In this fateful hour

I place all heaven with it's power

Between myself and the powers of darkness

Kudos to you if you can identify why I love this rune so much.

What a disjointed entry this will be. Hurrah. :)

This is the funniest thing I've heard all day:

Heat transfer - 1 credit, how hard can it be?


Ha ha ha. I've never heard someone refer to heat transfer like that. Its one of the hardest MechE classes (I never really took it as an independent class). It just reminds me how sometimes one credit of class is like a million credits of work to earn it.

Last night - surprise party for Nick. It was funny, I've never been to a surprise party before, and it went off really well, Nick didn't expect a thing. What a surprise!

I had to leave early, though, because Apache is sick. I think its belated reaction to the lake water from last weekend. Hopefully she will get better and not suffer in misery (and mess - the first time since April) in her crate like she did yesterday.

I find it hard to believe that Sarah would avoid all Major League baseball for a year, had the players gone on strike. I don't think she's capable of that.

Plans for this weekend include: all-day Saturday house-hunting. Watching Gavin and Jen's two dogs Sunday and Monday (which will be paid back more than in kind when they watch Apache while I'm in Scotland). Maybe helping Kathleen move on Monday morning.

Karen got her first helicopter ride. That's awesome! I like Jason, from the 5 minutes I spent with him when I went to Cranfield last year. Karen, you should invite him to Scotland with us and he and Sarah can hook-up.

I remember my first (and only) helicopter ride at KSC. I was in the gunner's chair of a UH-1. The helicopter banked to scare up some alligators in the swamp below. I was hanging out, my face pointed at the ground, 200 feet above snapping alligators, and only one thin lap belt separating me from certain doom. It was awesome! I wish I could afford to learn to fly helicopters. Maybe I should work on affording to learn to fly Cessna's! :)

So, I had marathon meetings with bankers yesterday afternoon. The good news is I can qualify for the amount of mortgage I want. The bad news is because my credit history is so short (and I thought I was good not giving into all the salesmen at Tech encourging students to get credit cards and not getting one until my junior year!) -- I may not qualify for the 80-10-10 mortgage I want (because it would involve two liens, rather than one) and have to pay PMI. This is not good. (Why is it not good? because instead of building about $3000 in equity over the next five years + being able to deduct the interest of the second 10% mortgage from my taxes, I would just be flushing that same amount into PMI, which is just an expense with no benefit at all). But the bankers weren't sure by just looking at my credit score, they'd have to go through the full process, and there is a large list of lenders that would provide the second lien, so one of them might approve me.

And, thus, this weekend will be forever known as : House Hunting Weekend - take 1. Sometimes I wish I was a Feigh or my Aunt Diane, and then there would be no take 2, 3, 4 or 5 of house hunting weekends! I'd walk into the first house, look around, and say "I'll take it!".

Faking car accidents

So, I've added being a volunteer EMT to the list of things I want to do (the list is very long, but this is slowly edging toward at least the top quarter of near-term goals). I went to volunteer fire deparment/EMS drills last night. We got to pull an "injured" manaquin from being crushed between a car and a wall. Then we "rescued" a girl (who looked to young to be driving, but, you know, in her words "My mom and dad are both firemen, so I came with them tonight, and ended up doing this") from a car carrying barrels of "hazardous" chemicals. It was really interesting to see the procedures they had for the fire department and EMT's to work together to resolve everything. I think this would be a much more rewarding community service experience than shelving books at a library..

And it was even more fun to take a ride in an ambulance without being the victim (which, a little over a year ago, was how I was last in an ambulance).

Houston, what a funny city

I really want to rant about the Olympics. I want to rant about why Houston thought they even had a chance of being picked against NYC, San Fran, and D.C. Yet, they really seriously thought that we would be picked. As a result you can read at www.chron.com how devestating it was that we were rejected. I don't really understand why Houstonians have such an obsession with making the rest of the world take notice of Houston as a cultural, beautiful, multi-ethnic town, when in reality, it mostly isn't (though it has many of its own charms, but not ones the Olympics are looking for).

This morning I was occupied by ANOTHER flight physical. Apparently the 4 hours of lab work I did in my health screening a few months ago was not current enough for them to issue me an FAA medical certificate without repeating everything. I feel poked and prodded.

Tonight, I am going to do something completely new -- I am going to drills with the local volunteer EMT's. I According to the friend who recruited me to check it out and see if its something I want to pursue: We're doing a a 1050 Major (bad car accident) simulation with the fire side of the house. I'm really psyched. EMT training is something I've been interested in for a while. It seems like a good skill to have and a good way to get involved in the community. So, we'll see how it goes.

And in other news, Irwin bought a convertible. The good news is, he didn't by the yellow Toyota MR2 Spyder I have been lusting over for two years now. A Spyder that I could afford if I just forgo a down payment on a house (financially responsible? or fun? always a question. and boring me goes for financially responsible). The bad news is, he got an even COOLER car than my Spyder (and more expensive). Its beautiful. And red. And a roadster. If I hadn't already "been there, done that, could write the book about why it didn't work" with the whole dating Irwin thing, well... the car could be convincing. So this means, I need a listing of all roadster owners in Houston. What can I say? Call me superficial.



Here's some pictures, for those curious about the red, shiny car.

Weekend stories

The weekend was great! I went to Lake Somerville with some friends (4 humans, three dogs). We spent Saturday afternoon swimming in the lake and wandering around and taking an afternoon nap. Sunday, we walked in the woods. It was nice to be out of town and just enjoying being outside. On the drive back I tried to explain Labor Day to Julia. I just gave up and spoke in British-ese and said "its just a random bank holiday!"

On Friday night, I went out with Sarah's Georgia Tech gang. It was pretty fun, we went to a Mexican restraunt near the Galleria. It was nice seeing Tech people, but honestly most of those we went out with were those I didn't hang out with too much while I was at school. It was nice to catch up and see how they were doing, though. It reminded me how much I missed people I was much closer too, though. I haven't seen Karen in over six months! Though she doesn't seem that far away -- it will still be nice to see her in two weeks from now. I really need to go to Seattle and visit Irwin and George. And I need to go to D.C. and visit Heather. While I'm at it, I haven't seen the twins or Maayan or Sharon Liz or Charu from high school, either. I am such a slacker.

Other news and links

Lance Bass, is here at JSC for his training this week (read about it here.)

And the coolest thing is our (Jen, Karen and I) freshman experience of crashing fraternity rush and pretending we were from Enu, Alaska has been immortalized in the Technique. Read about the whole story here.

Dream

Last night I had a funny, frustrating dream. Basically, I dreamt that I woke up and I was 12 years old again. Everything (my birth certificate, passport, everything!) had the wrong birthdate on it. There was no way to prove I was me. I tried going to work, but realized it was illegal for me to drive. Then the police came and made me a ward of the state and said since I was 12 I had to go back to school. I tried demonstrating to the math teacher that I could do differential equations and fluid dynamics and had read everything they were going to assign me in English class. But they said they didn't care because I was so young I had to be in school and take all the required classes! I was very frustrated by the whole thing. Basically everyone told me that everything I did up until I was 23 didn't count and I had to start again. From scratch. Most people didn't believe me about what happened (it seems memories were selectively changed too).

Anyway, in the end, I decided to flow with the possibility of me being a "child genius". It was pretty funny.

This makes me wonder what I'd do again if I started at 12 all over (but retaining the experience I've had up until now). I thought about it, and I think what I'd do differently would be taking more advantage of my summers. Playing a sport in school. Dating a LOT more (you wouldn't believe the number of guys I shot down my freshman year of college). Since I already got to study aerospace engineering in college, I would probably do something different the second time around (physics? pre-med? archeology? journalism?). But in reality, I probably wouldn't change too much about the way I did things. This is probably why in my dream I was frustrated by having to do everything again, instead of happy. Still a very funny dream.

Today was the coolest drive to work EVER. I had forgotten about it, until I looked up pulling out of my apartment complex and there was a swarm of Hot Air balloons. The annual Ballunar festival started this morning. As I got closer to work, I was struggling to keep my eyes on the road. There were hot air balloons in parking lots on both sides of NASA Rd 1. Inside JSC (which is where they launched from) was the best, as I drove through the front gate, one passed over me, maybe 10 feet above. There were balloons in every parking lot (including the one I normally park). They were huge, colorful, neat... Oh, I think you would've had to see it. Sarah took some pictures, if she posts them, I'll send a link.

This weekend I am going hiking/camping/swimming with Gavin and Jen and Julia (the British girl here to organize the Space Gen. Summit), and maybe Kennda at a lake north of Houston. Should be fun.

Random technical sailing talk

Sailing was tons of fun last night. The reason it was the most fun: the trapeize. Only one of the boats I sail with has one, and its so much fun to swing out the edge, flying in the wind, letting the harnass keep you on the boat. If you want to know what I'm talking about, look at this picture here.

I wish I could be a better sailor, though! Some skippers seem to accept my novice-ness, no problem. But the one I sailed with last night seemed to have an issue with every tack we took -- it actually got to be kind of comedic. He would yell while we were tacking that I would need to trim in more, so I would yank the line in. Then he would say "No No No, don't trim in that fast" so I would let the line out a little (just a little). Then he would say "You're not trimmed in enough!" Finally he would get frustrated and adjust the trim himself. This was the particularly funny part, because usually when he was done figiting the sail would be in exactly the same position I had it in the first place. But it made him feel better...

The other funny thing is that sometimes its hard to spot the windward mark (that's the point on the race we sail to, turn around, and sail back). But I spotted it well before the race began. He didn't believe me that it was there, because the mark is not usually in that spot of the lake (the marks are set by the wind direction, and since the wind was really shifty last night, it could have been anywhere). Anyway, we sailed past another dinghy from our sailing club and he pointed to the mark I spotted and asked them if that was the windward mark. The other dinghy said yes, and then they started laughing (light wind day = many sailors start drinking before the race even starts), and pointing to a channel marker in the opposite direction saying THAT was the mark. Unfortunately for us, the direction they pointed was the direction my skipper THOUGHT the race organizors should have made the race go.

I didn't realize at first that my skipper actually believed this other boat about the position of the mark. I think what was more the case was he disbelieved me (this was confirmed as we were sailing back to the finish line and he couldn't spot the FINISH mark, and I pointed it out and told him what direction to sail in, but we lost about 5 boat lengths becuase he didn't believe me and sailed the wrong way to where you THOUGHT the finish would be).

Even my limited college sailing experience taught me that one of the things you learn about a race is you NEVER let on to competing boats that you know where the mark is -- that means you don't even point at it, you just whisper to your crew members. I was suprised that my skipper would even ask another boat about where a mark is, and that they would tell us. But instead, I just chalked it up to the congeniality of the sailing club members, without voicing my suspicion.

Men and sports

This lead me to my observation about men and sports. I try to understand this relationship as much as I can, because the way men compete in sports often teaches skills about how one is "supposed" to act -- at least in our overly patriarchal society. For me, the minute we crossed the finish line, and started heading for the dock, I just wanted to relax, and enjoy the sail back. Unfortunately my skipper wanted to relive our bad start and the fact that he believed the other guys about the mark which set us completely off course, BUT I shouldn't say to the other guys that we believed them, because that would reflect poorly.(all the while, never admitting "I should've listened to you" or even admitting to himself that well, at his age, maybe his eyesite isn't the greatest and he should listen to the 23-year old who's used to being situational aware while in, say, an airplane, and that skill can translate fairly well to a boat, too). In general reliving the entire race. And he didn't even have the courtesy to bring a beer along for the ride home!

I'll have to think on this one and at it to my theories of male athletic rituals.

If you're still reading...

Yesterday I flipped through some entries from approximately a year ago today, and found this one. It is a classic, because it was about my trip to Vienna with Brent, Trevor, and Grant, my crazy-Canadian boys. Despite being exhausted on Saturday night, they dragged me back out into the city to go to a variety of pubs (to take advantage of a very favorable exchange rate and drink lots of cheap beer). We finally settled on one we really liked (I have a picture of that one on my wall at my apartment). We drank a lot. My last fairly clear memory of that night is the boys making the poor-Austrian waiter scream "SHOW ME THE MONEY!" before we would pay the tab and tip. I think they were fairly pursuasive, because they got him to do it several times, louder and louder each time.

It made me laugh all yesterday thinking about this Viennese waiter screaming "show me the money!" HA HA HA. I'm still laughing now.

I really am not feeling particularly talkative today. Sorry, my dear readers, but that means short entries. I'm actually mulling over some thoughts I have had the last couple of days, and since they are depressing (very unusual for me), I figured here is not the forum to share them).

Last night there was a division party, which was great. And this time they actually had grilled vegetables (last time, only hamburgers and hot dogs), so as the division's sole vegetarian, I could actually eat, allowing me to stay longer. We had fun re-living what seems to be a longer list of office pranks than I had realized before.

Tonight: sailing. Yippee!

Apache has taken up barking this week. I wonder if its a phase? She seems to go through a lot of phases.

My favorite line for today is "Dude, I'm from New Jersey." If you need a more detailed explanation of that, e-mail me. Its freekin' hilarious.

The second funniest thing that happened to me today was while driving to drop off Apache at Gavin and Jen's, I drive through a school zone, and there are cars lined up to drop off their kids at the elementary school. Passing me on my left are two GOLF CARTS (this community happens to be on a golf course) with a father and mother dropping their kids off at school in a golf cart. How cool a ride to school would that be?! (Not as cool as a motorcycle, I would expect..)

On the house-hunt arena, I am making a list of things I am looking for in a house. Probably won't get all of them, but some of them would be nice. Let me know if you have any suggestions.

3 bedrooms+ and 2.5+ baths

Fenced in backyard

Built-in bookshelves

Bay window

Ceiling fans

If one-story home, have second floor "bonus room"

Big kitchen with island

A study (or a dining room that can be converted into a study)

Hardwood floors

High ceilings

Covered or screened-in patio

Huge master bathroom with vanity and big tub

Near water and work

I had a lovely weekend.

Friday night I saw XXX. Worth it just for the scene of Van Diesel's stuntman snowboarding at the leading edge of an avalanche. Afterwords we actually went to a resteraunt in League City. Near my apartment. It is a rare event that everyone we're out with lives on that side of the lake. Anyway, it was REALLY good, and we all had margheritas, belatedly discovering that they were really strong, and only one glass made us all very light-headed (this was good to find out, because I was afraid that I had lost my ability to hold down liquor).

Saturday I ran lots of errands very ineffeciently and ended up at the Galleria very late (for me) at the Cheesecake Factory. Sometimes I wonder why some people are so obsessed by that place. Its good enough, and the cheesecake is great. But its not exactly fancy or exotic - you can tell the food is Fridays-style packaged - for the price you pay for a meal. And certainly not worth it since they don't take reservations and you have to wait an hour to get a table, and drive a million miles to get there (its not like the ones in Boca or Atlanta that are convenient enough that it doesn't have to be an "event" to go). But the company was good and it was something to do on a Saturday night. And I think I am in a minority in my generation about not loving the Cheesecake Factory, so..

And then on Sunday, we planned the grand roadtrip in Scotland. We got laughed at by Karen about our ambitious plans. It was quite a drive that we had planned. The only way we can shorten our drive, though, is cutting out the Orkney Isles (cry). So, we'll see what happens.

Today, work, new co-op, work..

Oh, and on Sarah's web page there is a picture of all the 30-and-unders that work in our group so you know who I'm referring to when I tell stories..

You know, I have a very set routine in the morning, which also involves reading Karen's, Sarah's, and Jen's diaries. And, NONE of them was updated yet. Grumble.

Last night I successfully invented a salmon in horseradish sauce recipe AND cleaned my apartment. Very productive. All this while the rivers were rising and the streets were flooding in the great deluge that dropped a foot of rain on us yesterday.

And I am becoming an extremely popular crew member. Each week, I get a call earlier and earlier in the week to crew on Wednesday and occasional Saturday regattas. The first couple times I crewed, I would get calls late Tuesday night or Early Wednesday, to crew on Wednesday evening. Then, someone would call me Tuesday, and a different person would call me Wednesday finding I was already "taken." So the following week the late-caller would call earlier, say Tuesday morning, then Monday moring... anyway, the list goes on. And now, I got a call last night, a WHOLE week in advance. How cool is that??

Not much to say. Actually, I went grocery shopping last night and have a craving for salmon. But not just any salmon. Salmon in some sort of horse-radish sauce. I have no idea how to execute this plan. So, if anyone has any recipes, please send, because last night I purchased salmon and horseradish and now don't know what to do.

It is raining so much this week. Its like a deluge. The great flood. Ok, not that bad. But it sucks to walk the dog in the rain. I waited until 9 am hoping it would let up, but it never did.

I'm done with my homework.

I love my puppy when she's tired and sleeps on top of my feet.

I desperately need to go grocery shopping, my cupboards are bare, and I was forced to order pizza last night. The night before I had pasta without any sauce (just some tomato and onion).

I want Lance Bass to go into space. Someone give him some money.

I have pretty much all the digital pictures I have online now at http://www.picturetrail.com/artemis1979.

3.5 weeks to Scotland.

No sailing tonight. How depressing that no one needed crew! Maybe I can talk some people into going to the bar and watching the regatta from.. sigh.. land with me.

Steve Feigh is entering his senior year at Tech! Man, where'd the time go? Somehow he was still a freshman in my mind, always.

While I am reminscing, last year on this date, I had just emerged from Technoparade weekend in Zurich. And I posted in my journal:

I have a confession to make. Yesterday, I stole a roll of toilet paper. I ran out early in the morning. On Sundays, NOTHING is open. No grocery stores, no markets, no convenience stores, nothing. My only option was to take a train into Zurich or... well, steal. So, I got desperate and smuggled a roll out of a public restroom. Oh, baby, I'm bad. Next story: grand theft auto?

Its still strange to me to think about life with no 24-hour convenience stores.

Homework blues

I happily submitted my final yesterday. However, my homework is still incomplete. I am making progress - the prof gave us all extensions to turn it in tomorrow. It was funny, I was working on it in my apartment late last night, contrasting this to school. Yes, I was still stressed about finishing. But, no, I wasn't very concerned about the outcome, feeling very confident that as long as I finished, I would either get an A or a B, and either or it wouldn't really matter (though of course I would prefer an A). My dog was sleeping under my feet, I had my own apartment, this is my only class... it felt strange. I don't know how to describe it.

A year ago at school, I would be stressing about homework MASSIVELY, and frankly be very unhappy about having to do it. It would upset me. All I would dream about is getting away to a normal life where I didn't have homework. And here I was, in my so-called "normal" life, doing homework again. But to tell the truth, it didn't make me unhappy like I was before, especially during my senior year. I was kind of indifferent, but not upset. I forgot what it was like to not get upset over school work. Actually, I think the last time I wasn't thoroughly upset was probably prior to my entrance into the IB program in high school. I remember getting excited about projects, even, in elementary school and even occasionally in junior high. I don't remember a single project which I enjoyed after the 9th grade. Actually, I only remember a few projects that didn't cause me to be upset and create severe frustrations. I can count on one hand the number of homework assignments that didn't make me upset: a couple of physics homework assignments in high school; reading Grapes of Wrath (which I absolutely adored); a couple of fluids labs; and the jet engine design from jet pro. Otherwise, school work has been associated with mostly unhappy memories.

This is not to say I didn't love school -- I like it, I like the environment, I love the teachers and professors I've had, I love all the activity and energy, I love my friends, I love the congeniality of being up late and complaining and working and sharing answers and the feeling of "completeness" when you solve a problem and the solution is absolutely beautiful. But the school part -- the study part -- the academic part -- I think I can admit it didn't suit me as well as most people think.

That's why I wasn't unhappy doing homework yesterday. It wasn't about academics. It wasn't about "A"'s. It was about learning the material, finishing a problem, the results wouldn't change my life, I didn't feel pressured to do it because I would get into an ivy league college (which I didn't), a full scholarship (which I did), grad. school, get a better letter of reference, get a better job, etc.

Did any of my rambling make sense?

Children: I am not encouraging you to hate school. Really. School is a good thing. Just for different reasons than usually quoted :).

Steve Feigh is entering his senior year at Tech! Man, where'd the time go? Somehow he was still a freshman in my mind, always.

While I am reminscing, last year on this date, I had just emerged from Technoparade weekend in Zurich. And I posted in my journal:

I have a confession to make. Yesterday, I stole a roll of toilet paper. I ran out early in the morning. On Sundays, NOTHING is open. No grocery stores, no markets, no convenience stores, nothing. My only option was to take a train into Zurich or... well, steal. So, I got desperate and smuggled a roll out of a public restroom. Oh, baby, I'm bad. Next story: grand theft auto?

Its still strange to me to think about life with no 24-hour convenience stores.

Homework blues

I happily submitted my final yesterday. However, my homework is still incomplete. I am making progress - the prof gave us all extensions to turn it in tomorrow. It was funny, I was working on it in my apartment late last night, contrasting this to school. Yes, I was still stressed about finishing. But, no, I wasn't very concerned about the outcome, feeling very confident that as long as I finished, I would either get an A or a B, and either or it wouldn't really matter (though of course I would prefer an A). My dog was sleeping under my feet, I had my own apartment, this is my only class... it felt strange. I don't know how to describe it.

A year ago at school, I would be stressing about homework MASSIVELY, and frankly be very unhappy about having to do it. It would upset me. All I would dream about is getting away to a normal life where I didn't have homework. And here I was, in my so-called "normal" life, doing homework again. But to tell the truth, it didn't make me unhappy like I was before, especially during my senior year. I was kind of indifferent, but not upset. I forgot what it was like to not get upset over school work. Actually, I think the last time I wasn't thoroughly upset was probably prior to my entrance into the IB program in high school. I remember getting excited about projects, even, in elementary school and even occasionally in junior high. I don't remember a single project which I enjoyed after the 9th grade. Actually, I only remember a few projects that didn't cause me to be upset and create severe frustrations. I can count on one hand the number of homework assignments that didn't make me upset: a couple of physics homework assignments in high school; reading Grapes of Wrath (which I absolutely adored); a couple of fluids labs; and the jet engine design from jet pro. Otherwise, school work has been associated with mostly unhappy memories.

This is not to say I didn't love school -- I like it, I like the environment, I love the teachers and professors I've had, I love all the activity and energy, I love my friends, I love the congeniality of being up late and complaining and working and sharing answers and the feeling of "completeness" when you solve a problem and the solution is absolutely beautiful. But the school part -- the study part -- the academic part -- I think I can admit it didn't suit me as well as most people think.

That's why I wasn't unhappy doing homework yesterday. It wasn't about academics. It wasn't about "A"'s. It was about learning the material, finishing a problem, the results wouldn't change my life, I didn't feel pressured to do it because I would get into an ivy league college (which I didn't), a full scholarship (which I did), grad. school, get a better letter of reference, get a better job, etc.

Did any of my rambling make sense?

Children: I am not encouraging you to hate school. Really. School is a good thing. Just for different reasons than usually quoted :).

So, I came into work at 6:30 a.m. today, because, well, I'm a slacker and I have yet to finish my homework. Its not for lack of trying, but because I keep getting distracted at home, not to mention there are several problems I just do not know how to do. I feel really guilty about it, but I will probably bug Matt today to help me work out the answers - in a Karen-esque way, Matt spent all week last week painstakenly doing ever problem, consulting with the professor, and talking to the other students. Its quite unfortunate that I have to torture him on the due date to help me out :). I have to say, though, it makes me feel really stupid that I can't do really simple parts of these problems. Luckily I am too arrogant to believe that for long. Oh well.

Oh, I found a better place to post pictures.

Visit http://www.picturetrail.com/artemis1979/

I need to find a better place to host pictures.. I have more pictures than space to store them. Anyway, here's a few more Canada shots:

Here is my cousin Emily and my Aunt Nancy at the cottage.

Here is all the Kohart first cousins at Emily's graduation party.

Here are Nick (my brother) and his girlfriend Kera at the cottage.

As always, for the rather incomplete collection of pictures, go here

My dog is so weird....

You know how most dogs like to sleep on soft fluffy things? For instance the dog I am babysitting sleeps on a bean-bag-like thing. But the preference would definitely be, say, carpet over tile. But not my Apache. At home she sleeps in the tiled entrance-way to my living room. When I put blankets in her crate she would just shove them out of the way and curl up on the hard plastic (so I eventually did away with the blankets). And now, at Gavin and Jen's, she goes into their master bathroom (I leave the doors open) and sleeps the night on the tile. How strange!

No weekend plans (not even sailing). I am going to the Braves-Astros game with my group from work. I am slowly trying to become an Astros fan, since I really haven't had a "team" since we left Philadelphia and I stopped following the Phillies. Anyway, the game should be fun - I love going to baseball games! I wonder if they have funnel cake in Houston?

So, last night, I went out, helped rig half a the boat for the regatta, and a torrential downpour passed through. So after a beer and about 30 minutes of listening to the weather band, we called it a day and went home. There actually was a regatta, but after the rain passed it got really humid and the wind just died, so I think it would have been very unpleasant. I guess it all worked out for the better.

Tonight is HOMEWORK NIGHT. Yippeee. I have 2 homework assigments to make corrections to so I can get full credit, two assigments that I haven't started, and a take-home final that I haven't started. All are due on Monday. It might actually turn into a homework weekend. Thinking about stuff like this makes me really happy I'm not in college permanently. Though I am thinking about signing up for a statistics course in the winter. I don't want to take any classes fall semester because between Scotland and the week of the World Space Congress, I'd probably miss way to much class. Sarah actually expressed interest in the statistics class, so perhaps we could take it together and then I would have a carpool buddy to Rice. That would be good.

So, that's that. Maybe an update on my life:

Current Book: How to Win A Nuclear War (non-fiction) and Martian Race (fiction) depending on my mood

Time consuming hobby: Sailing

Schedule: Show up at work, drink coffee, read web sites, work on sim, lunch, work on sim, soda break, work work work, home, watch Simpsons/Cook Dinner, read and play with Puppy, sleep, repeat.

Song of the Week: Eminem - "People are Discussing Me, that must mean I'm Disgusting."

Need to Do: Homework. Start Flying Again.

Dangerous Obsessions: Scotland Travel Stories. Preventing Poverty From Encroaching.

House-buying Process: Have gathered all paperwork besides "gift letter" necessary for mortgage pre-approval. Made a list of companies to "shop" for such a loan.

TV Show: Still West Wing - my favorite line "His is a 22-caliber mind in a 357-magnum world" on why Presidents should be smart.

Ok. That's about it.

I am sharing housesitting duties with Julia, a student from Britain working on the World Space Congress here. Its been tons of fun -- I feel the need for a roommate again, its nice just vegging out and chatting and having someone to share a bottle of wine with so you don't feel guilty letting it go to waste.

So, Jen is back from backpacking and posting her stories a day at a time on her web page. Speaking of Europe, I now have a knew obsession, which is reading travel-to-Scotland web pages while my simulations are running.

And for other travelers (MOM, in specific) who have a sense of adventure: Spirit Airlines (www.spiritair.com) based in Ft. Lauderdale (http://www.cnn.com/2002/TRAVEL/NEWS/08/07/spirit.free.flights/index.html) is offering entirely FREE flights the day of September 11. I say that you should book now (they have 13,000 seats available) and go spend the day somewhere randomly for free -- fly out first thing in the morning and back at night.

Oh, so Yummy Dinner Party

Nick cooked Lebanese food for a bunch of us at Sarah's apartment. It was oh, so yummy. I will definitely have to get a recipe. It was a lentil bean-onion dish which was really really good. I would tell you what its called, but I can barely pronounce it, let alone spell it. It was actually surprisingly good, because, despite being a veggie - I defy one of the fundamental rules of vegetarianism, which is I am not a big fan of any kind of beans, including lentils. But that's because they usually taste so dry, and they weren't last night, which was awesome. Anyway, it was yummy!

How did my life get so busy?

This is the question I've been asking myself this week. I had things going on both Saturday and Sunday, then yesterday I had class and dinner-party, today I have a JSC Youth Vision meeting, tomorrow is a regatta. I don't have plans for Thursday yet, but I have two homeworks and a take-home final due on Monday, so I REALLY need to start that so I can study for the in-class final and compare answers before I turn things in. I don't have any plans for Friday yet, and hopefully it will stay that way. I imagine Saturday I will end up sailing again. And Sunday is the Astros-Braves game. Then rinse-repeat on Monday. AND, the most exciting news, I am now the proud owner of a plane ticket to Scotland.

Karen - we arrive at Heathrow at 8 a.m. on Saturday, September 6, and depart Heathrow at 10:10 a.m. Sunday, September 15. It took a little while to get this strait as the original booking was for Rebecca Cutri-Klhart and departed on Saturday at 8 a.m. (definitely not what we wanted). But its all set now. Yippee!

Updated pictures of Apache here

Now, onto the fabulous and busy weekend I had:

British driving

So, Karen will be pleased to know, I had my first British driving experience right here in the U.S. of A. Specifically I am house-sitting this weekend, and sharing the duties with a visitor from Britain - Julia, who is an Astrophysics Ph.D. student and coordinating the Space Generation Summit as a volunteer for her summer vacation. More power to her, I wouldn't want that job! She needs to raise $400,000 in the next 3 months, which I think could be interesting.

Anyway, this is her first trip to America and she has never driven on the righthand side of the road. Gavin, who's house we're sitting on, left his car behind for her to drive (very trusting soul). So last night, we were going to do driving-101 in Gavin's car, BUT the battery was dead (we jump started it afterwards, and it was dead again this morning -- so I had to drive Julia to work, and we're going to have to buy a new battery.)

Let's just say it was very entertaining. First of all, Julia had never driven an automatic before. She actually really appreciated it, though several times I had to stop her because she had her left foot on the brake and the right foot on the gas. Scarily, she would accidently hit the gas instead of the brake because of the positioning. But after we got the hang of that, I freaked her out by telling her to turn right on a red-light. (Red means stop, right?) And then, there was the left hand turn issue, which is ok, in that she can make a left hand turn, but she had to consciously remember that she was supposed to stay on the right side of the road while doing it. Anyway, it wasn't so bad. She had actually had one driving lesson before me, but it was in a standard, and she was having trouble concentrating on both the clutch (which I guess was sticking or something) and driving on the right side at the same time, so she was worried. Now, she is definitely a capable American driver :).

Sailing

Yesterday I had my first sailing "solo", a trusting members of the Clear Lake Sailing Club lent Cari and I their two Sunfish (which are small, single-handed boats) and use of their bay in front of their house for Cari and I to sail in. As I pulled away from the dock, I was just delighted that I was moving forward (the more experienced sailor called from the dock "That's what's supposed to happen", very confused that I would be surprised it would happen). I definitely was getting the hang of things, and the light wind helped, though several times I ended up doing circles accidently, covering all points of sail in the process - the boom was VERY low so I was completely convinced I was going to get a concusion one of these times around, but I didn't. It was quite fun. I am up to averaging sailing twice a week. Now, I need to get that average for flying, and I will be a VERY content person.

Puppies galore

After sailing we went and walked Cari's 5 border collie puppies (7 weeks old) that she is taking care of for the weekend (one of the litter is hers, the rest are still looking for owners). They were so adorable. But, what a handful!! And unbelievable amount of work, it made me happy that I got Apache fixed. I am totally convinced now that Apache's parentage is part border collie, because they all had the same funky submissive posture she has - which is lying on the stomach, spreading their four legs in different directions and slinking across the ground. Cari also told me about "sheep herding" school, which the mother-boarder collie had been too. I think I am definitely going to enroll Apache in that, I think she would have tons of fun - especially with her overly keen herding instinct.

And if you are still reading - Signs

I went and saw "Signs" this weekend. I was very entertained. Mostly because it was worth it to see Mel Gibson standing beneath the sign to Newtown Jewelers (the source of pretty much all the jewelery I own) and eating at Mom's Pizza. Now, I will be better able to explain Bucks County to other people when they ask where I'm from and I say "Philadelphia.. but not quite". Actually, they depicted the area as much more rural than it actually is. I imagine that's the way Bucks County was when my aunts were growing up there. But that's when they road horses through farm fields to Goodnoe's ice cream -- now if they tried that, they would get run over by a semi- or something! Now, the farms are definitely all gone - my mom's reaction to it was "Where'd they find a farm to film that at?" because there are so few. The only major one left near our house is Shady Brook farm, which my father told me (this is very funny) carved crop circles into their corn this weekend to host a Signs-premier celebration. I think there are some more farms near my Aunt Julie's at Peddler's Village/New Hope area, but I'm not sure. Its funny, I read a review with the director, M. Knight, and he said he picked Bucks County because he was always impressed by how beautiful it is, and thinking about it, I guess it is beautiful, but its not something you think about when you live there -- and everything is more beautiful than Houston, anyway! But I had so many other complaints about Bucks County, like how ultra-50's-suburban and how sheltered the people there are (like Bucks County is the only place in the whole world and why would you even bother living elsewhere), that I never really appreciated that. Of course, after living in Atlanta, I can no longer complain about conservative Bucks County -- it actually made them seem fairly liberal. Ok, anyway, that's my ramble about Signs, which got my review as an "Ok" movie.

New pictures of Apache here

This weekend

This next week I am staying at Gavin and Jen's house to house and puppy-sit for them. It should be fun having two dogs for a week instead of one. In other plans, on Sunday, a friend and I have been invited down to the house of one a couple members of the sailing club. They live on a bay about 20 minutes south of my apartment, and they have two Sunfish (which is like a really tiny, one person sailboat), which they are going to entrust to my friend and I *both complete novice sailors* to play with. It should be fun!

My Random Thoughts on Texas

I was listening to the radio today, and learned that tonight is the night of the Houston Texans (our new pro-football team, since the Oilers left us to become the Tennessee Titans) first scrimmage. The tickets for this scrimmage (which is basically 6 people on each side and only 10 plays) sold out almost immediately after they went on sale. A scrimmage!! The people on the radio said that tailgate parties were already started at the field. Ah, how Texans love their football.

This made me think of one of my Texas high school aerospace scholars. He said, while making the argument that we should go to Moon before Mars, "Its like all our high schools. You know how our football teams all have a practice field to practice in. Then they play the real games in the other 'real' field." And he said this like everyone on the team would completely relate to a high school that had TWO football fields! The truth is, everyone on the team, being from Texas high schools, actually could relate. I had never heard of such a thing until I moved to Houston. I mean, we had one field in my high school, the bleachers were never filled, AND even if they did fill, they might hold 1,000 people, max. Looking at the League City (Clear Creek) High School, the practice field has about bleachers that size. The real field could probably seat 5,000 + people. Its crazy.

Actually, if I had kids in school I could quite possibly find this whole thing appalling, as the Texas education system is clearly screwed up. Most high schools here are extremely small (despite the size of the football field) and according to my TASP students and teacher, support almost no extracurricular activities not associated with football. Maybe my next rant will be about the achievement tests (TAKS) that all the kids have to take to advance at certain grade levels. The obsession with scores on this test have lead to entire grades in school being consumed with test preparation and teaching to the test, rather than actually teaching.

But since I have no kids in school, I can just laugh at the ridiculousness of Texas and its football.

Sickness

Thank you, I am feel much better today. I decided the reason I was so sick was because I did not actually have an eccenacia tea, which was always supplied by Karen in my previous living arrangement, and it always made me feel good and comforted -- kind of the same effect as ginger ale, grilled cheese sandwhiches, chicken noodle soup, and toast.

Song lyrics

I know, my song lyric posting hasn't been as good as it used to be, but here's a flashback for y'all (name song and title -- this one i for our 'rents generation):

Imagine there’s no heaven

It’s easy if you try

No hell below us

Above us only sky

Imagine all the people

Living for today...



Imagine there’s no countries

It isn’t hard to do

Nothing to kill or die for

And no religion too

Imagine all the people

Living life in peace...



You may say I’m a dreamer

But I’m not the only one

I hope someday you’ll join us

And the world will be as one



Imagine no possessions

I wonder if you can

No need for greed or hunger

A brotherhood of man

Imagine all the people

Sharing all the world...



You may say I’m a dreamer

But I’m not the only one

I hope someday you’ll join us

And the world will live as one

Sickness

I have just been a collection of illnesses this week. It has been topped off by an allergic reaction to something I ate at an Asian restaraunt last night that made my tongue swell up. Very very unpleasant. And the persistant naseau, headache, and fever from the beginning of the week hasn't gone yet. Yuck.

And in work news

As you may or may not know, I do simulations of debris breaking up as it is ejected off the Crew Return Vehicle and then EXPLODES in the upper atmosphere. Anyway, I have found a few cases where the explosion sends a piece of debris into orbit. Very cool. But it wrecks havock on my simulations. Hopefully I'll resolve it before this weekend so I can FINALLY finish the 351,000 runs I am doing.