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Thursday, March 30, 2006

Today I got to work

Today I got to work at 10:00 -- truly a new low for me. I blame it all on my vacation hangover.

Going to Tahoe with some of my favorite people was the best vacation I have had in a long time. Patagonia was also awesome, of course, but something about this past week surpassed even that. Maybe it was the complete lack of internet access, maybe it was getting to celebrate my 28th birthday by skiing my first blue (intermediate) run ever, maybe it was a boy. Who knows, but the fact is this: I went on vacation and didn't think about Houston at all. (At one point I was asked "where are you from?" I answered, without hesitation, "North Carolina" and then had to backtrack with a "well, but now I live in Houston.") I didn't think about work at all. (I might have been hard-pressed to tell you where I worked if you'd asked me. I might have had to think about it for a moment.) Below are some highlights (more to come when I get other people's photos -- for once I didn't try very hard to get good shots).

Becca riding the magic carpet with me to the top of the beginner hill, all because I told her there was a hot Argentinian at the top:

Lake Tahoe on the evening of my birthday:

Me and Jose, the non-skiiers. We can ski now!

Proof that I was skiing blue runs by the 4th day:

Jen, Cari, and Steph before they made me ski down a cat track that would've been easy if it hadn't been narrow and scary!

Lake Tahoe from the top of a run at Alpine Meadows:

Blurry me playing in the powder:

Hot-tubbing with Cari and Matt in the snow:

It was an awesome vacation, and being back at work is a shock to my system. I have so, so much to do in the next few days.

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Do I really have to

Do I really have to come back to the real world? Vacation was so nice.

Thursday, March 23, 2006

The Yuri's Night race is

The Yuri's Night race is coming together at the last minute, as usual. Next year I hope to pass off organizing duties to someone else and take a year off. We shall see, though. Once it comes around, I'll probably want to do it again, forgetting how it stresses me out and how I procrastinate.

Last night I had to throw together a t-shirt design:

If you don't like it, please don't tell me, because I can't change it now! And no suggestive comments about its shape, immature people. It's a rocket. That's how they're shaped!

Last night Jen and I went to see Beauty and the Beast. It ended up being just the two of us after everyone else bailed, but we had a good time. I know I've seen the show before, but I can't remember where. Atlanta, maybe? Wherever it was, I saw the traveling cast, and I have to say that it was better than the TUTS version we saw last night. Oh, last night's was ok, just a little unpolished in spots. And the stage was covered with glow-in-the-dark tape. Guess they couldn't memorize their marks very well.

Tonight we leave for Tahoe!

I can't believe I'm going on vacation again already. (Sarah shakes head sheepishly.) It turns out that I have no idea how to pack for a skiing vacation, in which I will apparently be skiing, and skiing for multiple days, and needing clothes to handle all the skiing. Did I mention we're skiing? I don't know how to ski. Maybe this afternoon I'll just re-pack, and put in nothing but lounging-around-drinking-hot-chocolate-by-the-fire clothes. That could be a nice way to spend my "skiing" vacation.

After reading yesterday about my plan to start getting to work earlier, my dad called me this morning at 8:10 to test me -- to see if I was at work. I was pulling into the parking lot when the phone rang. Boo yeah! I win this round, Daddy-o.

Wednesday, March 22, 2006

What does it look like

What does it look like to sit underneath a glacier? Well, a bit like this. (The photo is of Jen and I marvelling at all the blue ice of Glaciar Viedma.)

Wednesday, March 22, 2006

Rumor has it that we

Rumor has it that we will be moving to a new work schedule at the beginning of April, one that is far more flexible than our current "core hours" model that requires us to be at work between 9:00 and 3:00 five days a week (and work the rest of your 8 hours per day sometime between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m.). If we're not here during core hours, we're supposed to take annual leave.

Under the new system, I'll only be required to work 8 days per pay period (instead of 10) as long as I get my 80 hours in. That means that I could work 10 hour days and take every Friday off if I wanted, or work 10 hours days for eight days and take a four-day weekend. It also means -- and this is what I plan to do most pay periods -- that I can work 9 hours Monday through Thursday, and get every other Friday off. 9-80s. Then Kent won't be able to email me on Thursdays and gloat about how it's almost the weekend for him and him alone.

Anyway, that long-winded explanation of the upcoming change in time schedule is my way of saying that I've realized I'm going to need to start coming in to work before 9:00. Because I don't want to be sitting here until 6:30 every day to get my 9 hours in. I need to get back to the point where I'm in at 8, and so today I started shifting my schedule. I got in at 8:20! Go me.

The next two weeks promise to be busy, busy, busy. It seems like I just got back from vacation (ok, so I did just get back), but tomorrow night I am heading to Tahoe with a whole gaggle of people (Becca, Cari, Jose, Gavin, Jen, Matt, Stephanie and others) for five days of skiing and other assorted snowy activities. We'll be back next Wednesday evening. Then, April 1 is the third annual Yuri's Night race (sign up!). April 2 is the first game of the Houston Dynamo, the new major league soccer team, so obviously I'm going to that. And then, drumroll please... April 3 is Astros Opening Day! Wooooooo!

Then on April 7 I get to go home to beautiful, lovely Charlotte for the weekend to see Andrew finally marry Sari. It's only been, like, 9 years in coming.

Tuesday, March 21, 2006

I just did my taxes.

I just did my taxes. It took about 15 minutes, and I get $82 back!

I couldn't resist calculating what I'd get back if I weren't an honest person, and didn't report the income I made from photography last year. $407.

I'm never buying a house. Taxes are way easier without a house.

Tuesday, March 21, 2006

I am laughing so very

I am laughing so very hard: "Glory Days Long Past for Stanford Tree."

It's been a busy day of watching a sim and flying the shuttle. Which I crashed the first time and had to take a second run to redeem myself. Seems that I am not so good at straightening out off the HAC to line up with the runway. You know, minor details. Ah well. That's why I'm not an astronaut. ;)

I started packing for Tahoe last night. This is noteworthy because I Suck with a capital S at packing in advance. We're leaving Thursday, and I started packing on Monday. Wow.

This is a boring blog entry.

Monday, March 20, 2006

Last weekend (the 11th) I

Last weekend (the 11th) I shot some photos at the RRCA National Convention Awards Banquet. They came out ok -- not fantastic, but well enough that I'm not totally embarassed. As I was going around taking photos of people at the different tables, one guy decided to take a photo of me. I was very amused, and even more so this morning when I found out that he emailed it to me! Runners are funny, awesome people. :)

In other big running news, I ran yesterday! Yes, me, Sarah -- I ran. After I halfheartedly tried and failed to put together a relay team for yesterday's Seabrook Marathon, Buzz talked me into running the second lap with her. (She was doing the full as a training run. She's training for a 50K.) It was the first time I'd run since before Patagonia, and the only reason I agreed to go with her was that I needed something to get me going again. I used to run with Buzz fairly regularly, but she has gotten much, much faster than me since she's basically constantly in training for some long-distance event. I slowed her down quite a bit on her second lap, but she said she didn't mind, so...

I must admit that I didn't run the entire lap. There's one short out-and-back section on the way back to the start/finish line, and I let Buzz do that herself while I took an extended walking break. But all in all, I did about 6 miles with her in 1:12. Slow, sure, but at least I did it. And in less-than-ideal weather; it wasn't too hot, but it was humid enough to leave me looking like I'd jumped in a pool!

It was nice to be out there with runners again. I saw Steve, Holden, and my coworker Darrin doing the full, Michelle doing the half, and Keith doing a leg of the relay. I missed David and Jacklyn (didn't realize they were there). :( I left pretty quickly after finishing my lap with Buzz due to a combination of being a bit overheated and the fact that I didn't end up doing photos after all, so I'm sorry that I didn't get to talk to any of the HRBers more extensively than my "Go Steve," "Go Holden," and "Go Keith" calls as I passed each of them.

I'm a bit sore today. But a good sore. I gotta start running again.

Other than running, it was a pretty tame weekend. Soccer on Saturday, where we lost miserably, mainly because our regular goalie wasn't there and none of the rest of us can play keeper worth a darn. Yesterday afternoon I made it to the last day of the rodeo with Jose, Jen, Becca, and Cari. Jose and Jen and I went early enough to ride the carnival rides -- one that left us hanging upside down with a mean head rush, then bumper cars, then the dungeon drop, then something that spun and pinned you to the wall and made me want to puke, and finally the ferris wheel. Fun, fun.

And later this week we all go to Tahoe!

Friday, March 17, 2006

After a long but busy

After a long but busy week, I had enough hours to leave work before 4:00 today and get a pedicure.

The last time I had a pedicure was Tuesday, October 18, 2005. I remember this date for one reason: it was the day after Game 5 of the NLCS. That was the game where all of us in the stadium thought the Astros were about to go to the World Series. Where they were one out away. Where Albert Pujols hit a monster home run to send it to Game 6 in heart-stopping fashion. I was so bummed the next day that I got a pedicure to cheer myself up.

I must be the only girl alive who remembers when she had her last pedicure based on a baseball game.

Friday, March 17, 2006

Studying for the GRE with

Studying for the GRE with help from Shiloh the dog. Emily is too funny.

Friday, March 17, 2006

Last night we won our

Last night we won our first softball game of the season. I went 3-for-4 with 2(?) RBIs, which I would totally be gloating about if it weren't for the fact that Jen with 4-for-4 with 5 RBIs. All gloating rights therefore fall to her this week.

I got to work a FDO-Booster sim this morning, which is a little different from the sims I normally work. Same phase of flight, obviously, since my job only exists during ascent, but this morning's sim focused on main engine problems and each run stopped shortly after powered flight. This means we got to do seven runs instead of the normal four. Everything went pretty well until the final run, when I had my finest ARD moment to date...

Something major went wrong at liftoff and none of the engine commands made it onboard. Therefore the engines didn't throttle. Therefore the crew had to do it manually. I have never, ever seen anything like this case before, so when TRAJ called me with:

"ARD, TRAJ, what do you want me to do?"

I got to respond with:

"I don't knooooooowwwwww!!"

In a slightly panic-striken way. Good times.

I am so happy it's Friday. This has seemed like the longest week EVER. And now of course it will be a short weekend since I have over-scheduled myself already, at least for Sunday when I am supposed to run a lap of the marathon with Buzz, then jump in to take photos, then go to the rodeo. Whew.

Thursday, March 16, 2006

Dude. I was so productive

Dude. I was so productive today. It felt pretty good.

Thursday, March 16, 2006

Fondue is good. Really good.

Fondue is good. Really good. Even if it takes almost four hours to eat dinner, it's worth it.

We had an unintentional girls night at The Melting Pot yesterday in very belated honor of Cari and Becca's birthdays, both of which actually occurred in February. But, better late than never, so Becca, Cari, Jen, Sara and I headed downtown sans boys (because none of them wanted to come) for what became a very fun night -- even if it being a girls night meant that the conversation turned interesting and involved a few choice phrases being embarassingly broadcast at Becca-decibel-level to anyone within earshot. Heh. Anyway, we had two different kinds of cheese fondue, then three meats in two broths, and then both a milk and dark chocolate dessert fondue. MMM. It was delicious.

=======
Links for today:

There's a nice article in USA Today about the Astros and the process of building a major league roster.

The BBC has a good article about Europe's next Mars mission, scheduled for 2011. They're trying to figure out if they can feasibly turn their "carrier" spacecraft into a true orbiter with data relay capability, so that they don't have to rely on NASA's MRO (which, in 2011, will already be doing data relay for MSL).

Turn your photos into polaroids! (Beware -- it crops everything to a square. But still cool. How do websites like this work?)

Wednesday, March 15, 2006

My graduate project for web

My graduate project for web design will be the following:

You will be responsible for coming up with your own Graduate project. You will need to come up with your own project idea and develop a strong concept behind that project. A part of this must be a strong research component.

I could give you a direction, but after talking to several of you, it was clear that everyone has a different direction that would help further their career. This will give you a chance to make that project you need for your personal growth and/or resume.

Of course, this should be a *much* larger project than any one of the projects, including the final project. The number of pages, images, links, and artistic elements needs to be much higher and a higher quality than anything the undergraduates are working on.

I will also need to approve your project before you start. So you will need to turn in a 1000 word proposal that highlights the need, your concept, and a bit describing what the project will physically (virtually) look like.

As always, the techniques and visual structure that you use will be entirely up to you.

So. I get to basically do whatever I want as long as its complex enough. Anybody need a complicated website I could build for them?

Wednesday, March 15, 2006

I got taken down memory

I got taken down memory lane in a couple random ways last night...

Nacho is running away to Mexico for a week and a half that includes his birthday, and then I'm running away to Tahoe for a week that includes my birthday, so we decided to celebrate in advance with a birthday dinner in Kemah last night. We went to Landry's and had lots of food, capped off with key lime pie, which was very yummy.

The waitress totally thought we were on a date, which was very funny and reminded me of the hilarious conversation Nick and I had back at Stanford when we went to a dance together and tried to explain to the very cute but very foreign Tibor (a Slovakian guy) that Nick was my date yet it was not a date nor were we dating. Ah, good times. I want to go back to Stanford and make it somehow last longer than nine months. There were some bad times there, to be sure, but there were some really good ones too.

I came home to a message on my phone from Jelly Santelli, who was sitting in Florida at the Disney baseball complex (or whatever it's called) watching the Braves play the Astros in spring training. He saw someone wearing a "Mrs. Javy" shirt (despite the fact that he doesn't play for the Braves anymore) and called to say it made him think of the "Javy is a Jottie" sign that Katie and I made along with our cousins way back when (1994?). I hadn't thought about that in a long time. We drove up to Philadelphia from the farm to see the Braves play the Phillies, and we took signs with us. Javy is a Jottie. Hahahaha.

Anyway. This concludes today's blog entry that was full of reminiscing and inside jokes that you'd only get if I've told you the story. Well, or if you were there.

Hahaha.

Tuesday, March 14, 2006

From Monday's Daily Show: "Man

From Monday's Daily Show: "Man took his first tentative steps on the moon in 1969 and since then, frankly, its been a bit of a disappointment. Doesn't really do a whole lot except sit there controlling tides and trying to make stuff romantic..."

And later, after making fun of SMART-1's (an ESA spacecraft) plan to crash into the moon: "Is that all they got now, have we truly run out of experiments to do on the moon, we're just gonna crash something into it and see what happens? There's so much still exciting to see! I got an idea -- why don't we send a werewolf to the moon? Because I wonder: would being so close to the moon would make him a werewolf all the time? Or would he only transform when standing on the light side of the moon? THESE ARE THE QUESTIONS WE NEED ANSWERS TO!"

I love it when Jon Stewart makes fun of my business.

Tuesday, March 14, 2006

My desktop background randomizer just

My desktop background randomizer just switched to a gorgeous photo of the Cuernos Del Paine (in Torres Del Paine National Park in Chile, of course). And finally, finally, I was able to say to myself think: "Been there, done that."

Happy sigh.

Tuesday, March 14, 2006

I hate the dentist. I

I hate the dentist. I can't feel my mouth or lips. I just ate a Frosty and kept on accidentally smearing it all over my lips. I just wanted it in my stupid mouth! Sigh. At least I was able to amuse the lunch crowd with my awkward speech and chewing. :D

Monday, March 13, 2006

I've been working on and

I've been working on and off on a project for the last couple years. More off than on. It suffered a lot of setbacks, but none was bigger than the fact that as I tried and failed to get it working, I simply lost my motivation to work on it. It was my project and my responsibility, and yet despite my efforts (I would've said best efforts, but that would obviously be a lie) I let it sit around going nowhere fast, working on it in fits and starts here and there but never really concentrating on it hard enough to get it to an end. My last big push was last fall, and the results were bad, and so I let it sit some more. Have you ever done that? Known that you should be working harder, felt guilty about slacking on something you know could be great if you gave it the time, and yet let it die anyway? That's what I did.

Now the plug is about to be pulled.

And while I'm a little relieved that it won't be hanging over my head anymore, I'm mostly just mad at myself for letting things get to this point. I had a lot of opportunities to make something of this project, and to take it somewhere potentially cool, but I didn't. It's no one's fault but mine, and now that the coffin is officially being prepared, I feel really, really lousy.

Monday, March 13, 2006

Some pics from the Bayou

Some pics from the Bayou City Classic including yours truly in photographer mode, courtesty of Edwin, here and here.

Monday, March 13, 2006

Google has a great header

Google has a great header today, that links to the even cooler Google Mars! Make sure to check all the different stuff they have there, including elevation, visible, and IR maps along with pinpoints for mountains, canyons, and even the spots where we've put landers and rovers.

VERY COOL, Google.

I had a very relaxing weekend, well, at least what passes for relaxing in Sarah-land these days. After getting back from JPL around 9:00 Friday night and going to bed before 11:00 (ah, sleep, glorious sleep), I only had three things on the agenda: taking pictures at Saturday morning's Bayou City Classic 10K, taking pictures at Saturday night's RRCA Awards Banquet, and playing soccer last night. (The referee never showed up, so we only scrimmaged. Disappointing.) The race was the most fun of the three, since I saw a bunch of my fellow Houston Running Bloggers for the first time since before Patagonia (I'm sure I'll forget someone, but I caught Sam, Lisa, Steve B, Steve S, Cassie, Holden, Dalton, and Jen through the camera lens, and then saw others including Erica, Jessica, Joe, and Edwin afterwards). And speaking of running, this week I plan to get back on track with a few runs myself.

With my three committments out of the way, I spent the rest of the weekend being extremely lazy. Which was very, very nice, even if it wasn't very productive. Still not done, and thus on the list for yet another weekend: taxes, vaccuuming, servicing the Xterra.

Friday, March 10, 2006

At 2:10 Pacific time, I

At 2:10 Pacific time, I was counting down the last five minutes awaiting first signal from the Mars Reconaissance Orbiter as it reemerged from behind Mars, successfully in orbit after a long journey. I watched the mission controllers cheer and clap with a silly smile on my face. It was sooooooooo cool. SO COOL. I hope I can be there again when MSL lands in five years.

Five hours later, I am back in my apartment.

Corporate jet is definitely the way to travel.

Thursday, March 09, 2006

I'm going on a quick

I'm going on a quick trip to JPL for tomorrow's Mars Reconaissance Orbiter (MRO) Mars Orbit Insertion (MOI). Translation: MRO is arriving at Mars and will burn its engine to slow down enough to be captured by Mars's gravity and go into orbit around the red planet. We leave in a couple hours, and get back late tomorrow night.

I'm very excited to have the opportunity to watch the manuever live at JPL. If all goes as planned, MRO will begin its burn at 1:24 p.m. Pacific time and continue burning as it goes behind the planet, cutting off the engine at 1:51. JPL flight controllers will get confirmation at 2:16 p.m. Pacific time (also known as 4:16 p.m. for those in Houston, and 5:16 p.m. for those on the east coast) when MRO emerges from behind Mars.

Watch on NASA TV or online if you're interested!

Thursday, March 09, 2006

An 8:20 dentist appointment sounded

An 8:20 dentist appointment sounded like a really good idea when I scheduled it. I'd be up at a good hour, get the dentist out of the way for another six months, and even get to work by 9:30 or so. It sounded like a good idea...until I actually had to get up, and ended up in a dentist's chair at the afore-mentioned 8:20 a.m., which is earlier than I've been at work in a loooong time. Well, except on sim days, anyway. I warned the dental hygenist that I might fall asleep. She just laughed.

So he wants to fill three small cavities. Three. "Oh, they're small," he says. "We can go ahead and do that, and the benefit is that the teeth will be numb so I can put some desensitizer on them." (My teeth have become sensitive in the last few years. They think it might be because I clench them when I am stressed. This is plausible; I notice myself doing it sometimes.) Anyway, I wanted to stop and just say HELLO DENTIST DUDE. I brush and floss every freaking day, and this is what I get? Three cavities? What a bunch of crap!

So now I get to go back to the dentist next week. Twice in one week! What did I do to deserve that kind of torture?

Oh, and why is it that the dentist can always find time to fit you in sometime the next week -- or even the next day -- or even today (they asked if I could stay right then) -- but I have to wait a month to get an appointment with other doctors?

Grr. Stupid dentist.

On a happier note, I totally rocked the new procedures in the sim last night. George had the case in the morning sim, when I was just observing. He did it right, but then second-guessed himself. They're new procedures, and I would've done the exact same thing. But we worked it out in the morning sim, so when I had basically the same case in the evening sim, I knew exactly what to do. And at the end of the night, the FDO gave me props for it. Said it was about the smoothest he'd ever seen a new procedure go. YAY ME!

Wednesday, March 08, 2006

Another day with two ascent

Another day with two ascent sims = no time to blog.

Tuesday, March 07, 2006

One of my favorite things

One of my favorite things about vacation is that even when it's busy, there is downtime. We had a pretty tight schedule planned for the limited time we had in South America, and we accomplished it all -- did all the hikes we wanted to do, saw all the sights we wanted to see. Even with our hectic schedule, there was plenty of downtime while traveling from one place to another, or just taking an hour or two to relax and sit around.

With the downtime, I always read. I read all the time when I was a kid, but I realized that lately, all my reading is done while on vacation. The sad part is that I have a very specific process of vacation reading.

First, of course, is the guidebook. Usually something from Lonely Planet, but this time it was Moon. I always read the guidebook obsessively. I read about the history of where we're going. I read about the attractions. I read about how to get there, how to get around, and where to do laundry (and we don't even do laundry on vacation). I study the maps in great detail, which has the added bonus of giving me a good sense of direction once we arrive. I even read about places we're not going, and places I'll probably never go. I read the language section in the back, where it tells you how to say necessary phrases such as "hello," "where is the bathroom," and "My friend twisted her ankle on a glacier, do you have an ace bandage?" (The last one, of course, also involves a lot of hand-waving.)

I also can't keep myself from reading the parts that I find most interesting out loud. This bothers Karen and Becca to no end, I might add, which just makes me want to do it even more. :)

So I love to read the guidebooks, and learn all the nitty gritty information. I suppose this shouldn't be much of a surprise to certain people like Kent, who once saw me pass the time driving from Atlanta to Jefferson City by studying each and every page -- in detail -- of the Rand McNally Road Atlas. I love guidebooks, and I love maps.

After I've devoured the guidebook like a good little tourist, I have time to read whatever else I brought along, or, in the case of this trip, whatever someone else brought along. Over the last few days of the trip I got halfway through Becca's book. It's a novel by some famous Latin American author and takes place in a fictional country modeled on Chile. It was interesting enough to get me reading quickly while we were still in South America, but in the week since I've been back, the book -- still only halfway finished -- has been lying on my couch.

I used to read all the time, and now I never do. I've even fallen behind on my magazines. I've got at least two issues of Outside and four of Backpacker sitting around that I haven't read. And the thing is, I miss reading. I don't know what I do with that time these days; I suppose I probably spend it on the computer, working on a website or some kind of graphic design now that I've been taking a class.

I want to find more time to read. Reading is fun.

I finished my second web design project. It's stupid. The assignment was to create a family album, but he said we could interpret "family" in whatever way we wanted. After enduring endless comments about the camera store in my backpack (and along with my humble opinion that most online family albums are cheesy), I decided to be a little silly and make a "family album" of my camera equipment. Here it is. It's full of rollovers and navbars, which is very uncharacteristic of my sites. I tend to dislike the flashy stuff more than I like it, merely because it's usually done badly. But such was the assignment. Sigh.

Monday, March 06, 2006

Today my brother is 26.

Today my brother is 26. Happy Birthday David!

Monday, March 06, 2006

Score! :) You scored as

Score! :)

You scored as Serenity (Firefly). You like to live your own way and don’t enjoy when anyone but a friend tries to tell you should do different. Now if only the Reavers would quit trying to skin you. Serenity (Firefly) 81% Deep Space Nine (Star Trek) 69% SG-1 (Stargate) 63% Moya (Farscape) 63% Babylon 5 (Babylon 5) 56% Nebuchadnezzar (The Matrix) 56% Andromeda Ascendant (Andromeda) 44% Millennium Falcon (Star Wars) 44% Galactica (Battlestar: Galactica) 44% Enterprise D (Star Trek) 38% FBI's X-Files Division (The X-Files) 31% Bebop (Cowboy Bebop) 31% Your Ultimate Sci-Fi Profile II: which sci-fi crew would you best fit in? (pics) created with QuizFarm.com

Monday, March 06, 2006

I've been catching up on

I've been catching up on everyone's blogs and just read on Cassie's blog about the trail run she did with Jon, Rick, and Dave. Fun! It reminded me that I should mention the one "run" that I did while in Patagonia. Last Saturday we were hiking towards Gray Glacier, and no one else felt as up for the hike as me, so at one point they turned around to head back to the refugio while I pressed ahead to get a little closer to the glacier.

About an hour later the weather began to look really nasty up ahead, so I made the decision to turn around and head back. I climbed back up the ~150 meters I had descended, which took a little while because 1) it was uphill and 2) I kept stopping to take pictures. By the time I reached the top, the sun was out again and it was beautiful. Stupid unpredictable Patagonia weather! Rather than turn around again, I decided to just head back to the refugio since I guessed (correctly) that the Cuernos del Paine were probably finally in sunshine and would make for a great photo.

The rest of the way back was mostly downhill, and I was feeling good, so (and here's where the HRBers can be proud) I ran a lot of it. Yup. Ran down the trail, feeling good, in my hiking boots. It was a lot of fun, and got me down to the bottom with lots of time to take photos of the Cuernos.

For the future, though, I don't recommend running in hiking boots. I had some very interesting blisters the next day and my knees had been replaced by those of a 90-year-old.

Monday, March 06, 2006

I got back from Patagonia

I got back from Patagonia and was forced to hit the ground running. I am still playing catch-up with email (apologies if I owe you an answer for something and haven't gotten back to you yet), homework (why why why did I not drop the web design class?), sleep, and life in general. I'm going out of town for 24 hours this week, leaving on Thursday night to go to JPL for a meeting on Friday, and coming back Friday night. Before that, there are multiple going-away festivities for Chris, who's moving to Denver (sadness, but at least I'll have someone to visit in Denver). This weekend is the RRCA Convention. With luck, I'll catch up before we go to Tahoe at the end of the month for skiing.

I know I'm starting to sound like a broken record, but I really don't know when life got so busy.

The weather was lovely on Friday so Matt had the brilliant idea of heading to Kemah for happy hour. After that I went bowling for the first time in...gosh, I don't know, maybe two or three years? I got 106 in the first game, beating everyone I was with. Then I got 99 in the second game, losing to everyone I was with. Apparently everyone else actually improved with beer.

Gilruth soccer has started up again so I had a game bright and early at 9 a.m. on Saturday. Miraculous, I actually played better with a lack of sleep. At one point I ended up playing midfield and was thiiiiis close to scoring my first goal (ever?) when I headed the ball off a corner kick. Unfortunately their goalie was really good and caught it. But I impressed everybody with my header. Yay. :)

Saturday evening was spent at the first going-away dinner for Chris followed by a trip to Boondoggle's, where I sat at the table attempting to make conversation until about 11:00, at which point I was so tired that I was literally falling asleep at the table. I'm not kidding. I think at one point I must've said something completely bizarre to Nacho in my very tired state, because I sort of woke up and realized he was giving me a very strange look in response to whatever I'd just said. Yep. Falling asleep sitting at the table. So I went home, at which point I didn't take out my contacts, didn't brush my teeth, didn't even turn on the lights, just put on pajamas and collapsed into bed.

Yesterday morning I headed to Bath Junkie for Sonia's bridal shower. She and Paul are getting married the same weekend as Andrew and Sari, so unfortunately I can't make their wedding, but at least I made the bridal shower. Then last night it was time for another soccer game (and more bruises), followed by watching the Oscars while attempting to do homework.

And another busy week lies ahead.

Sunday, March 05, 2006

Becca posted her photos. Some

Becca posted her photos. Some favorites:

+ Me doing my photo thing again
+ Me doing my photo thing again part 2
+ I can totally lift this glacier
+ Dude we're on a glacier!
+ AE Female Mafia strikes again
+ Me and Sargento the horse and Martin peeking in the background
+ Gavin and me waiting to see some ice hit the water
+ This is a funny Becca self-portrait
+ Jen looking appropriately windblown (it was crazy windy)
+ Me and the Cuernos!
+ Me and the Cuernos - silly/scary version and I have bread crumbs on my lip, nice.
+ Me looking cold cause it was freaking windy
+ Shooting penguins (shooting with a camera)
+ Penguin action shot
+ Me in the Santiago hostel (with the camera that was apparently permanently attached to my hand)
+ Funny airport sculpture
+ Enjoying our NOT FREE welcome drink in Santiago

Friday, March 03, 2006

Some favorites from Karen's photos,

Some favorites from Karen's photos, including many silly ones of me. (So sue me, I like funny photos of me in exotic places. I like to prove I was there.) I've got plenty of scenery shots that I took myself, so I like a lot of the shots Karen got of all of us. :)

+ Me, probably digging into my "camera store"
+ Here's where we are!
+ Little Nacho!
+ Me and Fitz Roy (I'm totally printing this one for me to remember forever)
+ Me taking pictures (this happened a lot, but in this one I have crampons!)
+ Baileys with glacier ice
+ Yep, that's a lot of meat
+ Martin! Yay Martin.
+ Required Rio Gallegos LSO photo
+ Martin needs a bigger car
+ Las Torres!
+ Chillin' out
+ Jen crossing the sketchy tree "bridge"
+ Crazy Americans (and we wonder why we're perceived as loud and obnoxious)
+ Cocoa anyone?
+ Spying on the penguins
+ At the Santiago airport :(

Friday, March 03, 2006

Patagonia photos. Only 300 of

Patagonia photos. Only 300 of them, and only converted to JPG, no post-processing done yet (and some of them need a little).

The basic route map, courtesy some webpage Karen linked to.

Karen's photos are up also.

Grin.

Thursday, March 02, 2006

There's nothing like coming back

There's nothing like coming back from a great vacation, going to work at 8 a.m. to watch a morning ascent sim, having just enough time for a quick lunch, then going back to work the afternoon sim, which became a GPO final cert sim while you were on vacation, which means that CRAZY SHIT is happening all over the place, which means that it is your WORST SIM EVER, and sure, there will probably be worse ones in the future, but for now, it is your WORST.

Good thing there is softball and cupcakes and beer to make the world seem right again.

I'm tired.

Wednesday, March 01, 2006

Brought back from Patagonia: +

Brought back from Patagonia:

+ 665 photos, or almost 5 GB
+ 1 cool Chile Region XII (Magallenes) flag
+ 14 Argentine pesos (about $4.60)
+ 2000 Chilean pesos (about $4)
+ a handful of Argentinian and Chilean coins
+ 2 plastic bags of dirty clothes

And, sadly, 1 tricky bug that seems to have an incubation period of about a week. Jen was sick before we left. Gavin got a little sick while we were there. And tonight I'm not feeling so hot myself.

It's not even 7:00 yet and the sun is already down. What's up with that?

Wednesday, March 01, 2006

Back in Houston. Sleepy and

Back in Houston. Sleepy and feeling a little under the weather, but still basking in the afterglow of a great trip.