Ok, the suburbs of Philadlephia aren't exactly the tundras of the North. But, boy, is it cold compared to Florida. New York was awesome, as usual. I really enjoyed "A Wonderful Town," unfortunately I read that it was closing on January 30.

There are children children everywhere this Christmas - with Aunt Joy's in Florida, and Aunt Julie's, Mary's and Dad's here (and I'm not counting Emily and Graham who are college age). Children children children. I love visiting kids, they are so entertaining. A set of plastic golf clubs and a story about a shark that ate his teacher entertained William all night last night. I wish I was that easily amused. But they also remove any vestiges of doubt about my plans to not have children for a very long time (or ever). They're exhausting! And they're not even mine...

Plans for the day: Go on a walk (I left my running clothes over at Aunt Mary's and I'm at Dad's), Go to the mall to spend some of my gift certificates, then a party at Aunt Mary's with all the relatives for the Eve.

Merry Christmas to All!

I just returned from my now-traditional Christmas sunset walk on the beach. Now, I am drinking a Cosmopolitan and awaiting what will surely be an incredible dinner of crab/spinach veggie lasagna and pumpkin pie (my slightly modern Italian family and a desire for traditional Christmas lead to this unusual dinner combination).

We exchanged gifts last night - and I have to say, out of everything, the finger puppets from Peru (I had to give a few extras to adults who wanted to put on finger puppet plays) and the fuzzy pink Disney Princesses phone were the biggest hits from me.

I spent the day vegging out, reading (a whole book "Roar Softly and Carry Pink Lipstick"), and setting up my mom's new TiVO (I have assured her its going to change the way she watches t.v. forever). Ok, time to let Cody use the computer, he's been nominated to set up my Granddad's new web cam. Granddad is such a technology junky, its so funny.

Tomorrow, we will go to see "The Aviator."

I just got in from three days at Disney World. You have to love a resort where everyone says "Aloha" everywhere you go (we stayed at the Polynesian).

A few photos of my cousins Allie and Lauren enjoying Disney World. I have some cute videos too, maybe I'll add them later.

Leaving on a jet plane...

(Though, yet again, I'm having a weird visceral feeling that I should be moving abroad rather than just going home for two weeks. Why does this always happen whenever I travel for extended periods of time? And why does moving to Switzerland ellicit stomach-churning excitement/dread emotions, even 3 years later, that aren't like moving to/from Boca, Atlanta, Cocoa Beach, Poquoson, or Houston?)

So, here's the plan:

Tonight: Arrive in Orlando
Tomorrow - Friday: Disney World with Aunt Joy, Grandmother + kids
Saturday - Tuesday: Boca Raton with rest of Cutri family; Fly to Philadelphia
Wednesday: NYC with Emily & Caroline to see a musical
Thursday - Friday: Philadelphia visiting with Koharts
Saturday - Sunday: Talk someone into going skiing with me. If not, maybe I can talk my brother into going with me to NYC to see the ball drop. I've never done that, it could be fun.
Monday EARLY am: Fly back to Houston, go to work. Hum drum.

I still have boatloads of work to do for a change, however, I didn't get ANYTHING done yesterday. I talked to my current boss about delaying my move to the FDO office by a week the other day. That kind of sucked, because I am *so* ready to change jobs and was really excited about the prospect of going away at Christmas and coming back to a new job. But I'm just not done with what he wanted me to do before I leave. I didn't actually talk to my future boss about this plan, because he had already left for the holiday. But a week is no big deal. Its weird, I'm used to talking comfortably to most people about anything, but when it comes to personnel stuff (moving offices, intern pitches, graduate classes), I get all uncomfortable. Maybe its because I'm just not comfortable having to consult with someone in a position of authority about these things. Whatever the source is, the details of this move are making me anxious for no reason whatsoever, so I'm trying to banish it from my mind.

Today, I'm going to archive a bunch of my old work. Seems like a brainless but worthwhile task to occupy the three hours before I leave for the airport.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL! AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Click here for some Christmas Cheer

If I were a month, I’d be: October
If I were a day of the week I’d be: Saturday
If I were a time of day, I’d be: 2 p.m.
If I were a planet, I’d be: Mars
If I were an animal, I’d be: a polar bear
If I were a direction, I’d be: East
If I were a piece of furniture, I’d be: a bean bag chair
If I were a historical figure, I’d be: Leonardo DiVinci
If I were a liquid, I’d be: Coffee
If I were a tree, I’d be: Sasafras
If I were a bird, I’d be: a Duck
If I were a tool, I’d be: a Hammer
If I were a flower/plant, I’d be: a Morning Glory
If I were a kind of weather I'd be: a sea breeze
If I were a mythical creature, I’d be: a Dragon
If I were a musical instrument, I’d be: Drums
If I were a wild animal, I’d be: a Polar Bear (again)
If I were a color, I’d be: Emerald Green
If I were an emotion, I’d be: Passionate
If I were a vegetable, I’d be: a chili pepper
If I were a sound, I’d be: Bells in a clock tower
If I were an element, I’d be: Oxygen
If I were a car, I’d be: a Jeep
If I were a song, I’d be: What a wonderful world
If I were a movie, I’d be: Casablanca
If I were a book, I’d be: Anne of Green Gables
If I were a food, I’d be: Lasagna
If I were a place, I’d be: a tropical island
If I were a material, I’d be: Wool
If I were a taste, I’d be: Lemony
If I were a scent, I’d be: Vanilla
If I were a word, I’d be: Anyways...
If I were a body part, I’d be: Eyes
If I were a facial expression, I’d be: the "Bewitched" nose twitch
If I were a subject in school, I’d be: Math
If I were a shape, I’d be a: Pyramid
If I were a number, I’d be: 9
If I were an article of clothing, I’d be: a Flannel Shirt

A dingo ate my baby! - now, as a t-shirt.

A random collection of news today:

Harry Potter VI: The Half-Blood Prince is coming out July 16!

You can build your own Apollo guidance computer at home (if you aren't an engineer and want to bore yourself silly, I can tell you all about the lunar landing guidance algorithm).

Finally, I saw the most awesome baby gift ever. Unfortunately, with the youngest child in my family at 18 months now, I couldn't get it (plus this gift could possibly be seen as a bit of an insult to my father). Though the thought crossed my mind to just go ahead and buy it for Gavin and Jen's potential future offspring. Its an all black baby jump suit, with a Darth Vader head on it, with big writing that says "Who's Your Daddy?" I giggled all the way through the mall. But, a picture is worth a thousand words.

As for the Christmas party, it was fun. I got boxer shorts and chocolate candy at the gift exchange. As is becoming traditional, I "dj-ed" the gift exchange again. Its hilarious what people give and what they want (the bottle of wine and bottle of Baily's traveled around the room, and so did a stuffed monkey wearing a NASA t-shirt). I managed to miscount the children's gifts and ended up giving away the gift intended for my coworker's 2-year-old daughter who was at home sick. Anyway, I gave him a pink fuzzy unicorn to take home for his daughter to relieve my guilt for basically stealing a little kid's gift.

After the part I went to the mall to finish up my Christmas shopping there (8:45 - 9:30 p.m.), then back to Toys 'R Us to grab a few more things (9:30 - 10 p.m.), and then to Barnes and Noble for the last of the stuff (they are thankfully open until 11 p.m.). While there, I was convinced to donate copies of my favorite children's book Where the Wild Things Are the local hospitals. What a gimic for Barnes and Noble, they sell the books at cover price to you (with a profit for them) and just add the service of putting them in a box and taking them to the local children's hospitals.

My recommendation for holiday shopping: do it late at night. The crowds were thin and the lines were short and the traffic was non-existant. Now, all I have left is a gift for Allie. So, send any ideas for a 5th grade girl my way, I'm making one more trip to Toys 'R Us tonight.

Karen sent her pictures from Peru. This one made me laugh, its the first attempt at a group photo at the Gate of the Sun - the camera's timer must've gone off before we were ready. Everyone's expression is caught at just the right place, a good snapshot of time. The second one is how it turned out in the end.

I'm adding the following commentary from Sarah to these photos:

First, the before shot. Everyone is standing around getting prepared. Karen is setting up the camera, so you can't see her. Gavin's on the very edge of the frame at the right. Jen, who had been sick all week, is thinking "ugh, I still don't feel great, but at least I'm at Machu Picchu." Becca, Cari, Emily and Sarah are all paying extremely close attention to whatever Pauld is saying because he is incredibly cute and funny and has an accent and we all totally want him. And Nancy is thinking "Pauld isn't really too young for me, is he?"

And here's the after shot. We are all publicly thinking "hooray, we're at the sun gate above Machu Picchu" and Sarah is privately thinking "Pauld is so cute!" Meanwhile Pauld is thinking "I could so totally have any of these girls. Except the married one. Her husband's looking a little protective. Nah, I am very cute and Peruvian, I can probably woo her too." Except he's thinking that in Spanish. :)

Christmas shopping is way better than homework. I made significant headway last night, and should be done tomorrow night. And I'm feeling a bit more in the spirit - I listened to Christmas songs all the way to and from Rice (where I went this morning to drop off my homework). I forgot how much I love 'Tis a gift to be simple. That has to be one of my all-time favorites.

I made a few observations at Toys 'R Us last night (which was a mob scene, I might add):

1. I possibly like legos better than children do, but I still bought about four different sets for various cousins.

2. There are no Nintendo DS's or Sponge Bob Squarepants Krabby Patty Stations within 150 miles of Clear Lake. And you get looked at like you're crazy if you ask for these things a week before Christmas.

3. Now that people my age are having babies, toys have gone retro so we can relive our childhoods. I marveled at Rainbow Bright, My Little Ponies, and Carebears. I scarily really wanted to buy a Rainbow Bright doll for myself.

4. Makers of teddy bears (including Carebears) and baby dolls need to think a bit more about their target audience. I wanted to get my 18 month old sister one of these things, but you wouldn't believe all of them were labeled as hazerdous to children under Three. A Carebear? Yep, a big label is on all the boxes that says "0-3" with an x-mark through it. I bought her a shiny unicorn doll instead. I told my dad about it this morning, and he said Demetra already has two Carebears, so I guess it probably would've been ok...

Ok, my blog comments are getting spammed (I deleted about 50 comments today). What should I do about it? I've enabled a feature that let's me moderate comments from first-time posters for now.

Which is worse: Christmas shopping or Homework?

Today, I will do both and let you know.

Work on Saturday is a rarity for me. But today is a bit of an exception for two reasons: 1. I was playing golf instead of working on Thursday. 2. I actually have about a million things to get done in the next 3 days if I want to start my new job that I am really really really looking forward to when I get back from my Christmas vacation.

I'm beginning to think that maybe I was a bit over-ambitious when I said that I could be ready to move offices in three weeks. This makes me actually feel a bit better about the workload I've been carrying the last few months, because when I was asked about when to move offices, my first thought was that I had nothing to do and I should just move right then. But as it turns out, I had quite a bit on my plate that didn't have any schedule pressure so I was working on it at a snail's pace, and now that I have a deadline, I realize its more work than I thought.

After I'm done filling out my 42 hours that I needed to get in this week, I'm *still* going to be sitting here doing homework, which is due on Monday. Ack. I am cheering myself up, because I'd rather be coding than Christmas shopping. Poor Nick and Cari (and Sarah?)... the mall today is going to be a nightmare. I haven't done any Christmas shopping yet, and have a list of about 20 people to buy for - 10 of whom I will see in Florida, and since I'm going to be at Disney World the days before Christmas, I won't have time to do shopping there (for the Philadelphia folks, I can shop for them in Florida on the days after Christmas). Family, I have sent Nick and Cari looking for a Blue Nintendo DS and a Sponge Bob Squarepants Krabby Patty Station. Stupid fad gifts.

Two times in the last week I have heard a reference to one of my favorite poems "If" by Rudyard Kipling. My favorite part are the first two stanzas:

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too,
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings--nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much,
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And--which is more--you'll be a Man, my son!

The under-30 sucky golfers piling into one cart (and maybe giving it a flat tire):

Sarah posted more pictures here

The temperature was 49 degrees. With wind chill it was 41. In rain, and puddles. I drove to the course in the rain. I stood in the pro shop waiting for them to cancel the tournament. We ended up golfing. Stupidly. But it was a fun time. I left the course wet, cold, and covered in mud. It is still fun to play in a girls foursome. By the third hole we were making fun of our stupid girliness. Ok, so we're not the typical girls. Anyway. Twas good.

Plans for the weekdend: Last minute Christmas shopping, work (I have to make up time somehow), and homework. Oh, isn't my life fun?

The chace of rain for today: 90%. Plus, you gotta love having your own personal weatherforcasters on-site. I guess you have to have one gloomy day to break up the gorgeous sunny ones from last week, and the gorgeous sunny ones we're supposed to have this weekend. Its just too bad that we're supposed to have a golf tournament today. Actually, it hasn't been canceled *yet* but it probably will be. It wouldn't be such a tragedy, because I really don't have the hours to escape from work and go golfing just now.

I can't believe Christmas is just a little over a week away. How'd December go by so fast?

NY Times: A handbook of things to do in Houston that I bought was a svelte 185 pages, with large type. Meanwhile, another guide - this one devoted to cheap eats in Houston - waddled in at 513 pages. This town does some serious, head-down eating, and food is the centerpiece of the Houston Experience.

And, of course, Houston is Worth It: The Heat. The Humidity, The Hurricanes, The Flying Cockroaches, The Mosquitoes, The Traffic, The Construction, The Sprawl, The Refineries, The Ridicule, The Pollen, The Air, The Billboards, The Flooding, The Image, The Property Taxes, The Short Springs, The Long Summers, The Potholes, The No Mountains. I totally have to decide which t-shirt to order. I'm leaning towards the flooding house.

For whenever you get down about living in Houston...

I've battled fortran and won. Mostly. At least my program is compiling and giving me results, which is a good good good thing. Now, do the results make sense? That is a problem for today. I'm actually starting to really feel the crunch for finishing things up before going home for Christmas.

I had good news yesterday that I (and Sarah too) was selected as a mentor to a team of physics teachers to fly in the Reduced Gravity program. This could potentially mean another flight on the "Vomit Comet" for me. This is pending on my losing ~10 pounds and sorting out some potential time conflicts with return to flight. But I'm really excited about it so hopefully it will all work out.

Hm. That's all I have to say. We've been doing a lot of arguing about missile defense here lately, because one of the leading candidates to replace Mr. O'Keefe is the Lt. Gen in charge of missile defense. This leads to arguments about the role of the military in the civilian space program. My personal opinion on the subject is pretty simple: The military and the civilian space program will always have things to offer each other and they should take advantage of opportunities to share resources. However, its a good thing we have a *civilian* space program, and I want to keep it that way. On missile defense, I don't like people who argue against missile defense because its technologically infeasible - I think if we spent the time and money and we could make it work. I don't like missile defense because its pointless and potentially a destabilizing force in international relations and definitely really expensive (more expensive than a Manned Mars Mission, for instance).

From the NASA oral history archives:

BRINKLEY: All this training, as exciting as it is to hear your career, there's a lot of sacrifice you're making constantly. You're living in far flung, in the desert, in California, in Houston as it's just starting to really grow, and difficulty—

AMBROSE: Some people would think it's a sacrifice to live in Houston.

NEIL ARMSTRONG: Just in August, though.

Sarah posted this entry from another blog today, its a hilarious story of a person who tried to vacuum fleas off her dog. Anyway, the best line: "...the only thing a dog can really catch outdoors in Utah is heartworm and a testimony of Jesus Christ..."

Golf

On Thursday, I'm participating in a golf scramble (run by the LSO's, of course) to honor the retirment of our division chief. Anyway, "we" (as in collectively: the young people in the analysis groups who play golf at the office scrambles twice a year and don't go on golf vacations like the boring grown-ups in the division do, prefering instead to hike mountains and travel the world), don't play golf very well. There are some exceptions. Like our ringer, Jen M, who was, unfortunately for her, subjected to years of childhood golf. Though my parents tried the same with me, I resisted more wholeheartedly, since I find the "sport" interminably boring, and never really learned to golf well (or hardly at all), prefering instead to trot behind my dad at the golf course, fishing up used balls out of the ponds.

Ok, that was a long lead-in to the funny part. Anyway, we have developed a bit of a reputation to sucking terribly in these golf scrambles, and perhaps finishing a little slow compared to the other foursomes (conveniently, with the blind handicap, we get such a large handicap that occasionally we win some cash). So, our assistant division chief just came into the office, and sat down... and as managers tend to do, instead of coming out and saying "You guys suck, we're worried you'll be to slow and mess up our plans to finish off a few kegs after the gold tournament, so we want you to just speed it up or not play" (which, quite frankly, is probably what I would say, and the reason why I'll probably never succeed in business or politics)... he comes in and starts getting all conversational "So, we have a lot of teams playing on Thursday. I'm a bit worried about how we're going to get everyone in, what do you guys think we should do to make sure the game keeps moving?" And we respond "We know we suck, just put us at the end and we won't bother anyone... " But, he doesn't want to offend us, so he keeps saying "Oh, no, its not that,... blah da blah blah" Anyway, it was quite clear he came specifically to us, because if he wanted advise on how to actually run the tournament better, he would go talk to one of the Golfers (yes, with a capital "G") who participate, rather than come talk to the young people who suck at golf (and know it).

So, we all had a good laugh after he left.

College

On, other topics, here's NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe's resignation letter. The handwriting makes it difficult to read, but basically his reason for leaving public service is because his daughter (the oldest of 3 children) departs to college next year, and he feels that it his obligation to her not to have her burdened with debt to pay for college. (Now, there probably are more reasons for his departure than just that.) Apparently, his position as the senior executive at NASA does not provide sufficient income to pay for his three children's college education - something that he (like most Americans) consider crucially important.

So, I have a number of personal thoughts on this - because right now, I think the barriers to going to college are the biggest hurdle to saying we are an "equal opportunity" nation:

1. College is way too damned expensive. It needs to be better subsidized by the government and/or private donors. There are ways to do this. Sliding scales of tuition based on parent's income, etc. I'll leave it to you to think about this. I really liked Pres. Clinton's idea of nationalizing the Georgia HOPE scholarship, where top high school students automatically would receive tuition waivers to the state college of their choice.

2. The system we have set up to pay college expenses is ridiculous. Very poor students are well taken care of - if they can brave their socioeconomic conditions and actually make it to college - there's a system of grants and aid to help them. The wealthiest student's parents can afford to pay college in cash. The rest, in the middle, are often burdened with tens of thousands of dollars in loans that they have to spend decades repaying. Is that the way we really want it to work? The sliding scale I mentioned before should be tied to both income level and merit -- changing each year, depending on continual success or failure at university.

3. What does it say to the 15,000 public servants at NASA and the hundreds of thousands throughout the government that even at the highest levels of executive service you won't be paid well enough to provide your child with a quality education?

4. If someone who is in the top 2-5% of income earners in this country can't afford to send his kids to college without seeking out a higher paying job, what does that say to the other 95% of us?

5. After extended conversation at dinner last night, we all agree that someone with the salary of a senior government executive should be able to afford to send all his three children to school without making them take out loans. The children would just have to be careful about where they choose schools, taking into consideration scholarships offered and pursuing in-state (rather than private) educations. The rest of the family might take a bit of the lifestyle change while the kids are in school. But this particular executive used to be the director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), so he should be able to sort out how to budget and save for htose things.

6. Do we have a country of equal opportunity when Student A has to decide between taking out $120,000 of student loans to pay for Harvard or go to University of Florida for free, where Student B can just go to Harvard with his parents paying? Does Student A really have the same opportunities as Student B to get his life off on the right foot when he has to either go to a less prestigious school or start out his life with massive debt?

Other

Wow, I was feeling really wordy today. Though I admit, I wrote about half this entry last night after dinner - drafting is one of the neat new things I can do with this diary. Yeah new blog! I promise I will add the links to all my friends blogs later and in the meantime, my diaryland site is still up so you can get them from there.

Oh, and its also official, I ordered the Foreign Service Exam study guide last night. I don't know if I'll actually take the exam this year (or ever for that matter). But, I'm going to start preparing, reading some of the suggested material and maybe take a practice test just to see how far out of the realm of reason doing this would be. Consider this my backup plan for if and when I stop getting to be a part of putting humans into space. About 40,000 people take the written each year and about 3,000 pass, of those, only a few hundred pass the oral exam that follows, so, even if I really wanted it, I don't know how large my chances would be.

And, happy day after your birthday to Nick and Karen!!

Its time for the long awaited transition to a new blog...

Piles of Rock

(Not "Pile so Frock".. giggle)

Diaryland has been great, and brought me three years of good times, it is just time for something new. So change your bookmarks. This is officially my last post here. I'll be moving my archives over shortly.

This weekend was beautiful. I couldn't have asked for more perfect weather. Unfortunately, I spent about 12 daylight hours working on homework (still not done - I have to write one more optimization algortithm, then, most definitely done).

Apache has been limping around all weekend because her fetch instinct is more powerful than her survival instinct, so, yet again, she has "fetched" herself into a leg injury.

I have taken yet another half day off work for the neverending A/C saga. He is here right now, he was supposed to come at 8 a.m., he didn't get here until 10:30, and says that it will be at least another 2-3 hours. Anyway, he's going to figure out what its going to cost me, I'm going to pay him and leave, because I need to work at least 6 hours today. I don't know how I'm going to squeeze 40 hours into this week - and, unless the President hurries up and gives us the semi-traditional extra day off at Christmas (less likely this year due to a number of factors), I don't have any excess vacation time to blow on this stuff. The crazy thing is that I have a lot to do at work over the next two weeks (since I'm officially moving offices soon and need to wrap stuff up), so in addition to being concerned about making my 40 hours, I am actually also concerned (which is a rarity lately) about getting everything I need done to be done.

Singing in the Rain was awesome last night.

Today's one of those blah days that takes longer to do everything than should be natural. Plus I can't figure out simple things. Nothing is simple.

This weekend: Enjoy the weather, go to a party, go to Singing in the Rain, do my homework project so I can put this semester behind me. Come back on Monday.

Sorry about the lack of an entry yesterday. I know I'm usually like clockwork (ok, maybe not *that* on schedule) with updating these on work days. I just couldn't make my little hands type anything, even the mundane prattle of a boring day.

This morning I need to find some motivation to work, because this afternoon is going to be really busy for me (I have a few slightly inconvenient overlaps in my schedule of places to be).

So, that's that. Maybe I'll write more this afternoon.

This article had a section about AP vs. IB programs in high school, which, as a proud IB alumn, I felt obligated to read. Anyway, it cracked me up because, according to the article: One critic went so far as to tell a local newspaper that IB "promotes socialism, disarmament, radical environmentalism, and moral relativism, while attempting to undermine Christian religious values and national sovereignty." Giggle. I'm even prouder now!

Last night a group of us went to Cafe Adobe with our co-op, where I, once again, had fried, stuffed avacodo. Otherwise known as a heart attack on a plate. It was festive.

I know I have no right to complain after only a week of hard-core working on this fortran code. But I hate fortran. Hate it hate it hate it. Compiling is stupid. I love Matlab. I love it love it love it. 'Nough said. Oh yeah, and yet again, I reiterate, I am an engineer and not a computer programmer for good reason.

Another weekend went by way too fast. Way WAY too fast.

Saturday was a blur of driving to Montana (well, Tomball) to see Nick perform in the Nutcracker. He was great as the Snow King, the Spanish Dancer, and the Arab Dancer. The two guest performers from American Ballet Theatre in New York were even better. (Funny, one of them apparently told Nick how excited he was too meet all his rocket-scientists friends. One of the best danceurs in the world, and he was all excited to meet people that work at the space agency. This is the second time we've encountered someone famous - the other being one of the best soccer players in America - that was more excited about the space program than talking about their own rock awesome job.) Another funny story, apparently one of the little 6 year olds in the dance company tugged on the Mouse Queen's (yes, a different variation) tutu, and said "Maybe next time you'll beat the Nutcracker."

Yesterday, I did chores, took the dogs on a walk, went for a run, mowed the lawn (my grass is SO dying, its going to look so ugly until next spring, though I have poured every chemical imaginable in an attempt to cure it, unfortunately, I think only winter will do that), payed bills, etc.

Of course, the weekend was capped off by a visit to Mely's. I'd like to point out that this was the first time in two weeks since I'd been there. TWO WHOLE WEEKS! Not to mention, we only ordered in ONCE in the previous week. The only people impressed by this sterling record of eating at home were Gavin and Jen. Oh well.

Ok, amazon wish list update, apparently the link I sent yesterday gets you to your own wish list, not to mine. So, not really sure what link to use, just go to the amazon.com web page and search for my wish list by e-mail address: "artemis_rck@hotmail.com." That will do the job. Or try this link.

My test performance rolled a little bit further down hill last night. But I think my "A" (or at least "A-") is pretty much locked in place, so I'm not too concerned.

Last night I slept for 12 hours. No kidding, well, at least 11 hours. I went to bed at 8 p.m. It was beautiful. I have been persistantly ill feeling for about two weeks. Not so ill that it let me stop myself from doing anything. But ill like occasional sniffle/cough/weakness. Anyway, I feel much better this morning.

On the agenda for the weekend: Avoid Christmas parties. Maybe I'm a grinch, but I get SO overwhelmed by parties in December. And I'm not saying they aren't fun, its just they're all cut from the same mold, pleasant conversation, good cheer, but not really *fun*. And it wears me out to have to continue to be friendly with a large group of people (some of whom I don't really know) - its draining. I know, don't you wish you all had the problem of too many Christmas parties? Anyway, I will be going to see Nick S. perform in the Nutcracker tomorrow afternoon (He's the Snow King, which is pretty big role. Though everyone thinks its way cooler that in the evening performances he's the "Nutcracker" with the big costume).

I am the worst WORST slacker on the planet. Yet again, I have a test this afternoon which I am completely unprepared for. I'm sneaking in studying while I should be working, which always makes me feel horribly guilty. But not too guilty, because, I figure, hey, its making me a better engineer and that's my job... its better then me sneaking in Internet surfing when I should be working. Of course, I should be doing neither. But I'm a child of the 90s and I'm all about the multitasking/constant stimulation/limited attention span.

I went to the Homeowner's Association Metting last night. My god, what a waste of time! First of all, it seemed the majority of people there had complaints about their neighbors rather than complaints about living in a neighborhood with a wacked out Homeowner's Association. Not to mention there was a 20 minute discussion of how our security might be inadequate and we need more police patrols since people's houses are getting t.p.-ed and egged occasionally (especially at the end of summer). Finally I couldn't restrain myself and said "Give me a break, its some teenagers with too much time on their hands, its always going to happen no matter how much security you have..." (And yes, my house has been both egged and toilet-papered once in the last 2 years). Who cares? Seriously. Don't these people have lives? Laissez-faire that's the way I want my neighborhood to be. I need to move to the country.

For those looking for Christmas gifts for moi (oh, I am SUCH a spoiled brat and feel like even more of a spoiled brat when I have to give people my Christmas list) -- I updated my Amazon.com wish list here. Of course, I might add a few more things if I get around to more shopping. This year's jewel of choice is saphire. Or 1/3 or 1/4 carat diamond earings in platinum settings -- I would prefer Canadian diamonds (or otherwise certified non-"conflict diamonds"). I could also use a dark red scarf with matching gloves and hat, more fleecey than scratchy (I really like the ones at Anne Taylor Loft). And super hurray for Aunt Mary for replacing my "inadequate" television for Christmas! And gift certificates on Continental are always useful too.

The best news ever (ok, at least the best news in the last 72 hours) today: I get to move to the FDO office soon! I had kind of been bracing myself to hear that I wasn't going to move until March, April or later (like after return to flight). Afterall, for months and months and months I heard nothing (and all I knew is that there were lots of other trainees over there). Then, out of the blue, "We're ready to have you whenever you're ready to come." So, now I just need to negotiate with my current projects to get myself out of dodge. Hip hip horray! (As a preface, I really will, in fact, miss DM42. Especially the Mars missions and the new vehicle designs and the AWESOME people. But let's face it, I was getting bored with it a year ago, things perked up SIGNIFICANTLY for a little while, and then got boring again when I entered she-will-eventually-leave-the-office limbo).

In other news: I got in an argument with my professor last night when he declared for the second time (I kept my pretty mouth shut the first time) that there will never be a manned mission to Mars, at least for 100 years, because the technological challenges are insurmountable. Now, I'll buy arguments that there is a lack of money/political will. But, we can make the technology work. Anyway, he did a really simple trajectory problem to prove his point about mass ratios being too high. I shot back his Isp assumption (300 for science nerds) and the assumption that we don't do assembly in space or use in situ Mars resources were completely invalid. And he said the mission will still never work until we develop better technology. And I said why would we ever develop that technology unless we committed to the mission. He said the technology was impossible anyway and we could never do it. I said that in the late 1800s, respected scientists said men would never fly in anything heavier-than-air. At this point I realized it was the end of class, so I shut up so the other students could leave (yeah for my self control). It just made me fume.

Then I talked to Dad on the phone for about an hour in possibly the funniest conversation ever. We talked about the standard stuff (work, skiing, the weather, fishing, school, etc.) But occasionally we were interupted mid-sentence by my dad saying things like: "No no no no! William don't touch that!... Teeny (yes, that's what they call my poor little sister) don't eat that!... William, don't empty out daddy's wallet!... Teeny can't Daddy have time to talk to Becky? Just five minutes?" Ah, life being a single parent of toddlers.