I'm in Pasadena again for

I'm in Pasadena again for a JPL-JSC "meet 'n greet" workshop. Meet 'n greet is my term; theirs is much more official-sounding. ;)

Our travel got straightened out this morning -- at least I think it did, though the real test will come when we try to get reimbursed -- and George, Gavin and I got on the 11:55 flight instead of 9:10, so we were only a couple hours late. We arrived just in time for me to give a very-much-winging-it 20-minute presentation on our current EDL projects. (That's Entry, Descent and Landing.)

It's much, much smoggier now than it was here last week. But the temperatures are still lovely. Tonight we met up with Andy and Ian, a couple old JSC co-op friends that are now at JPL, for dinner at a Tibet-Nepal restaurant. I had lamb in Himalayan spices. It was extremely yummy.

Sometime within the past couple days my arms (and assorted other spots on my body) were assaulted by an unknown something. Maybe a spider?? I have no idea. All I know is that my arms (and assorted other spots on my body) are absolutely covered in red swollen bites that are starting to itch more and more. Perhaps a spider was trapped under my sheet last night?? They itch. I look like I have the plague. Sucks.

My brother Brian flew off to Beijing today. Beijing! It's his first time out of the country, so I guess he figured it needed to be somewhere, you know, on the opposite side of the world. Crazy. I'd love to go to China. He's going with a group from his graduate accounting program, and I'm sure he's going to have a great time. I requested a postcard, and something cool for Christmas.