Today has been a pretty busy day so far. Whoo hoo for work!

Tomorrow I am judging Science Olympiad all day. Its become a bit of a pain in the neck, because I feel more of an organizer of an event than just a judge. But hopefully it will be fun. I am judging an event called "Storm the Castle". This involves catapults and projectiles. Yeh!

I wish the sun would come out.

My Super Bowl quotes of the day:



"People who move to Houston fall in love with this place, but before you get here you have a lot of misconceptions -- is it prairie? Is it a swamp? What the hell is it?"

...

Like an ungainly adolescent determined to shine at the prom, Houston is going to extravagant lengths to primp for the big event.

Week 3 of fall semester. Why do I feel like I'm in jail, ticking off the time until Week 15 is over. And then I only get to start it all over again. Each semester I hope I will enjoy better than the previous one, but no luck yet. The definition of insanity: repeating the same action and expecting a different outcome.

Yesterday I was so bored, I volunteered myself to convert shuttle's Approach and Land guidance from a simulation written in C, to one in Matlab. This would involve learning a little bit about shuttle guidance first, which should be good for me. But, seriously, not exactly thrilling even for a self-professed nerd. Yet I find myself excited about it because at least its something to entertain me at work.

I received a letter from the property management associations advising me to Mow, Weedeat, and Edge my lawn. Completely ridiculous. I mean, its not perfectly groomed right now (a few weeds around the edges), but certainly better than most of the summer and much shorter. I resisted the temptation of sending them the following letter:

Dear Houston Community Management Services,

I am writing to inform you that it is January.

In case you need a little more information, January qualifies as the middle of winter. In fact, today’s temperature dropped into the low 30s. It doesn’t take a horticulturist to tell you that in the middle of winter, St. Augustine, like most other varieties of grass, enters what is called a “dormant” stage. I know that you may not have education in these matters (judging by the recent letter you sent me), but dormancy means typically a plant stops growing.

Through the months of December, January, and, dare I say it, even February, we homeowners are granted a reprieve from the mowing, edging, and weed-eating that your letter suggests. Though, I must admit, the summer growing season is my favorite time of year. I particularly enjoy rushing home to mow my lawn at least once a week because I fear that if one grass is out of place it will bring the disapproval of the association and one of your famous letters. Lucky for me, Mother Nature puts the grass in a dormant stage so I can take a little break from the weekly mowing ritual in the winter. But apparently, Houston Community Association’s grass police don’t see this as a reason to take a short holiday.

If you take one step in my yard, you will notice not a single segment of grass is over ankle height (in fact, I measured sample sections of my yard to find an average grass height of 1.5 inches, which is practically a military buzz cut). Compare this to the lush summer months, where lawns in our neighborhood typically grow that height after two days of their last mowing.

As for your suggestion of edging my lawn, I believe you’ll find that there isn’t any grass making its way onto the sidewalk (though I understand some of it is getting suspiciously close!)

Over-mowing grass in the cool season can often lead to its untimely demise. And though I enjoy receiving your warm, chatty, and threatening letters about weed-eating and lawn-mowing on a regular basis, I think your friendly association would really get yourself in a tizzy if, upon the arrival of spring, my grass has all died from excessive lawn mowing.

So, rather than pay a fine, this weekend, I will be out in my hat and gloves (with my luck it will probably be snowing) mowing my dormant grass to avoid a fine.

I will also be the voice at the next community association meeting asking why our property management company is wasting the community’s money by acting as “grass police” during the long, dark winter when nothing was growing. Personally, I’d rather you spend the money sending me my pool passes on time (something that didn’t happen last summer, though I’m hoping you’ll do a little better this year).

Thank you for your diligence in making sure every homeowner gets to live the suburban dream life of a Stepford wife,

Rebecca Cutri-Kohart

NASA's nefarious plan for lunar exploration (according to hindu.com): The Moon colonisation plan announced by Mr. Bush will "enable the U.S. to establish its control of the global energy market 20 years from now and put the rest of the world on its knees as hydrocarbons run out," the daily said.

On the space program subject, according to the radio, Aerosmith is here today filming a tribute to NASA for the Super Bowl pre-game show. This will mark the second time Aerosmith has been present during my employment at NASA (the first time was the EXCELLENT premier party for Armagedon at KSC).

The paperwork of Rice never ends, even with online registration. One of my classes didn't appear on the system until late, so now, once again, I will find myself hand-carrying forms around campus.

I'm also glad to see that the Supreme Court will review the death penalty for juvenile offenders. I find it appalling that America is in the company of China, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Iran, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen as the only nations in the world that execute criminals that were under 18 when they committed their crime.

Its frigid today. But still sunny, which is nice.

I test drove cars this weekend, I really want one. But, I am still freaked out about spending that much money (weird thought considering how much I owe the bank for my house). I still haven't test-driven the Jeeps though. Sarah and I went to the dealership two weeks ago on a Sunday and they were closed (which, I guess, happens). Then, we went again on Saturday and now they are closed on Saturdays and open Sundays. Very absurd.

I also helped do the local President's Scholarship interviews. All the candidates I saw were really good (last year's lot was a little more disappointing). And, of course, impressive. Some of them made me wish I was in high school again (that's only a fleeting wish, though!). Another amusing thing was that one of the alumni there (AE '63) used to work at NASA in the MPAD (which is the predecessor of my division) during Apollo, and he was naming people to see if any of them were still around, and he said "What about Jon Harold, he was real junior guy when I left?" This made me laugh, because now its Mr. Harpold, head of Mission Operations, who is my boss's boss's boss's boss.

This week is going to feel really long. I just realized, I haven't worked a full week since before Christmas (there was Christmas week, then New Years off, then I was sick one day, and then I went to Philadelphia taking a Friday off, and then Martin Luther King Monday off).

Yesterday was a beautiful sunny day, warm in the 70s. Tonight, its going to drop below freezing. The weather forecast is particularly entertaining today: High 70, Low 30. I guess its not as crazy at the freak winter D.C. and Philadelphia is having, but I don't think I'll ever get used to 40 degree temperature spreads.

First, I need to say that I want to be skiing in the French Alps this weekend. I swear, I need to quit and join the foreign service or the Peace Corps or something and see more of the world.

I am on permanent airport duty this week. Contantly seeking and finding new runways. Seriously. But is it worth spending $40 million? I think not.

I finished my 2.1 mile run last night in 24 minutes! Ok, so its no half-marathon in 2:15 or anything, and its much slower than most people run. But for me, a <12 minute mile is pretty damned good.

This morning, I forgot my classes were in the afternoons instead of the mornings (like they were last semester). So instead of rushing into work to get here early to squeeze hours in before leaving for class, I was puttering around wasting time. Oh well.

On Letterman:

Top Ten Reasons George W. Bush Wants To Put A Man On Mars:

10. Dick Cheney needs a new undisclosed location

9. It's part of his "No Planet Left Behind" initiative

8. Great deal on the off-season airfare right now at Expedia.com

7. Maybe we'll find some weapons of mass destruction there

6. We've run out of places on Earth to drill for oil

5. Hoping to get Mork's autograph

4. We cannot back down until the people of Mars hold free elections

3. Dude, free Mars bars

2. Why not? It's not like we have an enormous debt or failing economy

1. Pete Rose bet him we wouldn't do it

Work Rant

I need to get away from my computer. That's probably my biggest complaint about my job -- that I spend all day at a desk in front of a computer, in front of one of a select number of computer programs. I just looked at a reassignment opportunity in the NBL (the giant pool where the astronauts train) - I'm not actually considering it because I like my current job and the path where it may eventually lead me. But, momentarily, it was nice to consider having a job that would occasionally require me to swim, travel, work with hardware, and attend meetings with people that do things outside my specific discipline.

Instead I make charts. All be-it cool charts. But charts none-the-less. I engineer by powerpoint. Sarah commented the other day that the problem with staying motivated is that no one cares about the results of a lot of our projects, and I have to wholeheartedly agree. When I'm doing last minute work to go into a bigger presentation on an important project, I feel motivated and productive. But when I'm doing work that the end result is going to be my group lead looking at it and saying, "wouldn't it be interesting if you refined these by doing these 10 million more cases?", then, well, not-so-motivated. Paralysis by analysis. This is why I'm a bad engineer, I can't endlessly study a problem because its interesting. I require a deadline and a specific result.

I had two pieces of good news in class last night: 1. There are 3 other people in my class that work at NASA (yeh for study-buddies!) 2. There is no homework.

After class, I had two hours to kill before meeting up for Kennda's birthday bash. Since dinner was going to be in downtown Houston and I was already up there (at Rice), it didn't make sense for me to drive home and then turn around and come back.

So, I went to the Galleria Mall, which is probably one of the coolest malls on the planet. (Seriously, it has an ice skating rink in the middle a hotel above it and takes up several city blocks) I had been meaning to go there, because they have a New York & Company, which is the source of my favorite pair of tattered blue jeans, and I was hoping to replace them (which I did, they were on sale for $15 so I bought two pairs). As I was wandering around the mall, I came across a Segway store! I guess the salesman noticed me peering into the store and said "You know you want to take a ride!" so I rode the Segway all around the store, forward, backward, in neat little circles. It was awesome! I was a Segway speed demon.

My other good news is the amaryllis that I thought died an untimely death when the cat got it actually bloomed! You see the cat chewed up the plant, but before throwing it out, I cut off the unbloomed flower and put it in a bowl of water. There were three huge pink flowers (I'll e-mail a picture from my camera phone later) and we just put it in this teeny-tiny shot glass vase.

This weekend was a regular winter wonderland. Seriously, it snowed pretty much constantly - its really a good thing I brought my snow boots (I had contemplated leaving them behind, because I remember a snowless Bucks County childhood).

So, the rundown:

Friday. I went to my cousins' (John & Michael) school, the Buckingham Friends School to talk to the kids about space. First of all, its got to be the coolest school EVER. The school has been there since 1794 and is in this beautiful old house (though there is a new addition for the library and science labs). The kids were great, everyone was curious, and when I was talking about how the space shuttle slows down on entry, a 6th grader raised his hand and said "Does the space shuttle have slats?" (to which I could only respond "How does a 6th grader know what a slat is?!").

After school, I went back to my dad's house. I hung out, made shrimp and steak shishkabob, and chatted with the gang.

Saturday. I spent the night at dad's house and woke up early. Why, you ask? Because I was going skiing! Uncle John, John and Michael and I went up to Bear Creek Mountain, a short 45 minute drive away to Quakertown. (It used to be called Doe Mountain, but, as Dad so elequontly put it, "The bears ate all the deer, so they had to rename it). It was a tiny mountain, but its was great to get even a little skiing in. I took 7-year-old Michael down his first black diamond (that could probably be rated a bunny slope at Killington, but it was exciting for him). I also spent some time in the terrain park - I've gone of jumps in the parks before, but this was the first time I ventured into the half-pipe on my skis, and it rocked! I need to do that more often.

Sunday. Finally, I got to sleep in a little. Then, Aunt Julie and I took off to the stable, where I met her four-year-old horse Cally. She was so cute! I took her for a ride around the indoor ring, by the end, I was getting the hang of it and didn't need Aunt Julie to lead me (which was fairly empowering). The horse was HUGE, though, and I was shocked to hear that my minute 7-year-old cousin rides her all the time! I need to learn to ride. Then, it was off to Aunt Mary's (always fun) for coffee, socialization and gossip. Caroline might come to visit me in Houston in the next couple of months. And Aunt Mary invited me along with them to Costa Rica (I have to figure out how to fit that one into my schedule!).

Then came the mad-rush to get back to watch the Eagles game. You wouldn't believe how psyched Philadelphia was at their third shot at the NFC championship. All the buildings in downtown were lit green. Everyone wore Eagles jerseys all weekend. The newspaper wrote about nothing else. When we went to get pizza during the game, the roads were deserted. It was very depressing when they lost (on Monday, the newspaper had a full page cover shot of McNabb grimacing when he got his rib injured). One of John's friends (age 10) that was over watching the game was actually crying repeatedly. I felt bad.

Monday. We went sledding at what I can only call "Death Hill". Seriously, the snow switched to rain for a while on Sunday and then completely iced over. And this was a huge hill (with bales of hay at the bottom to soften the impact). It was like a death trap. But we survived (wish I wore a helmet though). After sledding I drove up to Dad's shop for lunch, hanging out, and a ride back to the airport. And that was that.

So, the tally

A great weekend, with sore legs (from skiing), a sore butt (from riding), and bruises on my back and legs (from Death Hill).

Today I am judging science fair at an elementary school, going to class, and going to a birthday dinner for Kennda.

First of all, mad props to Sarah, for finding this from one of her favorite editorialists:

...You can bet your big snakeskin Texas cowboy boots he [the President] wants this "big ol' Mars thingy" to be some sort of, you know, legacy...Look. NASA is wonderful. Space exploration is magnificent and essential and we learn enormous amounts about ourselves in the process. The Spirit rover on Mars right now? Breathtaking. Astounding new technologies are developed during major NASA missions, ideas that trickle down into the cultural mainstream and make life, if not easier, then at least more interesting, or lighter, or thinner, or edible at temperatures down to minus 450 degrees with a battery pack that lasts 127 hours and a new infrared extrasensory ink that can be read by blind comatose monkeys. Space is good.

Anyway, it made me laugh, even if it wasn't quite pro-NASA.

As for the announcement yesterday, I'm hoping for the best. But my unbridled optimism left me after only a few months into life working for the space program. Things get canceled. Grand visions don't always work. The space station becomes a $20 billion boondoggle. But I'd love to see people living in on the Moon or Mars. NASA shouldn't be a scientific research agency, if we were, we could do it all with robots. We're an exploration and discovery agency, and that requires people pushing the frontiers. It makes me wonder once again if I'll be around to see people land on the moon. It makes me think about putting my backup plan into action for the 4 (or probably more) years that NASA will be out of the business of manned spaceflight, between the end of the shuttle program and the start of lunar missions.

I leave for Philadelphia this afternoon. My Dad actually cancelled his ill-timed ice fishing trip because it was too cold in Canada (and that says a lot for the man who routinely braves frostbite), so now I'll see everyone! Well, except for Grandma K., who has migrated to Florida. The plan for the weekend is still kind of ill-formed. On Friday, I'm going to be talking to kids at John & Michael's elementary school. I'll visit Aunt Mary, Uncle Dean, et al. I'll visit Aunt Julie's new horse. There's been enough mention of a day trip to a local mountain, that I'm bringing my ski boots with me.

Speaking of which, it stinks to pack in the winter. I had to upgrade to a larger suitcase just fit enough sweaters for the weekend! Unbelievable.

I've spent the morning being mad-chart-creator-lady. Ah, got to love engineering by powerpoint. This is one of those days I wish I had hardware to work on.

The list of the 10 Most Endangered National Parks is out for this year. Everglades in on this list. It makes me realize that after all my times in Florida, I've never been there, even though its practically around the corner. I've added it to my to-do list for things to do next time I go home. That, and Dry Tortuga.

Last night I went rock climbing. I managed to earn a lot of blisters. I didn't get a very good night's sleep last night. At 4 a.m. the dogs started wrestling and wouldn't stop. I let them out of my room and then they started barking, so I brought them back in. Then I ordered Bennet to "place" and that calmed him down, but Apache paced back and forth and back and forth. Gr. How is it they can sleep until noon with me on the weekends but had to get up at 4 a.m. today?

Tonight I start class for the semester. I am taking Engineering Approach to Optimal Control on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 4:15-5:15 p.m. In theory, I am also taking Gas Dynamics, on Thursdays from 3:15-4:15. However, it has not yet been posted on the registration system, which is starting to make me worry a little.

Cari's quote of the day deserves to be preserved for posterity: ‘Oddly enough, I cannot find Peru in Asia.’

I had the drive from HELL this morning. I took Kennda to pick up her car that was getting repaired at the Mitsubishi dealership. Apparently the only shop she "trusts" is over an hour away! We left the house at 7 a.m., I arrived at work at 9:30 a.m. It was solid highway driving the whole way. I couldn't believe it - who would think it was even within the realm of reason to get your car repaired that far away? Its not like she drives an exotic import! I mean, I know a good repair shop in Philadelphia, but I don't take my car all the way up there to get it fixed. This is only slightly less unreasonable than that...

In other news, I'm really glad that debate is starting on manned Moon & Mars missions. Though the amount of funding required for an endevour would eventually require bipartisan support, I think a public debate is just what people need to get interested in the space program again. Did you know that during the '60s, the Apollo progam barely maintained over 50% approval ratings? But it was something people felt passionate about, either for or against. I think that's what the space program needs to re-energize it. Of course, we'll see where this all goes, because I've become (depressingly) a space cynic. I'd prefer to be working on programs that are already flying into space than working on advanced programs that will, in all likelihood, get cancelled before they get off the ground.

This was my favorite quote from an op-ed about the President's upcoming proposal for new exploration initiatives:

In strictly practical terms, manned space missions make little sense. But Americans, thank Heaven, do not always think in strictly practical terms. They are a restless, inquisitive, pioneering people. The concept of exploration, of an ever-expanding frontier, is central to their identity in a way that some Europeans find hard to understand.

I basically slept all day yesterday. I think before my last wakeup at 8:30 p.m. I had been up for a cumulative three hours over the course of the day. My dogs thought I was crazy. Then, of course, I couldn't get to sleep last night. I am feeling much better today -- even less hazy than I was on Wednesday. So, this is all good.

This weekend, I don't know. Maybe board games, or a movie. Definitely a long walk with the dogs. But, otherwise, try to take it easy.

Home sick. Yep. I had been thinking about staying home all week. I knew I was skirting around getting sick. I sneezed off and on all day yesterday and developed a head ache in the afternoon. But it was still only haziness, not really illness. Then, it hit full force last night in the form of fever. I was hot. Then cold. Let's just say I didn't sleep very well going from burning hot to frigid all night. I just woke up again this morning (yes, it is 11:30, I did wake up briefly to call my boss, but that's about it). I think the fever may have broken a little bit, at least I feel a little better. My head is throbbing though.

I made the mistake of checking my work e-mail. This allowed someone I don't even know to piss me off (only in a minor, but annoying way). Apparently, even when you think you're doing the right thing (e.g. most effecient and direct), you get politely told that you didn't go through proper channels and you get an "I appreciate your enthusiasm but..." e-mail. Silly me. But now I feel like I've already started off on the wrong foot with a prickly person.

Well, I think I'm going back to bed now. But first, I must drug myself.

I have managed to get exactly one thing done this morning and it didn't even work right. I have a stuffy nose and I've been perpetually tired for the last few days.

So, instead I surfed airfares to go skiing. I'm getting itchy for a ski trip. And we just finished talking about a mountain hiking trip. Why, oh why, do I have to live in flat, swampy Houston?

I didn't go jogging last night, but I did go to Sarah's gym and used the ellitpical machine and the stair master. Gosh, I hate the stair master, but it was quite a work out. Now, I just need to spend eight hours on it breathing through a straw and I'll be ready for Peru.

I got a second postcard from Aunt Diane in Europe! Yeh for postcards!

Classes start next week. I am not looking forward to it. I need to start getting honorary degrees so I don't have to do all this work.

Which of Jack Sparrow's Quotes are You? {Pirates of the Caribbean}

I want my quote to be:

Will Turner: We're going to steal a ship? That ship?
Jack Sparrow: Commandeer! We're going to commandeer that ship. Nautical term.

Speaking of which, Orlando Bloom in all his sexiness was on the cover of GQ this month.

I went climbing last night. I'm on a Sarah McLachlan kick on my iPod. This weekend, the high reached 80 degrees. This morning it was 34 degrees. 50 degree spread in two days. I *need* to go jogging tonight. The garbage men didn't pick up my Christmas tree yesterday. My Rice advisor is going to think I'm a little batty, I'm afraid.

That's today's randomness

Another uneventful weekend.

Saturday I went geocaching with Debbie and Jason. Its kind of like a high-tech treasure hunt. You go to a web site and you get GPS coordinates for a hidden "cache" and then you head out into the brush to find the item -- using your GPS to hone in on the exact location within about 10 feet. Then, you just look around. We found things in trees, behind logs, etc. When you find the cache, you take a prize, sign a guest book, and leave a prize behind. Anyway, we did this murder mystery set of caching, where we found 5 items with the coordinates from the web site. And then each of those 5 gave us a clue for the coordinates of the sixth site, which we then trekked through the woods to find. I was muddy and covered in thorns after trying to find some of these things. It was fun. And more than a little nerdy.

Sunday I wanted to go test drive Jeeps. But, it seems that car dealerships in Texas are closed on Sunday. How weird. In case you are wondering, I am not quite ready to buy a new car, mostly 'cause I still feel too poor for that, but I want to be prepared since my car has started to give up the ghost (it squeeks, it shakes when I exceed 30 mph, it hums, its loud, and the check engine light is permanently on -- in other words, its about to blow up as far as I can tell.) Plus I'm jealous of my brother's brand spanking new car he got for Christmas. Anyway, I really really wanted a convertable, but the ones in my price range can't tow boats (though I do love the VW bug convertible). This leave the convertable truck - the Jeep Wrangler. So, I wanted to try that out. I want a car I'm going to love, and I can't picture myself loving a station wagon/hatchback or an SUV very much. And definitely not another sedan.

I also went on a massive organization kick. I purged all my files. I put things in storage tupperware. I cleaned out my desk. I also packed up all my Christmas decorations (putting them up is SO much more fun than taking them down). I feel very prepared for the new year. Go me!

Happy 2004!

If yesterday is any indication of what 2004 will be like for me, I can only describe it as one word: restful. I slept until noon. I reburned CD's for my iPod because I made the mistake of using the stupid AutoSync function on iTunes. It actually deletes music if its not on your computer harddrive (too bad I used two other computer to assemble my music collection!). I picked Sarah up at IAH, I got there in a record time of 40 minutes. I went to the grocery store, made a ceasar salad, and watched t.v. I played some fetch with the pups. And then I went to bed. I puttered around this morning for extra long time (mostly because I had been planning on going for a run but it was raining outside and I was hoping it would quit and I have some extra hours this week because I had been planning on having to go to pick Nick up at the airport at lunchtime, but someone else is going to get him).

This weekend is project weekend. I am going to file all my papers and bills from 2003. I am going to finish making my giant French memo board (I ran out of ribbon for it before the holidays). I am going to take down all the Christmas decorations (sigh). And I'm probably going to sleep in a lot and play with the dogs. And that's about all.