I was bored of reading about navaids, so, I finally got around to doing one of these:

100 Things About Me:

1. My name is Rebecca Marie Cutri-Kohart

2. It used to be Rebecca Marie Kohart. Or Rebecca Marie Christianna Cutri-Kohart if you count my confirmation name.

3. My favorite color used to be yellow.

4. I tend to pick things that are colored green, silver, maroon or sky blue.

5. I'm very outspoken

6. And therefore I often lack tact

7. I am a rocket scientist

8. I became a rocket scientist because I wanted to be an astronaut.

9. I still want to travel into space, I am just a lot more realistic about the likelihood of me becoming an astronaut in today's space program

10. In the meantime I get my thrills by sailing and flying and traveling

11. I haven't been flying in three years.

12. The most perfect moment I have ever experienced was flying alone over Atlanta in the autumn, as the sun was setting, and all the buildings turned pink and all the trees below me were shades of red and orange.

13. I've been to 21 different countries and 3 continents

14. I just put a deposit down on a trip to my fourth continent

15. My favorite country is America.

16. I'm also a big fan of Canada, Switzerland, Greece, Italy and Morocco

17. I've always wanted to go to Antarctica

18. But Antarctica is the only continent that I don't have a plan to go to

19. I was born and raised in Pennsylvania

20. I have lived in Florida, Georgia, Virginia, Switzerland, and Texas

21. Technically, I have 5 brothers and 1 sister.

22. Biologically, I have 1 full brother, 2 half-brothers, and 1 half-sister.

23. I am writing a book about my crazy family.

24. I don't expect anyone to be able to decide whether my book is fiction or autobiographical

25. I didn't realize I had a compulsion for writing until I was halfway through college

26. I read, on average, several books per week.

27. I still think I watch way too much t.v.

28. I am proud of myself for being able to run 3 miles without stopping

29. I am embarrassed that it takes me longer to run 3 miles than it takes some people to walk 3 miles.

30. Rock climbing scares the living daylights out of me

31. Yet, I still go to the rock gym when I have time

32. I've only climbed outside the rock gym once before, it was a giant quarry wall at the Outward Bound school on Hurricane Island.

33. It scared the living daylights out of me.

34. I love to snow ski

35. I am not very good at skiing considering I've been doing it for over 20 years.

36. I want to move to Vermont or New Zealand

37. I will not be moving any time soon

38. I own my house

39. Actually, technically, the mortgage company owns my house

40. I have a dog named Apache

41. Technically, right now, I have two dogs, the other one is neurotic and named Bennet

42. Homeowners associations drive me crazy

43. Other things that drive me crazy: censorship, religious zealots, shy and quiet people, girls that bring makeup and/or blowdryers on camping trips

44. I am doing this list of 40 things right now because I am bored of reading about nav aids

45. I work in Mission Control

46. I am very happy I am finally working in Mission Control after 2.5 years of doing analysis

47. I find analysis interesting, but I don't have the patience for it.

48. I work best under stress or deadline pressure

49. I have marched on Washington with a million other radical feminists

50. Professors at Georgia Tech used to call me and a few of my girlfriends the "A.E. [Aerospace Engineering] female mafia"

51. I don't think that most engineers are used to seeing female engineers acting girly.

52. I've never really been much of a tomboy.

53. Well, maybe compared to girly-girls, I'm a tomboy. But compared to most girl-engineers, I'm definitely not.

54. I love pedicures.

55. I used to have an enormous collection of Barbies and Jem dolls, much to my feminist mother's dismay

56. I can't identify any part of a car's engine that doesn't have a label

57. I can change the oil and clean the spark plugs on a Cessna 152.

58. I have long, curly hair.

59. I wish my long, curly hair looked like curly hair that you see in fashion magazines without any frizz.

60. I like to talk. A lot.

61. People still make fun of me because I went to Star Trek conventions when I was 13 years old

62. I don't drive a car. I drive a Jeep.

63. The heighest mountain I've ever skied on was Breckenridge at 13,000 ft (3800 meters).

64. The heighest altitude I've ever hiked at was Flims Laax at 3000 meters

65. The most entertaining end to a hike I've ever had was in Grindewald with Karen

66. We had to hitchhike to the bottom, riding in the back of the Jeep of an old Swiss couple and their cow bells.

67. This year, I am going on two hikes were we will have to ascend to over 4000 meters

68. The hardest hike I did was up the side of a 200 foot sand dune.

69. I didn't really discover that I liked the great outdoors until I went to college

70. I've been in love three times in my life

71. None of them worked out too well, but I'm still optimistic.

72. I think anyone close to my age with children is off their rocker.

73. I know that's narrow-minded.

74. I can't picture myself having children.

75. I can picture myself as the much-loved crazy Aunt Becca

76. I've never had a close friend get married.

77. I am good friends with several married couples but I met them all after they were married.

78. I donate money to Medecins Sans Frontieres, Planned Parenthood, Angel Flight, and the ACLU.

79. I never really considered careers outside the space program.

80. Until my senior year of college, when suddenly I discovered a closet journalist and a want-to-be-doctor inside of me.

81. Unfortunately, you can't do everything in one life.

82. My retirement plan is to own a used bookstore on the side of a mountain near a lake.

83. I think my retirement plan is very appealing because friends have offered to open up youth hostels, coffee shops, bars, resteraunts and horse stables near my book store.

84. I wonder how much key stroke monitoring the government does on my computer.

85. I spend an average of two hours per day surfing the Internet and reading e-mail.

86. It bothers me when my friends with blogs don't update every morning.

87. I think Quakers are interesting. I think Mormons are scary. My family is Roman Catholic, Episcipol, and Greek Orthodox -- I'm sure other people think the same things about those religions.

88. I feel very uneducated about the religions of the world.

89. I am also very uneducated about geography and post-World War II history.

90. I am scarily knowledgable about social contract philosophy.

91. I ranked 11th place in the nation in Lincoln-Douglas Debate my junior year of high school.

92. I really haven't received a major award since, but I'm optimistic about the future.

93. My parents used to joke about me going into politics.

94. I'm thinking about eventually getting a masters degree in Public Policy

95. Right now, I would be happy to just finish my masters degree in engineering.

96. I'm a Rambling Wreck from Georgia Tech.

97. I have really strange taste in music.

98. I envy free spirits who are always ready for the next adventure regardless of other responsibilities.

99. Science fiction and fantasy exerted an undue influence on my formative years.

100. I have a bumper sticker that says "Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for thou art crunchy and tast good with ketchup."

I slept for 15 hours last night. Seriously. 15 hours. I got home at 4:30 p.m., was out like a light by 5 p.m., woke up at 9:30 p.m. to kick my dogs out of my room ("Nick, pretty please, get these *freakin'* dogs away from me and feed them too" -- I think he was a little stunned, well, I think he definitely was stunned because he responded "Are you feeling ok?"), woke up at 5 a.m. and decided it was way too early and that I should sleep for another hour and then go jogging, and finally work up for good at 7:15 a.m.

I can tell I'm not in college anymore. Yesterday when I left work at 4, I felt like I was about to snap. Actually I think I did snap at around 2 p.m. when G. was trying to make me remember the source of a problem I fixed with a code that I wrote 2 years ago. He looked all dejected when I said "You just can't do that, it won't work... [I started muttering things about orbits and groundtracks and then made him draw groundtracks because I was incapable of visualizing the problem right then] Don't roll your eyes at me! Just trust me..." Of course, engineers never believe that anything won't work until they see the data. And then they believe that once they see the data an immediate fix to the problem will present itself. This is why I firmly believe all engineers are optimists.

begin rant. The problem was I couldn't remember where the data was or even what the problem was. So, given my inability to draw the orbits I wanted, I turned to a software program that I had -- STK. As it turned out, the darned trial/student version I've been using EXPIRED. I tried to renew the license, but it wasn't working. So I tried the ye-old-set back the clock on your computer trick. This basically blew up STK, and now all I get when I try to load it is this weird clock error. Thank goodness my computer is getting refreshed next week. Ok, end rant.

I'm feeling very chipper now. Though, I'm also a bit hungry since I skipped dinner last night. I hope we go somewhere good for Friday lunch.

I woke up way too early this morning (the alarm went off at 2:30 a.m.!) I came into work for a 3:30 a.m. simulation with Keflavik, Iceland. Ok, so its cool to sit in Houston and talk to emergency responders in Iceland. It would have been even cooler to actually be in Iceland (the LSO's keep making comments about me visiting one of the emergency landing sites, but I have doubts about that ever actually happening). Even with the coolness factor, I don't know what I was thinking when another LSO suggested that I go to this training exercise if it wasn't too early and my response was "Sure, it will be a good experience." For the first hour after I woke up all I could think was: Why didn't I keep my big mouth shut...? 3:30 a.m. grumble grumble.

I was having a weird dream right before I woke up. This terrifyingly evil shadow thing was kidnapping babies and it needed to be stopped before it would destroy the whole world. Anyway, the only way to stop it was for me to write something in Matlab by a deadline. But I couldn't figure out how to do it, and Gavin kept telling me "You need a for-loop around that set of code to make it work" and Sarah kept saying "This is really messy code, it could be so much more efficient" and Matt kept telling stupid jokes. However, I wasn't able to finish by the time we had to get on the train to chase the shadow creature down (he was in car 9), so I was coding on a laptop while I was running through train compartments. Then the alarm went off. I know its anti-climatic. But it was a freaky dream, so I wanted to record it for posterity.

And, I did this Starbucks Oracle personality test and it insulted my two drink choices: vente mocha (it called me clueless) and cafe au lait (it called me lame). Stupid oracle.

Personality type: Clueless

You don't go to Starbucks much; when you do you just tag along with other people since you have nothing better to do. You would like to order a Tazo Chai Crème but don't know how to pronounce it. Most people who drink vente mocha are strippers.

Also drinks: Wine coolers
Can also be found at: The mall

Personality type: Lame

You're a simple person with modest tastes and a reasonable lifestyle. In other words, you're boring. Going to Starbucks makes you feel sophisticated; you'd like to be snooty and order an espresso but aren't sure if you're ready for that level of excitement. People laugh at you because you use fake curse words like "friggin'" and "oh, crumb!" Everyone who thinks America's Funniest Home Videos is a great show drinks tall cafe au lait.

Also drinks: V8
Can also be found: On the couch at home

Last night I went running for my 6th time in the previous 8 days, which is about double my usual frequency. It was darned hot. The entire 40 minutes that I was running, all I could think was "I hate running." And it was hot. Really hot. And this is relatively reasonable summer weather (not the million degrees that I am expecting for most of the summer). This isn't sounding very upbeat. But the only reason I made it all three miles was because I was going to Mely's for dinner and I kept reminding myself of all the calories in nacho chips and margharitas I would soon be consuming. I'm going to check out the neighborhood swimming pool after work today, maybe laps will make me happier than running does.

Otherwise, the night was uneventful. I'm not going sailing tonight because I want to go to sleep early cause I'm going to be working very odd hours tomorrow.

I'm starting to think about migrating my blog somewhere else. Maybe even buying my own domain name. Suggestions are welcome.

Yesterday, I got a taste of the good life that I can only imagine happens post-retirement.

The day began with an 8 a.m. tee off time for the Landing Support Office Golf Scramble. (Thanks to Sarah for posting pictures here). Jen M. is the only one who competently plays golf. The rest of us acted more like pinch hitters. And even though we tied for worst score, once they added the blind handicap, we came in 4th place. Not so bad. We won $16.

I had been planning on coming back to work for a little while, but ended up going out to lunch at BJ's (I'm going to have to figure out the impact to my vacation time later).

After BJ's, we met a co-worker who lives aboard his 32 foot sailboat for an afternoon of sailing. It makes me want to live on a boat, maybe just for a few years. Maybe I will rent my house out in a couple of years and move aboard a boat. Wouldn't that be nice and minimalist? I wonder how Gavin and Jen would feel about me leaving Apache in their backyard every day? Once again, camera-crazy Sarah took a million pictures, posted here.

For the abbreviated photos, here, here, and here are my favorites.

Today will also be a limited work day. My washing machine blew up over the weekend (what else should I expect when I buy a used washing machine & dryer for a total of $150?). So I went to Sears and bought a new one. Anyway, I have to wait all afternoon for the delivery. Sigh.

It seems that lately no one updates their diaries in the morning. It just happens throughout the day and into the afternoon. This messes with my schedule of sitting down with my coffee and reading about everyone's lives in the morning. I say this, as I update my diary at 1:47 p.m.

Most of this morning I had a meeting in the building and floor where the astronaut's offices are. Needless to say, there were no yellow walls like those in my office. Under one of the conference room tables (under the table!) was this awesome model of the space station made from twisted paper clips, wire, and beeds. Seriously. Someone obviously had too much time on their hands. It was quite a creation. That was my last "official" meeting as the NASA Approach & Land person for the time being (that was one short-lived, but ultra-cool assignment). Some other lucky soul is going to get to take that job now. I'm hoping Sarah manages to somehow convince management that she should get it. I think it would improve her happiness levels and that she more suited to it than most other people.

A FDO just came and told me that being a FDO is the best job on the planet and that I was really lucky to be able to start so soon. I believe he actually said something like "Anywhere you go, you'll find people who love their job. But being a FDO is different than that. Everyone in the FDO office loves their job. I mean really LOVES their job." I don't exactly know what he meant by that statement. It did make becoming a FDO sound an awful lot like joining a cult. But I was comforted, none the less, about my recent career decisions. Anyway, that was a happy moment after spending the morning feeling slightly remorseful for leaving my cool new assignment so soon.

Tonight I'm doing yard work because I have another busy weekend planned. Tomorrow I'm going sailing (as crew). Sunday, Sarah and I are taking out our boat sailing. Monday we're having the LSO golf tournament (we're the "chicks with sticks" foresome, its Sarah, Jen M.. Buzz, and I.) Tuesday I'm going sailing on a co-workers boat. Wednesday night I'm sailing in the regatta as usual. I think I have a "sailing problem." Imagine, it started out simply as a cheaper substitute for my flying habit, and now its becoming consuming. Maybe I should start flying again to break my sailing habit?

I love warm weather. The weather today feels perfect, sunny, in the 80s, slight breeze. I like when it feels like a nice day to sit by the pool or the lake and read a good book. I would love three months of this weather, even with a little humidity thrown in the mix for good measure. I like summer. Unfortunately, this is only spring. This is only a sneak preview of the million-degree, 100% humidity weather that is about to descend on the swamp where I live.

I was very productive this morning. Now, need to work on being productive for the afternoon. I've been very chatty this afternoon. I talk fast. I love that the some of the guys in the LSO office area are also from the north east (one of them has a brother that lives in the Kohart-mecca of Garden City! small world!) - because they don't seem to mind when I go on a speed-talking spree (Though I think they find me amusing. The other young woman who works over here is more of a quiet-type, at least until you really get her going, so i think I've definitely raised the conversation levels a notch). Of course people from the south don't usually mind my speed-talking sprees either, I just think it takes some of them longer to get used to it. As you can tell, I'm feeling very chatty in writing too.

Apparently the word is out that I'm going to be a FDO because I'm getting lots of visitors to ask me about it.

Tonight: Driving range. Running. Make myself a non-junky dinner (I've been eating out a lot lately, and I am craving something wholesome).

I think I have managed to commit myself to sailing both Saturday and Sunday this weekend. How did that happen? When will I find time to mow the knee-high lawn? Stupid yard. Sailing last night was eventful though. We came in last place by 8 minutes! Why, you ask? Well, a pin broke on the traveller (trust me, this is important), sending us basically out of control about 30 seconds before the start. (This, of course, baffled the skipper of the boat that Gavin crews on, because up to this point, their strategy had been "Follow Richard & Becca"). So we docked at the beach club. I hopped out, ran down the dock to another sail boat tied up. A guy was walking down the dock in a Hawiian shirt, and I said "Hey, is that your boat?" And he got all proud, like I was going to ask him questions about it and ooh and ahh, so he responded something along the lines like "Why, yes it is, its a Catalina 27..." and I interupted with "You have a pin? [holding up the part that I needed a pin for] quick? we need to get back in the race!" So, anyway, they let us start, and we did the whole race course, because at least we'd get a point for finishing. We didn't realize lose, because does anyone really lose when you get to spend the evening sailing?


I just looked at this picture of Cicadas in Maryland. I read some stuff on them before, and I couldn't remember the last time they came out, even though I lived in Philadelphia at the time. But after seeing the picture, I had a total flash back! Janine Jarret and I in the climbing tree in the backyard on Savage Dr. -- she pointed out a cicada shell to me and told me how much fun it was to flick them off the trees. And after that, I remember us running around to all the trees in the neighborhood flicking the shells off the trees. I remember telling my mom and she said they were locusts. I didn't realize it was a one time thing, because I remember wanting to do the same thing the next summer and not being able to find any shells. It was strangley satisfying. Is that gross or what?

I'm still tired. I'm hoping that a soda break in about an hour will give me a little energy.

My poor dogs are going nuts from boredom. I did manage to go jogging last night and take Bennet for a walk after that. Apache is still on "bed rest", she's still limping around a bit and looks really stiff. She gets one more week before I have to take her back to the vet. She's also bored out of her mind because she is spending all day in my bathroom without Bennet to play with and she has to live without her one passion - fetch.

Tonight is sailing. Whoo hoo! And, Sarah and I are going to take out our boat on Sunday. Oh so much sailing is going to be happening this week!

For those of you who couldn't find time to e-mail me about my cryptic job news yesterday, I'm sure you can guess what it is -- I'm officially going to get to move to the FDO ("Flight Design Officer") office sometime at the beginning of 2005 (probably January). Its very exciting! In the meantime, I'm going to finish certifying as an LSO ("Landing Support Officer"), working on NEEMO ("NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations"), and giving up the rest of my work to other lucky souls.

I spent all morning making pretty underwater spirals for the "aquanauts" on the NEEMO mission. Its kind of neat because a lot of decisions on how things will be done are left to me. On the other hand, I've had a difficult time clarifying exactly what's needed, because I don't think anyone really knows. Independence is nice though, and this is a very different type of project because its so new, it isn't filled with a bunch of legacy stuff that is all messy and disorganized.

This afternoon, I think I am going to do a bunch of boring reading. Not so thrilled about that.

I still feel like I'm sleeping off this weekend. I actually slept until 8:15 this morning (I will regret it this afternoon when I have to stay until 6:30 to get all the time in that I need for the week). I watched lots of t.v. and did lots of laundry last night. The alien-space-cat arrived messy but none the worse for wear, along with the twins, at DCA last night.

I have resolved to start being consistant about running again. I've been rather potluck about a run here, a swim there, etc. Especially since I'm not the world's biggest fan of running. So, back up to 4 days a week, hopefully.

And, as of about 30 minutes ago, my work excitement is official. So, now, if you ask, I can talk all about it. Not that I really did a good job about not gossiping anyway. Its just hard when you work with all your friends.

I had an awesome weekend. A brief synopsis:

Friday night -- walked the River Walk at San Antonio. It was beautiful (definitely a Disney-ized version of Venice) and we had a lovely Italian dinner. It amazes me that we didn't see any drunk people falling into the river, though.

Saturday morning -- Saw the Alamo. It wasn't as unimpressive as I had been warned. All day, I joked with Sharon using phrases like "Yes, you did say that! Earlier today! Remember, the Alamo?" Had a yummy lunch at Kirby Lane in Austin.

Saturday night -- Went to Austin. Wandered around 6th Street. Seems like David knows everything and everyone on 6th Street. Had a "Flaming Dr. Pepper", which had three types of liquor but no doctor pepper. I basically suck at shots (took me three large sips to drink the whole thing). Saw Dexter Freebish at Antone's which was awesome. You gotta love a band that has a song called "Prozac."

Sunday - Picked up a weird alien space cat. No kidding! The twins rescued this sphynx from David's dad's wife (who appears to collect cats). His name is Rupert and he has no hair. None. I'm apparently his godmother. I protested "I'm not Jewish!" and Sharon looked at me strangely and said "Don't worry, its just a cat." Yet the cat apparently still needs a godmother.

Today I am leaving work at lunchtime to drop the twins off at one airport and the alien-space-cat at another airport. In the meantime, I'm playing artist with a map for a project I'm working on. My car has about a million miles on it after this weekend!

Among the more entertaining lyrics from last night:


She thinks my tractor’s sexy

It really turns her on

She thinks my tractor’s sexy

This place was very random. They would play a bunch of country. And then they'd play Britney Spears or Eminem. It was very strange.

This afternoon, off to San Antonio.

There's a puppy Bernese Mountain Dog in a kill shelter in Austin that they are frantically trying to find a home for. I love Bernese Mountain Dogs. I would even venture to say they are my favorite breed EVER. Unfortunately, my zoo can't take another addition.

I had further proof yesterday that my dear old Pop is off his rocker.

The twins have arrived! Plans are as follows:

Today: Lunch, Tour of NASA (I think the twins might be scarily disappointed to find we don't actually have live aliens here), trip to an honky-tonk bar ("Wild West") that has a mechanical bull. No kidding.

Tomorrow: I'm going to work in the morning. Lunch. Drive to San Antonio. Do Riverwalk.

Saturday: See the Alamo. Go to Austin. Watch the sunset/drink margharitas at Oasias. Go to Antone's and see Dexter Freebish.

Sunday: Explore Austin. Drive back to Houston.

Monday: Twins leave. Sad.

On another topic, I am morbidly fascinated with the imminant plague of cicadas that are going to attack the mid-Atlantic very soon. Apparently they will be so loud that they could drown out a stadium crowd. This was particularly amusing:

You thought "Van Helsing" was bad? You thought nothing could be worse than the Olsen twins' movie? Try sitting out in your backyard having a cold one when the cicadas start dropping from trees like World War II paratroopers over Normandy. Reportedly, there will be 1.5 million cicadas per square acre. One-point-five MILLION! We're going to be dripping with cicadas. My friend Tony Reali, "Stat Boy," has calculated that every Washingtonian will have to average 8,000 cicada kills per hour to keep them at bay. I don't know about you, but I can't spend the entire month killing cicadas. At some point I'm going to have to take a few hours to apply for a bank loan to buy gas.

Tonight Melissa and Sharon ("the twins") arrive! Yeh visitors! Tomorrow afternoon David should come too! Yeh visitors!

I've been hoping to use my favorite feature of my car (the convertible roof) for two days. Instead, yesterday, I got to use another useful feature -- the snorkel. The air intake for the engine is on top of the engine, which is particularly useful when driving through high water caused by the sudden downpour of rain last night. Its a Jeep thang...

And, to make things even more exciting, if it doesn't storm, I'm going to get to go sailing tonight for the first time in FOUR WEEKS! Yeh sailing!

I want some time where I'm not busy. Apparently I don't want it badly enough, because I am continuously occupied.

Last night, we went to the driving range. I got to prove, through an entire medium bucket of balls, how much I suck. Then, I went to the grocery store and bought a lot of food (partially, this is based on my memory of the twins as basically bottomless stomachs). Then Kelly came over to hang out (and deliver my awesome birthday present from Cari). I made dinner and chopped up fruit for the week.

And then, I couldn't restrain myself, I absolutely had to watch Wrinkle in Time, which ABC/Disney turned into a TV movie (I had TiVo-ed it from earlier in the evening). So I was up until midnight, engrossed in the movie. It was awesome for a made for TV movie - the beginning of the movie was amazingly like I pictured it from the book (the second half kind of diverged). About 15 minutes into the movie, I said something to Nick and Kennda like "This is so awesome they made this into a movie finally -- isn't it just how you pictured it?" And they looked at me like I had fallen off my rocker, watching this random kids movie with space travel and a centaur/pegasus and weird telepathic kids. They couldn't figure out why I was obsessing. This is when I realize not only had neither Kennda nor Nick read Wrinkle in Time as children, but they had never even heard of it! Oh, deprived children. So, I thrust my beat up old copy (pages are falling out of it from being read so many times) on Kennda and said READ.

I know not everyone is as an avid reader like I am, nor had the benefit of having a mother who was really into finding me good books. But I feel like without authors like Madeline L'Engle, C.S. Lewis, Shel Silverstien, etc. there would have been a lot less magic in my childhood. I related to Meg and wanted to be her best friend, and I was going to marry someone just like Calvin, and I wished I had Charles Wallace's special gifts. And I was Susan and wanted a little sister like Lucy. I tried to be Sarah Cythia Silvia Stout who wouldn't take the garbage out. I impressed a queen dragon. I tried to build Teribithia in the climbing tree in our backyard.

Ok, maybe I was a weird kid. Magic is a beautiful thing.

So, I'm reading CNN, and I see this story 'Wicked' dominates 2004 Tony's. And I think to myself, I'm reading a book called 'Wicked', which I have been completely absorbed in for the last few days. Its basically the story of the Wizard of Oz recast from the Wicked Witch's point of view. I think, there's no way they've made it into a musical. Its just a coincidence. As it turns out, its not a coincidence. They have turned it into a musical. That's very random. But now I HAVE to see the musical.


Irwin replied to this post with: Ironically, perhaps, I bought “Wicked” because the Broadway production was doing so well and I wanted to read it, go figure.

I have been told TWICE today (and once yesterday) that girls in Jeeps are hot. Maybe this car will help my love life... though, I think my love life needs more help than a single car can provide. I posted pictures yesterday, so click "previous" if you want to see them.

I love my car. I want to drive it around, though that could get pricey, considering its ridiculously low gas mileage. I had to do homework all day yesterday, so my driving was limited (I kept trying to think of errands I absolutely "had to" go on, just for an excuse to drive around). It still doesn't feel quite real. I mean, it was kind of a sudden decision to get it (I had planned on waiting a few more months).

But there it is, my impractical, gas guzzling, not-so-safe, fun, convertible, lego-like, sexy shale green, 3500 pound towing capacity car!

In other news, I finished (well as best I could) my homework today. That marks the end of the semester.

Tonight, I'm making a trip to the driving range to start practicing for the upcoming golf scramble (This year we have an all-girls foresome! this particularly pissed off Matt that we "stole" all the girls who want to play, and therefore "stole" the lady's tee advantage, and he gave up in frustration trying to convince us not to have a girl's team with: "well, well, you won't have any fun without me!") Don't get me wrong, I pretty much suck at golf, but with you only have to average 1 in 4 good strokes, well, it improves the situation tremendously.

Tomorrow, I'm going to have to clean like mad. Why? Because on Wednesday, after sailing, I'm going to have visitors -- the twins and David! We're going to drive to San Antonio to see the Alamo and Riverwalk on Friday, see Dexter Freebish in Austin on Saturday night, and come back here on Sunday. It will be fun.

I am now the owner of a shale green (with black soft top) Jeep Wrangler X. Automatic transmission. 4 wheel drive. A/C. Convenience group. Full metal doors will roll up windows. Well, that's about all the options available on a Jeep. So. Now, I can really walk that fine line between prosperity and bankrupcy. I'll try to post a picture later.

In case I haven't told you, a Jeep is basically a lego-car. The doors come off. The front windshield can come down. The entire top can come off. Or you can just take the back side windows off. Or just the rear window off. The carpets come out (and can be washed in the washer). There's a drain hole so you can hose down the inside. The seats are water resistant (in case you get rained on) - but I'm going to buy neoprene seat covers, just to be sure. The air intake is at the top of the engine so you can drive through high water -- a real issue in often flooding Houston. Its awesome!



Here's a pic:






And here's a picture of Sarah and I both with new cars:

For the record, I do think Ross and Rachael will end up together in "The Last One."

Last night I mowed the lawn. I successfully spent 2 hours in the yard without a single neighbor criticizing me! This really is cause for celebration.

Then randomly went to dinner with some friends at my favorite Tex-Mex place, Mely's. Yum, those margharitas really pack a punch. I don't know if the food is really as good there as I think it is, because after about half a drink, I'm hazy for the rest of the night. I know, I'm a lightweight.

Something very flattering happened this morning. I love when you write something and someone didn't know you wrote it and then they quote you. That's funny. Of course, that person will figure it out after reading this entry.

I'm not feeling as cheery today as I was yesterday. More defeatist. I'm going to go cheer myself up by buying a new car. That's the solution -- spend more money than I reasonably have, and that will make happiness come back. The cool news is tomorrow I have a sim (yeh sims!) as an LSO. I'm going to have to use this to satiate any and all desire for flight control in the immediate (and possibly far) future. Someone told me I should submit another resume to Scaled Composites, and maybe I can spend more time as an operator because their vehicle is likely to be flying before the space shuttle is. But I am going to try to have faith in the NASA-system. How brainwashed have I become?

They named a new astronaut class today. They used to jokingly call the last astronaut class the "penguins" because there were so many astronauts, some of them might never get to fly. And I thought the line to be a FDO was long! Some of them are really cool though. At least one Georgia Tech alumni. One who spent his childhood going from Mexico to California with his family of migrant workers. Three who currently work here. One who is married to a girl I flew on the Vomit Comet with (ok, that's like a third degree of association, but...) A pilot who did two tours in Afghanastan. Three teachers, including a 29 year old woman (wow, that's young!) and one who taught at international schools (maybe I should go do that... I'll add it to my Peace Corps and/or Foreign Service future).

I didn't get the job. Apparently it wasn't really quite win-win, because as the weeks went by, I decided I really wanted it. I'd estimate the probability of them needing another FDO in the next year to be about 25%. If you want to know more about what this means to my current career plans and goals, well, we can talk in a non-electronic format...

We also decided that Rebecca Cutri-Kohart will join the Orbit FDO's if we have a need for another CS in the next 8-12 months. Until then, Rebecca will continue working on her LSO training/certification.

Both applicants had very positive impressive interviews with us and have the potential to be very good operators.

So, last night I took the dog to the vet (her left knee in fact does appear damaged, but hopefully it will heal on its own, otherwise a clean bill of health). Then I went on the longest/fastest run of my entire life. Ordered a pizza. Had two beers. Sulked a little. Complained to family a little more. Spent way too much time thinking about the differences between hints that lead me to question how office politics works around here. I didn't sleep very well last night, pretty much waking up every hour or two with you-know-what on my mind, so I finally gave up and came into work at 7 (sounds like an endless loop -- work causes loss of sleep, therefore go to work).



Today I'm actually feeling cheery. I've made coffee. Played a little fetch with Apache this morning. Now, I'm going to spend the rest of the day doing LSO workbooks. The officially cited reason (and what I was told yesterday) that I wasn't selected was because they wanted me to see the LSO training to its completion, then, well, I guess I should hurry up and work a bit harder on it. I'm not going to even comment on the current limbo status of some of my other work caused by my failed FDO application. But I do like what I'm doing right now, so I'm going to try to sit back and enjoy it rather than think about a might-have-been that definitely won't be now.

I also feel like celebrating because today is Cinco de Mayo. This is cause for margharitas (not that I ever need an excuse for that). And also the commemoration of the third anniversary of my graduation from Georgia Tech. (Ah, that was an awesome day!)

Still not done with my homework. Was up way too early to drive to Rice and pick up Sarah. No word yet on the FDO thing (actually I believe the latest I heard was the following: "I can't promise you'll find out this week... but it shouldn't be too much longer...") Going to the vet and mowing the lawn this afternoon. That's the summary, I know its short. So I'm going to post this amusing e-mail from my Aunt Nancy:

It started out innocently enough. I began to think at parties now and then--to loosen up. Inevitably, though, one thought led to another, and soon I was more than just a social thinker. I began to think alone-- "to relax," I told myself--but I knew it wasn't true. Thinking became more and more important to me, and finally I was thinking all the time.

That was when things began to sour at home. One evening I had turned off the TV and asked my wife about the meaning of life. She spent that night at her mother's. I began to think on the job. I knew that thinking and employment don't mix, but I couldn't stop myself. I began to avoid friends at lunchtime so I could read Thoreau and Kafka. I would return to the office dizzied and confused, asking, "What is it exactly we are doing here?"

One day the boss called me in. He said, "Listen, I like you, and it hurts me to say this, but your thinking has become a real problem. If you don't stop thinking on the job, you'll have to find another job."

This gave me a lot to think about.

I came home early after my conversation with the boss. "Honey," I confessed,"I've been thinking..." "I know you've been thinking," she said, "and I want a divorce!"

"But Honey, surely it's not that serious."

"It is serious," she said, lower lip aquiver. "You think as much as college professors, and college professors don't make any money, so if you keep on thinking, we won't have any money!"

"That's a faulty syllogism," I said impatiently.

She exploded in tears of rage and frustration, but I was in no mood to deal with the emotional drama.

"I'm going to the library," I snarled as I stomped out the door. I headed for the library, in the mood for some Nietzsche. I roared into the parking lot with NPR on the radio and ran up to the big glass doors... They didn't open. The library was closed. To this day, I believe that a Higher Power was looking out for me that night.

As I sank to the ground, clawing at the unfeeling glass, whimpering for Zarathustra, a poster caught my eye. "Friend, is heavy thinking ruining your life?" it asked. You probably recognize that line. It comes from the standard Thinker's Anonymous poster. Which is why I am what I am today: a recovering thinker. I never miss a TA meeting.

At each meeting we watch a non-educational video; last week it was "Porky's." Then we share experiences about how we avoided thinking since the last meeting. I watch a lot more TV now. I still have my job, and things are a lot better at home.

Life just seemed... easier, somehow, as soon as I stopped thinking. I think the road to recovery is nearly complete for me. Today, I registered to vote Republican.

I wish I had some fun, entertaining, or even exciting story to tell about this weekend.

Basically my weekend can be summed up in pooring rain, a dinner out, and lots of homework/finals. I'm finished with gas dynamics. Now, I just have to do optimal control. I could finish faster if I remembered anything at all about differential equations. I also caught up on all the tv I missed while I was in San Fran. Thank heavens for TiVO.

Sarah bought a new car this weekend. Its beautiful. And oh so red.

I'm hoping someone on the family trip to Vegas this week will win me some cash to help me buy a new car. If not, I'm starting to think I should just go out this weekend and get one. A Jeep Wrangler, to be precise, yellow, with black interior. That would be kind of impulsive. But the grinding noise of my car is getting worse and worse, and I'm beginning to mistrust the brakes. But, I don't know, its just such a big purchase...