabulous scenic trip to visit Sarah, let me say something. When I said to Sarah "I am coming to visit you, let's go to Yosemite, I've always wanted to go there." I was thinking sleep a night or two in a tent, take a walk in the woods, not climb a 9000 foot mountain. Though, when she said, "Let's go up Half Dome", I knew it would be my next adventure.

One of the most painful experiences of my life

8 miles, pretty much constantly uphill. The total elevation gain was 4900 feet (we started at about 4000 feet above sea level, and ascended to 8500+ feet) - however with some of the downhill portions, and then to have to go back uphill it was probably more than that. I made it to the base of the cables that went to the last 400 feet to the top. I didn't actually get to go up the cables because I walk like a snail (especially uphill) and it was time to turn around to walk the 8 miles down 5000 feet back to the car before sunset. Sarah, however, gave up on yelling at me to walk faster and ended up about an hour and a half ahead of me, and did in fact make it to the top.

Now, that said, it was an absolutely wonderful experience. As I came down, I kept thinking to myself (as I was practically arresting my fall on the steep decline of our descent), why did I ever think I could do this? But, of course, I did (all except the last 400 feet). I hurt so much I couldn't walk once I sat down in the car. Today I decided I'd definitely like to do it again (when I am in slightly better shape!)

Now for the pretty part

So, now, for the walk, the beauty, the splendor of Yosemite. When we drove into the park at around 6 a.m., the first thing we passed was El Capitan. This is apparently the Capstone of a climbers' career. We read in the brochure that climbing it takes 4 to 8 days, and the climbers just camp on ledges on the way up. It took my breath away and my heart beat faster just thinking about someone scaling that rock. I might be adventurous, but if it scares me just to look at it...

The first part of the hike, we went to Vernal Falls. Pretty waterfalls, little bridge, and then must keep going. This is where the trail started getting steep, switching back and forth.

Finally it leveled off as we approached Nevada Falls, after about 2000 feet of our elevation gain. 9 a.m., breakfast. There was a sign by the falls "If you fall in, you will die." Yep, it was a long way down to the valley floor.

There were two things that struck me on the way to the falls. One, while I was all alone on the trail, walking with rock on one side of me and the valley floor on the other, I felt like I was in Lord of the Rings. Two, I finally got a clear view of Half Dome. It was SO far away and so high up, I couldn't believe I expected to get there and CLIMB IT in one day.

The second half of the way to half dome was grueling. It wasn't nearly as scenic (though it had its moments), and was a steady, continuous uphill battle. Finally I made it to a marker that said "2 miles", CLOSE! About an hour after that I made it to a view point where I could see all of Half Dome, the valley, and the Sierras peaking up in the distance. By this time, Sarah had already left me (I was going slow), and Half Dome still seemed REALLY far. It was about 12:15, and my self enforced turn around time was 2:30. But I decided not to stop.

This is where the trees ended and the slab of granite began. I walked over one hill, and then there were haphazardly constructed granite stairs that took you up about the first 400 feet of Half Dome (the second 400 involves pulling yourself up a 55 degree incline on a rope). Now, Karen holds the record for climbing the MOST (quantity) of stairs with me (at 800 stairs up the side of a glacier in Switzerland), but these, in fact, were the hardest stairs I ever climbed.

I got to the top of the stairs, and the bottom of the ropes (its kind of a flat part) at about 2 p.m. and crashed. At about 2:10, I was ready to start up the ropes, but I saw Sarah coming down and was reminded of the turnaround time and the need to get home before dark. I was really enjoying the view. There was Half Dome, the valley floor, the mountains all around. I felt like I could see everything. Sarah tried to assure me (perhaps as a concilitory gesture) that the view was about the same on top of half dome, but there was a coolness factor to be on the top. Oh well, it was a pretty huge accomplishment to get where I was anyway, NEXT TIME I'll make it to the top.

I didn't think the walk back down was going to be as hard as it was. After all, gravity is a wonderful thing. But I started to develop a headache which lead into dizziness. I had been drinking tons of water, but maybe I needed to eat more, or it was the altitude, but all the way down to Nevada falls (about halfway to the car) the world spun around me. Still, like expected, we were making pretty good time coming down (compared to up).

Because I was feeling better, we decided to take a different trail down - the Mist Trail. It was anout 1 mile shorter than the way we came up, which meant it was significantly steeper (since we had to lose the same amount of altitude). This involved granite steps. It was beautiful though - we walked down the side of the waterfall. And then about halfway down the trail, we basically walked through the waterfall, or at least its mist, getting soaking wet (we did have raincoats).

So, after this, I basically dragged myself to the car, willing my legs to take each step. I forced myself to eat dinner (despite having exerted a huge amount of energy, I wasn't all that hungry, but knew I needed to eat). Forced myself to shower, and then collapsed in bed.

And...

For my next vacation, I would firmly like to go someplace with no hills (maybe a beach), were the most energy I expend is going from the hamock to the lounge chair, and a handsome man will serve me a colorful drink with a little umbrella. As a matter of fact, I am really looking forward to returning to Houston, where it is very unlikely I will even have to look at a hill, let alone climb one.

I am safe and sound in at Stanford. I just tested our waterproof matches, they do, in fact, stay lit under water. Tonight was fun, ate Lebanese food, Nick (Sarah's friend) impressively spoke Arabic to the waiters, and just hung out. Now I am tired because the time change stinks.

Today I leave for San Francisco! Whoo hoo!

Now, because I am taking Tuesday off and also taking a training class Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, I actually have a lot to do in the 4 hours I'll be at work this morning. Too much as a matter of fact.

Last night I dropped Apache off at Kathleen's for the weekend. My apartment was SO quiet. It was strange not timing things so I could take her out, feed her, take her out again and again and again (part of the whole housebreaking thing). Also, it was strange being woken by my alarm clock at 7 a.m. instead of bark-whining at 6 a.m.

Jen and Sarah are talking about people who leave college, have trouble adjusting, and then get married and have children to fill the void left by the absense of college chaos. I suggest those people get a puppy - any lack of noise and activity in my life was completely filled by that, and it doesn't involve a wedding or anything!! Add to that a compulsive need to volunteer for everything that interests you, and its not so quiet after all - maybe a little less social, but you know, binge drinking and random middle of the night conversations while you are avoiding stressing out for your 8 a.m. exam that you haven't studied for yet get old after a while anyway - and are likely to cause severe health problems if you keep up that schedule for a lifetime. And I grant its a little harder to meet single men out here in the "real" world, but, if your only waiting for the "right" one, he'll be around somewhere - after all if you are waiting for Mr. Right, its not numbers you're looking for, its just one person. And even if you don't find the right guy, you are a happy and fulfilled spinster, which is fine with me too, because it means more freedom to travel the world, seek out new opportunities, etc. without worrying how your kids and husband will adjust to your decision to move to Anarctica for a year!

For the engineers, the summary of what I just said: Puppy + activities means you can wait until the love of your life appears, without "settling" because you are lonely. Because work does not = loneliness.

Q.E.D. So, Sarah, the point is, I agree with you, it is possible to wait for the right one instead of just taking the first one available. Anyway, you are much less likely to divorce the greatest love of your life than someone you settled for just because he gave you shiny ring and you were lonely.

Now, how was that? How often do you hear me philosophize on love?? :)

I'm feeling settled in my new office, and plan on being a very productive citizen today. I found out Univ. of Colorado is offering an onsite graduate class this summer in rendevous, docking, and space debris. I'm thinking of taking it and seeing how it goes, how I like Colorado (hm, in Houston), etc. Plus all the guys in my group are taking it, so I would have people to study with and such.

Other than that, I have a lot of work to do, because next week I'll be gone on Tuesday, and I'm taking a training class on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, so I won't be here at all.

So, I moved offices this morning - from windowed room, to quasi-room with no windows. But its ok, 'cause its all mine (until Sarah arrives). There are some gliches in the system though, and I'm not quite all set up yet (apparently the movers won't move the whiteboard from one wall to another - I have to call construction for that, so currently my whiteboard is behind a bookcase, which is silly, and it means I don't want to load up the bookcase yet - ah, the government, the unions, the stupid safety rules that prevent me from erecting the whiteboard myself!).

Sarah sprained her ankle. Hopefully it will be better for our adventure on Sunday. I also got an email from Sarah's friend Nick. This is really funny, because I always say that Nick hates me. Actually, Nick just doesn't really know me, except for the first and only time I met him and a conversation on the phone where I was very typically untactful. So, he hates me :). Also typical of Sarah's friends (can we say "Carter", though Carter and I eventually learned to get along pretty well after a long summer of long nights at the 'Nique office). Anyway, it was pretty funny.

Ok, that's my rambling. Back to unpacking my 3 boxes of stuff.

My cute adorable little puppy is such a spazoid!

Ok, that said, nothing else exciting here. I am getting psyched for my California stint this weekend. Though Sarah was complaining about a hurt ankle. Maybe that will slow her up enough to hike at my pace. We're doing the half-dome hike, a strenous, 17 mile, 4000 foot altitude gain (topping out at 8800+ feet), up a 55 degree incline where you drag yourself up by cables. Anyway, here's one description of it. And here is is on live web cam.

Anyway, I'm psyched, even if my jog this morning really sucked. There was an add in a magazine about running shoes. It said "Running is not supposed to be fun. Running is HARD." That's how I feel about it. I need to find more fun ways to exercise.

It was a good weekend. The weather on Sunday was absolutely gorgeous - cool, breezey, sunny. I only hope that next weekend will be the same for my little excursion to San Francisco. I did lots of random things, watched the boats, and generally had a good time this weekend. I went to a coffee shop for a meeting on Sunday, and someone there told me that when I go to San Fran, we have to go to fisherman's warf and look for the street "performer" who hides behind the bushes and jumps out to scare passers-by. We should be able to spot him by the crowd standing on the other side of the stree waiting for him to scare his next victim. I think that's too funny...

Grandma Treptow/Kohart called me yesterday to invite me to a graduation party for my cousin Emily. She's graduating a year early from high school 'cause my aunt (her mother) is moving to Orgeon and she's just that smart. So, anyway, I am going to try to find a plane ticket back to Philly for the weekend - it will be nice to see everyone...

In other randomnessJen posted some simple statistics that show why feminism is not an outdated/unnecessary concept.

Its raining SO hard here. My back yard were I usually walk Apache is FLOODED (more like a swimming pool). The lightineng and thunder was impressive. It was the strange kind of light up the whole sky lightening - I'm so used to the crackling bolts that we see in Florida. It was LOUD all night. I rewarded myself with StarBucks on the way to work this morning for surviving the storm mostly dry.

As for yesterday...

Star Wars II: Attack of the Clones gets my glowing review! It rocked. All I have to say is Yoda is one kick-ass gnome who doesn't really need his cane. "Lost a planet, it seems Master Obi Won has." I want to be a JEDI!!!

And in nostalgia

Sarah is reminscing about our two days in Fussen (oh, I just had a sad relization that I was using a computer that didn't have a key for the "u" with two dots over it... very strange Swiss moment, I hope this doesn't send me back to mixing up my y's and z's.) Anyway, that was definitely one of the highlight-cities of the trip (its probably a tie between Fussen and Cava di Terreni in southern Italy for my favorite). Its actually really funny that she posted that message, because I think it was just yesterday that Gavin and I were talking about Fussen, as it turns out his family spent a whole week there once on a vacation. Its such a cool place.

And then Jen is posting all her packing and traveling plans. What a nice trip she's got planned - she's going to places that I haven't been yet too which makes me doubley jealous! I guess I just need to hold out a few more months for roadtrip Scotland with Karen and then another year with hopefully two weeks somewhere exotic with my brother Nick.

The golf scramble yesterday went swimmingly. I use swimmingly because of the number of balls lost in the water, as the golf course was more like a beach resort (with its water hazards and sand traps on every hole) than a field of greens. Anyway, I lost about 18 balls. But its ok, because I think that most of my foursome lost more than I did. The best was when I hit this beautiful drive right over the water hazard (this was my job on the team, as the women's tee had far less distance to travel over water than the men's did), and BONG, it caught an edge on this tall tree (yes we all heard the kerplunk), turned 180 degrees and ended up back in the water.

Ok, anyway, you will all be happy to know, I didn't embarrass myself. We used more than my minimum of 2 drives. I even had one mulligan left when the game ended and about 4 inches of string. (They let each of us "buy" two mulligans and a yard of string).

We finished with an 87 raw score, and the bizarre method of calculating handicaps ended up in our favor because we had like 5 over par on one of the holes they used for that calculation, giving us a -15, so we ended up with 72, placing us dead in the center of the rankings (so, alas, we won no cash, but on the other hand, we didn't earn the distinction of being the WORST). I wonder how the astronaut team did...?

I also proved to be a kick-ass golf cart driver. This is a new thing to me, because on the rare occasion that I went golfing with my father, we walked the course, dragging our clubs behind us on a little wheely cart. I have to say, the golf cart makes it much more interesting. We went off-roading in it more than once :) Matt (one of my co-workers) kept saying "This isn't an ATV its a golf cart!" before burrying his head in his lap, closing his eyes, and screeching like a girl. Ok, maybe I'm exaggerating there. But it was fun.

And... Today... STAR WARS on an extended lunch break.

Yesterday while I was at work, my 3.5 month old puppy figured out how to clear the four foot baby gate that confines her to the kitchen (which was up, untouched) and spend the day tearing through my apartment and being her unhousebroken self in every room she could get into (all but my bedroom closet, since I didn't think to shut the doors). Yes, Apache's new name will be "WONDERDOG!". Since my drill crapped out and I couldn't raise the baby gate, she is spending the day in her crate. Hope it goes well.

I was talking to Jen about Australia, and I realized there is only four years left until our AE renunion there. Better start saving!

Today: Golf!

I've been getting lots of emails from my random working-in-Switzerland friends. They are pretty much all leaving this month (you see, its much more normal to do a year term there, not six months like I did, so the ones who started approximately when I did are leaving about now - of course the Australians left a couple of months ago for their "fall" term). The party announcements that have somehow made it to me have been amazing. I didn't even know it was possible to have the types of crazy parties we did, but there was always an excuse, and it was always fun. Something about being in a conservative country with a 10 p.m. lights-out rule must lend itself to parties. Anyway, most of them are spending the summer traveling. I am jealous. Jen is traveling too. I am doubley jealous. I can't wait for even my little 'ole week in Scotland this fall. And that's not enough, darnit!

In other stuff...

Last night I was actually out late, as I was somehow dragged onto the planning board of a group trying to put together a Young-People-of-JSC vision document. I was only attending the open-invite-everyone-should-come-brainstorming meetings. Really. Just trying to avoid being my usual proactive but tactless self, while still letting my opinions be known (I am new here, after all, and I figure I should let them get a little used to me before jumping right in). Anyway, one of my co-workers is on the planning board, and next thing I know, off I go into a more-responsibility position. Why oh why can I never just be a MEMBER of something without ending up on a planning board or something ridiculous??? Oh, I complain, but probably somewhere deep inside I like it which is why these things keep happening.

And tomorrow to make a fool of myself

And tomorrow is the division golf scramble. So, not having played 18 holes since I was in the 9th grade, and having only gone to the driving range a few times in 10 years, I will be playing. :)

The survey of the day is who would I be if I was an 80s video game character. I came out with a four-way split personality. But my favorite line in all of them was: when I'm angered, I can be a devil - if you force me to fight, I will crush you. With apples.

I am a Pacman Ghost. I like to hang around with friends, chatting, dancing, all that sort of thing. We don't appreciate outsiders, and do our best to discourage others approaching us. I enjoy occasionally wandering around randomly, and often find that when I do so, I get to where I wanted to be. What Video Game Character Are You?

I am a Space-invader. I will happily recruit the help of friends to aid me in getting what I want. I have no tolerance for people getting in my way, and I am completely relentless until any threats or opposition are removed. I try to be down-to-earth, but something always seems to get in the way. What Video Game Character Are You? I am Mr Do. I am sedentary by nature, enjoying passive entertainment, eating when the mood takes me, and playing with my food. I try to avoid conflict, but when I'm angered, I can be a devil - if you force me to fight, I will crush you. With apples. What Video Game Character Are You? posted 08:43 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0) May 10, 2002 books and couscous and yummy bread Last night I had a very very good dinner. I stopped at the grocery store and bought some fresh bread - something I haven't done since Switzerland, and severely miss, mostly because "English Toast" (that's your typical loaf of bread) is not fresh, is bleached, and overall yucky in comparison. Anyway, the bread was still warm, and soft, and yummy. So I used it to make brushetta, and then I made couscous, and ate it with pieces of bread. (I still can't roll my couscous into solid balls in the palm of my hand like the Moroccans can, c'est la vie). mmm, my mouth is watering just thinking about it. My weekend plans include a stint of sailing on Sunday. Otherwise, I really need to clean my apartment (especially wash the floors) and read books (I bought a bunch in the last few days, and they are calling to me becca, read me, you know you want to, its echoing in my head) posted 08:43 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0) May 09, 2002 training class hell Yes, Mom and Karen, I have dropped off the face of the planet (Karen, stop giving my mom these ideas!). Anyway, the reason for my extended departure and sporadic entries this week was not just my foray to Florida, but, in fact, because I have been in training class hell. So, since you missed my entries so much, I am going to bore you with a REALLY long rambling entry. Training classes Its funny which classes I have liked and not like, but as a part of my 3 year "internship" program, I had to take certain classes on certain topics. So, last week, to fulfill some of these requirements, I took a class called "Understanding Space". It was about 60% a waste of time, as we went over very simple astrodynamics (for you techies: "this is inclination" "this is an elliptical orbit" etc.), the other 40% was kind of interesting, because it was about integrating all the systems in a satellite and it followed my favorite textbook (Whhooo hoo SMAD!! that's Space Mission Analysis and Design... it was like my Bible during the space design competitions I worked on...Am I a nerd to have a favorite textbook?). Then, I ran off to Florida and was in the office on Monday. But then, TUESDAY, I went to a class called "STEP: Safety Through Everyone's Protection." Its a required course for everyone who works at JSC. It was 8 hours. It sucked. And the chairs were uncomfortable and the material was common sense. Aren't you glad to know your federal government spends its money on this? Yesterday I went to a class called "Communication Skills for Technical Professionals," which is one of 3 courses I have to take on the subject of communicating (I took "Professional Presentations" last month). I wasn't exactly looking forward to it, because, well, have you ever known ME to have a problem communicating? Anyway, I actually really really enjoyed it. It wasn't so much the course material that was inspiring (I did however learn that I a mix between a socializer and director... anyone surprised?), but the instructor was just really good. He made you want to listen to him (I guess if you are teaching a communications class, you better be able to do that). He was also really really insightful about everyone in the class, that is what surprised me most - it always surprises me when people are just that good at interpretting human nature (I guess since he had like three degrees in psychology, again, he better be good at that). One more famous person missed On Tuesday, Prince Andrew, His Royal Highness, Duke of York (so, BLAH, Karen, I think I got that right) was here for a little visit. I am getting to know this lady in PAO (that's public affairs) whos job it is to coordinate between the famous visiting people and the center director, so she tells me all about this stuff (she really liked the minister of Japan who was here last week). Anyway, I saw H.R.H.'s limo. Unfortunately I didn't see him (there goes any chance I have of becoming a Princess). Yoga canceled and jogging on hold My yoga class was canceled today. Sigh. I really like yoga. There is nothing like an exercise where everytime you start to exert yourself, the instructor dims the lights, turns up the music, and tells you to lie down and close your eyes. As for jogging, well, I've gone the last couple of days, but last night while walking the dog in my new sandles that lift me about 2 inches of the ground, I slipped, and must've twisted my ankle, because it hurts to walk a little bit (though its gotten better), so its on an indefinite hold until I can walk strait again. posted 09:17 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0) May 06, 2002 boca in a nutshell I am back in Houston after a whirlwind trip down to Florida. Let's see, the weekend in a nutshell: ate well (especially Charlie's Crab!), drooled over beautiful boats, saw bits of the most awesome airshow (formerly known as the Shell Air and Sea Show, but now, no "Shell" in the name), visited with G&G and Aunt Theresa (I have so many random relatives that I didn't even know I had), saw Panic Room, bought shoes, and played with David's so-ugly-its-cute dog. I was also really surprised that yesterday was Cinco de Mayo (May 5), because that's the day I graduated a year ago!! I can't actually believe its been a whole year. In some ways, the time I was away feels like a black hole in my life, because I feel like I just graduated a few months ago. Now, back to life :). posted 12:28 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0) May 03, 2002 calls and trips Yeah... I'm going to Florida randomly this weekend. I am going to see Spiderman tonight. And last night, I did a total cliche... When AT&T called and asked me if I wanted to switch long distance services, I did. Why? Because the minutely rates were cheaper (7 cents long distance, 9 cents to England), the flat rate was about 10% of what I pay now (its $3.95 a month), and, best of all, I get 60 minutes free long distance a month and 30 minutes free international a month. Both of the last two months, that's exactly how much long distance calling not on my cell phone I used. So, all is well.. posted 05:09 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0) May 01, 2002 going home randomly I actually went jogging this morning and made it a whole 2 miles. Pretty miserable considering that I got up to about 4 miles in Switzerland. Of course, I was hiking every weekend there. I need to hike more. But where, oh where, in flat ugly Texas. A chemical plant in Pearland (that's about 10 miles away from here) blew up today. There weren't enough fire hydrants in the area to put out the fire. So, they just closed all the schools in the vicinty, shut down the roads, and they are going to let it burn until it runs out of fuel (expected fire length: 72 hours). Anyway, in order to combat pollution, Houston has lowered its speed limit from 65 mph to 55 mph. Talk about trying to kill the beast with a pebble. And the most exciting is... Drum roll please.. I am randomly going home for the weekend. There was a bargain airfare, and so, thanks to mom's help, jumped on it, and I fly back home on Saturday afternoon and come back for work on Monday morning. So, a little whirlwind family, eat well, sleep a bit, maybe hit a bucket of balls with Granddad and see a movie with Grandmother. posted 12:23 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0) going home randomly I actually went jogging this morning and made it a whole 2 miles. Pretty miserable considering that I got up to about 4 miles in Switzerland. Of course, I was hiking every weekend there. I need to hike more. But where, oh where, in flat ugly Texas. A chemical plant in Pearland (that's about 10 miles away from here) blew up today. There weren't enough fire hydrants in the area to put out the fire. So, they just closed all the schools in the vicinty, shut down the roads, and they are going to let it burn until it runs out of fuel (expected fire length: 72 hours). Anyway, in order to combat pollution, Houston has lowered its speed limit from 65 mph to 55 mph. Talk about trying to kill the beast with a pebble. And the most exciting is... Drum roll please.. I am randomly going home for the weekend. There was a bargain airfare, and so, thanks to mom's help, jumped on it, and I fly back home on Saturday afternoon and come back for work on Monday morning. So, a little whirlwind family, eat well, sleep a bit, maybe hit a bucket of balls with Granddad and see a movie with Grandmother. posted 12:23 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0) Piles Of Rock A little bit of hope for the places I'll go, a few memories of the places I've been, and some humdrum in between to fill the white space. 100 Things About Me Gallery January 2005 S M T W T F S 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 Friends Cari * Carter * Chris B * Chris L * Christina * George * Georgy * GTcrows * Irwin * James * Jo * Jen O * Karen * Kelly * Maayan * the Mendecks * Nick S * Sarah Strangers AltHistory * Andrew Sullivan * Astronomy POD * Bad Mother * Bagdad Burning * Chez Miscarriage * Chris Thom * Daily Demarche' * Diplomad * Dooce * Josh Reads * Iceblog * In the Agora * NASAWatch * Prince Roy * Space Politics * TAGs * Talking Points Memo * Unsealed Room * Wil Wheaton * Wonkette recent entries weekend plans and houston weather More pictures of Half Dome Pictures of Yosemtie, and rest of trip HALF DOME! here I am me, philosophizing about love. Blah blah blah la di da half dome random past entries January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 April 2003 March 2003 February 2003 January 2003 December 2002 November 2002 October 2002 September 2002 August 2002 July 2002 June 2002 May 2002 April 2002 March 2002 February 2002 January 2002 December 2001 November 2001 October 2001 September 2001 August 2001 credits photo from intuitiv media Powered by Movable Type 3.121 Syndicate this site (XML)