Today started off with a bang. Actually, it was more of a pop. On my way to work, around 8:15 a.m., I turned left onto 146, and all the sudden, thud-thud-thud. My first thought was "well, there's goes the engine, time to buy a new car. Then my logic kicked in and I realized I had a flat. So I pulled into a parking lot.

Since I am a self-sufficient rocket scientist (and since Dad always forgets to send me my AAA membership card when renewal time comes around), I proceeded to prepare to change the tire myself... even if the ground was wet and muddy (and rocket scientists aren't exactly dressed like grease monkeys these days, especially those of us who sit in front of a computer all day). While pulling my micro-micro-mini spare out of the trunk, I was suprised to find the tire well full of water! Thinking back, I had noticed a faint smell of dampness in my trunk off and on, but, I never really investigated its source. I guess I should have been more thorough (strike two for the rocket scientist). When that construction truck hit me last year, they did a lot of work on my trunk, and I guess they didn't seal it very well.

Anyway, my jack was completely rusted, making it impossible to change the tire. Of course, the only thing open was the nearby dry cleaner. I figured, "He must have a jack," - especially since there was a Texas-size red pickup truck in his driveway. Instead, all I got, was a weird look and a "sorry, ma'am, can't help you" and he went back to work. So much for good samaritans. I was actually near a very busy road and obviously in distress, yet I was there for over 20 minutes before someone stopped... maybe if I was a beautiful blonde in a short skirt I would've gotten more attention...

Anyway, I started calling around to friends that take that route to work, but no one was answering their phones. Finally I got through to Kennda. You know, the one who maintains her car a dealership a million miles away. I figured it wouldn't be too out of her way to just drop me off the jack from her car en route to work.

Apparently it was. Kennda had a huge presentation scheduled for 10 a.m., so she recruited Kelly to take care of me instead (interesting that you've never heard of "Kelly" before -- well Kelly is awesome - I mean she has one of the coolest jobs on the planet, working with extreme environments and remote mission planning, and we've been involved in things together before, but really I barely know her at all, which makes this whole thing remarkably silly -- especially considering Kennda was going to have to drive right by me in a matter of minutes).

Anyway, in the mean time, a friendly old man did end up stopping, lent me his jack, and helped me change my tire (with what turned out to be a flat mini-spare requiring a trip up to the gas station for air before we put it on my car). And Kelly stopped by, I'm sure she was bemused by the whole thing, but I sent her on the way, because at that point everything was all under control.

Here's a total stranger who stopped to help. And another person I barely know who came via a phone call from someone else who couldn't be bothered. And I'm sure Gavin, Jen, George, Katie, Fred, or Nick, all who live nearby me, would've all come in a minute if I had gotten through to them, and others (like Sarah - didn't want to leave one of my faithful readers off the list just because she happens to not be a member of the League City mafia) would have gone out of their way to come help me if I really stranded (though with some groaning if they had to drive back to 146 from work). Its good to know you have people you can count on.

Now, if you're bored of reading about tires...first, I waant you to reflect on my excessive use of parenthesis above. Especially David, since he's practically a professional. (Hi David! The twins are coming for the weekend of the 13th of May. Mark your calendar, party in Houston!)

Are you still reading? Wow. You must be really interested in my life to get this far.... There was some interesting stuff in the news today: Russia is preparing to launch an operation to rescue a group of scientists, after the sinking of their North Pole research base... "All of a sudden a huge wall of ice appeared that kept growing and growing," station chief Vladimir Koshelyev told Russian media via telephone. "First they were three meters high, then five, then seven and finally over 10.

And, this was the best explanation I have ever read about why NASA hasn't accomplished any projects that have the scope and ambition of landing on the moon.

If you're still interested in hearing about things that befuddle highly trained engineers, ask Nick S. sometime about our combined 3.4 upper level engineering degrees from the fine technical universities of Georgia Tech, Purdue, Stanford, and Rice and how we "fixed" the dishwasher last night.