Daily: February 2008 Archives

Last night I dreamed that Bill Gates flew me up to Seattle to interview me for some kind of communications job. He picked me up in his car and we had lunch sitting on the deck of a restaurant next to a lake. He said he wanted to hire me. So I went back to my hotel, where I was apparently staying with Jose, Nick and Heather. As I walked in the door, Jose got very excited because he saw a guy in the hall of the hotel with a monkey hanging onto his shoulders.

Dreams.

I feel totally and completely unprepared for the Texas Independence Relay this weekend. I know which legs I am running and how far they are, and even approximately what time of day I can expect to begin each leg -- but I don't know what I'll eat, when I'll sleep, if I'll sleep, what to wear, what to bring.

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Ok, I started this blog entry 12 hours ago and didn't finish it because suddenly my day turned CRAZY and this is the first time I've gotten to sit down and do something for myself since then. It all began with someone walking into my office and telling me that there were people upstairs waiting for me to do software testing. Why do I never seem to know when I'm supposed to be doing testing? Oh, because I never get the schedule of testing activities. Frustrating! But off I went for 2+ hours of oh-so-fun software testing. I got about halfway done before deciding that I would need at least one more session to finish. Off I went with just enough time to grab a pre-packaged sandwich from the cafeteria, which I ate at the beginning of a two-hour meeting. We talked about one line of changes for 15 minutes, and 25 pages of changes for only an hour. Funny how that works. After that it was back to the office to sit down with my group lead and mentor to go over how I did in the sim on Tuesday. We ended up talking for over an hour, but everything is good and I am going to be scheduled for my final cert sim right after STS-123 (that'd be early April). Then it was off to meet my design client for more transfer of materials and such (lots of hard copies of photos that need to get in the program, mainly), and then it was off to class.

In class, my luck turned! I wasn't prepared for the quiz, but he decided not to give us one! And he let us out at 8:30 instead of going until 10:00! That made me so insanely happy.

Oh, and ANYWAY, my previously mentioned fears about the relay were allayed soon after I typed them when I got an email from Jon, who sent our entire team a final reminder and "what to bring" list. Thanks for being organized, Jon!

This is the first night all week that I've gotten home before 9:30. The schedule has taken a huge toll on my working out. I stupidly took Sunday off after my long bike ride, not realizing that it would be the last opportunity to exercise for a while. I did manage to squeeze in 30 minutes on the bike trainer last night, but I have not run since Friday. Hopefully this will serve as some sort of massive taper for the relay this weekend!! I hate not working out when I'm busy, since working out is my primary stress reliever!

To-Do, February 25-29

• Ascent sim
• Cert Qual evaluation for my job as Rendezvous Support
• Homework for 3D modeling class
• Homework for New Media Studies class
• Many, many, many hours preparing program book for my design client (yes, that's back on)

To-Do, March 1-7

• 36 hours spent doing the Texas Independence Relay on 3/1-2
• Bay Area Multisport Kickoff (which I will miss for TIR)
• Rendezvous sim bright & early on 3/3
• Send program book to printer no later than 3/5
• Homework for 3D modeling class
• Test in New Media Studies class
• Team of teachers that I am mentoring arrives in Houston to fly an experiment on the Vomit Comet
• Load checkout for STS-124

To-Do, March 8-14

• 60-mile training ride as prep for Half Ironman on 3/30
• Backup my trainee on all prepwork for her first launch as ARD Support for STS-123
• Ensure that my Vomit Comet team's experiment passes inspection and is in good, safe shape to fly
• STS-123 Launch on 3/11
• Homework for 3D modeling class
• Homework for New Media Studies class
• Fly on Vomit Comet with my team
• Ascent sim for STS-124

Though many of these activities weren't originally planned for the beginning of March, it seems that everything has managed to converge into this three-week period. It's like my own version of the perfect storm.

Oh yeah, and:

• Reassure lovely, incredible, patient and understanding boyfriend that a calmer, saner version of Sarah will return soon.
• Remind myself that a calmer, saner version of me will return soon.

If I post only sporadically for the next three weeks, well, now you know why.

The JSC clinic gives every employee a yearly physical that they schedule a few weeks prior to your birthday. Today was my lucky day to be poked and prodded, so off I went. But as I sat in the waiting room for short periods between getting my eyes checked, my ears checked, my EKG, my blood taken, etc, I saw a couple familiar faces. They're not familiar faces because I know them personally, but because they've been all over the news. Yes, Stan Love and Dan Tani, two of the astronauts that just came back on the shuttle two days ago, were spending the morning in the clinic running through what I can only assume is the standard battery of post-flight medical tests.

Dan looked pretty darn good for someone who spent the past 4 months in space. He seemed happy, even though it must be a downer to finally come back to Earth only to spend your first few days with a slew of doctors and nurses. His wife was with him, though; she was attached to his arm. I think I'd be pretty attached to my husband too if I hadn't seen him in four months! She looked happy to have him back.

My physical was uneventful. I always forget that they have you do the whole "pee in a cup" thing, and so I spend an hour doing what I end up doing every year -- chugging water between tests to make myself have to go. Fun. I don't actually get the results of my bloodwork and other tests until I go back in a few weeks for part 2, but hopefully when I see them I'll be able to report good, healthy numbers. I think I've lost a few pounds since last year, so that's a start.

Friday is always my day off from exercising, especially during periods like this where I'm training for something. (It's not my only day off, but it's the only standing day of the week that I intentionally plan to not work out.) But I'll be running. So far, it has proved to be quite difficult to fit in workouts on Wednesdays and Thursdays, between work and class and sleep. I've managed to fit in quick runs and spins in past weeks, but this week was a disaster. Take last night, for instance: I had two hours between work and class, which I had to spend doing my homework since I hadn't managed to do it any earlier! My bike sat in the garage taunting me while I did my reading and dutifully took notes. Grr.

So: run tonight. Bike tomorrow. TBD on Sunday!

I am all sorts of annoyed that the weather last night was spectacularly crappy and therefore prevented even a moment's glimpse of the lunar eclipse. Stupid clouds.

Lance from raceshots.net sent me these two photos from the Surfside Half Marathon on February 9. It was simply a nice gesture since I've shot for him before. Despite being my worst half marathon ever, these are some of the better photos of me running that I've seen. The first was taken 2-3 miles into the race, and the second is at the finish line.

The pictures are appropriate because I don't think I will be slowing down for a while. I have so much on my plate over the next two weeks. I'm not quite sure how I'm going to get it all done, but I trust that somehow it will all come together.

• I got to have dinner with my brother Brian on Sunday night! He is in town this week working for an unnamed company. Seriously -- he couldn't tell me who he's working for this week. He does financial consulting, and he said he couldn't tell me because it's a public company, so I can only assume he's working for someone who's considering a merger or acquisition or something. How mysterious of him. He's staying downtown and said he'd be quite busy so I don't know if I'll get to see him again, but I'm glad he flew in early on Sunday so we could have dinner. Star Pizza. Mmm.
• The iPod Shuffle got a price cut today -- only $49 now. And a new 2GB version is available for $69. This is a great deal for a great little music player. I bought a Shuffle as soon as they came out, and it is the perfect music player for running. It clips onto my shorts (with the built-in clip) and weighs next to nothing.
• The war is over and HD-DVD is officially dead. You can safely buy your Blu-Ray player now. Of course, I don't have either since I don't have an HDTV. I know. It's maybe the only area of technology that I haven't bought into yet. Gasp!
• I rode just a hair over 45 miles on Sunday with two girls from BAM. We'd planned to go at least 50, but we dead-ended into a dirt road after 22.5 miles due to a wrong turn on my part, so we just decided to head back. I'd planned to add an extra 5 at the end of the ride, but by the time we got back to the cars I was ready to be done. Holy crap, was it windy!! The wind was as bad as I faced during the half ironman last year. We could only maintain about 12 mph going west on 96, but when we turned around to head back, we were crusing at 22 mph without a problem. For once, I didn't let myself get too down -- I just tucked my head down and kept going. We averaged just over 15 mph for the full ride. The only negative thing is that I felt way more beat up after this weekend's 45 miles than I did after last weekend's 41 miles. My back and neck were really aching. I'll blame the wind. Still, I hope I feel a bit better during next weekend's planned 55-60 miles.
• My graphic design job is sorta, maybe back on. It's a long story. It still hasn't all been sorted out yet.
• Three day weekends are awesome.

My sister and Jen both posted accounts of their experiences in the Washington state caucuses last Saturday. I found both interesting, especially Katie's. I had not thought much about the logistics of a caucus prior to reading her entry, except for thinking that the idea of gathering together to vote seemed fairly out-dated. Reading Katie's account of her precinct's caucus only reinforces that thought. She has many good points. Why should your ability to vote depend on your availability for a two-hour block of time on a single day? Why should we put voters in situations where they may be unduly pressured into casting their vote one way or the other?

I'm excited about the upcoming Texas primaries on March 4. I don't recall voting in the primaries in 2004, though I did vote in the general election. I would guess that Kerry had probably already become the default nominee by the time Texas rolled around four years ago, and thus it didn't strike me to bother. It is so exciting that my vote is important this year.

Why are the primaries so spread out? Why does Iowa vote at the beginning of January but Montana votes a full five months later? I wonder what sets this crazy schedule that puts so much importance on the seemingly random selection of states that get to vote early. Why aren't all primaries held over the span of a few weeks? Or even a few days? That would be much more like a general election, I suppose, but I'm not sure what the problem with that would really be.

Jose's mom mentioned that Hillary made an appearance just outside of Corpus Christi last week. After that, Jose and I spent a while looking through both of the Democratic candidates' websites on Thursday evening, searching for a schedule of their upcoming appearances. We couldn't find anything. We found many instances of supporters holding rallies, and many listings of upcoming Bill Clinton appearances in east Texas, but nothing about where Clinton or Obama will actually be each day. I'm sure their campaigns are scheduling on the fly, but I still found it odd. Shouldn't they want to make it easier for voters to find them? And hear them?

The Chronicle reported today that Obama is coming to Houston for a rally on Tuesday. Perhaps I will go hear him in person. I hope I have an opportunity to hear Clinton as well. I've got to decide which candidate gets my vote on March 4. I have flip-flopped between the two many times already.

I have class tonight, on Valentine's Day, which totally sucks because it means I won't get to spend the evening with Jose. Instead, I will spend the evening with my Critical Approaches to Digital Media professor. Can you hear my excitement?

We ended up doing a pseudo-Valentine's Day yesterday instead. We took off work early and headed to the airport to enjoy the absolutely gorgeous weather with a flight down to Galveston and back. It is so cool that Jose finally has his pilot's license and I can just hop in the plane with him at a moment's notice!

It seemed like it only took about 5 minutes to fly to Galveston. You could see the island as soon as we took off, and as we got closer everything looked so pretty. The water sparkled in the sunlight and everything looked so clear and vivid. It was only my second time flying with Jose, but already I was able to better understand the calls we were hearing over the radio. And since Galveston has a control tower, Jose got to practice talking to a tower -- the first time he's done that without his instructor along! We were cleared for landing and did a big turn over the island to approach from the gulf. I could see the waves crashing on the shore as we descended. It was awesome.

After landing, we just taxiied back around to take off again and head back to Pearland. One day we'll have to actually fly down for lunch. We took off and flew basically right up I-45 for a while. I could see all the construction on the bridge to Galveston, and marvelled at the maze of refineries that is Texas City. It was a fairly clear day, and as we got closer to Pearland, I could see downtown in the distance -- not as much haze as there was the last time we went. There were four or five other airplanes in the pattern at Pearland, so it was quite busy when we came back in to land. There was another plane that was right on Jose's tail, which made our landing feel a little rushed since the guy was so close. I looked behind us at one point and saw him following us -- it felt like something out of a dogfight movie when the plane behind you is trying to get you in its sights! Jose was not exactly happy with how close the guy was, but his landing was still perfect. In fact, his landing in Galveston was perfect as well.

After flying, we had dinner at La Madeleine, which has become Jose's standard post-flying meal spot. Later, he gave me roses and I hid these scientist valentines for him to find. My favorites are Sagan and Darwin. It's good that I have a boyfriend who finds those as funny as I do. It's good that I have a boyfriend as awesome as Jose.

Last night Jose and I went to our third Rockets game in four weeks. Our interest in basketball has fortuitously coincided with the Rockets going on a big win streak. They've won 7 in a row after beating the Trailblazers soundly last night. We went with cheaper seats this time, which worked out surprisingly well. We'd sat in $40 seats for the last two games, located on the upper level but along the sideline of the court. Last night we sat in $22 seats on the end of the arena, and while the basket occasionally blocked our view, it was a minor distraction. And our $22 seats were on the first row of the upper deck, so we were actually closer to the court than we had been in more expensive seats. Sold! We'll be sticking to the more affordable $22 seats from now on.

Before the game, we had fun exploring the "Sky Court" and comparing ourselves to the Rockets:

Yao Ming unsurprisingly has a much larger wingspan than me, and yes, at 7'6" he is almost two whole feet taller than me.

Tracy McGrady is pretty tall himself.

The Super Bowl was 3/4 boring and 1/4 awesome, Super Tuesday had me paying closer attention to an election than I ever have, Heath Ledger unsurprisingly died of an overdose, and tomorrow we're supposed to launch a space shuttle. I think that about catches me up.

Super Tuesday was crazy. I mean, I have never ever paid attention to the primaries before, but last night I was glued to CNN for the entire evening. McCain seems to be on his way to the Republican nomination having built a lot more momentum yesterday. But the Democratic race, I mean, wow. There were 1,681 delegates at stake yesterday. So far they're estimating that Hillary Clinton got 540, and Barack Obama got 539. While Clinton won the conspicuous states like New York and California, Obama won pretty much everything in the middle. But then -- how much does a win really mean if it's only by a few percentage points, when the delegates are divided proportionately and by congressional district? Twenty-two states held primaries yesterday, yet so far the two candidates are separated by a single delegate. It's mind-boggling. It's crazy. It's awesome. For the first time in years, I feel like people really, truly care about electing the next president. People feel like they have a real choice, and they're excited about the candidates. I know I am. And bonus: my vote in the Texas primary on March 4 will actually matter!

I came in early, so I'm leaving early to squeeze in a run before class tonight. I haven't worked out since a good 27-mile bike ride on Sunday. This week has been so busy. It's only three days later but that bike ride seems like years ago.