Minor Setback

Hello all...

I have some sad news to report: my computer is officially dead. Yup, that's right: gone. Jason and I are gonna see if we can retrieve any info from my corrupted HD, but we doubt we will. Oh well. I mean, I'm upset; I lost tons of great pics from home, of me and mal, and just tons of other stuff. So that part really bums me out. The other part of me is kinda excited at the thought of a new computer...it's like a new beginning, haha. Well I gotta cut this short. Don't expect regular updates anymore :( until I get regular comp access somewhere. I'm headed out to Dallas tomorrow on a plane to see my Sox play this weekend. Schiller and Wells are out, but it'll still be fun.

-The H

STOP, or My Mom Will Shoot!!!

Well there was a surprise today at work. The boyz from American Choppers paid the J a visit today. See, Teutul family and company are gonna build a bike as a tribute to the Space Shuttle; this will of course coincide with the historic Return to Flight mission in less than one month. They were in a slight hurry after touring the site, but they took time to answers questions in Teague auditorium. You would think this was a mandatory meeting or something; EVERYONE showed up. Hell, people even brought their kids. As this event came as a surprise to me, I didn't have my camera with me, so sorry for the lack of pictures.

Last night I was pleasantly surprised to see that the AVP season has started on Fox Sports Net. The guys at work have actually started a Monday BBQ/volleyball deal. Sa-weet.

My mom encountered a drug sting today at the peaceful Gray Center. Yeh, you would think that would be the LAST place it would happen. Anyways, mom is now like an official witness or something. I'm sure they got our house wire tapped, haha(as if it wasn't already by you-know-who).

Well if landing a man on the moon was the biggest technological achievement of the 20th century, then this next task will be the biggest one yet in this century: I plan on returning to MS with EVERYTHING in my jeep. That's right. Every last bit. I believe it can be done...there is no way in hell I'm leaving anything behind here in Houston. Seriously, the volume of my jeep is quite large. I'm gonna disassemble some stuff to make it fit too. Thanks for the tools, Rich!

Colin and I were discussing today how we got the shaft when it came to the pitching rotation of Boston. We were gonna have to see the bottom 3. THANKFULLY, they have a break on Thursday, which means that good 'ole Schiller is taking the mound on Friday, our first night there. Colin says he has a sweet ass place in downtown Dallas, so I may hang with them that night. I bet Dallas has a cool night life.

Well I gotta get some ironing done. Peace.

"Ultimate" Memory Loss

Well we played some Ultimate today in preparation for the ASCANS this Thursday. I'll make sure to get someone to take some good action pics of me, so you can see that I'm not lying or anything when I say I play. Today was fun, although I got beat up pretty bad. Lemme rephrase that: My legs got beat up pretty bad. I have almost NO skin on my right knee, and my left knee isn't too far behind. I would take a pic, but that might scare away the 5 readers of this blog....

Yeh, I'm dumb. We went downtown to watch the Astros last Tuesday, and I forgot to post pics. Basically, Eric(guy I work with) emailed me and the guys saying we needed to reinstate the GNO. See, most of these guys are married, so they're just begging to get away for one night. I just happened to be invited, haha. We headed downtown, hit the Bar & Grille for Happy Hour, and headed into the game. We got tix at the door; we didn't really care for the best seats. With that said, I liked our seats. Minute Maid Park is very cozy, like Camden Yards.

Ahh...just lookin at this place makes you wanna drink Orange Juice.


Gotta fill up with burgers and beverages before the game...


Our view of the action


Okay...first they steal the wall structures from Camden Yards, and that's ok. But they crossed the line when they used a CITGO sign(Red Sox reference).

Tonight's Forecast: Dense Blog

Well I just can't get to sleep for the life of me, so I guess this is a good a time as any to update...

We(Jason, Bart, and I) went to see The Interpreter tonight. Not a bad movie. Kinda slow in some parts, and very tense in some others. I was on the edge of my seat for the most part, so it was an enjoyable experience. Sadly, however, there was a poor showing of trailers before the movie :(

I just found out today that I'm gonna get to ride the Space Shuttle motion based simulator next week. How cool is that!? They may even let me try and land the thing. Sa-weet!!

I'm also gonna have to work some on Sunday, cuz we're flying to Dallas around noon on Friday. I gotta make sure I get my hours in.

And yes, the time has come...no more waiting. Tomorrow officially begins my summer workout plan 2005, haha. It's supposed to be sunny and comfortable tomorrow, so that's the perfect time to begin. I'm sure I'll be feeling the soreness tomorrow.

Sunday is our final tuneup before the ASCAN Ultimate game this Thursday. I've been AWOL the last few practices, and since I was selected to the starting lineup, I guess it would be good if I showed up Sunday, eh?

I told ya this pic was funny. Mal just told me and Alicia to run through the water spurts. Of course I did that, but I took it to a WHOLE new level of dorkdom. I really have no idea where that face came from.

Weekend Adventures: The Building Blogs of Life

I bet you all thought I had forgotten about this blog...HA! Not quite. I've just been doing tons the past 5 days, so I've been kinda pressed for time...I guess the best place would be to start from Thursday.......

I had some vacation hours saved up at work, so I got to leave early Thursday to head home. This was my first foray into Southwest Airlines from Houston, so I had no idea how it would go. It was also the first time I flew out of Hobby. Both of those firsts were great. Hobby is close and convenient to work/apartment, and Southwest is freakin sweet. They do open-seating on the flights, which means you get to sit whereva you want; it also means not many people on the flights, which is always nice. Heck, they even serve you TWO packages of peanuts...watch out.

I flew in to Jackson around 4:45 pm CST Thursday. It was great to see the rents and dogs again.

Mom and I woke up early Friday morning and headed towards Chattanooga. The drive wasn't bad at all, but I guess I am so used to driving to Chattanooga from Starkville that the extra miles to get there from Jackson were pretty long. I thought the trip would never end...but thankfully it did, and Mal was waiting for us when we arrived. Mom went off to see her best friend(and my Godmother) Ann Henderson, who lives high atop Lookout Mountain.

Mal, Robin, and I headed up to their apartment so I could get my stuff up there. I quickly changed clothes, and we went to meet Mal's friends to go walking around the park area and walking bridge. The weather was great, and it was very relaxing. I PROMISE that there is a funny pic of me running through the fountain there, but I don't have it yet. I'll post it right as soon as I get it, so stay tuned.

After the park, Mal and I cleaned up and got ready for the Chemistry Banquet. Once again, we matched well. It seems we always do, no matter the occasion. Kinda bizarre.

Smile :)

The banquet started off kinda funny. We all sat down for maybe 3 minutes before the fire alarm went off. So we had to chill outside for about 25 minutes. The weather was still nice, so that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. We even got a photo opp :

What to do when waiting for the Firemen? Cheez for the camera, of course!

The banquet eventually continued, and Mal was able to get her award. Some people there got like 10 awards, but they were seniors/graduate students. Mal is only in her sophomore/junior year, so she's gonna be rackin' em up in a year or so. Besides, Mal plays like 34 sports, whereas the other students there....not so much.

Mal had to study some Friday night, but she had something to keep me occupied. She surprised me with a gift: APOLLO 13, the Anniversary Edition. Oh my god, it was awesome. The movie was great in dvd quality, and I can't wait to plug it into my sound system. The extras are also pretty sweet. They have interviews with the 3 Apollo 13 astronauts, a feature on the past 45 years of human spaceflight, and a making-of documentary that is incredible. This dvd is definitely one that has tons of replay value.

Saturday was fun. We woke up around 10:00 am, and we headed to meet Marcie, one of Mal's soccer girls. Marcie, Mike(her boyfriend), Mal, and I all headed to this water hole near Soddy Daisy. We had to cross a ferocious river(ok, maybe not that serious, but it was still a water barrier we had to cross) to get to the path that eventually led to the water hole. It was a funny sight, and I am sure we would have gotten pics had we not been knee high in water. It was another 1/2 mile or so to the water hole, and it was well worth the hike.


Okay...one Van Halen song comes to mind. I'm not gonna say it...I'm sure you can figure it out. This water was sooooo cold, believe me.

Saturday night Mal took me to one of her favorite restaurants, The Acropolis. It's a Greek restaurant(as if you couldn't tell), and we split the Mediterranean Chicken. It was devine...quite possibly the 2nd best chicken I have ever had.(Just for the record, Bill Horne, my dad, holds the top spot. Just come by our house on the 4th of July. My dear lord, it's chicken and bbq heaven)

After the great meal we went to see Fever Pitch at the theater. Mal knew the guy at the ticket counter, so we got in for free! SWEET! The movie was great...I think it may be the first romantic comedy I truly enjoyed. I mean, what self-respecting Sox fan wouldn't enjoy that movie?!!? It had loads of great Red Sox humor, and it was grreat to see all the places I have been. All during the movie I kept saying in my head, "Ooh Ooh, I've been there!!"...and there was a new trailer for Episode III....words cannot describe how excited I am about that one.

Sunday I offered to run some errands for Mal while she studied for finals. The first half of it went ok: I went to Wal Mart and got the stuff she needed. The second half, not so good. I went to the car wash, and I couldn't get the driver's side window to go up...not good. I called her, and we tried to figure a way to get it to go up; no luck. So I start driving back to her place, all the while holding down the window button. I get about 3 blocks from her place, and the window goes up. WTF! I pick her up anyways, and we try to find someone to tell us what is wrong. We learn that it was gonna be about 100 bucks to fix it, so we held off from that. We went back to the apartment.

Sunday night Robin, Alicia, Mal, and I went out to eat at TGIF's. We had a great time just talking, laughing, and taking pictures.

TGIF. I had the salmon. Mal had the hot wings. All had a good time.....wow, I should write novels.

Well, we weren't ready to just call it a night after dinner. Mal had the brilliant idea of going to play putt-putt. She even paid for my game :)

Mal not only won 3 Majors last year, but she also is the reigning WPBA pool champion.

So let's recap the things Mal did for me this weekend:
1) bought my banquet ticket/dinner
2) paid my movie ticket(even though we got in for free)
3) bought me Apollo 13, Anniversary Edition
4) paid for my putt-putt game

And those are just some of them. She really went out of her way to make sure I enjoyed my visit this weekend :)

Mom and I drove away Monday morning, and we made it just in time for my flight back to Houston from Jackson.

So yeh, I was tired by the time I got back Monday night. I even managed to park in the SHORT TERM parking lot(even though I could have sworn I followed the signs to long term when I got there Thursday), so my bill for parking was $60. Yeh, that didn't make me too happy.

I'm back in Houston, and it's gettin warm here...very warm. This means that I gots to start working out again. No excuses. Summer is fast approaching, and I'm gonna be hanging out with all the beach/pool people, so my body needs to get in shape, haha. I found the great volleyball courts today, so volleyball is a GO. I'm tryin to get something going for this weekend.

The shuttle launch has been pushed back due to mishandled paperwork :( That means I don't get to experience the launch atmosphere from Mission Control :(, but I'll definitely be able to get the experience next term.

Speaking of that...I've decided where I'm going next semester, in terms of groups at NASA. I'm going to the GNC(guidance, navigation,and control) group for the Space Shuttle, which is totally bitchin', cuz that is exactly what my major is good for: orbital mechanics and astrodynamics, the stuff that I really get into. I'm very excited about it, and I'll give you all more info. as the term nears the end.

Well I gotta go to Wal Mart and restock my rations. I'm out. Have a great Thursday!

P.S. GO SOX!!! 5 in a row this weekend wasn't bad at all :) Schiller is back to old form, Wells is pitching great at this moment against Baltimore, Manny's swing is back, and Edgar Renteria is really pulling his weight. NICE trade, Theo :)

P.P.S I figured out the .Ra accounts at State are for personal use, so I can now FTP like a mo-fo. See my new profile pic on the right-----------------> ? Mal sent that to me. I think it's from Prom, but I'm not sure. Also, I can make my own wishlist with the webspace from State, so check my profile soon for a list of all the goodies I want :)

I Lied

I forgot tonight was GNO at the Astros game...so I was busy with that, and it has made me tired from all the screaming and yelling. I PROMISE tomorrow will be the full update :)

Returned

HELLO all...

I just returned from a WONDERFUL weekend in Chattanooga....it was some of the best times I have had in awhile. I gotta unpack, I gotta wash some clothes, and I gotta get some rest, so I'll update tomorrow. Pictures and info galore, I promise...

-the H

a man, a plan, a canal, panama.......

Well this weekend has gone pretty much like I predicted: quiet and noeventful...at least for the most part.

The Sox aren't playing like I expected them too...then again, neither is any other team. Everyone seems to be doing so-so and doing something wrong. It's only the first week, I know. I scrutinize too much, I guess.

SPEAKING of baseball...Mal went to see the Braves vs Mets game today in Atlanta...normally that's not a big deal, but Pedro Martinez, a Cy Young winner and former Red Sox ace, was pitching for the Mets. To make it better, he was facing off against John Smoltz, a starting-pitcher-that-went-to-the-bullpen-then-became-the-closer-and-now-has-returned-as a-starter for the Braves. Needless to say, it was a marquee matchup. Mal got GREAT pictures, omg. They were awesome. I wont post them on here cuz they are her pics and that'd be kinda stealing or something bad. She had a great time with her friends, and got to see some great baseball. Well I guess I'm not the bigger baseball fan anymore, am I? haha....

Today I got some new clothes to wear for Mal's banquet this Friday. I didn't get a suit or anything huge, but I did get a new dress shirt and tie. I luuuuv what I got...it's sharp. I wont show a pic or describe the clothes, but I will tell you that the shirt is a color that I have NEVER worn before. Oooooh, mysterious, isn't it?

I gotta get the new stuff dry cleaned before Thursday, so I gotta leave a little earlier tomorrow morning so I can drop them off.

Mississippi State had their annual Maroon vs. White scrimmage game TELEVISED on ESPN2 this weekend. That was a treat. I saw some good things, and I saw some bad things. I will tell you that our receivers this year are BAD-ASS. My dear lord, they were making some great plays. I still think we're gonna be a feared football team in about 2 years, though. We still got some stuff to work on.

I saw Sahara Friday night. Good movie to get the summer blockbuster season going. I suggest you go check it out. It's like Indiana Jones meets National Treasure.

Well a co-op at work told me of some volleyball courts way down NASA Pkwy. towards Friendswood. Well I went allllll the way until NASA Pkwy. ends, and I saw NO volleyball courts. I'll interrogate her tomorrow morning.

Woo hoo. I just won a bid on ebay for Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty. Never been opened and with the factory seal. You prolly don't care, but this game will complete my collection of the Metal Gear Solid series. I even have the ORIGINAL Metal Gear Solid from 1998 in mint condition. Mwahaha.

That's about it. Sorry no pics to spice things up. I'm gonna iron and begin the process of deciding what to take this weekend on my journey. Latre

It Was Down to One

Well as I said yesterday, I got to see the Robonaut on Tuesday. This thing was pretty cool. We were even given a demonstration. This chick put on what seemed like a combo of your typical virtual reality helment mixed with Nintendo's ill-fated Virtual Boy device. She was able to control Robonaut's hands, arms, and fingers with great precision. We were shown how Robonaut can pick up stuff, grab stuff, build stuff, and pretty much everything a real astronaut would do on a space walk. This was a very cool tour. Just go to the link above. This thing is gonna help alot in future space operations.

Today Shannon Lucid spoke to us lowly co-ops. Wow, this woman has alot of energy. She didn't give us the usual I've-been-in-space-and-it-was-cool talk; rather, she emphasized the importance of communication in not only the NASA community, but life in general. She told of her early days in the space program, and she shared some examples of how clear communication is a necessity in today's world. I really enjoyed hearing her talk today.

Next week we get to have a special lecture....guess who it is...go ahead. Guess....







That's right! GENE KRANZ is gonna speak to us next week!!! I absolutely cannot wait for this. I really have no idea what to expect from him, but I do know that it will be an interesting experience. I'll let you know what day we're gonna hear him speak.

Well I forgot to mention this yesterday, but volleyball kinda fell through. I went to check out the courts yesterday, and I finally realized why they are soooooo nice. They have a league that plays there EVERY NIGHT. Yeh, I know. When the league isn't playing, they keep the courts locked up, so we were outta luck. This morning I asked some of the co-ops for some suggestions on alternate playing areas, and we may have a few takers. I'm gonna check them out this weekend.

I WAS gonna go and watch some of the league volleyball games this evening, but I fell asleep around 5:30. I might try to watch some games tomorrow if I don't go see Sahara.

I did buy a volleyball yesterday too, so I may try and find some of those other courts and practice jump serving tomorrow before the games. I'll make sure to practice where no one can watch, haha. I've gone through the motions for jump serving over and over, so I'm ready to try it out.

Jason left this afternoon. It's up to me to keep to hold down the fort until Monday. I need to have a wicked party or something, haha.

Oh yeh, and if you didn't check out the Sox game yesterday, then just go to espn.com and read the article about it. That's right, the Sox OWN Mariano Rivera. Ha, now NO lead for the Yankees is ever safe against us :)

Well Mal told me to spice up my blog...so...uhm...here's some spice. This is a glimpse into future of what this summer holds for Trevor and me. (sorry your face is cut off, Trev)

Movies :)

Just got a list for ya today, folks. It's the list of movies I plan on seeing this summer. Granted, there may be a few I have missed, but I think I got most of them. The release dates beyond August are iffy, so I didn't list any of them.

April
8 Fever Pitch(a movie about Red Sox baseball...no brainer)
8 Sahara
15 The Amityville Horror(the old one was good. Will this one take it up a notch?)
22 The Interpreter
29 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy(I have no idea why, but I want to see this one)

May
6 House of Wax
19 Star Wars: Episode III - Return of the Sith( Please! make me forget the first two!!!)
27 The Longest Yard(Burt Reynolds back in the remake of a classic. Could go either way)
27 Madagascar( funny ass animated movie, I'm certain)

June
10 Mr. and Mrs. Smith(Two beautiful people trying to kill each other. I'm in.)
17 Batman Begins(Do I really need to explain why this will rock??)
29 War of the Worlds( Cruise + Spielberg + Orwell = BLOCKBUSTER )

July
8 Fantastic Four( Again, this needs no explanation )
8 Dark Water( Jennifer Connelly in a supernatural thriller. Sounds good)
22 The Island
29 Stealth ( Oh my dear lord. I just learned about this movie. I'm sure the acting isn't great, but it just looks like a sweet summer movie)

August
5 Doom ( video game remake, so why not?)
19 The Cave

Well there ya go. Let the debating begin.

Tomorrow I'll tell ya all about how I got to see the Robonaut in action today, and how the lecture tomorrow with Shannon Lucid went. If you don't know, Shannon Lucid is the record holder for the woman with the most time in space. Cool, I know.

Latre.

A Kenny Loggins beach song comes to mind

well I've been wanting to play some beach volleyball for some time now. I have been sick and/or had guests, so it had been kinda hard lately, but I'm good to go now. Well, I was curious yesterday as to how many of the Co-Ops were interested in playing some pick-up volleyball. I sent out an email to all the co-ops, and boy, did I get a reply. THIRTY ONE co ops replied; that's like 1/3 of all the co ops at JSC. Well for some reason, all the replies started asking, "where is the game? when are we playing? what do I need to bring?" I was unintentionally thrust into organizing the volleyball events. I gathered my thoughts last night, and this morning I sent out the deets as to when we'd play. Things are set to go down this Thursday after work. I've been reading up on the OFFICAL beach volleyball rules since Sunday, so I'm ready to go. I cannot wait. It's gonna be fun as hell. I'm hopin to play some 2 v. 2 for the most part, as that looks more fun than 3 v. 3 or anything higher. I'll make sure to get some pics of the event this Thursday.

I was workin in Mission Control today when I decided to teach myself the phonetic alphabet, as it is used ALOT here at the big N. I've been running through it all day, so I may just throw some on ya randomly on here. Just a warning

I'm watching Independence Day right now on FX. I SO remember waiting frantically for this movie to come out in 1996. I seriously think it was the first movie I really looked forward to seeing. Watching it has also gotten me SUPER pumped for War of the Worlds.

Speaking of War of the Worlds...I'm looking forward to A BUNCH of big blockbusters in the coming months and summer. Look for a list of these movies tomorrow :)

Back to Work...at least for 11 days

Well I'm back. Just walked in about an hour ago.

This weekend was great...

I got to see my parents. I had not seen them in almost 3 months! I'm used to be down the road from them at school, so it's a bigger deal when I get to see them now. I luuuuuved just chilling at home, playing with the dogs, and eating my parents' cookin :)

Mom and Dad posing against the beautiful backdrop that IS the Gray Center.

We went to see Lucy on Saturday. Lucy walked onto our yard months ago all beat up, mangy, and with most of hair gone. My mom, being the Saint Dog Lover she is, took Lucy in, got her the right medical treatment, fed her, and just took care of her for about a month or so. She even found Lucy a great home in the country. Look at how beautiful Lucy looks now...one of THE prettiest dogs I have ever seen.

Lucy just loves my mom(as most dogs do!)

Saturday night we ate dinner with the Acy's at Kiefer's, a really low-key Greek restaurant that you prolly wont find unless you are told where it is. It was awesome seeing Trevor and his fam. As usual, Trev and I had no problem jumping back right where we left off. We talked about everything, from Busch Gardens this summer to goings-on in Starkville to women. It was good to catch up and just hang out with the guy. I realized then how much it really does suck not being around those guys back at Starkville. Trevor is taking summer school, but he'll only do the second term because he is gonna attend camp. That might make Busch Gardens difficult, but I think we can work it out before I head back to work.

After dinner, we went to see Sin City at Tinseltown. WOW. That's all I can say. VERY stylish. VERY engrossing. VERY violent. Unfortunately, this movie contained ALOT of male anatomy dismemberment :( Other than that, however, the movie was great. That is a definite must-buy DVD.

Well my Sox aren't doin so well in the season opener. Yanks are puttin it to them, but we ARE the WORLD CHAMPIONS, and we know what it takes to win. This is only game #1 of 162, and game #1 of 19 against the Yankees. Long season ahead, everybody.

I'm gonna spend the next 2 weeks finding a smooth-as-hell outfit for Mal's banquet. I want something new, something chic, and definitely something that's me. I'm gonna head to the mall this week and start my scouting.

Well, I'm out. Very tired. Night!