I am so tired this morning. I don't know why, but I'm really dragging. Maybe coffee is perking me up.

Yesterday, I had a productive day at work. There was an opportunitiy to learn to use a new simulation that is basically completely unintelligible, but I was getting the hang of it by the end of the day. Then, I got confirmation that I am going to get to go to Ames (in San Fran!) for a week of simulator flying (whoo hoo!) during one of the last two weeks of April. Now, if I can somehow get myself onto a trip to the bailout simulation at KSC (in Florida!) the other week in April, my job is beginning to qualify as exciting.

To make matters even more exciting, James Cameron, famous film director, was here talking about some diving he did to hydrothermal vents for an IMAX movie. Anyway, people I knew actually went on the trip with him, and he showed us a cut of some of the footage, and it was so cool, cause I felt like I knew movie stars. They went down in these subs several thousand meters underwater and saw the coolest things. Ok, blind shrimp aren't that exciting. But there were these huge spires or rocks formed by precipitates from the vents that were unbelievably gorgeous. Kennda got to go out to dinner with him and now she calls him "Jim." Ha ha ha!

Last night I had the weirdest dream about Switzerland. We were doing an experiment, but the set up was different. The burner was sitting on a pole out in the grass by the crazy fountain in front of the building (normally it was behind multiple layers of shielding when we ran experiments). We lit it and the Swedish engineers that I worked with for a couple of weeks were frantic making notes on their laptops. The flame got bigger, and more like a flame thrower. A bird flew into the flame and cooked and fell to the ground. Then, someone brought a camera, and Bruno (my boss/mentor), Tina (another praktikant who worked for my boss), and I started posing for them in front of the flame thrower, with two thumbs up. And then we burst into a little song and dance number. It was really weird.

The great civilized state of Utah has dropped firing squads as a form of execution. (Can you sense the sarcasm?) I work in the county that executes the greatest number of people each year. Its such a mad world.