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Sunday, October 30, 2005

Yesterday Becca, Buzz and I

Yesterday Becca, Buzz and I found ourselves with a free day in Washington DC. What could three girls possibly do during a girls day out? Pick one of the following:

a) Go shopping at all the hip and trendy DC shops.
b) Get manicures and pedicures and generally pampered.
c) Go to the new hangar of the Air and Space Museum and see lots of cool airplanes and spaceships!!!

If you have to ask, you obviously don't know us.

We all ran our races and had a lovely time this morning. Becca and I did the 8K (4.97 miles) which ran around the Pentagon and finished next to Arlington Cemetary and the Iwo Jima memorial. I finished in 53:06 and was very excited about my ~10:40/mile pace. My split times were:

Mile 1 - 9:30 (too fast!)
Mile 2 - 11:00
Mile 3 - 10:45
Mile 4 - 12:00
Mile 5 - 10:00

Obviously those splits are slightly approximated, and I know for a fact that the Mile 3 marker was almost 0.2 miles off; since we ran the last 3+ miles of the marathon course, the 8K mile markers should have been 0.2 miles after each marathon marker, but the 3 mile marker was only about 200 feet past the 24 mile marker. So, in reality, mile 3 was probably more like 12:00 for me, since I walked for a minute during that mile, and mile 4 was probably more like 10:45.

Overall I felt pretty good. I again had a lot of leg, and even some heel, pain -- burning, tightness and the general feeling of not being entirely in control of my feet -- but sadly I'm starting to get used to it. (I do need to go back to the doc about my knee.) But I was able to push through it by concentrating on various runners in front of me, and trying to stay with them. It also didn't hurt that moving forward meant seeing more of (and keeping moving meant looking good for) the hundreds of incredibly cute Marines! I love the Marines. :)

Becca rocked her 8K, the farthest she'd gone in almost two years, in ~1:20, and Buzz rocked the full marathon in ~5:10 (she ran with a friend and was an hour off her marathon PR, but had a great time). The course was awesome -- I'd love to run this marathon someday. Miles and miles of pretty fall trees and white marble monuments. The only complaint is the steep hill at the end. The course finishes at the Iwo Jima monument which is about 100 feet above the road below, and having to run up that hill after 4.8 miles was brutal enough. I can't imagine facing it after 26 miles!

Up next for me running-wise is the Run Through the Brooks 10K next weekend...

Friday, October 28, 2005

I'm off to DC for

I'm off to DC for a quick weekend with Becca and Buzz (Jenny). Buzz is running the Marine Corps Marathon on Sunday and Becca and I are doing the 8K, then going to cheer for marathoners. We're staying with Becca's aunt, and definitely going to see the new wing of the Air and Space Museum.

They left last night, as I was originally supposed to do. I changed my plane ticket to today, expecting to have been at Game 5 of the World Series last night. C'est la vie. It was good to have last night here anyway to recover from the previous two late, late nights.

If I don't update this weekend, I'll be back on Monday just in time for Halloween!

Thursday, October 27, 2005

Thoughts from last night: Brandon

Thoughts from last night:

• Brandon Backe pitched a gem of a game. The Astros could not have asked for a better, timelier performance from the hometown boy (he's from Galveston). He did his part beautifully, outdoing Clemens, Pettitte and Oswalt to pitch the best game of this series...and then he had to deal with the worst hitting of the series. The Astros' hitting was always bad, but last night it was abysmal. I'm sorry Backe didn't get a win to show for his masterful outing.
• In reading post-game and post-series coverage today I've seen a bunch of photos taken by the photographers I was running cards for. It's pretty cool to know that I had a hand in those photos going "live"...
• As the game ended I was able to snap some shots of the celebration from my post on the main concourse. I then grabbed eight envelopes (the most of the night) to run downstairs to the editors for the AP, Getty Images, Reuters, USA Today and US Presswire. They were waiting for me anxiously -- photos of the celebration were important! After another run up to my 1st base photographers, I was told to head to the field. No complaints there! There weren't many photographers that actually needed runners on the field, so I was able to wander amidst the celebration and take plenty of photos of my own. My portfolio is going to get a huge boost from this.
• I am upset that the Astros lost, and upset that they couldn't get at least one win. But having the World Series come to Houston was an amazing thing. I've never seen a city -- any city -- come together en masse to get worked up over something like this. Baseball is all anyone has talked about for the past week and a half. I loved every minute of it.
• Because I was still running cards at the time, I didn't see most of the Astros players come out and applaud the Astros fans that had gathered behind the dugout. What a classy, classy thing to do. For all their faults, this 2005 group was a great team. This city loves them for it.

Thursday, October 27, 2005

Fun -- Make a Snowflake.

Fun -- Make a Snowflake.

Thursday, October 27, 2005

Wow. Wow, wow, wow, WOW.

Wow. Wow, wow, wow, WOW.

I smelled the cigars, stood on the mound, and narrowly avoided getting sprayed with champagne. The only downside is that it wasn't the Astros celebrating. Brandon Backe pitched his heart out, giving the best performance of the series. But it's not enough when your team can't score runs. Regardless, I'm proud of the Astros. They had another magical season, and finishing ahead of 28 teams and only behind 1...well, that ain't bad.

Tons of details and tons of photos to come.

Wednesday, October 26, 2005

Me chillin' with Mo.

Me chillin' with Mo. ;) My photos from last night are in the gallery. I took them with Nick's camera; I borrowed it because it was small and fit in my pocket. After seeing what other people brought, tonight I'm taking my SLR. I plan to have much better photos tomorrow.

Wednesday, October 26, 2005

Working as a photo runner

Working as a photo runner is NOT GOOD for my career-related wanderlust.

Carter's overly-complimentary post about me made me realize (as if I didn't already) that I am beginning to vastly overcommit myself. And each time I commit to something new, it's my real job, the job that pays, that gets a little squeezed. I know that's probably not a good thing, but beyond that I have not thought much about what to do or decided in which direction I want to go. (Well, it may be more accurate to say that I know what I'd do if money weren't as much of an issue. But of course it is.) It's just an observation at the moment.

But back to last night and my job as a photo runner at the World Series: If I have ever done anything this cool, I don't know what. And if I ever do anything this cool again, I think my head might just explode.

A quick list of highlights before I give more details:

• My credentials get me everywhere except the clubhouses. That means I wandered through the press box, interview room, tunnels, all concourses, and -- yes -- the field itself.
• After meeting the other runners, I am dumbstruck at how lucky I am to have gotten selected to do this. Most of the other runners either know the photographers or know the woman coordinating the photographers. They had connections. I had none.
• I think my "professional" website played a part in getting selected. One of the Reuters photographers is married to the woman coordinating the runners, and when I introduced myself he said he'd seen my website. I need to fix it up a little.
• I had dinner in the media dining room. It was a boxed sandwich from Jason's Deli.
• I was running photos from the 1st base concourse for USA Today and US Presswire. Also occasionally for Reuters, Getty Images, and the Associated Press.
• I met the guy who drives the train. He said he lucked into the job after interning for the team. Last week he had to change the outgoing message on his cell phone to say "Hi, this is Bobby. No, I can't get you tickets."
• Laundry list of people I walked right past or who walked right past me: Nolan Ryan, Eric Benet (singer), the entire Fox broadcasting team, Tracy McGrady, John Smoltz, Phil Garner, Ozzie Guillen, and most of the Astros.
• A couple of the other runners are photographers as well and are going to hook me up with a few contacts for possible freelance work at the Chronicle. Who knows what will happen, but we'll see.
• I am tired. Didn't get to bed until almost 3:00 a.m.

The entire experience was so incredibly surreal. I saw most of the game by looking between photographers' rear ends. I thought Roy would be golden with a 4-run lead. I thought the Astros would capitalize on one of their zillion chances to score. And yet somehow, working as a runner made me less attached to the game. As I drove home last night, I was less disappointed that the Astros lost, and more upset about the fact that if they can't win tonight, I don't get to go back to work Game 5.

I don't know how I feel about that -- by "that," I mean, the way that I became detatched from the game. I somehow feel slightly guilty, and yet at the same time, I think it's probably good for my overall well-being to not be quite so emotionally tied to the team.

The worst part of the series? It could so easily be the Astros up 3-0. Talk about frustrating.

More later.

Tuesday, October 25, 2005

If all goes as planned,

If all goes as planned, I will be one of the fans participating in the Chronicle's FanBlog over the next 3 nights, so check it out. :)

Tuesday, October 25, 2005

Three other things: 1) I

Three other things:

1) I am wearing my Astros jersey at work. I love how the Astros have provided us an excuse to dress casual.

2) It is totally not Bud Selig's call on whether the roof stays open or not. It's the Astros' stadium. The Astros' roof. If the Astros want the roof closed, the roof should be closed, dammit.

3) I have not run in a week. :( I've barely been getting enough sleep, much less finding time to run. And with the World Series going on the next three nights, it doesn't bode well. But Sunday I'm running the Marine Corps 8K if nothing else, so I'm looking forward to that! I also signed up for the Run Through the Brooks 5K down here in Clear Lake on November 5, if anyone's interested in joining me...

Tuesday, October 25, 2005

lights will guide you home / and ignite your bones

Last night I walked outside at 6:50 to get in my car and go to my 7:00 class. UHCL is only 5 minutes away, and my professor is always 10 minutes late, so I had plenty of time. Plenty of time, that is, until my garage door opener wouldn't work!!

This has to rank up there with "the dog ate my homework" as one of the more far-fetched excuses for being late to class, but it was actually true. The damn garage door opener would not open my garage door and I had no way of getting to my car! I have two openers, but the other one is in my car...in the garage. What to do, what to do...

I first called the apartment complex. The office was closed, but they have an after-hours emergency service that answers. I explained the problem and the man told me he'd page maintenance. We hung up. I decided to call Becca, who was still at work but was nice enough to come get me. While she was on her way, my neighbor came out to walk her dogs and I had the thought (don't know why I didn't have it earlier) to borrow the battery from her door opener. Well, it still didn't work. Not a dead battery problem, but the opener itself.

After she memorized the bit flips for her door, we changed the switches in her opener to match mine and voila! The door opened! Hooray, my car was freed! By this time it was 7:05 and on my way out I stopped to talk to Becca, who had reached the gate to my complex. Sorry for making you drive over Becca, but thanks! Then the apartment complex people called back and said maintenance could come but that it'd cost $45 or something. What a load of crap.

Off I sped to class, arriving around 7:20 and walking into the middle of the first critique. Our latest assignment was to make a set of bottle labels, and last night was the night to present them and hear comments and suggestions. I did a wine bottle, which was very unoriginal but I had a good reason for it: I know basically nothing about wine, and so when I buy it, I tend to buy bottles with pretty labels. For this project I went to Kroger and found a bottle of wine (a 2001 Shiraz from southeastern Australia) with a completely hideous label, and redesigned it. The name of the wine is Didgeridoo, so I had a lot of fun. Here's my label (the circle goes on top of the cork):

And here are a couple photos of it on the bottle (taken with my new Razr phone, woo!):

The coolest part was the end of class when our professor gave everyone a purple post-it and a yellow post-it and we got to "vote" on which bottles we liked best, purple for most professional and yellow for overall favorite. It was a way of giving semi-anonymous pats on the back. I got 10 stickies total -- six purple stickies for most professional-looking and four stickies for overall favorite. Since there are only 18 people in class, that's 36 post-its to be divided among 18 bottles -- and I got 10 of them! That's almost a third! (And no, I didn't vote for myself.)

I was pretty happy about that. There were some other very creative designs, more creative than mine in terms of content. I find that I tend towards creating things that look more polished and professional and less fun and fanciful. I think that's why I got more purple stickies than yellow. Either way, I left class feeling really good. It's always nice to know that what you create is appreciated by others.

I came home from class and baked 5 dozen owl cookies, much to the delight and satisfaction of all my coworkers at today's LSO hot dog day. (The LSO's make hot dogs. We all eat them for lunch. That's really about all there is to it.)

In 3.5 hours I report for duty as a photo runner at the WORLD SERIES! WOOOOOOOOOOO!

Monday, October 24, 2005

Aha. Anyone who does not

Aha. Anyone who does not know what owl cookie dough is, see this blog entry from last year. They are peanut butter cookies shaped like owls in honor of Halloween. Yesterday I made the dough, which has to chill to harden up; now I have to cook them. In all my 27 years, I can't remember a Halloween without them. My mom made them for ages, but for the past few years I've done them on my own. They're tradition!

Monday, October 24, 2005

It was 47 degrees outside

It was 47 degrees outside when I got up this morning. What kind of weather is this, and where did the heat go? NOT THAT I AM COMPLAINING. It was awesome. I am actually wearing a long sleeve shirt, and actually needed a light jacket. Amazing.

It was a crazy busy weekend, and it will be a crazy busy week. Here's the recap (as blog-readers who hate "I did this, and this, then this" entries grumble and mutter)...

Friday night I did something I hadn't done in 10 years -- I went to a high school football game. An acquaintance from the photo forum shoots high school games in this area for the newspaper, and he invited me out to the Clear Creek-Galveston Ball game to practice shooting ball sports. I do so much running and triathlon photography, but I've done very little football/baseball/soccer shooting. It was Creek's homecoming, but Ball is one of the top teams in the district and they won by a score of A LOT to A LITTLE. (Seriously, it was 50-something to 14 when I left at the end of the 3rd quarter.)

The first thing I realized was that football photography is not as easy as I thought! I never have any trouble following the ball when I can see the whole field and all the players, but I discovered that when watching the game through the narrow view of the camera lens, I kept getting faked out by the fakes! They'd pretend to pass the ball, and I'd follow the guy running with his arms crossed -- but no ball. Geez. By the second and third quarters, I was doing much better and could actually follow the play. I need practice, practice, practice.

In the end, I took about 200 shots and had to immediately throw out about half of them for being out-of-focus or not actually capturing any action because I hit the shutter too late. I did get 10-15 good keepers though. I was happy, and hope to be able to go out to another game and practice more. Anything to build up a small portfolio would be good...you never know when I might need it, right?

After getting home from that game I stayed up way too late watching a couple episodes of Firefly and surfing the web, and then slept until noon on Saturday. It was glorious, except when I got up and realized what a nice day it was outside, I felt sort of guilty for wasting half of it in bed. But not that guilty.

I ran a few errands and even stopped by Oshman's in hopes of getting an Astros NLCS Champions t-shirt. After hearing the news about long lines on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, I figured things would have calmed down by the weekend. Not so. I walked into the store around 1:00 to see a line of at least 100 people stretching all the way across the shoe section and into the women's clothing section. I'll have to get a t-shirt some other time, as I was really ready to stand in line.

I had a soccer game at 3:30 where we suffered a frustrating defeat, then had just enough time to go home and shower before picking up Chik-Fil-A and heading to Chris's to watch Game 1 of the World Series while working on homework. The White Sox didn't beat the Astros; the Astros beat the Astros. How many chances to score did they blow? Crap. Blah. Crap.

Yesterday morning I was up at 8:00 (8:00! on a Sunday!) to make owl cookie dough, otherwise known as playing domestic goddess for one of the two times per year I do that. (The other is Thanksgiving.) Now I just have to find the time to actually bake the cookies. I headed out at 10:15 headed for the Ironstar Half Ironman Triathlon at Lake Conroe. I was supposed to be there at 11:30 to take photos of the second half of the race.

This is the part where I say that I would have been there on time if I had just followed the map. But I, with my fabulous sense of direction, decided that I could outsmart the map and take a shortcut.

Bad idea.

Next thing I know, I'm pseudo-lost in the middle of the Sam Houston National Forest and end up circling all of Lake Conroe before I finally get back to where I'm supposed to be -- at 12:15. Yep, 45 minutes late. Final score: Map 1, Sarah 0.

I shot runners finishing until 3:00 and pondered the idea of attempting a Half Ironman someday myself. If I trained properly, I figure I could pull it off in 7.5-8 hours...

I got back to Clear Lake with just enough time to run by the T-Mobile store to pick up a new phone -- the ultra-cool Motorola Razr. Woo! It'd been so long since I upgraded phones through them that I was able to get a pretty good deal, better than I could've gotten on ebay, and only had to sign a 1-year contract instead of 2-year. The camera is way better than the one on my old phone, and the Razr is really thin so it will fit in my pocket perfectly...just in time for the World Series tomorrow night!

(I'd be lying if I didn't say that the World Series was a big reason I decided to get a new camera phone immediately. I don't know if I will be able to carry my point-n-shoot while I'm doing the runner job, but I'm sure they'll let me carry my cell phone.)

I had a soccer game at 6:00 and we totally killed the other team, which was a nice change of pace from our normal losses. My women's team has recruited a group of 5 high school girls and they are awesome -- great footwork, great passing, great shooting ability, and they have the endurance to run for freaking ever. I barely broke a sweat!

I headed straight from the soccer game to Chris's for Game 2. My feelings can be summed up as this: "They're pinch hitting Vizcaino? Vizcaino?? He sucks! Why not Palmeiro, or Lamb? Vizcaino??" Vizcaino hits a 2-RBI liner into left field. "I LOVE VIZCAINO!" Lidge comes in. "Lidge is gonna shut 'em down tonight. No demons, baby." Lidge gives up a game-winning home run to a guy that hit exactly ZERO home runs in the regular season. "Well @$%#!"

The worst part? Both of those games were totally winnable for the 'Stros. GRR. At least they're coming home to Houston.

I got home after the game and spent another 2 hours working on homework. I'm still not quite finished; I might actually have to leave a bit early today to finish. I've just been so busy lately. And it's not getting any better this week: class tonight, World Series games Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, then going to DC for the weekend on Friday...

Sunday, October 23, 2005

Yet another hilarious movie summary:

Yet another hilarious movie summary: Serenity in 2000 Words. I especially love the part where everyone gets introduced.

JOSS WHEDON: Wasn't that a cool bunch of transitions? Now watch the intro scene designed for people who haven't seen the series! I promise you'll like it anyway!

SERENITY: *Flies through space, goes in for re-entry*

FANS: Woo-hoo!

PEOPLE WHO HAVEN'T SEEN THE SERIES: Why is everybody cheering?

SERENITY: *loses piece off her nose*

MAL: What was that?

WASH: This is going to be interesting. By the way, if you saw the series, you know I'm the lovable, mild-mannered pilot with a deadpan sense of humor.

MAL: Define "Interesting."

WASH: (deadpan) Oh god, oh god, we're all going to die?

FANS SEEING THE MOVIE FOR THE FIRST TIME: LOL! Even if Whedon kills off a character, as he's been known to do, it couldn't possibly be Wash!

FANS SEEING THIS AGAIN BECAUSE JOSS WHEDON IS OUR MASTER: Whedon, you bastard!

JAYNE: I'm a badass with lots of big guns. If you saw the series, you know there's a town where they think I'm like Robin Hood.

ZOE: I'm a bigger badass than he'll ever be, even though I only have one gun. If you saw the series, you know I fought in the big war with Mal and then married Wash.

KAYLEE: I'm the cute, happy, earthy mechanic. If you saw the series you know I totally want to jump Simon's bones.

Friday, October 21, 2005

TOP 10 PERKS OF GETTING

TOP 10 PERKS OF GETTING INTO THE WORLD SERIES as presented by Roy Oswalt on Letterman last night:

10. Another two weeks of wearing a cup and showering with the guys.
9. Get to visit exotic, far-off destinations like Illinois.
8. More time to discuss with the team doctor if Cialis is right for me.
7. With the discount, beer is only 18 bucks.
6. It's fine and all, but the good news is, I just saved a bunch of money on my car insurance by switching to Geico.
5. Certificate good for one free groin pull.
4. I get to appear on my favorite late night program — The Tonight Show With Jay Leno.
3. World Series MVP gets to throw switch on Saddam's execution.
2. Clemens used his AARP card to get us cheap hotel rooms.
1. If Steinbrenner wants me next year, my price is now a billion dollars.

Friday, October 21, 2005

More: Chicago Sun-Times: "Oswalt personifies

More:

Chicago Sun-Times: "Oswalt personifies the Astros. He's small, slight and nothing much to look at. But he assumes bigger and badder proportions whenever he takes the field."

Chronicle: "As the wheels lowered and the Astros' team charter approached home in the early-morning hours Thursday, an announcement came over the intercom. Please open the shades on the windows.

Lined along both sides of the taxiway at Bush Intercontinental Airport were airport police cars, emergency trucks, paramedic vehicles — lights flashing and horns blaring. And at the end of the taxiway were a pair of firetrucks, one on each side of the airplane, splashing water over the plane.

Like champagne."

Myrtle Beach Online (huh?): "It's not enough that the Chicago Cubs haven't won a World Series since 1908.

Or that the other "cursed" team, the Boston Red Sox, snapped their jinx last year.

Now God, in his infinite wisdom and apparent disdain for Cubs fans, has put the Houston Astros and the Chicago White Sox, the two most hated franchises among lovers of the Lovable Losers, in the World Series."

New York Times: "Who knows what [Clemens and Pettitte] were actually saying to each other? Who cares? To fans in Houston and New York, and perhaps to a well-known and frustrated baseball owner in Tampa, Fla., all that mattered was that two pitchers who had starred for the Yankees and then taken divergent paths to reunite in Houston had made it back to the World Series. And they had done so while their old team in the Bronx, the one with the $200 million payroll, had again come up short...

...Clemens will be standing on the mound again Saturday night, naturally, in the World Series opener. Contreras will be there, too. Pettitte will follow in Game 2. The Houston homeboys believed they could get this far after leaving New York and helped make it happen. Steinbrenner may want to keep his television turned off for the rest of the month."

San Antonio Express-News: "No matter whom you're rooting for in the upcoming World Series, there's one thing you have in common with opposing fans — and anyone else who might be listening.

You're going to get aggravated at Fox analyst Tim McCarver. McCarver is the master of the annoyingly obvious observation."

(For the record, I totally agree. There's even a webpage: Shut Up Tim McCarver.)

Friday, October 21, 2005

Yesterday was my lucky day.

Yesterday was my lucky day. No, seriously, it was.

Two weeks ago I spotted the following announcement on the Texas Photo Forum, an online forum that I used to surf religiously and that I now only occasionally surf because, well, frankly, it keeps growing and I can't keep up anymore! (Oh, the pains of being old.) ANYWAY, here is the announcement I saw:

MLB Photos is looking for runners to work the 2005 World Series in the following cities: New York, Boston, Chicago, Anaheim, Atlanta, San Diego, Houston and St. Louis. You must be at least 18 years old and be able to work EVERY home game in your city. Runners will be responsible for taking CF cards, batteries, etc. to the various photo positions. Payment will be $75.00 per game. If you are interested in being a candidate, email your name, address, social security number, phone number and email address to [name], Photo Editor of MLB Photos at: [name]@mlb.com. Please, do not call. We will get back to you.

Of course I immediately sent in my name and information and a generic "I'd really love this opportunity" note. What an amazing experience that would be! It's not the most glamorous job -- running CF cards back and forth? whee. -- but the opportunity is priceless. To be at the games, behind the scenes, seeing how sports photography works on a professional, big game level.

For two weeks I heard nothing, then, on Tuesday afternoon I got an email from the Photo Editor asking me for a headshot to use on credentials if I was selected to work as a runner. Whoa! I still had a chance! I quickly took a crappy headshot and emailed it in with another "I'd really love this opportunity to learn more about professional sports photography" bit that sounded cheesy but was also totally sincere. A lot of other people from the photo forum got the same email, so we all crossed our fingers. Yesterday before I got home, I checked a thread on the forum where everyone was saying "I didn't get selected...neither did I...neither did I...oh well..." I drove home thinking, well, at least I'll be going to Game 4 with Chris (who has my undying love for offering the ticket).

I got home and checked my email. I had one from the MLB Photo Editor. I blinked.

You have been selected to work as a Photo Runner at the 2005 World Series games in Houston. Please confirm your availability. The Runner's meeting where you will pick up your credentials will be held on [date] at [time] at Minute Maid Park.

NO WAY! I got selected! I will be working as a photo runner at Games 3, 4, and 5 (if necessary) of the World Series! I'll have credentials! I'll be running around to the camera pits and under the stadium! I'll get to meet and talk to professional baseball photographers and MLB photo editors!

This is so cool. This is so cool. As an aspiring (very aspiring, but also very amateur) sports photographer myself, I cannot believe my luck! Being a baseball photographer is one of my dream jobs, and now I'll get to meet some of the people that have my dream job! This is so cool.

The funniest part is that half of the people I've told have reacted differently than I expected. Instead of "that's so cool," they say "but Sarah, you won't be able to watch all of the games." I don't understand this reaction. Yes, I am a huge baseball fan, and yes, I am a huge Astros fan, and yes, I would love to see the games. But I would never in a million years give up the chance to work, even if it's grunt work like this, for professional baseball photographers. If I don't get to see any of the games, so be it. I'll still be in the stadium, and hearing it. And if I do get to catch glimpses of the games, it might be from field level.

I am so pumped.

And yesterday was my lucky day for more than that. Yes, if that's not enough, there is this: I got a phone call from Katie (otherwise known as the coolest sister in the world, you only wish your sister was as cool as mine) who told me that she'd gotten an email from the Astros saying she'd been picked in a 2nd chance drawing for World Series tickets. So this morning at 10:00 with Jason watching anxiously and providing his credit card number, we used Katie's luck and email address to buy four standing-room-only tickets, two for Game 4 and two for Game 5 (we're betting on neither team sweeping). Barring an unlikely reversal in my status as photo runner, I have turned over those tickets to Jason and Jen, who also now think Katie is the coolest person on the planet.

This is a great day.

Thursday, October 20, 2005

Roger Clemens's mother, during her

Roger Clemens's mother, during her last days before passing away a month ago, first asked him if they'd won the pennant yet, and then mentioned Shoeless Joe Jackson.

That is just freaky if you ask me. Uncanny. They won the pennant and face the White Sox. Goose bumps.

Thursday, October 20, 2005

After Monday night's rollercoaster of

After Monday night's rollercoaster of emotion, I have to admit that last night was rather underwhelming. By yesterday morning I'd finished wallowing and recovered my confidence in the Astros and in Roy (He was nails! Nails!!) so I went into last night's game viewing feeling good. For the first 5 innings I was even calm enough to do a little web surfing as part of my graphic design assignment for next week (researching typography assignments from other schools and writing a proposal for an assignment of my own -- basically I get to choose what I want to do for my own project assignment).

What's that saying? Momentum is only as strong as your next starting pitcher? Before the game, Fox replayed the Pujols home run complete with audio: roaring as the pitch came in, followed by absolute silence. It was stunning to hear again how quiet we got in an instant on Monday. But not last night. By the time the last few innings rolled around, I got a little nervous but not too bad, as Roy had it under control and I knew the Astros would not make the same mistakes twice. I only worried briefly when Grudzielanek got the 2-out hit. I knew the 'Stros would pull through. I was a bit disappointed that Lidge didn't come in to finish the game though; I know it wasn't a save situation, but having Lidge do the 9th would have been a fitting end after Monday's fireworks. I am more than happy enough with Qualls and Wheeler shutting down the Cards.

When Jason Lane finally had the 27th out firmly planted in his glove, I just smiled. I shook Jason a bit, going "We're in the World Series!" but I mostly just smiled. God I wish they had won at home on Monday night when I was screaming so much I made myself light-headed. But somehow it still felt right. After all the bedlam of Monday night, it was nice to just see the 'Stros come back to dominate the Cardinals in Game 6. The 4-run winning margin was the most of any of the six games. Craig Biggio and Jeff Bagwell didn't even immediately run onto the field; they just looked at each other, smiled, and hugged. Later, as he was interviewed on ESPN, Biggio had tears in his eyes. Awwwww.

Interesting stat: Eight of the nine starters last night have never played for any team but the Astros. Only Brad Ausmus has.

One of my favorite parts of a big win is savoring all the great descriptions of various moments in the game, like when Oswalt totally tied up Pujols in the 1st inning and just made him look stupid...

From Kent: "Congrats on Houston’s win! I saw you hitting a home run on tv to help the Astros through in one of the Houston games. Are you going to go to a World Series game/s?" To which I can say: YES! I'm going to Game 4. Because Chris's girlfriend's stepdad got tickets in the lottery, and Chris is my favorite person (after Oswalt) in the ENTIRE WORLD.

Buster Olney:

"The fans in Busch Stadium stood and roared in the first inning at the introduction of Albert Pujols, who ascended from the status of popular All-Star ballplayer to living god here with his monstrous home run against the Astros on Monday. He strolled to the plate, flashbulbs popping.

Roy Oswalt was not among those worshiping, however. The Astros right-hander threw two fastballs and a cutter to get ahead one ball and two strikes, and then he pumped a 95-mph fastball up and in, which, when thrown to Pujols, is like reaching for an alligator's tonsil: You just don't do it.

But Pujols was overpowered, swinging feebly, striking out, and Houston catcher Brad Ausmus thought: Oswalt's got it."

Jayson Stark:

"This team won 15 of its first 45 games -- and somehow found a way to spring off that trampoline all the way into the World Series. How'd that happen?

And this team took an Albert Pujols haymaker to the noggin Monday night, watched in amusement as the rest of the world gave it a 10-count, and then rumbled right back to rewrite the ending two days later, with a methodical 5-1 dissection of the St. Louis Cardinals."

Richard Justice:

"You find out a lot about people in the tough times. When things were at their worst, the Astros hung together. They became closer because people like me no longer believed in them.

Early in the season, an opposing player approached Adam Everett and said: 'I guess it's pretty bad in your clubhouse.'

Adam told him: 'No, it's still good.'

It's really good today...

As the Astros were flying to St. Louis Tuesday night, the pilot announced: 'We've reached our cruising altitude, and if you look out the left side of the plane, you may see a familiar object.'

He meant the baseball that Albert Pujols hit off Brad Lidge in Game 5.

The Astros decided the best way to deal with the issue was to confront it and have a few laughs. At one point, Roy Oswalt is supposed to have said: 'Hey, Pujols' home run almost hit the plane.'

That was their way of letting Brad Lidge - and everyone else - know it was going to be OK and that life would go on."

Wednesday, October 19, 2005

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!! WORLD SERIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And this

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!

WORLD SERIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And this from Lisa:

Tuesday morning:

Tuesday afternoon:

Wednesday night:

Wednesday, October 19, 2005

CNN had an online article

CNN had an online article today about the Orkney Islands. I sent the link to Karen and Becca with the subject line "Been there, done that" referring to our trip there in September 2002. The best part about visiting Orkney, besides the fact that it was beautiful and had some amazing prehistoric ruins, was that no one ever goes there. In the grand scheme of travelling, being able to say you've been to Orkney is pretty unique. (That, and it's fun to remind Becca of the Orkney bike ride from hell. I swear the wind followed us.)

This led to Becca reminiscing about her first conversation with Ollie and Doug, two of Cari's friends from her year at ISU:

Becca: Hi! Where in Scotland are you from?
Ollie: I'm from Orkney.
Becca: I've been to Orkney!
Ollie: No shit! No one goes to Orkney.
Becca: Well, I did.
Ollie: Bloody 'ell, No one goes to Orkney!
Becca: Well, I did with two of my girlfriends. [Describe details of trip, the beauty, the bike ride from hell, the oldest piles of rocks ever]
Ollie: You are the first person I've ever met who's been to Orkney.
Doug: I have lived in Scotland all my life and have never been to Orkney!
Becca: Well, you're missing out. Except never try to ride a bicycle into the wind in three directions.
Ollie: Bloody HELL! No one goes to Orkney!

Wednesday, October 19, 2005

You know, I have given

You know, I have given poor Becca an enormous amount of crap in our years of living together (at Tech), traveling together, and sharing an office ('till she dumped me this spring for the glamorous life of a flight controller). But I must also give her credit for introducing me to the tiny slice of heaven that is...a pedicure.

Last night in my completely bummed out state, I decided to skip the running and do something nice for me. So I battled the vicious suburban traffic and went to our "favorite" nail place. There was no one else there when I walked in and I thought maybe it was too late, but nope! I'd swear the woman could tell that I was in a crappy mood because she took an extra long time (compared to the usual at that place) to let me soak my feet and then spent an extra long time rubbing lotion on my feet and legs. It was glorious. I felt so much better afterwards, not to mention that I now have pretty pink toenails.

On my way home I drove back into a couple neighborhoods near the nail place. I knew there were roads that led back there, but had never gone into the area. My first thought was: WOW there are some nice houses back there (a lot of the land is on the water). My second though was: this is my new favorite neighborhood in Clear Lake. I don't really know why, other than the fact that it seemed quiet and secluded despite being just off a very busy road. That feeling was probably enhanced by the knowledge that I've driven that very busy road many times and never known all those houses were there.

I've had the thought of buying a house or townhouse lately, mainly because I'm starting to get itchy in my apartment (I think). I like changes of scenery, and changes in living space. It seems dumb to leave my current apartment for just another apartment and so I've been thinking of buying, but I don't really have the money, not to mention I could never afford my "ideal" house anyway. There were some really great townhouses back there though. Great enough that I can't resist going to look up the prices. I'm sure they're far more than I could ever afford.

I'm feeling good about the Astros again. Yesterday was the day to wallow; today is the day to get PUMPED for them to win tonight. As Edgar said on Monday as we left the ballpark in various states of dejection, "Roy's gonna be nails." And he is. I know he is.

Tuesday, October 18, 2005

Our boss here in Descent-land

Our boss here in Descent-land left six weeks ago to move to the ascent world (i.e. one door down the hall). We've been rotating the job of "Acting Group Lead" ever since, and my stint started yesterday. While it is cool to be able to interview potential new hires and help determine the direction of our group in the future, I have sat through at least 7 hours of meetings in the past 2 days and spent 20 minutes putting together slides at 1:00 a.m. when I was already in a state of emotional distress caused by a guy whose name starts with POO. So in summary: this whole Group Lead thing is really crazy and rather stressful, even if it is fun to keep telling George that he's fired.

I am feeling incredibly depressed today. Evidence:

First, the game yesterday. Obviously. I know it is "just a game," but really, it's not.

Second, I got yanked around this afternoon by our travel system when someone in upper management accidentally signed my supposed-to-have-been-cancelled travel orders to go to Nice, France next week for a conference. I can't go because they don't have the money, but for a half hour I thought they'd had a change of heart. Turns out someone just wasn't paying attention. SUCK.

Third, I am exhausted. I should really run tonight, but I am exhausted. I may just go to bed early.

Fourth, I can't stop sneezing. I have been sniffly and sore-throated on and off since last week. It has been a bad week for my health, with the only exception being the 10K on Sunday. I had all these weird bites and itchiness. Then sniffles. Sore throat. Horrible eating habits for three days when all I basically had was ballpark food. Sneezing. And now just a general feeling of fuzziness and exhaustion.

Fifth, this group lead thing. I really do enjoy it, but I was not expecting it to be so hectic. Actually, I wouldn't even mind that if I weren't so tired. So I guess the group lead thing is not really a reason I'm depressed. Just why I'm stressed.

Sixth, I don't know. I'm sure it's just a combo of the first four. I've just had a mega downer of a day today. Hopefully tomorrow will be better!

Tuesday, October 18, 2005

It was one game. We

It was one game. We are still up 3 games to 2. The Astros still have two more chances to win the NLCS.

But it was a crushing loss. One minute I was screaming. The next minute I was chewing on my towel in a flood of nerves. Pujols was up, and Pujols was due. The third minute I collapsed into my seat as if the wind had been knocked out of me. It was the first time I'd sat down since the 7th inning.

One out away. One strike away. I suppose this is why you play to 27 outs, and not 26.

But we have two more chances to win, and two more awesome pitchers lined up. I still think I'll see a World Series.

Go Astros!!

Monday, October 17, 2005

More funny stuff (seen on

More funny stuff (seen on Edwin's blog, from the Chronicle):

Book it now: Angels closer Francisco Rodriguez will be card No. 666 in the 2006 edition of Topps Total baseball cards. Topps officials acknowledge that the employee who assembles the company's card checklists is a Yankees fan who assigns the undesirable number to the pitcher or player on the team that knocks the Yankees out of the playoffs.

That's why Red Sox reliever Keith Foulke, who got the last out of the 2004 ALCS, was number 666 in 2005 Total, and why the Florida Marlins' Josh Beckett of Spring, who beat the Yankees in the 2003 World Series finale, was 666 in the 2004 set.

And that's why Rodriguez, who closed out the Angels' victory Sunday in Game 5 of the Division Series, will be 666 in next year's set. It's the safest sure thing in the world of cardboard — unless Yankees Fan goes with Ervin Santana, who pitched 5 1/3 innings in relief of injured starter Bartolo Colon.

Monday, October 17, 2005

More thoughts on yesterday's game

More thoughts on yesterday's game after reading some news and watching the highlights:

1. That play at first base, the final out of the 9th inning and the second half of the double play, was close. WOW was it close. But the ump made the right call.

2. Sportscenter showed Adam Everett (the 6 of the 4-6-3 double play combo) jumping around like a kid after the ump called that out, then being hugged rather violently by Bruntlett and Ensberg. I laughed very hard. Everett is adorable.

3. Craig Biggio says "If I didn't have a heart attack tonight, I guess I'll never have one." I feel the same way.

4. This Jayson Stark article is great, especially in how he continually expresses incredulity at the Astros' ability to eek out wins. I, also, am incredulous. This team is freaking insane. They have a slew of great pitching but a serious lack of offense at times, and yet they have managed to get the Cardinals in a 3-1 hole.

5. Line from the previous article, emphasis mine: "Mabry also fell into an 0-2 pit, as 43,000 people stood, waved their festive white Astros towels and did their best mega-decibel imitation of a NASA launch." Hahaha. And: "The trouble is, what can they do to top that script from Sunday? Get no-hit by Chris Carpenter for 8 2/3 innings, then score five with two outs in the ninth to win? Come from 11 runs down and win in 29 innings? Activate Nolan Ryan and have him pitch the ninth?"

6. There are so many bizarre decisions that keep on turning out well for Phil Garner. Willie Taveras hasn't started the last two games. So he came in yesterday to pinch run, and scored the winning run in the 7th on a sac fly. Orlando Palmeiro would've made that play close if he'd run, but having Willie there ensured he'd get home. He's fast. Then in the 8th, Willie goes to the wall in straightaway center field to catch a ball on the hill. That hit travelled probably 425 feet. Anywhere else in the park, it would have been gone. And if anyone but Willie had been in centerfield, it would have been a hit.

7. Those of us at the stadium, at least those around me, never realized that La Russa had been tossed. I didn't know till we were listening to the post-game show on the way home. I guess he was ejected while he was still in the dugout, then came out to argue. We never saw the ejection, just the extensive arguing, and couldn't figure out why the umps were letting Tony jabber on for so long.

8. My name didn't get drawn for World Series tickets. Anybody that did??? Otherwise, if the Astros get one more win I'll be hitting ebay.

Sunday, October 16, 2005

OH. MY. GOD. I CANNOT

OH. MY. GOD. I CANNOT HANDLE THIS. SERIOUSLY.

The Astros won Game 4. By a score of 2-1. With a man on 3rd and no outs, they somehow got Pujols trying to get home on a grounder by Reggie Sanders. Then, incredibly, Lidge somehow got Mabry to ground into a double play to end the game.

I don't know how the Astros managed to hang on and win that game. But they did.

My ears are still ringing from all the insanely loud cheering.

The Astros have three chances to get to the World Series and their names are Pettitte, Oswalt, and Clemens. I like their odds.

Sunday, October 16, 2005

My half of the 20K

My half of the 20K relay this morning was one of my most painful runs ever, but I'm happy to report that the outcome was great! The Blogstas (that would be Cassie and me) combined to finish in 2:12:48. Cassie rocked the first half in 1:04:46 (and she's coming back from injury, people!) while I took a leisurely 2-mile walk to the exchange point with Curt (who was running with Debbie), Jessica (who I met in person for the first time), and other relay runners. We were passed by the lead runners before we had even walked the couple miles out there! We also spotted Jon riding in the police pace car! Sweet ride, Jon. ;)

I didn't see Cassie go past, but her boyfriend Manny told me she was just a couple minutes away. After a quick chip exchange, off I went. I must have been excited about running in a race for the first time since June, because I took off and did the first mile in 10:00 flat -- WAY too fast for me at my current level of fitness, especially since I hadn't done 10K since the spring. I felt it immediately, as my legs immediately began to burn.

This is a recurring problem for me, and is always especially bad after I've taken an extended break from serious running. Whatever muscle it is that runs up the front of your ankle and up the outside of your shin bone -- that's what tightens. That's what burns. I stopped to walk a couple short bits in the first 1.5 miles hoping that would help the muscle loosen, and as I walked I felt like my feet were just slapping the ground, as if I had no control over my ankles. It's hard to explain. I feel like there must be some stretch I can do to lessen the problem, but I haven't found it yet.

Anyway. I worried momentarily that I might not be able to make it the whole way, but by mile 2 the burning was starting to subside. Miraculously, I was still maintaining about a 10:30 pace. As I passed the finish line to begin the third and final lap of the race, I saw Jon again, sans police car this time.

As I headed back out Allen Parkway I got into a bit of a groove. The run was hard, but the pain in my legs had subsided to a dull ache and I found myself thinking that I should just keep pushing so that I could be as far as possible before the inevitable bonk! ;) With 5K down (and 15K for The Blogstas) I spotted Holden stretching by the side of the road. I hollered at him, and we chatted for a few minutes before he left me in the dust. ;) I managed to keep him in my sights for most of the rest of the race though, so whether he knows it or not, he was pacing me!

Since I had the second half of the relay, I had to deal with the sun. It wasn't particularly hot (which is very good) but it was annoying to have it in my face. As a result, I stared at the pavement a lot. By the time I passed the 12-mile marker (0.4 left) I knew I was going to end up with a good run despite the fact that I was so tired and my legs were really hurting. I picked up the pace just a bit, passed Jon one more time, and even managed to sprint the last hundred yards to the finish. I only saw Curt -- I ran right past Cassie and Manny and didn't see them, and they didn't see me. That's cause I'm so speedy. ;)

My 10K time -- 1:07:51, or 10:57/mile. By my watch, anyway, though the official time says 1:08:02. I guess there were a couple seconds of chip transfer, etc.

I am really happy with my run. I hadn't done that distance or that pace in months, and I'm pumped that things came together today despite the many aches and pains and issues. It was great to finally meet Cassie and Manny and Jessica as well (and Vic, I must have missed you!). Debbie and Curt finished their relay in style, with Debbie running a 10K for the first time ever and Curt getting in a good run after his marathon a few weeks ago. Michelle did the entire 20K as she continues to prepare for the marathon in January. All in all, everyone I talked to had a good day!

Now go read Cassie's report!

Saturday, October 15, 2005

This morning I was in

This morning I was in Los Angeles but that feels like a long time ago! We got up at 4:00 am in order to get to LAX in plenty of time for our 6:55 flight back to Houston. We got home just after noon, and after dropping George off and running past my apartment to drop off my suitcase, Jason and I headed to the ballpark for Game 3 of the NLCS -- Roger Clemens vs. Matt Morris.

It was sort of a pitchers' duel. The Astros went up 2-0, then the Cardinals tied it, then the Astros went up 4-2. Lidge gave up a run in the 9th but held on for the save as the Astros won 4-3 to go up 2-1 in the series. I'm feeling cautiously optimistic about our chances. Brandon Backe is starting tomorrow and I'm hoping he's a little more "on" than he was last Sunday in the 18-inning game.

My bug bites (I have decided they must be bug bites since they've lingered so long) are finally starting to fade, much to my satisfaction. I'm tired of looking like I have the plague.

On tap for tomorrow: running the 20K relay with Cassie and Game 4!

Friday, October 14, 2005

Ok. The mysterious insect bites

Ok. The mysterious insect bites have turned into nasty red welts, and have multiplied. They itch like crazy, and only got worse this morning. During the morning break in our brainstorming sessions, I went to the JPL clinic and had the experience of trying to explain who I was, why I was there, and why I really needed some Benedryl. The very nice nurse gave me an Allegra, and then some Benedryl for tonight. It seems to be helping a bit.

They are ugly, red welts. I have 50+ of them. Mostly on my arms, but also on my stomach, legs, ankle, and on the bottom of my right foot. I was extremely tempted to take a picture of my arms tonight and post it here. These are not mosquito bites. I will refrain for your sake, but I want to know what the HELL kind of bug it was that ate me alive, and where.

Ok, that's enough about how I look like I have the pox.

The first full day of our brainstorming session went well today. We had a lot of good conversation about EDL (Entry, Descent and Landing), but the bad part is that we didn't get much of substance down on paper, or, rather, on Powerpoint slides. Tomorrow morning we'll have to work on that, as our end goal is to have a presentation on where our strengths and weaknesses are, and how we think JSC and JPL can best collaborate for future lunar and Mars missions.

After lunch, we got a brief tour of some of the robotic facilities here at JPL including three different sandboxes with lots of cool rover robots. I think building robots would be a very fun job. Perhaps I should look into it. Except I know absolutely nothing about robots. I just think they're cool and rovers are cute. :)

Perhaps I have hives. I don't think I've ever had hives. What causes them? Ok, I know I said no more about my pox, but it is driving me crazy with all the itching, people! I can't trace anything that I've eaten or used in the last week that was out of the ordinary except the weirdly shredded fajita meat at the baseball game. My first thought was that a spider got caught under my bedsheet. At this point, I'm thinking it would have had to be a whole family of spiders.

Gaaaaaah. The itching. My God, the itching.

The Astros won tonight! YEAH! And Chris Burke, you just keep doin' what you're doin', man.

Thursday, October 13, 2005

I'm in Pasadena again for

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

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

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

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

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

Wednesday, October 12, 2005

If you love me, you

If you love me, you will go to Astros.com sometime between noon today and Friday and register your name for the drawing for World Series tickets (if the Astros win the NLCS). If your name is drawn, you will then buy 4 tickets, give at least one to me, and I will love you FOREVER.

SERIOUSLY. FOREVER.

Wednesday, October 12, 2005

5K! 34:33! 11:06 per mile!

5K! 34:33! 11:06 per mile! Woot!

Now, all the Houston Running Bloggers who run much faster than me (which is, really, everybody), please try not to laugh too hard at my excitement over tonight’s run. But it was a good one. I felt better than I have lately, and it showed in my speed. Or, "speed." At 11:00/mile, speed is a relative term.

I truly can’t explain why some runs just go better. I wish I could, so that I could somehow capture it. As far as I can tell, there are just some days when my body feels better, and also when my brain is prepared to handle a higher level of discomfort. Some days I just don’t want to work hard, and some days it feels good. Last night was obviously, one of those.

I wasn't in The Zone; I’ve been there before and it’s fabulous, but last night wasn’t like that. But I was zoned out for most of the run, which is almost as good. I thought about my trip to JPL (I’m leaving today), and about baseball. I thought a lot about baseball, as is probably evident if you read the post below. ;)

I ran on the afore-mentioned boring street outside my apartment complex. I ran around 8:00. I hadn't eaten since lunch, and hadn't had any fluids all afternoon except a coke. I got to bed too late last night and only got about 6 hours of sleep.

And yet I had a good run. Go figure.

Tuesday, October 11, 2005

A History of Baseball According to Sarah

I became a real baseball fan in 1994. This is strange for many reasons, not least of which is that 1994 was the year that the season ended in August, with no postseason, because of the players' strike.

I don't remember why I suddenly got into baseball. I'd paid peripheral attention to it over the years, and had been to the old Fulton County Stadium for a Braves game once on a choir trip, but thus far in my life the most attention I'd paid to a professional sport was to the NBA, for the first few years the Hornets were in Charlotte. But something about baseball stuck with me that summer between 10th and 11th grades. I remember being at the farm for two weeks, and going over to Uncle Joe's house each afternoon or evening to watch the Braves play on TBS. My cousin Michael was a big Phillies fan and we teased him mercilessly. The next summer, we used one of the days at the farm to drive the hour to Philadelphia and watch the Phillies take on the Braves in the Vet, a stadium that doesn't exist anymore.

I became a Braves fan for three reasons: they were the closest major league team to my home in Charlotte, they were always on TV thanks to Ted Turner and TBS, and hey, they were good. It's easy to root for a winning team. I can't profess to have been one of those Braves fans who stuck with them through the bleak 1980s (sorry, Carter and Dr. G), but I guess you could say I jumped on the bandwagon relatively early. Relative, at least, when you consider that 1994 was only 3 years into their incredible reign over their division.

The strike came, and it probably should have nipped my fandom in the bud. But it didn't. By October 1995, I was cheering in the parking lot of Kenan Stadium in Chapel Hill just after performing in a huge marching band competition as Marquis Grissom caught the ball and the Braves topped the Indians to win the World Series. My sister had been listening on a Walkman, and told me the news. We went back to my grandmother's condo and watched enless postgame coverage on TV.

The next summer I travelled to Atlanta to see a game with my friend Ginger, and that fall I enrolled at Georgia Tech. While my decision to go to Tech didn't have anything to do with baseball, the fact that the Braves played minutes away from campus was icing on the cake. The first thing I ever remember asking Carter to do for me was bring me a program from a 1996 World Series game he saw. I'd known him for probably a day and was already demanding things. I still have that program somewhere. The Yankees, of course, won the series.

In August 1997 I started co-oping in Houston and attended my first Astros game in the Astrodome. We sat in centerfield, where they had some guy dressed up in a military-ish uniform who shot a cannon each time a player hit a home run. That spring, Ginger came to visit me in Houston and we went to see the Astros take on the visiting Braves, who were still very much my team. The lady I lived with had given us some great tickets, about 10 rows back from the Braves dugout. We were in heaven.

In October 1999 I saw my first (and thus far, only) World Series. I managed to get standing room only tickets to Games 1 and 2 in Atlanta. The Yankees won both, and went on to sweep the Series. Freaking Yankees. I haven't been able to stomach them since.

I attended my fair share of Braves games over the years I spent at Georgia Tech. I went to a bunch of Astros games as well, both in the Astrodome and at the new Enron Field when it opened in 2000, during my six co-op tours in Houston. But the Braves were still my team, my boys. I couldn't imagine ever straying from that. Astros, sure, but Braves first. Always first.

In 2001 I moved to Palo Alto, California and tried to get used to the idea that my baseball experience would now involve a lot less of the Braves and a lot more of the San Francisco Giants and Oakland A's. I'd never really paid much attention to the American League, and still don't. Oh, I keep up with the players and general trends, but the National League is my home. I religiously watched the 2001 World Series between the Diamondbacks and Yankees, the first time I’d paid close attention to a series that didn’t involve the Braves.

I went to a handful of Giants games, including one where we sat a few rows behind Barry Bonds's kids. San Francisco's beautiful ballpark is what really began my quest to see all 30 baseball teams play in their home stadiums. I've checked 15, exactly half, off that list thus far, with many of those visited in the past 4 years.

In April 2002 I went to Opening Day for the A's. In May 2002 the Braves came to town to play the Giants and not a single one of my friends would go to the game with me. Not wanting to give up my one chance to see my boys, I went alone, bought a ticket off a scalper, and sat about 20 rows behind the Braves dugout talking to two old guys next to me. They knew the Giants, I knew the Braves; it was one of the best times I've had at a baseball game.

That summer I moved to Houston permanently. I went to a bunch of Astros games in 2002 and 2003, making special effort to attend every game of the once-a-season visit from the Braves. In 2003 I went on a baseball road trip with a group of friends, traveling to New York and Boston to see the Astros play the Yankees and Red Sox, and to see Yankee Stadium and Fenway Park. By sheer coincidence, we were sitting in the first row of seats in right field on June 11 when the Astros used 6 pitchers in a no-hitter against New York. It was one of the coolest and most bizarre baseball feats I will ever see.

In October 2003, while vacationing in Greece, I poked my head into a small bar on the island of Santorini to get an update on the Marlins-Cubs NLCS. Knowing only that something strange had happened, I used some of my precious minutes at an Internet cafe to read that the Cubs' curse had been extended after the infamous Steve Bartman reached over the rail to catch a fly ball away from Moises Alou.

In 2004, I decided it was time to make one of my closet dreams a reality and along with Jason and Chris, I became a baseball season ticket holder. We only had a third of the season (27 games), and the tickets were for the Astros (not the Braves), but it was close enough for me. When the Braves came to town early in the season, I cheered for them. Every other game I rooted for the Astros and came to know the team even better than I had during my six previous years of attending Astros games on and off. And it happened. I don't when, or why, or how. But it happened. I became an Astros fan, Braves second, Astros first. My Astros, first.

Of course, an ulterior motive for buying season tickets in 2004 was that it gave the opportunity to buy ticket to the Home Run Derby and All-Star Game at Minute Maid Park. We revelled in Lance Berkman's great showing at the derby as he smacked ball after ball over the train tracks and into the black night, a feat topped only by winner Miguel Tejada. We sympathized with Roger Clemens as he gave up 6 runs in his All-Star game star in his city, Houston, after exhausting himself acting as the ultimate city ambassador in the days before the game.

While I was hiking the Inca Trail in September, the Astros went on a 12-game win streak, part of their 36-10 finish. On the last day of the season, they redeemed themselves from being written off at the All-Star break and won the Wild Card.

I watched Games 1 and 2 in Atlanta, cheering as Jeff Bagwell hit his first postseason home run. I was in the stands for Games 3 and 4, leaving the latter in the 8th inning only to get to Edgar and Betsy’s wedding. The scary part is that they’d have understood if we’d been late to the nuptials. We all gathered to watch the crucial Game 5 and whooped as the Astros won their first postseason series and headed to St. Louis.

I was at Minute Maid Park when the Astros battled back to tie the NLCS 2-2, and from Section 311 I watched Brandon Backe toss a 1-hitter against an equally in-the-zone Woody Williams. When Jeff Kent hit a 3-run walkoff homer in the bottom of the 9th, I thought I would die. The 2004 NLCS Game 5 is arguably the best game, in any sport, that I have ever seen. I say “arguably” only because I was at the stadium again for last Sunday’s game.

I was at Opening Day again this year, even though we didn’t renew our season tickets. (We will next year.) I suffered with the team as they fell to 15-30 in mid-May, and perked up when Morgan Ensberg got hot and the team started to climb in the standings. I was way out in right field as the Astros won the Wild Card again, on the last day of the season, with a great Roy Oswalt performance and a win over the evil Cubs.

I spent the majority of last weekend at the ballpark once again as Oswalt pitched to a win on Saturday and we prepared for the potential clincher on Sunday. 6 hours, 18 innings, and 23 players later, the Astros were NLDS champions again, heading to St. Louis for a rematch. I will be at game this Saturday, and Sunday, and even Monday if Game 5 is necessary. I cannot wait to put on my jersey and get ready to scream some more.

As I thought about all this, I realized that I have been fortunate enough to see some spectacular baseball over the past decade. As the Astros face the Cardinals tonight in Game 1 of the NLCS, I hope that the next decade of my baseball fanship is even better.

Tuesday, October 11, 2005

I was supposed to travel

I was supposed to travel to JPL tomorrow for work (I know I was just there last week, but I'm going back again). However, our travel orders are completely wacked out and at the moment we have no idea when we're leaving because everything has to go back through the system and get approved all over again.

Sigh. Bureaucracy can be so frustrating when everything is way more complicated than necessary.

Monday, October 10, 2005

How crazy is this --

How crazy is this -- both Lance Berkman's grand slam and Chris Burke's walk-off homer were caught by the SAME FAN.

Sunday, October 09, 2005

Jen's photo of us celebrating.

Jen's photo of us celebrating.

Sunday, October 09, 2005

for it's root, root, root for the home team / if they don't win it's a shame

OH. MY. GOD.

Today I saw the longest baseball game in postseason history. And my team won. It was one of the best games I've ever seen.

I had a feeling, as we drove to the ballpark shortly after 10:00 this morning. I had a feeling that the Astros would win. I don't know why, and I can't explain it. But I was confident. They were going to win. It was all part of my plan -- split in Atlanta, sweep at home, Astros win the series 3-1.

By the third inning, after Brandon Backe had given up a grand slam to Adam LaRoche and the Braves led 4-0 and Tim Hudson was groovin' on the mound, I began to worry. I still felt like they were supposed to win, but it wasn't looking good. Soon it was 5-0. Then 5-1. Then 6-1.

By the bottom of the 8th, the stadium was rumbling. We were trying to stay positive, but we were worried. Things didn't look good. I couldn't stop clapping the free noisemaker they were giving away. Who gives a noisemaker to 43,000 nervous baseball fans?? I'm sure everyone around me wanted to break the thing into bits.

The Astros got things started and then -- Lance Berkman! Grand slam! I screamed and screamed. We saw two grand slams in one game, and this one was for the home team. 6-5! We're only down by one run! It was a game again!

To the bottom of the 9th inning we go. One out. Two outs. I am wringing my hands, clapping the noisemaker like mad, as Brad Ausmus comes to the plate. He hits a long ball, and I see Andruw Jones chasing, but I can't tell where it hits the wall! It is above the line? Below the line? Aaaaaaaaaack, what's happening?!? I hold my breath. I look at Jason, who points at the umpire who is wiggling his finger in a circle in the air.

HOME RUN!!! The game is tied! I'm not even cheering anymore, no "woo" or "yay" or polite and restrained clapping. I'm just there, outright screaming bloody murder, it's absolute bedlam in the stadium and I'm jumping up and down so crazily that I'm sure at any moment I'm going to fall into the row in front of me. My throat hurts, but we're in extra innings, free baseball!

To the 10th. The 11th. The 12th. The 13th. The Braves have quite a few chances to score, making me even more nervous, but our bullpen keeps shutting them down. Brad Lidge escapes a jam. Dan Wheeler pitches beautifully. The game goes on, the scoreboard lighting up with zeros, as the Astros go through every available bench player, and every available bullpen pitcher.

The 14th. The 15th. Brad Ausmus moves to first base. Can he even play first base?!? Then they switch -- Raul Chavez to first base, and Ausmus back to catcher. This is crazy, people! This game is officially insane!

We take a peek at the bullpen, where, are you kidding me?? Roger Clemens is warming up. Clemens, who pitched Game 2, and whose day it is to throw between starts, is warming up in the bullpen. In the 16th inning, he comes into the game. Roger freaking Clemens is pitching in the 16th inning of Game 4 of the NLDS. We have no more pitchers. Oswalt pitched yesterday. Pettitte has to be saved in case we play tomorrow. There is no one left. The Astros order is so out-of-whack that we figure the only possible way for them to win is with a home run. The lineup is too screwy to play small ball. Someone has to launch it.

The 16th inning passes. And the 17th. We are in the bottom 18th inning. The game has been going for almost 6 hours, a new record for postseason baseball both in game length and number of players used. We are tired, we are spent, we have cheered for the duration of two baseball games and it's surprisingly draining.

We just want someone to win. We want someone to win it for the Astros. We don't want to see the team have to go to Atlanta tomorrow, and play a crucial Game 5 after exhausting everyone today. It is the 18th inning, and we wonder how much longer it can last.

Clemens bats first, and takes a mighty hack at the ball. He's trying, but soon he's out. The stadium sighs. We clap. And sigh.

Chris Burke is next. We watch, a little detatched. I am tired of standing up and sitting down. My hands hurt from clapping the noisemaker. My feet are sticky from the coke that someone spilled. My throat is raw from yelling. Please, Chris Burke, please.

He hits it. The ball flies as if it's in slow motion. It rises slowly, as it heads toward left field and the infamous Crawford Boxes. Home run territory. I swear you could feel the stadium collectively suck in air. For an instant, I swear you could hear a pin drop. The ball floats. I can't tell yet. Is it gone? Is it in the seats? Is this it??

The ball lands in the second row of seats and the stadium explodes with noise. Chris Burke has just hit a HOME RUN in the bottom of the 18th inning. The game is over. The Astros win the game, and the series, and are headed to the NLCS. As Burke is mobbed by his teammates and confetti starts to fill the air, we are all in the stands screaming. Just screaming.

The 6-hour marathon is over. Astros win!!

Saturday, October 08, 2005

I can't say that days

I can't say that days like this make all the summer heat bearable. But I can say that all the summer heat makes days like this feel even more amazing.

It's 72 degrees outside. 72! The humidity is low. Low! It's partly cloudy, but just enough sun to keep things bright and airy. In short, it is a PERFECT day, the type that Houston doesn't see nearly enough of.

Because of the weather, Vic specifically requested stories from today's runs, and I aim to please, party people! I did run today, around 1:30, and it was a good one, better than in months. I didn't even want to go (my motivation lately has been, ahem, lacking, to put it mildly), but I forced myself, knowing full well that days like these deserve to be taken advantage of. I went farther than I've gone since the spring, and still felt decent at the end. I ran in Nassau Bay, a nearby neighborhood on the water with lots to look at, so I enjoyed myself.

And did I mention the weather, OH, the weather was fabulous!

All in all I did 4.68 miles (according to Google pedometer). I didn't wear a watch, since I've misplaced the heart rate monitor sensor that goes with it. So I just ran. I did the distance in ~55:00, for a pace in the neighborhood of 11:45/mile. My half of the 20K relay next Sunday will certainly be slow, but at least I know I'll make it.

Friday, October 07, 2005

One first stab at a

One first stab at a Houston Running Bloggers logo...

Friday, October 07, 2005

"It's one of the great

"It's one of the great ironies of travel: You meet someone on a journey, come to know them intimately in just a few hours, then never see them again. You promise to keep in touch, but it seldom happens. When you return home, your own life takes over, and so does theirs. Inevitably, the connection begins to fade...

Sometimes you meet someone you know. You have spent nights together. You've campued together beneath the sky and sung songs together and drunk beer in each other's homes. You have hugged and cried and laughed together. And you've never met.

There are few such people in the world, but they are the ones you will always know and who will always know you. They are living in parts of the world where you haven't been. They are living lives you cannot know. They have kitchens with bright windows you can't imagine, where you had coffee. These are the people you meet, and know, before you speak...

...Even deep friendships are fragile. Someone you met on a journey years ago is out there. The friendship is not lost, only dormant, waiting for the spark of contact. Go. Find that person."

- Mark Jenkins, "Friends Forever," The Hard Way, Outside Magazine, October 2005

Thursday, October 06, 2005

It's been a while since

It's been a while since I've had something on my mind that I can't gripe about on my blog. Now I do. Two things, both appearing in my email box today, and read within minutes of each other.

Sigh. The worst part is that neither thing is my fault, and yet neither is something I know how to fix. I'm not sure if it's possible to fix them.

Thursday, October 06, 2005

Gotta go to bed. A

Gotta go to bed. A few thoughts...

California is great. It's hot, but not Houston hot. Pleasantly hot. With a breeze -- Santa Ana winds. I am dying to go running, but the opportunity has not presented itself. Today was full. Hopefully tomorrow I'll find a spare hour while the sun's still out.

Day 1 of the concept review was long, but interesting. I'm no longer worrying about having nothing to contribute, because I'm learning a lot. And -- and this sounds like a minor detail but really isn't -- I'm finally putting faces with names, and faces with the voices I've been hearing for more than a year on telecons.

JPL is awesome. It feels utterly and completely like a college campus, nestled in the hills. There are flat panel TVs showing Saturn, and Mars, and the Sun. The cafeteria is awesome, but it takes a long time to get your food. Pasadena is lovely. I could live here. I could totally live here. Except it did take me 15 minutes to find a freaking coke machine. Turns out it's in the basement.

The MSL team is a fun bunch. They are all older than me, and most have worked on other missions. They have a lot of great stories about backward star tracker doors, and mission controllers walking into the control room in bunny suits. No, not bunny suits like the Intel clean suits. Bunny suits, like the Easter bunny, with floppy ears.

We took a "break" this afternoon to go see a high bay covered in red dirt with a fully functioning MER rover, where they test-drive it, and bring in random kinds of clay to devise methods for getting the rovers un-stuck all the way out there on Mars. Very cool.

Finally met the infamous Dr. Braun, who's been an AE professor at Tech for two years now. Too bad he wasn't there when I was, he seems cool. Tech sounds like they are making a lot of changes for the better. A recent SSDL graduate who just started working out here told me that the undergraduate program at Tech seems hard, from what he saw while doing his M.S. He couldn't believe we didn't have a space option for senior design a mere four years ago. It's true, I told him. He was incredulous.

Had dinner tonight at Buca di Beppo. Me, another girl, and 20 men. That is a lot of men. Where are the women engineers? At least the men had lots of good stories. I got to share some good stories too.

Yesterday I told Gavin that I have limited interest in working on robotic missions, that if I work for the space program, human spaceflight is where I want to be, impacting people, working for people, with people. Today I'm reconsidering. JPL is cool. JPL people are cool. Mars is cool.

It was a good day.

Wednesday, October 05, 2005

california here we come / right back where we started from

I'm in California! Yes! Pasadena, to be specific. The weather is lovely and the streets are cute and quaint. It reminds me a lot of Palo Alto, except Pasadena is bigger. I can see the mountains out my window. Ahhhhh.

But on to bigger problems -- somehow the charger for my laptop did not make it into my bag. I wrapped it up last night, and it's probably sitting happily on my coffee table right now. GRR. Gavin's work laptop, also a Dell, doesn't have the same connector. When we went out for dinner, I even found an Office Max and I spent freaking $70 on an adaptor with 6 different plugs -- none of which fit my laptop. So now I'm $70 down and have 2 hours left of the battery life with which to do as much as I can of what I'd planned to do over the next few days when I'm not at the design review (namely: homework, my footprint paper for the Nice conference, and a bit more work on the RRCA convention website).

GRR.

Tuesday, October 04, 2005

I spent yesterday morning backseating

I spent yesterday morning backseating my first sim as an ARD! That's short for ARD Support Officer, yes, a shortened version that still contains an acronym. This is NASA, after all, king of acronyms. ARD stands for Abort Region Determinator. It's a tool used to model when the space shuttle passes into regions for the different ascent abort options. The job of the ARD Support Office is to make sure the model is always as accurate as possible. Honestly, it's a job that we wouldn't need if the ARD were just programmed better, but it was done in the early days of the shuttle and would cost a ton to update today. I don't really care either way; I'm just excited to finally be in the training flow for a flight control position!

I'm leaving this afternoon for a couple days at JPL to sit in on the MSL design concept review and hopefully both learn a lot and meet a lot of the people I've heard about and worked with. Gavin's going as well; he's actually the important once, since he's done the majority of the work and is presenting something both days. I'm cautiously optimistic about the trip. My biggest problem is myself -- I have to admit that I've been very cynical and pessimistic about Mars stuff lately, which isn't really good. Sigh. Why is it that I can recognize when I'm being dumb, and yet find it next to impossible to do anything about it?

I had class again last night, after an unexpected free week thanks to the hurricane madness. (I've decided that the whole Rita thing will always be referred to as the "madness" or the "chaos" from now on.) We presented our personal logos, the idea being to create something beautiful and elegant, simple yet complex...blah blah blah insert fluffy artsy words here. Anyway, here's what I came up with. I did it in something like 10 minutes, and then spent hours trying to figure out some way to make it more complicated or more involved before deciding that I liked it the way it already was. Plus, this way, it's simple enough that it reproduces well in all sizes, and could be printed in any color. Versatility, people! Like the Nike logo.

Elsewhere, I'm a camera ho and loving it.

And, the funniest line of the day from a Richard Justice article in the paper:

Me: "Would you agree the tombstone sports section turned this season around?"
Brad Ausmus: "It may have been a motivation for some players. It has been brought up quite a bit."
Me: "What about you?"
Ausmus: "I didn't really care."
Me: "I have a Hall of Fame vote. Want to rethink that answer?"
Ausmus: "What are you going to do? Keep me out of the Hall of Fame? I think I've done a good job of that all by myself."

Monday, October 03, 2005

Yay! I got to be

Yay! I got to be who I wanted with no fudging of the quiz. ;) Kaylee's so cute. And -- bonus -- gets to hook up with hot doctor! Of course, a lot of this probably has to do with the fact that I am a vehement "YES" to "People you love don't seem to notice you, no matter how hard you hint..."

You scored as Kaylee Frye. The Mechanic. You are a natural mechanic, and you are far too sweet and cheerful to live out here. How you can see the good in everyone around you boggles the mind occationally. Still you don't seem to be any crazier than that, and it is a nice kinda crazy. Kaylee Frye 81% The Operative 63% Hoban 'Wash' Washburne 56% Shepherd Derrial Book 56% Capt. Mal Reynolds 50% Simon Tam 44% River Tam 44% Zoe Alleyne Washburne 38% Inara Serra 31% Jayne Cobb 25% Which Serenity character are you? created with QuizFarm.com

Monday, October 03, 2005

Ah, the weekend. It was

Ah, the weekend. It was full.

Friday night was the long-awaited (for some) and the awaited-for-a-mere-week (for others, including me) opening night of Serenity, and it didn't disappoint. Without giving away too many spoilers for anyone who hasn't seen it yet, here are my reactions: I can't believe so-and-so died! It's about damn time so-and-so hooked up! And of course, the multitude of great dialog: "I'm a leaf on the wind, watch how I soar." "This is the captain, we have a little problem with our entry sequence so we may experience some slight turbulence and then explode." "Explode? I don't wanna explode!" "Did the primary buffer panel just fall off my gorram space ship for no apparent reason?" "The hell with this, I'm gonna live!" "No one's saying that. No one but Jayne is saying that." "You were watching? You see us fight? Trap."

I don't see it coming back as a TV show, which is disappointing. If it does come back, I'll jump for joy, but I just don't see it, especially after certain developments. Too much happened in the movie, too many huge world-changing events. It'd be tough to go back to the day-in day-out gritty jobs that made the TV show so entertaining. And then there's the whole pace of TV versus the movies -- as a TV show, there's enough time week in and week out to develop each of the characters and grow to empathize with them in ways that you can't do in a 2-hour feature film. While the movie is entertaining enough, I think, for people who have never seen the TV show, there are also a lot of little things happening that mean so much more if you've already watched 14 episodes worth of character development. The heart of the show, even though it was short-lived, wasn't the sci-fi part or the western part or the guns or the spaceship. The heart of the show was the characters, and how they formed their own little family.

Still, there are so many unanswered questions about the story that hopefully, at the least, there'll be sequels or prequels. 'Cause I'm totally in love with the doctor. Even though I missed his geeky vests from the TV show. (It works out surprisingly well that Cari wants Mal, Becca wants Wash, and I want Simon. Hey, one for each of us, and no arguing!)

Saturday afternoon was another soccer game in sweltering conditions which we lost terribly. Not very fun. Saturday night we all had dinner at Mely's since Jo was in town for the Aloha Fest.

Yesterday was another scorcher outside. I spent the morning shooting the Space City 10-Miler, where I finally had the pleasure of meeting Jon and Waverly and Holden for the first time, and Edwin for the second (they are some of the self-annointed Houston Running Bloggers). I think I saw Lisa as she ran past, but the heat took it's toll and she had to leave before I finished up with photos and got to the finish line.

I am greatly enjoying the fact that I'm starting to meet more and more area runners. And I recognize at least twice as many as I actually know -- I see the same people again and again through my camera lens each time I shoot a race. In fact, I think I've been enjoying the photography aspect so much that I've forgotten that it's also fun to run them. I must've been at least somewhat inspired though, because I did find time to go for a run -- on the treadmill, how masochistic of me -- last night between the Astros game and another showing of Serenity (for Becca's benefit, who as it turns out had already seen it, meaning I stayed up late for no good reason, well for a good reason, but still, I was tired when I had to get to work at 7:30 this morning, ok, runon sentence).

Anyway. I ran for 40 minutes, again doing the 5 minutes running, 30 seconds walking pattern, and covered another 3.4 miles. Slow. But I'll make 10K on the 16th somehow. :)

Sunday, October 02, 2005

Astros win the Wild Card!

Astros win the Wild Card! Woooooooo!

The stadium was nice and loud, and my nerves, already frayed, really started to go after the Cubs came back to go on top 4-3. But Jason Lane hit a monster home run, and Neifi Perez threw the ball away, and Qualls and Wheeler held it, and Lidge closed it out, and WHEW.

Astros win the Wild Card!