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Sunday, July 31, 2005

It's always a bit of

It's always a bit of a letdown when a visitor leaves. Though I must admit to slight relief each time my apartment becomes my own again, the feeling of emptiness is stronger.

Kent is the embodiment of the ideal houseguest. He cleans up after himself more than I do, and is always agreeable. He's happy to nap, to watch TV, to play games, and just to hang out all weekend. We had a great time, and I was sorry to have to leave him at the airport this afternoon. (An event made worse by the fact that I went straight from saying goodbye to Kent to spending what turned into four hours at the office. In the end, Gavin helped solved my scripting problem and my sims were -- cross your fingers -- running happily when I left.)

So let's see. Friday night we had "family dinner" at Mely's and then went back to Becca for two games of Settlers. Kent, Becca, Tiffany and I played; Tiffany and Becca were the winners. Towards the end of the night, Cari came home with food galore, and I ate taco soup and guacamole despite the fact that we'd just had a huge Mely's dinner. Ah well.

On Saturday Kent and I were planning on hitting IHOP for breakfast when Jen called and invited us to join her and Gavin at...IHOP! You can't plan it better than that, so the four of us enjoyed the many flavored syrups for a late breakfast. Kent and I stopped by Target to pick up a few last minute things for the Houston Urban Adventure Race. Around 2, Gavin, Michelle and Debbie came over and we loaded all four of our bikes onto the back of the Xterra (so rugged!). I left Kent to fend for himself (he went out to dinner and the movies with Becca) and headed downtown for the adventure race. It was really fun!

We started at 6:00 on the field (or, on the track just past the Astros dugout) at Minute Maid Park, where I stood mere feet from Adam Everett and got very excited about it. There were 10 checkpoints during the race, all around the downtown area. We began by running 3.5 miles from the ballpark to Hermann Park. From the map, I'd estimated this was only going to be 2-2.5 miles, and was feeling very dumb for being so slow. Of course it didn't help that it was a zillion degrees outside. (Seriously, it was SO hot.)

After finding out post-race that the distance was more than 3.5 miles, I don't feel quite so bad about how awful I was feeling. I was seriously overheating to the point where I got goose-bumps and felt nauseous, but Gavin and I perservered and even met up with Debbie and Michelle again. We got through checkpoints 1 and 2 at Hermann Park at about 50 minutes into the race and then caught the Metro (you could run or take the Metro -- everyone took the train) back downtown to checkpoint 3 at the Aquarium. From there we headed the few blocks back to the transition area and hopped on our mountain bikes.

Checkpoints 4, 5 and 6 were all biking north of downtown. In all we covered about 10 miles by bike, and then headed back to the transition area. The final four checkpoints were all downtown, and required about 2 miles of running through the city streets beneath the skyscrapers as dusk settled. This third portion, right downtown, was the most fun portion of the race. The sun had gone down so it was ever-so-slightly cooler and running wasn't quite as exhausting. Also, there were people all over the place since the Astros game had just ended and everyone was heading out for the night.

After hitting the final checkpoint we ran back to the transition area to the finish line, all four of us crossing in about 3:07. (The winning team did it in 1:47 or something.) The race was a lot of fun and I'm glad we did it. It would have been better if the heat weren't so bad, but I survived.

It was 11:00 by the time we got back to Clear Lake, so Becca dropped Kent off and we vegged on the couch watching the end of the Les Miserables movie before crashing.

Today was a lazy day. We watched the end of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban on HBO this morning, then met Becca for lunch at Jason's Deli. After that we invited ourselves over to Gavin and Jen's house where we played two more games of Settlers (Kent and I each won one) while Jen got ready for work (she's on the 3-midnight Mission Control shift).

From there I had to take Kent to the airport. As I was just getting to the guard gate at work, he called and said his flight was delayed by an hour. Grr! We should have checked before we left, then he wouldn't have had to sit at the airport. I went ahead in to work though, and saw Rich's car in the parking lot as well. This AIAA conference is driving us all crazy in our own ways.

I was annoyed at myself that in the end I had to call Gavin for help getting my sims running, but he is a sim genius and all, and saved me days of time, so that's good. And I was productive on a couple other things, so it wasn't all wasted time. In a very odd way, it is sort of nice to be in the office when no one else is around. No distractions, but the bigger deal for me is perhaps that there is no one around for me to complain to...forcing me to just sit there and figure it out. That may sound silly, but I think there is some truth to it.

Now it is off to bed (visitors make me tired...in a good way!). Tomorrow morning I have to go downtown for jury duty. Cross your fingers that I am NOT selected, because I have way too much to do at work this week.

Friday, July 29, 2005

My first go at the

My first go at the Thursday Threesome:

Onesome - If You - If you were given a million dollars, what would you do with it?

First, pay off my student loan and car loan. Second, put a sizeable chunk in savings to start earning interest. Third, buy all the camera equipment on my wish list. ;) Fourth, treat my family to a few things. Fifth, take six months or a year of LWOP and go on a trip around the world. Sixth, consider going back to school since I could do it without having to take out another school loan.

Twosome - Have To - What is it that you have to do today? Or is there something you're dreading to do this week?

I have to get my neural net trained at least once with the latest trajectory data. I've been dreading it despite working with it nonstop, because I'm afraid the results won't be what I hope to see.

Threesome - Go Away - Where's that place you've been imagining to take a dream trip to lately?

PATAGONIA! Ah... Mountain lakes, craggy peaks, exotic animals...

Friday, July 29, 2005

Kent is here, finally, after

Kent is here, finally, after an evening of cancelled and delayed plane flights. He was on the 9:02 flight all along, but had hoped to standby on the earlier 7:00 flight. The 7:00 flight was cancelled, so he came on his original 9:02 flight...which turned out to be more like a 10:55 flight. He finally got to my apartment around 12:30 Houston time, at which point we both said "yay!" and then went to bed. Exciting, right? Today he's coming out to lunch with us and then he's going to go downtown to see the Lord of the Rings exhibit at the Museum of Natural Science.

We had our last (I think) softball game of the season last night, at the lovely hour of 6:00. It was SO hot. And SO nasty humid. Gross. But we won, and I went 2-for-2 with a walk. Hurrah.

So one set of my data finished running last night, the other had an error and stopped. Boooooo.

Blog comment spammers suck. I am getting really tired of cleaning up 80+ comment spams some mornings. Thankfully, I use a Movable Type plugin that can either block or moderate the crap comments, but lately the spammers have been bombarding me such that MT can only moderate the comments. Thus they still show up in my database, even if they don't show up on the site, and I still have to go in and get rid of 'em. Stupid spammers.

Thursday, July 28, 2005

In answer to Becca's question...here,

In answer to Becca's question...here, in no particular order, are some things I'd consider doing if the shuttle program ended tomorrow, with a long hiatus before flying something new:

• Go back to school for a web/design/multimedia/graphics degree.
• Go to journalism school.
• Move to a nice location that happens to be lacking a race photography business. Start one.
• Move to a nice location that happens to be lacking a good running store. Open one.
• Study like I'm back in school and then re-apply to Blue Origin. Or try another space startup.
• Get a job with one of the random companies that seem cool to me, like Life is Good, Title 9 Sports, or Rodale (publisher of Runner's World and Backpacker).
• Think about joining the Peace Corps.

Thursday, July 28, 2005

Interesting article about the design

Interesting article about the design of a new Nike/Kobe Bryant ad.

Thursday, July 28, 2005

I had a seriously bad

I had a seriously bad day yesterday at work. Hoping today goes better.

10:39 a.m. update: Unfortunately, not getting any better. End update.

Kent is coming to visit tonight, and I've been so busy and stressed out that I forgot he was coming until yesterday morning. I'm glad he is visiting. I don't get many visitors, so I didn't believe that he was really coming until he actually bought the plane ticket. Anyway, I'm glad he is visiting and hope he isn't too upset that I have to abandon him on Saturday night to do the Urban Adventure Race with Gavin.

Yesterday was a great mail day -- I got two postcards. One from Nick from his trip to Las Vegas last weekend, and one from Daniel who is apparently in Greece! (Who knew?) Ah, Greece. I could go back to Greece.

I always knew that at least one of my many friends from my co-op days would go into space. If you'd told me someone would go with one of the space start-ups, I probably could have predicted that it would be Loretta. (Note to Mom: Loretta = girl who gave me the "My First NASA Christmas" ornament.)

From Astronotes:

Virgin Galactic Signs First Honeymoon Trip

At the Experimental Aircraft Association’s (EAA) AirVenture gathering being held in Oshkosh, Wisconsin yesterday, Sir Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Galactic, announced that George Whitesides, the Executive Director of the National Space Society and his bride-to-be, Loretta Hidalgo, will be the first honeymoon couple to take a trip on the fledgling space tourism company’s sub-orbital craft when the company goes into operation.

Branson brought the couple on stage Tuesday night during an airshow gala event sponsored by Virgin Galactic, there he gave them a bottle of champagne and a pin to signify their future Virgin Galactic space trek.

“Loretta and I have tickets to be the first honeymoon couple on the Virgin Galactic service. It’s not going to happen for a few years, but it’s something we’ve been thinking about for a long time,” Whitesides told SPACE.com in a phone interview.

“We have put money down. We think the Virgin Galactic team is terrific. There’s a bunch of great groups out there…and I hope they’ll all succeed,” he added.

While Virgin Galactic suborbital operations are still several years away, Whitesides said he’s looking forward to his honeymoon trip into space.

And will they hold hands on liftoff? “You bet,” Whitesides said.

Wednesday, July 27, 2005

On Monday night the Daily

On Monday night the Daily Show spent 5 minutes talking about Lance Armstrong's Tour de France victory. It was hilarious. Watch it now, both the "Quitter!" and "Tour de Fr-Lance" segments. The second gets a little out-of-control at the end, but still funny.

Wednesday, July 27, 2005

It's nice to see NASA

It's nice to see NASA on front pages everywhere.

Wednesday, July 27, 2005

I just went down to

I just went down to the Starbucks kiosk in the cafeteria to get a drink. While waiting on mine to be prepared, I was treated to 5 minutes of bitching and moaning by the woman who'd been in line behind me, complaining because the way the Starbucks kiosk makes her Creamice is not the exact same was that the real Starbucks makes a Frappachino. "The real Starbucks does it this way," she haughtily said. The woman manning the register tried to explain how the kiosk makes it, due to the way the supplies are received from wherever they come from. Finally the customer huffed and puffed and pouted "fine, just make it whatever way you usually do, I don't want to waste any more of my time."

It's one thing for the customer to make sure they get what they want, but I have very little patience or sympathy for customers who are unnecessarily rude to those trying politely to serve them. Lady, if you're unsatisfied with the way the JSC Cafeteria makes your fake Frappachino, then go to the freaking Starbucks down the road and get one that's been made the "right" way. The rest of us are just glad to have a place on site that will make us a mocha and charge us a bit less than Starbucks, even if it's not quite the same.

Tuesday, July 26, 2005

A great photo set of

A great photo set of the shuttle launch, courtesy GN Bassett, a fellow photoblogger.

Tuesday, July 26, 2005

On January 16, 2003, I

On January 16, 2003, I wrote the following on my blog:

"The launch went well. It's funny; even a casual observer would be able to tell exactly what goes on during a launch if they were walking the hallway during those 8 minutes. At about 2 minutes, there is a collective sigh of relief when the solid rocket boosters jettison. Then a bit after 8 minutes, the silence is broken by a lot of chatter and the halls fill with people leaving the rooms with TVs and heading back to their offices.

Launch days are the most inspiring days to work here."

Two weeks later, Columbia broke apart.

Today the scene described above repeated itself for the first time in almost 30 months. We all piled into the conference room, crowding around an ancient TV broadcasting the NASA channel and listening to loops originating in the control center just down the hall. As launch got closer and closer, my heart started to pound. With 30 seconds to go, the sound of the blood pounding in my ears was so loud that I was amazed that no one else in the room could hear it.

THUMP, THUMP, THUMP went my heart.

TICK, TICK, TICK went the countdown clock.

In a blink, the sound suppression water started cascading beneath the engines. The sparklers lit, burning off any residual gas. The engines started, and the shock diamonds in the exhaust started to glow. "Liftoff!" said the announcer, calm as ever, and the stack began to rise.

THUMP-THUMP, THUMP-THUMP, THUMP-THUMP went my heart.

SNAP CRACKLE POP ROAR went the space shuttle on the TV screen.

There was dead silence in the conference room as we collectively held our breath. Eight and a half minutes later, many giddy happy faces unable to hold back smiles, a few claps, and a few exclamations of "cool!" at the video of the ET separating from the orbiter.

We are back in space. Most excellent.

Tuesday, July 26, 2005

YAY!!! Return to flight! YAY!!!

YAY!!!

Return to flight!
YAY!!!

Tuesday, July 26, 2005

Look people, I know you're

Look people, I know you're all very cool and all since you get to work the mission (or for half of you, just be in Mission Control watching the launch, cause everybody feels like they have to be there for return-to-flight) but can't you park in your own damn parking lots so I don't have to walk half a freaking mile to get to my office? Sheesh. Parking during missions is dumb.

Anyway, we're at T-minus 9 minutes and holding!! Less than an hour till launch... Turn on your TVs, people!

Monday, July 25, 2005

I didn't mention it earlier,

I didn't mention it earlier, but of course I was thinking about it yesterday: Lance won! Yay Lance!

And now I can stop watching OLN for another year.

Monday, July 25, 2005

I got a new fish!

I got a new fish! Gavin, Becca and I stopped by Petsmart after lunch. There was one cool-looking purple betta, and another strange-looking white betta. I asked Gavin which I should get. "The purple one," he said. "The white one looks freaky."

I got the white one. His name is Voldemort, or the Fish-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.

Monday, July 25, 2005

Another week, another busy weekend!

Another week, another busy weekend! The drum corps show (or, as Brian heard it when I said it the next day, the "drunk horse" show) was a lot of fun on Friday night, even if Jen, Kay and I were faced with the realization that we are now old. Seriously, the crowd was mostly high school marching bands, so we felt slightly out of place. But the show was fun. The best in my opinion was Santa Clara Vanguard. Their music included a couple bits of a piece called Russian Christmas Music which is one of my favorite pieces we ever played in concert band, and their marching was insane -- they formed all sorts of shapes like a hammer and sickle, "USSR", "CCCP", and "1917". They basically never stopped moving. That is tough to do, to continue to play well and sound good while constantly running around the field.

On Saturday I ended up taking my time getting on the road to Austin. I woke up around 9:30 and took care of a few things, showered, and watched the Tour de France time trial before finally hitting the road around 12:30. The drive to Austin is 3-3.5 hours, but it never feels like it takes that long. For some reason, it is a really enjoyable drive to me. Puffy clouds and all.

I rolled up to Brian and Leila's a little after 3:30 and we headed to Baja Fresh for a quick early dinner before their wine and cheese party. Now, about this party... First of all, their circle of friends take their parties seriously. If we had a wine and cheese party down here, this is how it would go:

1. Becca announces a wine and cheese party. Parties are always at Becca's house. It starts at 7:00.
2. She doesn't spend the week before cleaning her house or shopping obsessively, because that's not what we do.
3. At 8:30 or so, we all finally show up, very fashionably late.
4. Some people bring wine, some people bring cheese, some people bring nothing. Jo brings Smirnoff Ice, and Nick brings Kraft singles.
5. We sniff the cheeses suspiciously.
6. Depending on the crowd we start either a) lamenting our sucky love lives, b) watching tivoed versions of the Daily Show, c) laughing at Apache's limp, d) telling Tiffany that she should break up with Nick, or e) playing Settlers.
7. We all get tired at an absurdly early hour and go home.

Leila and Brian's party, on the other hand, was actually like a planned coordinated event! People showed up with 20 minutes of the designated starting time. They actually brought fancy wine and fancy cheeses. They mingled. Leila and Brian had been cleaning for a week. Everyone was paired up in couples and talking about their houses and dogs and kids. No one talked about pumas or robot deer. In short, it was a party unlike anything my social circle would ever have, and as a result, I felt a bit out of place.

It was fun though, and I tasted lots of interesting cheeses and drank a lot of good wine and had fun chatting with some of Leila and Brian's friends. We slept in late yesterday and then had brunch at Y Bar. I had fruit waffles and hashbrowns and they were both yummy. I got back on the road to Houston around 2:30, since I had to be home in time for a soccer game at 7:00 last night.

In other random news, I am going to be quoted in an article in the Denver Post about Longs Peak! When I got home on Friday, I had an email from a writer at the Denver Post. He is doing a story about the Keyhole route, which is about to become non-technical for the first time in 20 months. In looking around for first-hand stories, he came across my trip report from a year ago, and contacted me to ask some questions. He said I'd be perfect for his story; I think he was looking for someone who'd tried to do the route recently that ended up turning back because of the conditions, and I fit the bill. So random, and cool, and I will post the link to the article when it is published!

Friday, July 22, 2005

My fish died. :(

My fish died. :(

Friday, July 22, 2005

Tonight I'm going to a

Tonight I'm going to a drum corps show with Jen, who was a drum corps member herself back in the day. I haven't been to one in ten years (10? whoa!), since the time that I was deeply entrenched in the...drumroll....Myers Park High School Marching Mustang Band!!! And the crowd goes wild...

I fully admit that I was a band geek. Many of my best memories from high school are directly related to either marching band or the people in it, and so I will be going to this show tonight fully prepared to resurrect a bunch of those memories. Among the most vivid is standing next to the field at the end of the show while the Cavalier trumpet line stood in a semicircle and blasted us with sound. I'm sure Jen will be paying close attention to the drumlines, but I was always partial to the trumpets and mellophones.

In other news, I finished Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince last night. Though I was prepared for what happened, I was also somehow surprised. I have a few theories though, read on if you've already finished the book.

Thursday, July 21, 2005

The Weinermobile is having a

The Weinermobile is having a contest. You have 100 words to describe how you would use $5000 and the Weinermobile for 8 hours of fun and excitement. I totally entered. I love the Weinermobile!

Thursday, July 21, 2005

Question of the day: How

Question of the day: How do they make wrinkle-free cotton? What do they do to make it wrinkle-free? I'm wearing a new Eddie Bauer wrinkle-free dress shirt and when I pulled it out of the dryer, after having sat in the dryer all night and only been fluffed for a few minutes this morning -- no wrinkles!

One of the mysteries of life. Really.

The conclusion of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince continues to elude me. I'd planned to finish last night, but didn't actually start reading until 11:00 after talking on the phone, catching up on the Tour de France, getting Carter's gallery set up, and trying to code something for my website in Javascript that would probably be a lot easier if I actually knew Javascript.

At 11:00 I finally sat down to read, and by 12:30 I was on page five hundred something with just a little more than 100 pages to go. My eyes were drooping, and I knew another 100 pages would take me another 2 hours, so I had to stop right after Gryffindor won the Quidditch cup (which they always win, right?, so saying that's not going to give anything away to those who haven't read it yet). Hopefully I'll finish tonight.

The shuttle launch has been officially rescheduled. We'll try again next Tuesday at 9:39 CDT.

Wednesday, July 20, 2005

Work continues to toy with

Work continues to toy with me. Excitement, frustration, making progress, going backwards.

My coworkers, in addition to being coworkers, are all close friends. Most of the time, this is a very pleasant bonus of my job. A side effect, however, is that lately I have been forgetting that they are coworkers.

I slide into behavior that is accepted in friendships but is not appropriate for professional relationships. Venting. Strongly expressing my frustration. Complaining. Being short-tempered. Getting angry that the problem exists instead of trying to solve the problem.

If they weren't my friends, I wouldn't act so tactless. As a result, I feel that if I'm not careful, I'm going to say something snide and unprofessional to someone who isn't a close friend and who won't be able to write it off as my having a bad day or a bad week.

I've got to take a step back and remember that I'm at work.

Wednesday, July 20, 2005

Last night I realized that

Last night I realized that I'm about to start another two-month stretch rather like the one I had back in April and May, when I was out of town or booked solid almost every weekend.

• This weekend I'm headed over to Austin, going Saturday and coming back Sunday, to see Leila and Brian and go to their wine and cheese party.
• Then Kent will be here (yay!), which is also the same weekend Gavin and I are doing the Houston Urban Adventure Race.
• Then I'm here one weekend with nothing major planned...yet.
• Then two weekends in California, the first in San Francisco and the second in Yosemite, with the AIAA conference in San Francisco occupying the week in between.
• Then in Houston, but busy crewing a hot air balloon as part of the Ballunar Festival.
• Then the nebulous camping/hiking trip to Seattle that I am supposed to be planning but haven't done anything for yet, and that most people are still unsure about whether they can go. Even if everyone else can't make it, I am planning to go, so I should start planning and coordinating with Jen.

By then it'll be mid-September. Whew.

Wednesday, July 20, 2005

Happy We-Landed-On-The-Moon Day! (Make sure

Happy We-Landed-On-The-Moon Day! (Make sure you zoom all the way in for the full effect.)

I read an article yesterday about concerns that Google may be too-knowledgeable. Between Google, Blogger, Gmail, and all the cool new stuff they are developing, they are in a position to know a lot of information about the people who use their services. I guess it's a valid concern, but on the other hand, they keep churning out such damn cool stuff that I don't really care if they know about me.

Of course that's probably how 1984 starts, right? ;) (No, I've never actually read the book.)

Last night we went to Mely's for the last time with Jo. The last time before the next last time anyway. See, this is already the second "last" dinner Jo has ever had at Mely's, and I'm sure there will be more. She's off to Minneapolis today to begin training to be a flight attendant. Good luck Jo!

Work continues to be ok one hour, and sucky the next. I'm just trying not to crack up entirely. I skipped the C++ class yesterday afternoon to take care of a bunch of stuff at the office (including restarting my sims, which went down when they had to reboot the system, just my luck) but am back in the class this morning about to go through chapter 7 of the book.

I have about 250 pages to go in Harry Potter. I better not plan to do anything tonight; I think I'm at the point where if I continue to read there's no hope of me putting it down before the end.

Tuesday, July 19, 2005

Cari has sent out an

Cari has sent out an email about EarthKAM (a camera on the space station), and tells us to let her know if we have places we want to photograph. We give her the latitude and longitude points and if the station passes over the site, click goes the camera.

I check the list of sites she already has, including my house, listed at 35.xxx, 80.xxx. The following email conversation ensues.

Sarah: FYI my house's coords are obviously NEGATIVE 80.xxx. It's in your list as positive. :)

Cari: I’ll fix it, but I cut and pasted it directly from the original information! =P

Sarah: I know, not blaming, just correcting.

Cari: And the 35 should be negative, too. :) I caught that. Might have been why didn’t work last time. ;)

Sarah: No, I'm pretty sure my house is in the northern hemisphere...

Cari: Oh right, that part. DUH. This is what I get when I try to act all superior and stuff. :(

Tuesday, July 19, 2005

That stuff I said about

That stuff I said about feeling better about my current projects? Yeah, scratch that. I hate them all. They are making me feel manic depressive. Ugh.

One of Amazon's ways of celebrating 10 years, however is mega-cool. If I could choose, I think I'd have Lance Armstrong deliver me a copy of his book, or Orlando Bloom bring me the Lord of the Rings trilogy, or Adam Everett deliver me an Astros jersey, or Annie Liebowitz deliver me some camera equipment, or Tom Hanks deliver the Apollo 13 DVD, or Steve Jobs bring me a new iPod, or...

Tuesday, July 19, 2005

I tried to post this

I tried to post this morning but my database was down. However, my rock awesome hosting company had it running again in no time.

Not too much to report this morning. I am still in the C++ class, which went well enough yesterday until I figured out that what the workbook is teaching us is not C++ exactly, but the Microsoft-ized version of C++, since we are using Visual C++ to code and compile. UGH. I don't want to learn the Microsoft-ized version, I want to learn the basic syntax. I want to learn cin and cout instead of Console::ReadLine and Console::Write. So I stole a programming book off Matt's bookshelf yesterday afternoon, and am now working from that and an online tutorial.

Gavin helped me figure out a plan of attack for all the stuff I have to get through in order to get my paper written, so I'm feeling a bit better about that. In college, I swear I worked better when I was under pressure. These days, I seem to have lost that talent. All it takes is one little setback and I flip out, convinced that I am never going to get everything done.

The woman sitting in front of me in class threw a mini-tantrum earlier this morning because the instructor wasn't teaching her exactly what she wanted to know. She asked a question, he answered, but it wasn't the answer she wanted and her frustration was evident in the tone of her voice. "I want to know the syntax," she said. "I want to know why this doesn't work. Should this come before or after?"

As she expressed her frustration, I suddenly realized that I have probably sounded just like that lately. I have noticed a distinct lack of patience on my part with the programming and sim-related difficulties we've been having at work lately. I know I've been whiny and probably unpleasant to work with. I am just so tired of setbacks, and so frustrated with not being able to turn on the light bulb and suddenly just get it.

I am just so ready to have something that WORKS, after months of delays.

I'm almost halfway through Harry Potter. I had to put it down last night at about 12:30 knowing that if I kept reading, the story would continue to snowball and pick up steam, and then I'd be up till 5 a.m. trying to finish.

Tonight, perhaps.

Monday, July 18, 2005

The August 11 deadline for

The August 11 deadline for my AIAA paper creeps closer, and I remain 1) unable to comprehend the coding and simulation stuff quickly enough to be effective in making any real progress and 2) stymied by my needs that are beyond my control and in the hands of analysts elsewhere. I am in a serious time crunch. I am stressed out and frustrated. It's going to be a long week.

Monday, July 18, 2005

I'm in a C++ class

I'm in a C++ class all week. I have high hopes for it, since it's something that would be quite useful for me to know since all of our Mars code is being transitioned from Fortran. However, I often have high hopes for JSC computer classes that don't pan out; they cover material that is too basic, or move too slowly. Since I basically know zero C++ though, a basic slow class may be ok this time. We shall see.

My weekend was full of nothing. Seriously, nothing. On Saturday after missing the 5K because I overslept (GRR!), I don't think I left the apartment all day. I watched the Tour de France -- multiple times -- and finished reading Lance Armstrong's War (primarly about the buildup and riding of the 2004 Tour) so that I could start Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. I'm only about 7 chapters into it, so Becca and Cari, no spoilers!

Yesterday I spent forever on the phone. Ok, not forever, but something like 3 hours, which is a lot for me, and made my ear hurt. Almost two of those hours were with Carter, helping him make a few changes to his blog, get the archives working again, and get a gallery set up (though he has not managed to put any photos in it yet). I love pointing out that he is a certified, degree-holding Computer Scientist who can't make his blog do what he wants...except for the fact that I think he probably could if he wanted to do it himself, and the other fact that he understands way more about the back end of web stuff than I do.

While not on the phone, I watched a bunch more Tour de France -- multiple times again -- and finally got around to rebuilding the photo collage that I had in my old apartment that I had never replicated in my current digs. Yesterday I finally did, spurred on by the need to organize and clean that I've felt since learning that Kent is coming to visit in two weeks. It looks awesome. I have an array of photos from all my cool trips, and a panorama of Machu Picchu in the middle. Woo!

Sunday, July 17, 2005

A Story, by Katie. Aw.

A Story, by Katie. Aw. My sister is the best.

Saturday, July 16, 2005

The Lunar Rendezvous Run starts/started

The Lunar Rendezvous Run starts/started at 7:30 and I woke up at 7:29. My alarm was set and on and I just didn't wake up. I live 5 minutes away; I could have woken up as late as 7:15 and still made it to the start line in time. But I didn't. I suppose I could be going there right now, and starting 15 minutes behind everyone, but I'm so mad at myself at the moment that I just can't do it.

I'm so upset about missing the race that I feel a little sick to my stomach. This race sort of feels like my race. The one I always run. The anniversary of my move to Houston. It's a significant event in my head, which I guess is why I'm so upset that I f*$!ing overslept.

This is the second time in a week I've slept through my alarm. It's happening more and more frequently. I'm not an oversleeping type of person; something is wrong. I have been far too busy, for what seems like years, and in fact is probably this entire year so far, since Christmas. Something has to give. I have to cut something out of my schedule. The question is: what?

Sorry Jon and Jessica -- I was so looking forward to meeting you! We will have to meet at another race, one that I can get my ass out of bed for.

*cry* I'm so upset. :(

Friday, July 15, 2005

The things I do for

The things I do for my sister... (She threw it right at me.)

Friday, July 15, 2005

For Jen and other pondering

For Jen and other pondering the necessity of sensors such as the malfunctioning fuel sensor currently plaguing STS-114... CNN has a good article about this one in particular, and the reason it must work correctly.

Friday, July 15, 2005

Google Maps Pedometer My reaction

Google Maps Pedometer

My reaction to finding this link via Melanie goes something like this: mouth open, eyes wide, trying to ooh and aah, but only a high pitched squeal coming out. This thing is SO. COOL.

Friday, July 15, 2005

This very cool photo got

This very cool photo got forwarded to me this morning:

Launch is currently no earlier than Saturday. Or Monday. Or Sunday. I don't really know, as I've heard all three from different sources including a GNC, a FDO, and the news. Sadly it doesn't really affect me because I have nothing to do with the launch, and indeed, nothing to do with the mission. I'm glad that that will soon change when I begin training for a flight control position!

Softball was cancelled last night after we finally got some heavy rain. It must have rained a fair amount overnight as well, because I remember waking up a couple times and hearing it. We certainly need the rain, cool things off and make the grass green again. I have no big plans for the weekend. I've already mentioned that I'm running the Lunar Rendezvous Run tomorrow, but other than that...nothing. I can't shake the nagging feeling that I was supposed to have plans, though, so if I'm supposed to do something with you, you better remind me.

I have been getting hit hard by the blog comment spammers lately. I could call them some really nasty names, and talk about how I just had to spend 5 minutes deleting their "online casino!" spams from my database. But instead, I will talk about how lovely the Movable Type Blacklist plugin is, because it flagged the suspicious comments and thus made them all much easier for me to delete.

Thursday, July 14, 2005

So tonight after the Tour

So tonight after the Tour de France, I tuned in to the one and only show on television that consistently make me laugh out loud even when I'm alone in my empty living room: The Daily Show. And as I watch, hmm...strange...everything looks weird...aha! They've changed the set!

Out there in Internet land, people are already pondering the new look.

I love The Daily Show. I love Jon Stewart. I love the Internet.

But I'm not sure I like the new look. I miss the couch.

Thursday, July 14, 2005

3.1 miles, 34:07 = 11:00/mile

3.1 miles, 34:07 = 11:00/mile
Avg heart rate = 182

I had a decent run tonight but I think it would have been tough to get myself going much faster, so I think I'm going to have to amend the prediction I made over on Jon's blog, in which I estimated a finish time in this weekend's Lunar Rendezvous Run of 32-33 minutes. Yep, let's up that prediction to the 33-34 minute range.

Sigh...as I again lament the fact that six months ago I ran a marathon, and now I have lost all that great conditioning. Waaaaah!

Anyway, Jon saw in my previous entry that this will be my 4th year at this race, and looked up my previous times:

2004 - 32:44
2003 - 30:50
2002 - 34:36

The 2002 race was only 6 months after I'd started running, and was the first race I ever ran in Houston. All I wrote in my training log is: "LUNAR RENDEZVOUS 5K (hot, hot, hot)."

I then went and looked up the entry in my training log for 2003, since the 30:50 time surprised me. I do not run well in the heat AT ALL, and I wasn't training for anything in particular in spring 2003 that would have helped me out. Turns out I must have just had a good day, as I wrote: "LUNAR RENDEZVOUS 5K (Really hot, but I did a 9:15 first mile!!)" Obviously I couldn't keep up the 9:15 pace. ;)

Last year, I wrote: "LUNAR RENDEZVOUS 5K. Freaking hot. 9:50, 10:30, then 12+ final 1.1 miles." Probably more like what will happen on Saturday, unless the weather stays cool (and cool is relative, but oh well).

Anyway. Just some observations.

Thursday, July 14, 2005

Dooce has a great entry

Dooce has a great entry today about Peruvian boyfriends and guinea pigs. It was funny. Happy sigh. I want to go back to Peru. I'm already looking forward to our Patagonia trip (Patagonia is the at the very bottom of the Andes, in Chile and Argentina), even though we've had to delay it from this October to January/February instead.

Last night Gavin kept me company as I took photos at one of the weekly Wednesday night sailboat races on Clear Lake. Becca mentioned that many of the skippers were wondering what happened to the lady that used to take photos, so she told me I should head out there and maybe make a few bucks. It was fun, the weather was nice, the wind was blowing briskly, and the boats were pretty. We'll see what happens with the photos. First I need to get them organized and posted, then I need to get them linked to from the Clear Lake Racing page. Then we'll see if anyone actually wants to buy any prints or not.

I think there is something wrong with my fish. He has stopped eating his food, and just hangs out at the top of the water all the time. I know he's just a fish, but still. I want him to get better and be all active and swimmy again! :) I need help from Emily. She knows a lot of random things about fish...

Wednesday, July 13, 2005

This dude is my favorite

This dude is my favorite Tour de France spectator. He's there every single year. Yesterday he was in red, today he was dressed in green. Still a devil though.

Wednesday, July 13, 2005

The launch just got scrubbed.

The launch just got scrubbed. :( Bad sensor. Boo.

Wednesday, July 13, 2005

The All-Star game last night

The All-Star game last night was completely...underwhelming. I couldn't even really keep myself in front of the TV for much of the game. I did watch when Smoltz, Oswalt, Clemens and Lidge pitched, and watched one of Ensberg's at-bats, and saw Andruw's homer. But the NL got whipped. And the rest of the game was rather...boring. Could it be that I prefer to watch games that mean something, and where the players aren't being swapped around every inning? I suppose so. I don't say that sarcastically at all -- the All-Star game is cool enough. It's just more fun to watch actual games.

So. Not much to say today. Oh yeah, except one tiny little thing that will hopefully launch at 2:51 CDT this afternoon:

Mom has her shuttle flag flying outside our house, I know. GO DISCOVERY!

Tuesday, July 12, 2005

Now that I feel alive

Now that I feel alive again, I feel prepared to give a recap of my weekend...or at least what I remember of it when not about to fall asleep!

Friday night was uneventful, and Saturday morning was occupied by the 3+ mile run from hell (read back a couple entries for the full description of the torture of running in Houston in July). I ran a few errands Saturday afternoon, including finally buying a new camera bag because I have most definitely outgrown my old one. The new bag is not that great, but it was all I could find; Wolf Camera has crappy selection but they were the only store nearby that carried bags big enough for an SLR plus 4 lenses plus accessories. Best Buy, Fry's, and Target only had small bags. I should have ordered something online, but online it's harder to tell exactly how big the bag is and how your things will fit, not to mention that I needed the bag for Sunday.

Saturday evening was spent at Pooja's bridal shower -- dinner at Angelo's followed by the coolest bridal shower I've ever been to! It was held at Bath Junkie, a store over near the mall that I'd seen but never entered. I'd assumed that it was just another Bath and Body Works type place, but it turned out to be much cooler! They have all sorts of products -- lotions, bath salts, shower gels, shampoo, soap, etc -- and you can select your scent (or combine different scents to make something even nicer), mix it up, and then select your color! So you could make lotion that smells like lavender, but is, say, bright green instead of light purple if you wanted to match a bright green bathroom or just wanted something crazy. (As a side note, the store also had hilarious rubber duckies in the form of celebrities and historical figures.)

As part of the shower, we each got to make our own bath salts and lotion. I chose a scent that was a blend of jeweled citrus, honeysuckle and rain (I am writing that down so that I remember if I want to have it made again), and made my bath salts bright blue and the lotion orange. Fun was had by all, even Becca who, despite professing to hate silly bridal shower games, secretly must enjoy them because she certainly plays them with vigor. I won the "Best TP Accessory" contest when I made Pooja a braided bracelet out of toilet paper. Woot!

From there, it was home to wait for Chris to arrive from Galveston to pick me up to head to Dallas. He'd originally hoped to get to me around 11:45; he actually arrived at almost 1:30. He'd been doing a wedding that turned chaotic, and then had to help a couple guys with a flat tire when he stopped for gas. So, at 1:30 a.m., we were on our way. I valiantly stayed awake until about 4:30, at which point my eyes started drooping and I just couldn't keep myself from dozing. Chris, thankfully, was fine.

We arrived at the hotel at 5:30 a.m. and slept for exactly one hour, getting back up at 6:30 to drive the short distance to the triathlon, meet up with Karen and Sheila, and do the race. It was HOT and HUMID but still fun. The swimming shots turned out pretty bad because they were coming out of the water with the sun directly behind them (horribly backlit) but my biking and running shots came out well I thought. By 10:30 we were done and by 11:30 Chris and I were back on the road to Houston. We stopped for lunch at McDonald's, but by 2:30 I was back to drooping eyes. Chris, miraculously, was wide awake. In the end, my slight worry about spending eight hours in a car with a guy I'd spent all of 15 minutes talking to previously (because I'm not a huge fan of making small talk with strangers) turned out to be needless. When I managed to stay awake, we chatted about photography, music, sports, life, and all sorts of stuff. Photography is his full-time business, and it's always interesting to hear about what that entails, since doing it full-time is a pipe dream for me. Not ever going to happen, of course, but pipe dream...

I got home at 4:30, downloaded all my photos from the flash cards, organized them, and then started uploading to my server. I then had to go play a soccer game! I made it through the game and even played decently for someone who was exhausted and hadn't played soccer in almost two months but we lost. We always lose. It's depressing.

Tuesday, July 12, 2005

Today's word of the day

Today's word of the day is ninja. Awesome.

I guess if I ever apply for another job, I should get rid of my blog for a while. Of course, you can never truly get rid of something on the Internet. So no jobs for me!

And of course, tomorrow is the big day. Go 114!

Monday, July 11, 2005

Bobby Abreu just hit 24

Bobby Abreu just hit 24 homers in the first round of the home run derby. WHOA. 24! Last year we saw Miguel Tejada set what was the single round record of 15. It's not the record anymore!

Monday, July 11, 2005

I was supposed to report

I was supposed to report for jury duty to the Harris County Courthouse at 8:00 this morning.

At 8:37, I woke up and realized that my bed was not, in fact, anywhere near the Harris County Courthouse. I also realized I felt like I'd been run over by a truck.

Oops.

I had to reschedule jury duty again (I'd originally been scheduled for the week I was home for the wedding), and then had to tell someone that I wouldn't be at work today not because I am an upstanding citizen doing my civic duty, but because I am an idiot who planned far too busy a weekend.

For future reference, I do not recommend leaving Houston at 1:30 a.m., arriving in Dallas at 5:30 a.m., sleeping for one hour, shooting a triathlon in unrelenting heat and sun, leaving Dallas at 11:30 a.m., arriving home at 4:00 p.m., downloading and uploading all your photos, playing a soccer game at 7:00 p.m., getting home at 9:30 p.m., showering, and then inexplicably convincing yourself that you will still be able to get up at 6:30 a.m. to make it to jury duty. This morning I woke up with the worst hangover of my life, and alcohol wasn't even involved.

Monday, July 11, 2005

Saturday's run 3.75 miles, 45:21

Saturday's run
3.75 miles, 45:21 = 12:06/mile
Avg heart rate = 187
Max heart rate = 200

Saturday morning I woke up around 9:30 to the sound of drizzle on my window and overcast skies. By 11:00, the rain had stopped by my view was still overcast and my thermometer was reading about 79 degrees, so I decided to try an outdoor run for the first time since I was home in Charlotte.

I walked out the door to see that the skies in the opposite direction were clearing and the sun was coming out. It wasn't quite as "cool" out as I'd been expecting, but by this point I was committed and ready, so I pressed on.

I started jogging, and the farther I went, the more the sun started shining and the hotter it got and the more the humidity rose. UGH. I made it 20 minutes without stopping, but then needed a quick 1-minute walk break. After that, I managed to run for another 10 minutes before stopping for a walk again, 2 minutes this time. This was the point, almost 3 miles in, that the heat, humidity, and my low level of running fitness combined to make my run completely fall apart.

It took me 15 minutes to shuffle, walk, pant and gasp the final mile home. It was tortuous. It was awful. It was miserable. I've never been able to so vividly pinpoint the point at which I maxed out my anaerobic threshold and just couldn't go any farther. But I'm glad I did the run outside, and if nothing else it was good "preparation" for the humid torture of the Lunar Rendezvous Run 5K this Saturday.

(The Lunar Rendezvous Run is a mini-tradition for me; it was the first race I ran in Houston, two days after moving here, and this will be my 4th year in a row.)

Saturday, July 09, 2005

I was just checking the

I was just checking the account settings with the hosting company I use for all my websites, and wow -- I felt compelled to come write a little post to say that Dreamhost is awesome. $8 a month originally got me 1.2 GB of space, which has now grown, at no additional cost, to 4.1 GB. Bandwidth has similarly increased. And best of all, they are extremely reliable and have great customer service.

I guess it sounds like I'm advertising for them, and it's true that if you sign up for hosting with them using me as a reference, I get a kickback towards my own hosting costs.

But I really don't care if you use them or not. I just wanted to say that they're awesome.

Friday, July 08, 2005

Today is Jo's last day

Today is Jo's last day here at JSC. It's pretty sad to see her go, even though we are all very happy that she's found a new job that she should enjoy much more. She's off to the wild blue yonder, becoming a flight attendant for Northwest. Maybe I'll see her on a flight someday...

I have a very odd schedule planned for the weekend. Nothing tonight or tomorrow morning, but then tomorrow night is Pooja's bridal shower (being held at a bath store, sounds unique and fun). Then, the weirdness: around midnight tomorrow night, another photographer named Chris is picking me up and we are driving to Dallas, arriving probably around 4 a.m. We'll catch a couple hours of sleep somewhere, and then shoot the Dallas Disco Triathlon with Karen T. Then we'll drive back to Houston, alternating driving in order to stay awake.

Sure, the arrangement's not ideal, but it works out well. I'd been planning to just drive up tomorrow afternoon, but I'd have had to skip Pooja's shower. So when Chris asked if I'd be interested in leaving late (he's doing a wedding tomorrow night), I said sure.

And before you ask -- yes, Chris is cute, but no, that is not a possibility because he is married. So don't wink at me when you hear I'm riding to Dallas and back with a photography-loving guy.

I suppose I'll spend the rest of Sunday recovering from the crazy overnight drive/photography schedule.

Friday, July 08, 2005

I haven't posted workout information

I haven't posted workout information in a while, but here's a summary of what I can remember off the top of my head. I've done the elliptical machine three times since my last post: Saturday, Sunday, and Tuesday. Both Saturday and Sunday were "long" workouts, 50 minutes in all, with Sunday at a slower stride rate. Tuesday I had to use a different machine that was not calibrated the same way, I think, because the resistance/incline levels did not feel as tough as they do on my usual machine. Ah well.

I've had the itch lately to do a triathlon. It's been more than a year since my last one, the Danskin in 2004. Of course I was registered for the Danskin this year a month ago and didn't end up going, which made me a little sad, but it was nice not to have to travel up to Austin by myself. I missed the Speedo Women's Tri this year because I was in Atlanta for Katie's graduation, and I will miss Try Andy's Tri next month because I'll be in San Francisco for the AIAA conference. However, in looking around some local race calendars I did come across something that might be a lot of fun: the Silverlake Aquathon in Pearland in a couple weeks.

I've never done an aquathon before; this one is a 2.5-mile run, 1-km swim, 2.5-mile run. Sounds totally doable, and fun. I should be able to finish it in about 1.5 hours -- 55-60 minutes for the two run portions, and 20-25 minutes for the swim. Anyone want to do it with me? No bike riding involved for those of you who hate bikes...

I also recently have seen a little survey on some other running blogs so I figured I'd answer it myself:

What is your favorite long run pace?
Whatever pace gets me to the end! :) If you read all the training advice, I know that I actually do my long runs too fast. Based on my 5K time of 30:00, my long run pace should be something like 12:40, but when I do long runs they are usually at a pace closer to 11:30.

What is your favorite -- or typical -- pre-run meal?
I don't pay nearly enough attention to what I eat before running. Since I often run in the evening, a lot of the time the only food I have to go on is whatever I had for lunch which, I know, is not the ideal way to do things. If I was thinking ahead that day, I'll eat a granola bar or something similar about an hour before I head out to run.

What was the distance of your first official race?
A 5K held in conjunction with a half marathon in and around Golden Gate Park in San Francisco in January 2002. I finished in 34:something. I haven't gotten all that much faster over the 3+ years since, but my PR has dropped to 29:18 (which I ran in late 2003). Well, I guess that's 5:00, a fairly big improvement.

Do you typically run in groups or run alone?
Alone. Partly by design, partly not. In order to run with someone, I have to be very confident that I'm not slowing them down, otherwise I feel guilty the whole time and that's no fun. I don't mind being slowed down too much, so it's easier to run with people who are slower...except it's hard to find people that are slower than me! :) So I usually prefer to just go alone so I can listen to my music and do my own thing. Every so often when I do run with people though, I enjoy being able to chat. My favorite person to run with is my sister, though I can probably count on two hands the number of times we've been able to run together.

Name the one or two new running experiences (occurring within the past year) that you have grown the most from.
The marathon, no question. It was such a huge committment, both in terms of the time necessary for training and the mental motivation needed to stick with the long, slow runs.

What is your least favorite structure to run on/over?
Structure? Hmm. I've run the Kemah Bridge once in a 5-mile race, and it sucked because it's so steep and because I never run on hills since there are none here. Oh -- does a treadmill count? I really hate running on treadmills. They're boring, and they seem to aggravate my shin splints.

Thursday, July 07, 2005

After three years as a

After three years as a civil servant, I have lost all patience for the bureaucratic crap we have to wade through on a daily basis. Last month we were struggling to get permission for travel funds (i.e. plane tickets and hotel rooms) for next month's conference. We emerged from that battle a little bruised but still intact. Today we begin the fight to get permission for conference registration. Apparently the justification "I AM PRESENTING A TECHNICAL PAPER" or "I AM LEADING A TECHNICAL SESSION" is not good enough.

I am seriously thinking of joining Jo as a flight attendant. Well, not seriously thinking of that, but seriously thinking of alternate careers.

Wednesday, July 06, 2005

Roy Oswalt won the fan

Roy Oswalt won the fan vote to get the final spot on the NL All-Star team! Yayyyyy for Roy! He is truly deserving. I can't believe that this will only be his first year as an All-Star.

Wednesday, July 06, 2005

The Astros have finally turned

The Astros have finally turned the season around a bit. In the past couple weeks they've been winning a ton, and have scratched their way back to 40-42 with the possibility of being a .500 team again at the All-Star break. (Depressing to realize that they've gone something like 13-4 in the past few weeks and still are not back to .500...) In addition, they've just tied the Cubs for second place in the NL Central! Sure, the Cardinals are unreachable, but second place ain't shabby.

Wednesday, July 06, 2005

Oh my god there was

Oh my god there was just the hugest roach that ran across the doorway to my office and under my desk and I tried to smush him with a spare notebook but I missed and he ran back in the corner behind my desk and he's still back there and huge and nasty and EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK.

Tuesday, July 05, 2005

I'm a bit sad that

I'm a bit sad that I missed the Peachtree yesterday. Next year...

Tuesday, July 05, 2005

It was a pretty quiet

It was a pretty quiet weekend for me, despite it being a holiday and all. Friday night I hit the movie theater with a group including Cari's very cute Scottish friend Doug to see Bewitched. I didn't actually like it all that much. It had a few good lines, but on the whole, something about it bugged me. Nicole Kidman was too cute (though I did like her cute wardrobe), and Will Ferrell was too...something.

Saturday I did zilch. Nada. Nothing. I slept till 11, worked out, watched the first stage of the Tour de France. I did leave home to go by Barnes and Noble, then returned to sit around on my duff for the evening. It was lovely.

Sunday I spent most of the day repeating Saturday (zilch, nada, nothing, Tour de France) until evening, when I joined everyone for dinner at Carrabba's and a showing of War of the Worlds. Dude. It was scary. Not like "BOO, gotcha" with things jumping out at you, but scary in the just plain seriously scary way. (If that makes any sense at all.) I had trouble sleeping on Sunday night, partly because I went to bed late and was worried I wouldn't wake up in time on Monday morning, but partly because I was freaked out by the movie! It was good. And scary.

Yesterday morning I was up bright and early to shoot the Run Wild 5K over near the Galleria. It was freaking hot. It has been so hot the past month, and there has been no rain. June was the driest June in the past 70 years or something. It is SO hot. I want it to just pour down rain, not because I think the rain would actually cool things off, but just to give a respite from the oppressive heat. After almost two hours of photographing the racers and post-race party, I was as sweaty and nasty as I'd have been if I'd run the race myself.

I had a lot of fun shooting the race, as usual, except that my 75-300 lens acted up again. This is the second time that the autofocus has gone on the fritz while shooting a race, and I still have not pinpointed the reason why. The first time it happened was in April, when I was using my 10D and the 10D battery grip. I never used the battery grip again, and never again had the AF problem.

Cut to yesterday. I now own the 20D, and used the 20D with the lens without a problem a month ago at a triathlon. Yesterday I used the 20D with 20D battery grip for the first time, and the lens AF went out again. Would not autofocus under any circumstances. I got rid of the battery grip and changed to the less ideal 28-135 lens, and shot the rest of the race with that. When I got home, I put the 75-300 back on and voila, AF was back and working as expected.

I really can't figure out what's going on. The best I can figure is that somehow the 75-300 lens does not work well when using the battery grip. Now this would seem to indicate that somehow the battery grip contacts are not meeting exactly right such that the shutter will trip but the AF will not. I'm clueless. I have no idea what's going on. It makes me mad that I can't seem to successfully use the battery grip, because it certainly makes shooting vertically a lot more comfortable.

In any case, the lens works. It works perfectly. Except when I'm using the battery grip. Ugh.

Anyway. After shooting the race I came home to cool down in the loveliness of my air-conditioned apartment, then met Jason for the Independence Day showdown between the Astros and Padres. The Astros won 4-1 on a complete game from Oswalt and a 3-run homer from Biggio. Jason and I also sat in Rich's season seats, since Rich wasn't there, and thoroughly enjoyed them. They're right behind the plate in the upper deck. Very nice.

Last night I went over to the Becca household for a cookout and fireworks, only the cooking lasted too long and we missed the fireworks. Oh well. We heard all about Gavin and Jen's trip to Hawaii (so jealous) and watched poor Apache limp around on three legs. Apache was funny and yet pathetic; when I walked into the house she hobbled around to find something to fetch -- she wants to play fetch despite the fact that she has a torn ACL! Becca always said that dog would kill herself if it meant playing fetch, and apparently that's not far from the truth.

Sunday, July 03, 2005

Photos from Katie and Joel's

Photos from Katie and Joel's wedding are now online!

I took a lot of them, but the majority are pretty crappy. Chalk it up to dim lighting in the church and reception place, not wanting to use the harsh on-camera flash, and me being, well, slightly distracted by my maid of honor duties! :)

A lot of 'em are on the dark side, but look better after a little post-processing.

Saturday, July 02, 2005

TGITDFD!

Thank Goodness It's Tour De France Day!

I am just stupidly excited that the Tour De France starts today. I'm not afraid to admit that somewhere along the way, Lance Armstrong turned me into a cycling fan. I don't know if my high interest in the sport will continue after this year, once Lance has retired. But I hope it will. Watching OLN obsessively for the entire month of July is just too much fun.

Tour De France starts today with a ~11 mile time trial...

Friday, July 01, 2005

From this week's division activity

From this week's division activity report:

"ISS altitude, latitude, and longitude were provided at a frequency of 1.92 seconds for the time periods of 2:37 to 2:54 on June29, 2005, and 1:56 to 2:12 on July 1, 2005. These data will be used by the ISS team to point a camera mounted on a NASA aircraft at the ISS to take pictures. This camera will be used to take pictures of the orbiter during launch and reentry on STS-114."

We can fly an aircraft to the ISS? What do we need the shuttle for then? ;)

Friday, July 01, 2005

So we have the go-ahead

So we have the go-ahead for launching the shuttle on July 13! Very exciting to think that we will soon be flying again, and that I will soon be training to help fly. Hooray.

The biggest news among our little work group is that Jo is leaving; she got a job as a flight attendant for Northwest. Yay Jo! We ironically noted that in 2+ years of working for the manned space program, she never got to see anything fly.

Jen posted a hilarious photo of Segway tourists on her photoblog today. In addition to making me laugh, it also made me ache a bit. I can't believe it's been three years since leaving Stanford and I haven't gone back yet. The August AIAA conference in San Francisco cannot get here fast enough.

I can't believe Cari let two Scotsmen (with kilts and bagpipes!) run off with her car for a "jaunt" around Texas. She is so incredibly trusting. And that's why we love her.

Jen and Gavin return from their anniversary trip to Hawaii on Monday. I can't wait to see all their photos! They sent me a picture phone message showing lava a few days ago, but for some reason I can't get it to send to Flickr. :(

Softball last night was great -- we beat maybe the best team in our small league! They seemed to be having a bit of an off night (their shortstop especially), but we were having an on night. Everyone was hitting well and playing good defense. I went 1-for-3 with a run scored (and would've been 2-for-3 if the pitcher hadn't managed to snag a speedy line drive). I also made an out in left centerfield, and did a good job of quickly getting the balls that rolled to me on the ground.

If you are interested in photoblogging and live in or around Houston, check out the new Houston Photobloggers site, a joint effort between myself, Laurie, and Aninda. It's very cool, and we can't wait to see it grow over the next months and years.

One of my coworkers is retiring today after 38 years of working at JSC. He is very quiet, and I often wonder what he thinks of those of us in the group who are young and loud. He doesn't say much on his own, but if you start asking questions, he can talk for days. His brain is like an incredible fountain of knowledge about astronomy and space, and he's worked on so many different interesting projects over the years that he seems to know at least something about everything. He is probably the smartest person I know. We're going to miss him.

He told me where to look for the space station flying over last night. It's currently in continuous sunlight, which happens once a season or so. It came over right at 9:00, when I was in the outfield at the top of the first inning of softball. Between pitches, I watched it pass. I pointed it out to my fellow outfielders: "There's the space station!" "Really?" asked Darby, not believing me at first. "Yep," I said. He works here every day, but he was still impressed.

I think it's hard to realize how incredible it is that we can fly in space until you actually see something tangible, like the space station as a pinpoint gliding past in the night sky.