Ok, I bought the Shrek 2 soundtrack and I'm totally addicted to this freaky-techno version of "Holding out for a hero"



Where have all the good men gone

Aerospace scholars is making my life really busy. I have a break from them now (which is unfortunate, because apparently they are having a surprise VIP visitor from the White Hse). But I'll be back with them from 6:30 to 10 tonight. Then sailing tomorrow night. Where, oh where, has my free time gone?

I'm finally starting to get things done though this afternoon. I don't know how I'm going to keep up the pace this whole week. Its weird, you have nothing, and you're bored, and you'd love something like aerospace scholars to keep you busy. And then when you are busy, you have something like aerospace scholars detracting from the other stuff you are supposed to be doing. Ironic, don'y you think?

The a.f. guys in my office have some other a.f. visitors and are currently having a scarily long conversation about uniforms and patch placements. Its scarily girly. I went and made fun of them (good thing they have a sense of humor). But now they are talking about flying helicopters, which is much more, you know, military, but still scary.

I had a lovely boring weekend. I took afternoon naps. I mowed the lawn (yuck). I watched it rain. I ate well. My new table (from my grandparents) came yesterday night -- for some reason completely and totally unlike how I remembered it (but I still like it and really appreciate it). I (and Sarah, Gavin and Jen) bough plane tickets to Peru.

Last night I started mentoring my team of high school aerospace scholars, which I'll be doing every morning this week.

I saw Farenheit 9/11 on Friday. My opinion in brief: I didn't hear any arguments I hadn't heard before. Some I agree with (we created the Taliban problem by our over-eagerness to push the Soviets out of Afghanistan, our President isn't exactly a rocket scientist, we invaded into Iraq prematurely or unnecessarily, etc.) Some I don't agree with (I think enlisting is opens incredible doors for low-income, less educated people, including providing money for college and free job training, merely shaking hands with visiting Arab dignitaries is not a conflict of interest, etc.) Some I am on the fence about (hidden motives about a trans-Afghanistan oil pipeline, scheming between the Bush's and bin Ladin's).

I was very entertained by the music selection during the video montages. I was shocked/dismayed at the number of people who walked out of the movie saying "I never knew that" like they were living in hole and/or took the op-ed parts of the film as absolute truth.

I don't have any exciting plans for the weekend. Hoping it stops rain soon. Probably mow my lawn. See a movie. Go on a mini-hike with my backpack.

Karen e-mailed me this hilarious article. Its about Houston's new light rail system and the incredible number of cars that make illegal turns and get hit by the train. Its so bad, its kind of a running joke around here. Some highlights:

But the transportation agency's efforts to defend itself have not gone over well. "It's not just the media," said Frank J. Wilson, who became chief executive of Metro two months ago. "It's the general perception, people in the street, elected officials. They say: 'What's wrong with Metro? Why is it blaming these motorists?' As if it's a God-given right in Houston to run red lights."...

Maria Lewis-Sterling, a 46-year-old nurse, says her car was not even moving when its license plate was torn off by a passing train. Her car was protruding into the roadway, though, and she was charged $450 for damage to the train. Her accident was the first of six at one intersection, which has since been given two rail crossing signs.

Ms. Lewis-Sterling said she had no hard feelings, and even rode the train to work this week. "Just give me my $450 back,'' she said, "and admit that you didn't do a perfect job.''

Its hilarious to me that people who run red lights or stop with their car ON RAILROAD TRACKS are all outraged that the Metro rail hit them. What idiocy!

Sorry for such a late update. It was another busy day. And, I'm kind of (ok, more than kind of) a little groggy. Sailing last night was excellent. We did fairly well. There were two Thistle's out who blew us out of the water (those are such cool fast boats). I think we probably ended up 4th or so, all things considered. But I'm really happy with our performance. I'm getting so much better at judging wind shifts and whether we're using good tactics or not. Its strange, because I'm not conscious of absorbing this information. But its happening slowly.

My mom says we use parenthesis so much because people don't use footnotes anymore. I think that may be true, especially since footnotes don't interupt the "flow" of writing as much as parenthesis do. I'm going to use a lot of footnotes in the book I'm writing.

I want to be an astronaut. (ok, duh). But not just because of the fly in space thing. That's cool. But these astronauts (plus some engineers - not me, unfortunately) get to spend two weeks scuba diving off of Key Largo. Its making me jealous. Plus, you know, jetting around in T-38's. And one of the people I'm working with has all these cool pictures of astronauts at NOLS - which I've always wanted to do, kind of like Outward Bound on steroids with more educational merit. Of course, trade that with always having to smile for the cameras and being a minor local celebrity. Well, I don't know. I like my job, but somehow I think it lacks a certain level of excitement. Though, I think this is one of those things you are never satisfied about. Always wanting more excitement.

Its making me think I should really start flying again. I guess I'll need to start saving money for at least a year before I could really make that worthwhile. Not that it would make my job any more exciting. But I just feel boring. Plus not flying is like having this big gaping hole in who I am.

Boring!? I must have unusual standards of excitement. Peru, Greece, sailing, Colorado, skiing, hiking, flying space shuttle simulators, working in mission control... and I still don't feel stimulated enough! What the heck?!

Remind me never to give N and/or S any thoughts about each other. I should just be a good friend and listen without anything but the sympathetic comment. Complicated relationships just aren't my forte. I like things simple. "I like you." or "I don't like you.", none of this in between crap. Oh, its so hard for me to not give my opinion about things!

I just wrote the guy who is arranging our trip to Peru and reemed him out about not getting us information that I requested via e-mail. He wrote me a very apologic reply that included: "Sorry its taken me a week to respond, I was in the Gualapagos with Q. Noor" I guess he can be forgiven, eh?

Oooh, scattered thoughts, here's some awesome pictures of SpaceShipOne on Monday. Maybe I should quit my job and become a Burt Rutan groupie. If only I had an engineering mind like that! Another engineering mind, Jen O., took the risk that has the potential for enormous rewards and accepted an incredibly cool job! So, good luck to her!

And here's an e-mail I wrote to Cari today -- 100% true and scary:

So you know how I e-mailed you a while ago and said our neighbors thought Bennet was a vicious attack dog that was going to jump out the front window and eat a baby? Well, Nick R. just called me. He said he heard this banging noise coming from our house from a HALF A BLOCK AWAY! Apparently Bennet is doing full-on body slams of the front window, over and over and over! Nick said about 5 slams into it, the light in the front window flickered and went out. So, if Bennet is a little more retarded than he was before, now you know why... You have a whacked out dog. Anyway, I'm going to go buy a gate tonight to keep them out of the front part of the house.

I had the hardest time getting up this morning. I just dragged around the house for well over an hour before I finally walked out the door.

Houston is still having this freakish weather. Its been raining since last night, and it looks like its going to be raining all afternoon. I guess its not really a crisis if sailing is canceled tonight, though, because there is a NEEMO Happy Hour I'd really like to go to, so that I can meet all the folks who I'll be indirectly working with. Maybe there will be someone new, young, and cute. Though I think that might be hoping too much.

I checked the race results from last week's sailing and we actually came in FIRST PLACE! Apparently in those winds, the other boat that I though beat us was handicapped and gave us more time than I though they would. Yeah us! That is a huge improvement from multiple weeks of being in the rear of the pack.

I did the elliptical machine for the third night in a row last night. You have to say one thing about having an exercise machine in your house -- there are absolutely no excuses. None at all. For instance, it was pooring last night, so if I had planned on jogging or swimming, I would've completely abandonned that. And Jen and I canceled stair climbing because of a funnel cloud reported in the town south of us. But, there was the machine, and all I was going to do was watch t.v. until meeting friends for dinner. So. Elliptical I did.

Ok, off to be productive.

Nick bought an elliptical machine for his girlfriend (no comment). Anyway, I chipped in a small portion, so I get to use it (and it is in my living room). It is so much fun compared to running in a million degree heat! Tonight, though, I'll take a break from the elliptical to go climb stairs at a local parking garage with Jen. Not fun, but necessary.

Sarah drew this picture of me on Irwin's tablet PC. I find it very amusing:

Ok... on to some possibly boring work babble..

Today has been a really cool day at work. I sat in a simulation today as an LSO ALP (i.e. an assistant-LSO). I figured it would be just like the status quo -- which is me running a lot of "ALP"s which is a set of calculations that basically provide redundant information on the landing of the space shuttle and me asking my mentor on-console a lot and lot of questions. The sim usually ends with a deorbit burn to Kennedy Space Center, or on an "exciting day" to Edwards or Northrup. But today, oh, it was cool! At least for me... You see, a FDO was being evaluated, so they were making things difficult for him. One thing after another happened to the simulated orbiter until it could only land in the southern part of the southern hemisphere. Oh where oh where do we land? It was very entertaining. We ended up in Christchurch, New Zealand. Usually this type of exercise ends sometime shortly after deorbit burn, but this time, they carried it all the way to the ground (complete with a fire on-board). Well, actually, not quite, because the crew flying the simulated shuttle didn't have a simulated Christchurch runway to land on (that would take some serious programming).

Anyway, this might not sound ultra exciting. But, trust me, it was. Plus I learned oodles, especially about the "important" stuff LSO's do -- not the redundant calculations, but talking to all the people you would have to if you were really going to land a space shuttle in another country on 3 hours notice.

Now, I need to start working on NEEMO stuff? Why, you ask? Because I haven't been getting nearly enough done. Its ironic, because I've been spending an inordinate amount of time on NEEMO lately -- in meetings and updating procedures. Of course, since I am scheduling out these huge blocks of time for NEEMO meetings and training, I haven't actually been able to work on my own individual part of the project.

Its so beautiful, so simple. For an engineer, designing something like this is as close as it gets to art.

I'm talking about Space Ship One. This morning, it made history as the first privately designed and flown MANNED vehicle to go into space.

Its so exciting! For roughly $20 million dollars, a shoestring budget, and less than 100 people, this little design house full of brilliant people in the middle of the desert put together its own a space program in a few years. No, its nothing compared the capability of the space shuttle. But, its pretty impressive none-the-less. And its advanced -- its only suborbital, but its fast, cheap, quick turnaround time, non-toxic propellants, and flies like an airplane -- its seems like this design could incrementally evolve into really cheap civilian access to low earth orbit. Particularly interesting, considering NASA is currently favoring taking a giant leap backwards to capsules.

Sometimes its appalling to me that most of the general public isn't even aware of this groundbreaking event. But its also appalling to me that most people don't realize we have two men (an astronaut and a cosmonaut) living aboard the International Space Station right now. And most people don't know that the Chinese launced their first man in space last October. This is exciting stuff! Yet so much apathy...

Its also kind of bittersweet in a way, considering NASA isn't going to be getting anything off the ground for another year. Its seems government programs are ridiculously and needlessly complicated. All I want to do is be part of flying something! Fly fly fly fly!!

...

The rest of the weekend was fun and relaxing. Went to movies, ate out, vegged with Irwin. That's about all I have to say there.

Squares. Circles. Triangles. Diamonds. Little Matlab points being replotted for the millionth time.

I think I've worked out my schedule tangle for next week. I've traded weeks to mentor aerospace scholars which solved most of the problem. Hopefully.

Where would a town like Stepford go unnoticed? Connecticut! Last night I saw Stepford Wives. Nicole Kidman and Matthew Broderick didn't really have much chemistry. However, I found the movie very amusing - particularly Bette Midler, who made the movie for me, she cracked me up every time she was on screen. She is awesome!

Tonight, the plan is a lazy night of board games and pizza. Tomorrow is furniture shopping and maybe a trip to the pool. Sunday is baseball. That's that.

Update 3:33 p.m. I keep a journal at work of my on-goings. I just made the following comment in it moments ago "Schedule bad. Conflicted. Must fix! How?" I go months without having a meeting to speak of and I sit in front of my computer deprived of human contact. Now, I try to put all my plans in my Outlook calendar and it basically blew up on me. No kidding. This week, NEEMO has been filling some time. That's good. Then I got an e-mail listing all my obligations for next week, conveniently placed in the afternoons specifically for my benefit (because I'm doing aerospace scholars, mentoring teams of high school students, every morning from 9 - 11 a.m.). Unfortunately, one of my NEEMO obligations conflicts with an entry guidance class I was really interested in taking, but oh well. Then mh points out the recently posted LSO sim schedule. Like meetings, I've gone a whole month without a single sim. And now I'm on the schedule twice next week (which is an 8 a.m. - 3 p.m. commitment both days)! Ok, now a slightly conflicted schedule for next week has become a fully conflicted schedule - on both Tuesday and Thursday, I am currently supposed to be with Aerospace Scholars, NEEMO, and in a sim all at the same time. I'm starting to wish I had Hermoine's magic time turner. Obviously, something will have to give. I guess I'll work it all out somehow...

I'm listening to all my music on a random order, and there's this very enchanting Angie Aparo song that I must've stolen from Sarah (becaue I don't think I've ever bought a full Angie Aparo CD). The lyrics are kind of strange (and I'm trying not to think they are supposed to mean anything anti-choice because its such a pretty song..), but very haunting music:

There is a time for every Seed

Don't confuse what you want with what will be

Wrestle your heart pinned to the floor

Is there enough love do you want more

Say my prayers shaved my head

I was looking for reasons to drag my ass out of bed

Selfish world

Selfish me

Some excitement at work yesterday as I frantically updated dive paths for the aquanauts for the millionth time.

More excitement when more Jo ended up going to the hospital because of an allergic reaction to perfume (I'm with Jo, perfume is yucky). I think she's ok now though.

And finally, the day capped off with sailing. It wasn't very windy, but the good news is that it wasn't storming either. Anyway, I think we may have come in second place in our class - which is nice after weeks of being at the end of the pack. I'm not entirely sure, since they haven't posted the results on the web page. Four boats actually came in ahead of us -- but three of them (a Vanguard, C-15, and Finn) are much faster boats and therefore "owe us" time when add in the handicaps. And we were amazingly close to them when we finished. The fourth boat, a Day Sailor, pretty much always wins, but we did give them a run for their money, so that felt good.

Irwin and Sarah met me at the beach club dock. Off we went to Mely's. Yep, that was the second night in a row I had Mely's for dinner. I know I'm an addict, but... that's a lot even for me. Tonight I'm hoping Ir and I will go to something decidedly un-Tex Mex.

Right now I am listening to some cello pieces by Bach. I'm not usually a huge fan of listening to music that doesn't have singing (I like opera, choirs, musicals, etc.) with the exception of occasionally movie soundtracks. However, I really like this. Its very relaxing.

Now, off to work, must update dive procedures one more time. Hopefully the last time.

Happy Bloomsday!

(Kudos to you if you get that reference without using Google! And, well, kudos if you are curious enough to actually look it up...)

Its raining so hard, I don't want to leave home. Actually, I had a couple bills I would normally have mailed out over the weekend, but since I was in Colorado... This left me with having to do it over the phone. And now, I'm sitting on the stupid automated phone lines trying to pay them and they are taking forever. I am currently on hold forever. And ever.

Its another morning storm. That's also making me move extremely slllllllllowwwly this morning. There's something about stormy mornings that make me lazy.

In theory, there's sailing tonight. We'll see how the weather pans out. In other excitement, Irwin is coming to town tonight for the long weekend and Tiffany arrives tonight (she'll be taking K.'s room for the summer).

Still on hold...

I did lots of shopping last night. I bought: an iron, ironing board, batteries (for the garage door opener), a toaster, tupperware, doormats, a dresser and lamp for Nick's room, salt and pepper shakers...

And I'm still not done with my spending spree.

Today, I was having the luxury of a lawn service cut my WAY overgrown grass. I usually try to cut my own grass, but I break down about one in every 5 or 6 mows and pay someone else to do it. But it looks like its going to storm all day. I wonder what they'll do ... maybe I should call and ask. The cleaning lady is also coming today. Yeh for not having to clean my own house! Am I a spoiled brat or what?

Ok, back to work. I have a lot that needs to be accomplished this week.

This weekend was awesome. I want to move to Colorado. Or basically anywhere with beautiful scenery.

The trip in brief (more to come later): Arrived at Lost Creek in the middle of the night. Threw sleeping bags on ground at 2 a.m., slept. Day 1, hiked a bunch, saw pretty streams, mountains, trees, camped by creek. Day 2, hiked a bunch, this time crossed a pass that nearly killed me (breathing very heavily, stupid altitude, must train more), saw more pretty trees, mountains, rocks, and streams. Camped in a beautiful site. Day 3, short hike down through pretty trees, flowers. Got stuck at Denver airport for 3 hours waiting for it to stop raining in Houston.

Got back late, really tired, Kennda moved, house empty, Nick-cool-roommate cleaned, garage now has room for my car, must spend tonight and tomorrow furniture shopping.

How was that for brief?

Jen posted pictures here

First of all, I have to say, I *love* my new computer. I think I am going to be spending a lot more time in my DM42 office again. Its so sleek. And fast. And the keyboard and mouse are so, well, soft. Yeh computer!

Look, that whole paragraph, and not a single set of parenthesis. And, Mom, David, Sarah, and any other obnoxious copy-editor type that might be reaidng this, I *know* it should have been grammatician's.

This is the last you'll hear of me until I return from the wilderness of somewhere-in-Colorado (still TBD) on Monday. I packed my backpack last night and it is STUFFED (well, actually not totally stuffed, since it can expand about 6 more inches, but its "normal" size is full). And it weighed in at 27 pounds and I guess I'll have to add a few more pounds of food, plus full water bottles. I keep trying to figure out what I could take out of it, but I can't think of anything. I meant to look up how much my pack weighed in Europe. Anyway, apparently, I've become at least a little concerned. A co-worker of mine is completely obsessed with backpack weight. Yesterday, I said to him "Look, new hiking boots" and his reply was "So, how much do they weigh?" (seriously!).

All I have to say is that after this weekend, and even more so after Longs' Peak, I'm going to be thrilled to have those porters in Peru.

Speaking of Longs Peak, last night while sailing, I was talking to someone about the spontaneous trip to Colorado. And she said "Oh, that's great, you should do Longs Peak... oh wait, it will be snowed in." And I reassured her that I was going later this year to climb Longs Peak but I admitted I was a bit nervous about being able to make it to the top, and she replied "Don't worry, you'll be fine, its pretty easy." She must have seen my jaw drop, I mean, it is 14,000 ft over a bolder field etc. And then she told me the rub, she had grown up with a home in Estes Park (right next to the Rocky Mountain National Park) and went up Longs Peak all the time. Sure, it was easy for her!

On the sailing subject, I am in so much pain right now. I spent the whole first hour on the water (getting to the race and the first leg of the race) hiking out as far as possible and our boat was barely staying upright (which is still better than some of the competitors who took nice swims). Now my legs hurt, the top of my feet are raw (from the hiking straps), and my stomach muscles are in knots. We were using different sails with less area since it was so windy. Unfortunately, the wind died down a bit at the end of the race. And then my skipper says that we we should've used the bigger sails, we could've handled it... Yeh, sure. And, all that, and we didn't even come close to winning! And sailing is, in theory, not a sport. Ha!

So Happy National-Day-of-Mourning-for-Ronald-Reagan Day!

Massive shopping sprees at REI are so much fun. I purchased the following: new hiking boots (which I am wearing at work today for an extremely silly look), sleeping bag (the "Rosa 30"), a fleece vest (which I didn't really need, persay, but it was on sale for a great price), a headlamp (which I really won't need until Longs Peak), biodegradable soap, two water bottles. I still need a foam sleeping pad, a toothbrush (my only one left is electronic), a backpack rain cover (Though my pack has been in torrential downpours without getting anything inside it wet. When I bought it, I had the understanding that it was waterproof, it even has a rubber seal over the zipper. I've talked to the people at REI about it a couple of times, and they said it is not officially "waterproof" in that if you dropped it in a lake, water would get in, so they still recommend a rain cover...)

Yeh for Colorado! The friendly salespeople at REI kept asking where we were going this weekend, and I would say "Colorado" and they would say "Where?" and all I could do was shrug. Still haven't decided yet, but I have no doubt that Jen is researching routes. Well, actually she's probably having the FDO interim sim from hell. Maybe I should be looking for routes.

Me, on the other hand, I'm trying to focus on reading some really boring handbooks (not having much luck). I can't do anything else, because my computer (the one that has all my files) is being refreshed (yeh, I'm getting a new computer!) all day.

Check out my use of parenthesis! I am a grammaticians nightmare.

No one should ever say I'm not spontaneous. J, G & I just bought last minute tickets for a three day weekend in Colorado. (I'm trying to be good and not hope for the death of former presidents more often to give me more random holiday weekends, but it would be nice to have for that dry spell between President's Day and Memorial Day...) So, that's where I'll be this weekend. I kind of feel bad about ditching my compatriots for the triathalon this weekend, but I was only volunteering in the swim part, so... though, Jenny & Laurie do really need the help of a volunteer, hopefully another volunteer will be able to make sure they don't sink. In the meantime, I'm going to be in Colorado. Yeh Rocky Mountains!

I don't really have much more to say beyond that. Tonight I'm going to go outfit myself at REI (yeh REI!). And that's about it.

Sometimes I feel more tired after the weekend than I was before it started.

On Saturday, Sarah and I went to the sandcastle competition in Galveston. (Sarah posted pictures here - and some pictures of the dog's Jeep ride, which they adored.) We took both dogs with us in my beach-mobile (the Jeep). I was only going to take one, because that's all I can handle alone, but Sarah decided it would be unfair to the dog left behind, and so she agreed to take care of the other one (this knocked me off my feet, because Sarah usually prefers her dogs in small doses). The castles were incredibly impressive architectural feets! There were several sand-renditions of the new Houston light rail trains hitting cars making illegal left turns -- a local punchline because it seems to happen on a weekly basis. There were a number of Alamo's (or, with ice cream on top - ALaModes). One of my favorites was the missions of San Antonio. Oh, an "One Giant Jeep for Moonkind" made me laugh.

We headed home when the dark storm clouds descended on the beach. I took a quick shower and headed to Harry Potter - two thumbs up. However, I think I would've liked it better if it included some of the "mythology." A lot of the details that make the books so special were left out, in exchange for making things move fast and have continuous plot development. Though it was only 20 minutes shorter than the previous movie, it was based on a book about two-times as long. On one hand, I understand why the director did it. On the other hand, I wonder if someone who hadn't read the books would think "why is this so special?" while watching the movie, they may even be confused. But it was a good new installment. Yeh Harry Potter!

After the movie, we had a late dinner (actually my second night in a row to eat out at Chili's -- on Friday night I sent Nick out in a hail storm to get Chili's because he said "I think it would be fun!") I really needed a meal, since lunch at the beach was a diet coke, dorito's, and cookies.

Sunday I slept in a little. Then I tried to fight back the chaos of the house. K is moving, and her stuff is now filling up about 4 rooms (the good news is, every time she packs stuff, things get significantly less cluttered). I was trying to keep myself in a calm mindset (G keeps reminded me that I am creating bad kharma about this whole thing). I know everything that was frustrating me was the standard moving chaos. But I try to clean and organize on Sundays, and that just wasn't possible. Its amazing how much extra cabinet space I'm going to have now - I guess I didn't realize how little space I was actually using and how much more I really needed. I was more obsessive about my Sunday cleaning than usual, too, because I am going to Austin next weekend, and then the following Wednesday Tiffany is moving in and Irwin is coming into town, so there's not going to be much time between now and then for me to get the house in order.

Anyway, I couldn't take the chaos anymore so I went and picked up my very colorful new dishes (yeh! thanks Mom and Aunt Diane!). Then I went furniture shopping (I just can't figure out how to afford a new bedroom set right now). Then I went to Linens and Things where I got a cute basket, but was paralyzed with indecision on whether I wanted to buy a toaster or a toaster oven (I got neither because I decided they were all over priced and I should go look at Walmart).

But now there will be more time, because Ronald Reagan has just become my favorite president ever! Oh, I remember those conservative appointments, and idiotic economic policies, etc. But, my other "favorite" President has declared Friday a day of mourning and is shutting down the government by Executive Order giving me the day off. (its not official through my management yet, but I'm hoping...) Yeh!

Tomorrow, I'm seeing Harry Potter (I know, you're all disappointed in me for not going to the midnight show) and a sand castle competition. Tonight, I am going to sit around doing nothing, well, except for swimming (the "JSC Ladies' Triathalon Club"). Sunday, I might try to get some serious yard work accomplished. Or another day of sitting around and doing nothing. I love a lot of nothing!

I've been really good with the whole exercise thing this week -- running Monday, "hiking" the parking garage on Tuesday, sailing (ok, not that much exercise) Wednesday, the elliptical machine and much hated stair master last night, and swimming tonight. And next Monday I plan on resuming the rock climbing routine. Go me!

I have a very disloyal dog. I locked Tang in Kennda's bedroom last night, so I left my bedroom door open (usually I close it so I don't wake up to find a cat sitting on my face, sparking an allergic attack and a potential trip to the hospital).

Nice loyal Bennet settled down next to my bed like he always does. Ah. Sweet dog. Then, ingrateful, disloyal Apache goes and finds a spot in the hallway to sleep (ok, I know she likes it there better than on the carpet in my room). To add insult to injury, though, when Nick got home, she went and slept on his bed!

I'm really groggy today. I used the word "befuddled" earlier to describe how I feel. Sarah replied that I was obviously alert enough to use the word "befuddled" in a sentence.

My Jeep got its first shower last night -- inside and out. Around 3 a.m. I heard thunder, lightening and driving rain. This is about when I realized I left the window down (I had looked into the sky, decided it was crystal clear, and that it probably wouldn't rain until this afternoon). So, I run outside in my pj's in the pouring rain (dogs chasing behind me trying to figure out what this new game is) and close the window. Unfortunately the seats got wet. Fortunately, the roof and side windows and back windows were all up. Unfortunately the rolled down window was the driver's side, so my pants were more than a little wet by the time I got to work this morning. I went back to bed.

I woke up 10 minutes later to obnoxious cat "MEOW MEOW MEOW" rattle rattle rattle (he sticks his paw under my door and rattles it) bang bang bang (opening and closing cabinet doors. When I decide the cat isn't going to give up, I get out of bed AGAIN and lock him in Kennda's room. (Yes, I remembered to let him out this morning).

No wonder I'm groggy.

Nick Saadah, my roommate, started a journal. I expect inflamatory rants, ballet dancing, and daydreaming about girls to be his regular topics.

This question at the end of a work book made me laugh yesterday, but apparently others didn't find it so funny. You can weigh in on your opinion:

QUESTION: "What is wrong in the following story? You are a new commander approaching the HAC, but you just can't get over it. A spaceship from a class M planet orbiting Betelgeuse has rendezvoused with you while on orbit. It was touchy at first but you finally learned to communicate by using Morse code and a flashlight. They invited us to meet them on Mars. It looks like you are going to get to command this historical flight to the red planet."

ANSWER: "What is wrong in the story is that the commander is not concentrating on his initial HAC turn. If he does not start concentrating soon he may end up in the swamps short of the runway. He would be so embarrased if he did that, he couldn't show his face on Mars to meet the Betelgeusan's."

Last night I was searching for a little html script that I could put on my blog to countdown to my next major trip. I didn't find one I like, but I found this: The Human Clock which was awesome.

At a local garage I pass on the way to work, they've posted this little sign in the grass, and all it says is "Fly, NASA, Fly!"

My mom e-mailed me this morning with an e-mail scam, followed by: "did you reach the stairway summit by nightfall so you could set up camp???" The answer is yes, but it sucks that I had to walk up and down a parking deck to get this exercise in. I've filled my backpack with textbooks (oh, so much like high school), and now I'm going to try to carry it with me whenever I take the dogs on a walk. I will certainly look silly, but oh well.

I was up late last night watching West Wing. Ack, cursed Nick for bringing that into my house!

I had a really hard time getting up this morning, I was just moving at a crawl.

Is that enough disjointed thinking for one day?

Tonight: sailing.

In other awesome news, Burt Rutan's Scaled Composites has set a launch date. Ok, so I'm a little obsessive (in a groupie sort of way) with this company -- but they are about to be the first private enterprise that puts three people into space (and I was convinced it would be them before they even announced they were competing). Of course, someone could still beat them to the punch. Regardless, this is just damned cool.

I am also about to have an imminent household items crisis -- I need more glasses, plates, coffee table, end tables, bookshelves, pots, serving dishes... basically you name it. I had offers to get all these things for graduation, but since I was attempting to move to Switzerland with only two suitcases, I foolishly turned all these things down. Sigh.

Ack. I had a funny antecdote I wanted to open this entry up with and I totally forgot.

So, I'll start with Happy Day After Your 50th Birthday, Mom!

Today, Jen and I are going to do some training for Colorado and Peru. How are we going to accomplish this in Houston? Well, we're going to load up our back packs and hike up and down a parking deck. I am sure I'm going to feel ridiculous, but it was the only hill that we could think of. We made the reservations for Peru on Friday, yeh Peru!!!

This morning, I knocked on Nick's door to wake him up (he has some trouble with this, even with light pouring into his room and his pet bird cackling/tweeting away). He answered the door with "Ok. If you're sure you want to risk it." Obviously he was in the middle of a dream. So, I asked what he had dreamed -- and it was basically about the sex life of my dog. Uck.

Aunt Joan and Uncle Jim's house was fun. We ate, we watched movies, we went shopping (I got a pair of new shoes, two skirts, and a shirt -- I couldn't make myself buy the pink skirt I wanted because every shirt I tried on with it looked sillier than the last -- I know pink is "the color" this season, but I don't think I can force myself to wear it...), we went to the Dallas School Book Repository Museum (and saw the window where Kennedy was assasinated from and read about a lot of conspiracy theories - which reminded me of our 9th grade government teacher who made us each pick our favorite JFK conspiracy theory and write a report about it). I slept a lot. The drive was long, long long, but I spent most of it listening to Margaret Atwood's Orynx and Crake, which was very entertaining in that strange half-sci fi/half literature kind of way, but I have four hours left to listen to, and I don't know when I'll be able to finish it up. Maybe I'll buy the book and read the rest of it. I really like Margaret Atwood, I'm glad Christina inspired me to select this book.

I got home around 5 to discover we were having guests. Like 12 people. For lasagna made by Jo and meatballs made by me (yes, I am still a vegetarian).


Maayan wrote an entertaining entry about her Planned Parenthood escorting adventures. It makes me feel like I should sign up to be a clinic volunteer. I haven't done any non-aerospace volunteering in ages.


Conversation at lunch --

Jen: Yep, Becca and I are going to hike the parking garage today

Matt: So, do you think you'll make the summit by nightfall?


I really should get some work done today. I'm feeling like everything is going in slow motion.