Scotland, here we come

We (Sarah and I) managed to find a reasonably priced ticket to go to Scotland in September to visit Karen. It isn't Labor Day week, though, but the following one, so I'll have to take an extra day off work, which I don't exactly have, but I guess that's what comp-time is for! While I'm at it, I'm not exactly sure how I am going to afford this trip without racking up debt again (and after I just paid it off...). But I'm sure it will all work itself out, if I just close my eyes and wish really hard that my bank account will balance itself and I'll still qualify for a mortgage on the yet-unnamed, un-found, but still stress-causing house I want to buy in the fall.

Ok, but enough ranting. I am going to Scotland! Yippeee! I promise this weekend I am going to spread out all my maps on the floor and plot several possible routes to sites of interest. Since Sarah is coming, I think we will have to do a little more city-ing than Karen and I would normally do, but that's ok. Looking at the trip itineraries I found on the Internet, it will probably look something like this - with about 100 miles or less a day of driving, except for a couple of really long days:

Saturday - Drive to Edinburgh (8 hours)

Sunday - Start drive to Aberdeen in the afternoon. Drive to Aberdeen (description of possible routes: "To reach Aberdeen from Edinburgh, you can take the fast A/M90 route toward Perth and then via Dundee to the Grampian area, famous for its castle trails and malt whisky trails. (It is motorway or dual carriageway all the way from Edinburgh to Aberdeen.) Alternatively, take the scenic A93 route north of Perth via Glenshee to Royal Deeside, and past Balmoral Castle - this is a beautiful drive especially in late Spring and Autumn. If you like the sea, an alternative on offer is the scenic coastal A92 through places like Arbroath, Montrose and Stonehaven and the beautiful Dunottar Castle.")

Monday - Aberdeen to Inverness (home of the Loch Ness Monster)

Tuesday - Drive towards Highlands and either John OGoats or Scrabster for the Ferry to Orkney

Wednesday/Thursday - Orkney Islands

Friday - Back to Perth (about half day of driving)

Saturday - Perth to England. (full day of driving)

Its not a very rounded trip right now, with a lot of driving on the tail end. It may be that we could go strait from Aberdeen to the ferry point for Orkney, skipping Inverness, and then stopping at Inverness on Friday on the way back to Perth, for instance. We'll give it some thought after I look at a more detailed map.

Ok, I should work and stop planning now.

Last night, I was horribly feverish. I didn't sleep at all. Luckily, Apache was a very understanding dog, and she pretty much just kept watch on my all night, not chasing me as I paced around trying to get to sleep.

I feel better this morning, which is good. Not perfect though.

Travel woes

And the depressing part is, Karen wants me to confirm my lack of a trip to England in September. I guess I can confirm that, because the airfare is $900 roundtrip. Way too much. I drops down to affordable levels starting November 1. Which would be good, cause I'll have more vacation time by then. But, its bad, because it will most likely be dark, bad weather, and we're unsure about the road conditions. Not that I haven't "done" Europe in the winter before (all I have to say: Iceland at Christmas). But still, it would be more pleasant in September.

I should have played the lotto

Yesterday, my day was interupted by a "Voluntary Protection Program" which is a work place safety thing run through OSHA, formal interview. It sucked. They only randomly selected 60 employees out of 10,000 employees on site. Just my luck.

Karen's trip to Paris, here, was the most classic thing I've read in a while. Especially crawling under the turnstyle. I wish I was there to see sleep-deprived Karen (never a pretty site) crawling under a turnstyle. HA HA HA HA!!

Happy Birthday Granddad!

Its my Granddad's birthday today! Hard to believe a year ago we were celebrating his and Aunt Ellie's birthdays in Italy. What a world away. I wish I was back sitting at the beach in Sicily. Or in the fancy hotel with the great view of the Egg-Castle.

This weekend...

I bought a couch. My life is complete now.

I got informed last night that I was putting a cramp in people's schedules by not updating this journal first thing in the morning. Ha ha. I like putting a cramp in people's schedules.

Ok. Anyway. Last night I talked on the phone. And then I went grocery shopping at about 9 p.m. This was very funny, because it was only dishevled looking single men who were grocery shopping at 9 p.m. Does this mean I live the life of a dishevled looking single man? That is a little depressing, to say the least.

The more depressing part was by the time I got back from grocery shopping, I wasn't famished with hunger any more. That was the only reason I went in the first place - my options were go without dinner or go to the grocery store. I managed to eat a bagel before going to bed, but that's it.

Stress management from the mouth of a psycho-babblist

I took this class in stress management yesterday. It was four hours long. The first part was what you'd expect from such a class. It was mostly women in the class (a cross section -- from group leads to secretaries). Anyway, we were supposed to evaluate what caused stress in our lives. Now one of the women said that it was stressful to try to have a career and be a good mother at the same time. This broke down into the other women in a complaint session (there were only about two of us childless singe-types in the class). I guess this was ok. What was NOT ok, was that our instructor (a young man, unmarried, no children), concluded for the class, that it was impossible to live a happy life (which he equated to stress free) if you wanted both a career and family as a woman. He suggested that if the women want to be happy, they drop down to part time. (And his argument was stress free = happy; I mean, its nice to be stress free, but I can't imagine any parent is without stress in their life, whether they work or not).

OOOH that made me so angry. What is this? The stone age? How can he tell the women in the room that they can't have both family and a career and happiness, when men have been doing it for centuries? Dropping to part time is why, even though there's plenty of working women, there are far less in the executive ranks. Not to mention, as my Aunt Diane pointed out to me last night, psychologists have shown time and again that women are HAPPIER if they are doing something outside of just caring for their family. At that, even if that was his advice, what made him qualified to tell a bunch of hard working mothers that to be happy they need to abanadon their careers?

Ok, that was my vent.

Ok, Ok, the much requested diary entry for today. I really don't have anything to say. I went sailing last night. We lost. But that's ok. It was fun. And my skipper complimented me a lot - he said I was really catching on and all my instinct were good. This is about as much of a compliment as can be expected, so I was proud. It was REALLY hot last night though. I think I am FINALLY experiencing the deathly hot Houston summer, but I can take two months of this, and its cooler today, too.

Oh, and I want to give a shout out to Maayan who is dutifully keeping up with my life better than I am keeping up with hers! Maayan, if you were to start a web log (hint hint), I would read it regularly too :).

Now, tell me one more thing, olders and wisers. We were talking about retirement yesterday, mainly because Sarah is setting up all her retirement plan stuff with NASA. I said that I certainly plan on retiring on a higher salary (and then being in a higher tax bracket) than I am in right now as a new employee fresh out of college (meaning all this tax deferred stuff is a bunch of crap at least for the next few years, cause I'd prefer to pay taxes on my money now when I'm on a lower tax bracket, than later when I'm in a higher one). I was told I could only be so lucky as to retire on my current salary. Do you think $40,000 a year (in Fiscal Year 2003 dollars) is enough for retirement (with the assumption that I would also have a fully paid off house)? I don't think so. Or am I being a completely unrealistic Boca brat?

My mom wants to know what kind of trouble puppy has gotten into.

So if you really must know.. Well, last night she went to the bathroom in my apartment RIGHT AFTER I took her on a walk. Little bitch. But that was her first "accident" in about a month (though I understand she had a few at Gavin and Jen's house). This morning she woke up at 5:15 a.m. and refused to be put outside (barking and clawing at my door for 30 minutes, until I decided that it was too early in the morning to drive the neighbours crazy). Then she ran back and forth through the apartment while I tried to get two more hours of sleep. I kept waking up to her licking my hand. The first time she did this, I thought it was cute. The second time, I through a pillow at her. So instead of licking me on the hand, she would sit next to my bed and cry. I don't know what her problem was this morning. Anyway, she's playing with her puppy friend today, ensuring that she will be an obedient sweetheart tonight. I really need to buy a house so I can get a second dog. Tomorrow, she undergoes major surgery (well, she's getting spayed -- one puppy is enough thank you very much). It ensures that tomorrow morning will be another whining crisis, because I am not allowed to feed her and only give her a half a cup of water after 8 p.m. tonight. Normally she wakes up in the middle of the night and drinks several times.

I'm going sailing again tonight! Yippee. Even though no one has taken me on as permanent crew, I think I have kind of become a permanent substitude crewmember for Wednesday nights. This is good. More sailing for moi is always good.

Last night I went to one of the JSC league softball games and watched random people play softball with Sarah and Nick. Afterwards, I went to get ice cream, and then collapsed exhausted into bed. Luckily Apache spent the day at Gavin and Jen's, so she was in a exhausted sleep coma and not demanding my attention as usual.

So, that's my minimum of excitement today. See why its hard for me to update every day now that I am not in strange, exotic foreign places?

New Orleans was great. Only Karen, with her vivid descriptions of meal after meal could do it justice. So, in brief:

Saturday - lunch

We went to Acme Oyster house and had Oysters on the half shell and shrimp and oyster Po'Boys (thats fried shrimp and oyster on a sandwhich). All of which was hot and spicy and generally lovely.

Afterwards we wandered around the French quarter, especially going in antique shops. I found a telescope for $59,000 and a $169,000 grandfather clock that I absolutely MUST HAVE.

Saturday - dinner

We went to NOLA's for dinner, which is one of Emeril's (the famous chef from TV) two New Orlean's resteraunts. I have never had a dinner so good. I ate four courses, really, without bringing any leftovers home. The courses were perfectly timed and the portions were just right (not so small as to make you say: I paid $10 for THAT! and not so big to fill you up before the next course). I had a spicy shrimp spring roll in an avacoda sauce. Then, a salad of roasted mushrooms, tomatoes, hearts of palm and artichokes. For my main course, red fish in a lemon, butter, horseradish sauce. And desert was a peanut butter and chocolate pie.

After dinner we wandered down Bourbon street. I couldn't believe how crazy it was -- and it wasn't even Mardi Gras! I can't imagine if it was. Respectable looking couples were walking into transvestite strip clubs. Since you can drink on the streets in New Orleans, daquiri shops were like ice cream stands. The music coming out of different bars up and down the street was unbelievable.

Sunday Brunch

We went to the Court of the Three Sisters for Sunday brunch. It had everything. But cajun. (I had an omlette stuffed with shrimp gumbo). It was in a beautiful courtyard with pretty plants overhanging iron railings.

Afterwards we went back to the French quarter where I bought some street art. I can't decide which of my purchases I am sending to Aunt Diane and which I am keeping for myself. I will have to do something thinking.

Then, off to Riverwalk. There I saw "the Great" Mississippi River for the first time. I went shopping (gap and eddie bauer -- new work clothes were desperately needed) and had Cafe Au Lait and beinets at the Cafe Du Monde.

So..

So, that was New Orleans. No more trips planned until I go to Scotland (please, oh, please, let the air fares drop to $500!!). This week should be pleasantly dull. Sarah started work today, so things should be very social.

Today has been eventful so far. I didn't get into work until 10 a.m. I dropped Apache off at the kennel. Then I went to get my oil changed (a process that took the mechanics at Walmart 1.5 hours). Then, at 9:30, as I was FINALLY on my way to work, coming down the Kemah bridge (a route I don't usually take to work, but it was convenient from Walmart) - I was clocked doing 60 in a 45 mph zone. For the first time ever, I managed to look just pitiful enough to get a warning rather than a ticket (I'm usually I ticket magnet), which was good.

And now, here I am.

Tonight I am driving to New Orleans for the weekend. I unfortunately left my cell phone at home. I have yet to decide if I want to go the half-hour out of my way to run home and pick it up before beginning my trek.

I also got not one BUT TWO post cards today (I love post cards). One was from Jen, who, despite her lack of journal entries, seems to be taking care of herself in France. The other was from Karen (yippee! Karen NEVER sends postcards) from her trip to the Netherlands. She made me feel guilty because the last line said something about having SO much to talk about. And yet, I have a three page letter to her dated June 5 that I still haven't finished yet to send, AND, we have completely not been able to touch bases with phone calls.

However, the not touching bases on phone calls turns out it was probably a good thing. You know the "great" long distance service I switched to? They said I would get 30 minutes of free international a month and 7 cents a minute after that to the U.K.? Well, they didn't mention that was for land lines only. Last time I talked to Karen was on her mobile phone. They managed to charge me $25 for 15 minutes of talking. Ah, the European mobile phone system. Completely unexplainable, as always. But now I know, only call her on her LAND line...

Last night was awesome. First I went to the NASA chat with Moby. Who would've thought NASA could even attempt to be as cool as they tried - before he came up on stage, they had a laser light show, playing Moby's hit single, had smoke in the air, and even NASA meatball spotlights. Anyway it was neat.

Unfortunately I didn't stick around for autographs (I had someone get one for me though), because I rushed to the lake for Wednesday night regattas. It was awesome, to say the least. After the regatta, we went to the Seabrook Beach Club which is this bar that is actually where the race course starts, and after the regatta, all the participants gather there for awards and to watch videos of the races. As it turns out the awards each week are gift certificates for beer at the Beach Club. So, anyway, I didn't buy a single drink all evening. I wouldn't recommend going to the club, however, on a non-regatta night. It looked a little sketchy, the waitresses wore bikini tops (a la Baja Beach Club) and there was a pit for mud wrestling. Just a little worrisome. But on the other hand, most sailors are male, so...

Tonight, nothing big planned (pay bills, perhaps?) and tomorrow afternoon I go to New Orleans!

So, I didn't go to the Moby concert last night (nor did I take advantage of the back stage passes). But I am NOT getting old (as my mom suggested was the cause of me turning down free concert tickets). I'm just not a big concert goer, and I have a really busy week (capping off with my going to New Orleans this weekend). Anyway, I will see Moby today (before I rush off to the regatta tonight).

Here's an interesting article from the Washington Post. It says The federal government's reputation as a boring, old-fashioned and uncaring employer is discouraging the new surge of young people keen to enter public service in the wake of the Sept. 11 terror attacks. I have read a lot of articles about the need for young people to enter the civil service. All these articles make it sound like a noble pursuit of people who care more about a greater good than themselves. Usually about at this point, it dawns on my that I actually am a civil servant. Yet, my motivations for working for the government have nothing to do with a noble calling to serve the public. Hm. Weird. I think I should give this more thought. When I have time.

Who said working for NASA wasn't glamourous? The popular musician Moby (http://www.moby.com - so named Moby because he's a great-great-great- of Herman Melville, author of Moby Dick) (yes, Mom, I know you have never heard of him... but he's a big deal, really) is coming to Houston for a concert. Anyway, he's swinging by NASA for a tour and to help out with the Space Generation activities I've been involved in. So, the woman who is coordinating his tours managed to swing all of us free tickets (whoo hoo) so I am probably going to the Moby concert tonight.

This weekend was rainy. But it didn't matter because all I did was veg-out on Saturday. I was planning on cleaning, making random phone calls (sorry Karen), and doing my homework yesterday. But instead Kathleen called me (she's my former roommate) and Sunday was her birthday and she and a couple of her friends were going to lunch and the movies. So, anyway, I ended up spending pretty much all day with her. So, I didn't end up doing my homework. This is kind of upsetting as it is due in class today. That's why I'm here early working on it, I figure at least I can get a couple hours in before I start "real" work.

In other stupid work news. Last Friday I was having a problem with a computer code I run -- say we'll call it "the devilish relative motion post-processor" or DRMPP (Drimp) for short. Anyway, it has basically decided it will only work at random. Other times when it starts up it immediately (IMMEDIATELY) shuts down and says "Killed." That's it. Just "Killed." Anyway, I am running a study that requires me to run dear-old Drimp about 30 times in a row. Its all done automatically. The whole process takes about 8 hours, so I set it up to go for the weekend. I came back, and some of those 30 runs were completed, while, yet, others had the mysterious "Killed". Why oh why??

And in good news... I have been selected for my first U.N. summit. I will be participating in the Space Generation Summit, part of the U.N. Summit on Space Policy at the World Space Congress here in Houston in October. I don't actually know how competitive the selection was, but I am excited, none-the-less. How cool is that..!!???

Today hasn't gotten off to a good start -- maybe the universe is conspiring against me telling me to go home early...

Last night I started a computer program running that would take 12 hours. Halfway through the night it died, without reason (Just a mysterious "Abort" message on my screen). Oh well. Now I can't spend my day utilizing its results.

Item number two is the cryptic message that basically said we will be without air conditioning in our part of the building all day. Houston. Summer. No A/C. Its going to be a long day. Good thing I wore a skirt instead of blue jeans to work today.

Sailing last night was lovely. Low wind though (a la sailing in Atlanta). The swarm of boats there was unbelievable. I love looking at the spinakers of the larger keel boats (for non-sailors: a spinaker is a huge sail that is flown in front of a boat, when going downwind to catch more wind. Spinakers tend to be REALLY colorful). Anyway, there were some very entertaining ones (at least the ones that weren't advertisements). My favorite was on with the "Free Parking" logo from Monopoly. My own sailing experience was ok. The skipper I went with was a little high-strung, but he taught me a lot and was really particular about how I trimmed the sails (which is good... but was frustrating last night when he kept adjusting them for me, and when he finished his "scoatch" --like a pinch -- of adjustments, its really returned to the same position I had it in at the start). So, anyway, it was a fun and good way to spend Wednesday night.

Today I need to work a lot and relax tonight. And grocery shop. I ordered pizza on Monday night, and that's what fed me most of the week...

Busy night last night -- I'm really tired. I loaded all my clothes in my dresser. My t-shirts took 3 drawers, I really don't need that many t-shirts, Especially when you consider I only where them to sleep in sometimes and during my very rare fits of exercising. But they all have so much sentimental value! I did decide that 3 of a total 9 drawers is a little ridiculous and I absolutely MUST do something about it. What? I don't know.

Tonight: Sailing.

I took my dog out for a walk last night and we found two other puppies - a precious 9 week old dalmation and a 5 month old mutt. They just moved in with their owners, two twenty-something, scantily clad blondes. So, given the description of their owners, they managed to draw out every single man who lives in our apartment complex, who then proceeded to dote on their puppies. My puppy never got that kind of attention from the neighbours - I didn't even know that there were so many sexy men who lived here. Anyway, as you can see, its not a puppy who attracts the sezy men, but instead scantily clad blondes, the puppies are just another accessory....


And for another reason why I am a vegetarian, read the cover story of Time this week. And the very insightful comments:


Pimentel argues that vegetarianism is much more environment-friendly than diets revolving around meat. "In terms of caloric content, the grain consumed by American livestock could feed 800 million people-and, if exported, would boost the U.S. trade balance by $80 billion a year." Grain-fed livestock consume 100,000 liters of water for every kilogram of food they produce, compared with 2,000 liters for soybeans. Animal protein also demands tremendous expenditures of fossil-fuel energy-eight times as much as for a comparable amount of plant protein. Put another way, says Pimentel, the average omnivore diet burns the equivalent of a gallon of gas per day-twice what it takes to produce a vegan diet. And the U.S. livestock population-cattle, chickens, turkeys, lambs, pigs and the rest-consumes five times as much grain as the U.S. human population. But then there are 7 billion of them; they outnumber us 25 to 1.

Well, I'm back, much to my dismay. I had a great vacation. I needed it. The week before I left was really busy (in case you couldn't tell from my abbreviated diary entries).

Its funny, once you get to the cottage, you never want to leave. Life settles into a strange pace where time has no meaning.

You basically wake up, and someone has been motivated enough to make big breakfasts of eggs or pancakes or waffles. Then, after that, you drift down to the dock, probably still a little drowsy in the morning sun. You swim or read or nap in the sun. Occasionally, someone decides to get their act together for a tubing trip, or a jet ski ride, or a waterski/wakeboard jaunt. You definitely take a swim to the island everyday. Some of those days, you take little kids with you, who start getting scared because someone has been telling them shark-who-lives-in-the-lake stories all day. They freak out, and the adult on "Baywatch duty" on the dock, comes and "rescues" them, while the rest swim on to the island. On special days, you might take a trip to the marina for gas or to the cliffs for cliff diving. Some unlucky soul may have to make the 3 hour round trip (+ additional shopping time) into town for groceries. Then return to the dock routine. Snack foods in the cooler for lunch.

Eventually, the sun gets behind the trees, and it starts to get a little chilly. You might push it a little by going waterskiing just one more time. Eventually, though, you saunter up to the cottage, because, well, just because.

That's when the massive cooking effort begines (at the height of the week there were 20+ people there). Everyone does something, so its fun. You may go to a neighbouring cottage and eat there. Food fights may or may not ensue. Dinner is always delicious because you've been active all day and are starved. Usually they are followed by warm pie for desert. Or even better, freshly picked stawberries and blueberries.

After dinner, we may roast marshmellows. We may set off fireworks. We may play stupid board games (pictionary, balderdash, scategories). We may watch stupid movies over and over (Monte Python and the Holy Grail was the classic of this trip).

Finally, go to bed and repeat.

I'll post pictures when I get them developed.