Year of the Movie

I've already deemed 2007 as "The Year of the Movie." Well, at least for geeks like me. See if you can follow me around the room:

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
March 30th, 2007
Trailer
Why it will rock: It's all in CG. That pretty much makes it better than that abomination known as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III.

Spider-Man 3
May 4th, 2007
TrailerWhy it will rock: the appearance of Venom in the storyline, as well as Sandman and the Green Goblin(2). Can you say "awesome battle sequences"?

Transformers
July 4th, 2007
Trailer
Why it will rock: just announced mere minutes ago that Peter Cullen will be reprising his role as the voice of series mainstay Optimus Prime. BADASS.

Pirates of Caribbean 3(subtitle pending)
Summer 2007
Why it will rock: Keith Richards will portray Captain Jack's father. That alone is worth the price of admission.

Prince of Persia
TBA 2007
Why it will rock: one of my favorite game franchises of all time is being brought to the big screen via Jerry Bruckheimer. This game's story is perfect for a movie, and I can't wait. Go get 'em Jerry.

"Not because it is easy, but because it is hard."

Just as Project Apollo took men to the moon in the 60's and 70's, so will Project Orion. It's been leaked that Orion will be the name of the next project of the United States' manned space program, as well as the name of the vehicle that will take them there, the Crew Exploration Vehicle. This is similar to the naming conventions used in America's first manned-moon missions.

Project Orion. You gotta admit that it sounds cool.

You read it here first, folks.

Doorstep Happy Hour

Tarik and Seth hosted their montly party this past Friday. They have a sweet setup in this warehouse in downtown Houston. They've completely redone the place to be more of a loft apartment/bachelor's pad. Thought I'd share a few of the pics...

A view from the balcony...that's right, balcony. This is the kind of place Trevor and I need during our college years. It's perfect for this kind of stuff...

Turntables were provided. I had to resist the urge.

A lower-level shot. It's kinda blurry, but com'on, it was around 2:00am at this point. (Not really sure what those two dudes are doing on the left side of the screen)

Yes, they also have a firepole to slide down. How cool is that?

Bubbles and foam also made an appearance in the evening(they go all out), but for fear of my new shiny camera, I didn't take any shots.

Officially excited...

Our crib for the week at the Isle of Palms................awesome.

When the Mission Ends, the Party Begins

Well the mission is coming to a close; Discovery is set to undock tomorrow early morning sometime. The NASA folks love excuses to party, and tonight is no exception. After the Orbit 3 shift(which ends around 1:00am), everyone is heading to the Saturn V building(it holds the Saturn V vehicle that was too be used for Apollo 18) to start the celebrations early, and I think I'm going to join them. Should be a good time. Maybe I'll be able to get some good pictures......oh yeh, I forgot....my NEW CAMERA came in!

I obviously can't take a pic of it without using a mirror(that'd be kinda lame), so just go HERE to check it out. This little baby is AWESOME. It's light, it's small, and it has tons of features. Oh, and takes pretty swell pictures as well. It can do all sorts of neato stuff. For example, click HERE to go to a picture I took today(it may take a few seconds to load; it's kinda big) at work; I call it the "drill field" of Johnson Space Center, in reference to my school. Click on it to zoom in and really get a good close up loook. No, I don't have a wide-angle lens on my camera; rather, my camera has a "stitch" mode. I just take pictures across the horizon, and the software on the computer knows what goes where, and it connects the images. Pretty sweet, eh?

I've been taking pictures of everything lately, but I wont really get to have fun until my 2GB SD card comes in next week. At that point, I'll be able to shoot movies and play around with the "burst" mode, which I have already dabbled in slightly(and it ROCKS!!)

Tomorrow will continue the celebration of the end of the Station assembly mission. Technically, yes, I know that the mission won't "officially" end until wheels stop on Discovery when she lands at KSC Monday morning. But after undocking tomorrow morning, the Station folks are DONE, so there is definitely cause to celebrate. Eric and I have rounded up a crew, and we are all set to play some 2v2 beach volleyball around noon tomorrow. Afterwards, we'll prolly head to Eric's pool to relax and chill. Then that night, we're all heading to Rice Village, where there is supposed to be an awesome nightlife on the weekends. It also happens to be yet another great oppurtunity for us to celebrate the end of the mission.

Sox got OWNED tonight. Eyugh. Probably one of the worst pitched games by the Sox(starter and relief pitchers) I have ever seen. It makes me sick. Yanks are now only 1.5 games back.

Conan on NASA

Here's the mission patch from the current shuttle mission, STS-121. Take a good, long look at it. It depicts the space shuttle in it's docking configuration on the halfway-completed International Space Station. The long horizontal piece at the top of the ISS/Shuttle stack is the P6 solar array, and the second longest horizontal piece below it is the truss segment of the Station. All of that is overlayed on the yellow astronaut symobl of the the star and 3 lines...

And here is what Conan O'brien said about the patch the other night on his show:

"It looks like the space shuttle is having sex with a helicopter...and it's all happening under the birth of baby Jesus..."

hahahahahahaha. Brilliant.... just brilliant.

Ok, now for something VERY VERY cool. If you have a minute(or about 8) please please please check out these links:

Right-Aft SRB sep video
Right-Forward SRB sep video

I think you need a version of Windows Media Player to view it. They're videos of the right aft and forward solid rocket booster cameras, all the way from launch to splashdown. Yeh, you read that right. It's the entire video of the launch, from main engine ignition to the moment the SRBs fall into the ocean. It's neat because you see the flight LEAVE the atmosphere then RE-ENTER the atmosphere. Even if you have no interest whatsoever in engineering or space, watch the video. It is fuckin' awesome.

NOTE: If you want to see the shuttle/tank at separation, watch the FIRST video. If you want to see the ocean get closer and closer and closer until splashdown, watch the SECOND video. Or just watch both videos if you're feeling it.

Co-op's Log...Flight Day 4

Just thought I'd give you all an unofficial status update of things up in orbit. The Station and Shuttle are doing just fine. Docking went smoothly, we added another crewman to the ISS(first 3-man crew since 2003), unbirthed the MPLM(Multi-Purpose Logistics Module) and attached it to Node-2, and things are set for the first EVA tomorrow. All looks good.

The highlight of tonight's Orbit 3 shift(my shift) was the passing of the ISS directly overhead Houston around 9:45pm CST. Almost the entire ISS and Shuttle flight control teams left Building 30 and congregated outside to watch the passover. It was pretty cool; nothing I hadn't seen before, but it's still cool. The station/shuttle were amazingly bright and very easy to spot. The station/shuttle stack passed right over MCC, and it one frame you could see both the streaking star(the shuttle and station) and the illuminated American flag protuding prominently atop MCC. I wish I had a camera, as it was a VERY good shot.

And one more thing...I now have a new favorite astronaut(not that I had one to begin with). And as it turns out, she's actually one of the ones that went up on Discovery a few days ago: Stephanie Wilson. Why do I like her? See below:

Notice the cap she is wearing while taking a ride in the Space Shuttle motion simulator.

And another shot of her in the Lab mockup in Building 9, just to reinforce the point(she's from Massachusetts, by the way).

Well it's late here. Too late. Around 3:30. I'm worn out and headed to bed.

"And the Rockets' Red Glare"

A job well done to the Launch Control Team at KSC, as well as to the Ascent Team at JSC. Some slight issues arose, such as minor foam pieces and a mysterious ice object which was originally thought to be a thermal blanket, but nothing seems to be critical. All seems well with Discovery and her crew, so it's time to go to work. Hopefully I'll have some entertaining and/or great pictures for ya from my 2 weeks of mission support. I'll use my new camera for the pics...when it gets here :).

Tank You...Tank You Very Much

Congratulations are in order for David Ortiz, Mark Loretta, Manny Ramirez, and my boy Jonathan Papelbon. They were chosen by the fans(except Papelbon; he was chosen by Ozzie Guillen, the AL manager) to represent Boston in the 77th All-Star game in Pittsburgh next week. Despite the great showing of Red Sox on the AL squad, I can't help but feel like we were snubbed. No Curt Schilling or Josh Beckett on the team!?! Com'on now, Ozzie. I have heard that Francona has talked to Guillen recently in hopes of convincing him that Schiller belongs on the team. Sticking with the All-Star theme, David Ortiz has elected to participate in the homerun derby the day before the mid-summer classic. I hope he tears the cover off the ball.

Slight scare today in the space world. During a checkout of Discover and her related parts last night, a piece of foam fell from a support strut on the External Tank(ET). Here's a high-res shot of the missing area:

That light area is the part of the foam that fell off. To give you an idea of scale, that area of foam loss was about 4 inches wide.

The Mission Management Team(MMT) met twice today, and thanks to some clever engineering they were able to examine the foam loss area without actually crushing the foam or having to bring in an external platform, which would have added another day to the launch. After much review, it was determine that the foam less presented now aerothermo problems, no ice threat, and it didn't shear surrounding foam. In short, Discover is GO for launch tomorrow at 1:38pm CST. Should be exciting, as the weather presents only a 40% chance of delaying the launch tomorrow, according to the weather military dudes over at the cape.

My body is wondering what the HELL I think I'm doing. I sleep shifted last weekend in preparation for the mission. Then we were delayed, and I had to shift back for work this week. Now that there's a good chance to launch tomorrow, I'm having to shift AGAIN tonight. That means staying up until 4:00am after being up at 7:00am this morning for work and getting only about an hour of sleep after work. Eyugh.

Richard has had a tough week this week: England gets ousted from the World Cup in the quarters, Beckham resigns his captaincy, his boy Agassi is defeated at Wimbledon at the hands of phenom capri-wearing Rafael Nadal, Ben Wallace is leaving the Pistons for Chicago, and today he found out that Steve Yzerman is retiring from the NHL. If you don't know who Steve Yzerman is, SHAME ON YOU. To give you an idea of this guy's affect on hockey the past 20+ years, go HERE. Everyone say a private prayer for Richard, haha. I'm sure I'll feel the same when Joe Sakic(who is also #19) retires one day.

One more thing: Sharapova advanced past the 4th round at Wimbledon today :)

Another one-more-thing: Jose Canseco is a fuckin' idiot. And he can't throw a knuckleball worth crap.

There. I'm done.

The Curtain Call...

is used WAY too much by the New York Yankees. They have pretty much erased the effect the Curtain Call has. It means nothing now, because of them. Just watch a Yankee game the next oppurtunity you get. You will notice that it is WAY overdone. Chill out New York...we have monster home runs, clutch hits, and great baserunning on a nightly basis at Fenway, but you don't see us waving our helmet from the dugout steps EVERY time we do those things. It's actually EXPECTED of the Red Sox.

T-12 hours...

So I'm here at the apartment. The party died down at Eric's, and he needed to get to sleep, so I've returned to HQ. I'm trying to sleep-shift as much as possible tonight so I don't have to do much of it tomorrow. That means I need to stay up all the way to 4:30 or 5:00 if possible. That wouldn't be so bad if I wasn't waking up at 9:15 to go watch England/Portugal at Eric's. Sheesh. The things I do for the love of sports.

We celebrated lots of things tonight at Boondoggles then at Kemah:

• Discover is a GO for launch, and this will be our last free night for two weeks. We're all looking forward to working the flight though.
• It was Eric's 26th birthday.
• Colin's return from Germany.
  
• Colin FINALLY proposed to Rachel in Germany last week. He did it while they were sitting on a bench right beside the Rhine River. I'm proud of my boy. (Rachel said "yes" by the way). Her ring is beautiful. Well done, Colin. Well done indeed. They're planning on saying "I do" on July 7, 2007 in Pittsburgh. Yup: 7/7/07. Can you say "road trip"?! :)
  
• My 21st birthday. Yeh, it was a few weeks ago, but the guys never got around to celebrating it with me. I used my new power to buy Colin and Rachel their drinks as a Merry Engagement present.
  
• The Red Sox 12-game win streak, as well as their consecutive errorless streak.
• and something else...but I'm not at liberty to say...yet :)

Thursday's game saving play by our center fielder. Lord knows Damon can't do this...(not sure why the pic is so big)

All systems go. If the weather is looking good tomorrow then the bird will be off the pad...and I'll be watching it all from Mission Control. You're jealous, I know.

Make it a Dozen

Yup. The Sox have won 12 games in row, capping off the final 3 against the best team in the NL. This is the longest win streak for the Beantown Boys since 1995, the last time they won the AL East. We also have tied the record for consecutive games without an error(16). One more and we ARE the record, haha.

Speaking of sports.....my favorite athlete of all time, Patrick Roy, is being inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame this November. This was his first time on the ballot, but it doesn't come as a surprise to anyone that follows hockey. I will not go into all the awards and records he holds, but you can follow the link on the right and see for yourself. The man was a freakin' machine. I can't wait to see his speech! Matt and I both agree he should go to the ceremony wearing full pads and helmet.

Again staying with sports....my girl Sharapova(as well as Wimbledon's new favorite sweetheart) is still in the tournament. What's really funny though is the last opponent she beat. The opponent's name? Anna SMASHNOVA. How cool a tennis name is that? I mean seriously. SMASHnova. With that name you either grow up to play tennis or be a boxer.

We saw the late late late showing(got home around 1:30) of Superman Returns last night. I liked it alot. It was a great homage to the older films, which were the movies I basically grew up on(as well as Indiana Jones and Batman). A little bit of cheeziness, a few inside jokes(Gotham City is mentioned in a news broadcast), and a ton of action really add up to a great Superman movie. As if all that wasn't enough, the opening credits of the movie are done EXACTLY like the old movies, but they combined the old credits with a schnazzy opening showing the explosion of a star on its way towards Earth. It was incredibly nostalgic, especially with the orginal score composed by John Williams played more bombastically than before, and I loved it. I can honestly say that that was the first time I have ever had goosebumps for the first 3 minutes of a movie. Granted, the movie skipped and jumped around some of the older movies, but I don't mind that at all. Much like the latest Batman movie, when the movies are now based on the comic book licenses, I think they can throw out the rule books set by the older flicks.

Tomorrow is Eric's birthday, so I think we're gonna try to throw him a party. It's almost like we are required to because he is set to go on console at Mission Control Sunday night, so he has to begin sleep shifting, which means he needs to stay up to AT LEAST 3:00 am tomorrow. I think we can handle that :)

Y'all Come Back Now...Ya Hear!

Funny thing happened today. On my way back to work from my lunch break, I stopped at the Post Office in Nassau Bay, which is just across from JSC, to get some stamps. I pulled my Jeep into a parking space, and I noticed the parked van beside me had a Mississippi tag, a Washington Co. tag to be specific. I thought that was kind of funny, but didn't think much beyond that. I then strolled into the building and got in line. I wasn't in line for more than 3 minutes when this bald guy wearing a Hawiian shirt, khaki shorts, and sandals popped his head into the main post office room(where you get service). He talked as if he was calling out the winning BINGO number: "Anyone in here from Mississippi??"

After looking around for a second, I casually raised my hand and said, "I am."

The guy asked me if I was the one driving with the Madison license, and I confirmed his guess. He asked me if I lived here and what I was doing, and I told him. He then went on to tell me where he was originally from(Greenville) and what he's doing in Houston, now that he lives there. Then he left. All of that was in a 30-second span, if that. Then he told me to take care, and he was gone. Poof. Like that.

It just goes on to prove that Mississippi is home to some of the most friendly people on this Earth, and THAT'S why I love my(2nd) home state.

Treasure Hunting

Once again...David Ortiz comes to the rescue in the clutch. ANOTHER walk-off hit today against the Phillies. His second game in a row and 3rd in the last 8 home games at Fenway. To quote Trevor: "Papi(David Ortiz) is the shit!"

Walker and I are addicted to this new show Treasure Hunters on NBC. Granted, we don't have great reception on our tv(that will change on Wednesday), but we can get the basic idea of what's going on. Best of all, we can play along online with these "brainteasers" that lead you on a parallel path with the show. Each episode there is a different online challenge, and with each successful completion of the online challenges you are given another clue as to the whereabouts of the treasure. So far the first two clues make no sense, but we're working on it. We want that $10,000, haha.

Jennifer is bringing me Curse of the Bambino tomorrow. She says I'm not a true Sox fan until I have completely understood the past miseries of the team. She has a point, so I feel obliged to read it. I'm actually looking forward to it. I finished Angels & Demons, which was awesome. I need another bedside book.

Interesting Stat

Oh yeh, I forgot. At Roger Clemens' return to baseball last Thursday, we(my group and the rest of Houston) set the all-time record for attendance at Minute Maid Park: 43,769!! That's more than any of the World Series games last year! Go figure...

Don't Forget to Pack Your Launch

Well if you are(were) a USA Soccer fan, that World Cup sucked, didn't it? Bleh. VERY disappointed in our boys. No explosiveness, apparently no chemistry(which was our problem in '98), no stamina. We were outplayed every which way during our 3 group games, and it was just painful to watch. I expect Arena to be on the chopping block for this affair, but then again, he was probably on his way out after this World Cup anyway. Lots of our guys probably wont be playing anymore(Reyna, McBride, Keller), so we either get younger or we don't get anywhere at all....I guess I'm an England fan now(Richard's team).

Thursday was Roger Clemen's return to baseball, as well as the Astros, and I was there to watch history. He wasn't overly awesome, but it was definitely vintage Roger. Unfortunately, it was also vintage Astros, which means ZERO run support for their ace. Of course it also didn't help that they were batting against the rookie phenom pitcher of Liriano on the Twins. The 'stros lost, but it was a good time hanging out with alot of people from work(we got group seats). I had never seen Minnesota play before, so I got to knock them off my list :)

Speaking of baseball, the Red Sox are freakin' BALLIN. Eight in row, baby. Papi had a walk-off homer today, which is just becoming the norm for him. I swear, all of his RBI's have come in the bottom of the last inning when the score is either tied or they're behind. That man is a machine.

The launch schedule was released earlier this week. (NOTE: the shuttle mission is designated STS-121 and the related ISS Flight is designated ULF 1.1. I'll be using those in my posts from now on...just to let you know). I'm gonna OJT(on-the-job training) with the Orbit 3 shift with Tarik in the Blue MPSR(pronounced "mip-sir"), which is the ISS backroom. Orbit 3 is from 7:30pm-4:30am, and while I know you think that that timeframe sucks, it really doesn't. See, since Orbit 3 is within that timeframe, it is usually the planning shift, where timelines are laid out for the next day, maneuvers are discussed, as well as any other items for the shift. The crew is usually asleep in this shift, but alot happens here on the ground, and it will be a great oppurtunity for me to learn hands-on and ask many questions.

So those are the "work" reasons why it's gonna rock. Here are the "fun" reasons....Orbit 3 in the backroom is pretty much the party shift. Yup, I said it: party. Eric has told me from experience that there will be grilling, footballs, ESPN on the tv's, and more; only after the Station work has been done, of course, haha. It's gonna be awesome. I'll be sitting in with my boy Tarik, and Eric is also on Orbit 3, so it's going to be a blast. Even better is that I get home at 5:00am, which means I sleep until around noon. That leaves me the afternoon to sit by the pool and soak up some rays every day during the mission(2 weeks!). Helllll yeh. I'm actually excited to totally flip my sleep schedule; it should be a fresh experience, especially considering the work I'll get to do. So starting on July 2, be looking for me on NASA TV when I roam into the control room!

Hooray for Presents

So my birthday rocked. You all know that from my last post. My birthday celebrations continued into this last weekend when Mal and I went to see the Sox sweep the Braves. She did a great post about our trip, so just go over to her blog to read the recap. Yeh I know, I'm lazy. But it is a good post with good pics.

My birthday extended even beyond my two trips. I got some awesome gifts from everyone. Shall I review?

Mom and Dad got me a $100 e-gift certificate to Target. Awesome! I'm using that card to buy my new camera, but I forgot that it is an electronic gift certificate, so I can only use it online. That means I have to order my camera online, so it will take a few days. I'm still doing some last minute research, so this may be for the better that I didn't buy it today.

Carolyn and Richard bought me birthday dinner as well as birthday drinks. They also drove us around D.C. all weekend, got us Nats tickets, got us into the Smithsonian museum, fixed us food, provided entertainment, etc. etc. My siblings kick soooooo much ass. Thank you C and R!!

Will got me a blue Red Sox tee with Papelbon and #58 on the back, but you already knew that. Nevertheless, it's still awesome.

Mallory also got me a Papelbon Red Sox shirt. She also got me this uber-uber comfy Red Sox throw. It's my new favorite blanket. And yes, it's on my bed. Mallory also carted me ALL around Atlanta this past weekend, including a trip to the always-crazy Atlanta Hartsfield Int'l Airport and 3 forays into post-Braves traffic. It's safe to say that she sacrificed the most for my birthday, haha.

The Red Sox gave me a sweep of the Braves, which is exactly what I asked for!!!

so as you can see, my 21st birtday = awesome. That's pretty much it.

Ran across a great article on my boy Papelbon today at work......CLICK HERE TO READ IT.

Tomorrow's the big game, folks. The return of Roger. This city is going absolutely bonkers over it.

Oh, and one more thing. Today I saw the first of what is sure to be an onslaught of television reporters broadcasting from Johnson Space Center. They were standing in front of the big NASA/JSC sign right off NASA Rd. 1. There's gonna be a bajillion of these reporters on and off-site, especially beginning next week. It's gonna be pandamonium. I can't wait!!!

We Are GO For Launch

The head managers have given the go-ahead. All supporting facilities are cleared. The viewing areas have been designated. Houston is ready to be in control at liftoff.

No, I'm not talking about those 2 solid rocket boosters, orbiter, and external tank sitting on Pad 39B at Cape Canaveral. I'm talking about a totally different Rocket. The 43 year old, 6' 4" Rocket. The one that can bring the heat in the mid-to-upper 90's. I am, of course, talking about Roger Clemens.

Roger is set to return to the Astros on June 22 here in Houston against the Twins in an interleague matchup. When this date was announced about 2 weeks ago, I suggested to everyone here that we get group tickets, as this game was sure to sell out. We bought 20 group seats a few weeks ago, and sure enough, I went to the Astros website today, attempted to order tickets to the game, and what seats were available? Just Standing Room Only, folks. That's all. That would indicate a sellout. Hell freakin' yeh. On top of that, ESPN(again, as I predicted they would) has picked up this game, airing at 7:00pm CT Thursday evening. So I'm going to be there, along with a horde of other baseball-lovin' fans, watching history. What's more, I'm gonna have my new super shiny digital camera with me to capture the moment. My new camera, which I am buying tomorrow, is totally badass. For example, it has this special "rapid fire" mode, where it will snap full resolution pics just as fast as I can press the trigger. HOLY SHIT, that's cool. The boys over at CNET clocked 143 shots in 110 seconds onto the memory card. Aw, hell yeh. I'm gonna have fuuuuun with my new toy :)

Rewind

Okay, I guess it's time I get you all caught up on my last few weekends.

So 2 weekends ago was my 21st birthday, but you already knew that. Friday afternoon Trevor and I began our voyage to D.C. When we arrived, it took us a minute to realize we were in the ghetto-wing of Reagan airport. After a few phone calls back and forth between me and Carolyn, we were finally picked up and on our way back to Fairfax. Friday night we just drank some wine and sat around the apartment, talking and whatnot. Carolyn used my 21st birthday weekend as a perfect time to educate me on the ins and outs of various wines.

Saturday started off early. Richard made is world famous chocoloate-chip pancackes while Carolyn made us some fabulous mimosas. Then we all donned England-themed soccer attire(yours truly reclaiming my beloved Newcastle jersey) and watched, as you might guess, England play soccer in the World Cup. Richard was happy, as England walked away with a 1-0 lead over Paraguay. EN-G-LAND!

The next event of the day was a baseball matchup of the Philles and Nationals at RFK stadium. After navigating through the crazy traffic and the orange cones of fury, we arrived at the game. I really didn't have any affinity towards either team, but it just great to see a new stadium, see two teams I have never seen play before, and just hang out with my family and friends. I mean, it's baseball, so what's NOT to like?

After the game we cleaned up at the apartment and headed out to celebrate the greatest day of the entire year. We began with dinner at this awesome tapas restaurant called Zengo. It was quite possibly(and Trevor concurs) the best dinner I have had.....ever. Seriously, I have had time to reflect on it, and it was the tastiest, most filling, most diverse meal that has ever met my mouth. We also had a great bottle of wine to go with our supper, and it was yet another oppurtunity for Carolyn to share her wealth of wine knowledge with me. Sufficiently full, we made our way to our next destination: the Childe Harold Restaurant and Bar.

With a very Daves-like atmosphere, the Childe was just gettin busy when we arrived. By a stroke of luck, they started checking I.D.'s at the door about 10 minutes after we arrived. Score! We(Richard, Caro, Trevor, and I) arrived around 10:30pm, but our group started showing up around 11:00, and a steady stream of our friends were arriving after that for about an hour. I started the night off with 2 pints of Samuel Adams' White Ale and a pint of Bass Pale Ale. Next, Tyler(Katie O's fiance) bought me a rum and coke, which consisted mainly of rum and just a pinch of coke. (NOTE: Tyler wanted to get a much more awesome mixed drink, but the bartender was such an ass and told Tyler that it was stupid drink. Tyler could have kicked the bartender's ass, but he opted to just get me something else instead of bloodshed, haha.) Then Trevor bought me a whiskey sour, which was also tasty.

As the clock hit midnight, I was officially 21, and things officially got crazy. For my first drink as a 21 year old, Richard bought Trevor and me shots of Sambuca, which basically tasted like black liquorice. Yum yum. Following suit, Tina got me a glass(I'd say about 2 and half shots worth) of Grand Marnier. Now, I didn't know that you are supposed to just sip on Grand Marn; I figured you just shot it. Ryan advised me to just sip on it like I should have, but her warnings fell on deaf ears, haha. Tina pressured me into downing it, saying, "Com'on, Henry, be a man." Well, I couldn't very well turn down that kind of a challenge on my 21st birthday, could I? So I took the Grand Marnier and shot ALL of it. Later I would realize that to be a bad, bad choice. Shortly thereafter, Leann bought me a shot of Jagermeister at the bar; she of course couldn't let me drink alone. Supposedly after that, we all had tequila shots, but I honestly can't remember that. And I think there were more drinks, but again, not much recollection of them, haha. The rest of the night was rather eventful, but I'll spare most of you the gory details. If you REALLY want them, just lemme know, and I'll give you the full story.

My birthday actually ended up being our detox day. Richard fixed an amazing breakfast of eggs, bacon, toast, fruit, and juice. After food, we headed to the Udvar-Hazy hangar of the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum, which is located near Dulles airport. Man, it was AWESOME. They had the test Space Shuttle Enterprise, an SR-71, the Enola Gay, a Concorde, as well an amazing array of space artifacts, satellites, and equipment from the past and present. I'm so glad we got a chance to visit this portion of the museum. Definitely a memorable experience.

Sunday night we dined out and ate dessert at the Cheesecake Factory. For a place called a "factory," this place was VERY posh. We all got different types of cheesecake, and I had a cappucino. DIVINE!

So that was my 21st birthday extravaganza in D.C. Trevor and I left Monday morning, but we both agreed that we will be returning to D.C.(or wherever Caroly and Richard are located) to party it up with my sister and Richard again. They were absolutely awesome on my birthday, and I hope I can return the favor to them in the future.

Just as a show of how much fun was had, here's the picture that really sums up our weekend. It was taken near the tail-end of our night at the Childe Harold. Unfortunately, several of our friends had left, but we still managed to get a great picture.

The last supper(or drink)...

And just for a comparison:

My birthday week, including this past weekend, was awesome. Mallory will probably blog this weekend pretty soon, and since she has all the pictures, you might wanna stay tuned to her site. She got some great shots. I'll go into detail about presents I got, things I did, and places I visited next post.

You are probably wondering why I haven't included many pictures lately. Well, the plain truth is my current camera is now considerably out-of-date. It has served me VERY well over the past 4 years, but now I'm looking to upgrade. I know exactly what I want, and I'm going to get it. Probably within a few days. I'll let you all know when I procure it, and I'll take some pictures to prove it, haha.

-H

No Time

Well, this week has just been crazy. I got back from D.C. Monday afternoon, dropped Trevor off at the airport on Tuesday, and I have been/will work 10 hour days until Friday so I can take off early on Friday, which is when I fly to Atlanta to meet Mal for the Red Sox vs. Braves series. There's so much to talk about, I know, but I just don't have the time to post right now. I'm washing clothes, running to WalMart, and trying to get things in order for my trip this weekend. I'm gonna have to wait until Tuesday to post, but I promise I will detail everything from my 21st birthday and the Sox series. Just don't have time right now.

Speaking of Sox, our freakin' middle relief is F'in PISS POOR! And it's showing at this very minute. Grrr. We best pick up some talent come July 31(trade deadline), or things could get very bad very quickly.

-H