Sing for the laughter, sing for the tear

I wish I could think of a fitting tribute for the Columbia crew. It was a year and a day ago. I remember coming into work that Monday morning and seeing the sign at the front gate covered with tributes. But very quickly I became consumed by work, instead of tragedy. But occasionally I still feel that sinking in my stomach I had on that Saturday morning a year ago. I remember the call from my Mom. I remember the call I made to Sarah right after. I remember the flurry of phone calls between my co-workers. But I also remember how good it felt a month later when they finally raised the flag to full-staff.



Weekend recap

Saturday, I spent the day judging Science Olympiad's "Storm the Castle" event. Basically a bunch of teenagers built quite impressive catapults (called "trebuchets" - pronounced "treb-you-shay", or "tree-bucket" if you are a Texan) and launched bean bags at targets. It was really amusing, except that it was outside (and it was damp & cold!)

Sunday was dominated by the Super Bowl, which sometimes feels like a national holiday. Houston, the country's most self-conscious city, spent the week obsessing over Super Bowl events. But that didn't stop them from price-gouging (I heard reports of $100 covers for some bars). The game rocked (I like when they have dramatic endings) - though I totally missed the streaker and Janet's "clothing malfunction" because we were eating during half-time. The whole moon-astronaut thing was hokey - even for a space buff like me. But, I'll admit, I enjoyed Aerosmith's NASA tribute in pre-game show. I'm also a sucker for "Dream On" (its probably my favorite Aerosmith song). Though, the parachuters surprised me considering the roof of the dome appeared closed. Did they crack it? Did they risk BASE jumping? I don't know.

Chasing the years of my life...

Sometimes I feel like I'm wasting time. Only 100 years to make an impact on the world, so far, not really making much progress. Maybe I should join the Peace Corps. Or run for Congress. Or invent a cure for cancer. At the very least, I feel like I could make at least a bigger dent in contributing to the space program. Instead, I am coding Approach and Land guidance. A sometimes-wise person pointed out to me that anything I learn about Approach and Land will be basically out of date in ten years, when the shuttle is replaced by a capsule. I know a capsule is the way to go to meet mission requirements, but it still *feels* like a huge step backwards from the dream of a truly reusable space plane. Maybe I'm just plane crazy.

Oh, Jen posted these two blogs which I found very interesting: one based in Israel and one based Iraq