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Monday, September 30, 2002

blech

i feel like poop. i got up this morning and dragged myself to fitness class, but couldn't escape the feeling of nausea so i came home and dozed for another 45 minutes. now i'm here at work feeling less nauseaus, but still lousy. becca said "why don't you just go home and take a sick day?" it's tempting, but i dunno, i always feel bad taking a sick day unless i'm on the verge of dying.

if i don't feel better by lunchtime, maybe i'll take the afternoon off.

feeling bad has put me in a grumpy mood, and that combined with a long conversation i had yesterday about the nature of close friendships has left me feeling bummed out and insecure and regretful of the ways i've made good friendships turn awkward at times. sucks. hopefully a good night's sleep tonight will remedy it.

going bowling yesterday afternoon with a large group of huggy fun people helped me recover from the conversation and remind me that as long as i know how people feel about me, it doesn't really matter which words they use to describe it. {sigh} words, words, words. lately, they've been the source of all sorts of debate in my life. sometime i'd like to just be able to feel something and not have to try to put it into words.

here in houston, we just got one lucky break as isidore decided to go swamp southeast louisiana instead of us, and now before we get a chance to relax we have to worry about tropical storm lili that's supposed to be in the gulf (and headed semi-straight for us) as a hurricane by tuesday. lovely.

the baseball regular season is over. how sad! i'm looking forward to the playoffs though. here are my hopes:

division series: a's over twins, yankees over angels, braves over giants, diamondbacks over cardinals.
league series: a's over yankees, braves over diamondbacks.
world series: braves over a's in 7 games, braves win! braves win!

i just think that's the perfect set-up. the yankees and a's get a rematch with the a's finally triumphing over turncoat jason giambi and the big bad yankees. the braves and diamondbacks get a rematch with the braves outlasting the returning champs. and the world series goes 7 games, which is always a treat.

(1:45 p.m.)

are there other people who feel like they are permanently doing damage control for saying something stupid, or is it just me? i'm ready for this case of the mondays to pass.

Sunday, September 29, 2002

am i growing an aversion to wedding bells?

i have been missing my friend ron lately. why? well, i've been back in houston for more than two months now and have only seen him a handful of times. after living with him for the past two summers, that is hard to swallow sometimes. it's because we're both busy, and aren't used to having to plan ahead in order to see each other, i think.

last week his fiance moved to houston permanently after being in england for the past three years on a rhodes scholarship. it feels a little strange to have her around, to see them together. they've been together for six years now, but they've never really been together, meaning, in the same place. it is strange that she's finally here permanently. for so long, she was sort of a nebulous concept. we all knew ron had this other person who played an important role in his life, but we never saw her. as carter put it earlier, "you've been his girl for so long, it's like 'wait, you have another girlfriend?'" i tried to deny it, but it's true.

it's not that i ever wanted ron to ditch her and date me, not at all. it's just that we've been good friends for so long now. i mean, we were roommates for two summers, and had a lot of great times and fantastic conversations. having his fiance back changes the dynamic, is all, and that will take some getting used to.

the fiance in question, however, is great. she's funny and nice and easy to spend time with. i realized recently that i am very lucky to have some great friends who also have great taste in mates. all the grooms in my life--dave (cayce's), brian (leila's), don (jes's) and fred (katie's)--are guys that i probably would have become friends with even if i'd met them independent of their brides. the same thing (but in the vice versa guy-with-good-taste-in-girl pattern) goes for buzz, ron's bride-to-be.

Saturday, September 28, 2002

car wrecks and the cat in the hat

someone told me that i have become much more witty in my old age. sometimes i notice things i say, and think this might be true. if it is, it sort of makes me happy. i've always wanted to be witty.

today's been great. i got up this morning and played soccer with a bunch of people from work, some i knew and some i didn't. it was a lot of fun, even though we ended up losing 3-2. after the game i rushed home to take the world's quickest shower, and put on my shiny silver skirt to join debbie, curt, and chris for a matinee of seussical the musical at the new hobby performing arts center downtown. the musical was amusing and the new theater (it opened in april) was quite nice. afterward, we walked over to bayou place for an early dinner.

ok, so on to bigger and better tales. last night we went out to dinner and a movie. the dinner was sub-par, the movie was silly, but the real story is what happened in the parking lot just before dinner. chris was about to pull his van into the handicapped spot when a young kid who wasn't looking where he was going backed his car right into chris's left rear wheel. yikes! it made quite a crunching sound, so we parked and all got out to look. the kid's car (a complete piece-of-crap old ford tempo) was in bad shape, with the rear bumper hanging on by a thread. granted, the car wasn't in any sort of good shape to begin with, but now the bumper was hanging off.

the kid gets out and looks very worried. he awkwardly explains that he literally just bought the car like 4 hours beforehand, and, to be quite honest, he hasn't had a chance to call geico yet. chris, debbie and i exchange glances. the kid doesn't have insurance. the damage to chris's van is minimal, while the kid's car is in more dire condition. as chris is deciding how nice of a guy he wants to be (because, of course, you call the police and the kid will likely get in major trouble for driving without insurance, the kid bends down to inspect the damage, and touches the bumper.

now, you know how in the road runner and coyote cartoons when the coyote gets exploded and he just stands there before disintegrating into a pile of ashes when the road runner comes up and blows on him? well that's what happened to this kid's car! he barely touched the bumper, and the entire thing just fell right off the car. the entire bumper. i wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry, but i was definitely leaning towards laughter. the situation just seemed so absurd.

we stood there, chris not sure what to say, but hinting that he was willing to let things slide. after a minute i spoke up and said to the kid "ok, well, you have two options. you can settle this right here and decide to just leave things as they are, as i think chris is willing to do (as chris nodded next to me). if you have any ideas of getting insurance to cover the damage you can call the police and get an accident report. but to tell you the truth, i have no idea whose fault this was..." (see, the kid was backing up through another row of empty parking spaces without looking, but chris was driving on the wrong side of the parking lot lane in preparation for parking, so i dunno who was technically at fault.) "...and so if you call the police, whatever way they decide, you're likely going to get into some serious trouble for not having insurance at all. so the ball is in your court."

the kid immediately blurted out that he didn't want to involve the police, so in the end, chris decided to give the kid a really lucky break and just let things slide since the damage to his van wasn't that great. we then stood in the parking lot for another couple minutes awkwardly watching the kid try to figure out what to do with the bumper to his car. he was going to try to fit it in his trunk, and actually bent the bumper even more than it had been originally trying to compact the thing. i offered a half-hearted "i think you're going to have to put it in your backseat." with nothing we could do, we headed to the restaurant and told the kid that if he needed us, we'd be inside for the next hour. when we came out, he was gone.

anyway. after the movie we came home and i tried in vain to figure out how to use my remote control. see, i just got digital cable installed and the guys who installed it while i was at work didn't program the remote correctly. chris and debbie couldn't figure it out either so finally i had to call customer service. i felt soooo dumb.

Friday, September 27, 2002

doggie paddle

last night i finally made it over to the lap pool in my apartment complex. man, i am not as good a swimmer as i once was. i did 250 meters, took a breather, and then swam another 250 meters, both sets in a combination of freestyle and breaststroke, until my arms gave out and i headed home. yes, my arms. man, i could really tell that i've been doing a lot of pushups this week as part of the fitness program--i could feel my upper arm muscles burning. still, being in the water was oddly relaxing. when i buy a house someday (some far-in-the-future day), it will have to be near a pool.

in other news, i have finally truly attained victory over reliant energy. current amount due on my account: $0.00. now theoretically i can set about finding a new energy company; however, after fighting for 2 months over my electric bill (and hearing becca's frustration over the fact that her energy company can't seem to figure out how to actually send her a bill), i don't really feel like dealing with electricity at all. so i'm going to give reliant another chance. i hope i don't regret this.

i am all sorts of in love with the new dixie chicks cd. apparently, carter's mom likes it too. he finds this weird, though i don't know why. i love the dixie chicks. :)

i also made blueberry muffins last night (while watching survivor and taping friends to watch after will & grace, yay tv) and was subsequently called "so domesticated." i just like to bake. actually, i really wanted to make cookies, but i don't have a cookie sheet. i have freaking muffin tins, but no cookie sheet, how messed up is that?

random thought: there apparently are rumblings around nasa of looking beyond earth orbit for the first time in years. this is encouraging.

it's funny that becca tries so hard to portray me as an anti-dog person instead of just admitting that actually i'm just anti-apache. not that i don't think apache is cute and all, but she's exhausting. i don't care much about the house-breaking since i don't live in either place she likes to poop, but it's just an issue with which to point out that apache's overall training hasn't been all that effective so far. i don't like being jumped on and licked. gavin's dogs will jump and lick for about a minute in excitement over me being a new person at their house, but then settle down. apache never settles down. i don't mean to be rude, but it's annoying when a dog won't leave you alone when you want it to.

poor karen. people are trying to throw away all her things.

Thursday, September 26, 2002

politics politics freaking politics

"fifteen white boys come running at you, shirts rolled up, khakis...i thought i had fallen into an abercrombie commercial, i was like oh my goodness! ...but they can sing." that's a paraphrased quote from a yale university freshman during a capella rush week. yes, a capella rush week. the story was on npr this morning, and i was quite amused.

so general howell, the center director, addressed all jsc employees this morning. why? as far as i can tell, he just wanted to encourage employees to stop gossiping about budget cuts and program shake-ups, and reassure the jsc workforce that there is still plenty of work to do and that their jobs are secure. interesting. his speech really was not that great, but i give him leeway because he's a former marine, not a politician. he's not supposed to know how to speak, right?

{sigh}

i'm tired today. i was on my way to bed last night at 10:20 or so when i decided to check my email. i saw that carter was online so i figured i'd say hi. little did i know it'd lead to an hour-long political discussion, mainly about how bush is doing as a president and feelings about the "let's attack iraq" mentality.

now, i don't usually discuss politics. i don't have a clear reason for not doing so; i just don't. i feel uneducated about most political issues (the space program being the single glaring exception), and feel like it's not my right to argue one side versus another if i don't have anything to go on other than my own emotion. and yes, i know i could just go out and read more and learn about the issues, but to tell the truth, i'm usually not too interested. i know that politics affect me on a higher level, but they don't seem to affect me on a day-to-day basis. and there's also my constantly-reinforced impression that no one in washington could give a crap about me as an individual; why should i waste my time caring about them?

but anyway. the gist of my opinions on the subject are: 1) it seems to me (and i admit i haven't done any research on this issue, this is based on what i've heard in passing) like we're going to attack iraq just for the hell of it, and maybe in hopes of getting republicans reelected, and that's absurd. 2) i like bush. he seems like an ok guy, an ordinary guy, someone who actually does have an idea of what the general american public is like, and i think it's a nice change. yes, he has a shady past and he's a daddy's boy and he's a lousy speaker and he's making some questionable decisions on iraq, but in the end, he's the president, and i respect that.

and i'm a registered republican, so think what you want about my political leanings.

anyway. so that's that.

my polaroid that i just bought yesterday off ebay is already in houston! i'm amazed, and once again in love with being able to track packages. however, the website says delivery is scheduled for september 30, so i wonder if i will really sit in the warehouse all weekend before finally being brought to my apartment on monday...

also, i've pretty much decided which enlarger i'm going to get. i'm going to order from b&h in new york though, and they're close until monday because of the jewish holidays. i guess i'll order on monday. this weekend, i'm going in search of a local photo store where i can get the chemicals, etc that i'll need.

(10:26 a.m.)

michael jordan, man, i love you, but enough is enough.

i forgot to mention that the reason the whole political discussion began was that carter asked if i'd watched the season premiere of west wing last night. i did. i've never really paid much attention to the actual plot of the show, the "satire of american politics" or whatever, but good lord, the writing on that show is just amazing. they crack me up time and time again with the wit displayed by the characters. "my name is toby...i work at the white house." "schmalzy pants." the whole discussion about to-take-or-not-to-take a photo with an old guy who'd had his picture taken with hoover the day before the great depression began. calling the girl unwholesome in front of her boyfriend. "didn't vote for him the first time, don't plan to this time." "i love dry rub!" the writing is freaking incredible.

Wednesday, September 25, 2002

stop, thief!

my calculator is missing. i just noticed today that it was gone. i don't know if it was here yesterday or monday, but i'm pretty sure it was here last week. and now it's gone. nowhere to be found, and i've searched my entire desk area and asked everyone in my group if they borrowed it. no trace. {sigh} there were people in the building over the weekend working on the sprinkler system, so the guess is that one of them swiped it off my desk. i'm annoyed. i'd had that calculator since 11th grade (that's 8 years now). it was a ti-82, which they probably don't even make anymore, so now i'll have to learn how to use a new calculator. grr. i think this may be the only thing i've ever had stolen (knock on wood).

the baseball game last night was fun, even if the astros lost. the odd part was that the beginning of the game was delayed for about 20 minutes because of rain. yes, rain. a normal occurrence at most ballparks, but not in houston, where enron field, i mean minute maid park, has a retractable roof. strange. i guess they couldn't close it fast enough; one of the ushers said they'd had the tarp out on the field for a while. i didn't even know they had a tarp. who needs a tarp when you have a roof??

we didn't get back until after 11:00 last night, and since i had to get up to go to fitness class this morning, i'm sleepy. it's sad that i can't stay up late anymore. hmm. on second thought, i think perhaps it's just that i don't like being sleepy, and now that i've finally escaped the non-stop ass-kicking of being in school, most nights i actually can get enough sleep to not be tired the next day. in school, 6 hours of sleep in one night was a luxury. now, 6 hours is a big annoyance.

anyway.

last night i decided that i want a polaroid camera, you know, the big bulky things that spit out 3"x3" magically-developing-before-your-very-eyes pictures. so i went on ebay this morning and bought one for $3. cool.

Tuesday, September 24, 2002

hurricane's a-comin'

as those silly hurricanes are wont to do, isadore has shifted a bit and now appears to be headed straight for new orleans. that's better news for me, but i i figure that no matter where it lands, it'll be close enough to dump a lot of rain on houston. we'll see. looks like it'll get here sometime late tomorrow or thursday.

in the meantime, i'm going to continue to enjoy this absolutely wonderful weather! last night i got home from picking jason up at the airport, turned off my air conditioner (which was only running sparingly anyway), and opened up a few windows. it was lovely. i feel asleep with a nice cool breeze of fresh air coming in.

i have been having a week of really enjoyable evenings. last night i cooked a real dinner for myself--i made stir fry! granted, it was with frozen vegetables, but i added chicken and flavored it and everything. ok, fine, it didn't involve any cooking skill at all, but it made me happy.

i need to call reliant again. i called last night to make sure the deposit had been taken off my account and that they won't shut off my electricity today, and the change "hadn't gone through yet," in the words of the customer service woman. {sigh} it better have gone through today or i will not be a happy camper. the good news is that last night the woman and i reached a compromise in which she gave me a few more days to get this straightened out before forwarding the disconnection notice to the disconnection department. or at least she said she would do that. god i hate reliant so, so much.

tonight we're going to the astros game! it will likely be my last game of the season, unless we somehow end up going tomorrow night as well, because the astros are not going to make it to the playoffs. :( i'm not very happy at the prospect of 5 months without baseball. it makes the winter so dull.

Monday, September 23, 2002

happiness is red toenails

so becca and i got pedicures yesterday, and i must say, ohhhhhh the luxury. i think getting one will become my monthly gift to myself. i mean, what's better in life than sitting in a chair for an hour reading fluff fashion magazines and having your feet pampered? i now have bright red toenails and am quite enthralled by them. the shade is called "i'm not really a waitress." i kid you not. how cool is that? :)

i had an excellent conversation last night, one that i would have rather been "having over coffee," as christina would put it. the question has been raised that: "do we ever stop waiting for the 'next thing' - that next part of ours lives that we are just trying to get to? do we ever actually get there or do we just keep waiting for something better? someone shared something that he learned in thearpy - he says that he has realized that happiness is just contentment in a routine."

so that's the current topic of debate in my life. it's funny how i agree so completely with some friends and disagree so completely with others on this one topic.

anyway. this weekend unfortunately was like most weekends--over before i knew it, leaving me already looking forward to the next one. ah well. that's what work is for, right? to earn myself enough money to have fantastic weekends.

over the past two days, however, i did remember something that i learned five years ago and had forgotten--houston is really pleasant in the fall! we had our first real cold front come through, and i doubt the temperatures even topped 85, and the humidity was much lower than normal. this morning, it was downright cool outside. as i told carter last night, it's almost as if someone decided to give us a few gorgeous days before slamming us with a hurricane next weekend.

yep, hurricane isadore is predicted to head this way. if it gains steam once it leaves the yucatan and heads toward houston, i'm leaving town. i've been through one hurricane (hugo, a massive category 4, in 1989) and don't have much of a desire to experience another one. on a related note, leila, keep your spare bedroom prepped for me.

ok. as i was just looking at that predicted path map, i showed it to becca, who pronouced with certainty "oh, it looks like we won't get hit directly even if it does follow this path--we'll just get the side of it." i gave her an odd look and said "um, if you trace that line out straight, the eye goes directly over houston," to which she replied "oh, that's houston?? i thought we were down here!" as she pointed farther down the texas coastline. dear god, the girl has been here for 9 months and she can't even point out houston on a map that's not explicity labeled. sad, sad. for those non-texans out there, you can find houston on the map above by starting at the texas/louisiana border and tracing down the coast until you come to the first big bay (galveston bay) that juts inland. see how the predicted path of the hurricane is heading smack for us? yeah.

(2:32 p.m.)

news update for the day: I HAVE TRIUMPHED OVER RELIANT ENERGY! give it up for me! yeah yeah yeah! i have recently finished jumping up and down at my desk and pumping my fists not unlike meg ryan in french kiss, much to the amusement of becca and gavin. ha ha, i win, i win!

of course it was maddeningly simple, once i finally got the right person on the line. i don't remember if i explained the whole problem, but basically it was thus: reliant wanted me to either pay a $220 deposit, get someone to cosign my account, or provide them with a letter of credit from another electric company. well, i couldn't get a letter of credit because i've never had my own electric bill until now, and getting a cosigner or paying a deposit were both unacceptable choices for me. basically, reliant was telling me i had to pay a deposit because i didn't have credit, and yet they never even checked my credit. after much annoyance on my part with customer service, i finally managed to get in touch with the credit department itself and spoke to a nice man--by far the nicest person i've talked to at reliant. after explaining my problem for the umpteenth time and having him give me the standard "you need a letter/cosigner" spiel, i calmly asked him if he could please just check my credit. he complied, put me on hold, and three minutes later came back with a "ma'am, i apologize for all the inconvenience. your credit is fine, and i'll remove the deposit right now."

well HOORAY! i finally spoke to someone competant, and just in time--the threatening letters i've been getting have said my power was going to be disconnected tomorrow. i'm going to call the customer service office this afternoon just to make sure the deposit is gone. cross your fingers.

in the meantime, i am basking in the glow of my victory.

Sunday, September 22, 2002

silly survey

i was bored today, so instead of writing deep thoughts, i've cheated and copied another little listing thing from someone else's site...

10 Bands You've Seen Live

1. counting crows
2. dave matthews band
3. john mayer
4. rem
5. clint black
6. they might be giants
7. sarah mclachlan
8. the dixie chicks
9. harry connick, jr
10. the san francisco symphony

09 Things You're Looking Forward To

1. going to france
2. christmas
3. buying an enlarger
4. sitting on my balcony in the cool fall air
5. revisiting california
6. getting my first pedicure
7. sleeping tonight in my soft, soft bed
8. repainting my sewing table
9. the two towers movie

08 Things You Wear Daily

1. underwear
2. earrings or a necklace or both
3. contact lenses
4. pajama pants
5. towel
6. nothing
7. flip flops (summer) or shoes (winter)
8. my seat belt

07 Things That Annoy You

1. reliant energy's billing procedures
2. being told that i need a date
3. intolerance
4. saying nuke-you-ler instead of nuke-lee-urr
5. intrusive secrecy
6. road construction
7. food that goes bad before i get a chance to eat it

06 Things You Touch Every Day

1. the snooze button on the alarm clock
2. computer keyboard
3. the remote control (sad, sad)
4. the handle of the refrigerator
5. water
6. steering wheel

05 Things You Do Every Day

1. laugh
2. sleep
3. look in the mirror and wish my hair weren't poofy
4. think about going running
5. brush my teeth

04 People You'd Want to Spend More Time With

1. myself
2. my college friends who live in many places
3. lance armstrong
4. ron

03 Movies You Could Watch Over and Over

1. the hunt for red october
2. sliding doors
3. 10 things i hate about you (so help me, i love this movie)

02 Of Your Favorite Songs At This Moment

1. dixie chicks, long time gone
2. john mayer, comfortable

01 Person You Could Spend the Rest of Your Life With

1. if i knew that with any certainty about someone who felt the same way about me, i wouldn't be single, right? so...

Saturday, September 21, 2002

sarah the airport taxi service

i have now run 2 races in houston, and racked up my 2 worst times ever. even my very first race, when i had never even done one before, was better than the 2 i've done in the last 2 months. i'm very disappointed in myself for letting my body and my level of fitness slide over the past three months, basically since graduating from stanford. i'm glad to have started this fitness program at work, hopefully it will get me off my ass and back into the good shape i was enjoying in the spring.

debbie and i drove all the way to intercontinental, a.k.a. "the big airport," to run in a 5k that consisted of two laps around a new cargo taxiway. the route was the most boring one i've run in my life, but the steady stream of planes passing 100 feet overhead on their way to land made it interesting. ;)

i always forget how freaking far away intercontinental is. and i've been there 3 times this week, and on monday will make it 4 times in 8 days. coming back from scotland last sunday. taking jason on tuesday. running the race today. picking jason up on monday. i'm putting a lot of miles on my little car.

nick called yesterday (from france!) while i was still at work. {sigh} i miss having him here, but it sounds like he is having a great time so far in aix-en-provence. i was looking up airline tickets today. i can fly into marseille for only $50-100 more than flying into paris. on either british airways or air france, no less, which are both more comfortable than american carriers. this is a fantastic revelation, as flying into paris would involve a $100, 4 hour ride on the tgv to get down to aix, while marseille is much closer. here's a map, see aix-en-provence, all the way down in the southeast corner? see how much better it would be to fly to marseille?

this afternoon i went to a bridal shower for my friend katie who's marrying a great guy named fred on october 13. i'd never been to a true bridal shower before--you know, where it's only girls there and you play the silly games and such. it was fun, and i won a prize for not saying any of the forbidden words (katie, fred, bride, groom, marriage). silly, silly. but nice. katie is one of the nicest and most sincere people that i know. she always listens and always has something well-thought-out and reasonable to say. she's just the kind of person who is always smiling, and i wish her all the best.

Friday, September 20, 2002

poked and prodded like a pin cushion

day 3 of the health related fitness program, and i'm wondering if becca will ever make it on time, or if i should just get used to seeing her rumble in 5-10 minutes late. ;) after the hellish thunderstorm of last night, the weather this morning was absolutely lovely--clear and cool. i did 2 miles on the short track, a combination of walking and running because i didn't want to get really sweaty. why? because i had to be at the clinic at 7:45 for my physical and i wouldn't have time to take a shower between working out and going there.

now, when the jsc clinic does a physical they really do a physical. we're talking hearing test, eye test, some sort of lung capacity thing, chest x-ray, ekg, tb test, blood work, and--ah yes--urine sample. no one told me i'd have to pee in a cup, and being oblivious as i sometimes am, i didn't think about it. so i got up this morning and went to the bathroom as i always do, only to arrive at the clinic with absolutely no desire to pee. i must have gulped a gallon of water trying to make myself pee. it worked, finally, of course, only i drank so much water that now all morning i've been having to go to the bathroom. amusing.

i know you cared.

anyhoo, i'm quite glad that it's friday. i'm looking forward to a relaxing weekend, after being on the go pretty much non-stop for the past month. i haven't had a free weekend to myself since mid-august, "free" indicating time by myself to do errands, clean up around my apartment, organize stuff, cook good food, and of course, veg out with stupid magazines and tv shows. it'll be nice. my only plans are a 5k on the taxiway at intercontinental airport tomorrow morning, and a bridal shower tomorrow afternoon. i have no plans for either weekend night, and i think i like it that way.

...though seeing a movie tonight sounds quite appealing, so maybe i'll see if someone wants to go. i currently want to see: four feathers, ecks vs. sever, big fat greek wedding, and one hour photo. it's been a few weeks since i hit the theater.

Thursday, September 19, 2002

randomness

i am a complete sucker for feel-good stories. this is one of the many reasons i'm currently hopelessly in love with miguel tejada and the oakland a's.

so yesterday i used my new health insurance plan for the first time to get a prescription skin cream for my bumpy arms. it's a common skin condition called keratosis pilaris; i've had it since i was a baby but never done anything about it. i have a bad habit of making it worse, however, so i decided to finally go and get the prescription. and i only had to pay $10! wow! consequently, i am now all enamored with my health insurance. i have a feeling that this is not a good thing to be enamored with.

anyway. that was boring, wasn't it. either that, or more information than you cared to know about my bumpy arms.

let's see. i'm having lunch today with...phil! phil is back and starts work on monday. yippy. and ron is in nebraska this weekend with buzz, because she also starts work on monday. i won't be the newest person in the division anymore...

i've been looking for darkroom equipment, and found a guy selling a complete color setup for $600. i'm trying to decide whether that is a good deal (if the stuff is in decent condition, i think it is a good deal), and whether i should go ahead and buy it. i'd rather not spend $600 right this moment, but i'd have to pay more later... the other thing to consider is that i could get a black and white setup for $400. that's more affordable for me at the moment, but to get color equipment for only $200 more... oy vey, what a dilemma. :)

and finally, reliant energy is a company of bastards and idiots and i hate them with the fire of a thousand suns.

that is all.

(11:30 a.m.)

becca went on a rant today about how i said she was not an outdoors-y person. now i must defend my sacred honor. ;p this is my take:

becca certainly loves the idea of the outdoors, and i'm pretty sure she actually likes being there as well...but only at certain times. it's not that she's not an outdoors kind of girl; she can live as primatively and in as gross conditions, etc, as anyone. it's just more like this (to take a catch phrase and alter it slightly): her eyes are bigger than her stamina.

for example: we get the idea to go climb half dome/ride bikes around orkney. becca is excited, and flies all the way to california/the united kingdom to do it. we get the necessary supplies, we make arrangements to get to the place and back, we plan our departure time and pack food and water, we're ready to go. becca's pumped.

the day arrives, and we wake up at some ungodly hour of the morning. becca complains about having to get up early and has to be coaxed out of bed.

later, she's awake. we start the hike/bike ride, and it's fairly challenging because the route is uphill/windy. becca's pace slows to a crawl. for the next 14/5 hours, all i hear are complaints about how i need to stop asking her to catch up, how her feet/ass hurt, how nice it would be to be that deer/cow over there grazing/lying peacefully in the woods/grass, how she can't walk/bike much farther, how she just wants to die, etc. by all outward appearances, she is having an absolutely miserable time. i begin to doubt that we will survive the trip without one of us going crazy.

finally we finish the hike/ride. becca either continues to complain (if she has any energy left) or falls silent. later that night or the next morning, she suddenly comes back to life and exclaims something along the lines of "that was awesome, i'm really glad we did that!" at which point i groan in exasperation and think about hitting her with something heavy.

:)

so yes. eyes bigger than stamina pretty much explains my diagnosis of becca's outdoorsiness.

(p.s. i feel the need to add this disclaimer for those of you who might think that becca and i are engaged in some sort of battle of wills. forget it, cause we're not. :) we're just not the most compatible physical activity partners, and we like to tease about it.)

Wednesday, September 18, 2002

watch out for bonnie

i had a lovely evening yesterday. i had to stay at work late because i took 2 hours off to take jason to the airport (he's off to italy and austria for a week, visiting an old friend), but when i got home, i made a nice dinner and watched some tv. i watched two new shows on abc. one had a long and complicated name involving dating teenage daughters, and it was funny. the other show was called "life with bonnie."

i just have to say, good lord. i have never watched a show with greater potential to give the viewer a seizure. it was absolutely horrid. now, i am definitely not a discerning tv viewer; in fact, i will watch just about anything, even really cheesy mtv dramas (just ask ron, who suffered through life with my tv habits last summer). but this bonnie show was just abominable. the worst part was that i couldn't change the channel. i sat there watching as if the tv were the scene of some horrific accident where you want desperately to turn away, but something won't let you. i reasoned that it had to get better at some point, but of course it didn't. yeeeeck.

anyway, that wasn't the lovely part of my evening. the lovely part was the show finally ended and i was able to tear my eyes away from the horror, at which point i headed to the grocery store to restock my fridge (it was pretty empty since i threw away a bunch of stuff before i went to scotland, knowing it'd be bad when i got back). i came home in a mellow mood and turned on the local npr/classical radio station at precisely the moment the clarinet whines up the scale at the beginning of gershwin's rhapsody in blue. ahhhhhh. perfection.

this morning was day 2 of getting up at 6 a.m. for the health related fitness program. today was another easy day--we just learned how to use all the weight machines, most of which were pretty self-explanatory already. i can't get my fitness "orders" (i.e. recommendations on what sort of exercise i should do to achieve my goals) yet anyway, at least not until i've had my physical on friday. i have to be medically cleared to participate. that requirement amuses me somewhat, since i'm not a 90-year-old fragile woman. i can understand the rationale though.

in baseball news, the braves have clinched the division win, the a's are certain to either win the al west or the al wild card, and the astros are all but dead in the water. since the fates of 3 of my 4 teams are already determined, i now get to focus my attention solely on my 4th "home" team, at which point i say "go giants!" they're one game ahead of the dodgers for the nl wild card. woo.

Tuesday, September 17, 2002

shaved heads and suicidal earrings

first things first. pictures from scotland (all 252 of them; i love having a digital camera) have been posted here for your viewing pleasure. if you don't want to look at 252 pictures individually, there are convenient index pages so you can skim. :)

last night i got to shave jason's head! (before, during, and after pictures are here.) he wanted something different, and when he mentioned the thought of shaving his head, all i could say was "doooooo it!" so he did, and i got to be the head-shaver! ok, so we're not talking completely bic-razor-to-the-scalp bald, but close. we progressed from a #4 guard to a #2 and finally to a #1 after ensuring that his head wasn't oddly shaped, so now his hair is about 1/8 of an inch all the way around.

i have to say, it was quite fun, almost enough to convince me to shave my own head just for the kick of watching 8 inches of hair fall onto the patio. almost, but not quite. if there are any guys out there who want their head shaved, please let me know and i would be happy to oblige.

i have recently developed this problem where some of my earrings are suicidal. yesterday one earring from a pair i bought in scotland jumped out of my ear and i didn't notice until i got in my car to go home. annoyed, i retraced my steps all the way back to my office and had almost given up when i remembered to check in the bathroom, and there it was, trying to hide amongst the cracks between tiles on the floor inside the stall. ha ha! i triumphed over the sneaky little bugger. i've had this problem with other pairs as well, so today i'm going to go to the craft store and buy french hook earring backs. that'll stifle their hara-kari plans.

i've also decided that i am going to turn my little bathroom into a little darkroom. i am determined, and have started pricing equipment. i found what looks to be a good starter kit (enlarger, lens, film container, etc) for just under $400; there is also a guy on the swap shop selling a set of color darkroom supplies for $600.

i miss feeling creative. some days i think nasa is wonderful, but some days i feel as if it is sucking away my soul. these days i feel restless here. i'm sure it is because i have been here for long enough now to be getting ready to go back to school. i'm sure it is because my friends at stanford are starting up again. i'm sure the feeling will go away soon. i hope it will.

(11:40 a.m.)

from jim baker's column on epsn.com:

Mr. Kent and Mr. Bonds

Mr. Kent and Mr. Bonds:
Monster hitting pitch gourmands.
Of each other not so fond --
Mr. Kent and Mr. Bonds.

Mr. Bonds and Mr. Kent.
To the cinema never went.
Christmas cards are never sent
'twixt Mr. Bonds and Mr. Kent.

Mr. Bonds and Mr. Kent
Fussing, feuding Giant gents
But in the midst of such dissent
Said Mr. Bonds of Mr. Kent:

"Mr. Kent," said Mr. Bonds,
"Must remain and not go yon.
If he leaves, I shall despond,"
Said of Kent that Mr. Bonds.

cute. anyway. time to take jason to the airport; he's going to italy for a week.

Monday, September 16, 2002

the great scotland road trip, part 2

so, to recap: becca and i were gone for 10 days visiting karen in scotland, and the only big things we missed in houston, as far as i can tell, were 1) the texans beat the cowboys and 2) a tanker of ammonia exploded at a chemical plant nearby. lovely.

so i'm back at work and absolutely wide awake, feeling as if it is 3:30 in the afternoon. flying west is always easier than flying east. when we arrived in england, i spent the first day alternating between groggy attempts at figuring out where i was and periods of being zonked out in the backseat of karen's little purple car (henceforth known as the lpc). i swear, you could have made some wacked out music video if you could only have filmed the day through my eyes. black...hmm, random scottish hillside on the left, other lane of traffic on the right...black...oh, look at the sheep...black...can we stop at a moto, i need to pee!!...black...ooh, pretty rainbow...black

but the trip was good. i'm thinking i'll just post some of my journal entries later, as that would be the easiest way to recap for those interested. in the meantime, highlights were:

• flying on a kick-ass fancy 777 with individual tv screens and american airlines' generous seat spacing
• seeing the concorde taking off as we rode away from heathrow on the bus after arriving in london
• the intial freaking-out and trying to readjust all of karen's mirrors because the steering wheel was on the wrong side of the car
• making it to the top of arthur's seat in edinburgh, despite having been soaked to the bone half an hour earlier in a sudden downpour
• scones with jam and cream, mmm
• cool piles of rock (i.e. castles, cathedrals, etc), especially those in st. andrews and stirling
• riding ponies through the hills
• stopping on "the road by the phone booth next to the sign that says 'cairn of get'" to climb down a random cliff-side staircase
• riding bikes through splendid sunshine (and quite a stiff headwind) in the orkney islands
• karen and i constantly teasing becca (to her credit, becca is quite a good sport)
• discovering karen's new thursday night plans, a funny british tv show called "fat friends"
• feeling conservative because we didn't drink enough, and being encouraged to drink more by karen of all people
• seeing lots of sheep and hairy cows
• being trapped and subsequently preached to by a (slightly disturbing) singing potter
• listening to an elderly woman completely rag on americans for an hour on the bus ride back to heathrow
• having lunch with nick in the airport before bidding him adieu on his way to france

i've decided that the real point of working is not to get anything productive done, but simply to earn vacation time, and money to spend during those times. becca and i are already dreaming about our next trip. the ae mafia will likely fly again, next year...in greece. ;)

(1:39 p.m.)

this from an article in the new york times. i love it. love the shoes, love the hair, love it:

In one spot, poignant music swells as a woman buys a new lamp and leaves the old one on the street in a driving rain. Suddenly, a man appears on screen. "Many of you feel bad for this lamp," the man says in a Swedish accent. "That is because you're crazy. It has no feelings, and the new one is much better." He walks off and the spot abruptly ends as "Unbing" and the Ikea logo appear.

Saturday, September 14, 2002

the great scotland road trip

hello from cranfield, a tiny country town that so happens to house karen's university. we have returned from what shall now be called "the great scotland road trip" and tomorrow, becca and i will head back to houston.

i'll update on monday, and include pictures sometime soon.

Friday, September 06, 2002

the beginning of the scotland adventure

well, three more hours until becca and i leave work to head to the airport. we leave houston at 2:00, arrive in chicago at 4:30, leave there at 6:00, and arrive in london at 8:00 a.m. (2 a.m. houston time) tomorrow morning. from there, we take a bus from heathrow to cranfield, meet up with karen, i get a quick tour of the cow pasture or cornfield or wherever it is that karen works (tee hee). a couple hours later, we hop in the little purple car and karen drives to edinburgh while becca and i crash, exhausted. for the next week, the three of us road trip around scotland and try to avoid arguments and other disasters. ;) becca and i return to houston at 9:00 p.m. on sunday the 15th.

 so that is the plan.

(10:53 a.m.)

with all this talk about tropical storm fay threatening the texas coast and the clouds beginning to gather ominously in the sky, i hope our flight to chicago gets away on time! i have this nagging feeling i'm forgetting to do something before i leave...how bad is that?!? agh!

but i'm sure i have everything that's absolutely necessary. last night as i was on the phone to my mom i realized that i hadn't put my passport in my purse. now that would be interesting. "well, yes sir, i'm trying to go to scotland, yes, i do have a passport, no, i forgot to bring it with me..." ha. it's weird that i almost forgot it to begin with, because i love it so much. you know, with its pretty stamps and such.

anyway. this page likely won't be updated for the next week and a half. i may be able to check email once at the beginning of the trip and once at the end (when we're in cranfield), but i think the purpose of that will be only to let my worrying parents know that i'm still alive.

Thursday, September 05, 2002

baseball and cooking

"Why are you here?" general manager Billy Beane, all smiles and one-liners, asked several members of the media before the game. "The Giants have won 12 of their last 15."

The Giants? Who are the Giants?

During the streak, Bay Area residents tied to the Giants have come unstrung.

Suddenly, they are two-timers, hopelessly smitten with the A's.

there are probably those who will say that the oakland a's are the current bandwagon in sports, and i have to agree. but come on. 20 wins, the most recent in spectacular fashion. you gotta love them.

this morning becca writes: "Last night Sarah and I went to Gavin's and made quesadillas. It makes me laugh how Sarah complains about how clueless she is about cooking, but then succeeds at it anyway. Actually, she's not that clueless, she just lacks confidence. But its funny none-the-less. Ok, maybe she is a little clueless, but she'll figure it out."

lacking cooking confidence is probably an accurate diagnosis. i don't worry about anything when i cook for myself because i'm not a picky eater and because any stupid things i do are just between me and my kitchen. but when i cook for other people, i don't want to end up making something gross!

anyway. i'm on a break from class and am already late getting back. off i go.

(5:57 p.m.)

i'm still at work, and i'm hungry. just finished updating the group webpage to comply with some nasa requirements. (i don't know if our group page is viewable outside jsc or not, but i linked to it.) the requirements were sort of silly, but oh well, it had to be done. when i get back from scotland, i'm planning on revamping the entire group page for two reasons. one, there is nothing useful on there for anyone who is actually in the group. two, i think it is really hideously ugly.

on tap for tonight: packing, a quick trip to the drugstore, eating the last of the perishables in my fridge. sleeping. ahhhhh.

these past few days i have been very boring, in writing and in life. ugh.

Wednesday, September 04, 2002

crack of dawn

i'm in early, both to earn extra hours in preparation for scotland next week, and because i have work to do, and because i'm supposed to be in class all day, 8-4:30. "fundamentals of orbital mechanics." some of it i'll already know. maybe a lot of it. we'll see. somehow, whenever i sign up for classes, by the time they roll around i am swamped with things to do, and this time is no different. it's like clockwork--sarah has to take a class? oh, but she has a lot to do! {stressssssss}

i'll probably be here until 7 tonight, although we'll see. the air handlers are still not working in my building, and it is stuffy in here. but the work must get done. i have a deadline.

pictures from the weekend visit to atlanta are posted here for those who are interested.

(12:42 p.m.)

class this morning was sort of dull, and not helped by the fact that i am sleepy to begin with. the instructor hasn't told me anything yet that i don't already know, which is disappointing. i hope this afternoon will be better.

i realize now that though i enjoy taking classes sometimes, the extent of my enjoyment is very dependent on the length of the class. three days a week for an hour each day is something i can deal with. being in the same class for an entire day is more difficult.

i am still feeling down today and can't explain why. i'm sure it has something to do with fatigue, and with the continuing gray weather. after two weeks of activity with good friends, i feel lonely now.

(10:25 p.m.)

i accidentally read an old email that i had forgotten about. i wish i hadn't read it.

i had dinner tonight with gavin and becca, which was fun. it turns out that after some coaching, i knew how to make some pretty good veggie quesadillas! and i watched becca make guacamole in hopes of being able to do it myself someday. hee. i really should take a cooking class.

i find that my biggest problem with cooking is that i don't have any idea how long various foods last, fruits and vegetables in particular. cooking for one is hard enough, but when you add in the fact that half the time i don't know if something has gone bad or not, it can just be annoying. i need someone to make me a list of fruits, vegetables, meats, and some dairy and how long each of them will last and how they should be stored to make them last longer and how to tell that they've gone bad if they exhibit no outward appearance or odor of having gone so. bad, that is.

is anyone else confused? i need cooking help!

Tuesday, September 03, 2002

100-meter airport dash

whee. this morning i got to do the mad dash through the airport to catch my flight because i'm stupid and didn't get to the airport soon enough. i also didn't print out my itinerary, so not only did i have to wait at security, but i also had to wait at the ticket counter to get a ticket, even though i wasn't checking baggage. i got in line at 7:40, had my ticket at 7:55, got through security at 8:12, got off the train at the c terminal at 8:19, and ran halfway down the concourse to gate 10 to catch my 8:20 flight back to houston. i boarded the plane gasping for breath, drawing both amused laughter and annoyed glares from all the other passengers already on board.

but i made it. and got to work just after 10:00 as planned. whew. though i knew there was nothing i could do if i missed my flight and was therefore not extremely frantic, i still really wanted to make it, so i was happy.

i returned to overcast skies and a strangely quiet office. the day has felt very weird. i think it's some combination of the experience of rushing through the airport, combined with the gray weather both here and in atlanta, and with my droopy sleepy eyes, and with having to leave atlanta again.

macon was a lot of fun, a lot of good food, a lot of croquet, and a lot of trivial pursuit questions that no one knew the answer to (and some miraculous guesses).

i don't miss georgia tech anymore. the campus, the sights, the sounds...they don't do it for me anymore. but i miss the people so much. after seeing carter almost every day for two weeks, i am sad that i can't see him more often. and christina, and kent, and chris. james, chrissy, daniel. my incredible sister.

i am so happy with my life these days. i feel like i am in a good situation, one where i can finally sit back and relax and just be...me. be sarah. i think i've escaped most of the pressures that i used to feel, the ones that told me to be what i thought everyone else wanted me to be instead of being true to myself.

but i still miss my friends, the ones that don't live near me. but it is good to have weekends like this one, where i can reconnect and laugh and smile and be so happy with simple things like swimming and croquet and painting fingernails. it makes me cringe to hear people say things like "so-and-so will move away, and then i will have lost a friend." you don't lose friends when they move. if i can only remember one thing, i want it to be that. i refuse to believe that i will ever lose close friends simply by moving.

being back in houston has me worried about facing a friend who i angered. and whose reaction frightened me. more worrisome is the fact that i don't want to face the person at all; i want to let them slip away.

disjointed thoughts. but good ones are in there somewhere.

(7:26 p.m.)

today has just been confusing and sad. i hope tomorrow is better.

Sunday, September 01, 2002

dreamland

the a's won their 17th straight. what a great little team.

the time between sleeping and waking always gives me the most interesting dreams. today katie woke me at 10:00 to tell me she was going to church. i said goodbye, rolled over to sleep, and for the next hour i flew through some strange dreamland of spiderman, michael jackson, that girl (not michelle yeoh) from "crouching tiger hidden dragon" and me being a movie star.

september 1. i wonder where august went.