I Lied

Okay, Jason does have the right software...here are some pics from my sim today. I was SO exhausted after it was over. I left work right after it ended and got a good 3 hour nap...

This is my listening to ODIN for instructions on which malfunction we are gonna tackle next.


Here I am punching up the correct loop to send a command. Here is a typical command from today: "RAVEN on FMT Coord, executing Checkpoint Safing Response for the Backup GNC. On my mark. Three, two, one. Mark."


I am focused and listening closely to my frontroom counterpart.

Now THIS Is TIght

My computer may have been f*#@ed up, but I just read about audioblogging. VERY cool. From now on(at least until my comp gets fixed), if you see this funny looking audio icon where my post usually is, just click it. Then choose which program you want to use to play it. You will then here my post for the day, or maybe just a funny message. It's a great way for me to post when I am away from my comp, out of town, or my comp is broken, haha.

All I do is call this number, record my message, and post! How COOL is that!?

Unforunately I can't post pics through the phone :(

-H

The Hard Drive Strikes Back

Well shit...

My comp has died...again. I found my installation disc, and I thought I'd try that since the bootup message now says it can't find a certain file. Tried it, but no joy. So I'm kinda back to square one. THANKFULLY, with the time my computer was kinda working, I was able to burn all my important stuff to some discs. That makes things not so serious. The DELL support lines were all busy, and I waited on hold for 20 minutes today. I'm gonna try later tonight.

I was RAVEN in the sim today. Al, Macresia, and Frank took some good pics of me, but I can't upload them on here :( cuz I am on Jason's comp; I don't wanna install software w/o his permission(he's gone to Bible Study). You'll just have to wait then...sorry :(.

Well, I'm watching the Sox game on ESPN. All tied up 3-3. Renteria just made a great relay to home for the out; he needs to start hitting some, though.

Don't know when I'll be able to post again...but just cross your fingers.

-H

Return of the Co-Op

I have returned. By some miracle, my comp has come alive, fixed the error, and risen from the ashes. Sooo...expect LOTS OF UPDATES AND PICTURES SOON! :)

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!

Errors Galore

WTF. This is gay. I had a great post, funny picture, and tons of stuff tonight, but Blogger.com is being really really gay tonight. So, no post :(

Lots O' Stuff

Whoah...lots to update on.

Well Tuesday was quite a treat. The Co-ops were able to get Lieutenant Colonel Mike Fincke of the astronaut corps. to come and talk to us. Well actually, we went to him, but nevermind that. He gave a great presentation with a 20 minute video of his adventure in space on Expedition 9. This guy was awesome. He was energetic, had great sense of humor, and was very excited/optimistic about the future of NASA and the Exploration program. He told us about the science onboard the station, launching from Russia, landing in Russia, and the ride on the Russian Soyuz TMA-4 vehicle. It was the best lecture to date, better than Sy's. It was captivating from start to finish. I wanna hear another astronaut talk, haha. They're entertaining.

I have JUST booked my tickets to Jackson....no, not this weekend. They are for the weekend of April 15th. Why am I going to Jackson only two weeks after my first visit?? Well I'm headed to Jackson on a Thursday night; I'll stay the night there with the rents. Friday morning, I(and possibly my mom) are gonna drive to Chattanooga. That friday night is the big Chemistry Department banquet where Mal is gonna get her award and possibly scholarship. Well, I'd be rather lousy if I didn't go to that, wouldn't I? Yeh, I thought so too. So that'll be great; I'll fly back Monday night, so Mal and I will have tons of time to do stuff. I'm SO excited about this. I really can't wait to go.

I found out Trevor is going to be coming home this weekend as well. DEFINITELY good news. I haven't had my Trevor fix in like 2.5 months, and that's just not healthy. I'm sure we have lots to talk about, so I'm sure we'll meet up sometime this weekend. I think the Acy's and Hornes may do dinner and movie Saturday night.

Jason's grandfather died a few days ago, so he left a few hours ago to fly home. He'll be there until Sunday. That means I gotta hold down the fort while he is gone. I should be alright. I took the garbage out a few minutes ago, and there was this light foggy moisture in the air. There was almost no wind, and you couldn't hear anything from the traffic. It was quite peaceful, despite holding a stinking bag of trash.

Yesterday I bought my plane tickets to Dallas for the Sox - Rangers series. That got me even more excited. When I fly in Sunday night, I'll be touching down just in time for the opening day game between the Sox and Yanks, and I think Colin and I are gonna meet up at a bar or something and watch the game there. Of course, he'll order some schnazzy import brewskie, and I'll get water. WHY CAN'T I BE 21 YET?!?

Macresia, my group lead, is going on a cruise next week. She's been telling me all about the stuff they do on cruise ships, and she's told of all the exotic islands they stop by during the trip. I think I'll try to do a cruise next year after I turn 21...they leave from Galveston, which is right down the road, so I won't have to fly out from anywhere. It's good living near the ocean :)

Aite, that's it. I'm gonna do another load of laundry. Night!

Space Shuttle Orbiter Discover (OV-103) as its being rolled out from the Orbital Processing Facility to the Vehicle Assembly Building, where it will be attached to the newly designed External tank, the twin rocket boosters, and any payloads that need to be inserted at that time into the payload bay. LESS THAN TWO MONTHS TO LAUNCH!!!


This pic was taken in Colorado last summer. Are Richard and I A) scared to death by the grizzly bear standing behind the camera B) so tired from work that we can't move or C) watching Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals?

TOP 10 time

Okay, well I felt like doing a list today...so here it goes. Eventually I'll get to my favorite movies, the movies I want to see, my favorite cities, etc...

In honor of the my return home this weekend, I thought I'd do a top 10 list for my home:

Top 10 Reasons Living at The Gray Center is Grayt:

10. Awesome places for throwing the frisbee around
9. It's Far, far from the city of Jackson and annoying traffic
8. You can walk out and get the Sunday paper in your boxers, or nothing at all
7. The dogs have TONS of places to run around and explore
6. Your own swimming pool is only a short walk away
5. It's Far, far from the city of Jackson and annoying traffic
4. Five-star food(seriously) is only a 30 second drive away at the Dining Hall
3. Disc Golf is only a 1 minute drive away(18 holes too!)
2. Despite being isolated, you still have ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN Classic and coming soon: high speed internet
1. It's Far, far away from Jackson and annoying traffic

Well there you have it.

Quick tidbits: Caro and Rich are planning their trip to England. Tomorrow I get to attend a lecture from an astronaut. I pick up my dry-cleaning tomorrow. Sox vs Yanks on FOX this Sunday. Headlines on Jay Leno tonight. I register for summer classes in a few days. Weather here is great right now. Today Space Shuttle Discovery was moved from the Oribtal Processing Facility to the Vehicle Assembly Building. A week from today it rolls out to launch pad 39B. Freakin Sweet!

I love this pic. That's me, John, Carolyn, and Will after Caro's wedding. I guarantee you'll never see us this dressed up in one place again. Except maybe at Will's wedding...oops, did I say that out loud?

I'm out. Latre.

Bum City

With the way this weekend kicked off, you would think I'd be jumping out of airplanes by today, wouldn't you? Strangely enough, I haven't done much of anything since Friday, haha. All I have done with my time is play Prime 2, and that's about it. Yeh, I know; I should be getting in shape for summer. I am just NOW getting over my cold, so that was holding me back. Also, I'm going home this weekend, so I figure I should start workin out AFTER I gain all that weight this weekend from my mom's cookin'. Is it procrastination? Probably, but I'll have no choice but to start getting in shape after this week cuz it's only a few months until summer...I can't be looking bad for that, now can I? :)

When it Rains...

I was hardly prepared for what all happened yesterday...

First, I had my presentation to the group of my new MCC tool I was working on. I got a great response from the group, as well as some good suggestions. I can start certifying the tool next week...after that, it'll be used on console :)

Then we had the Increment 10 picture. Increment is like a "mission", kinda. Basically, whenever there is a change of crew onboard the ISS, there is a new increment. We are currently in Increment 10, meaning the 10th crew is up there since we started human presence on the station. Anyway, I haven't really done much to contribute to Increment 10 yet, so I felt I shouldn't be in the picture. The group said I should anyways; they said most of them were in Increment pictures before they ever did anything. I thought, "why not?". So we took the picture in the ISS Flight Control Room. SO MANY people in there, my dear lord. You have to think, it is every flight controller, flight director, and MER(mission evaluation room) person that contributed to Increment 10. I'd say there were around 100 people in there. The picture is a big deal, cuz they send it up to the crew, and they show it everywhere on-site. I'll make sure to post it whenever it's finished.

So after the pic, I went to Trey's office to ask about something. I hadn't seen him in awhile; he's had the flu or something. It was pretty bad, but he's good now. So we talked for awhile; I told him what I was working on, and we talked about all kinds of stuff. I was about to go back to my office when he asked me what I was doing that night. I said nothing, anticipating what he had in mind. The guy that sits beside Trey at all the Aeros hockey games couldn't make last night's game, so he gave Trey his two tickets. Remember, these are seats in the Club Level. You have access to the Deli, the bar, and a few nice grilles. I gladly accepted the tickets from Trey, and I figured I'd bring Jason along.

Shortly after that, I got to see some MOON ROCKS returned from the Apollo missions. This was kinda cool. We got to see all the labs and work areas where they analyze these and other astromaterials from space.

Moon rocks! And some still say we didn't land on the moon...dumbasses.

Unfortunately, we had to drive to the game...which meant driving through semi rush hour and going into downtown Houston. I made some poor choices as to which road to take, so we got stuck for awhile. Fortunately, we got to the arena JUST after the game started; we didn't miss much. Cuz we were "season ticket holders" for the night, we got to park in the nice parking garage. The walk to the arena was right across this bridge between the buildings, and we were there in no time.

Nothing like a good fight to start the game off right!

We found our seats, saw Trey and his wife sitting right beside them, and we sat down beside them. The game was great. During the second period, we were fortunate enough to witness the MOST EXCITING PLAY IN ALL OF SPORTS...that's right, ladies and gentlemen, we got to see a HOCKEY PENALTY SHOT. It was freakin awesome! Until last night, I had never seen one live, so this was a definite treat.

The Most Exciting Play in all of sports.


This was a fun sight. During an intermission, they put a helment at center ice, turned up. During the game, you are able to go buy these orange rubber pucks, 3 at a time; each group of 3 has a number on them. When the helmet is put out there, the ENTIRE crowd throws the rubber pucks to try and make it in the helmet for a big prize! It was a funny site. This picture shows the aftermath. No one won though :(


Napolean Dynamite on the big screen. It doesn't get much better than that.

Well we were up 3-2 with about 30 seconds to go in the game, and the Grand Rapids Griffins somehow managed to squeak in a goal, so we were tied. We went to overtime...no decision. Now normally this would mean the end of a game in the NHL world; not the case in the AHL. They go to a shoot out soccer style!! I SO think they should do this in the NHL regular season(whenever that may be). I think it would be a great way to attract new fans. As you know, each team has 5 players selected, and they go for a goal one at a time, alternating shots. We went back and forth: we would block one, they would block one; we'd score, and they'd score. It came down to the last series. They scored. That meant we HAD to score or we lost. Our player(I don't know them all...yet) shot down the ice and put this wonderful move on the goalie. WE SCORED. That meant we go into a single series; whoever messes up, loses. So they go first, and they score. Again, the pressure is all on us. Unfortunately, their keeper blocked our shot, so it was kind of a lackluster ending. Oh well, it was MUCH fun.

Ahhh, the shootout. What a great invention.

And if ALL that wasn't enough, I got even more great news yesterday. Mal told me that she was selected as THE OUTSTANDING STUDENT in Organic Chemistry. Out of 130 people, Mal was the one that got it. She's gonna be honored at this banquet later in the year. Needless to say, I was very proud, and I stuck my chest out a little more yesterday. I had to brag to several people; I just couldn't hold it, haha.

Wasn't that exciting? I tell ya, I was exhausted when I came back to the apartment. Sleeping was not a problem last night.

Quickie

We're either two really cool guys...or two incredible dorks. I'm betting on the latter.

Nothing much happened today. I have to present what I have done so far to my group tomorrow. It's not that formal; I'm really just gonna show them the main project I have been workin on for about a month.

It's supposed to get up to 80 here tomorrow :)

I'm going to see some REAL Moon Rocks during work tomorrow as well! Expect pictures.

My Red Sox posse and I have decided to fly to Dallas instead. The fares are cheap, it saves us the uneventful drive, and it gives us flexibility. We're gonna have two "bases", haha. Some of us will stay in downtown Dallas, the rest of us will stay in Arlington; we'll also rent a car. That way we can park the car at the Arlington "base," and we can walk to the game. If we wanna spend the night on the town after the game(s), we can ride back and stay at the Dallas base. See? It make sense.

Well that's about it. Tomorrow = Friday = lots of sleep :)

Night!

More baseball....and volleyball?!?

Well I went to the game yesterday. It was fun. The team lost, but Eric and Frank did a good job of coaching. I forgot how serious kids take games at that age, haha.

I was able to attend this lecture today in Historic Mission Control from Sy Liebergot. You prolly don't know him, but he's rather important. He was an EECOM flight controller during most of the Apollo missions to the moon, including Apollo 13. He was THE guy in the middle of the accident; he was portrayed by Ron Howard's bald brother in the film(watch the movie, and you'll see him). Sy was the one that told Jim Luvvel and the crew to stir the oxygen tanks...which led to the short, which led to the explosion. Sy was also THE guy that said the crew better move to the LEM(lunar exploration module) in order to stay alive. So yeh, this guy was pretty important. He had all kinds of pictures in his presentation. One in particular was very eerie: he had a panoramic shot from the back of Mission Control about 3 minutes prior to the accident. You can see Jack Swigert on one of the big projector screens as the crew is doing a live feed to the ground. VERY cool photo. Sy basically took us through the timeline of the accident, from liftoff to splashdown. It was the best lecture to-date in my opinion.

I think I'm gonna try to start playing some outdoor volleyball as soon as I kick this cold. I saw some courts at the sports complex last night, and they were nice. I'm sure all kinds of people play on the weekends, so I may try to walk-on. I figure that I can fully exploit my height in this sport.

Well with that I'm out. Good night!

Here's the view from our seats we got for the Sox-Rangers game. Niiice, aren't they?

Coach Horne?

Hey err'body. Early, isn't it?

I prolly wont feel like blogging tonight, cuz I'm already tired, and I'm about to go to a baseball game. No, not the Astros. I'm talking Little League(ages 10-12) baseball. No, I'm not a psycho petiphile. Two good buddies o' mine from work coach this local little league team. We talk about baseball all the time, talk about the team, strategies, plays, their best players, etc. Needless to say, I know alot about this team without even seeing them play. I told Eric and Frank(the two coaches) that I'd love to come watch their first game. They have no prior coaching experience; hell, they're only 27 and 25, respectively. From what I hear, however, they seem to be doing well. All the talking I've done with them has made me think about coaching; not professional, of course, just local stuff. I think it would be a freakin awesome time, and I'd love to teach the game to kids(about the age they coach, 10-12. Maybe a year or two older). Be it baseball, soccer, or hockey, I think I'd like the challenge. I've had sooooooooooo many good coaches(soccer and baseball) throughout my life that I know what it takes and how to go about it. My dad coached me when I was little, so what's stopping me? I dunno...just something I've thought about while staring at the stars.

A flight director checked out my Caution and Warning script for MCC the other day. He liked it :)

We tested the tool out in MCC today. It worked almost flawlessly. Just a few things need to be tweaked. I'm very excited, cuz Zorba says that for the next ISS stage, we're gonna have to use the tool. Hell Yes!! I just gotta finish it up, document it, certify it, and I'm on my way to contributing to the Human Space Flight Program :)

Well I'm gonna take a nap before the game. Latre.

Duke Dunks My Dawgs

Well there goes our season. My Dawgs showed alot of heart today against Duke, but man, you gotta have your FUNDAMENTALS. We were horrific from the free-throw line, and we had way too many turnovers. Sure, we had some bad bounces, but so did Duke. We also got some really shitty calls, but again, so did Duke. We just shot ourselves in the foot. It sucks, cuz were a much better conditioned team, and had much more patience, as evidence by the number of fouls. My brackets are pretty much worthless now, but oh well. Always next year.

I bought my new cd player yesterday. No, this wasn't an impulse buy; I have been in dire need of one for a long time. I wanted a sleek design, .mp3 decoding, .wmv decoding, and a sweet price. I was in luck: Ciruit City had a Panasonic cd player that fit such a description. They even installed for free :). Here's a pic of it:

Here's my new cd player in my car. It's ver ver sweet. Mp3 cd's are on the way.

Here's the link to all the details of the player, even though the picture link is messed up.

I did a whole lot of chiling this weekend. Sleep + basketball + sleep + movies + video games + sleep = good weekend. I think it helped my cold too; I'm starting to feel much better. I think one more night of Thera-ful and Dimeatapp(sp?) should finish me up.

Well I'm gonna cut this short again; I gotta head to the store and pick up some groceries. I no longer dread this trip anymore, cuz I can actually listen to music I like. That prolly doesn't excite you as much as it does me, but oh well. I haven't had a legit cd player in 2 years. I'm gonna pick up some more blank cds, too, at Wal-Mart. I have only one right now, and I know I'm gonna need more.

Not much happening this week, except my semi-presentation this Friday to my group.

I'm sure I'll get ragged tomorrow about State's loss. Baseball season, hurry up!!!

I'm out...night.

Short one today

hello hello...

well I wanted to just crash when I got home today. I could feel the softness of my bed, the warmth of my blankets, and the comforting breeze of my bedside fan.....then Jason walked in. His first words: "Dude, your back left tire is pretty low"....DAMNIT. There goes my relaxing Friday. So I redress, go get some free air in my tire, and go to the tire place. Haha, there was this BIG ass nail in my tire, so that was kinda amusing. They patched it, and I was on my way. So I did get some rest in today.

Damnit to hell, Vermnot. A 13-4 upset? Jeez. My bracket hurts even more now, but I'm still alright. I had Syracuse losing to Michigan St. in the second round, so I'm stilll alive with 200 points. That's good enough for the top 9%. We'll see what happens. My Dawgs play tonight, so they can help me out a little. Don't think they'll be on tv though :( We're gonna get the Kansas-Bucknell game instead...yeah.

Well I'm wired for the night. Basketball then Metroid Prime 2 until the wee hours of the night. Jasonn is doing Relay for Life at midnight, so it'll be a creepy atmosphere playing the game....sa-weet.

This one is just self-explanatory.

I'm out.

***cd player tomorrow!!!***

"Houston, we have"....no no, that's too cheasy

hey all...short post today.

I just returned from watching Apollo 13 in the Historic Mission Control Room at JSC(kinda ironic, isn't it?). I took a few pics at some oppurtune times, so you can check them out below. The movie was great, and we had three special guests. Each of them had a part in the Apollo 13 mission: One was a Lunar Module flight controller, one was a propulsion/trajectory flight controller, and the other was an engineer that worked with some of the hardware involved in the mission. All 3 men were a joy to listen to.

Here's my viewpoint of the movie tonight. RIGHT in the middle. (sorry about the lighting. It's bad in there)


Interesting, as this picture was prolly seen LIVE from this same room during a launch day.


With my uncanny camera ability, I was able to take this pic. What is so cool about it? I was watching this movie from that exact spot right between those two green consoles in the background.

I worked later than usual today cuz I figured that going back home then back on-site for the movie would be a hassle. So I get to get off work early tomorrow :) and sleep sleep sleep...I can't wait.

I'm almost done with my Caution and Warning script that I am building. I haven't finished, mainly due to the added features Zorba wants in it. I'll be the first to tell you that this things is TIGHT. I'm gonna take screenshots once it is finished. HOPEFULLY we'll test it out in MCC tomorrow....I just got to figure out this one thing I'm stuck on.

My NCAA brackets aren't doing too well. Bama disappointed, Pacific were not nice, and UAB is looking to hurt my bracket even more as we speak.

The SOX tickets came in today :) I'm gonna pay for them tomorrow and pick them up from Colin's girlfriend. OMG, you wont believe the seats we got. If I have time to update again tonight, I'll post pics of our vantagepoint in the seats. One word: awesome.

Well I'm out. Pizza time then physics.

Later!

Brrr

well I am back after a day off...and what a day it was.

The co-ops were fortunate enough to get to attend a lecture given by Christ Kraft, NASA Johnson's(although not always called that) first flight director. He was there all during the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo missions, as well as during part of the lifetime of the shuttle. I had a wonderful time listening to him: he was very casual, spoke like a 30 year old(even though he is 81!), walked around, talked to individuals, and was very outspoken. He challenged us with many questions about where NASA is headed, and what we think about it. I could go on for hours about all the stuff we talked about, but know that I have begun to think about things here at NASA much differently since the lecture. Very entertaining time.

Speaking of flight directors, tomorrow night the co-ops are organizing for us to watch Apollo 13 in the Historic Mission Control Room(you know, where all the old school stuff happened). I'm very pumped about that. I think that'll be loads of fun. I went to wal mart today and got me one of those fold up tailgating chairs, which are very cheap now. So I am set for tomorrow. Rumor is that we are supposed to have "special guests" appear at the showing....very mysterious.

I also learned today that the Six Flags NASA day is NOT just for NASA folks...that sucks. Yeh, it won't be deep into the season by next month, but I still bet there will be TONS of people there, in addition to the NASA folk, so I dunno. I'm leaning towards not going.

Well it seems I was smacked with the cold bug yesterday. I'm stopped up(nasal, not the other kind), groggy, and have chills/fevers. So I'm here, sitting at my computer, all bundled up, and drinking some good ole' hot Thera-Flu. Hopefully I'll be able to kick this thing before the weekend.

Colin came back yesterday. If you don't know, Colin is an ODIN that is a HUGE Red Sox fan. He went to Aruba for a week. First off, that makes me wonder: Colin just went to Aruba for a week. My office partner, Pamela, just got back from a few weeks in Hawaii. I thought federal jobs didn't pay too well....hmmmm....Anyway, back to Colin and the Sox. He told me about one month ago that he was planning on going to see the 3 games-in-3-days series against the Rangers at the end of April. He knew of my love for the Sox, so he mentioned it to me; and if you know me at all, I said yes in a heartbeat. He got the tickets on Tuesday :). So I'm all set. Colin, his girlfriend, his friend, his friend's girlfriend, this girl they call "Moose" from the ADCO group, and I are going to the games. I get to see THREE Red Sox games in THREE days. I'm willing to be that Will Horne has never done that. Mwa hahaha. Seriously, though. I am SO excited about going. Our seats are like 25 feet from the Sox dugout, so we're gonna be around lots o' Sox fans. We are gonna get there early for batting practice on Saturday's game, so maybe I'll get to hang with Damon, Ortiz, Millar, and my boy Varitek. Maybe score their autographs :)

Well when I arrived at my apartment after work today, I smelled the worst odor when I walked in. I have yet to narrow it down, but thankfully I closed my door this morning before I left, so there is no odor in here. I'll see what Jason thinks when he gets back. I took out the trash, and it still kinda stinks. We better find the source soon, or I'm never coming out of the room.

I'm off to a 4 hour marathon of Prime 2. Latre.

Things Are Gonna Be Different

Today was quite eventful...

First off, Regg and Aaron left to return to their native lands of Grenada and Birmingham, respectively. I hate that they had to leave so soon, but I am very thankful that I can finally get some rest. I am bummin' this entire week...I've been going full throttle for the past two weeks, so I'm ready to just chill.

Chris, the manager at the Hilton here didn't answer my call, so I assume he was just busy. The thing is, this day was PERFECT for the picture. We're talkin NO clouds, 70 degrees, light wind...oh man, it was perfect. I really want that picture though...it's like a quest for me now.

Here's just how beautiful it was here today. This is what I see right as I walk out of our apartment. This view is even looking TOWARDS the oil refineries and smoggy downtown! I have to document these days before we can't see 20 feet above our heads.

I got to help Zorba(one of my mentors) with an ORT(orbital readiness test) today in Mission Control. I'm technically not supposed be doing those, since I'm not command certified, but I just kinda helped him go down the checklist of things to do. It was cool though; I learned more about the interfaces between the PCS(personal computer system) and the ground computers. Anyhow, as Zorba and I are leaving Mission Control, we pass by none other than John Young. Who is John Young, you ask? He was the commander of the Apollo 16 mission, and he is one of the only handful of people to ever walk on the moon. Needless to say, that was very cool...that I was THIS close to a guy that jumped on the moon.

Ah, and I started Metroid Prime 2 today....omg....it's awesome. That's all I can say. I skipped school to go to Clarksville to get Metroid Prime my senior year of high school, so you know what kind of place this series holds in my heart. It's flawless so far....I'm doing my blog early so I can play it :)

Okay, here's the big news: after years of pain and agony from listening to the radio, I have decided to buy a cd player for my car. ***ROUNDS OF APPLAUSE*** Ladies and gentlemen, calm down. I know it's hard to believe, but yes, it's true. I'm going this Saturday to Best Buy to pick out my cd player and get them to install it. NO MORE radio for me EVER! Mwa haha. Woo hoo, I'm excited.

Finally, Macresia(my group lead) came by my office today and told me that I need to present to the group next Friday all the stuff I've been workin on the past few months. Not a big deal, really. I don't mind getting in front of people and talking; in fact, I thrive in it. I mean, com'on, I did magic shows all around town during my 5th, 6th, and 7th grades of school. I love gettin up front and having everyone look at ME, haha. No, I'm not that conceited, but I do like to perform.

Well I'm gonna tackle some more Space Pirates in Prime 2. Everyone have a good night!

Ramblings...

Well Regg, Aaron, and I didn't do much today. We woke up late...again. We went to eat at this rather large Mexican restaurant, and it was ok. The food was decent, but the service was deplorable. Our waiter must have been new, no doubt about it.

We played video games for most of the day(shocker there), and we did some videogame shopping. Reggie got some old school NES games, Aaron got some more games for his Gameboy Advance, and I bought Metroid Prime 2. I just started it, and it's very engrossing. I'm definitely looking forward to playing more of it.

Everything was goin alright today until Reggie stopped up my toilet. No biggie though; I needed a plunger anyway. Crisis avoided.

Right now we are watching Escape From New York, the Kurt Russell flick from the 80's. The main reason Aaron bought the thing was because one of our favorite video game franchises, Metal Gear Solid, was based on Kurt Russell's character in the movie, Snake Pliskin. The movie is very 80's, and we're having a blast making fun of it all the way through.

Well that's my update. I have to go to work tomorrow while my boyz sleep in :( , so that kinda sux. BUT, I gotta earn the dough, so I shouldn't complain. I get to test out my Caution and Warning script in Mission Control tomorrow, so I'm excited.

Night!

The Boyz(some of them) Are Back in Town

Evening.

I got a call Thursday night from my friend Aaron at State; he told me that he and Reggie were gonna head up here Friday night. I knew that they were planning on coming, but this was the FIRST time I had heard concrete details. So that was kinda sudden; nevertheless, I was excited that something spontaneous was going down. I like it when stuff just happens on the fly.

So Regg and Aaron got here late last night, around midnight. We were all up till 4:00 am playing games and just chillin. Before they got here, Jason had invited some co-workers of ours over for dinner and a movie. Jason was cooking his famous spaghetti, and there was no I'd miss that. The two guys that came over, Berkeley and Bart, were actually....kinda......cool. They were quick, and I liked their sense of humor. I have NEVER met them before, so I'm excited that some fellow co-ops are kinda cool. Better yet, they live here at Seatree, so I'm sure we'll hang out in the future. In fact, Bart goes to THE University. If you have to ask what THE University is, you obviously don't know much about where I am from. There is only one place that my family and I refer to as THE University. Just think about it. Anyway, that scored major points with me that Bart goes there; he's in aerospace too, so that's cool. Berkeley is a Computer Science major at the University of Central Florida in Orlando. Maybe he can be my contact WHEN I fly to FL to see a shuttle launch this fall. Cape Canaveral is not far from Orlando at all.....it's good to know people :)

Back to my boyz from state. We all slept in, and we went to eat at IHOP this mornin. I had my usual Rooty Tooty Fresh 'n Fruity. Man, that never gets old eating that....and saying that to the waitress too, haha. We chilled for the rest of the day, and Reggie tried his hardest to beat this level in Devil May Cry 3. He got his ass handed to him several times, but that boy never gives up. He finally beat the level after 4 hours of trying. Tonight we went to see Hostage with Bruce Willis. Not a bad movie. It's very intense, and very graphic. NOT a date movie, haha.

We saw this sign today, and I thought I'd share it with you. I'm sure you'll figure it out. It's kinda funny. Oh yeh, I just learned how to put this picture WITHIN my post. I learned EVERYTHING about it from Mallory. I'd be SO lost on so many technical things if she wasn't around. She's so smart sometimes, it's ridiculous.

Know what song I'm listening to right now? It's "We Like to Party" by The Vengaboys. Just download it and you will instantly recognize it. It's kinda a dance song. You have most likely heard it on the Six Flags commercials. THAT'S why I am listening to it. NASA just announced this Six Flags Day for ONLY NASA/JSC employees. YUP :) That means only JSC people are gonna be there...NO ONE else. That means SHORT lines to the coasters. I'm gonna sign up next week, and the actual day of the event is next month. They are gonna have food there, astronaut signings, and all kinds of cool stuff. Again, the great part is there will be NO other people outside of NASA. Mwahaha...my roller coasting lifestyle will once again return. I'm gonna try to get the guys together to go to Six Flags Atlanta this summer. This fall? I'm gonna try to go to Six Flags Over Texas in Dallas. Yeh, that's right. Roller coasting is back. I'm gonna try to see if Trevor can accompany on any of these occassions. He's my partner in crime when it comes to roller coasters.

Well I promised Mal that I would get her a good pic of the NASA skyline here at JSC. The only way I figured I could do that would be to go to the Hilton across the street, talk to their people, and go up to a room with a balcony and take a picture. Well, I went by today, and the front desk ladies couldn't help me. They called their manager. Yikes. Never fear, though, my people skillz took over and I schmoozed the guy into taking me upstairs to the rooms. He wasn't sure if any would be available that had balconies, but we checked. No luck :( . He did give me his card and number, however. Chris(his name) told me to give him a call around lunch time on Monday. He said there will definitely be a balcony available then. So I'll take off work for a few minutes on Monday to run across the street and take the pic. I talked with Chris while we were walking through the hotel, and we discussed everything from NASA to football to Houston's weather. This guy was very nice and seemed willing to do anything so I could get this picture. Again, this is good to network and get to know people. He may be able to help me out in the future, who knows. Always good to make friends :)

What does tomorrow hold? I dunno what we're gonna do. I have no earthly idea. Prolly play video games, who knows. I just beat Resident Evil 4 for the second time, and I got all the trophies, so I think I've pretty much conquered that game(except for Mercenary mode, which I'll still work on). So this means that I must make my next video game purchase: Metroid Prime 2: Echoes. Sweet. I have been wanting this game for a long time. Everyone says this game is fantastic, so I'm eager to get my hands on it.

Holy crap. Mal is here at NASA for only 2 hours and she is ALREADY Flight Director!!

Mal and I got a chance to experience the Historic Mission Control Room, where the Gemini, Apollo, and shuttle(some) missions were conducted. Again, VERY cool.

Mal took this pic of the room where Gene Kranz told the flight controllers and engineers that, "Failure is NOT an option." Obviously they have remodeled this room, and it looks kinda different than what it looked like back then.

Mal was able to get an exclusive look at the Flight Control Room for the International Space Station. Not everybody gets to come in here. This is for special people only.

Mallory discovered what I REALLY do all day at work: check my email.

Mal and our good friend Rachel from Tennessee. They decided to pose in front of the Alamo on Monday.

V.I.P level. What's up.

Ahh...the San Luis resort. I am definitely coming back here again someday. We were on the 15th floor(second from the top). Our room was the rightmost room on the left building.

Mal could not inhibit her lifeguarding instincts, and she was on the look-out just in case. We were all safer because of her efforts.

I was taken away from the ocean at an early age. I still hold the power of the waves, however.

The Saltwater Grille. VERY very tasty. Hey, is that Richard's truck parked in the front???

Mal and I all pimped out for a night on the town.

The view of the Gulf of Mexico from our hotel room. That's the heated(yes, HEATED) pool in the bottom right.

Mal received the help of a local pirate pelican while looking for my jeep. Little did she know it was right behind her.

There are always casualties when a Horne is around the kitchen.

Here's the breakfast I cooked for Mal Saturday morning. You impressed, Mom?

I am recovering from the weekend, so bare with me

Hi. Remember me?

Well I told you all that this might happen. Sure enough, the day Mal arrived, I was in no way worried about my blog. Sorry :(. But I am back now. I thought I'd spend tonight recapping this fantastic weekend.

FRIDAY. Friday was great. I worked extra hours earlier in the week, so I was able to take off around 1 pm. I had never gone to George Bush Intercontinental before, so I wanted to make sure I beat rush hour traffic and learned my way there. I got to the airport in about an hour or so. By the time I walked in, it was about 2:30. Mal's plane was supposed to arrive around 7:30, so I just chilled in the car, slept, read some of my EGM's until she arrived. I was SO excited about seeing her. Seeing her as she walked out of the terminal was a great feeling. Unfortunately, I had little knowledge of what was ahead for both of us.
We went down to get her baggage, and it just seemed like we saw the same luggage over and over and over. We were getting kinda worried. We must have been there for at least 15 minutes. I was just about to go up to the desk to report a missing suitcase when all of a sudden, Mal saw hers pop through on the conveyor belt. Whew. Crisis 1 was averted.
We then headed back to the part of Houston where I live, Seabrook. I knew how to get back, but Mal and I just kept talking(mainly my talking) and catching up, having a great time. Before I knew it, well....we...uhm...were kinda lost. I had no idea where on the beltway we were. So we got off at an exit, called Jason for some map support, and got nowhere fast. Mal then suggested we just drive to a gas station and get a map of Houston. Brilliant. We did that, found out where we were, and headed back home. We got back just in time to eat some Mexican food. We thought the place was closed when we got there, so we kinda hesitated at the door. We walked back to the jeep, and the manager came out and told us they were still open. She kinda followed us all the way to the jeep....it was kinda creepy. Anyway, we ate, and it was good. Mal even discovered her new favorite mexican food: fajitas. That was quite a historic moment. After dinner, we headed back home, and crashed within minutes.

SATURDAY. Well I promised Mal I'd fix her breakfast Saturday, and I dont go back on a promise. We got up around mid morning, and I got to work. I fixed eggs, toast, and bacon. I even included OJ and Milk. I'll show the pic of the breakfast later. I was quite impressed. Jason joined us, and we ate everything. Mal and I then headed to the mall; we weren't really intent on buying anything, but we figured we should check it out. I ended up buyin some new swimming turnks(very cool...they're red...I'll post a pic later), some shirts, and a niiiice jacket from Old Navy. I'll take a pic of that as well. It's a great all weather jacket, and it's NOT black, haha. Mal and I got back, grabbed some Subway, and headed for Galveston.
Galveston was cool. The hotel was sa-wanky! It was tight. They even had valet parking. Right as we arrived, they treated us like royalty. We headed in, checked in our room, and had all our luggage brought up to the room. The room we got was on the VIP Penthouse level of the hotel. And the room was Deluxe size, with a great ocean view. I'll show those pics as well. It was all very posh.
Mal and I got settled in, and we got dressed for our night on the town. I thought the restaruant I had picked was rather nice, but we found out I kinda misjudged it. It was really kinda casual, but there were some there that were wearing sportcoats, nice shirts, etc. Mal and I were slightly overdressed, but we looked DAMN good, if I dont say so myself. Especially Mal. She wore this new dress I had never seen before. Wow. It looked amazing on her. I ordered the grilled salmon with a coconut-almond shell, covered with some curry sauce. Mal ordered this half chicken, and it was literally a HALF chicken. The thing was HUGE. We ate until we were stuffed, and then we ate dessert, haha.
We got back to the hotel and ordered Finding Neverland. Neither of us had seen it. Not a bad movie. Kinda sad, though. Not really a feel-good movie for a vacation.

This is my attempt at creating a picture inside my post. Cooooool.

SUNDAY. Lemme point out that the weather theme for this trip was "cloudy and rainy." Every freakin day it was like that. Maybe not heavy rain, but a little light drizzle here and there. VERY frustrating, especially being on a beach resort. We made the most of it, however. The VIP floor levels serve breakfast in the floor lobby, so we dined on those treats Sunday morning. We then figured we try and see if anything was possible outside, despite the weather. We went to check out Moody Gardens, this trifecta of pyramids in Galveston. The only main draw is that one of them is an aquarium, but Mal lives near one of the best, and we both didn't really feel like going. We then tried to see if Putt Putt golf was open. Nnnerp. No luck there. We drove over to the historic downtown area where we ate dinner Saturday night, parked the car, and walked around. We went into a few stores here and there, but we didn't really see much. We drove back near the beach area and dined at this Greek restaurant. Stupidly, I ordered spaghetti when I knew good and well that we would be eating at an Italian restaurant that evening. Oh well. It was good. We came back to the hotel and took a nap. When we woke up, we still had alot of time to kill before the evening dinner. We decided to be goofy, and we walked out onto one of the rock piers on the beach. It was kinda nasty weather, so the waves were really kickin. We got some funny shots. I'll post them later too, don't worry.
That night we ate at Mario's Restaurant, a quaint little Italian eatery. I had pizza(shocker) and Mal tried the spaghetti. We were quite satisfied(especially with the bread).
We returned to our hotel and found our room completely cleaned and serviced. The maids had even laid out our robes for us. They must have been phsycic, for Mal and I were planning on checking out the heated pool. It was kinda neat, and would've been even nicer had everyone else not shown up right after us, haha. We tried the hot tub, as well as the slide and heated pool. It was pretty fun. Definitely a break from the ordinary.

MONDAY. Monday we checked out of the hotel. We had to drive by NASA first to pick up Mal's visitor badge for Tuesday; after that, we headed towards the Alamo in San Antonio. Over half of the drive was freakin thunder, lightning, and rain. It was SOOO annoying. Thankfully, an hour or so before San Antonio, the weather turned really nice. We got to SA, and we immediately headed for Trinity University, where our good friend from high school, Rachel, is attending. It was very cool to see her. I couldn't remember the last time we had talked. We picked Rach up from her dorm, and we went to lunch. We ate at this SUPER cheap Mexican restaurant, yet the food was incredible. I had a fluffy taco, and it was devine. Mallory once again confirmed that fajitas were her new thang.
Then came the Alamo.....uhm, not as exciting as I thought it would be. Oh well. We did the River Walk afterwards, which was kinda fun. All 3 of us spent that time just catching up, sharing stories, and just talking.
Rachel then gave us an abbreivated tour of TU. Very nice campus, I must say. After the tour, we had to leave. We headed back to Houston.
Much to my surprise, Mal's Valentine's Day gift had arrived. That's right: VALENTINE'S DAY. Yeh, it's a long story, but the guy basically wrote down the wrong address. So he had to resend it once it was returned to him. What was the gift you ask? It was Monopoly, Wizard of Oz style. We waited to play it on tuesday night, though.

TUESDAY. I had to work some on Tuesday, but I returned to the apartment to pick her up and bring her to NASA. Trey, my boss, gave us a fantastic tour of Mission Control, the Space Station Training Facility, and the pressure chambers. I showed Mal around Building 4N, where I work. I also introduced her to some of my co-workers. The whole day at NASA was great fun. We got some good pics....again, I'll show them soon.
We chilled for a little bit after that. We took a short nap, and we were again in the mood for putt putt golf. We went to the place, and it was packed with every kid and his daddy. So we nixed that plan. We returned to my apartment, and kinda chilled until...........
We went out to eat Ethiopian in downtown Houston. I wanted to surprise Mal with a limousine ride, but she had deciphered all the clues and knew that it was coming :(. Oh well, I tried playing it off, and it was great fun still. We had the COOLEST driver, Gerard. He's a 57 year old black man that SO reminded me of Ray Charles. Haha, he was great. We went to eat Ethiopian, yet when we got to the restaurant....NO ONE WAS THERE. I mean, it was open, but we were the ONLY customers. Granted it was a tuesday night, but com'on. It was empty. Nobody there. The service was STILL bad, despite the lack of traffic there. Nevertheless, the food was decent enough. We then got Gerard to take us to the new Hilton hotel in DOWNTOWN Houston. They have a cafe there. We ordered Pecan Pie for dessert, and had a very relaxing evening. Gerard took us home, and we got to play some WoO monopoly. It was freakin sweet. Jason joined us in a game. Near the later hours ,we kinda wanted to head to bed. Mal wanted someone to just go bankrupt so we could call it a night. It looked as if Jason was going to be the victor, but I decided to go "all-in", if you will, and buy every house I could get. Jason landed on a few of my properties, and it was all-she-wrote after that.

Whew. That's our weekend in a nutshell. I guess I can fill in the important details later. But there you have it. We had a great time, and it sucked seeing head into the terminal at the airport on Wednesday. Hopefully it won't be too much longer until I see her again.

I'm out, and I'll post pics later on.

Night!

Okay, this makes it official...my dogs are the cutest things EVER. This was taken a loooong time ago. That's Grace on the left, and Greta is on the right. That's their sibling in the middle. Awww...

Dang.....that's quite a big update you have.

holy crap. I haven't posted in a looong time. Damn, I'm getting bad at this.

well I'll fill ya in on some things that have developed....

I played Ultimate with the Co-Ops this past Sunday. WOW. That was fun as hell. I forgot how great it was to throw the frisbee around. The last time I played any kind of competitive frisbee was back in Paris LAST Christmas. Yeh, that's pretty pathetic. Anyhoo, I felt pretty good about my performance. I can tell that in the future Jason and I will become the Joe Montana-Jerry Rice tandem of Ultimate. He and I connected on a few passes, and we were dead on. I could read his face, and he could read mine. He was able to get a few to me that were PERFECT...it was brilliant. There is a bad side to this though....well if anyone knows me, my soccer-keeper instincts are seen in whatever sport I play. This day was no different. I slid around, dove after a few passes, and even tried to hurt people(only this one guy). That wasn't the bad part...what resulted was. I tweaked my back in the same place that kept me out of half of my freshman and senior years of soccer. Yeh, I guess I aggravated that same spot. Needless to say, my back was not feeling good at all afterwards. It hurt to run at even a sligh pace, just like in high school when I injured it. To make matters worse, I seemed to have pulled BOTH of my calf muscles. So you can just imagine how much it hurt trying to take all my gear off AND take a shower after that. Yeh, not cool.

This obviously made me nervous about this weekend, as Mal is arriving Friday night. I SO didn't wanna be a cripple while she was here; that would be no fun for me OR her. I have therefore been resting all the time since Sunday. I go to work, come home, and just lay down on the bed. I'm also doing some stretching exercises with my calves. I'm feeling better already, so I should be good to go by this weekend. I just don't like that this injury keeps coming back every 2 or 3 years. There is no way in hell I'm gonna be INACTIVE for the rest of my life! I need to get something done about it...maybe something this summer.

Oh yeh, back to this past sunday at Ultimate. Well there was this guy here(NOT a co-op, mind you), and I could tell from the moment he arrived that he thought he was the shit. This guy was a complete dweeb, lemme tell you. If you wanna know what he looks like, just go to IMDB and type in "Fred Meyers (III)". He looked EXACTLY like this guy. And I seriously think he thought he was the best Ultimate player this world has ever seen. Thankfully, he didn't play in my first two games. We then combined the teams for a big game. Well we are on opposite teams, and we are about to throw off to their team. We were all standing around, waiting to start. I could tell the other guys on their team were pointing to me, telling him to cover me. Aite, bring it, I thought. Well, it was as if he had a comment for EVERYTHING during the game, even when the play was on the entire opposite side of the field. We fought for a few in the air a couple of times, and he'd still talk smack. We matched up pretty well; I'd say we split the number we fought for, and I blew by him like the wind a few times. To let you know how much he wanted to follow me on the field, I ran in circles THREE times in a row, just small little circles. He followed me EXACTLY. We went up for one, and I was fighting for it, and he said this(after he won the challenge): "whoah, there's no blocking out the other player, but I'll take it anyway!*laughs*"...If anyone of you know my history, that didn't sit well with me, but I kept my mouth shut the entire game. I promised myself that I was gonna slide tackle him while going for low throw. You know, not really rough him soccer style, but give him a good scare and a shove. Unfortunately, that situation never came about. He even tried telling everyone what they were doing right or wrong according to the rules. Normally that's OK with me; it's good to learn the game(hell, I'm not an Ultimate aficianado), but he did in such a way so you would KNOW how much he knew about the game. He wasn't trying to teach; he was trying to show how much he knew. He loved the sound of his own voice, you could tell. You could also tell that this was the very first team-oriented sport he had ever played; you'd do that in any organized team sport at this age, and you get told to shut the F*#& up quick.

Anyway, that's my rant for the day. You all know that I hate annoying, arrogant opponents.

Jason has just informed me(he came in from playing today) that Ryan(the guy) isn't that bad a person. He said Ryan was quite nice. Well I'm sure that's true, but on the field, he is not my friend. First impression are important...his, not so good with me.

As you might expect, I have decided NOT to compete in the ASCAN game. I just can't risk it. This injury has kept me in check several times already in my life, and I ESPECIALLY don't need that while Mal is here. I did pay for my portion of the food that will be there, so I'm definitely going to watch and eat. I'm sure I'll get another chance to play. I just have to get my back straight.

L-3 days until Mal gets here!!! This week has been/will be so crazy. I'm getting things in my room organized, I have to wash and iron all my nice shirts, polish my dress shoes, clean the bathroom, clean the kitchen, clean my room, makeup my bed, sweep, wash the car, clean the inside of the car, dust the inside, freshen it up, and general cleanup/dusting of the apartment. Whew. Yeh, I know. I'm gonna be busy. I would have washed my car today, but tomorrow is supposed to rain like crazy, so I'm holding that off. I'll do it Thursday. Tomorrow I'll do most of the laundry(shirts, sheets, blankets, pillow cases, towels, etc.), get the food items(I'm cooking breakfast for her Saturday morning), and anything else I can do.

Hopefully I'll post before Mal gets here, but I can't promise anything. Chances are I will post LATE thursday night, when I can't sleep, haha. Friday is gonna be cool. I'm working late Monday thru Wednesday, so I can leave work early on Friday. I'm leaving at 13:00, so I'm gonna go ahead and drive to the airport. I'll see what kind of culture is on that side of Houston, and try to find something to do. I may just bring some of my EGMs and get some reading done. I'll do that or sleep in my car, listening to music. That'd be nice. Who knows. We'll just have to see.

Oh yeh, I said I'd talk about the Oscars......Uhm, they were short. I was very impressed. Oh, and Sean Penn, com'on. He took that joke by Chris Rock waaaaay too seriously. I'm sure Jude Law was saying, "com'on Sean, it was a JOKE. Chill down, cowboy." People need to just calm down sometimes. Otherwise, it was a great show. Robin Williams was hilarious(shocker)!

I'm out. Gotta rest my back :)

Night!