October 2007 Archives

The annual pumpkin carving took place at Jason's this year, and I have to say -- they turned out really well!

It is owl cookie day! In honor of Halloween, last night I baked up a large batch of owl cookies. They are a family tradition, and I can't remember a Halloween without them. When I was a kid, my mom gave them out to all the trick-or-treaters that came to our house (this was obviously before parents got paranoid about razor blades and poisoned candy). They are quite cute, and pretty tasty as well. I brought them to work and half are already gone.

Engineers love cookies.

Now that it's over, I can safely say that the whole baseball postseason this year was pretty boring. The only series that I found interesting were the Indians-Yankees and Indians-Red Sox. Not coincidentally, those were also the two series that weren't sweeps. Unless it's your team winning, sweeps are boring. There's no mystery, there's no magic, and by the time game four rolls around, the losing team has pretty much given up any hope of actually winning the series and are playing just for pride. Which apparently isn't as motivating. There are 7 postseason series each year; this year, five of them were sweeps. In the last four years, the World Series has gone like this: sweep, sweep, 5 games, sweep.

B-o-r-i-n-g.

As a side note, I also love that ARod and his agent chose yesterday -- in the middle of game 4 -- to announce that he would not exercise his option with the Yankees. And by "love," I mean "hate." What an a-hole thing to do.

I am super sore today after yesterday's half marathon. My hips, and left hip in particular, seem to have taken the worst of the beating. It was a little uncomfortable to even lay on my left side in bed last night -- unfortunate since lying in bed and watching the last inning of the World Series required laying on my left side. I gutted it out ;) but turned the TV off after only a couple minutes of the celebration. I fell asleep instantly, exhausted from getting up so early and not having gotten a nap during the afternoon.

I realized yesterday afternoon while getting a haircut -- I was daydreaming while the woman took tons of time blow-drying my hair, which always looks great, so it's a pity I don't ever have the time or patience to do it myself -- that though I signed up for the 25K on November 11, I am now going to be out of town that weekend. I'm less concerned about losing the money and more concerned about when to reschedule a 15 mile run. I'm heading to Seattle to visit my sister and see her new house, and I really don't want to have to worry about a 15 mile run while I'm on vacation, so the best option seems to be to push the 15-miler back one week and just do it on my own. Less fun that way, and I'll miss getting to see everybody at the race, but at least I won't have to do all the loops of Memorial Drive!

Yesterday afternoon, I found myself at the airport that Jose flies from after he finished a short hour of takeoff and landing practice with his instructor. He's getting very close to taking his final checkride, but with the shuttle mission going on and him working the night shift, he was hesitant to tackle anything new in his sleep-deprived state. Instead, he flew just for some practice. When I drove up, I found him lying in his car watching the planes. He looked so happy that I couldn't help but smile. I joined him and we stood on the edge of the taxiway and watched for almost another hour as planes took off and landed in a sizable gusty crosswind. It was windy, but absolutely gorgeous otherwise. This kind of weather is what makes Houston bearable -- it is so outrageously beautiful outside that it's easy to overlook the fact that you just suffered through six months of hot, humid summer.

I went into this race fully prepared for it to become my worst half marathon on record. I was hoping for a miracle, but after the way my running has been going over the past few weeks, I expected the worst. But lo and behold, my legs remembered how to run! And it wasn't my worst half marathon ever! It wasn't even my second worst! (Those two titles belong to the hilly Charlotte Half Marathon I ran with my brother back in April, and the second day of the Seabrook Challenge last March.)

Goodbye and good riddance, all memories of my crappy USA 10-Miler performance of two weeks ago. Hello today's 2:25:37 half marathon and 11:07 average pace. Here is how I felt about it:

(Photo taken by Bill from above as we ran under an overpass)

That's me thinking "yippee!"

I arrived downtown at 5 a.m. since I'd volunteered to help with chip pickup. It was chilly, and I swear it got colder before the race started. I left chip pickup with 20 minutes to go until race start -- just enough time to change into my running shoes, grab my hat, watch, and music, and hit the port-o-potties one more time. I got to the start line only a couple minutes before the gun, so I was in the back of the pack. This was right where I wanted to be, since I knew it would prevent me from going out too fast.

My Garmin read all over the map and lost satellite lock at least a dozen times during this race -- even when away from downtown and under a clear sky -- and by the end of the day it was reading 13.65 miles. Dumb GPS. No idea what was going on there, but no matter, since this is a certified course and there are no doubts in my mind that the Striders go to great lengths to ensure that mile markers are placed correctly. Garmin became just a vehicle for my splits, and they looked like this...

Mile 1 - 11:11
Mile 2 - 11:13
Mile 3 - 11:14

My plan was to run the race as steadily as I could with a 1-minute walk break at each mile marker. I have been walking way too much lately, and I've got to break myself of that habit. Walking a minute per mile is something I am ok with; walking more than that gets into my head and I start mentally beating myself up. So: 1 minute per mile it was. I felt like I was going at a good comfortable pace, so I actually skipped the walk break at mile 1 and ran the first two miles unimpeded. The only problem was that my shins were very tight and uncomfortable. Shin splints are an on-and-off recurring problem for me, and tend to hit hardest in the fall. I can't help but think that it's somehow weather-related, although that seems illogical. By mile 3, the shins had finally quieted down (as they always do if I "run through it" long enough) and without even realizing it, I picked up my pace.

Mile 4 - 11:02
Mile 5 - 11:04

I ate a gu at the water stop between miles 4 and 5, and then I saw Joe at the mile 5 marker calling times. Joe plus the gu certainly did something, because without even realizing it, I picked up my pace again.

Mile 6 - 10:48
Mile 7 - 10:37
Mile 8 - 10:53
Mile 9 - 10:52
Mile 10 - 11:09

I couldn't believe my eyes. Four straight miles at sub-11:00 pace -- and right smack in the middle of a half marathon. It didn't even feel that hard! (Did I mention the weather was almost perfect? 60ish degrees and still some shade to be found.) I saw Christy calling times at mile 8 and waved to her. I started to tire in the 10th mile, and could feel my legs and hips starting to ache. Nonetheless, I passed through the 10-mile mark in a total of 1:50:03 -- more than 12 minutes faster than the cursed 10-miler. Now that was a satisfying feeling.

Mile 11 - 11:08
Mile 12 - 11:19

Miles 11 and 12 passed fairly uneventfully, except for the fact that my legs and hips were getting tighter by the minute. This was my longest run of the season so far, and I could definitely feel it. I think it was somewhere towards the end that Bill took this shot:

Mile 13 - 11:51
Last 0.1 - 1:10

I finally fell apart -- just a bit -- in the final mile. The mini-hills of Allen Parkway did me in, and while my legs weren't screaming, they were definitely complaining in a very insistent way. I took two or three short walking breaks before running the last 0.4 miles or so with Joe. The last tenth was uphill and was a struggle. I thought I might be able to break 2:25, but in the last half mile it became apparent that I didn't really have anything left for a final push. As soon as I crossed the finish line and got my medal from one of Steve's boy scout volunteers, everything from my hips to my ankles constricted, and I walked around like a stiff-legged zombie for the next half hour.

It was good to see everyone out there today, though from reading the blogs it sounds like I missed quite a few people in the crowd. See everyone again in a few weeks at the 25K!

I can tell I'm gonna be really sore tomorrow, but I'm so happy to have run a good race that I don't care!

All that talk about watching the shuttle and station pass over, and I completely forgot to go outside. Well, Wednesday night I couldn't because I was stuck in class, but last night? The night with the pass nearly straight overhead? With the vehicles docked for extra brightness? And the full moon out to add to the display? Yeah, I forgot.

Instead, I was inside watching the baseball game. I fell asleep in the 7th inning, but see that the Red Sox prevailed again (albeit in a much closer game than the first one). Has anyone else noticed that the Red Sox are no longer the scrappy underdog? I think they fully played that card in 2004. I hope the Rockies can come back and win some games, if not the series.

So I missed the space station and space shuttle. Chalk it up to another day of strange sleep and a fuzzy head. Yesterday afternoon I dreamed that my sister had a baby and named him Bart. When I woke up, it seriously took me about 3 minutes to figure out whether my sister was actually pregnant in real life. I concluded that she is not, but if she ever has a kid named Bart I will be sufficiently weirded out.

I was sleeping during the day after going in to work at 3 a.m. to watch the rendezvous. Everything went well, unless you count massive headaches with the shuttle's network of laptops and software. It's the most complicated vehicle in the world, and yet the thing driving everybody crazy yesterday was trying to get a computer hooked up and a wireless network operating correctly. It was also the first flight with the laptops running Windows XP. (Yes, XP. We're slow here at NASA.) Coincidence? Hmm...

Tonight, if you can get a clear view of the horizon to the southwest, there is a very cool viewing opportunity. The International Space Station will be visible for two minutes starting at 8:20, but it will only rise to 19 degrees elevation so you've got to have a good view of the lower part of the sky. The reason this viewing is particularly cool is that just after the space station passes, you'll be able to see another, fainter point of light chasing it -- space shuttle Discovery! Yes, the space shuttle will be chasing the space station on its way to a docking around 7:30 tomorrow morning. Pretty cool.

I am now two-for-two in on-time shuttle launches. I watched 116, which launched a day late, but that one doesn't count since it wasn't my flight. Heh.

I'm dealing with the aftermath of my crazy sleep schedule, and preparing to do the late night/early morning thing one more time. Yesterday I fell asleep on the couch from 3:15 until 4:00. I woke up for a little while, and fell asleep again from 5:30 until 7:30. I got up to watch the station and shuttle pass over, 10 minutes apart, at 8:00. I went back to bed again at 9:30 and slept straight through to this morning. All in all, it made yesterday feel like a very long and fuzzy-headed day. By the time I went to sleep for good at 9:30, I could hardly believe that I'd helped launch a space shuttle not even 12 hours before.

Yet here I sit, 24 hours removed from working my second launch, and already starting to suffer post-flight letdown. I have no more involvement in this flight, and will now sit in the quiet office for two weeks while everyone else is off working the flight.

Docking is tomorrow morning at about 7:30, which means the crew enters their rendezvous procedures at about 2 a.m. I've watched the past four dockings, but I'm still reluctant to pass up the opportunity to watch another one, especially since there have been so few sims lately. So I'll be at work during the wee hours of the morning once again on little sleep, since I'll be in class until 10:00 tonight. My class is sort of annoying me lately. I want to just stay home and chill. Besides, the World Series starts tonight and I wish I could watch it. I almost forgot that baseball is still even happening. Stupid postseason schedule.

I haven't run since Saturday thanks to my crazy schedule. Every time I leave work, I'm too tired to even think about running. I'll be doing the Houston Half on Sunday, but I'm not expecting much. The way things have gone lately, I'll be happy if I can even manage 12:00 pace.

I'm feeling very restless today.

Over the past few days as I prepared for the launch, I didn't experience the same level of anticipation that I did when I worked my first launch in June. It would be silly to say that working launches is now old hat -- because it is most certainly not -- but there were other things to concentrate on. I had to keep on eye on preparations for the next flight in December that I'm also working, and I had to concentrate on training my trainee, who was flight-following this launch as part of her certification requirements. All those things combined, and I just didn't feel the same anxious excitement...

...Until 9 minutes before launch, when we came out of the final hold and I realized that the weather was actually going to stay clear, and that we were actually going to launch. And when it came down to it, I discovered that my heart was pounding just as hard as it did the first time.

Pretty dang cool. On days like these, I love my job.

I went to bed on Saturday night around midnight and woke up Sunday morning at 9:00. "Bed is comfortable," I thought. "I'll just lay here for a while longer." Suddenly it was noon, and I was still lying in bed. Yep, I slept for 12 hours, which of course has totally ruined my sleep schedule. I had to be at work at 5 this morning but couldn't fall asleep last night. I tried and tried, but finally gave up and just watched the baseball game and finally fell asleep at 12:30. For those keeping score, that's 3.5 hours of sleep. And now I'm just sitting here waiting until 1:30 to go home.

On the positive side, all my L-1 checks went swimmingly and the ARD is in tip-top shape. Now if only the weather would clear up, because right now it's not looking so great. Clouds and storms in Florida, in Europe at the trans-Atlantic landing sites. Even Edwards is in danger of being covered in haze and smoke from the wildfires plaguing southern California. I'm crossing my fingers though. October 23, 10:38 a.m. Central. Find a TV!

Well, they finally posted results for the D'Feet 10K. I ran 1:13:32, or 11:52 per mile. Even without a watch, I thought I'd run it faster than that. I felt like I was working harder than that.

I'm really starting to question what is going on with me. I'm getting slower and slower as the weather is getting better. This is quite the opposite of what has happened in the past, and it's not helping the doubts I was already having about my training goals.

Normally I tend to walk around pen-free. Or maybe with just a single black ballpoint. But during launch week, when I am busy busy busy I am preparing all my products and numbers the flight, my pen collection grows. There are three: black pen, red pen, highlighter. Black pen for writing all my notes. Highlighter for illuminating the notes that are more important. Red pen for fixes all the wrong things I find in our procedures, which are in desperate need of an update.

Three pens hanging on my lanyard. It's a sure sign that I'm running around crazily doing something.

I only had to spend four hours at work today, so that's not too bad. Tuesday is pretty much the worst possible launch day I could've asked for in terms of having to work or not work on the weekend. A launch Tuesday means the products that I need, the ones that are due three days before launch, are released on Saturday. The flight design people were ahead of the curve and got them out late yesterday afternoon (hooray for them), but I decided I'd rather work Saturday than Friday night.

I'm sleepy though. I got up this morning to head to Galveston with Debbie and Jason for the D'Feet Breast Cancer 10K. Because I was scheduled to do 8 miles today, I ran a bit before the race. (The race didn't start until 9:00 but we got there at 7:45 to register, so there was plenty of time.) I have no idea how long it took me to run those miles because I pulled my Garmin out of the bag to discover it was completely dead. I just charged it a few days ago, so I'm stumped. Who knows. I didn't even know how far I'd run in my pre-race jaunt -- I just guessed that it would be about right -- but Google Maps says it was 1.55 miles, so my total for the day was 7.75. Close enough.

I also don't know how long it took me to run the 10K itself, since my watch was dead and they had no clock at the finish line. Well, they had a clock -- but it was blank. Nada. Turned off, or broken. It was chip timed, but we left before they posted my results. And they aren't online yet. So I have no clue. I think I did somewhere around 1:10 but I'm really not sure. The first 4 miles went really well. I ate a gu at the turnaround and that carried me through mile 4 and a bit farther feeling great. But once we left the seawall (where the ocean was sparkling in the morning sun and Galveston actually looked gorgeous for a moment), I faded.

The last couple miles were tough. The fact that the race didn't start until 9:00 negated the incredible cool temperatures of the early morning. By the time we were running, the sun was up and shining intensely, and there was no shade on the course. My cheeks are still flushed 7 hours later.

I think I'm done with the breast cancer races though. After Race for the Cure last year and D'Feet today, I'm tired of the crowds. Or rather, I'm tired of the hoopla. I can deal with crowds -- the numbers at the marathon never bother me. But there's something about the hoopla surrounding these large events that starts to bug me. Too many people just milling around. It took me forever to navigate the crowds and strollers to finally get water and food once I finished.

I support the cause, but I think in the future I'd rather send a donation straight to the organization rather than deal with the race crowds.

This is Mission Control at daybreak. It looks even darker at 4 a.m. Obviously. As I walked in this morning, it occurred to me that I have not seen 3:30 a.m. in quite a long time. Perhaps not since college. And then I was certainly seeing 3:30 a.m. as the end of a day rather than the beginning.

During the last mission, I made fun of Becca because she was working the middle-of-the-night shift and for a week or more, all her blog entries talked about was how tired she was. I suppose I should apologize to her now, because the truth is this: when you're tired, pretty much all you can think about is how tired you are. And how good it would feel to sleep. And how comfy your bed is at home. And how tired you are. Did I mention tired?

I had class last night so I didn't even get home until after 10:00. My best efforts got me in bed by 10:45, but it took a half hour to fall asleep. At 3:00 when my alarm went off, I was surprisingly awake...but that lasted for about 15 minutes. Although I know I'm destined to end up with crappy hours in the future when I start working rendezvous and supporting some part of flight other than ascent, this is the first time I've had to deal with these hours. And after only two days, I can't think about anything but sleep.

Oh, and baseball. I can think about baseball. Speaking of which, why wasn't there a game last night? This post-season schedule seems totally bizarre to me. Have there always been this many off days? I know four of the six series have been sweeps, but it seems like there have been more off days than on days. ESPN.com had a commentary about it today, something about wanting the World Series to start mid-week for ratings. Everything is about ratings. I bet MLB is just loving the prospect of a Cleveland-Colorado World Series. I'm excited about it though. From the start, Rockies-Indians is what I was hoping for. Two underdogs, two teams that haven't seen October in a while. Even Manny says it's no big deal if the Red Sox lose. What a wacky guy.

In summary: I'm tired.

The Comcast lineup switch made the Chronicle: Comcast Switch Leaves Baseball Fans in the Dark;. Grr. Yes, I'm still mad about that. I did watch another great ALCS game last night. Crazy how the Indians just keep pouring on the 2-out hits. Crazy that the Red Sox had back-to-back-to-back home runs. Crazy that Manny Ramirez didn't realize that he looks like an idiot when he showboats about a home run that still leaves his team four runs down.

This morning was, well, interesting. And stressful, yet educational, yet crappy, as I'm forced to concentrate on issues with STS-122 data while I really should be concentrating on the launch that's, I dunno, next week.

Yesterday it was the discovery of an error that has been in the software for 10 years. Today was a rejected piece of data that brought the entire trajectory database generation to a screeching halt. What grenade will greet me tomorrow?

I ran last night with the express intent of proving that Sunday was a fluke. The weather was a little warm and humid, but I did four solid miles at 11:15 pace. There was one bit of weirdness, and the best way to explain it is to say I felt like I had butterflies in my lungs. Sort of a tingly feeling. I have felt it before, but only when running very hard. The feeling has persisted a bit today. I'm sure it sounds more worrisome than it is.

No running today, since I have no time between work and class. But tomorrow I'll get in an afternoon run. Yes, afternoon. Because I will be going home at 2:00. Because I have to be in at 4:00 a.m. for STS-120's final ascent sim. Sigh. Better get used to it -- on launch day I get on console at 3 a.m.!

Last night I was lying in bed watching the end of the Rockies-Diamondbacks game. I was looking forward to seeing the Rockies sweep, and watching them celebrate as their crazy winning streak continues.

It was just a minute or two past midnight according to the clock next to my bed, and the Diamondbacks were about to bat in the top of the 8th inning, when a loud "SHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSH" sound began eminating from the TV and the picture turned to static.

What the hell?!

A quick check showed that TBS was the only channel that had gone static. Everything else was still playing normally. I flipped channels frantically. Suddenly, TBS was back. Only it wasn't TBS anymore. Channel 31 had turned from TBS into FX and was now showing the end of "The Stepford Wives" with Nicole Kidman.

What the hell?!?

Next thing I knew, channel 32 had gone static. When it reappeared, it had morphed from Spike TV into the Golf Channel. Now I began to suspect Comcast, who took over from Time Warner a few months ago. To my untrained eye, it appeared more than coincidence that the issues began at midnight. It looked suspiciously like a channel realignment. But I never got anything in the mail, and the Comcast website showed no changes.

I flipped up and down through 60+ channels, searching for any sign of baseball. All the other channels stayed the same. ESPN was still 33 and 34. Comedy Central was still 59. HGTV was still 47.

I gave up, fuming, and went to bed. This morning, TBS was still gone.

I checked my mail on my way to work, since I didn't check it yesterday afternoon. In my mailbox was a card from Comcast announcing a new channel lineup. Sure enough, FX was 31. The Golf Channel was 32. TBS moved to 51, though I never found it there last night. Though their brochure clearly states "changes effective October 23," apparently they decided to move it up a week.

I checked their website again this morning. It's updated. They updated it sometime since midnight last night.

Comcast owes me. They made me miss the end of the NLCS. Bastards.

My "cool-down" from the 10-Miler yesterday was an afternoon walking around the Bayou City Art Festival. My legs felt (and continue to feel) surprisingly good. Only minor soreness. I was much more sore on Friday and Saturday after playing catcher Thursday night.

The Art Fesitval was much better than last year, when Jose and I headed downtown after a weekend of rain to find that 75% of the artists had packed up and gone home. This year everyone was still there, despite some drizzle. It took us about two hours to cover the whole site. After that we had dinner at Cafe Adobe, where we sat outside but were driven back in by a sudden but intense downpour. We were under an awning, but it leaked, and I didn't want to eat beans that had gotten all watery from being dripped on. It was an interesting meal.

Things I bought:

• A small flower vase/stand from Meyer Wood Designs (the one pictured at top left). It is really neat. I tried to find a single flower for sale at Randall's last night to put in it, but all they had was bouquets. Full disclosure: I snapped a single small flower off a large mum sitting outside the store. No one will notice! And I wanted a flower for my vase!
• A matted 5x7 of this photo from Big World Photo. Because it made me laugh a lot. All of her photos were of little figurines doing funny things. Jose bought this one because he said every time he looked at it, he heard the sounds of a construction site in his head.
• A gnome-be-gone Superman from Sugarpost, similar to this one, but with a cape and able to hang from the ceiling. I've seen this guy's work in the Uncommon Goods catalog and like it.

Things I would've seriously considered buying if I had unlimited amounts of money:

• One of Sean Fitzgerald's photographs. He had some gorgeous shots of mountains, deserts, and even Patagonia.
• One of Jennifer Cavan's pastels -- particularly the ones with starry night skies. The intense colors were awesome.
• Something from the Pressed Leaf Botanical Art booth. It was amazing to see what they made with all natural components like leaves and berries. I particularly liked Cropped Maples and Aspen Ridge.
• One of Michael McKee's awesome pastels. I would've had a very hard time picking just one. I liked Aspen Dream #17 (can you tell I like aspen trees?) and his mountain scenes, but I also liked the red and orange New Mexico-inspired scenes.
• A painting from Geoffrey Harris. His work is inspired by 1950s era toys and games, and I love the style and subject matter -- rockets, planes, robots, and other technology.

Honorable mention for sheer interestingness: Tardy Sculpture, which features sculptures made out of scrap metal and other random parts.

I came home wanting to quit my job and become an artist. C'est la vie.

Perhaps the fact that I forgot to register for this race -- combined with the fact that I also forgot to pick up my chip, leading to a mad sprint over to the chip table while the national anthem was being played moments before the race began -- were a sign. Maybe I wasn't meant to run this race.

But I did. It did not go well, but I did it. I finished in 2:02:34, for an average of 12:15 per mile.

I'm not that upset. I'd be bothered if I felt my slow time was due to some kind of injury or being ill-prepared, but mainly I feel like I just had a bad day. After all, three weeks ago I ran 10 miles in 1:54 -- with the same average heart rate as today. Three weeks ago I ran 8 minutes faster at the same level of exertion.

Today, I never felt out of breath. My legs never felt unusually tired. The weather was pleasant and I was never overheated. Everything felt like it was operating normally, except I was just tired.

From the moment the gun went off, I just felt tired. Nothing specific, but an overall fatigue.

I've felt tired since Wednesday, when I had to get up so early. I got at least 8 hours of sleep on on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights so I assumed I was caught up, but maybe not. I thought I was very well-hydrated, but maybe not.

Whatever the case, I just felt tired. The whole time.

Oh well. I got in the distance. Time to regroup for the Houston Half in two weeks and hopefully I can improve my pace a little there!

It was great to see all my running buddies out there, including many that I haven't seen in months! As Steeeve commented on the previous post, it's funny to realize that we all interact online but don't often see each other in the "real world" due to various schedules, committments, and living in different parts of town. Seeing everybody and getting to chat made my crappy run seem like a blip on the radar screen.

My legs are still sore from Thursday's softball/running combination. Hopefully they'll be back to normal when I wake up tomorrow for the USA 10-Miler.

Speaking of the 10-Miler, I headed over to On The Run this afternoon to pick up my packet and buy a new pair of shoes. (No, I will not be wearing the new shoes tomorrow. I'm not stupid.) The place was packed, and I barely got a chance to say hello to Vera, Chris and Jana because there were so many customers. I walked up to the packet pickup table and gave them my last name. She looked through the bags and found nothing. She looked on the registration list. Still nothing.

I forgot to register for the race!

I thought I'd registered back in August when I signed up for the Houston Half in two weeks, but apparently I had not. Too funny. As the volunteers giggled at me, I laughed, scratched my head and said "well, it appears that I need to sign up!" Luckily I had the $23 in my pocket. I got discounts for both HARRA and Bay Area Fit. As Jana said, I'm involved in enough running organizations that my race registration might one day be free!

I also forgot to get my shoe card stamped, which I'm very upset about. I'll have to go back tomorrow and get the stamp. I bought my 6th pair of shoes since starting my Lucky 7 shoe card -- which means that my next pair of shoes is free! Yes, a $90 pair of shoes for free; On The Run does not mess around, my friends. And I forgot to get my stamp!

The plan for the morning is simply to run. Not too fast, and not too slow. Just comfortable, long run pace, with maybe a bit of a pick up in the last mile if I'm feeling good. The weather looks to be absolutely lovely. Post-race recovery will definitely involve a stop at Mornings Kolaches on my way home, and cool down will be a trip to the Bayou City Art Festival tomorrow afternoon.

The Soyuz that launched on Wednesday docked to the space station today. We watched the last couple minutes of the docking here in the office. Man, that thing goes flying in! They docked at about 0.15 meters per second -- that's more than 4 times faster than the shuttle, which docks at the comparatively glacial paces of 0.1 feet per second. Try to walk at 0.1 feet per second sometime. It is slow. Then again, when you're in the shuttle (or the simulator) watching the giant space station coming towards you, it feels really fast.

I am dragging like nobody's business today, and walking like an old person. A few months ago, I discovered that playing softball -- and specifically, catcher -- after running was not such a good idea, since it was basically the equivalent of following a run with an hour of squats. Last night I discovered that it doesn't really work so well the other way either. Play catcher (i.e. hour of squats) and then run? Yeah, it still makes your legs feel the same amount of wobbliness the next day. Oof.

I had a good run thanks to the lovely weather, but it doesn't change the fact that I've been a slacker lately. I haven't been posting all my runs, so I haven't been as much of a slacker as my blog might indicate, but suffice it to say that I have been slacking all the same. We will see how Sunday goes. I know I can make the 10 miles, and I know I can make it under 2 hours, but I don't know how much. My ideal goal would be 1:50, but I don't think I'm going to be able to maintain 11:00 pace the whole way. Thus, I am not setting a goal. I'm just going to treat it as a long run, not a race, and thus I don't care what my time is.

Matchbox Twenty's new "How Far We've Come" is an ideal running song, by the way. Perfect pacing.

My brother Brian found out recently that he passed the 4th and final part of the CPA exam, so he is now officially a Certified Public Accountant. Congratulations to him!

I left home so early this morning that Starbucks wasn't even open yet. I know! It was horrible! I had no choice but to stop at the only 24-hour establishment within a few mile radius: Whataburger. Moments later, I was on my way to work with my standard #9 (that'd be the breakfast taquito) and coffee. Mmm. Their coffee is no Starbucks cinammon dolce latte, of course, but it's not bad, and at 5 a.m.? Well, coffee is coffee. I will drink any form of it.

The first of at least three separate days with increasingly early wake-up times has begun, all in the name of STS-120. Today is the TCDT, or Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test. The crew's in Florida in the orbiter, and we're here in Houston ready to do our flight control thing. We pretend that it's launch day and do everything as we will on October 23 -- except we don't actually launch. Simple.

It's going to be a long day though. After this test is over, I have a couple hours in the office before heading to a training session for the STS-124 crew. They've just started their flight-specific rendezvous training, and as one of the flight controllers supporting that rendezvous, I get to attend their training. This is a fun thing; however, it might not be so fun today as I try to remain standing and watch them fly without falling asleep.

The day doesn't end there either. If I have time, I plan to squeeze in a run before heading to class tonight where we have our second test. Now you might ask: didn't you just have a test three weeks ago? Yes, yes I did. But apparently it is time for another one. Sigh.

At least the reading is interesting. The most recent chapter in the textbook was about the invention and history of the PC. Did you know that one of the first PCs, the concept of a graphical user interface, and the first computer networking all happened at Xerox? I would never have guessed that. And: "Three decades ago, just like today, a flight between New York and Paris would take about seven hours and cost about $900. If advances in air travel matched the pace of computer transistor development, that international jaunt would take a second and cost a penny." Another interesting tidbit: the question of whether all this rapid advancement will ever slow or end. Will there ever be a computer that's so good that nothing better will come along to replace it? Can they really improve indefinitely?

I honestly have no idea.

My one big task for the day is done and the basic rendezvous book for STS-124 is on the editor's desk. I've only been at work for 5 hours, but I'm ready to go home. I'm tired, my throat hurts, and I'm achy. I don't know what's going on, but it's been bugging me for a few days. I really, really don't feel like running, but I'm trying to convince myself that I should. It's been a couple days since my last run, and the 10-miler is coming up on Sunday.

So I should run. But on the other hand, I don't want to turn this into a full-blown illness if I can help it. And tomorrow is going to be a 19-hour day for me. Up at 4 a.m. for a very early test at work, not returning home until 10 p.m. after my class and second test of the semester.

I'm having another round of doubts about the marathon anyway. On Sunday, I almost signed up for the Lonestar Half Ironman again. (And I would have, except I realized that our Japan trip is probably going to conflict.) I had such a great time doing it last year that I definitely want to do it again. Another Half Ironman in 2008 sounds like fun. Lonestar may not work out, so I'll have to find a different one.

I did one Half Ironman and six months later, I know that I definitely want to do another one.

I did one marathon and three years later, I'm still wishy-washy on whether I want to do another one, even though I'm actually signed up for Houston.

My motivation is seriously lacking.

I know that the weather is a large cause. The heat makes me slow. And being slow gets under my skin.

"Just because all your running friends are doing the marathon doesn't mean you have to," said Jose. "I keep hearing you question whether you want to do another one. And you've always talked about how much you like the half."

I do love the half.

On the other hand, the race is still three months away. When I did Houston in 2005, I didn't even start training -- at all -- until late October. The 10-miler was my longest run -- ever -- when I did it in 2004 during the run-up to the marathon. This year, I've already got one 10-miler under my belt.

I'm sure I'll change my mind at least a dozen times more before January.

Question for the computer-saavy readers: is it possible for a USB port to go bad? I use one of my USB ports extensively for iPods, my iPhone, and for an external hard drive. Tonight, anything I plug in has acted sporadically. With the hard drive plugged in, Windows gives me cryptic "cannot fully write" messages. With the iPod Shuffle plugged in, it repeatedly recognizes the hardware, then disconnects, then recognizes, then disconnects. A minute ago it told me that my brand new iPod Shuffle (which I successfully put music on when it did connect) may be corrupted. It's all very strange, and makes me suspect the USB port rather than the two different items being plugged in.

On another topic, could Chip Caray possibly be any more biased in announcing the Indians-Yankees game? I know he's a Caray, so maybe that's how he ended up becoming a baseball announcer. It certainly isn't because he's pleasant to listen to. Last night all he talked about was New York. When they were batting, he talked about the batter. When Cleveland was batting, he talked about the pitching. When Cleveland scores, he sounds almost bored. But if the Yankees score? He's screaming and yelling about "and here come the Yankees!"

Dear Chip Caray,
Please remove your lips from New York's butt.
Love, Sarah

It took every ounce of my self-motivation skills to get out and go running last night, but I did. I thought about driving straight home, but I forced my car to Gilruth. After the run, I was glad I did it. It's been a good week; I've hit the pavement four times: 10K last Saturday, 3 miler on Monday, 30-minute tempo run on Tuesday, 3-miler last night. Small runs, and I want to ramp up at least one of my weekday runs to 5-6 miles. But it's a start. On tap for this weekend is a 9-miler, and next weekend is the USA 10-Miler. Some days I think I might actually be able to pull off doing this marathon thing again.

Some people have told me they have had trouble commenting since I upgraded and switched to a default Movable Type template. Maybe that's why I've had so few comments (or maybe I'm just boring). Once you click "Comments" at the top of each entry, there should be a "Comment anonymously" link at the bottom of the resulting page. Try that. Overall, I'm not loving the new Movable Type. This is partially because I haven't taken the time to really explore it, and I know that they have added a lot of functionality. But at the same time, I'm not sure I need that functionality. And it runs slooowly. Pages take too long to load -- maybe not for you the viewer, but for me the blogger, when I'm dealing with the backend. I played around with Wordpress a few months ago; I may be switching this weekend. If you experience blog-weirdness, that'll probably be the cause.

It's a three-day weekend for us government folk. Thank you Christopher Columbus. I plan to spend it doing nothing but fun activities, because the next two weeks leading to the STS-120 launch are gonna be nothing but busy.

Sputnik was launched by the Soviet Union on October 4, 1957. That makes today the 50th anniversary of space exploration! It is sort of amazing to think that my job (heck, a large part of my industry) did not exist a mere 50 years ago.

Today, we fly space shuttles every day. Sometimes for real, and sometimes in sims. Last night I worked a crazy, crazy undocking sim. So crazy that people have been talking about it in the office all day. It's not unusual to talk about sims in the office, especially since I am in training and always have questions about the ins and outs of certain procedures. But when the talk lasts all day... Yep, it was a crazy sim.

After we finally finished our last separation burn, my coworker turned to me and said "did you know the space station is passing over in a couple minutes?" Done with our job for the sim, the rendezvous team stepped outside and watched the ISS slide across the dark sky. Fifty years since a little metal ball called Sputnik, we stood on the ground and watched a huge orbiting complex float by with three people living there. Blows the mind.

You've got a chance to see the space station tonight yourself, on the 50th anniversary of spaceflight. In Houston, it will only rise 13 degrees above the horizon so you'll need a good view unobstructed by buildings. My parents in Charlotte will have a most excellent view, with the space station passing nearly overhead at 85 degrees from the horizon. My sister in Seattle will have a view similar to Houston, 19 degrees above the horizon. And my friends in Atlanta will have a view as it crosses the sky at 76 degrees.

Look for a bright white dot, unblinking, and moving fast.

And then think of how it all started only 50 years ago.

I'm so sad. I missed seeing Jose fly over because I didn't wait long enough.

Jose arrived at the airport at 8:30 to go flying. I waited until 9:30 for him to call the house phone (my iPhone was temporarily deactivated -- don't get me started on that). When I hadn't heard it ring by 9:30, I decided to sit on the balcony and read, listening for his plane. I knew I wouldn't hear the phone, but I'd hear his plane. And I did hear planes, a half dozen of them -- a couple jets, a helicopter, and the distinct sound of a couple small general aviation airplanes. When I heard the latter, I jumped from my seat to scan the sky. Each time, I was met with a plane too far away, or going the wrong direction. It wasn't him.

At 10:30, I knew that I had missed him. I couldn't figure out how, since I never heard the phone while I was inside, and never heard or saw his plane while I was outside. But it had been two hours, and he had to have taken off by then. And it's only 10 minutes from takeoff to flyover. I had to have missed him.

So I went inside and left for work.

He took off at 10:37.

He thought he saw me on the balcony. He said he even rocked the wings as he flew over.

But I missed him.

Here he is flying over during his first solo in March. I haven't seen him fly since.

I am a horrible girlfriend. And a sad one.

Fall is knocking on the door. Houston is still squinting through the peephole, trying to decide if it's safe to let Fall come inside. But Fall is definitely knocking. It's still hot during the day, in the sun, but in the shade it's cooler, and the evenings are lovely.

I'm working a late sim tonight so I took the morning off. I spent most of it in one of my fake plastic Adirondack chairs on the balcony waiting to see Jose fly over in the little yellow airplane. But I never saw him; I don't know how, but I missed him. He went on a long cross country flight; in fact, he's still out there flying, somewhere between Brenham and Pearland.

While waiting, I read a lot more of my book. I don't read nearly enough -- instead, I go on reading kicks. If I get into a book, I read it quickly and then unless I have something else to start, I stop reading, instead passing my time with computer stuff and watching TV. But the impending autumn makes me want to curl up with a book so I'm reading again. I'm currently about three-quarters of the way through "Bringing Down the House," a book about a group of MIT students that won big in Vegas (and elsewhere) in the 1990s by counting cards in blackjack. I remember Melanie reading it a few years ago, and finally got around to picking it up myself. It started off slow, but the action picked up once the main character joined the team and began winning big -- much to the chagrin of the slow-to-notice casino managers. It's been a good read.

My next reads are waiting for me at home. Jose loves to go to Borders, which I don't mind -- it just means that I end up buying more and more books. Last time I picked up "The Mole People," about people living under New York City, and "Isacc's Storm," about the 1900 Galveston hurricane. Apparently I'm on a non-fiction kick.

Maybe after that I'll read the books that Gavin loaned me more than a year and a half ago. I've gotten the feeling he wants them back...

Yesterday when I arrived at work, I found the main entrance to my building (one of three) roped off with caution tape. They have been resurfacing all of the sidewalks because apparently someone felt they were too much of a slip, trip, and fall hazard. They really weren't slippery before. Nevermind the thought that people simply take responsibility for themselves and be careful walking when it's rainy.

Anyway, they are resurfacing the sidewalks to make them less slippery. Ironically, the intermediate step in this process is to basically varnish the whole sidewalk, presumably to even out the surface from its old rocks and pebbles feel. The varnish makes the sidewalk far more slippery than it ever was before, so they put up caution tape preventing access to the main entrance of the building. At first most people were simply ignoring the tape and walking (carefully) into the building. Around lunchtime, someone put an additional barrier in place so that we were reduced to slipping through a break in the bushes and trekking across the grass.

Today the resurfacing was complete, and we could all enter the building without fear of slipping, tripping, or falling.

Sigh. Such is life at a government agency.

Not a whole lot going on. Went to bed at 10:30 last night, the earliest in ages, but was still tired when I got up early this morning for a sim. The times aren't going to get any better either as the launch gets closer. There's a test next week that means I'll have to come in at 5 a.m. The week after that is our last ascent sim before launch and I'll have to be in at 4 a.m. Then of course is the launch itself (on October 23) that means I'll have to be in at 3 a.m. We launch at 10:30 in the morning, which is what drives all these events as the crew begins to sleep shift in preparation for flight. Anything the crew is involved in moves earlier and earlier. We will be a cranky bunch by the time the launch shift rolls around.