Dreams of Flight

Many things I know in life I've learned from doing youth ministry

2011-01-17T12:18:00.000-08:00

I've been involved in youth ministry, either as a participant or a volunteer, for almost 20 years now (which is really kinda scary for me to think about). Over those years, I've spent time with a lot of people and learned a lot about Jesus and the church, how to do ministry, how to live life, how to love people and a lot of other things. And I hope to continue to be involved in youth ministry for a long time to come. But, as we've been in a time of transition, I've gotten to thinking a lot about the ministries I've been a part of and the people I've known. And I've been updating my list of things I've learned over the years. I thought some of you might enjoy reading these...or at least recognize some of the life lessons you've been a part of. :)

So, in no particular order...
Many things I've learned from being a part of youth ministry:

- The Beatles Abbey Road may very well be the best album ever recorded.

- The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.

- I do not go alone; God goes with me.

- At the nursing home, no matter what happens, just keep playing.

- When playing a song, getting all the notes right is nice but not really required.

- God is good and what he does is good.

- Step out and embrace the awkward!

- When you first start out at a new place, you can get away with a lot by blaming it on "the transition".

- Embrace the experience when the game of capture the flag turns into a water balloon fight. You can't program events like that.

- Ice cream is an amazing motivator.

- It's a good thing that you're sad someone is leaving. It means they've affected your life in a positive way. But realizing that doesn't make their leaving any easier.

- Giving a kid a dollar for doing something random they wouldn't normally do is usually a good investment.

- Being cool isn't that important, especially in the long run. Being real, being consistent and sometimes just being there is what matters.

- Don't mess with a guy's coffee.

- Adding parents to a youth event, while not necessarily a bad idea on occasion, will, most likely, lead to a quieter youth event.

- Don't expect thoughtful answers to theological questions before a guy has had his second cup of coffee.

- Be very, very careful when you recommend movies.

- Pay no attention to the typos in the song book. Just sing the words that are supposed to be printed there.

- If you get someone to help you with something, you won't be the only one getting blamed when others get upset about it.

- If you make a situation out to be the worst it could possibly be, people won't be too upset when it goes less than perfect but better than terrible.

- If there are no rules restricting playing active games in the fellowship hall as long as you don't break anything, there's a good chance no one will realize you're doing it and won't make rules against it.

- Don't worry so much about the people who aren't there. Rather, be excited about and focus on the people who are there.

- "I don't know." is a great answer, especially when followed by "But I'll find out and get back to you.

- Never be ashamed to admit that you're having a hard time believing all this stuff is really real, that God exists and he really does love you.

- It's okay to cry in church, even if you're the one doing the preaching.

- Never ask if someone will read or pray, instead, ask WHO will read or pray.

- Jeff's right, all tequilas really do taste the same.

- We should not be surprised when non-Christians don't act like Christians.

- Mooch off your parents for as long as you can.

- You can shine pennies with Taco Bell hot sauce.

- Ministry can and often does take place over a burrito or milkshake, on a ski lift, while mixing concrete by hand, or doing other less than ministry-y activities.

- ATP stands for Adult Type Person - Someone who is old and responsible enough that parents trust them to take their kids out of state for a week or more but not so old nor mature that they're above starting a marshmallow or shaving cream fight.

- With a small crowd, ditching the planned activity or lesson to go out for ice cream, donuts or a movie is not only a legitimate plan but often a really good idea.

- You have to earn the right to be heard and that takes time.

- Don't get discouraged when, after carefully planning a lesson, the kids seem unimpressed or even bored, leave your finely crafted handouts behind and can't recall what you taught on the next week. God is faithful and some of it really does get through and stick.

- Even kids too young to read, talk or even walk can minister to other people.

- One of the great things about being a volunteer is ultimatly not being in charge of anything and being able to answer, "Ask (insert name of the guy in charge)" in response to a difficult question or awkward response.

- Ultimate Frisbee is harder but still a lot of fun when played in the dark, with an LED lit frisbee and glowstick bracelets.

- When coming upon a game of Ultimate frisbee being played in the dark, the only thing leaving your car headlights on does is annoy those playing. It does not help illuminate the field or make anything any easier. Really! Just turn them off.

- Adding sugar to high school students is a good way to encourage verbal interaction during Sunday school. But don't use Laffy Taffy. The sugar concentration is too high and the jokes overly distracting.

- A good portion of youth ministry is just showing up consistently. A good portion of what's left is simply listening.

Every New Beginning Comes From Some Other Beginning's End

2011-01-01T13:26:00.000-08:00

1 January 2011 - The beginning of another new year and I've had some thoughts going through my head recently:

I've been watching episodes of The West Wing for a while now. A few weeks before Christmas I got to the Christmas episode of Season 4. It's titled "Guns not Butter". President Bartlet is feeling the need to get things done before the end of the year so he has Leo working on peace in the Middle East and Josh working on a doomed foreign aid bill. There's other plots and it's a good episode but what's stuck with me is a little exchange near the end of the episode. Josh has to admit defeat and he and the president have a short conversation. In that conversation President Bartlet says, "You know what the difference is between you and me? I want to be the guy. You want to be the guy the guy counts on." And in thinking about myself, my role as an ATP (adult type person,=youth volunteer) and even my role at work, I think that pretty much sums up what I want to be as well. I don't want to be the one out front, leading the charge. I'm not very good at motivating people or convincing people to follow me. I'm generally not the one with the big ideas or the grand schemes or the desire to shape the role and direction of much of anything. What I do better than those things and where I am the most happy, is being the one behind the scenes. I want to be the one who works with The Guy, who takes the big plans and schemes and new directions and figures out how to make those a reality. I don't care much for the praise and recognition from the masses. I just want to be the one The Guy in charge counts of when things need to get done. And I don't want to let The Guy down.

2011 is looking like it's going to be a year of transition in a number of ways. There's some stuff going on at work that will possibly result in me taking on some different roles or at least altering how I work. I think this will be a good thing. But it's going to take some getting used to. And we'll have at least one, if not two new youth guy transitions at work. With Matt leaving on relatively short notice, we've got a new intern who will be in charge for at least the remainder of the school year. We're hoping that God will provide a new, long-term youth guy before the start of the summer. And, if that's the case, we'll get to do the whole transition thing twice this year. I know that God will work this for the good for all of His people, including me and all of the kids. I've been through this before and can honestly say that I've seen God so greatly bless my kids and me with each of the transitions that I have no reason to doubt that He will do it again. But, well, change is scary and even the easy transitions are sometimes difficult. And Sylvia, my women's ministry prayer partner at church, and I will, I'm sure, have much to talk and pray about (especially with two of her kids newly engaged to be married...both good unions to look forward to, just, well, change and change is also often stressful).

And somewhere in 2011, I'll hopefully get to spend a week in Colorado with my high school kids, a week in Mexico doing summer camp with some street kids and maybe a week in Florida with my junior high kids. I'll certainly make it to Atlanta at least a couple of times and hope to road trip to Jackson, Mississippi some as well. I'd like to reorganize the play room and clean out my bookcases, work through my "to be read" pile, spend lots of time at the gym and more time in prayer and study of God's word. I hope to neglect my cats less and the television more, to put more emphasis on relationships with my family (both the one I'm related to as well as the one I'm not) and enjoy more time playing games with friends. I'll probably continue my quest for the perfect backpack and have to restrain myself from buying more water bottles and cold weather gear. But, mostly, I just want to live each day in such a way that I glorify God and enjoy Him in all things and maybe inspire others to do the same.

In which I record some quick thoughts after an amazing week

2010-07-25T19:07:00.000-07:00

I spent last week at a camp outside of Guanajuato, Mexico (west and slightly north of Mexico City...I think). I was a part of a mission team of 15 people from my church who put on a summer camp for 13 street children from Acapulco, Mexico. This was the first time that any of us involved have tried anything like this. I think everyone involved was a bit anxious prior to the trip. But it all turned out amazingly well. Such a great, weird, laid back, heart breaking week full of unexpected just about everything. I hope to write much about this week and post some pictures (more will be available on Facebook) but for now just want to get a few thoughts recorded.

This morning (Sunday), after getting home just last night, I was a bummed that I didn't have any fresh milk for my breakfast. I mixed up some powered milk but was, in my head, lamenting the fact that it wouldn't be as cold as I would like it and it wouldn't taste near as good as the "real" stuff. But then I thought about it a little more. I had milk. First, it wasn't the double pasteurized not terribly good stuff that we drank all last week in Mexico. But, mostly, I had milk. And I could put it in the refrigerator that I own, in the house that I (mortgage notwithstanding) own. And, later in the day I would worship God with a huge family I'm not related to who love me and care for me and talk to my parents who also love me and care for me and have always loved me and cared for me and have never hit me or cursed at me or gotten drunk or high and said and done unimaginable things to me. I have never worried about from where or even if my next meal would come. I have always had a bed to sleep in and a roof over my head. I have never, really, feared that I would be attacked or assaulted, beaten or killed.

I spent the last week with a bunch of kids who can not say such things. All of them have left home for one reason or another, most at a very young age. How bad does life have to get for a 7 or 8 or 10 year old to just run away? My nephews are that age. I can't imagine what it would take for them to just up and leave. But that's what happened to these 13 kids. And this morning, as I was ticked off that I had to drink powdered milk with my cereal, some of these kids went back to unimaginable circumstances. Two of the boys, the two who live at the street child center in Acapulco remained at camp for another week. They're the ones with the best situation. Two others are in a government run orphanage. From what it sounds like, it meets their basic needs; food, clothing, shelter and some sort of education and that's about it. Three of the boys are in a government run juvenile detention/rehab center. I heard one of the boys talk a little about the place. He hates it there. There is little to do. The staff regularly yell at curse at the boys. He wept openly at the thought of returning. It sounds like it's better than the streets but only barely. The rest of the kids, as far as I know, returned to the streets. I pray that some will want to come and stay at the Sobre el Puente (the street child center). But I know many will not. It breaks my heart to know that these kids, these amazing kids who are so loving and polite and talented in so many ways have not only been through so much but are so stuck in such a situation that they want to be out, living on the streets. And I wonder how many other kids there are like them, like the kids I met in India a few years ago. I see their faces in my mind and I smile but I also cry. And I remember the words of Dustin Salter, "My Master is not pleased with this...This is not the way it's supposed to be. And this is not the way that it's going to be." I want to hug these kids again. I want to figure out a way to help them. But, tonight, I can only pray for them. And that is what I will do.

In which I share some insights into my chosen profession

2010-04-29T05:12:00.000-07:00

Don't push your kid into engineering...no, really...engineers are weird, weird people many of whom spend their days sitting in little boxes with fabric covered walls and bad flourescent lighting. We...er...they have trouble enjoying mainstream entertainment because the science is JUST SO BAD!!!, take pleasure in pointing out the flaws in your perfectly crafted if not completely logically sound arguments and love nothing more than making little graphs on spreadsheets that represent things like the trend in automobile gas mileage against time correlated to average trip distance, speed, temperature, weather conditions, number of passengers, amount of cargo carried, percentage of turns which were left, change (and rate of change) of altitude during trips and time spent in the drive-thru line paying for overpriced coffee which can be made just as good at home if you will only buy the really cool, fancy, incredibly complicated machine that's available at that geeky web site.

Really, you don't want to push your kid to become an engineer. Most kids who become engineers have parents who begged them to not become engineers...but they knew there was no choice because, in most cases, engineers are engineers from birth...and if they survive the horror that is the teenage years (and don't die from blunt force trama delivered by a dodgeball in a PE class that they will spend years trying to repress), they'll find their home in one of those little fabric covered boxes with bad flourescent lighting.

What if Scotty was wrong?

2009-05-05T11:17:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I have random thoughts. Okay, often I have random thoughts. They're often a little odd, but regularly keep me entertained while commuting, at the gym or doing other things which don't fully engage my brain. This string of thoughts is probably a little more towards the "I have no idea how you thought of that" than others. You have been warned.

What if Scotty, the engineer from the Star Trek Enterprise ("No bloody A, B, C or D") was wrong? What if you really could change the laws of physics?

What if, all of a sudden, spring constants changed. What if springs, all of a sudden, got drastically stiffer or more squishy (What? Squishy is a technical term...and even if it's not you understood what I meant.)? Think of the havoc that would ensue. Old guys' wrist would be broken as their watches exploded. Water fountains, soap dispensers, many things with buttons would explode as the springs that kept their switches and handles in place suddenly caused those buttons and switches to rocket out of their housings. And, what if it was just a quick thing. Like after five minutes the spring constants reverted to normal? How long would it take for someone to figure out what had happened? Would the world believe it?

Or, what if air suddenly became drastically more or less compressible. Or friction just disappeared...or increased by a factor of 10? It would be like ice skating...or walking with velcro on the bottom of our shoes.

Quotes from the family.

2009-04-10T14:30:00.000-07:00

All of these are actual things said by my family this weekend.

Mom: How long does it take to boil water in the microwave?
Me: That depends on the wattage of the microwave, how much water, what temperature the water starts at, what type of container it's in...
Sarah (my sister): Two minutes!
Me: Or you could just put it in for a few minutes and check on it.

Me: How do you people live without a scroll wheel on your mouse?

Me: You need to learn to Google.
Renee (woman who's been cutting my Mom's hair for as long as I can remember): Google? What will that do for me?
Me: It will answer all of your questions.
Renee: So, it's like God?
Me: Yeah, kinda, but without all of the scary angels.
Mom: And the forgiveness.

Me: Do you have any coffee filters?
Mom: Yeah...why do you need coffee filters?
Me: I have cups of food coloring, why would I NOT need coffee filters?
(I was in a crafty mood. It doesn't happen all that often. My nephews and I made colorful snowflakes.)

(Before sending me to run into the grocery store to get a container of cottage cheese she had forgotten to buy.)
Mom: If something other than cottage cheese finds it's way into the bag, that's fine, but I'm not paying for it.

Space...there's a lot of it out there

2009-02-18T06:50:00.000-08:00

I've been thinking about the satellite collision that happened last week and just how amazing it is that it actually happened. I mean, I know there's a lot of stuff up in space orbiting our planet. But there's also a lot of space up there.

If you think about it, two objects traveling along the same line (essentially one dimension) have a pretty good chance of running into each other. You get one going in the wrong direction or at a different speed and, well, it's gonna happen (think about two trains running on the same track). Adding an additional dimension, like with cars driving on the road, there's still a reasonable chance that two will collide, but the odds go way down. Think about how many cars are on the roads each day and how few of those actually hit each other. There's just more room in which to move and more ways to move out of the way of each other. Then, adding the third dimension, the odds of a collision go down even further. Think about airplanes. It's rare to hear about a collision of two aircraft that are in the air. The chances of two airplanes being over the same bit of ground, at the same altitude at the same time aren't very high. Airplanes are just too small compared to how much air is up there to fly around in. And airplanes only have a couple of miles of altitude in which to fly. Once you get into space, there's not only a whole lot more miles of altitude to inhabit, but the farther you go up, the more space there is. (Think about it like this: Draw a small circle. Now draw a bigger circle around it. Do that a couple of times. Now, start at the center of the circle and draw a line to the edge of the biggest circle. Do that again. Notice how the point where the lines intersect the circle get farther away as the circles get bigger? Same idea with altitudes. The farther up you go, the more room you have on that circle...or in that altitude.)

So, in order for these two satellites to collide, they had to be over the same bit of ground, at the same altitude, at the same time. Looking at the satellites' orbits (top inset picture here) , these two satellites were rarely over the same bit of ground at the same time. Add in that they needed to be at the same altitude (objects in orbit are constantly losing altitude. It's not a lot, but that's why you sometimes hear of satellites needing to be "boosted" in orbit, or the space station needing to fire it's engines in order to increase the altitude. So, satellites are always changing altitude. It's slow, but over time it makes a difference.), and the odds have to be astoundingly low. It just boggles my mind thinking about all the things that had to come together to get these two little specks (compared to the gianourmous size of space) to collide.

Also, the Astronomy Picture of the Day is a very cool web site and should be in everyone's RSS feed. (What! You don't have an rss reader? Start here. Best thing since the iPod...which is even better than sliced bread.)

The much requested Chocolate Eclair Dessert Recipe - with pictures!

2009-02-02T09:12:00.000-08:00

When I was growing up, Mom sometimes made what she called Chocolate Eclaire Dessert. It was a family favorite, my sister even requested this as her birthday cake a couple of times and it was often taken to church for potlucks when someone forgot that the back half of the alphabet brought better desserts. I don't know where the recipe originated from. Others have said that their relatives have made the same type of dessert, so it's probably a random "Good Housekeeping" recipe or whatever. Today, it remains a family favorite with Mom, my sister and I making it fairly regularly. And, most of the time, when we take it somewhere, someone wants the recipe. Since I have no qualms about sharing, I thought I'd put it up on my blog, complete with some pictures of how it's made.

So, hold onto your tastebuds cause here we go.

Chocolate Eclaire Dessert.

First thing to know, this is better made the day before you plan to eat it. That gives the graham crackers time to get nice and mushy. Normally, I prefer crunchy things to stay crunchy, but this is one exception I'm happy to make. I've tried it made in a shorter timeframe, with the graham crackers remaining kinda crunchy. It's not near as good. So, give yourself at least 6 hours, preferably overnight between time of creation and time of enjoyment.

The ingredients:
3 cups milk
1 regular size container Cool Whip (8oz I think)
2 small or 1 large box instant pudding - vanilla or french vanilla
1 box (1lb) graham crackers - original flavor
1 tsp (or so) vanilla (optional)
1 container frosting - milk chocolate

As you can see, I use Kroger brand for most everything. Except the frosting. I haven't found a generic frosting that I like. I use skim milk. Using milk with a higher fat content would probably yield a richer dessert. I tried it with the extra creamy Cool Whip once. Surprisingly, it didn't taste as good. What I haven't tried is light Cool Whip and Sugar Free pudding. My thought is if you're going to eat dessert, you should go all the way. But I know some people have diet restrictions. If someone gives this a go with lower calorie alternatives, please let me know how it goes.

Combine the milk, cool whip and pudding in the mixing bowl.

The yellow is the pudding. I like to use French vanilla. I think it gives the whole thing a better taste. I also make this in a big Tupperware measuring cup. This decreases the amount of stuff I have to wash and makes it easier to pour the pudding mixture into the pan. It does have the downside that the measuring cup isn't quite big enough and I always splatter a little bit of pudding stuff while I'm mixing it. I don't wear my best t-shirt when making this and try not to get distracted while mixing, to keep my counter a little cleaner.

Once everything is combined, keep mixing. You want to give the pudding a little bit of time to set-up and you want everything light and fluffy. I usually mix for about 2 minutes or so.

Add the vanilla and mix some more. Maybe another minute or so. This is completely optional. I think it give it a slightly better taste, but people haven't complained when I forget it. If you add vanilla, use good vanilla. Artificial is no substitute for real. And the stuff you get in the grocery stores here has nothing on the stuff you can get in the markets in Mexico. I like the Posa brand. Best stuff I've ever found. Unfortunately, I'm almost out. Need to find someone doing a mission trip to Juarez this summer and see if they can bring me back some. I didn't see any real vanilla last time we were in Reynosa. Maybe this summer.

Here's where things get more complicated.
Not that it's really all that complicated, but I think the layering is what intimidates some people. It's not that hard, really. Plus, I don't think it's really possible to screw this recipe up.

Set the pudding mixture aside. Line the bottom of the 9x13 pan with graham crackers. Most likely, whole graham crackers will not completely cover the bottom of the pan. You have two options. Don't worry about it or break/use broken crackers to fill in the gaps. I like option two. But I'm an engineer who's weird about stuff like that. As long as the gaps aren't huge, you probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference if you don't fill them in.

Pour half (or so) of the pudding mixture on top of the graham crackers.
Add another layer of graham crackers.

This picture shows the little pieces of graham cracker a little better.

Note that there's still some holes/gaps. It's not a big deal.

Add the remaining pudding mixture.

This is before I added all of it and smoothed it out.

Top with a final layer of graham crackers.

Don't worry if your final layer isn't entirely even and level. Frosting covers a multitude of issues. You'll have some graham crackers left over. I like graham crackers for a snack, especially with a bit of leftover frosting on them.

Cover the pan and refrigerator for at least a few hours, overnight is best. The key is you want the graham crackers to be soft rather than crunchy. This takes some time.

Total time from gathering ingredients to putting it in the refrigerator to setup is usually 10-15 minutes for me, depending on if I put the mixer and beaters away where they belong or not and if I have to wash out the measuring cup. So, aside from having to make it the night before, this is a pretty quick recipe.

Once the pudding mixture has setup, or just before you serve it, top the dessert with the chocolate frosting.

I'm pretty sure the original recipe had you make the frosting yourself. I think the canned stuff is just as good, if not better. Plus, it's easier and everyone loves it with the canned stuff.

When you're spreading the frosting be careful. The crackers are soft and mushy. This makes

everything taste better but makes it more difficult to apply a very thin coating of frosting. I don't bother and just use almost the whole can, smoothing out as I go and covering all of the random graham cracker irregularities. I usually reserve a little frosting so that I have something to top my leftover graham crackers.

Enjoy.

If, for some reason there's leftovers (like in the case of a very small gathering and an alien or zombie attack...or alien zombies, before you get to dessert), you should probably refrigerate the leftovers.

So, there's the recipe and some pictures.

Go forth and volunteer to bring dessert to your next potluck or group gathering.

For sale: Full leg brace and crutches. Cheap!

2009-01-12T09:30:00.000-08:00

I had my surgery follow-up doctor's appointment this morning. I got a whole lot of questions answered, learned more about the inside of my knee and, most importantly, got the okay to bend my knee and exchnanged the big, bulky brace for a much more comfortable, flexible brace. I'm cleared to walk around on my own (no crutches) as much as I'm able, go back to work, do upper body and abs work at the gym, drive and resume pretty much my normal life as soon as I'm comfortable doing that. So that's all great news. I still have to wear the brace while I'm up and about, but I don't have to sleep with it. And I'm pretty sure it will fit under most of my pants. And I do still have some swelling in my knee. That's normal and apparently is the last thing to go back to normal. So I'm guessing I'll be doing a lot of elevating and icing of my knee for a while. But, overall, I'm exceedingly happy with the answers that I got and the results so far. Okay, just being able to bend my knee makes me overjoyed. It's the small things. :)

Apparently the surgery that I had was the 85% solution. For 85% of the population, this surgery, the physical therapy that follows and maintaining a good, balanced exercise program completely fixes the issue. For the remaining 15%, there's another surgery (which sounded like a whole lot of not fun) that fixes most of them. While I've never been anyone's definition of normal, I'm really hoping that I'm at least normal enough to be in 85%.

Starting hopefully sometime late this week, I'll be doing physical therapy. I don't know if that will be the "come in three times a week" type or the "do these exercises on your own and come back in a week" type. I'm hoping it's the later. I'm doing the therapy at the same place as last time, so the people know me and know that I will do what they tell me to. But, we'll see. PT will last 3-4 weeks and then I go back to the doc and we evalute where I'm at.

In the meantime, I'm hoping to return to work starting tomorrow. I don't have the stamina for full days yet, but short days are better than nothing and talking with my immediate supervisor it sounds like it would be helpful for me to have easy, face-to-face, interaction with my coworkers while I'm doing this stuff. Plus, I'm pretty sure I'll be less distracted and more productive (and have fewer computer issues) if I'm at work rather than at home. I have to go back in through the medical department, get their approval to return and get a medical parking spot (read: assigned and much closer to the door). So that will be the first hurdle. Hopefully it will go smoothly and I'll be able to get at least a few hours or real work done tomorrow.

Many, many thanks to everyone who's helped me out, stayed with me, brought me food, visited, drove me places, prayed with and for me, let me vent to them, offered to help, encouraged me, made me laugh, and everything else. It's been a tough time, especially last week and I know it's not over, but you guys have helped me through it all and I know you'll continue to help me out as I need it. I don't have the words to say other than "Thank you so very much". I couldn't have made it without you.

What I did on my first day free from Couch Arrest

2009-01-08T15:59:00.000-08:00

My first day off couch arrest. Yeah! I celebrated by duct taping a garbage bag around my leg (and dressing and brace) and showering. Wow did that feel good. Amazing how much difference just getting clean can make you feel. Of course, after that and getting breakfast I was pretty worn out. I don't quite understand how, on Monday, I worked all day and then went to the gym for about 90 minutes and was fine. And yet on Thursday just taking a shower and fixing breakfast requires a couple hours on the couch to rest up from. I guess that's another thing to add to my list of things that I don't understand. After my shower, I proceeded to spend most of the day on the couch...but I could get up anytime I wanted to. (It's the small things I've been holding on to.)

I'm off the prescription painkillers but am still hitting the ibuprophen pretty hard. I think this is to be expected. Advil PM is an amazing thing and made my night much more restful last night. It worked many times better than the prescription sleepytime drugs they gave me. I need to find out what that stuff actually is and remember that it doesn't work well for me. On a related note, I apparently respond really well to Demoral.

I saw a standup ad for the Monsters vs Aliens movie when I went to see Valkyrie last weekend. Today I looked up the trailer. I think it's got potential. The scene with Bob (or Blob?) hitting on the Jello made me chuckle. Valkyrie was interesting and enjoyable. A good drama with some action to liven it up a bit. The accents were a little distracting at times. Why is it that almost all of the Germans who weren't being played by Tom Cruise had British accents? I guess the director let everyone use their own accent and a lot of Brits were cast. Tom Cruise's very American accent did stand out at times. But it was only slightly distracting. He also didn't get to smile much...such a shame. (What...the man has a nice smile. That's all I'm sayin'.)

AMC is streaming the old British tv show The Prisoner for free (and without commercials!) on their web site. I had heard much about this series but had never seen any of it. I watched the first episode this afternoon. It was interesting but kinda slow moving. That's not surprising given that it's from 1967....and British. I'll probably watch some more episodes when I have some time. If you're unfamiliar with it, it's worth at least watching that first episode, just for cultural awareness as the series is referenced fairly often.

If you need noise cancelling headphones, these JVC ones are a good deal. I have a similar set that I bought before going to India last year and they work great. They don't block out all of the noise (nor do they claim to) but they make a very significant difference. And they're comfortable enough to wear for long periods of time.

My dad sent me a cool email that had pictures of a car that had run over a mattress...and just kept going. Apparently this is not a good idea.

60 lbs of tangled spring wrapped around the drive train. The driver drove over 30 miles with this mess, stopping only when it punctured the gas tank and ran the car out of fuel. Apparently the driver also complained of a "shimmy" when driving at high speeds.

Lesson of the day: stop driving if you ever run over a mattress. Better yet, don't run over a mattress.

And I think it's time for exercises, dinner, more exercises (well, the same exercises but again) and a movie to get me through until bed time.

Musings from the couch

2009-01-07T18:04:00.000-08:00

So, post-surgery day two is winding down. I'm off couch arrest tomorrow which means I'm allowed to get up and move about to do more than just go to the restroom (and move from the bed to the couch and back again). Not that I'm going to be doing that much moving about. While I can put full weight on my leg, it's not a lot of fun to walk around. And, since I can't bend it, sitting in a chair isn't really comfortable. Maybe I'll lie on the floor for a while tomorrow, just for a change.

Today was full of all sorts of visits and phone calls from friends and family and many of them brought food. I stocked up before the surgery and now my refrigerator is overflowing. Not that I'm complaining, I just find it kinda humorous. When your world is reduced to the size of your living room...or, more practically, what you can reach from your seat on the couch, you look for the humor where you can. :)

But, fortunately, there's this great thing called the internet (maybe you've heard of it?). My world may be roughly the size of a.....yeah, I'm not certain what this is the size of....it's a bit bigger than my cube at work but smaller than a boxcar....definitely bigger than a breadbox...anyway, when your world is small, as long as it includes a computer with internet access, much of the world is at your fingertips. And some of the places in that world can be kinda cool.

Some interesting (or not, judge for yourself) things that I've come across today:

Yugster is kinda like Woot, but the stuff they sell isn't quite as cool. Today's offering was a collapsible silicon collander. Now I can see the benefit of these things, but the headline "Saves Valuable Cupboard Space!" makes me alternate between chuckling and scratching my head. Maybe it's just that I've got amble cupboard space for everything in my kitchen (and then some), but how exactly do you measure the value of cupboard space? And how do you decide what's deserving of the most highly coveted spots? I guess you probably go by what's the most used, but what about the big things that only fit in one spot? What if that's the most convenient place for something else? Do you have to do a cost-benefit analysis to see if it's worth putting the giant stand mixer in the spot where Mr. Coffee really should go because that's the only place that Ms. Mixie can live? And will that upset Mr. Coffee to the point where he won't make good coffee anymore?

Which reminds me of something completely unrelated...except by the coffee thread. One of my coworkers got a new coffee pot for Christmas and brought it in to work (this was on Monday...back when I was actually going to work and was able to bend my knee and stuff). And, as often happens, a couple of us got to talking and we decided that what you really needed was a sentient coffee pot that could figure out not only exactly how much coffee you were going to drink that day but also how strong you wanted it and then would brew it exactly like that. That would be cool....until the day it decided to rebel against it's evil meatsack overlords and decided to go out hunting for Sarah Connor (or possibly unleash nuclear weapons on the 12 Colonies....wow am I looking forward to the return of Battlestar Galactica). And that way only leads to death and destruction (and possible Summer Glau kicking butt and taking names, which is always fun to watch).

Another thing I came across was that it's Dave Kellet's birthday. He's the creator of the Sheldon web comic. For his birthday, he asked that his readers introduce just one other person to his comic. So, consider yourself introduced. I've been reading Sheldon for, I don't know, over a year now. It's another thing I discovered via the Whedonverse...he was doing some strips about Joss Whedon and possibly Firefly. The original strips were enjoyable enough to earn Sheldon a place in my rss feed reader and I've been enjoying it ever since. You should check it out. You might enjoy it too.

And I think that's about it. Tomorrow I get to fix my own meals and hobble outside to get my own mail! I'm not sure if I should laught or just sigh about the fact that I'm excited about this.

Thanks to all who have stopped by, stayed with me, called, emailed, brought food and everything else. So far, this whole experience has been a lot easier than I thought it would be and that's all thanks to you guys.
Anyone want to go to lunch on Friday? If you'll drive, I'll buy.

Well that's not exactly what I expected

2009-01-06T09:56:00.001-08:00

So, it's about noon on Tuesday and I've been home from surgery a couple of hours.
Praise God that things went well!

The good news is that my meniscuses (meniscies?), ACL and all of that are all good and in tact. And I'm feeling pretty good right now.
The bad news is that the issue was a misaligned knee cap. But, we're pretty sure it's fixed now. My surgeon went in and loosed the tendons on one side (no idea how) and thermally shrunk the tendons on the other side (I have visions of plastic shrink wrap...I think it's a little different). So, I'm currently in a leg brace that's keeping my left leg completely straight and, at least for the next two days I'm on couch/bed arrest. Mary, the very sweet post-op care lady, said that I can get up to use the restroom and that's about it. Which isn't going to be a lot of fun. And, oh yeah, I get crutches too. First time for those. Fortunately I can put as much weight on my leg as I can bear (which right now is a lot...we'll see when the pain meds wear off), so it's not too hard to maneuver around.

I'm not certain exactly what the recovery timetable and such is. I don't get to take the dressing off my leg until Thursday night/Friday morning. I have to keep this brace pretty much full time. Next Monday, at my follow-up visit, hopefully I'll get a flexible brace, but we'll see. After that, yeah, I don't know. And not know is something that I'm never fond of. I've got this idol of wanting to control everything. It's convenient in that it manifests itself in wanting to have lots of knowledge and be prepared for everything. But it's also annoying in that it really bothers me when there's stuff I don't know and don't really have any way of knowing at least for a while. "Wait and see" has never been my strong suit.

So, that's the not so fun news. The good stuff is that I'm not really in a pain. My knee aches sometimes, but it doesn't hurt. I've had some food and tolerated that well, although I didn't eat a whole lot. And I'll have lots of time to catch up on movies and tv shows and books and all sorts of other stuff while I'm stuck on the couch and at home. So, that's something.
Also, my church is amazing. I pretty much need someone here for the next two days...that whole couch arrest thing. People have been mobilized and it's all set-up. So, I'll have lots of company and friends and stuff. And I have a people to call in case I need help with other things. I'm not great at asking for help, but I'm guessing that this will teach me to be better at it.

In the meantime, if you have good movie suggestions (especially if they're available free and legally to stream on the web) I'd love to hear them.

We have the technology, we can rebuild her

2009-01-06T03:54:00.000-08:00

Off to knee surgery in a few minutes. I slept lousy last night and I'm thirsty. But neither of those is a big surprise. I'm not as nervous about the surgery as I was yesterday afternoon. I was doing some not terribly interesting tasks at work and my mind got to wandering. Often not a good thing. I recognized that excessive worry wasn't going to do any good...and also that just telling myself not to worry wasn't going to do any good. So I pulled out my iPod and put on Dustin Salter's sermon on providence. Excellent sermon and what I needed to hear right then. No matter what happens today, it is God's plan and I am in His hands. His are the hands that guide the boat. His are good hands and there is no better place that I can be.

Thanks to all who are praying for me. I'll update when I get back and get recovered enough to form coherent sentences and type. Until then, no news is good news (unless you're Mom, she gets a phone call either way. :) )

Family time

2008-12-22T13:37:00.000-08:00

Earlier this afternoon I found myself saying, "I do not have a stud in my butt!" and that can only mean one thing. Yes, my sister put me to work hanging shelves, curtain rods and various other things and my little nephew found the stud sensor all sorts of fun (and, yes, we made all the jokes that you have to make while using a stud sensor.). And, oh yeah, that means that I'm in Atlanta for Christmas. Tomorrow I think I get to help put together chairs and a table. Guess I'm earning my keep this trip (not that I mind. I enjoy home repair and improvement.).

My rental car is from Alamo this trip. Hotwire failed me in finding a reasonable price, so I gave Priceline's "make an offer" feature a try. And ended up saving almost $6 a day. So, score! Alamo has a "pick your own car" feature where the shuttle bus drops you off in front of a group of cars that in your class and lets you pick whatever you want. That makes a lot of sense to me. Much less work for them than having to assign people specific cars. And it's a "perk" because the customer gets to pick what they want. I had about six cars to choose from in the "economy/compact" section (why yes, I am cheap). I started off looking at a little Toyota Yaris, but decided I wanted four doors. Next I thought about a Kia Spectra. Those are fun (although kinda cheap feeling) vehicles. But that one smelled like smoke. Next up was a red Dodge something...I don't remember the name. I wasn't thrilled with it, but it was brand new, had four doors and an aux input to the radio (a requirement if I'm picking my rental car. All of the cars I sized up had that. Apparently it's pretty much standard now. I bought my car too early.) So I put my duffle in the back and was going to get in the car when I realized that a new car had showed up in the group. And it looked oddly familiar. Although it was dark grey, it reminded me a lot of my car. And, sure enough, it was a Pontiac Vibe (which is essentially the same car as my Toyota Matrix). Score! I really enjoy my Matrix and since I wasn't really excited about any of my other car options, I chose the Vibe. The feel is a little different than my Matrix. I think that's mostly because it's an automatic with all wheel drive rather than my manual transmission, front wheel drive Matrix. The interior layout is also different. I like the Matrix better. But, the Vibe has one distinct advantage over my Matrix....satellite radio. I think, based on looking at Alamo's web, I got a free upgrade. The Vibe is classified as a midsize car (who knew) and I know satellite radio generally costs more in anything smaller than a full size rental. But, the guy at the gate let me out without any problems and my receipt shows that I owe $0.00 (going through Priceline or Hotwire, you pay when you make the reservation), so I think I'm good. Yeah! Fun car to drive for the week.

Mom and Dad get in tomorrow and I'm hanging out with some friends from school and their new little daughter (about seven weeks old...I think) tomorrow for dinner. Should be fun. Now I just have to wait for everyone (or at least everyone little) to go to bed so that I can unpack my duffle bag and unearth the presents that I wrapped up in my socks and t-shirts.

Shuttle and surgery and shopping...oh my!

2008-12-10T18:29:00.000-08:00

I got to see the Space Shuttle Endeavour this afternoon!

Enroute from California to Florida, the 747/Space Shuttle combination aircraft landed on the runway which Lockheed shares with the joint reserve base (or whatever it's currently called. Everyone who's been in Fort Worth for a while pretty much calls it Carswell) this afternoon. Word got around cubeville and it was like an aerospace geek convention in the parking lot to watch it land. Once again, the binoculars that I keep in my desk for just such an occasion came in very handy.

I've seen the Shuttle in the air, on its way to land at Edwards before and I've seen it on the ground already atop the 747 (also at Edwards), but this is the first time I had seen the 747 and shuttle in flight. It's an impressive sight to see. 747s are big airplanes, and the Shuttle's a generously sized bird herself. To see the two of them together almost lumbering through the air as they came in for a landing (note to self, look up the landing speed for that configuration) was very cool. Definitely the high point of my day...possibly my week. Although we've got our work Christmas luncheon at Texas de Brazil (Brazilian steak house = carnivore paradise) tomorrow, so I'll have to reevaluate after that.

In other news, I'm going to have to have knee surgery...Maybe that's not quite right. I've decided to have knee surgery. As my orthopedist put it, there comes a time when you have to stop beating your head against the wall and decide whether you want to live with the pain or do something more invasive. Since everything else that we've tried (change in activities/rest, oral drugs, physical therapy, drugs directly into my knee) has failed to completely alleviate the condition, he's convinced that we've come to that time. We still don't know with 100% certainty what's going on inside my knee. And that bothers me a little. But, apparently MRIs only show about 85% of the bad stuff that goes on in knees (this was news to me). So there's a good chance that it's still something fairly simple. My orthopedist is convinced that it's one of three things: meniscus tear (his favorite), cartilage wear/issue or something about a fold in the knee sack that's rubbing on something that's possibly cartilage (that one has a big, two word name that has a couple of p's in it. I didn't write it down and don't remember more than that.). Fortunately all three are repairable with the same type of arthroscopic surgery.

Tuesday 6 January is the big day. If all goes well, there's a good chance I will walk out of the surgery and be relatively pain free by the end of the week. With some physical therapy, I should be running before Ground Hog Day and ready to jump and twist and turn by Valentine's.

This afternoon, after I got off the phone with my orthopedist and we set the day, I sent an email to a couple of my friends from my church who are a part of the mercy committee. That's the group that handles, among other things, dealing with short term and chronic needs in our church family. In less than an hour I had a reply back saying that my transportation and first day or three after surgery care needs were all taken care of and that meals would be coordinated. (Yeah, I'm gonna get great, home cooked meals delivered directly to my door out of this as well some quality time with my couch. The only bad is that I have to get my knee cut up some...from the inside. I'm going to have to figure out if the good doesn't outweigh the bad.) I know I say it often, but not often enough: My church rocks! These people, my family who I'm not related to, are amazing. Knowing that all of this stuff will be taken care of has really made it so much easier and less stressful to confront this whole surgery situation. God has truly blessed me in this way.

And on the Christmas shopping front, I think I'm almost done. Woo-Hoo! Now I just have to figure out how to get everything to Atlanta. I need to figure out if it's more cost effective to pay to check a second bag (I'm going to need to check at least one) or to ship bulky toys and other things. Apparently I got too many good deals at brick and mortar stores this year and didn't do near enough on-line shopping.

Oh and I also gave Vizini's "worthless, friendless, unemployed in Green Land" (starts about 5:10) speech to a computer today. I was trying to run something on a machine that's supposed to be this smoking fast, quad processor thing that we can remotely connect to and run big batch jobs on. But it was being painfully slow in getting things set-up. My coworker (and former cubemate and fellow sci-fi geek) recognized the quote and commented that I watch way too many movies. I counter that I actually watch very few movies, I just watch the good ones many, many times and quote from those. I think most people don't realize how few movies I do quote from (mainly Princess Bride, Hunt for Red October and Serenity with some Buffy/Angel/Firefly/Lost in Space and a few other tv show quotes thrown in for good measure). The thing is, I tend to pick the more obscure quotes, so people think I'm actually quoting more sources than I really am. Either that, or people don't realize that I'm quoting something and think that I come up with these things on my own (rarely the case).

Weekend with the family I'm not related to

2008-11-30T18:28:00.000-08:00

I decided not to go to Atlanta to be with my family this Thanksgiving. I visited my sister and her family in late October, so it wasn't a big deal to skip seeing them for the holiday. Mom and Dad were in Atlanta and that was the main reason I had thought about going. But the idea of traveling at the same time as the rest of the country and right after the fall retreat with the high school kids made the idea a lot less attractive to me. Then Mom said that it was okay if they didn't see me until Christmas and, well, my mind was made up. So, instead of spending the long weekend with the family I'm related to, I spent it with the one that I'm not. And it's been a great time.

Wednesday evening was Thanksgiving service at church. I love when my church does evening services. We only do them a couple of times a year (Maundy Thursday, Thanksgiving, Lessons and Carols before Christmas, Christmas Eve and a handful of other all church events that usually include a meal and more of a devotion rather than a full service) and each time they're great. Most of the evening services are very laid back, relaxed times. Not that our Sunday morning services are terribly formal, but the evening events are just smaller, more intimate, more comfortable. In a very real way, it's family time. Wednesday evening was definitely that. And it was a lot of fun and a neat time. Most of our college students were home and it's always great to see them and have a chance to catch up with how their semester is going.

Thursday I watched Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade...they weren't showing the Detroit parade but I did get to see the Georgia Tech marching band twice (thanks to different stations being at different spots on the parade route). It wasn't quite the same. The Smurf balloon isn't near as cool as Chilly Willy (the big penguin balloon that escaped one year due to wet ground and high winds the night before Thanksgiving. He was found floating in the Detroit river, fished out, repaired and made the honorary grand marshal the next year.) But it was still cool to hear The Ramblin' Wreck on my television as I put together my caramel apple pie. I had dinner with the Olson family (from my church) including some of their extended family and a couple of other people who were without family they're related to, as has become my tradition over the past few years. Having been made an honorary Olson a while back, I figure it's only fitting to spend at least one holiday with them each year. I was seated at the "geek table" (there was also a "history" table and one for the "general audience") with Eric, Alexis and Peter (all non-honorary Olsons) and one of Alexis' professors from when he was an undergrad at UT-Arlington (he's now a PhD student in math at A&M.). After dinner we sang some hymns and shared what we were thankful for. Again, a very laid back and comfortable event with people I consider to be family. The group broke up sometime around nap/football time and I headed home for some quality time on the couch (which is always my cats' favorite time of any weekend.)

Friday, after taking advantage of some Black Friday deals (Half Priced books had a good sale. Target was a little crazy. I shouldn't have bothered to even stop at Best Buy for the three minutes that I did.), I got ready to have friends over to play some games. Mostly, it was a chance to get together with friends who are family, drink Kool Aid and play Settlers of Catan. The Olsons kids, almost half of the Sneeds, and two other friends from church showed up and a good time was had by all. Although, it would have been nice to have another Settlers game since only six can play at a time and no one was really interested in playing much of anything else. But that was okay. Again, it was a nice, laid back, comfortable way to spend some time with more of my family that I'm not related to.

Saturday I was mostly on my own, although I did see a few friends at the gym and chatted with some others over IM.

Today was church of course. Attendance was a little lighter than usual and, for some reason, everyone seemed to clear out more quickly than usual. Then, this evening, we had our Advent celebration. It's another of my church's evening events. This one includes advent crafts, dinner and a devotional time. As with everything else this weekend, it was a lot of fun and a great, laid back, comfortable time to be with family. I got to chat with some friends, helped prepare the food and clean things up, helped make a wreath that will be given to our friends at the nursing home when the youth go there in two weeks to sing and visit, made silly faces at little kids (and some big kids) and just had a great time.

I wasn't able to spend the weekend with my family family, but that didn't mean I was anywhere near alone. The people who are in my life, especially those who are a part of my church family, are just as important (or almost) to me as my family that I'm related to. They're the people who I live my day-to-day life with. They're the people who, just like my family that I'm related to, will always be there for me. They keep an eye on me and no matter what will be there for me whenever I need anything (and sometimes even before I realize I need something). And I'm there for them. Sometimes, when I wonder if I should move closer to my sister and her family, especially when I'm feeling kinda disconnected from the lives of my nephews, I remember that even though I'm not a blood relative of anyone that's in my church, we're no less family members. When I think about the possibility of having to move for my job (a fairly slim possibility at this point) the idea of leaving my church is the hardest part. It's not that I don't have family here in Fort Worth. I just define my family a little bit differently than most people. And, ya know, that's just fine with me.

So, yeah, I spent Thanksgiving with my family. And it was a great time...and cheaper and a lot more relaxing than having to brave air travel.

Where's the Kaboom? There was supposed to be an Earth-shattering Kaboom!

2008-09-13T17:15:00.000-07:00

So, the "storm of the century" (which is what you would have thought hurricane Ike was going to be if you paid any attention to the local or regional media) turned out to be pretty mild here in DFW. Things aren't great on the coast, and I don't mean to diminish any of the troubles that folks down there are having (or will have, once they can get home), but all we got was some wind and rain. We've had worse of both in the not terribly distant past and we definitely didn't get the two days of torrential downpours and gale force winds that were being predicted earlier this week. And, on the "dealing with it" front, that's good. But, on the "weather nerd" front, it's kinda a let down. Ah well. For those readers outside of the metroplex (Hi Mom!), we're fine. No flooding, no downed trees, no roofs blown off, no evil sounding neighbor ladies being swept up into the twister while still riding their bikes. I don't think the cats even lost any sleep over it.

I also realized that I'm still not certain what the Texas response to imminent weather disaster is supposed to be. I mean, growing up back in Michigan, everyone knew that when a massive snow storm was predicted, you went to the grocery store and bought bread and milk. Even if you didn't need bread and milk, that's just what you bought. It was expected, maybe even required. But down here in Texas, there hasn't seemed to be a run on bread and milk. In fact, in the stores this afternoon, there was plenty of both. Maybe I was supposed to buy beer and, I don't know, whatever goes good with beer. Being a non-drinker I'm uncertain. But, just in case things change, I've got plenty of milk on hand. (Mostly due to a sale/coupon from Albertsons.)

Other news, my trip to the physical therapist earlier this week was a little discouraging. The PT did all the things that PTs do (poked, prodded, moved around, had me walk about, hooked a little electrode thing up to some muscles and had me use them while measuring the strength...turns out my right (not hurting) leg is not quite as strong as the left (one that hurts). I find that odd. PT didn't seem to. I mentioned it. He didn't answer. Maybe I should have asked again.). And he determined that he doesn't know why my knee hurts any more than anyone else does. His current thought is that I'm built a little odd (no surprise there) and I walk a little funny (again, not surprising) and that due to activities and accumulated stress my knee hurts. He said that my legs kinda go out a little rather than straight down, but that's not uncommon in women (cause we've got wider hips than guys). He said that I have a tendency towards pronation when I walk (walking more on the insides of my feet) but that's not uncommon in people who have low arches/flat feet (which I do). And he said he doesn't have a good explanation for why my knee is hurting now and not before now. At least he's honest in that part. He gave me some exercises to do, told me to do them two to three times a day and come back and see him in two weeks. He also recommended new athletic shoes (easy to do, I swapped to a pair that I had in my closet that better meets his recommendations), not walking around without shoes on (which is killing me when I'm at home. I rarely have shoes on at home.) and not to sit cross legged (hard when I'm in a meeting or otherwise sitting not at a table or desk but I'm surviving). Basically, he wants me to do everything to minimize stress on my knee. Although I'm still okay to do "anything that doesn't hurt" at the gym, so that's a plus.

So, the good is that I don't have to go in multiple times a week. That's helps with the budget (I so did not put enough in my healthcare spending account this year) as well as the time. But it's frustrating that I still don't have a good answer for why my knee hurts nor a good course of treatment that's sure to fix things. I showed my exercises to two of my trainer friends at the gym (who know what's been going on). Neither were terribly impressed. Part of the reason is due to me already doing more challenging, similar activities/movements on a regular basis. But, as Robin (one of the trainers) reminded me, not everyone works out to the same level that I do and most medical professionals believe that patients aren't entirely truthful about their exercise habits. Most people can't stand on one foot (especially their non-dominant foot) for minutes at a time (3 minutes is easy for me. More than that and I get bored. I can even do it with my eyes closed as long as I don't get distracted.) And one of my exercises is to stand on one foot for 20 seconds. So I've ended up creating a sorta hybrid (Frankeinstein?) exercise regimen based on what my PT gave me to do, input from the trainers at the gym and what makes sense to me. The result is that things in my knee seem to be getting slightly better. I still can't jump on my left leg without pain. I haven't tried running, but I'm pretty sure that wouldn't go well. There are still specific points on my knee where I press and they hurt. But, going up and down stairs is less irritating/painful. I was squatting to look at bottom shelves at Half Price Books earlier today and noticed that that was easier than before. So, while I'm not all there yet and I'm not certain these exercises are going to take me all the way there, at least I'm making positive progress. We'll see how things go in the next week or so and see what the PT says on my next visit.

Iowa Trip Mercy Moment

2008-09-07T18:11:00.000-07:00

A number of people have commented on or asked me about/for the text of the Mercy Moment/report from the Iowa trip that I gave in church last week. I figured I would post it here.

"This is not the way it's supposed to be"
Those words were spoken from this pulpit by Dustin Salter in his sermon titled "A New Heaven and a New Earth" on March 3, 2002. Those were the words that I heard two weeks ago as I listened to that sermon on my iPod while driving one of the vans towards Cedar Rapids, Iowa. And those were the words that continued to echo through my head all week long as we worked and talked with the people of the area. "This is not the way it's supposed to be". People aren't supposed to have water and sewage up to the ceiling of the first story of their homes. People aren't supposed to have to watch as strangers carry their waterlogged, smelly, ruined personal belongings out of their home of 35 years and deposit them unceremoniously on the rapidly growing trash pile on their front lawn. Two weeks ago in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, we saw numerous reminders of how this world isn't supposed to be. But that's not all we saw because that's not all there is and that's not all there is ever going to be.

One day, some day, God will create the New Heavens and the New Earth and as described in Revelation 21, "There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." One day, some day, rivers won't overflow their banks, causing millions of dollars worth of damage and upending thousands of lives. One day, some day things will be the way that they are supposed to be.

But that day is not here yet and Dustin addressed that in his sermon as well. He said that until that glorious day comes, the job of Christians is to work, in whatever small ways we're able, to restore the world to the way it is supposed to be. And that's why we went to Iowa. The homes that we cleaned out, the floors that we ripped up, the siding that we tore off the houses was all in preparation for the houses or at least the land to be restored or repurposed into somewhere that could, once again, be lived in or used by the people of the community. The work that we did helped to prepare those areas to be back to closer to the way that they are supposed to be. And, just as importantly, the time that we spent talking, praying and sharing meals with the people of the area gave some measure of comfort and hope and offered the reminder that this isn't the way that it's supposed to be and it's not the way that it's going to be. We shared God's gospel in word and in deed in Cedar Rapids, Iowa two weeks ago. In a small way, the team that went, those who helped out with the preparations and all who prayed for this trip helped to restore that area to closer to the way that it is supposed to be.

In other news, I have my physical therapy assessment/first session for my knee tomorrow afternoon. I'm looking forward to at least the results of the therapy. I've had quite enough of my knee hurting, not being able to run and such. I know it's still going to take some time to get back up to full strength and movement, but hopefully this is another step in that direction.

Also, this evening at church, we had our small group kick-off family supper, hymn sing and old fashioned barn raising (okay, not that last part but that's the running joke with the youth). It was a great night. Really, great. One of those evenings where there was no where else I would have wanted to be. It just felt like home, like family. It's kinda hard to describe. I've been gone a reasonable amount this summer, but I didn't really think I had felt like I was disconnected or anything, but tonight, it just felt like there was this thing missing from part of my life and this was it. It wasn't a really big thing. A potluck dinner and a time of singing. But as I seem to tell the high school kids every time I teach, it's often not the big things that make the difference. A lot of the time, it's the little things that make the biggest impact, mean the most to people. And that was tonight. I've been so blessed to be a part of this amazing church family.

Not torn, folded, spindled or mutilated

2008-08-28T17:58:00.000-07:00

So, update on the knee.

I had my MRI on Monday evening. It took longer than I expected. About 20-25 minutes total. I guess I'm used to x-rays which are quick and medical shows on tv which don't have time to show that long of a procedure...plus, if they show the patient in the MRI at all you just know that something bad is going to happen. And the MRI machine wasn't the tube type thing like you always see. Instead it was more of, well, imagine a giant hamburger with a section cut out of the burger in the middle so that there was a hole lengthwise (if you can go lengthwise in a circular object...more people will understand that than if I said "laterally"). So, there's this big circular thing on top and a big circular thing on the bottom and there's sides to it. I got to lay down on a sliding table thing, stuff put around my knee so that it didn't move and then the very nice technician moved the table (and therefore me) so that my knee was right about in the middle of the hamburger shaped machine. She put on some not terribly interesting music (which we both agreed was good. I have a tendency to "dance" to music if I have nothing better to do. Note the quotes, it's more of random movements that may or may not correlate to the beat. But since I wasn't supposed to move that would have been bad.) and we were off. I didn't ask how long the procedure took, so I was thankful that the tech came over the speaker at one point to reassure me that I was doing great and let me know I only had about 15 more minutes to go. I was kinda paranoid about moving and a bit nervous about the whole thing and the weird sounds the machine was making, but I managed to keep myself calm (lots of deep breaths), not fall asleep (I was worried that I would move) and a bit later I walked out with six large films of various bits of the inside of my knee.

I did some googling to see what a torn meniscus looks like on an MRI and after extensive training (about five minutes) and long study (another five minutes) of the MRIs I came to the conclusion that I was pretty sure I could figure out which way was up and which parts were bones. In the way of figuring out if I had a torn meniscus or anything else, yeah, I had nothing.

Fast forward to Thursday afternoon and I'm back at the orthopedists office. I really like this guy and his staff a lot. Even when they're horrendously busy they're incredibly friendly and efficient. If you're in the Fort Worth area and need an orthopedist (and they take your insurance) I highly recommend Dr. Boothby and the staff of Southwest Orthopedics. Anyway, They got me into the room, I worked on my Sunday school lesson for a few minutes and then the doc came in. He looked at my MRI films and explained what was going on. Basically, my meniscus isn't torn. Neither is my ACL nor the other CL (MCL?). He said there was a bit of degeneration of the meniscus but that's not uncommon. I also have a bit of swelling (not surprising. Spending a week mucking out and gutting houses with a bum knee will do that.) and a minor bit of misalignment of my kneecap (which I learned from the tv show Bones is called the patella.). But, the good news is that there's no call to do any sort of surgery. The bad news is that he's not sure exactly why my knee is hurting.

He offered the "don't do anything stupid for a month or so and then come back and see me if it doesn't get better" (not his words) course of treatment first. I countered with "this has been going on for a while and that hasn't worked" (not my exact words). He counter offered with anti-inflammatory meds and physical therapy (PT) and the deal was done. So, I've got a higher dose of the meds my primary care doc gave me before sending me to the orthopedist and, once the lady who does the precertification thingie with my insurance company gets back from her extra long Labor Day weekend (darn holiday weekend) on Tuesday, I'll be scheduled for my PT evaluation and a total of 12 sessions of PT. And we'll see. Hopefully the exercises that my PT has me do will strengthen everything up and that in combination with the pain meds and me not doing anything stupid (that wasn't part of the final deal but I figured that it was kinda implied) and I'll be good to go by Halloween or so. If not, I guess we'll try something else.

Bottom line, I don't have to have surgery, but my knee still hurts. I call it a draw at this point.

In other news, I get to teach Sunday school to my high school kids this Sunday and speak during the "mercy moment" at church. Sunday school is on mercy ministries and the mercy moment is about the Iowa trip. If any of my high schoolers are reading this (and got this far), bummer that you have to hear me twice but there will be candy or donuts or something in Sunday school and I promise no role playing or other "alternative learning methods" activities. I'm not even planning on breaking you guys up into groups and answering questions or anything. If anyone else wants to sit in on the class, you're welcome to. Theoretically it should be interesting.

And there's lots to blog about the Iowa trip but I just haven't made the time. Hopefully I'll do that this weekend. Ah sweet three day weekend followed by a three day work week and an even sweeter three day weekend (it's sweeter because the stores will be less crowded because not everyone else has a three day weekend. Plus, it follows a three day week. It's hard to beat that.)

Off in a blazing cloud of dust!

2008-08-16T18:52:00.000-07:00

A former youth pastor used to utter the line "And we're off in a blazing cloud of dust" regularly when we were driving somewhere. He had an interesting way with words, something that I've always admired in a person and enjoyed. And, since I rarely think of humorous/interesting things to say on my own, I've incorporated this into my regular speech. Although I've come to the conclusion that most other people do similar things, they just quote more mainstream/well known sources than I do. Just another reason I'm proud to call myself "no one's definition of normal".

So, I'm off to Iowa tomorrow morning. I think I'm finally getting excited about the trip again. I was all gung-ho about it when the opportunity first came up and then I got distracted with life and work and my knee issues (mostly my knee issues. I hate being broken, hence the reason I ignored my knee issues for so long. Now I just want to get it fixed.). But tonight, I'm mostly packed up (just need to fuss with the gear in my backpack a bit more), have the house and cats more or less ready for me to be gone and aside from being a little sleepy due to getting up early to take advantage of a thing the city was doing where you trade your old, polluting gas lawn mower in for a coupon for a greatly discounted electric rechargeable, green (really, it's a pastel-neon green), environmentally friendly and 75% quieter but with a tiny (14 inch) deck lawn mower and still needing to shower tonight (so that I don't have to in the morning. My ride shows up at 5:30am. Wheels up at 0600.) I'm feeling really good and starting to get excited about it. It's going to be an interesting trip. This is the first time we've done any sort of "disaster response/relief" work like this. I figure that the schedule and the work won't be much different than doing a mission trip except that we'll be more on our own than we are when we do the trips with MTW (and there's full-time missionaries already on the ground there). But, no worries. I've done 17 short-term mission trips and a bunch of weekend to week-long trips with youth. And on this trip we can drink the water! I'm guessing that, as long as my knee doesn't give me problems, I'll be golden (God willing, if you're the praying type I would greatly appreciate your prayers for all aspects of the trip, but mostly for my physical safety with emphasis on my knee). But we've got a handful of people on this trip who haven't done any trips like this before. We've also got at least four who have done some sort of long-term missions work in countries where you probably can't drink the water and more who've done a bunch of short-term trips, but I'm slightly more concerned about the newbies. There's so much that people could stress over and that doesn't help anyone. And then there's the age differences. We've got a couple of junior high kids up through retired adults. And we're all jumbled together in a van for 13 (or more) hours on either end of the trip. Just imagining the conversations over the preferences for auditory entertainment...the mind boggles. It's gonna be an interesting week.

Other random things.

Bones - one of the television shows that I enjoy is coming out with a soundtrack. Yeah! I've always enjoyed soundtracks and in recent years I've discovered that tv shows sometimes put out soundtracks as well. I've found it's a great way to discover new music, often by new and/or indie musicians. And from there you can follow the rabbit trail down the long tail and who knows where you'll come out. For me, it ends up in the darker corners of my iPod where you'll find Sprung Monkey, Four Star Mary, Common Rotation and a variety of other bands with odd names (I still think Starbuck and her Special Destiny would be a great band name). So, yeah, I'm excited and will be purchasing.

Juno - The movie, not the city in Alaska. I finally saw it. Good stuff. Sweet and fun and heartbreaking and all sorts of funny and awkward and stuff. Allison Janey channeled CJ Craig a couple of times (man do I miss The West Wing...back when Aaron Sorkin was writing it), Jason Bateman grew up to be a fun actor to watch (apparently that happened back during Arrested Development but I just couldn't get into that show....not sure why. Possibly for the same reason that, no matter how hard I try, I just can't get into The Office.). And Ellen "Juno" Page was spot on (and played Kitty Pride in X3. I knew I had seen her before I just couldn't remember where.). I'm glad that I bought the movie, it's certainly one I will be revisiting...and quite possibly a soundtrack I'll be purchasing. Cause, ya know, I like soundtracks.

The wife of the guy who writes the web comic Sheldon writes for How I Met Your Mother. I don't know why I find this so entertaining/interesting. I don't watch the show. I've only read the web comic for about a year or so (yet another bit of media that I found while following a Whedon related rabbit hole). Maybe it's my kinda recent interest in how television shows are written (mostly fueled by the wonderful blog by Jane Espenson, a writer for Buffy, Firefly, Battlestar and other cool stuff, where I've learned more than I ever thought I was interested in about how television scripts are written as well as learned to think more about language and how that makes jokes funny or, yeah, the other thing.)

Okay and now I'm just killing time until my iPod is done syncing. It's looking like it might take a bit longer than I expected, so I think it's shower time. By the time I'm dry and fresh smelling once again it should be done.

Probably no internet access while I'm gone so look for an update after a week or so when I get home.

This made me smile

2008-08-16T12:25:00.000-07:00

If I could, I would live in a pair of cargo pants and a t-shirt so this comic made me smile. And it's especially fitting since I'm getting ready to head to Iowa where I will be spending the week wearing cargo pants and shorts. Yeah!

Fun at the orthopedists

2008-08-08T16:42:00.000-07:00

I had my appointment with the orthopedist this afternoon. Everything went smoothly and I was impressed with the efficiency of the staff. I was in the exam room within five minutes of my appointment time (they had me arrive 30 minutes prior to that so that I could fill out all of the new patient paperwork). Seph (pronounced similar to Seth but almost like if you have a lisp), the physicians assistant came in after just a few minutes, got my history, poked and prodded my knee some and said that they needed to get some x-rays. After somewhere between five and ten more minutes, Dr Boothby came in, asked some more questions, poked and prodded my knee a bit more and said that he figured that it was probably a tear in my meniscus (the cartilage that sits at the top of your bottom leg bone and acts as a shock absorber). He got out his knee model and explained this to me and said that there wasn't any need for x-rays because they wouldn't be able to show what he needed to see. So the next step is to get an MRI. The staff said that I should be able to get that early next week. Then I go back to Dr Boothby a day or two later and we figure out where to go from there.

The good news is that if it is a torn meniscus, Dr Boothby says that they can fix me and get me back to 100%. He seemed pretty certain that this would be the case. So that's a plus. From doing some research and reading, it sounds like there is the possibility of non-surgical options for dealing with a torn meniscus. However, that seems to be the exception rather than the rule. There's some interesting stuff on Wikipedia about torn meniscuses (menisci?)

While I'm not thrilled with the idea of having to have knee surgery, the fact that this is something that seems to have become routine and the optimism of my doctor gives me confidence that it won't be a huge deal. I'm sure it won't be fun, but I know that I'll be well taken care of. I'm pretty sure that Mom will want to come down. Even if she doesn't, I know my church will take very good care of me and make sure that I have all the help I need. The staff and my friends at the gym will be there to help me get back in shape physically. And my group at work is always very accommodating. All of that gives me tremendous peace of mind. It's amazing how well God has and continues to provide so much for me.

I should really be headed towards beddy-bye about now

2008-08-06T19:12:00.000-07:00

So I should be headed to bed but instead I'm blogging. Ah well.

Knee update: My doctor still thinks it's an inflamed ligament. I'm not 100% certain. But I new to this whole knee problems issue. She gave me a prescription for some NSAIs (non-steroidal anti-inflamatories) which are, according to a couple of different web sites (I'm not certain I could function without Google anymore) are usually used to treat arthritis and referred me to an orthopedist. Well, she gave me a list of three to choose from. After a quick search (again with the Google love) I picked the one who specializes in sports medicine, went to Columbia and did his residency at Henry Ford Hospital. The Henry Ford connection sealed it for me since the Henry Ford Health Systems provided my medical care from the time I was very young through my college graduation (when I wasn't using the Georgia Tech health center...they weren't great but the price was right and you could get 800mg Ibuprofen for just about anything). I've had good luck picking doctors with some sort of local connection or a name that sounds like someone I know (even though I know I don't actually know the person). We'll see how it goes. Oh yeah an the other miracle is that I've got an appointment for Friday. I didn't figure I'd be able to get in anywhere that quickly so yeah for specialists with short wait times for appointments.

Iowa preparations are coming along well. One the to-do list for this weekend is "buy rubber boots". I was hoping to find tall galoshes somewhere, as I find regular rubber boots (I prefer the British term "Wellingtons" but no one but my British coworkers know what I'm talking about when I say that) very uncomfortable. But I haven't been able to find any in stores around here and, at this point, it's getting too late to do web shopping. What we need is a good Farm and Fleet store. Alas, those haven't made it nearly far south enough. So, I'm probably going to end up with a pair of Wellingtons. My current thought is to see if I can find a pair that I can slide a good pair of insoles or, ideally, the bottom half of an old pair of running shoes (I happen to have an old pair of running shoes in my closet. I was keeping them for yard work shoes, but my current yard work shoes are holding up surprisingly well. The fact that it hasn't rained much this year and, therefore, I haven't had to mow much probably is the main contributor to that.). Oh and if I'm going to get stuck with the standard black Wellies (because the frog and Lightning MacQueen ones at Target don't come in big people sizes) I'm also going to pick up some paint markers and decorate them. Not only will that make me smile but I'll also be able to instantly pick mine out from everyone elses.

At work my documentation tasks seem to finally be coming to a close. For those who haven't asked me about work recently, I've been doing database documentation pretty much all year. Sometimes this is interesting. I learned to write macros in Power Point (not near as easy as it sounds. The macro recorder is mostly useless.). But mostly it's more than a little dull. On the upside though, I've gotten through a lot of podcasts, listened to a lot of music and become even more convinced that the iPod is one of the most amazing inventions of the recent past. I'm to the point where there are many many other things I would give up before giving up my iPod (and my computer and an internet connection to update the podcasts).

Other random thought:

What actually happens if you bounce wonderflonium? I know Jed (or was it Zack? one of the brothers Whedon that wasn't Joss) said in an interview that no one's done it because you just don't bounce the wonderflonium. But, still, I do wonder. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, you haven't seen Doctor Horrible's Sing-along Blog and, if you're over the age of 16 (or so) you really should. If you're younger than that, you should ask your parents first and, if they say yes, you really should see it. (I'd give it a PG-13 rating for some adult subject matter and a mildly disturbing ending. Nothing you wouldn't see on prime time network television, so my -13 rating is possibly a little harsh (The Dark Knight is PG-13 and it's much more disturbing than Dr. Horrible) but I know there are people shorter than me who may read this blog so, yeah, ask your parents first.). But, yeah, what happens if you do bounce the wonderflonium.

Oh my goodness, look at my arm. Time for bed.

Help! My web browser is talking to me! And some other stuff from a Saturday morning.

2008-08-02T07:13:00.000-07:00

No, I'm really not going crazy...at least my cats hear it too.

For some reason, my web browser (Safari 3.1.2 - still using OSX/Tiger operating system) is talking to me. I found the "speech" tab under Safari/services but the options to either start or stop talking are both greyed out. It's not a huge deal as long as I keep the sound off, but if I'm trying to watch or listen to something, it's very annoying. Anyone know how to fix this?

In other news, my knee is still bothering me. I think it's time to head back to the doctor next week. Very frustrating especially with just two weeks to go until Iowa.

This cool video came across my rss feed this morning. A group of young women doing an acappella version of Journey's "Don't Stop Believing" complete with the guitar solo and drum beats. Pretty amazing.

In which I plan to spend even more vacation time

2008-07-22T12:36:00.000-07:00

Just got confirmation from my group leader that I can take another four days of vacation time this summer. 17-23 August I'm headed to Iowa as part of a disaster response team with my church. We'll be doing whatever's asked of us. That will most likely be clean and mucking out homes that were flooded. And, if we're very, very lucky, we'll get to power wash thing. I like to power wash things. I know, I have a problem. I'm thinking about getting help for it, but not until after Iowa.

Now I just have to finish letting my knee heal (inflammed tendon) and then get back into "mission trip" shape. All in three and a half weeks. Yep, gonna need prayer for that one (as well as all parts of the Iowa trip).

Yet another way my life is different than other people's

2008-07-14T13:53:00.000-07:00

This afternoon at work I overheard a couple of performance guys discussing the relative merits of roller coaster, particularly the accelerations (lateral and longitudinal) and the methods of achieving said accelerations at the start of each ride. And I understood the conversation and almost went and joined in.

Few better places to be

2008-07-13T11:34:00.000-07:00

I'm currently laying on my bed, surfing the web and working on the India slideshows, with my two cats curled up sleeping next to me. There's few ways I would rather spend my Sunday afternoon. And I think my cats would agree.

India 2008 - Recap

2008-07-09T13:37:00.000-07:00

I've been meaning to post something like this since I got home from India but just haven't had the time. What follows is basically an email to a friend, but it does a good job of summing up the trip and it's going to be a while before I get the time to write anything more or different, so this will have to do at least for now. You can find some pictures here. Theoretically I'll post more of my own in the near future.

So, yeah, the trip. I'm still processing a lot of it. It was good and hard and challenging in a lot of different ways. The biggest thing for me seemed to be that there was just so much that was different. Or, maybe it was that a lot of things were kinda familiar but just different enough to make the difference. When we were in Bangalore, many people spoke English and almost all of the advertisements on the street were in English, but there was just so much that was so different and that made things a little disorienting. Another way to look at it was the food, especially the bananas. We ate a lot of bananas (they're one food that, as long as the skin is intact are safe for weak stomached Americans to eat). We ate a lot of different varieties of bananas. They all tasted kinda like the bananas that we get at Kroger down the street, but they were a little big different. The bread, the peanut butter, the cookies, cereal; pretty much anything prepackaged and most of the fruit tasted mostly like what we expected but a little different. And after a handful of days like that, the longing for something familiar, which I guess could be called succumbing to culture shock or something like that, becomes pretty strong. This is where time with the team just hanging out, the granola bars and Peter Pan peanut butter and books that we brought with us became really, really important. I think every member of the team went through this at one point or another. I hit it pretty early due to getting sick almost immediately upon landing in Bangalore (I must have picked up something on one of the flights over). But I got some antibiotics that Gail had brought with her and after about a day I was feeling better and was able to eat reasonably well after another day. And, really, if I was going to get sick, that was probably the best time. No one felt good that first day just due to the jet lag, sleep deprivation and travel shock. And it wasn't enough to keep me from doing anything other than eating dinner that first night (I opted for an early shower and bedtime).

But the people we met and the things that we got to do were amazing. The street children's drop-in center, Grace house, is an island of hope in a pretty barren landscape for the street kids of downtown Bangalore. Just the fact that these kids who have nothing and, really, are nothing in the society, can go and get food and clothing, be loved, have a chance to be kids, learn and play and experience a taste of what life really should be is amazing and offers such an amazing picture of the gospel. But it was also heartbreaking. Milton, who runs Grace House along with his wife Jebba, talked about how one of the boys had come a long way, how he had worked on his life, rejecting the drugs and the pressures of the street and the friends he has out there. Having to avoid the police at the train station because not only will they run the kids off but they will do so with brutality, beating them with clubs and sticks. We saw some of these security officers and the sticks that they carry are for real. This is a kid who can be no older than about 12. He's been coming to the center for a couple of years. Kids that age shouldn't have to be "working on their life". They should be running around and climbing trees and having their worst worry be a spelling test or whether Suzy likes him or something. The realities that these kids deal with was hard to confront. To hear the kids pray for their friends who weren't coming to Grace House was also difficult. But, again, it reminded me that we're all a lot like these kids in God's eyes. We've got nothing but a messed up life and then God calls us to himself, adopts us into his family on no merit of our own. It seems to good to be true and yet it is.

Throughout the trip, although more so when we were on the coast, the realities of Hinduism were very apparent. People worship gods which are not gods. They spend time praying to idols, things made by human hands. They offer food and drink to statues and sometimes animals they revere as holy. And it all just seems to silly and worthless and yet it's what these people put their trust in. They hope that if they're good enough they will be reborn at a higher level, eventually coming back as a cow which apparently is one step away from becoming on with The Supreme Being. This worldview does make people very friendly and open, but it's also really sad to see how lost they are. And, really, some of it is just kinda silly, at least from my way of thinking. The idea that cows are revered as as close to a deity as you can get on this earth is almost laughable to me. My dad's family is all dairy farmers and I grew up spending time on my uncle's farm in the summers. The idea that those cows are holy beings seems just silly. We got to go through a Hindu snake temple in Nagercoil one morning when it was raining and we couldn't work. That was kinda anticlimactic. The temple was obviously organized to accommodate a lot of worshippers coming through to do whatever it is that they do at the main shrine area. Basically, it's set-up like a line area of a ride at a Disney theme park complete with some line switchbacks and metal railings with chains. It reminded me a lot of the line area for the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland only the real temple wasn't near as cool. At the main shrine area you looked down a little tunnel/short hallway and there was a small area with lots of gold, lit by candle/torch light. There was at least one person back there doing something, possibly chanting, seemingly offering something to something. It was hard to tell and we didn't linger long. We didn't see any snakes. We think they may have been in a temple annex area but it was hard to tell. And we had to leave our shoes outside when we went in. It's odd enough walking around a place like that but doing it in bare feet makes it all the more different. Although we had spent an afternoon without shoes and socks that Sunday when we visited an historic palace not far from where we were staying. That was another interesting experience that definitely would never have happened in the US.

We also got a bit of information about the Catholic church in the area and how they have adopted some of the Hindu customs, trying to make the faith more approachable to people (mostly people practicing some superstitions that are common among Hindus). That wasn't as difficult for me to stomach as it was for some others of the team. Yeah, it's not a good idea, but if you go back to the roots some practices of most Christians (Christmas trees, eggs and bunnies at Easter) have their roots in pagan practices as well. Not great, but it happens. And, in some senses, helped me identify with these people who seem so different from me as well as challenged me to question some of the things that I do (not that I'm going to stop eating chocolate bunnies or anything, but you get the idea). We also visited an ancient church which tradition says (according to the Indian Orthodox church) was built by the apostle Thomas. Our guide, a young man studying to be an Orthodox priest, told us several theories about the church. One being that it was built by Thomas and his followers (that's what he believed) another that it was built by Phoenician Christians who had heard the gospel from Thomas and had moved into the area (there's questions about whether Thomas actually made it to India or not). The church was, again according to tradition, built in 67AD. The priest talked about how the site was very holy and how many miracles had been witnessed there, some attributed to a small cross carved in relief on one wall (possibly by Thomas' own hands according to tradition. There was lots of talk of things that were "according to tradition" which I think is akin to saying "legend says".). The cross was also apparently very important in confirming that the building really was a church rather than a Hindu temple. At one point the building had fallen into disrepair and there was a dispute about whether it was a Hindu temple or a Christian church. The church shares many architectural features with Hindu temples, but the cross on the wall confirmed the buildings origins as a church. And, of course, we had to take our shoes off to enter the building. I don't know if we were in a place where the apostle Thomas actually worshipped God or whether we were just in a really old church. But, in any event, it was pretty neat to see and to remember how God has been working around the world of thousands and thousands of years.

As for the actual work, hanging out with the kids at Grace House was fun. There were two boys there when we were there, Manju and Ramish. They're both fun kids, full of energy and a bit timid at first but they opened up fairly quickly. The team split in half with half going to Grace House one day while the other half toured around Bangalore, visiting the train and bus station where the street children tend to congregate, eating at McDonalds (so nice to have a familiar meal, even if it was just a little bit different than at home) and dealing with collecting the luggage that didn't make it to Bangalore quite when we did. Then, the next day, the teams swapped. At Grace House we read through and then acted out a story from the Bible (Jesus heals the leper and Jesus calms the storm), prayed with and for and spent a lot of time playing with the kids. That was a really neat time and we all wished we could have spent more time doing that.

Down on the coast, our work involved helping to build small, brick and and concrete houses. The houses are 200 square feet along the foundation, smaller once you get the walls built. They're smaller than my master bedroom inside and about 50% larger than the cubicle I sit in (a standard two man cube that houses four peons or two people with the full set of furniture). To think that a family of three or four, maybe more if multiple generations are living together, live in that amount of space is sometimes difficult to contemplate. But, the weather is fairly mild and much of life is lived on the streets or in the common areas of the village. And, it's basic shelter and no smaller than what the people are currently living in. The houses we were building replaced woven reed shacks that the villagers were living in, sometimes right next to the site of their new house. These are the same type of houses that were completely swept away by the Tsunami in December 2004. It's hard to imagine that in the span of just a few minutes these people lost everything. The villagers were almost without exception fishermen (or wives and families of fishermen). Which meant that each evening the men went out into the sea, through the very choppy surf, dodging many big rocks along the coast, in these little boats, some no bigger than a large canoe. They spent the night fishing and then brought their catch in to be auctioned each morning. They cleaned and repaired their nets (just like in the disciples in the Bible), spent the afternoon relaxing or playing cards, slept and went out to do it again. While we were building the homes, the home owners were sometimes nearby, keeping track of what was going on, offering "suggestions" (as far as we could tell. They spoke Tamil, the local dialect. And that's nothing close to English. Occasionally some on our team would default to Spanish when English didn't work. That didn't make anything any better but I found it humorous.). Apparently fishermen view themselves above brick layers and house builders so they won't help with the building process. But they will definitely point out when things aren't to their liking or express their desire for a larger house or a different style "window" or whatever...at least we think that's what they were talking about. Again, it was often hard to tell unless someone translated.)

We spent a lot of time moving bricks around (small red bricks like are used here only less dense, more likely to crack and very, very dry. We all brought home a lot of brick dust.). It seems that the bricks were never where we needed them and that each wall of the house required more bricks than we knew actually existed in India. We helped lay foundations, build walls, pour roofs and everything in between. Most of the crews who were working building the houses were very open to letting us help, very patient when we screwed up (who knew bricks had a top and a bottom?), were complimentary when we finally got things right (some bits are harder than they look) and overall were a great pleasure to work with. We learned that sometimes you have to pump water because that water that comes from the "city" isn't on all the time. And we also learned that not everyone had a full understanding of fluid dynamics (sometimes it doesn't help to pump faster. Water's incompressible anyway you pump it so there's a limit to how fast the water is going to come out of the pump. It might look like it's coming out faster if it has greater pressure, but those molecules are only going to move so fast through that pipe. We also learned that when you can only speak a few sentences in each other's language, communicating the basics of fluid dynamics is very complicated.) We learned that shovels don't look the same the world over. The ones we used were more like hoes with the blade bent over. Works really well for mixing concrete or breaking up dirt, less so for shoveling anything. Using one of these shovels was an acquired skill and required different muscles. We drank coconut milk straight out of coconuts, became the local tourist attraction (at least Emma and Lauren, a 19 year old from Pennsylvania who joined our team for the trip, did, especially to the college age boys who found us during our final day of work. Emma nicknamed them "creepy lurkers"), got to play with the kids of the village and talk and pray with some of the women. We put on a program for children one evening where we acted out more Bible stories and sang lots of songs (Sherry's experience with Good News Club came in very handy here). Some of the people of the village and a few of the workers attended that as well, which was neat to see and good to know that they heard at least a simple presentation of the gospel in their own language. I also remembered that as much as I enjoy a few days of manual labor, I live in a point and click world at home and, for the most part, I enjoy that. I don't mind the physical activity. In fact, I like that for the most part. But the monotony of building houses like that would get to me after a while. I like the mental challenge that my work brings better than the physical challenge of building houses.

There's much more to tell. We saw a couple of the main courses for our meals alive just a few hours before eating them. We all got our full of curry at different times during the trip and then ate a lot of peanut butter. We had issues just about every time we went to the airport. We experienced traffic that can only be described as chaotic and an exercise in strengthening our prayer life. We smelled things we wished we hadn't and saw things we wished we could have looked at for longer. We learned that smiles and waves transcend language barriers. We got a better understanding of cricket (although the nuances are still far beyond our grasp). We got to know each other better and came to care about people who are so different and yet so like ourselves. And, yeah, so much more.

It was a good trip in so many different ways. I'm glad to be home but also hope to go back sometime in the future.

India 2008 - All systems go!

2008-06-21T18:52:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow right after church the India 2008 mission trip begin. We won't actually be "feet on the ground" until 5:30 am Tuesday morning (local time, that's 7pm Monday evening for those of you in the US Central Time Zone. It still takes a while to get halfway around the world.) and, by that time we will have been on four different flights and, hopefully, had a chance to buy some Belgian chocolate (we connect through Brussels and Newark and Bombay/Mumbai. But it's the Brussels connection that I'm most excited about.) We'll also probably all be pretty beat. But that's the price of modern air travel and we're planning on putting in a full day (prayers for good rest on the flights, endurance and quick a quick recovery from jet lag for all members of the team would be greatly appreciated). Theoretically keeping busy on Tuesday should help to get us adjusted to the time. That's worked for me in the past when I've had to completely upend my schedule. We'll see how it works this time. I'm confident that it won't hurt any.

In recent days, people have asked me if I'm ready to go. My response has almost always been "not yet". And, that was true. It wasn't until tonight that I was fully packed (okay, I'm not completely packed yet. I still need to let a few podcasts finish downloading, put the finishing touches on some playlists and then resync my iPod before adding that to my pack.). And I definitely didn't have my life ready for me to be gone from it for two weeks until this evening. Living alone means that you have to take care of your own bills, make sure that the cats are set-up for someone to come in and care for them, do some minor picking up around the house, mow the lawn, make sure the chores are pretty much done, etc all before you can leave. Otherwise, you come home to a mess that you're in no shape to deal with. Fortunately, I've had a lot of practice doing all of this and the house is still in pretty good shape from my pre-RYM cleanup. So no worries in the physical preparations front.

The bigger thing is whether I'm mentally ready for India 2008. I'm not certain. It still hasn't really "hit me" that I'm going to India tomorrow. Part of it probably is that I've been talking about and thinking about this trip for almost a year now (some people may know that, most of the time, the mission trips for each year are preliminarily decided on by Steve and I at an after dinner conversation late in the week during the current year. For the rest of you, if you've got opinions about where we should go, get your ideas in early!). I've been planning for the trip for the past six or so months. And I've done so much travel that packing up and going somewhere isn't as big a deal for me as it is for many other people. India is a bit farther than I usually go and I know the culture is going to be much different than most of my regular trips (Texas sometimes feels like a whole different country than the rest of the planet, but it's pretty similar to most other places in a lot of ways), but, really, in a lot of ways, it's another short term mission trip (number 17 for me), another plane ride, another time to spend some concentrated time serving God with a group of His people. I say that I'm excited about this trip. And in some ways I am. But, in others, I've got a bit of a blasé attitude. It's not quite "been there, done that", but it's kinda close. And that doesn't mean that I'm not looking forward to it. I'm just not feeling that it's going to "The BESTEST BEST THING EVER that will TOTALLY CHANGE MY LIFE FOREVER!!!". Maybe it will. God can do that and that would rock. But, more likely, that won't happen. And I'm good with that. I'm ready to be flexible and try to be patient and be open to whatever God has to teach me and show me in the upcoming two weeks. And hopefully my team and I will come back in one piece (well, 9 pieces, but you get the idea), having suffered no ill effects (food or water borne diseases, physical accidents, being chewed on by sacred cows, running out of M&Ms with four days left to go on the trip, etc). But, if we don't, we'll deal. God's still in control, no matter what happens.

Semper Gumby!*

I'll post more when I get home.

*Semper Gumby = Always Flexible. It's a motto we brought back from a mission trip to Fairmont, West Virginia a number of years ago. One of the team coordinators there is a former Marine. It's very fitting and it has served us well.

For Lauren

2008-06-15T15:35:00.000-07:00

Couple of issues left over from RYM.

1. You can't get sunburned while riding in a (non-convertible) car with the windows rolled up. This is because the car windows block the UVB rays - the ones that cause sunburn (B for burning). However, they don't block the UVA rays, which cause aging (A for aging) and can cause skin cancer.

2. Brendan Fraser was definitely not in Dead Poets Society.

RYM Recovery - India Prep - Day 1

2008-06-15T14:14:00.000-07:00

Some people take a "gap year" between high school graduation and college to take a break from school, reflect on who they are and where they want to go with their lives and, well, for whatever reason. Me, I'm taking a "gap week" between my two summer vacation adventures this year. And today was the first day of that week.

Last Sunday, right after worship, I drove one of two 12 passenger vans out of the church parking lot, headed north west and, about 14 hours later arrived in Boulder, Colorado*. We were graciously hosted by Lauren's family (our former youth intern who is now an RUF intern at Ole Miss). Monday we spent the morning sleeping in to recover from the late arrival, learned that the Bates boys had been born, hung around in Boulder and then drove up to the YMCA of the Rockies camp outside of Estes Park. This camp has become one of my favorite places on earth. The camp is surrounded on a couple of sides by Rocky Mountain National Park (the camp has been there longer than the park). It's an amazing facility with everything you'd need for a camp (comfy dorms, good food served in a well organized dining hall, an auditorium for large group worship, fields to play in, sports courts and free equipment loan, putt-putt, stables for horseback riding, a herd of mule deer that regularly wander through) and from camp you can walk into the national park. I know that spending a week with 270 high school kids and their ATPs**, but for me, it's always one of the best weeks of my year. And this year was no exception. We had 14 kids and 4 ATPs this trip. Throughout the week at camp we attended seminars taught by amazing men (and one woman), enjoyed large group worship each evening, won a volleyball tournament, did a lot of hiking, some people went mountain biking and/or rock climbing, killed various video game animals, enjoyed early morning runs/walks, met new friends, caught up with old friends and just generally enjoyed playing in the Big Green Room*** enjoying God's creation.

It was a challenging week in a lot of ways. It was a different group of kids this year and that presented some different situations. I took the seminar for those involved in youth ministry, which was a lot of about ministry philosophy and other great things. But I did miss the teaching from the other seminars. My physical conditioning was very good, but I shouldn't have slacked off on the intervals as part of my cardio training. I really dislike intervals (who doesn't), so I let myself slack off. And, while I wasn't limited from doing anything, I did feel it during the uphill portions of all of the hikes (or even just walking to the dining hall the first few days). But, we had very few altitude issues. I managed to stay well hydrated the whole week. We had no van issues or any major injuries. And, as I've said more than once, it was an amazing week.

Friday I had a "Best Day Ever" as Mike would say.

I got up for my usual early morning walk (which provides exercise as well as some alone time during which I can talk with God and get myself ready for the day as well as experience the quiet beauty of the camp), enjoyed breakfast with many of our crew and attended the last session of the seminar for youth ministry that I had been going to all week. After picking up my lunch, I headed over to where our group that was going rock climbing was going to be leaving from. I had signed up to climb earlier in the week but due to cold weather and snow (yes, in the second week of June), the trip was cancelled. I had hoped to go up with our kids and hang out, take pictures and just enjoy the time. Due to some kids deciding not to go and those who did not being very comfortable belaying (taking someone else's life in their own hands quite literally), I ended up belaying while the kids climbed and rappelled. I would have enjoyed the chance to get up close and personal with the rock, but I had no problem working the ropes. Some college rappelling experience made me an "expert belayer" in the eyes of our guides and the kids seemed to feel very secure with me helping them out from the ground. It was really neat to be able to encourage the kids and to help Mary (who was also one of my roommates for the week) be the only person to make it to the top of the rock all week. Go Mary! I also enjoyed talking with the guides, chatting with the kids, especially on the hike down the mountain and the view from the climbing site.

After returning from climbing, a few of the girls and I hiked up to Bible Point. It was about a mile hike (and about another 3/4th of a mile from our cabin to the trail head) to the top of a hill (it would be a mountain in Texas) that overlooked the camp on one side and a beautiful valley on the other. It was a bit more intense than we originally though it would be and, especially those who had been climbing earlier in the day were winded by the time we made it to the top, but it was so very much worth the effort. The view was amazing and we still made it back to camp in time to shower before our dinner BBQ cookout. Dinner was wonderful pork and chicken BBQ with most of the fixings (although ice cream instead of cobbler, which was almost as good) and, as per our tradition, the ATPs gave up walking places at camp at this point in the trip. We ran into town to get gas for the vans and came back from large group worship which included a fun slideshow with pictures from the week, our senior pastor doing his "laugh routine" (which is hilarious. Plus, it's amazing for the kids to see the guy who preaches the word every Sunday morning being silly and goofy and demonstrating various types of laughs. Apparently he also used mostly Far Side cartoons for his illustrations while teaching the world and life view seminar.), a great message from our main speaker that wrapped up the teaching on the incarnation and encouraged us to go out and enjoy God's beautiful creation and wonderful singing. Small group was a good time of sharing for our girls and everyone was all packed up before turning in for the night. That last part was especially important as we pulled out just after 5am the next morning to start what would turn into a 15.5 hour van ride home. The drive is always a bit brutal, but it is so very much worth the effort. And, once again, it was one of the best weeks of my year.

Now I'm home and trying to get caught up on life and chores while also trying to take the time to process everything from the week. It's so easy for me to slip into the routines and stuff of daily life back home and to not take the time to really meditate on the things that I've learned on trips like these. That's going to be especially hard to do this year as one week from today I leave for my two week mission trip to India. I've designated today as "recovery day". While I won't get a nap in, I've got my bags unpacked, laundry done, mail dealt with, many chores finished up and I shouldn't have any problems being ready for the week. About the only thing I won't get done today is wade through all of my backlogged emails (on my personal account, I don't want to think about dealing with my work emails. That's what tomorrow morning is for.). Tomorrow I'll start my final preparations for India as well as resume my normal work week schedule (and this is a long week, no off-Friday to look forward to. That helps in terms of needing to use less vacation time, but doesn't make for fun work weeks.).

Here's some pictures.

Some of the kids playing in the snow in Rocky Mountain National Park on Tuesday during our drive along Trail Ridge Road.

The yearly ATP picture at the highest spot above the visitor's center on Trail Ridge Road. Left to right is Lauren, me, Brian and Travis.
Cub Lake, an intermediate destination during our seven mile hike on Thursday. Those who remember stories from previous RYMs will be proud to hear that we finally found the official Cub Lake Trailhead this time.
Me on the hike Thursday, just above Cub Lake.
The girls who hiked to Bible Point with me. Left to right is Mary, Lauren, Hulda and Whitney. All but Lauren were my roommates for the week. We had a lot of fun rooming together and I was most impressed with their efforts to keep the room clean and mostly organized during the week.

*Which we learned is correctly pronounced with a short "a", like in "rad".

**ATPs are Adult Type People. We're old enough and responsible enough for parents to trust us with the care of their kids for week, but we're not so mature as to be above starting a marshmallow fight, incessantly teasing someone about an embarrassing mountain biking incident, getting overly excited about winning "the alphabet game" on an excessively long car ride or, well, a lot of other things that "real adults" just don't do.

***You know, the one with the sky blue colored ceiling that, in Colorado, has less air in the air.

In which I ramble about things that I've been meaning to blog about

2008-05-03T19:58:00.000-07:00

So, it's been like 37/58ths of forever since I've updated this blog (actually, based on the fact that I just watched episode 4 of this season of BSG, or ep 7 if you count Razor as the first two episodes, and the last time I blogged was right after I watched the season opener, or episode 3 depending on which numbering system you're using, it's been about a month), I thought I would post something. I should really be in bed right now, and I'm not entirely certain why I'm typing and not sleeping, but oh well. If this rambles, you've been warned.

Right now, I'm about a quarter of an inch away from collapse. It's been a long day at the end of a long week at the end of a busy couple of weeks. Today was mission trip fundraiser garage sale day. I was up at church from about 6:45am* until about 5. After that, aside from doing laundry, showering and eating, I mowed the lawn and ran a couple of errands. So, yeah, I'm beat. But the sale went well, despite the chilly weather in the morning. Don't know full numbers, but over $3500. And, based on the stuff that we had and what sold and when and at what percentage of the price at which it was marked, is a pretty good number. It's more than I was expecting. I think we'll be down a bit from last year, but we made a good bit of money and it will significantly help a lot of us with our fundraising for the mission trips. I worked 20 hours over the course of this week. I don't know what that will translate into in terms of dollars, but it will be significant. Going into the sale, about 40% of the cost of my trip had been raised. After today, that number will be higher. Whoo-hoo! And I managed to spend only $12 and came home with significantly less stuff than I took, which is always the goal.

Other interesting stuff this week: I went to see The Music Man up at Temple Christian school last night. Ian, one of my kids, is in it playing a character who's name I can't remember right now but might be Marcellas (I think that's at least close. He's the ex-con man who lives in River City before Prof. Hill shows up). It was a good show and I always enjoy the chance to see my kids in stuff like that.

I got to have dinner with Mike, Bobby and Naomi and the Zinks; friends from school and church on Thursday evening. The affiliations overlap in some weird ways, but it all works out and, as always, it was a very enjoyable evening. Plus, it's hard to go wrong at Mellow Mushroom pizza.

Wednesday morning I got to fly a real airplane with wings and a propeller and everything. This was a part of a class that I was taking at work. The course if taught by the US Navy Test Pilot School out of Pax River, Maryland. They've brought the instructors down to Fort Worth a number of times which has allowed more Lockheed engineers to go through it. It's an introduction to aircraft handling qualities with an emphasis on how the different aircraft modes of motion (you know, things like the Dutch Roll and Phugoid modes**) are tested and evaluated during flight test. The first week of the course was academics and a bit of time in the simulator. The second week allowed each student to plan a flight, go through a brief, fly the flight with the instructor pilot, write a daily report and have that report critiqued. The flight, of course, was the highlight of the whole experience. It was about 90 minutes long and took place in a Bonanza 33C aircraft which is a four seat, propeller driven aircraft that is acrobatic rated. We didn't fly any acrobatic maneuvers. That just provided an extra margin of safety in case any of the students got a little aggressive on the controls. With the exception of take-off and landing, each student flew the plan for a majority of the flight. This was my first time to ever have the controls of an aircraft and I will say that it was pretty cool. I still have no desire to obtain a private pilot's license (which makes my mom happy), but I can easily see why others do. I also reinforced the fact that I just don't pull g's well. Women are supposed to be able to, on average, pull more g's than men. I don't quite understand why, probably due to having stronger lower body muscles overall. But, that doesn't hold true for me. We hit 2.25g on a pull-up and I decided I had enough. I wanted to make sure my breakfast stayed where it was and that I was able to enjoy the rest of the flight. I also had a bit of trouble with the landing. It was a very windy day and between the natural tendencies of the aircraft, the extra movement due to the winds and the fact that it was pretty warm, I was very, very happy when we got on the ground. I managed not to revisit my oatmeal, but it was touchy for a bit there. And, overall, it was a very cool experience.

And, if I have any hope of staying awake through church tomorrow, let alone waking up from my Sunday afternoon nap in time for small group, I really need to go to bed. 'Night.

*An hour when very few people should even be awake on a weekend.

**No, I didn't make those up. Look them up on Wikipedia.

Picking my chin up out of my lap

2008-04-05T18:12:00.000-07:00

I just got done watching the Battlestar Galactica season 4 opener on Hulu and, yeah, wow! I won't spoil it for anyone, cause I'm still not sure what I would say other than, yeah, wow! I didn't realize how much I had missed this show. And the fact that I can watch it less than 24 hours after it airs and for free makes me even more happy.* About the only bad thing I can say** is that having to wait another week to see the next episode isn't going to be fun. There is something to be said for waiting for the DVD release.

*I watched the first about season and a half on DVD. After that I got the episodes a few days after they aired thanks to a coworker with a DVR and a VCR.

**Okay, very minor spoiler alert, you've been warned.

The whole "no one believes Kara" thing and her continually complaining/whining about it is going to get old and fast. I know it's realistic and all that. But I get the point. The amazing battle sequences and the acting from all of the principals more than made up for it. Why does this show not have more awards and higher ratings?

Adventures in cooking for the masses - Postscript

2008-03-30T18:57:00.000-07:00

My first shot at being in charge of cooking for a large group of people seemed to go well. I'm neigh on exhausted, so no in-depth commentary this evening (What!?! Rue's not going to write a thesis on her day/weekend/experience? Who are you and what have you done with our Rue?). I don't have a final count, but I think we had somewhere upwards of 200 people. Thanks to both Steve and I padding the number a little bit as well as me just downright getting the amounts wrong in a couple of cases, we had more than enough food. Everything went pretty smoothly. The chicken was all adequately cooked. A lot of people said they enjoyed it. I had a great team helping me out on every front. Couldn't have done it without them, especially the girls (and Jacob) who helped out with chopping more onions, peppers and olives than most of us had ever seen in one sitting before. Now, I think, I'm going to go clean out my backpack, make sure that I'm ready for the morrow and collapse for about 8 hours before the work week starts anew.

This last week was Ff150*. This upcoming week is church committee budget week. Fortunately, it's an off-Friday.

*Which should probably be relabeled as Ff200ish.

Adventures in cooking for the masses

2008-03-24T17:41:00.000-07:00

A while back, at a mission trip team meeting, we were talking about the upcoming fundraisers, primarily our big variety show, silent auction, dinner that is one of two big fundraisers the mission teams do each year. Leadership positions were described, people volunteered and, near the end, I heard my voice say, "Steve, I'll cook dinner". Normally I let others take the big leadership roles. With these roles comes extra work but also extra financial incentives. For this particular fundraisers, those in leadership roles get a double share of the profits made. In past years raising funds hasn't been an issue for me due to either the generosity of my friends and family in responding to my support letters or the fact that my trip has been paid for by the missions committee because I was one of the trip leaders. This year, due to my lack of trip leader status and the fact that my team is going to India for two weeks and that costs a substantial amount more than any other trip I've done in the past, I thought it might be a good idea to volunteer for a fundraiser leadership role. No one else had volunteered to cook. I've helped out in the kitchen a number of times in the past for these types of things. I figured it shouldn't be that hard.

Some time and much planning later and we're finally into what I'm calling fajita week. Much of my free time this week will be spent finalizing and implementing my master plan to lead a team that will cook a fajita dinner for roughly 150 people this coming Sunday. My master plan might also be morphing into a plan to take over all of Metropolis...I'll keep you updated on that one. The thing is, I'm really not that stressed about it. Either I'm kidding myself that it really isn't going to be terribly difficult or I've got a really good master plan....or maybe some of both. I'm even confident enough about the whole thing that I'm going camping with friends Friday night and all day Saturday. I'm guessing that's not going to be the wisest decision that I've made of late. But I don't get many chances for camping and the date was set by someone else and based on circumstances beyond my control. So, I'm going camping. Then I'm going to come home and lead a team to cook the largest meal I've ever been in charge of cooking the next day. There is a reasonable chance that this will all become a massive fiasco that will become an interesting and slightly embarrassing story as well as a morality tale in the years to come. Fortunately, this is a church event and we're big believers in grace (and getting people to pay ahead of time for the meal). But, I guess that also means that there's a fairly reasonable chance that this will all be a roaring success...and it will take me four years and possibly some protesting on my part before I'm not in charge of big meals at church. But, that's okay. I like to help out. And, if I'm good at something, I don't mind using my talents...especially if I can help train my replacements (yes, I'm looking at you Elizabeth, Kathryn and Rachel).

If you happen to be the praying type, I would appreciate your prayers for me and the whole dinner situation between now and next Sunday evening. I can do all the planning in the world, but without God enabling that plan to actually work, I'm toast...or burned rice, sticky tortillas and undercooked chicken in this case. Thanks.

It's kinda like a mission trip. Also, other things I need to stop doing.

2008-03-01T13:39:00.000-08:00

Sometime around 9:30 yesterday morning a squirrel wandered into a transformer switch of some sort at a power substation in south or possibly southwest Fort Worth and shorted out the whole system. Power was restored about an hour later, but apparently electricity quit flowing to some of the city's water pumps and that caused a decrease in the water pressure which led to the possibility of contaminants seeping into the water supply. There was no further mention of what happened to the squirrel. Since it takes 18 hours to complete a test of the water system, and that test must be done at a variety of locations, an odd shaped area of southwest Fort Worth was under a water boil order. Basically, that means that the water that comes out of your tap just might kill you or at least make you wish it had (I've been the victim of water related illness before. Trust me when I tell you that, at times, death seems preferable.). So, before you drink it or use it in cooking or making ice cubes, you have to bring it to a rolling boil for at least two minutes. From what I've read, you actually just have to get it to a rolling boil. But, since people don't always agree on what a rolling boil is, I think the two minute rule is there just to make sure that everyone's bases are covered. As I've said, water illness issues aren't fun.

I first learned about all of this while I was at the gym yesterday. As with most fitness centers, my gym has televisions in the cardiovascular fitness area (where you walk, run, ride a bike, climb stairs, row or whatever it is you do on an elliptical machine but never actually go anywhere). And, so that the people listening to Sports Center don't have to sort out the play-by-play sound from Oprah's current conversation with the doctor that tells you to eat your vegetables (or whatever), the audio is broadcast to unused FM radio stations. This works out great for the most part. That is, unless your iPod doesn't have an FM tuner and the local news broadcast is only giving specifics about the water boil issue by talking about it, rather than by showing some sort of graph or chart or specific instructions in clear to read text on the screen. I ended up spending a little over an hour riding, ellipticalling, rowing and finally walking while waiting for some sort of explanation about how long we were going to have to boil our water for. They did have an almost helpful map that outlined the area under the order and I was pretty sure that my house was included but the gym was not (which meant I could use the drinking fountains, something I was very grateful for at the end of my workout).

Upon my arrival home, the internet was the first to give me the specifics of the issue. Apparently it was old news by this time as neither the radio nor the television news were covering it. To be fair, the networks were on to national news by the time I turned it on and, if they mentioned the squirrel related water boil order for this small area of the city in which I live, I didn't catch it. The effect on me boiled down to (pun intended) the need to treat the water like it was more or less lethal if consumed until further notice. To some, this would be disconcerting. To me, it meant slipping back into mission trip mode. That required writing lots of post-it notes to myself to make sure I didn't drink the water, put the lid on the toilet seat down (my cats drink out of the toilet) and breaking out the hand sanitizer. No worries. The water in my water bottles in the fridge got me through until I could boil up some water and things were fine.

Well, things were mostly fine. There was another, nonwater related issue I was dealing with. If you were paying attention above, you would noticed that I said I was at the gym, doing cardio stuff for a little over an hour. And that's correct. What you might know, if you know me, is that when I go to the gym, I work hard. This has become almost a requirement for me, especially in the last couple of years and since I spend 10ish hours a day in front of a computer. I have to make up for all that sitting somehow. So I rode and ellipticaled and rowed and walked hard and fast for that hour. Normally, this isn't a big deal. I'm in good enough shape that I can handle this...most of the time. What I hadn't factored in was that I didn't have the greatest dinner on Thursday evening (tuna with A1 sauce, garlic and green beans. It's a whole lot better than it sounds) and I had skipped the snacks that are a part of my normally well balanced work day nutrition routine in favor of sausage rolls, bagels and very good chocolate cake (to celebrate coworkers' new reserved parking spot, newly conceived child and birthday respectively). So, while my eating hadn't been horrible, it certainly hadn't been great. And, again, most of the time, that works out okay for me. I can do most of my activities at the gym with little impact except the possibility of being ready to gnaw off my own arm before I get home. Except that, for some reason, somewhere between doing 45 minutes of intense cardio and doing an hour (or a little bit more) of fairly intense cardio, there's a tripwire in my body. If I don't prepare to do the hour (mostly by eating better. Even swapping my normal turkey sandwich for a peanut butter and honey one will make the difference) I feel horrible afterwards. And that's the kicker. I'm fine while I'm working out. If I had the time, I would quite happily workout even longer. (Yes, I've become a gym rat. In some ways this is great. In other ways I find it oddly disturbing. Fortunately, it's disturbing in a way that's great for my overall health, so I've learned to live with it). It's on the drive home, after my body has had a chance to wind down and do whatever it does with sugar stores and other things I should probably learn more about that I start to crash. The thing is, it normally starts just with me being hungry. So I grab something quick to munch before I shower. Last night it was a couple of leftover cookies. That was a bad idea. It seems to me that feeding myself foods ladened with refined sugar is probably about the worst thing I can do to myself in times like this. But, I did it anyway. And by the time I was done figuring out about the squirrel induced water of death and got done with my shower (no worries. Remember to keep your mouth closed and sanitize your hands after you get done. Just like in Mexico.) I was starting to feel it. And I knew it was going to be a long night. I had a good dinner and drank a lot of non-lethal water while boiling up some more. I went out to run some errands, chatted about the squirrel death water and the fact that it was leap day with the ladies at the buy counter of Half-Price Books and chuckled while overhearing a conversation between a girl and her father in Target. They were in the kitchen gadgets section and the girl was commenting on the cool new animal shaped gadgets they have, exclaiming over a toucan something or other. Her father asked, without missing a beat, "Do they have a three-can?". If I hadn't been fading incredibly fast at that point, I would have laughed out loud. By the time I got home, a little before nine, I was exhausted. I looked at the cats (who still seemed confused by the toilet seat situation and dismayed that I hadn't sat on the couch and petted them recently...but they're always dismayed about my lack of time on the couch). So I had some fruit, more water of the boiled and now safe to drink variety and went to bed. I woke up this morning a bit sluggish and hungry. And that's about how I've stayed all day. I really gotta start planning my workouts and my eating habits a little bit better, cause this just isn't a lot of fun. But, on the plus side, I did feel okay spending about 90 minutes on the couch this afternoon (which made the cats moderately happy) finishing the book that I've been reading.

Prisoner of Trebekistan by Bob Harris is part memoir of Mr. Harris' ten years spent playing in multiple Jeopardy games and tournaments, part memory self-help book, part love story and a whole lot of fun. I highly recommend it...unless you're Mom in which case you should hold off on enjoying it at least until after Mother's Day...or whenever we get together in May. I'm just saying. Oh, and about noon today the city decided that the water really isn't lethal and we can quit boiling it and resume drinking it out of the taps. I'm off to go clean up all the various post-it notes that are scattered around my bathrooms and kitchen.

The British came, they saw, they sang Led Zeppelin?

2008-02-16T14:22:00.000-08:00

The Beatles singing Stairway to Heaven.

There's either something vaguely cool, utterly hilarious or marginally scary about this. I'm not completely certain which.

As seen on the blog of Ken Levine

India 2008 - Please consider joining my support team

2008-02-16T13:21:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends

In the 25^th chapter of the gospel of Matthew, in the parable of the sheep and the goats, Jesus says, “I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.”. This summer I will be a part of a mission team traveling to India for two weeks to serve those who are, in so many ways, the people who Jesus called “the least of these brothers of mine.”

From 22 June through 5 July 2008 I will travel to India with a group of about 12 people from my church. The first week of our trip will be spent in Bangalore, in the south of India, working with a ministry to street children. Bangalore is known as the “Silicon Valley” of India as there is a tremendous amount of computer and technology industry there. It is also estimated that 45,000 children live on the streets of this large city. Some of these children are orphans, others have been abandoned by their families due to economic or other reasons, some have fled abusive situations. Regardless of the reason they are on the streets, Grace House, a non-residential day facility, seeks to serve these children. Run by Bangalore Presbyterian Church and funded by my church, Fort Worth Presbyterian, Grace House is open six days a week and provides these children with a structured, safe environment that provides meals, clothing, help in getting any needed medical attention, schooling and Biblical education. This ministry also is in the process of starting foster homes which will provide a Christian family environment for these children to move into and grow up in with the end goal of transitioning these children into independent living and working situations when they become adults.

For our second week in India, we will travel to the village of Muttom on the southern coast of India. This area was greatly affected by the 26 December 2004 tsunami that devastated much of the Indian Ocean coastline. In the villages surrounding Muttom, we will be working with a ministry of Bangalore Presbyterian Church called Homes of Hope. Homes of Hope is working to build permanent homes for the survivors of the tsunami (pictures can be found here). It is the prayer of this ministry that this work done in the name of Christ will not only provide for the physical needs of these people but also will melt the hearts of those in the area as they witness home after home being built for “the least of these”. It is also the hope that the groundwork laid by this house building work will open the door to church planting and sharing of the gospel to communities that are hardened to the grace of gospel message of Jesus Christ. During our week in this area, we will be physically laboring to help build some of these homes.

I would like to invite you to join with my mission team on this trip in two ways. First, I would ask you to consider becoming a prayer partner. This involves committing to pray for me, the team and our trip weekly prior to our departure and daily during the trip. Without the support of God’s people, mission trips such as these cannot happen and I greatly covet your prayers. Some specific prayer requests that I currently have are:

• Unity for our team.

• Financial support for all team members.

• Specifically preparing each member of the team for the large cultural differences as well as change in time zones that we will encounter during this trip.

• God working in the hearts of each member of the team and each person we will encounter in India in preparation for all that he has planned.

As the preparations continue, I will update all prayer partners on additional prayer requests as well as provide additional information on the team’s preparation here on my blog.

Secondly, I would ask that you consider supporting this trip financially. The cost of this trip is approximately $2500, of which $750 covers all of our costs in India with the remainder paying for airfare. The first payment, for 50% of the total cost of my trip, is due in mid-April with the remainder due in mid-May. Any financial gift you can give would be greatly appreciated and is tax deductible. If you would like to join in our work in India through either prayer support please either leave a comment on this blog or email me at ruthann.francis_at_gmail_dot_com. If you would like to provide financial support please send a check made out to Fort Worth Presbyterian church to:

Fort Worth Presbyterian Church

PO Box 16307

Fort Worth, TX 76162

Please include a note saying that the check is in support of the India mission trip for Ruth Ann Francis. This will ensure that your contribution is credited to my account.

Little things that make me smile

2008-02-15T19:06:00.000-08:00

Some little things that make me smile:

- Buying milk with an expiration date of 29 February. I don't remember ever having done that before.

- Getting significant change from a single dollar when buying useful, and generally much higher priced, items at a store. Oh how I love coupons. And I got to do this twice tonight: Once at Walgreens for some deoderant that cost me $0.60 and once at Albertsons where four boxes of instant oatmeal and one round container of "old fashioned" oatmeal (also known as oatmeal cookie making oatmeal) cost me a total of $0.40. I did it last week at Tom Thumb too. $0.06 for a container of soft soap and a bag of frozen broccoli. And I found a nickel on the ground when I was walking out.

- How much brighter and more cheery the cardio room at the gym looks with the addition of the new, large window. And the huge smiles on the faces of the staff when I mention that window.

Blog Updates, Holiday Thoughts and Things Rattling Around In My Brain.

2008-02-13T18:44:00.000-08:00

I added links to some of my friends who blog. It's actually an interesting group of people. Missionaries I support, friends from school, friends from church, my roommate from Space Camp, people who fall into more than one of those categories. Many of them don't update all that regularly, but that's what an RSS reader is for. I use Google Reader. It's changed the way I use the internet and I couldn't be happier. Many thanks to Jason for recommending it.

Tomorrow's Valentines' Day. I've never been a big fan of the holiday. Maybe that's because I've only had a V-Day date once (that relationships ended about three months later and eventually ended up with me having a psycho-ex-boyfriend left over from college. It's an interesting story now...not so much then.) and I prefer not to be beaten over the head with reminders that I'm single. Maybe it's that Valentines' Day has always felt, at least to me, like an excuse for Hallmark to sell more card, people to make insincere statements about their feelings about others (even if it's just through a silly little card with cartoon characters, mutant robots from outer space or cute kittens) and for those unattached to a significant other to have an excuse to consume chocolate and/or ice cream. I'm not planning on doing anything special to celebrate. Although I am taking brownies to work. But that's more because I've been sensing a significant deficiency of baked goods with extra chocolatey goodness than because it happens to be a holiday. At least this isn't a Post Office holiday, so maybe I'll get my new MP3 player that I ordered from Woot earlier this week.

In the "other random thoughts that are swimming around my head this evening" category:

- The WGA (writers') strike is officially over. Whoo-hoo! While some of the shows that I enjoy won't be back before next fall (Heroes), some may not be back at all (Journeyman :( ), others will be back and with more new episodes (Lost, Bones). And, once the writers' new contract is ratified, I can go back to watching television on the web again...something that I'm greatly looking forward to.

- I'm kinda excited that by the start of next week I'll be able to work on something other than documentation at work. I've known for a while that the first few months of this year were going to be taken up mostly with documentation tasks. And it really is about as little fun as it sounds. I'll still be doing some work on the documentation files, but I've got the go ahead to scale that back to about half-time. And that will make my work life much more interesting. Might make kick boxing on Thursday nights a little less intense, but maybe the new stuff that I'm doing will be challenging/frustrating enough to make up for it.

- Speaking of the gym, we're getting a nice big window later this week! All of the trainers are very excited. It will be nice to have some more natural light in the cardio room. Now if only I could get a sky light somewhere near my cube.

- And, for those of you not in Texas (or who don't pay attention to weather forecasts), we'll be, once again, getting confirmation that we live way too far inland. Tomorrow's high is supposed to be around 70. Friday, it sounds like we'll be lucky to see 40. Before the weekend is up, we might even get some "snow"*

- Can anyone recommend some good, upbeat music that I might enjoy? Ed, my biking buddy on Tuesdays and Thursdays, is out for the next month or so due to surgery to give him a bionic foot**. So, I'm going to be lacking for conversation and harassment during my longer cardio sessions.

- I should really blog some more about stuff related to my trip to India this summer, but it's past my bedtime, so that will have to wait for another time.

*Which means either a couple of white flakes swirling in the air or some ice. It also means a run on milk and bread at the grocery store, that there won't be anything good to rent at Blockbuster and Walmart will be even crazier than usual.

**Not exactly, but it's more fun to think of it that way than to talk about how he's getting pins and other stuff to help out some of his toe joints. I've also told him that we're going to have to watch him closely when he returns to make sure that they didn't give him an "evil bionic foot". Although it would give him an excuse to go around kicking people, that type of thing never ends well.

An article many people should read

2008-02-07T19:47:00.000-08:00

It's past my bedtime and I still need to deal with the trash, but I wanted to post a link to an article that I think just about everyone and certainly everyone who knows me should read. It's an old Atlantic Monthly article called "Caring for Your Introvert" and it strives to describe introverts and explain a little bit about why they (we) act the way they (we) do to those who are more extroverted. I've never been really fond of labels for or broad, sweeping generalizations about groups of people, but I'll make an exception here. This article seems to get a lot of things right about me and many of my friends who also fall closer to "i" than "e" on the Myers-Briggs test.

Sunday, Random Sunday

2008-01-27T13:03:00.000-08:00

Random thoughts from a Sunday afternoon.

Newest favorite snack food:

Cayenne Pretzels

20 oz pretzels (I used a 15 oz bag of the waffle shaped ones from Kroger)

1 package dry ranch dressing mix

1 teaspoon garlic salt

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper (I think I used a little extra, it spilled while I was measuring it)

1 cup vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 225 degrees.

Pour pretzels into shallow baking pan or jelly pan (I used a 9x13 pan).

Mix everything else together and pour over pretzels.

Mix pretzels until well coated.

Bake for one hour, stirring every 15(ish) minutes.

Turn out onto paper towels to cool.

I found this recipe on the web back before Christmas but didn't get around to trying it until this weekend. These things are amazing. It's like extra spicy chex mix only better. I need to make up a batch of these and send it to my brother-in-law.

Random thoughts from some friends' wedding I went to last night during which I got to see some friends I haven't seen in a while, some in years.

When did her hair get so big?

Wow he looks a lot older...do I look that old?

He looks just like the last time I saw him. Maybe I DON'T look any older either.

When did we all grow up? And why does it seem like everyone has so many kids?

I guess it's okay that I forgot her name, she didn't remember mine either.

I've become pretty good at dealing with awkward situations head-on and by making a joke about the awkwardness of the situation.

Whoo-Hoo! I got an aisle seat.

"The wheel never stops turning. You're up. You're down. It doesn't change who you are."

Some things change...some things really do stay the same.

There's little more moving than a grown man crying while talking to and about his own mom at his wedding.

In other news, the cats have accepted the futon. I think they might like it better than the couch it replaced. At least they can get under the futon. I haven't found a cover for it yet. I refuse to pay more for a cover than I paid for the whole futon. Internet searching will be done in the near future.

We had our first mission trip meeting after church today. For those I haven't told, I'm a confirmed member of the India 2008 team. I'll be in India the last week in June and the first week in July. I'll miss the 4th of July here (probably my favorite holiday), but I'll be back by my birthday. I'm really excited about the trip and you're sure to hear more about it both from me in person and on this blog (and look for my support letters, coming to your mail or inbox soon). Support raising starts soon. If anyone has any odd jobs they would like me to do in exchange for a charitable donation to the church that will go towards paying for my trip, please let me know. I'll do just about anything and, if needed, can provide many of my own tools (and I've got a truck. I can haul and move stuff.).

I'm also a little bummed that I not going to be able to go in the other mission trip that my church is taking. That team is headed back to Reynosa (where we went last summer). That was a really great trip, the food was amazing, the work was rewarding, the people down there are great. It looks like it's going to be a great team going there as well. I wish I could do both. But, I had to choose between Reynosa and RYM Colorado with the high school kids. And, since RYM has, consistently been the best week of my year the past two years (yes, even better than Space Camp, but only just...scuba diving almost pushed Space Camp over the edge), it wasn't really a hard decision. I'm looking forward to RYM too. With the group of kids who are talking about signing up, it looks like we're going to have a large and very cool group going there as well.

I watched Superman Returns over the weekend thanks to a loan of the DVD from my former cubemate Jeremy. I wasn't that impressed. Part of that could have been due to the mood I was in Friday night when I watched it (on the melancholy side of mellow) but I wasn't impressed. But it did do some things right. It provided enough information for the Superman newbie to get caught up quickly (and without a lot of "this is the backstory so that everyone can get caught up" exposition). They also make it very much about the super hero (Superman in this case) rather than about the villian(s). Kevin Spacey did an excellent job as Lex Luthor. I especially enjoyed his hyperactive rantings as he exposited on his plans for anyone (and the audience) to listen to. That said, the science was horrible, even for a comic book movie. I'm sorry but the minute you put winglets on a space shuttle, you've completely lost me in terms of the science. The whole sequence with the airplane and the shuttle were just silly and so far from believable it would have been laughable if I was in a laughing mood. *Spoiler Alart* I figured that the kid was Superman's about three seconds after his existence was introduced (spend a lot of time with the hero brooding about being the last one of his kind...introduce a former love who has a kid about the right age and, yeah, not a big suprise there). */Spoiler Alert* By the time Superman got around to saving the earth, I just didn't really care anymore. I'm glad that I saw it, but I'm also glad that I didn't see pay to see it in the theater. Now I just gotta find someone who's going to by Cloverfield so I can borrow that one. I wouldn't mind going to see it in theaters, but since I sometimes have motion sickness issues, I'm not willing to spend money if I'm going to get sick.

Moving up the furniture food chain

2008-01-26T11:14:00.000-08:00

As of this morning, I have officially taken a step up the used furniture food chain!

Those who know me and know my house know that most of my furniture had a life between manufacturing and living with me. With the exception of one couch and a few piece of Target pressed board furniture (or maybe Walmart, but most of it is from Target), I think all of my furniture (and about half my appliances) was given to me by friend, left to me by grandparents, kicked out of my parents house or purchased from rummage sales, friends or (most often) British coworkers returning home. For me, it works out well. My tastes tend toward classic style, my decor style is somewhere between "comfortable casual" and "late grad student" and I have a furniture budget to match. For the people I purchase or receive the items from, it works out well too. They get a bit of money (or at least good feeling) and someone to haul away the stuff they're done with. We can all claim that we're keeping things out of landfills and I don't get upset if one of the cats adds a new scratch, dent or other "mark of character". Everyone's a winner!

But, this morning, I moved a half a step higher on the used furniture food chain ladder thingie whatever. A while back, I received a couch from some friends. The couch had come with the house they bought, but they didn't need or have room for another nor did it match their decor. So, it had been sitting in their garage until they gave it to me. It was a nice couch, almost brand new. And, while it wasn't something that I would have picked out if I was going to buy some furniture, it more or less matched the color scheme I have going in my living room and it definitely matched my furniture budget (can't get better than free...especially if it comes with the offer of two guys to do all the heavy lifting for you). The couch was a welcome addition to my living room and the cats even quickly took a liking to it. Unfortunately, they also took a liking to scratching it. And, the upholstery wasn't quite up for that. I had been thinking about possible ways to make a repair for a while when I got an email announcing another homebound British coworker having a repatriation sale. Most of the Brits who come over to work with us not only plan on staying just a couple of years but also have houses or at least storage units full of furniture. And they're only allowed so much weight/space to take things back home. Add to that the difference in electrical power systems and at least a couple of times a year I have an opportunity to purchase gently used home furnishings and electronics at bargain basement prices. This time, I picked up a very nice flat screen (although not flat panel) computer monitor (also a few inches bigger than my 17 inch dinosaur that I bought back in like 1999) and a very nice futon. The futon, hopefully, will be less of a scratching post for the cats and, with the addition of a cover (to be purchased later) should provide some comfy seating as well as sleeping for any overnight guests I might host. But, the influx of the futon meant that the green couch had to go. Finding a new home wasn't hard, especially when I charged the low, low price of free and helping me move the futon and the couch. And I know that the recent college grad I passed it off to was grateful. I hope it provides him and his friends many comfy hours of gaming and movie watching experience.

And, best of all, this means I'm no longer at the bottom of the used furniture food chain!

Anyone need a computer monitor? Or know of someone selling a dining room table?

In which I talk about music and give a heads up of things to come!

2008-01-14T18:05:00.000-08:00

Among the wide variety of music on my Ipod, is some celtic stuff. And a lot of it is by two groups both with the word Bards in the name. The first is the Brobdingnagian Bards. The second is the Bedlam Bards. While I'm not entirely certain where I first discovered these groups, I'm pretty sure it was somehow related to Firefly filk. I've downloaded a bunch of the songs that they've offered and bought some albums. And I've enjoyed almost all of it. I've also enjoyed some of the work done by Marc Gunn, one half of the Brobdingnagian Bards (type that three times fast...and no, I didn't copy and paste either time). He's got a great CD of Irish drinking songs rewritten with feline lyrics. Irish drinking songs for cat lovers. Mom enjoys the copy of that CD that I got her for Christmas a few years back. There's just something about Celtic music that strikes me. I especially enjoy the more upbeat jigs (is that the right word? Probably not.) and the humor of the songs.

And now, I've been given an opportunity to review the latest CD Marc has put together (and, full disclosure, get a free copy of it), the Renaissance Festival Podcast Compilation. There's some stuff that looks interesting on the disc. Some I've heard before, some I haven't. A few artists I'm familiar with, many I'm not. I'm looking forward to enjoying it. Hopefully it will make the long hours of documenting databases, onboard models and probably some other stuff that is my life at work right now be a little less tedius. And (as part of my obligation that comes along with the free copy) look for my review of it sometime in the next week or so.

In which I show a picture of one of my unusual talents

2008-01-07T09:29:00.000-08:00

Saturday evening, Bill took a picture of my sugar packet "card house".
This morning, he sent me a copy.

Cell phone cameras can come in kinda handy at times.

If someone got a picture of me juggling dinos, I'll try to remember to post it here.

In which I demonstrate my unusual talents

2008-01-06T18:25:00.000-08:00

I've got a number of unusual talents and I got to display a number of them this weekend.

Saturday evening, waiting for dinner at Chili's with Bill and Keith, I demonstrated my talent for building "card houses" out of sugar packets (fake sugar is easier than real sugar).

This evening, at the epiphany party I got to entertain the kids by juggling dinosaurs. They were the first thing I could find three of. Not terribly easy to juggle, especially since I have small hands. But people applauded, so I guess it went okay.

And, then, later, I continued with my talent of spouting obscure quotes from movies that aren't as well known as you'd think. At least Kathryn chuckled. "Mostly dead is different than all dead." Her youngerest brother, didn't even blink. I'm thinking perhaps he's too young to have seen The Princess Bride enough times to be able to quote at least the beginning of the sword fight. (And I do mean the actual sword fight, not the dialogue. Why yes, I am a child of the '80's, why do you ask?)

It's been a short weekend, but, overall, a pretty good one.

Random blurb about spelling

2008-01-05T13:52:00.000-08:00

There are certain times in my life when I just have trouble spelling certain words. In high school, I always wanted to put extra letters into schedule. A few years ago, I had trouble remembering that traveling only has one "l". Currently, I keep wanting to put an extra "i" after the "l" in similar. Fortunately, once I get it through my brain that a certain word is spelled a certain way, it doesn't take terribly long for the message to get down to my fingers and then I don't have any more problems with that word. But then a new spelling issue comes up. Thank goodness for spell check.

Obligatory Year in Review post

2007-12-31T12:10:00.000-08:00

So, 2007 is just hours away from ending and I guess it's time for a "year in review" post.

So, 2007...overall, not a bad year. Not as many people that I know died this year as in years past. That's always a plus, and a nice change from the past few years. I traveled a lot less for work than I have in any of the previous seven years and am looking at another year of minimal business travel. It's been nice to be in town a good bit and for large chunks of time and I'm looking forward to that again in the coming year, especially since this will probably be the last year for a while that will happen. Speaking of work, I got another new cubemate and some more real estate and furniture (the only semblance of status available in cubeville). Oh, and a very nice flat screen monitor. Although I had to sticky my dinosaurs to the top of the monitor to keep them from getting knocked off on a regular basis. But, this has the added benefit of not requiring me to move those toys when I rotate the monitor 90 degrees on the odd occasions when things are easier to deal with in portrait orientation.

I'll finish the year up somewhere around 20 pounds lighter with a goal of loosing a bit more in the coming months (we'll see how that goes). I've become even more hard core about my workouts at the gym and have enjoyed the benefits of that time both in my physical strength and endurance and in the friendships that I've build with people at the gym. I even won the balance and functional strength competitions at the gym, which was pretty cool. I also started attending kickboxing class, which I tend to call "percussive therapy" and found that while I'm not very good at hitting things (which is probably not a bad thing), it is a lot of fun and a great stress relief, when practiced in a controlled environment.

I did some travel for fun this year. Spent some family time in Atlanta and got to visit with some friends while there. I got to attend the weddings of two friends from college, and both were great times (one didn't even require a drive of more than 90 minutes). The best week of the year (for the second year running) was spent in Colorado with a bunch of high school kids during the month of June. Great teaching, beautiful scenery, all the mini-golf you can play (and then some), lots of time to hang out with the kids. And I had the least difficulty with the altitude that I've had of any recent trip to Colorado (probably mostly due to my time at the gym). We have some vehicle issues and have to take one student to the emergency room (freak Capture the Flag injury. She's fine.), but it still qualified as the best week of the year. Second best week of the year was my return to Space Camp. There's lots about that trip in the archives on this blog. I met some very cool people, did some stuff I've never done before and had a very enjoyable week. I'll be heading back sometime in the next few years. Anyone want to join me? I also met another cool RUF pastor, Brad Tubbesing, who was kind enough to take me to church and lunch with him before dropping me off at camp.

Rounding out the cause for my using more vacation time than I earned in the year (first time ever, won't be the last), was the week long mission trip to Reynosa, Mexico. This was probably the week when I ate the best, drank the most water (although the week in Colorado would be a close second) and used the most sun screen. It was another good trip. I had more responsibility and learned that I really need to do more delegation (darn control-freak tendencies). I enjoyed organizing English camp, being one of the go-to people for special projects on the construction site and leading small group with the high school girls. And, despite the monotony of it, I did kinda enjoy moving 1000(ish) concrete blocks from one location to another on the construction site. This was due mostly to some of the kids who were at the end of the line with me making up games and giving names to the blocks as we stacked them. I think I will also retained the term "Mary block" for any broken concrete block. (Mary took care of removing all of the cracked blocks to the corner of the site reserved for the bits and pieces of the blocks.)

On the technological and entertainment front, I was introduced to (thanks Jason) and fell in love with Google's rss reader which has enabled me to keep up with more blogs and various other web sites than I'm comfortable admitting I read. I added more podcasts to my ipod including the very good 7th Son Trilogy ,NPRs Car Talk andMur Lafferty's Playing for Keeps podcast novel. I started (occasionally) blogging, expanded my interest in the business of television (and movies, but mostly television) by closely following the issues between the AMPTP and WGA which lead to the Writers' Strike, watched a lot of television on the internet (before the writers' strike. I'm boycotting streaming television programs in protest of the writers not getting paid anything for streaming content, even though the networks are making money through paid advertisements) and got hooked on Quarterlife. I also, finally, started watching Joss Whedon's Buffy the Vampire Slayer spin-off series Angel and was less sad about it being the last Whedon written television show I had yet to see once I heard the announcement about the new Whedon show Dollhouse (not coming soon...thanks to, say it with me, The Writers' Strike).

I spent a lot of time at church doing all sorts of things. I spent some time at home and managed not to kill anything in my lawn that I didn't want dead (although the killing things I do want dead didn't go as well this year. Especially with the summer deluges that defined the weather in June and some technical issues with my lawnmower, the weeds threatened to unionize and take over all of metropolis...starting with my yard.). I spent time with friends and family and friends who are family and family who are friends. I realized, although not enough and not nearly as often as I should, how truly blessed I am in so many ways.

Tonight, I'll celebrate 2007 and look forward to 2008 at the annual Tadpole Family New Years Eve Party (probably not the real name, especially since the family's name isn't really Tadpole, although the nickname continues to spread). Tomorrow I'll watch the Rose Parade, specifically looking for the sky typing in support of the writers' strike and cook up a big batch of "Pot O' Food" which will provide me with dinners a couple of nights a week for the next few months (it's easy to make. One package black beans boiled for a few hours. One package brown rice cooked according to directions on the package, although with chicken bullion added to the water. A couple of pounds of chicken. Some fresh, canned and frozen vegetables. A bunch of leftover veggies and meats and stuff that have been saved in the freezer for the past few months for just this occasion. An eggplant purchased from the "it's cheap because if we don't sell it now, it's going to go bad" section of the Kroger produce section earlier this week. Some garlic and lots of onions. Combine and simmer for a couple of hours. Divide into various containers. Freeze until needed. Defrost. Season with whatever hot sauce or other seasoning seems appropriate at the time. Microwave and enjoy.).

Oh, and maybe in 2008 I'll figure out how to convince Blogger not to add a line break after each of my links.

But they only have a three second memory

2007-12-27T13:27:00.000-08:00

Just discovered another thing I'm not allowed to do...taunt the fish.

Another joy of the holidays

2007-12-26T17:29:00.000-08:00

Something else that could only happen over the holidays: Mom, Sar and me all in the office, on three separate computers, surfing the Oriental Trading Company holiday clearance sale pages. The family that surfs together...

Is it a good sign or a bad sign....

2007-12-24T11:33:00.000-08:00

that I got excited about the chance to go to the gym with my sister this morning?
The "Power" class was actually pretty fun. I'm able to get a similiar strength training workout in just over half the time of the class when I workout on my own at my own gym and I get to listen to the podcast or music of my choice. But, if you're not as disciplined, like the comraderie of classes or want and instructor guiding you through the exercises, it's not a bad deal.
It took me about half way through the class to figure out more of what amount of weights I needed to be using, so I don't think I'll really be too sore in the coming days. Sarah talked about wanting to go to the gym again on Wednesday, maybe I can go again then.
And, yes, I do know that I definitely qualify as a gym geek (gym rat? fitness geek?) that I really want to go to the gym while I'm "on vacation" with family. But, I'm okay with that. And it makes me feel a bit better about the amount of cookies and such that I'm consuming while I'm here. :)

Sunday, Random Sunday

2007-12-23T19:08:00.000-08:00

A few things that wouldn't have been part of my normal conversation but that I found myself saying today:
"Your brother is not a zombie."
"You can't have antics, that's my job." (Followed by elbow in the ribs from mom for the bad pun.)

Random things that make me exceedingly happy and show that my friends and family know me better than I might have thought:
Mom offered up a "slime making" kit...I think it was actually the "mother of all slime" making kits as something I "might like to do with the boys". We're saving it for tomorrow...if Sarah will let us. I had actually been thinking that doing something like this with the kids would be really cool to do while I was here, but hadn't had the time to look up the recipe or procure the ingredients. Mom didn't know that.

I received a miniature remote control helicopter for Christmas from my friends Jason and Sandra. These have been all over the web this year and there have been various times when I was really, really tempted to order one for myself. But I resisted the temptation, especially since I already spent a bunch of money on DVDs for myself (they were great buys). Jason and Sandra didn't know that. Now I have one, along with two sets of pirate AA batteries (Think Geek rocks). I'm very excited.

And other bits that made this a good day:
I also had dinner with Jason and Sandra. Jason's one of my closest friends from Tech. He got married in October. I had met Sandra before tonight but hadn't really gotten to spend a lot of real time hanging out and really talking or seeing she and Jason interact. I got to do that tonight and it was a lot of fun. It generally takes me a long time to really get to know people and to open up to them, but it seems like that wasn't the case with Sandra. I had a really good time tonight and I'm even more happy for Jason that he's found a wonderful woman to spend the rest of his life with. And I look forward to more evenings like this one.

And I got to help Dad out with his Christmas shopping after a present he bought on-line for mom turned out to not be exactly what he thought it would be. There was a store that I knew would have what he did want just a few miles from Jason and Sandra's place. Since I was going there anyway, I volunteered to stop and pick up the item in question. Dad agreed and I found what he was looking for and at roughly the price he was looking to pay.

Things that get me "that look" from my sister

2007-12-22T10:22:00.000-08:00

So, I'm in Atlanta (well, Hiram, but close enough) to spend Christmas with the family. I'm enjoying the time off work, chance to get caught up on sleep, play with my nephews and just enjoy hanging out with my family (or my sister's part of the family. Mom and Dad haven't arrived yet.) And, as expected, I've been doing and saying things that get me "that look" from my sister. It's the look that says, "What are you teaching my children?" or "Are you REALLY doing that?" or "How is it that I'm related to you?". The thing is, it's coming from more people than just my sister now. Even my older nephew has picked up on it.

Here's a partial list of actions that have been earning me "that look" from various people.

- Skipping through the Petsmart parking lot holding hands with my nephews - Jerry (Apparently Sarah started skipping too. Jerry doesn't skip in public. Although in the basement, with heavy metal music, while theoretically filling in nail holes...that's possibly another story).
- Claiming that Zambonium, while all natural, is "that cold radioactive element" and should be added to the list of things that shouldn't be put in "all natural" cookies - Sarah. The list also includes arsenic and plutonium, in case you're wondering. Jerry had a hand in that one too.
- Suggesting that polio is the possible cause of the not quite high enough to be a real fever fever. Also, at some point, I think I remarked that typhoid is a cute" virus - Sarah. Although Jerry started it when he suggested that Devin had Ebola.
- Announcing that I was worried that the fish (my brother-in-law has many fish tanks around the house) might be working on perfecting their SCOBA system (self contained, out-of-water breathing aparatus) and might be planning a Christmas Eve mission to eat all the cookies and milk left out for Santa, which would then cause Santa not to leave any presents. - Jason (he's 7 and still into the whole Santa thing, for the presents if nothing else).

I've also had fun quoting random movies/tv shows (normally rather obscure quotes), even though the rest of my family doesn't get them. I've been blaming things on "bunnies or maybe midgets", telling my nephew "don't warn the tadpoles" wheneven one of us lands on the frog pond while playing Balloon Lagoon (I'm not sure I'll ever get the song out of my head) - both Buffy quotes. Assuring Jason that I didn't eat the fish on my flight to Atlanta on Thursday - from the classic movie, Airplane. And I've thrown in my fair share of Battlestar references when talking wtih Jerry about what to name a possible new cat that they're thinking of adopting so that Apollo, the just over one year old kitten has someone to play with.

I've also looked up what frankensence and myrh are on Wikipedia and have almost convinced Devin (he's four) that he's not going to be a wiseman in the play at the Christmas Eve service but rather a wiseguy (I'm gonna get "that look" from my Mom when she realizes that one is my fault. :) ). Although I'm not certain how well that one has stuck with Dev. I never was able to convince him that his favorite color was plaid, although I came close one trip. :)

At exactly what point did I become a Southerner?

2007-11-24T11:18:00.000-08:00

At some point in the not too distant past, I took another step away from being a Yankee and towards being a Southerner (or Texan, in this instance, the distinction is incredibly subtle). I confess, I really, really dislike cold, rainy weather. Stick me outside (provided I've had time to select the proper clothing from my closet) in frigid cold weather; crank up the wind; let it snow, let it snow, let it snow and I'm good. Especially at first, I might even be happy. I'll relish the opportunity to wear my favorite wool sweater (yes, I have more than one). I'll breathe deep and enjoy the fact that I can feel the cool of the air all the way into my lungs. I'll have a smile on my face as my nose starts to turn red and run. And I'll chuckle at the reaction others have to my penguin hat. I love my penguin shaped winter hat. But, once it starts to rain I become like just about every other person living south of the Mason-Dixon line (and a lot of Southerners transported to the north, I would assume). Cold rain makes me want to curl up on my couch under my fuzzy Batman blanket, my two cats cuddled in close, a fire raging in the fireplace, a mug of hot chocolate close by and a book long enough and interesting enough that I am able to not have to leave the couch until the mercury either climbs to a respectable value or the sun comes out...preferably both. It's the weather that makes me want to hibernate until, like late July, when it's 127-bluezillion degrees outside and I seriously contemplate carry around a bucket, just in case I start to melt.
I didn't use to be like this. At least I don't think I did. I never remember liking cold, rainy days. But I also never remember disliking them with such a vengeance. Growing up, I think we were, in a way, thankful for cold, rainy days. Cause, then, at least, the rain wasn't coming down as feet and feet of snow. (Snow days weren't as idyllic for me as some media have made them out to be. The day usually started fairly early, helping Dad shovel a path so that he could get on the main road and go to work. Dad never missed work because of the weather. And, at that point, we were up and dressed, so we might as well finish the job of shoveling out the driveway and the sidewalk. By the time that was done, and my sister and I and some of the other kids from the block had gotten everyone who was foolish enough to venture down our street unstuck from the snow, the plow had come through and it was time to shovel out the entrance to the driveway...again. And then there were the elderly neighbors whose driveways we often helped shovel, or at least a path out their doors. Snow days were fun, but they were also a lot of work.)
I know I should be grateful that it's not 127-bluezillion degrees outside year round. But, on days like today...when it's cold and rainy, at least a part of me wishes that it was. And that desire, and the fact that it might mean that I someday soon have to give up my "Yankee card" scares me more than I really want to admit.

Obligatory Thankful Post

2007-11-22T18:12:00.000-08:00

What do I have to be thankful for today? There's an awful lot. I've got the basics, health, family, salvation. Beyond that, I've got a nice home, good job, fuzzy cats, amazing opportunities, the list could go on. I think the easy way to sum up what all I'm thankful for is to say that, today, my biggest disappointment was having to watch Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade rather than being able to watch the Detroit Thanksgiving Day Parade on television while I thumbed through the Black Friday ads and baked a pie for dinner. If that's the bad that's going on in my life today, I've got it pretty good. I even got to IM with a friend who recently moved to Germany to be a missionary. (He had sushi for lunch today. Turkey dinner's on Saturday. Something funky with the time zones and international dateline or something. ;) ) There's so much I have to be thankful for...we all do. And we (which should be pronounced to include a great, big, capital "I" here) need to be mindful of that on days that don't involved gianourmous portions of turkey, stuffing, potatoes, green bean casserole and multiple varieties of pie.

How does Santa survive in that heavy suit?

2007-11-18T13:35:00.000-08:00

Over the past week or so, a number of articles about how to get your home ready for winter have come across my RSS reader. And, I've skimmed through a lot of them and thought of a few things that I should probably add to my "to-do around the house" list. The thing is, it's just hard to worry about "winterizing" my house when it's 80 degrees out side and I have all my windows open most of the time when I'm home. As much as I really don't want to complain about this weather (it's incredibly beautiful outside. Like the summers up north that I remember from growing up outside of Detroit.), it's also almost November and, therefore, in my mind which is still obviously adjusted to Yankee weather, it should be getting cold...or at least colder. I keep telling myself that I'm wearing long sleeve shirts to work because my corner of cubeville has been chilly recently. But I sometimes wonder if I haven't slipped into the habit of selecting my clothing based on the calendar (which I'm convinced is what most people around me do) rather than based on the weather. This is the time of year that I really miss living up north. Of course, come February when it's back to being 80 degrees in the afternoon and Mom and Dad haven't seen above 40 degrees in the past two weeks, I'll be happy to live in Texas again.

Trying to be convinced to move to Maryland - Day 3 - The good kind of selfish

2007-11-05T10:25:00.000-08:00

Trying to be convinced to move to Maryland - Day 3 - The good kind of selfish.

I didn't get a chance to blog yesterday, so I'll finish up my comments on the Maryland trip today.
MOst of Sunday was about getting home. Due to the time change, we had an extra hour to sleep. That was nice. It would have been nicer had the Indian type drum music not have come through the wall of my hotel room 30 minutes prior to when I had planned on waking up. I don't know for certain that it was India music. It reminded me a lot of the music that filtered through the wall of my college theater when Balethnic (ethnic ballet troupe, which always seemed to be doing something vaguely Indian) was in the "big theater" with which we shared a wall. So, I got up, got showered, enjoyed breakfast (the oatmeal seemed less salty but still wasn't as good as what we had on the mission trip in Reynosa, Mexico) and then headed back to the room to pack my gear. Thanks to all of the random stuff that I was given over the weekend as well as the box of banana Twinkies I picked up at the Food Lion, my duffle was significantly heavier than on the trip out. But it wasn't anything I couldn't handle.

We had to be down in the lobby to board the bus by 10am. On my way down, I stopped in the hotel's business center to print my boarding pass. Apparently there was a way to do that from any computer connected to the hotel's wireless internet, but I didn't feel like fussing with it. Greg, who is the alpha computer guy in my group and the guy I hung out with most of the weekend (his wife stayed home with the kids, mostly due to having a six month old son that she wasn't excited about leaving) tried it but wasn't successful. So, I didn't feel bad about not even giving it a shot.

The ride up to Baltimore was uneventful. I enjoyed watching the beautiful trees (just on the far side of peak color, so leaves were starting to drop off, providing the ground with a beautiful, technicolor carpet) roll by with my iPod providing a soundtrack of RUF songs. That also gave me a chance to think about the weekend and reflect on the possibility of moving to Southern Maryland. As I expected prior to the trip, I haven't changed my mind about not wanting to move to Maryland. Nothing against the place. I know now that I could live there. But, I really don't want to. Partly I wasn't that thrilled with the area. I'm used to living in at least a suburb of a large city, if not right in the middle of one. The two times that I've lived in a smaller area (Savannah, when I was a co-op in college and Lancaster, California when I was working at Edwards) didn't go well. I didn't like either area. I had trouble making friends outside of those I knew outside of the area. And I just really wasn't happy there. The other thing I thought about was the idea of having to start the outside of work portion of my life over again. And that's a big thing that I really don't want to do. I like my life. I love my friends who I consider family. I'm not ready to leave that. I do know that if God wants me to live in Southern Maryland, He'll let me know and he'll take care of me. He's been faithful in the past and I know He will continue to be faithful in the future. But, it's gonna take a lot for me to be convinced that moving away from the life I have here in Fort Worth is the right thing to do. and it's going to take even more if the destination of my move is anywhere other than the Atlanta area (that would only be like starting half over. Kinda like coming back to school after the summer.)

And, on the drive up to Baltimore, I did see three dead deer on my side of the bus, and that was when I wasn't dozing. I think that brought the weekend's roadkill count to five dear, at least two dogs and two or three smaller animals of indefinable species. Southern Maryland is a bit more rural than the DFW metroplex.

Upon arriving at BWI, Greg and I headed straight for security, stood in line for about 10 minutes and then realized that we had a couple of hours to kill before the flight. It was lunchtime, and just down from our gate was a Potbellys Sandwich works. I wondered how well an "order what you want" type sandwich place would work in a location with that high of volume. Apparently, it works very well. My sandwich was made to my specifications and with minimal wait despite there being a long line. The oatmeal chocolate chip cookie was good too. Lunch included a conversation about what are some of my favorite television shows. (Top five are 1.Buffy the Vampire Slayer 2.MASH tie for 3.West Wing (seasons 1-4 and maybe bits of five) and Battlestar Galatica (the new one) and 4. Veronica Mars. If we were to expand to top 10, Firefly and Sports Night (focusing primarily on the first season and neglecting the middle of the second) would definitely have made the cut. Interstingly, of the shows that I consider my all time favorites, only one is currently airing and multiple were cancelled after just a seasons or three.). After lunch, I settled in at the gate and picked up where I had leftoff at prepping my lesson for small group with my high school girls. That and reading and making comments on Psalm 32 for my small group kept me busy through about the first 30 minutes of the flight again, with my iPod providing background music (although I switched to instrumental hymns). After finishing up small group homework, I pulled out the laptop and enjoyed the first two episodes of Angel season 2 and some of the special features from Veronica Mars season 3 DVDs (including the season 4 presentation reel. That would have made for excellent television).

We landed a bit early and had to wait for the previous aircraft to clear the gate. And I got to thinking about the weekend again and chatted briefly with a coworker's wife who was sitting next to me. And, I realized that not only did I not want to move to Maryland, but that I really did miss my family here in Fort Worth over the weekend. I know that part of it was missing worship that morning (and not having the opportunity to worship with any congregation that day, due to the transportation schedule). And part of it was spending the weekend thinking about and investigating the possibility of moving away from that family. And, at some point in there I decided that if I at all could, I would make it to my small group as well as to small group with my high school girls.

After deplaning and a quick stop in the little I-don't-want-to-move-to-Maryland people's room, I caught the shuttle bus back to my car (at The Parking Spot....the company with the yellow buses with the black spots. They may look a little silly to some (not me), but you can see them coming as you're waiting to be picked up. And that's what matters.)
I got to my car, go paid and was on my way by about 4:20. I also found out that the Parking Spot now gives oatmeal applesauce cookies as well as a bottle of water when you checkout. They're not great, but they're something and I was kinda hungry. And then I was finally on the last leg of my journey home. My mind was still swimming and I knew I had to do something to focus and get my mind off of the sad thought of leaving Fort Worth and back into the game so that I would have a chance of giving some sort of coherent lesson for small group with the girls. So, I did what I normally do in that sort of situation. I put in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer musical episode CD, cranked the volume and sang at the top of my lungs. Not sure why this helps to stop my brain from swimming off in a million directions at once. Other CDs don't do nearly as good a job. It just works, so I don't question it too much. And about five minutes after 5pm I was home. Whoo-Hoo!!!

My cats were excited to see me, after I let them sniff around a bit and reminded them who I was (They get like that after I've been gone a few days, but not after I've been gone for about a week. It's weird. I think after a while, they're lonely enough that they're happy to have attention from anyone. The fact that it's me is just a bonus.) I tossed my bags down, transfered the stuff I needed into my church backpack, grabbed what would become dinner, changed shoes and within 15 minutes was off again. Schedule-wise, it would have made more sense for me to skip my small group. But I wanted to be with my family. And so I was. It was great walking into church and seeing all the people who I love and who love me. I had a quick chance to chat with a few, make the copies that I needed for girls' small group and then headed up to the room where my small group meets. And it was a great time. I'm still getting comfortable with my small group, but it's coming along nicely. I got to hold Winston, the four month old son of our group leader. He's a cutie and looks so much like his older brother. We talked about Psalm 32 and prayed a bunch. And it was good.
Then I headed down to the high school room for girls' small group. I had no idea how the lesson would go. We were talking about self-identity or "people according to God", about what we were created for, how we should think about that and how that should affect how we live. The thing is, it's a lesson that's heavy on thoughts and light on real concrete, check the box applications. Which is fine, it just also makes it a little more difficult to teach and I didn't have a lot of interaction built into the lesson. But I did have a nifty little illustration with a screw driver that I opened with and came back to and used to tie it all together again (which was good, cause I have trouble ending lessons well). And I think the girls' enjoyed it and found it beneficial. No one fell asleep. There was some participation. I don't think I scared off our visitor. I know there were times when the lessons was a little disjointed and I know I lost my train of thought multiple times. But, I figure for having been home for 15 minutes in the prior about three days, that was pretty good. Afterwards, I hung out with a few of the girls for a while and we chatted and bonded over a love of sci-fi entertainment (mostly television shows, but also a few movies). And we got a lot more done on the puzzle (we'll have it done before Thanksgiving...of this year. :) ). And it was great to get to hang out with my family for the evening.
I might have been a bit selfish in subjecting others to the discombobulatedness that was me last night, but as Scott (my small group leader) said, they were happy to have me there. It was the good kind of selfish.

Trying to be convinced to move to Maryland - Day 2 - I think I filled up my brain

2007-11-03T13:12:00.000-07:00

Maryland predecision area tour - Day two (part one).
Today was day out with the realtor. George, my realtor, is a great guy. Based on some conversations we had before I got out here, he showed me a lot of the area and some of the housing areas available to me. We based the housing choices on what I could afford to rent (not sure I would want to buy, as I'm not convinced this is somewhere I'd want to live long term. Plus, unsure housing market and homes that are a whole whopping lot more expensive than anything back in Texas....like double the cost and sometimes then some. Just silly expensive. Okay, part of that is that Texas is just silly dirt cheap to live. Where I live in Texas has got to have some of the most affordable housing prices in the nation. Taxes and insurance make up for some of it, but just for the house itself, it's crazy cheap.) And also on the fact that I have two cats (who I would say "Hi" to, except they can't read.).

For housing options, there's a lot. Finding stuff that's affordable is a bit more complicated. Finding stuff that's in a reasonable area, not too far from the base, not too far from basic shopping areas and not too far from one of two PCA churches in the area (we drove by both buildings. I need to remember to once again thank Fred for designing our amazing church building.) is more complicated. But the housing options are out there.

For basic necessities and niceties of living, well that depends on what you're interested in. If you want water sports, life is good. You're never more than a few miles from the water here, being on one of two penninsulas (or one of two island areas. But that affordable housing thing comes up again.). There's enough shopping that you can get buy...the basic Generica options (Target, Old Navy, Best Buy, Wally World, gas stations, super markets, chain restaurants) as well as some mom and pop places. There's some urgent care facilities and well as doctor's offices. Although the nearest hospitals are at least 20 minutes out...and that kinda makes me a bit nervous. I'm used to having hospitals down the street. But I also have to remember that I am in very good health and, while it gives me a warm fuzzy feeling knowing that I could be in an emergency room in less than five minutes, it's probably not a huge deal that the hospital's a bit farther away. Similar situation with the fire department. It's all volunteer fire departments here. I've never lived in an area with that situation. But I know people who have and who do and, again, especially if you're in predominantly good health, it's not a huge deal. No warm fuzzy feeling, but not a huge deal.

Overall, I think I've got a good feel for the area. Or, I will, once my brain gets a chance to digest everything. Cause right now, my head feels a bit over full.

So, for the question of whether I could live here, I now know that the answer is yes. It would be more expensive. But it's not out of the question unaffordable. The bigger question is do I want to? And, especially, am I willing to pick up and start over coming out here. Most people in this position are married and many have kids. So, while it's more complicated to move an entire family (especially with a working spouse and/or school age kids), at least they get to move as a family. There will obviously be some issues with leaving a support structure, friends and all of that. But, at least the family is together. For me, being single, the considerations are a bit different. The people who I live my day-to-day life with, the people I consider a part of my family, wouldn't be coming with me. My friends, my church family, the gang at the gym, all the people I hang out with, depend on regularly and live my regular life with would be staying in Fort Worth. It'd be just me and the cats. And so, for me, I'm pretty sure that I'm just not ready to volunteer to leave that at this point in my life. I know that a lot of those people who are a part of my Texas family aren't ready for me to leave them....they've told me so (it's great to know that you're loved like that).

So far, this weekend, I've gotten out of it about what I expected to. I've got a basic familiarity with the area. I'm pretty sure that I could find everything, infrastructure-wise that I need to live. There's still a question of church home. But I do know that there are at least two churches of my denomination, another PC(USA) (the denomination I grew up and where I worshipped in college) and a variety of other churches of varying denominations. Plus there's always the base chapel. So, I'm pretty sure I could find a congregation to be a part of. But, what I haven't gotten is the 2x4 over the head that says that this is where I need to be living in the near future. And, with the activities that remain (dinner tonight and then all the transportation required to get back home tomorrow) I don't think that will come (still could, but the smart money is on "not gonna happen").

So, that's what I'm thinking.
As for what will happen now, I'm not entirely sure. It's easily going to be at least six months before I'd be asked to make a decision. Probably roughly a year before I'd actually physically move (should I decide that's what I need and/or want to do). So, there's some time, which is nice. The thing that I'm worried about, and that many people who I work with are worried about is how much of a decision it will actually be, on our parts. Or, really, what the decision will be. Will it be just as simple as move or stay in Fort Worth and travel (or not travel). Or will it be move or find a new job (in Fort Worth, somewhere else but still in the company, at another company). These are things that we don't know yet and which we won't know.

The one nice thing about this is that this is the last of the area tours. And, with the decision still months away, after recovering from this trip, I can shift all my thoughts of this stuff to the back of my head at least until we get through the holidays. And that will be nice.

Oh, and one nice added bonus from today is that I got to check off one thing on my list of things to do before I'm done living. Right before coming back to the hotel, George (that's my realtor, see the first paragraph) and I dropped by the Pax River museum. The gate to where they have the aircraft on static display (and out door area) was open, so we wandered in. I got to see the X-35C (Navy variant of the concept demonstrator aircraft. One of the aircraft that helped us win the contract to build the F-35). And looking inside the nose wheel well, I saw a bunch of names written in black sharpie marker. Among those names is mine. I wasn't out here when the airplane quit flying...I only supported the first two weeks. But when the team that was out here came home, I remember someone...Greg or John or Ricky saying that they had written all or our names up in the wheel well. I always trusted that they were telling the truth. But I had never seen them. Now I have. And I've got pictures (unfortunately, I didn't bring anything to get the pictures from my camera onto the 'puter. So pictures here will have to wait. I'll try to get them up next week.). It was really cool to see my name written in there and to just see get to touch the aircraft. She's still as beautiful as I remember her. Especially when compared to the X-32 (Boeing's airplane...which suffered many unfavorable nicknames...some of which are not exactly fit for public consumption. My favorite that is was "The Sailor Inhaler", so named due to the gapping maw of an inlet that the airctraft has.) which sits across from the X-35. It's been almost six years since I've seen the X-35C. Getting to spend a few minutes with her was kinda like catching up with an old friend.

Trying to be convinced to want to move to Maryland - Day 1

2007-11-02T18:31:00.000-07:00

So, I'm in Maryland this weekend. It's a company sponsored "Pre-decision area tour" where we are shown the best that Southern Maryland has to offer in order to help us decide if moving here to support flight test on the F-35 is the right decision for us and our families. It's a quick trip and I'm not certain how good a feel I'll get for the area, but I think the trip will be profitable.
Today was mostly about transportation. We flew into BWI (Baltimore), collected our gear (except for one couple who's luggage missed the flight and, last we had heard, hadn't been tracked down yet, yikes!) and loaded onto the bus for the drive south. The box lunch we got wasn't bad. Excellent bread. Good brownie. The fruit wasn't the best, but it's hardly the season for melons and berries and I do appreciate the effort. After about 90 minutes, we pulled into the hotel to unload the luggage and then we were off for a tour of Pax River Naval Air Station (where, in true Navy fashion, the restrooms are "heads", you're greeted with "Welcome Aboard" and "We've got a full ship" means that everyone is present.). This is where we will be doing a majority of the Navy and Marine variants of the airplane. I recognized a few bits of the base from when I was out here in early 2001 supporting X-35C flight test. The work area is shiny and new. And it has real live windows which actually work! (It doesn't take much to exite me when I'm talking about cubeville.) After the base tour, we headed back to the hotel to get into our rooms, clean up and get ready for dinner. My duffle apparently didn't make it up to my room with the rest of the bags, but it soon arrived (thankfully).
Since I had some time, I wandered over to the Food Lion (grocery store) to stretch my legs, wander around, check prices and just have something to do. The store reminded me of the Food Lion I shopped at in Savannah (smallish with not much to really distinguish it, definitely a no-frills store). The prices were about what I expected. Fresh produce and milk were higher than at home. Packaged items were about the same or slightly higher. I didn't find any items that were lower. And no double coupons. I would say that grocery prices would be, overall, roughtly 20-25% higher for me here than at home (taking into account that I'm a big couponer). Although I only have the on data point and this does seem to be a bit more expensive of an area than some of the surrounding places. So, I could be wrong.
Dinner was pretty good. Not great, but of hotel banquet food, it was reasonable. I sat with some guys I work with, a woman from HR (definitely not an engineer), one of the real estate people who's helping to coordinate the trip and a woman who does business development in the community here. We didn't chat about the area much. Most of us were pretty tired and, honestly, just not all that up for conversations of this nature. At least not us engineers anyway. We've decided that HR and staffing people are definitely more talkative than engineers. Some might say more interesting. I tend to think it's just a difference in what we're interested in. :)

And now it's after dinner. I'm enjoying the evening with some old friends, the staff of the 4077th MASH unit. Seems that, if you have cable, just about any time of day, you can turn on the television and enjoy an episode or five. Hallmark and TV Land are currently showing episodes from sometime in the last three seasons (Radar is gone which means Klinger's no longer dressing in drag). These are my favorite episodes (I much prefer seasons 4-7ish. The Colonel Potter, BJ and Radar era, particularly when Frank was still on the show, but some of the early Charles Winchester episodes are just as much fun.). When I was living in California, I watched a lot of MASH. I identified with their situation. Stuck in a place they would rather not be, away from home, in difficult conditions (okay, mine weren't near as bad, but you get the idea) but doing the best they could to do their job and make a life for themselves. Now, when I'm traveling, I enjoy watching the episodes. I'm familiar with almost all of them (I think I've seen all of them at least once), and the show wasn't serialized enough that you have to watch them in order, so it's easy to just sit down for a bit and enjoy. And, even though I know they're just characters on television, it kinda feels like I'm among friends when I'm alone in the hotel room.

Tomorrow I get to drive around and look at housing options with a realtor. This will be my best chance to get a feel for the area. I'm still not convinced I want to move here. I don't think that tomorrow will change any of that, but we'll see. I do want to be open to the possibility. If God makes it clear that this is where He wants me to be, I'll come. But it's gonna take a pretty big sign (2x4 to the backside of the head big).

Toht, I'm hanging out in the hotel room (high speed, wireless internet, comfy office chair, wide, flat screen tv) with some old friends...the docs of the 4077th MASH.

Can I blame Joss Whedon for being sleepy at work in the morning?

2007-10-31T19:41:00.000-07:00

It's not a secret that I like television, especially well written, serialized television with compelling characters and realistic continuity and, if it happens to have space ships or somehow be sci-fi or fantasy related, so much the better. I have a couple of favorite writer/creator/show runners. Among those are Aaron Sorkin (especially when he's not preaching his political views. Sorkin did Sports Night, West Wing, Studio 60), Alan Alda (see note about Aaron Sorkin, you'd instantly recognize him as Hawkeye from MASH...at least you would if you're no more than a few years older than I am) and, of course, Joss Whedon (Buffy, Angel, Firefly/Serenity).

And, just hitting the interweb, on the verge of the writer's strike, Joss Whedon has a new television series ready to go into production....staring Eliza Dushku (Faith from the Buffyverse. She was also on the ill-fated Fox show Tru Calling) and with the help of Tim Minear (Firefly, Drive, Moonlight for a short time). There's tons more information all over the web. If you're that interested, most of it will be collected (and linked) over at Whedonesque. And I wouldn't be surprised if Mr. Whedon himself commented in the thread sometime late this evening/early tomorrow morning.

The show sounds very interesting. The fact that Whedon, Minear and Dushku are all involved (and involved from the beginning) and aren't too worried about it being on Fox (Google Fox Firefly cancellation if you're unfamiliar) makes me even more excited. Now, we just have to wait out the writer's strike (which hasn't officially happened yet, but I don't know anyone who's familiar with what's going on who doesn't think we won't wake up to Hollywood writers walking picket lines instead of tapping out words on their computers). And, since it's getting late and I have to work tomorrow, I'll let anyone interested read all about the show on other sites (either follow the link or Google Whedon Dollhouse).

Time with friends old and new and other random thoughts.

2007-10-13T18:40:00.000-07:00

I'm in Atlanta this weekend.

The main purpose of the trip was the wedding of my friend Jason earlier today. I've known Jason since my freshman year at Tech. We first met through a newsgroup (like a forum site, only before there were forum sites) for a freshman psych class and have been friends ever since. At one point, Jason checked on the word count of the emails we had traded back and forth over the previous years and we were approaching a couple of time the size of the King James Bible...and that was years ago. When Jason and I met, he was on track to become a Catholic priest. So, there wasn't even a question of us ever dating. By the time he decided that the priesthood was not for him, we were very good friends and had realized that differences in religion (him being very Catholic, me being very Protestant. Kinda like Ireland, only without the cool accents or bombs and such) would keep us from ever dating. So, there's never been that guy/girl weirdness. We're just friends and are both cool with that. Being at the wedding this afternoon was very cool. Seeing Jason smile as he waited for Sandra to walk down the aisle was very cool. And then watching the way that he looked at and interacted with her throughout the ceremony and through the reception was wonderful. So great to see a good friend so in love (and so ready for the stress of wedding planning to be over and done). I'm looking forward to getting to spend some time with the happy couple come Christmas time, after their life has settled down a little bit.

Also at the wedding, I got to see some friends from Tech. Mostly it was friends from WCF (Presbyterian (PCUSA) student ministry on campus). But there were also a few guys that I knew from Jason's fraternity or other times that we had spent together since graduation. So, it was neat to get to chat and catch up with them. Oh, and the cake was good too. Lemony, which was a nice surprise.

After the wedding, I had dinner with Reagan, my roommate from Space Camp. I enjoyed the chance to catch up with her and hear about her many adventures that she's been on this summer (Space Camp was just one) as well as what she has planned for the upcoming months. I joked as I was leaving that I looked forward to hearing more these adventures and living vicariously through them, especially since she's going to be doing some of the stuff that I've wanted to do for a long time (watching a Space Shuttle launch live from The Cape, swiming with dolphins, more scuba diving (in the real ocean this time), etc).

And I got to start the day watching my nephews play soccer. That's always fun. Devin's team of four year olds is great fun to watch. The coaches must have the patience of saints, cause it looks like just getting the kids to run in the right direction without falling down is a major challenge. Jason, who is seven, is on a team with more skill. But the boys seem to not always have the easiest time focusing on just one thing (playing the game) and, especially before and after games and during half-time or other breaks, can often be seen running and skipping seemingly aimlessly or otherwise randomly goofing off. Although I'm sure they've got some reason in mind. Might not make any sense to anyone other than a seven year old boy, but I'm sure there's a reason for their actions. It's so much fun to watch the kids out running about and enjoying just playing without a lot of pressure to win and be competitive. I think this is more the way that team sports are meant to be played. I don't think they even really keep score in this league. I know that there's a place for competitive play when the boys get older. But, for now, this seems to be working out well for everyone.

As I was driving back to my sister's place (I refer to it as home. But I refer to where ever I'm planning on sleeping that night as home a lot of times.) I got to thinking about what it would be like to live here. This thought comes to mind at least once just about every time I'm in this city. And I think about how easy it would be to live here. In many ways, it wouldn't be like starting over. I've got family and some very good friends here. I know the area reasonably well. And I even have some idea of the churches in the area. In a lot of ways, it would be very, very easy to relocate to Atlanta. Then I realize that moving here would mean leaving Fort Worth. And that would be the hard part. I enjoy my job. I've got some good friends. I love my church. Coming here would be easy. Leaving there would be hard. And, at least at this point, the hard is hard enough to make the easy not really an option. But, it is something that is on my mind. And, if, in the future, I do have to make a tough decision about my job, whether to find a new one or to leave Fort Worth, I think that I'll be adding in an additional option. And that will be moving here. It will complicate things to some extent. But, in the end, if I have to move somewhere, I'd rather it be here than anywhere else.

Now, if anyone back home (that would be Fort Worth) is reading this and getting freaked out that I'm planning on moving, know that that is not the case. A lot of this is just me rambling on about places that my mind tends to go on evening drives after spending time with friends. I have a standing procedure in my life that I don't make major life decisions without seriously considering the options for at least six months (if I can help it. Force me to make a decision faster than that and pretty much everyone around me will know, cause I'll be incredibly stressed about it, talk about it regularly, ask others for their opinions and pretty much be obsessed with the whole decision making process, to the extent that other areas of my life will suffer until the decision is made.). And I haven't even started that six month period yet. As usual, everything will look different in the harsh light of day (cold light of day? I can't remember the exact saying/quote.). And everything will look very different when that light is coming from a Texas sunrise. So, except for some vacations and work trips, I'm not going anywhere anytime soon. No need to nail my feet to the ground or duct tape me to a flag pole or anything else similiarly extreme. At least not yet.

There's more than one kind of family

2007-09-30T18:04:00.000-07:00

Many people who know me know that I define family a little differently than most people. For me, family is more than just the people I'm related to. Although my family certainly is my sister, brother-in-law, nephews and mom and dad, my family is also my friends, the people at my church, the gang at the gym. To me, family is the people who you live your life with on a day-to-day basis.

Tonight, I got together with my church family for a potluck dinner, hymn sing, barn raising and ice cream social (although not those last two). It was a great time. We haven't done an all church potluck in ages and I don't remember ever getting together just to sing hymns with the church family. The food was great. The time to just hang out and talk with people was wonderful. The singing was a lot of fun. The Quebe sisters sang and played for a few hymns including The Ninety and Nine, which I recognized from Andrew Peterson's CD Carried Along. They were accompanied by Jacob (our music guy) and Ben (who even links to a Quebe Sisters clip on YouTube) who's about to head to Germany to be a missionary. After the song was over, they broke into the Irish jig (or whatever) that ends that song on the disc. Watching them play, it was obvious that they were all having a great time. And all of us not playing really enjoyed it as well.

Looking around the sanctuary, while we were singing, I realized, once again, what an amazing congregation I'm a part of, what an amazing family I have. I may not actually be related to any of these people, but it just doesn't matter. God has truly blessed me here.

10 and 2 - Adventures in the US Civil Courts System

2007-09-27T18:46:00.000-07:00

My intimate, first hand look at the US justice system is now complete. As of about 2pm-ish, this afternoon, I have been released from my duties as a juror in the 96th District Court (a civil court, so no criminal trials). And, as with previous days, I'm a bit wiped out. Actually, I'm probably more wiped out today than previous days, but I attribute at least some of that to doing "Boring Abs" during abs class (where we do one specific exercise until we all collapse, usually in the 100+ reps and then switch to another exercise for another 100+ reps. I really dislike Boring Abs. But I went and I partipated and I'm glad that I did.) and then kickboxing class, which often wears me out. But, yeah, serving on a jury is, for me at least, draining. It's work, and of a different kind than I'm used to doing. And, now that the trial is over and I have been released from my duties, mustered out and even deposited my check for my service, I can talk about it.

Let me start with a bit about the jury selection process. During the Voir Dire (where the attorneys get to ask questions of the entire panel from which the jurors will be selected), we were told that this was a automobile accident case, that the plaintiff was seeking damages due to injuries and that she was Hispanic and spoke little English, that there were two defendants one of whom was black and the other who was a Marine. The attorneys spent a lot of time talking about the burden of proof (which is probably cause or "more likely than not" rather than beyond a reasonable doubt as in criminal cases), whether an autmobile accident could have more than one cause (and implied that it could be the fault of more than one person) and asked about our feelings about people in the United States who aren't able to speak English well or at all. In the end, no one with any experience in the medical field or military experience (and certainly not the retired Navy corpsman who now worked for the US Postal Service and had duties that included investigating postal service traffic accidents) made the jury. There were, however, two engineers (which I have been told by many people that it's rare for engineers to actually get on a jury) on the jury. Our jury of 12 was made up of three men, nine women. Three (I think) of the women were retired. Two of the women looked like they had some sort of Hispanic background. Most people seemed relatively well educated, over half had jobs in professions that would have required a college degree. It was an interesting cross-section of the people in the area.

On to the case. The traffic accident took place on North Beach just south of Western Center back in June of 1995. DJ (who has an African sounding name that looks like it has too many vowels...everyone, the judge included, refered to him as DJ, which was fine with him) was driving a PT Cruiser in the right hand lane. Mike, who's now a lance corporal in the Marines, but hadn't yet joined at the time of the accident, was driving a Mazda Protege in the center lane. Maria, a hispanic woman who spoke little English, was driving a Ford Explorer in the right hand lane. DJ signaled and looked to see if he could change lanes. Whether he made a move towards changing lanes is unknown. But he didn't cross into Mike's lane. Mike, thinking that DJ was about to change lanes on top of him, looked out his driver's side window, saw no one and swerved to avoid what he thought was an imminent collision with DJ. Mike his Maria, causing her Explorer to go up on the curb (at least a little bit) and jostling her around. They all pulled over and, a few minutes later, talked to the police officer to who respnded to the call about the wreck. At the time, no one said they were injured. All cars were drivable and left the scene under their own power. Mike's car had "distributed damage" along the driver's side which, according to the police report, was a level 2 (out of 9). Maria had a "good dent" (Mike's words) in the right front quarter panel (somewhere in front of the passenger door) that was a level 1 (again, out of 9).

Later on, Maria started to have pain in her neck, back, hips, radiating down her right arm and right leg. The pain did not significantly improve and two weeks after the accident she went to a chiropractor for treatment. She did improve some over the course of two months of treatment, but said that some pain remains today (2.5ish years after the accident). She was suing Mike for damages including pain and suffering that she incurred in the past (before the date of the trial), pain and suffering that she would most likely incur in the future (after the trial), physical impairment in the past and in the future and medical expenses in the past in and in the future. Mike blamed DJ, so he was added as a party in the lawsuit. We the jury were charged with answering a number of questions. Was DJ negligent in his actions (Mike admitted to being negligent in his, so that wasn't for us to determine)? If DJ Was negligent, what percentage of the accident was Mike's fault and what was DJ's? And, what amounts, if any, should Maria receive for those medical issues I mentioned above (which I'm not going to retype).

The evidence was not terribly clear. The police officer didn't remember the accident and could only go by the police report. There was questions about where the cars were in relation to each other. Both Mike and DJ said they saw the other in their side view mirrors. The police officer said that, in her opinion, based on her experience in traffic investigation, Mike was traveling faster than Maria and therefore hit Maria in the front of his car, slid along her car and that caused the damage. Mike remembers hitting Maria first with the back of his car, which would indicate that Maria was going faster than Mike. Although no one made any allegations of speeding (DJ said they were accelerating away from a light). We didn't have to determine anything about the legality of their actions, nothing about traffic laws or anything. Only negligence and damages for medical related issues. Maria's testimony was not easy. Since she spoke very little English, she used an interpreter. The judge said later than he knows just enough Spanish that the interpreter was doing more interpreting than translating. Apparently, Maria's lawyer caught that as well. But, as a court appointed translator/interpreter, there wasn't much that anyone could do other than the lawyers ask the questions a different way. Maria's testimony took the longest, partly because of that, partly because of the interpreter (everything was said at least twice). Maria was also very nervous on the witness stand (not surprising). She also didn't have a great recall of the events surrounding, well, much of anything. I'm not sure how much of that was cultural, how much of that was her being intimidated (which certainly was a factor. When I testified in a criminal case a number of years ago, I was very intimidated and I was just the person who called 911.) and how much was her just not really quite understanding what all was going on. In the end, all of the jury instructions, initial arguments, testimony, closing arguments and all of the filing into and out of the jury box (we got really good at lining up in the right order so that we wouldn't have to step over anyone getting to our assigned seats) took from Tuesday before lunch through quitting time Wednesday. Longer than expected, but we also got a late start on Wednesday due to some other court business that the judge couldn't do any other time.

In our deliberations, there was more varied opinions than I think anyone thought there was. We got a bit of a late start deliberating, due to two of the jury being stuck in traffic (apparently I-35 was a mess this morning). After electing a presiding juror (formerly called a jury foreman), which we did by more or less appointing the guy who was the latest, he was so apologetic that he didn't make any arguments, we got down to work. There was some discussion about whether DJ was negligent or not. But, after reviewing the definition of probably cause (would a reasonable person foresee that his actions or inactions would have caused these events...more or less), we unanimously agreed that he was not negligent. Although, later on, I think that one of the guys was waffling about that. But it turned out that even if he did, it wouldn't have mattered...I'll get to that in a minute. On the question of awarding money to Maria for medical stuff, we were all good with awarding no money until we got to the part about the past medical bills. That's where we got stuck for a good while. At the start, the jury was split almost evenly at awarding no money or awarding some money. There was lots of discussion about a variety of topics. I don't remember them all. There were questions about the credibility of the witnesses (since the accounts they gave were so different), whether Maria had any previous medical conditions that this accident could have made worse and pushed her over the edge of seeing a doctor (she said she had no previous medical conditions and hadn't seen a doctor in five years. But I wasn't convinced that the plaintiff's side did a great job proving that she didn't have any issues prior to the accident). There were comments about chiropractors and lots of other things. We took a number of votes and inched towards our required 10 jurors in agreement (it is required that the same 10 of the 12 jurors are in agreement about every question that is asked of them). It came down to 9 to 3 for giving her money for the past medical bills (which totaled just under $5000). I was one of the three. As I said, I had a hard time with the fact that I didn't feel that the plaintiff's side proved to me, more likely than not (which, again, was the level that was required in the case) that Maria's injuries were bad enough, solely as a result of this accident, that she sought medical treatment (the other hold out wasn't convinced she actually had the pain she said she had. The third had issues with her credibility, the fact that everyone's story was different and a couple of other things.). After what was probably 90 minutes of discussion (all very civil on everyone's part, although I could tell I wasn't making any friends or influencing people), I came to the conclusion that I believed that Maria was injured, to some extent in the accident and that, because at least some of her injuries were due to the accident, she was entitled to at least some monetary award for the medical bills accrued due to the injury. When I type it all out now and reread it, it sounds really simple. But, trust me when I say, at least for me, that it wasn't. At that point, it was about seven minutes to twelve, I knew I wasn't at the point where I was ready to talk about the amount of money, and so I suggested we break for lunch. I know there were a number of people who would have loved to have been done before lunch, but my blood sugar was crashing, my head was starting to hurt and I wasn't willing to make a decision like that when pressed for time and not feeling anywhere near 100%. So I said basically that (although I used less words and emphasized it by digging my grapes out of my lunch box and starting to eat them). And we broke for lunch.

I did what I had been doing the previous couple of days for lunch. I wandered down towards the river, ate lunch and then went walking along the trail there. Wednesday and today it was pretty warm out and I wanted to get some exercise (today especially to help clear my head) so I walked kinda fast. And, as a result got a bit sweaty. Yesterday I didn't realize that was going to be the case until it was too late. I had gone too far out and didn't have the time to really slow down and still make it back on time. Today I didn't really care. I knew I was going to be hot and a bit sweaty when I got back to court. I hoped I didn't smell too bad and figured it was better for me to have a clear head than for me to be really fresh smelling. No one said anything (although the baliff, a neat guy named Mr Tilley, who enjoyed the series premiers of both Chuck and Bionic Woman, both good pilots, in my opinion, did give me a bit of a look yesterday when he let us back into the jury room. Oh well. He didn't say anything and I felt better.)

When we got back from lunch, we started talking about money. This was very difficult for me. I'm not certain if it's that I have a different view of money than many people (honestly, I make a reasonable amount more than my standard of living requires. So, I don't think about money a whole lot. I have more than enough for what I need and most of what I want and I'm content with that. I may gripe about "merit raises" at work a bit, but I have absolutely nothing to complain about when it comes to money. God has blessed me hugely in that way.). Or it may be that I'm just not that great with numbers (yes, I'm an engineer. No, I'm not amazing with numbers. I have a hard time remembering specific, but seemingly random numbers (highway route numbers are the worst) and I still, on occasion, count on my fingers when adding an subtracting. I had do multiplication, division and figure square roots to a couple of decimal points in my head. I can't add or subtract too well.). But I had a real hard time with the number thing. It came down to the other 9 people (of the core 10. The other two who didn't agree with giving Maria any money at this point didn't really count anymore. Their opinions were still valid and valued, but since they weren't part of our required 10, their votes didn't count anyway.) were good with giving Maria 50% of her past medical bills (just under $2500), and I was waffling. I felt that somewhere between 25% and 50% was good, but I had a hard time coming to a specific number. Some of the other jurors were starting to get annoyed with me (or more annoyed in some cases), but I worked hard not to let that get to me. I had decided before I was even selected for a jury that, regardless of what pressure people put on me, regardless of the time pressures or anything else, I was going to do the best job I could to give the fairest and best decision that I was able to. I figured I owed the people involved with the case, the judge, the system, myself and, really, everyone who lives under the US justice system that. It's what I would want if I was a part of the case and I think it's the right thing to do. So, we talked a bit about the money and about the percentages. And others admitted that they weren't certain that 50% was right. I (and not for the first time) asked the other engineer, specifically, why he thought the way he did (I found that hearing how the men thought helped me understand things a lot more than hearing how the women thought. Not sure if that's because my engineering mind thinks more like guys do or I just appreciated how the men expressed their thoughts more than how the women did, or a combination of both and probably some other things.). And pretty much everyone couldn't come up with more than 50% seemed right. There wasn't a formula people were using or anything related to how much they felt Maria's injuries were sustained from the accident or how much of the accident was Mike's fault or anything. It seemed to come down to that it just felt right. And, I can't say that I didn't come to the conclusion that 50% was the right amount by any other reasoning. I'm still not certain that 50% was the "right" amount, but I'm also not certain that there is a right amount. I did the best I could. Many people breathed a sigh of relief. We decided (unanimously) to award no money for any medical expenses that Maria might have in the future (although the suit was asking for almost $2000, which would have covered an MRI and something else...I don't remember exactly what now. More chiropractic treatments probably.). And, just like that, we had our verdict.

We filed into the court room one last time, delivered our verdict and the case was over. There were still some other things to tie up. We had to get some (more) instructions, be officially released, get our verifications of serving jury duty (in case anyone needed that for an employeer) and get our paychecks. Officer Tilley took care of getting that rounded up for us while the judge hung out with us in the jury room and took some time to answer any questions we had. That was an interesting time. The judge was very careful to couch some of his answers to questions. He wouldn't say whether what we did was right or wrong or whether he agreed with what we had decided, only that we had done well. He did answer the question of why DJ and his lawyer had disappeared after Wednesday. Turns out that before the trial was over (and possibly even before it began) that he settled with Maria and her lawyer. The judge wouldn't give us a dollar amount, but he said it was a reasonable amount more than what we had awarded Maria. He would have been better sticking it out, but he didn't know that and I think he was a bit scared. Way it goes. We also learned that Maria didn't have a driver's license at the time of the accident. It wasn't really relevant to the case, since she didn't really do anything wrong. She just got hit. But we weren't allowed to know that. So, that was rather interesting and, if that information had been known, perhaps might have changed some people's minds. Not that it should have, but I think it might have.

So, tomorrow I'm back to work and back to my normal schedule (no more sleeping in a bit, doing morning workouts or using public transportation for at least part of my morning commute. For those in Fort Worth, the whole park at La Grave field and take the bus downtown works really well. It's free and aside from possibly having to wait up to 15 minutes for a bus (if you just miss the previous one), it's great.). I'm looking forward to getting back to my life. And that means getting to bed very soon, cause I'm well past my bedtime.

More new experiences

2007-09-25T18:39:00.000-07:00

I've had a couple of new experiences over the past few days.

Monday morning I had to report for jury duty. This is my first time to actually serve jury duty. I was called once before, when I was in college. But, being a student and especially one studying out of state (I was a resident of Michigan, going to school at Georgia Tech), I was able to get out of serving. This time, I received a summons for a Friday in either July or August (I don't remember which), but it was for an off-Friday. So, not wanting to spend an off day serving jury duty, I took advantage of being able to postpone my date of service. Given the choice of three Mondays to report to serve, I chose 24 September. So, Monday morning I headed towards downtown.

While I'm sure the process of assigning prospective jurors to courts is more streamlined than it used to be, there's still a lot of room for improvement. I arrived a bit before 8am, about 30 minutes prior to the time I was required to show up...I wasn't sure how traffic and parking was going to be, and had to stand in line for a bit before being let into the jury room. Once I was checked in (a process that involved scanning my summons and being handed a plastic badge holder), I sat for at least 45 minutes (well, sat and read...at least I had a good book) before we even got started. After some instructions, dealing with people who wanted exemptions or postponements, swearing an oath, a few more instructions and dealing with more exemptions, jury pools began to be called. This involved the woman in charge (I know she had a title, I just don't remember what it was) calling a series of names and instructing that group of people which court they were assigned to, the location of that court and the time they were to report. The first group was assembled around 9:10 am. Some large groups were called and required to fill out questionairres and then, once those were done, they were told their court assignment and where to report (these tended to be for the criminal courts, I believe). My group was finally called around 10:30 am. We were the first group that was given a reporting time for the next day. So, we were free to go...until Tuesday. I estimate that about half of the jury pool for that day had been assigned at that point. And, with the exception of the few jurors who would be held in the reserve pool (for those requests for juries that came in later in the day), I'm pretty sure everyone after me was assigned to a court to report on Tuesday. It seems like it would be much easier to have an automated system, either telephone or on the web (or both, ideally) that would allow you to enter your juror number and it would return your court assignment and your reporting date and time. Seems like that would save a whole lot of trouble and time for everyone. But, apparently, that system hasn't become available yet...at least not here in Tarrant County.

So, I showed up this morning and the judge spoke with us at length about how serving on a jury works and the jury selection process. It was all very informative and he made it interesting as well. This is a civil court, so 12 jurors would be chosen from the pool of 31. The lawyers asked us all questions (a process known by the French term voir dire...although it was said mostly with a Texas accent this morning....I only cringed a little) and after a brief recess the jury was chosen. I can't say anything about the case until after it's over, and I'm not sure about how much I can say about the jury selection process, so I'll leave that for another time.

After our lunch break, we heard the opening arguments for the case and the testimony of the first few witnesses. So far, it's been interesting to be a part of the process. I will say that the jury box for the court room we are in was not set-up for tall people. I'm 5'5.5" and I'm very cramped in there. The chairs are fairly low and the divider that sets the jury box apart from the rest of the court room is very close. It might be better in the second row (my assigned seat is on the first row), but probably not much. I'm sure that the couple of guys are pretty cramped. Hopefully we will finish up tomorrow (the estimate comes from the judge) although a lot of that probably depends on how long our deliberations go. We'll see. I do need to get back to work as I know I have a couple of things waiting for my return. I wasn't figuring I would be away so long.
I also realized that it requires a lot of attention to attentively and actively listen all of the time. Maybe I knew this when I was taking classes regularly and it was just second nature. But to have to force myself to actively listen for hours on end (granted we do get regular breaks), I've found has left me a lot more tired than I would expect.

The other interesting and new thing that I've done this week is start a basic music theory class at church. This is something that Jacob, our director of music (or whatever his title is. He's not an ordained pastor, so I think that makes him "director".) is teaching it. It's geared towards those with little to no music background. Tonight was mostly review for me...although I'm having to dredge up information from when last I actually played music which would be elementary school, so it's been a good review. I think it's going to be an interesting class. I'm not certain what I hope to get out of it, but since it's just an eight week class, and it fits in my schedule, I thought I would give it a try. As I mentioned to the small group that was assembled for tonight's class, if you put the word theory into just about anything, I'm liable to be interested. I figure it's a good way to broaden my horizons a little bit. And, maybe it will help me learn to appreciate music more. One interesting thing that I did learn tonight was that in most hymnals that have music, the four voice parts (soprano, alto, tenor and base) are all represented. Which is why there are four sets of notes (generally two on the top or treble staff and two on the bottom or bass staff). I had never noticed that there were always four sets of notes and never connected that that would be the four standard parts. I also learned that the soprano and tenor parts (generally the two higher parts, one on each scale) are the melody while the alto and bass parts are the harmony. I had a general idea of what harmony was, but never really realized that it was written on the scales. This may be common knowledge to others, but it's new to me.

It's been an interesting week for me so far. I'm looking forward to learning more...after I get some sleep. Who would have thought that just sitting and listening all day would make me this tired?

Stuff that sticks

2007-09-14T07:58:00.000-07:00

Just about a week ago, I graduated from space camp. It's been interesting to me, especially in the past few days, to realize the impact that the trip has had on me. I've measured this mainly by what I've mentioned most when others asked me how the trip went.
Initially, I spoke most enthusiastically about my scuba diving experiences, particularly my helmet dive. And that was an amazing experience. As I've said before, it was unlike anything I've ever done. And it was one of the things that felt really like real astronaut training. While I still talk about that a lot (and show those pictures the most), it's the two times at Area 51 that I've shifted to speaking about more. Those were the times that really stretched me and during which our team really came together, especially our experience with the pamper pole. For me, personally, it was a big step, as I've always been too afraid to event attempt an element of that type. But, with the set-up at Area 51 and, especially, the support of my team, it was almost easy (actually, it was easy. All except for the part of getting from the second to last staple up to the top of the pole.). And, while I don't talk about the people as much, at least not individually, it was the people of Team Marshall, including the counselors and other staff people, who really made the program for me.

Space Camp, at least if you judge it from the web site is mostly about the simulated missions and learning about the space program. And that was one of the big draws of the program for me both when I initially went as a kid and when I went back as an adult. But those elements haven't really has as big of an impact on me. I do have a bit of a renewed interest in all things space related now that I'm back from camp. And I do spend more time looking up at the stars. But, overall, those aren't the parts of the program and of my trip that have stuck with me.

For me, I think, space camp was really about the people; my team, and the experiences we shared together. I guess, really, that's a big part of what summer camp and, by extension, life is all about.

So, I was wrong

2007-09-13T05:52:00.000-07:00

Apparently, my memory was incorrect and there is no manual override (hand crank or otherwise) for the space shuttle orbiter payload bay doors. Although the door latches can be manually engaged from inside the payload bay, should it jam when the doors close. And, the power drive unit for the doors can be manually disengaged, which tells me that if there was ever a real need to, there probably is a way to get the doors either open or closed without using the motors. But it certainly wouldn't be a lot of fun.

Back into the routine

2007-09-09T15:00:00.000-07:00

While I don't consider vacation officially over until I have to get up for work on Monday morning, I am getting back into my normal, at home, routine. Sunday school and worship this morning, afternoon nap on the couch with the cats (although I need to convince Iggy to either stay off me or stay on me. The whole up and down thing interferes with my sleep a bit.). I talked to Mom and Dad this afternoon. They were at the IRC (I think that's the right initials) race on Belle Isle in Detroit last weekend and did the old car festival at Greenfield Village yesterday. Sounds like they had a good time. I remember going as a kid. Not my favorite event. Muzzle Loaders Festival (with the old firearms and some mock battles) was better. Although I do remember enjoying watching the various competitions on the village green. I remember something about having to drive from one end of the green to another and having to pop balloons on the way down...or something like that. Riding the carousel and eating ice cream while watching the old, mechanical clock strike the hour was always a lot of fun.

I also got to talk to Cori and Jason, from Space Camp, tonight. It was a short conversation, but it was good to talk to them. I think it's a good sign when goodbyes are hard to say and you miss people when you're not around them. Means that these people made an impact on your life. And that's certainly the case with the team that I spent the previous week with. While I was out running errands yesterday I got to thinking about how close our team became in such a short time. And thinking about how I could become good friends with any of these people that I interacted with in the stores in just a week's time. I knew that I probably wouldn't, just given the circumstances, but it's interesting to think of that possibility. Gives me a certain kind of hope for just life and the world and people, knowing that I could be just a few days from having some new, good friends, given the right circumstances.

Tonight we start small groups at church. I have my small group at 5:30 until 7. Then I'm helping to lead the high school girls' small group from 7:15-8:30. I'll get dinner in there somewhere (already have it packed and ready to go). Oh, and I bought cookies to take for the girls' too. Baked goods always make everything more fun. :) I'm not terribly thrilled about the idea of having the groups back to back, but it's what works best for everyone's schedule. So, I'll make it work. It's only twice a month.

And back to work and back into the routines of life tomorrow. Gotta pay the bills, I guess. One day maybe I'll fulfill my dream of being an independently wealthy philantropist and not have to go to work unless I want to. Unfortunately, that day will not be tomorrow (nor probably any time this week....maybe in October though).

Post Space Camp - Day 1

2007-09-08T15:16:00.000-07:00

And now's the time in the Space Camp story where I spend some quality time with the couch. It's not so much the travel shock anymore, just the general sleep deprivation. Oh, and the fact that my right ear is still a little plugged up from either diving or flying...not sure which (or if it's a combination of both) but it's starting to get a bit annoying.

I'll try again to upload some pictures (might not be until tomorrow). Blogger is having issues (or maybe it's the computer of the internet connection).

Space Camp - Day 5 - EDM and other things

2007-09-08T11:52:00.000-07:00

Thursday (yesterday as I type this from the airplane) was the day of the big extended duration mission. In many ways, this is the culmination of every part of the week at Space Camp. It's a chance to apply what we've learned in our lectures and other missions, a chance to work as a team to solve problems and a chance to have a lot of fun.

The day started a bit later than most. Breakfast was pushed back an hour, so we got to sleep in a little. I got up around 6:30 and headed out for a longer than usual run. I ran out towards the front of the museum, past the SR-71 (one of my favorite airplanes) and along the construction fence in front of the Saturn V center. When I reached the end of that area, I turned around and headed back past the Hab and the Mariott and down towards Area 51 and Aviation Challenge. I wondered if I would be stopped at the AC gate, but there was no one there, so I ran in, did a loop around the Cobra helicopter that sits in the "driveway" area and headed back towards Space Camp proper. I admit that I didn't run the entire way back, as by this point I had been going about 30 minutes. So I took a few stretches at a walk before arriving back under Pathfinder at the entrance of Rocket Park for some stretching, crunches, pushups and a bit of shadow boxing (it was Thursday after all and while classes at the gym are on a break week, I still felt like doing a little kick boxing work.) As I headed back to the hab, I encountered the group of Brits who were there for, I think, advanced academy (the high school equivalent of the program we were finishing up). I got some slightly odd looks (not a lot of joggers out early mornings at camp), but they made way for me to run through. I got a shower and got ready for the day.

Breakfast was the traditional astronaut preflight meal of steak and eggs. Not a prime cut, but they served it to us on gold rimmed china with real silverware and linen napkins. I took the chance and asked for salsa for the eggs. After confirming with the slightly confused kitchen staff that I really did want salsa in the morning and for my eggs, they got some out of the refrigerator for me. It wasn't great stuff, but it made my meal that much more enjoyable. After we all finished up, we were presented with a cake, decorated with our team designed mission patch. This was the first time I had seen the finished product and Bruno and the rest of the guys who worked on it did a great job. We took our mission picture with Valerie and Casey (our day and night counselors, respectively, if you don't have your program handy) and then had a bit of free time before EDM started. I went out to rocket park with a few others to throw a frisbee around a bit. It was a good way to pass the time and calm any last minute nerves. And then it was time.

As I mentioned, I was assigned to mission control for the duration. I filled the ACO role (assembly and construction officer...or something like that.) It's a role that involves helping out with the EVAs in real life. At camp, this person doesn't have a lot of responsibilities. This actually suited me just fine as it allowed me the freedom to help out as needed working problems (and there would be many) and left me free for my scuba EVA.

The mission got off to a reasonable start. We had a couple of comm issues, but those were quickly resolved and away we went. The pilot and commander got a little behind on their checklists (not unusual) and the flight director called for hold at around T-4 minutes (we started at T-9 minutes). Misson Control Space Ghost (the counselors who run the sims are called ghosts or space ghosts. They're there, but they're not really there.) was reluctant to grant the hold, but ended up, by a special dispensation directly from whatever space God rules over EDMs, we were granted about two minutes of extra time. It would not be the last special dispensations of time we would be granted over the course of the next few hours and it was greatly appreciated. When we resumed the count, we were in good shape. The ascent to orbit went well...until the commander had a heart attack. Well, not literally. Every position has a specific medical history that includes various allergies and conditions. The flight director is lactose intolerant. Oribiter pilot is allergic to bee stings (that got me when I went to Level II the second time and I was the pilot for the EDM. Turns out we had a bee experiment on board that was less than secure.) Capcom is allergic to pollen and has mild narcolepsy. Mission Scientist is allergic to chocolate. Prop is prone to tension headaches. As ACO, I only had a history of low blood pressure. But I figured this evened out EVA's high blood pressure, as she was in the seat next to me. All of these conditions as well as the treatments for various medical issues and all of the medications that are available are listed in the medical handbook in the mission control room. I spent a lot of time flipping through that book throughout the day. So, when Jennifer, our commander, had a heart attack, Cori, Mission Specialist 2, jumped up to help her. Unfortunately, she forgot about the g forces the crew was experiencing, as we were still in the ascent phase of the flight. The result was two broken legs and about 3 minutes of her having to lie on the floor (Jennifer just had to slump over in her seat) until main engine cutoff was achieved and the crew was weightless. By that time, I had found the procedures for treating the emergencies and had passed the corresponding pages off to Capcom (Jason) to relay up to the orbiter. Not long after we got the crew taken care of, Jason's narcolepsy kicked in and we had to figure out how to treat him. He was not easily roused, so I rolled him away from his station so that someone else (I think it was Bill who was Prop) could take over his position. I have a friend from college who has narcolepsy and I remember that he took ridaline (yes, the drug given to hyperactive children) for it. Apparently the effects of the drug are the opposite for a narcoleptic person as they are for one not afflicted with that condition. However, the med book had nothing on the treatment of narcolepsy and our med kit had no ridalin. While I was searching for some sort of solution and trying to convince Space Ghost that not only was the correct treatment not available (when it should have been) but that we also didn't have any other stimulants (and I was hesitant to give Jason anything with caffeine in it, as that also has the opposite effect on those with narcolpsy), Jason fell out of his chair (I thought I had him well propped up against the back table, using Reagan's pack as a pillow) and was happily snoozing away on the floor. It was about this time that Flight's lactose intolerance kicked in (I told him not to have milk for breakfast) and he had to go use the restroom. He found some "Crystal Pepsi" while he was out and between that and the discovery a mislabeled compartment in the med kit, we were able to get Jason the ridaline that he needed and get him back into action. The medical anomalies definitely made the time in mission control more interesting, despite being less than completely true to life. They also provided for a good bit of entertainment over the course of the flight.
Much of the rest of the first half of the flight blends together. I know we had trouble opening the payload bay doors. It is important to get the doors open, as the radiators in the payload bay provide the cooling for the orbiter. Without being able to activate vent the heat (mostly produced by the fuel cells and other electronic equipment), the shuttle must abort the mission and return to earth. Fortunately, the cabin temperature remained stable, so the crew was not in any danger. I remembered that there was a manual hand crank somewhere in the payload bay that would allow the doors to be opened in just such emergency case, but I could find nothing in the technical books that provided the location of that crank. The ghosts were unhelpful as they thought it was an issue with the way the checklist for the procedure was accomplished. We finally decided to run through the procedure for closing the doors and then rerun through the procedure for opening the doors and that worked. I still believe this was a computer glitch rather than an anomaly that was given to us by the ghosts, as the cabin temperature remained steady at this time. We had various other medical anomalies on station including more lactose issues for flight, Capcom's pollen allergies acting up due to some flowers that were sent to flight by his Aunt Ethel (or maybe it was Myrtle) earlier in the mission. Unfortunately, when benadryl was given to the Capcom, he became sleepy agravating his narcolepsy. But we figured out most of these issues fairly quickly and gave Jason a lot of meds (mostly smarties candy, which turned out to be a nice rewards for his great acting abilities). During this time, the mission specialists accomplished their EVA (another satelite repair). After about 90 minutes, it was time to dock with the station. That meant that the crew in mission control became ISS (International Space Station) mission control, which necessitated a move to the ISS control room (on the second floor, adjacent to the wall of the UAT (underwater astronaut trainer) tank. And it was also time for Lucy and I to head out to accomplish our scuba eva.

We both got pre-dive physicals (temperature, blood pressure, pulse rate and a quick confirmation with the nurse that we're feeling okay as well as a nice conversation with a lovely woman who's been one of the nurses there for over 15 years) just in case something happened and I wasn't able to dive or in case Lucy was some how able to take part in a way other than just reading me the procedures. Then we headed up to the tank. Dana and her daughter....I want to say Stephanie but I'm pretty sure that's wrong, got me suited up and ready for the dive. This involved putting on a "space suit" which included a set of white coveralls, white boots (which were huge, a little floppy and kinda funky inside), gloves (fortunately fairly thin and with non-slip rubber dot type things on them) and the dive rig. Unlike when we dove on Tuesday evening, for this dive, I did not use a regulator to breath but rather had a bubble helmet (okay it had a regulator hooked up to it, but it wasn't in my mouth) that allowed me to not only breath, but see without using a mask and be able to communicate via a headset. The dive rig was cumbersome and kinda uncomfortable. The helmet had a metal collar with a rubber ting that fit tightly around my neck. The bubble helmet hooked into the ring. The collar was attached to a cord that wrapped around my back, between my legs and reattached to the front of the collar. Dana said that it was supposed to feel like a pretty big wedgie, which it did. Also, the collar pressed down pretty hard on my shoulder blades. The air tank was in a backpack that strapped tightly onto my back with another strap that wrapped around my hips. No padded back on this pack either. I don't know how much the entire system weighed, but it was a pretty good bit, even to me who is used to carrying a fairly heavy pack around many places. To say that the whole system was uncomfortable was a bit of an understatement. But, once I got into the water none of that really mattered. While I was definitely negatively bouyant (meaning, I sank), it wasn't impossible to move around. I think it was a combination that all the pieces of equipment had a bit of bouyancy to them and the fact that I just didn't really care because I was too busy with the entire experience, but once I got underwater (and got used to the sounds that my breathing made as well as the feel of the bubbles floating under the collar) I wasn't nearly as uncomfortable. Dana and I worked our way over to the ladder and I began a slow descent to the bottom of the pool. Clearing my ears was a bit easier this time, as it's much simplier to swallow when you don't have a regulator in your mouth. I didn't have to use the little nose pad (basically for sealing your nostrils shut) at all. It seemed like it took less time to descend than on my previous dive and before I knew it, my feet were firmly on the bottom of the tank. Dana had warned me that staying upright was the best course of action, as that would help to keep water out of my helmet (there was a way to blow it out, if it became an issue, but it sounded like it was better just to not let it get in there in the first place). So, I had to hop and jump my way across the pool to the far side of the structure so that I could begin my task of erecting a "solar array". As I moved around, it was neat to be able to talk with Lucy and share the experience at least verbally. The feeling was amazing. I knew I was underwater, but being able to breath and talk normally made it almost an unreal experience. That compared to the struggle of moving around in the bulky equipment and pushing against the water made the whole experience unlike anything I had ever done before. It really felt like I was on another world. But, I had work to do so I wasn't able to pause too long to contemplate the experience. Lucy talked me through the solar array erection. It wasn't difficult after I figured out how the connectors worked. But it would have been much easier had I seen a picture or at least the parts prior to the dive (I had no idea of the task before I got to the bottom of the tank). The hard part was trying to find a way to hold myself in place while I put the parts together. The part that the array was connected to was probably about eight feet off the bottom of the tank, so I had to swim/jump/climb/crawl up with each piece and then find somewhere to stand and somewhere to hold onto while I also needed a couple of hands to hold the pieces in place and work the connectors. I think I got a taste for why working in space is so difficult. If there's nothing to hold onto it's impossible to do much of anything. You can't use your own weight or leverage to do much (which I rely on a lot when I'm doing much of anything) because, thanks to Newton's law about actions and reactions, you just got off in the opposite direction. So, not only do you have to figure out a way to apply the required force, but you also have to figure out a way to counteract that force and keep yourself where you need to be. The erection of the solar array didn't take very long, but we still had a bit more time. There were some people at the windows of the tank, so I asked Dana if I could go over and wave to them. She said yes, so I bounced along and swam up the wall to reach the first set of windows. Holding onto what little of the rim I could reach, I waved at some camp kids in one window and then moved to the next. At this window there was a family with a small daughter. The girl was probably around 3 or 4 and seemed kinda confused to see this big bubble headed person (I'm told that the bubble made my head look really small) waving from the inside of this big fishbowl looking thing. Bill was out and about (apparently taking a break from mission control) and found me and took a couple of pictures with his camera. Dana helped me ascend some more and we made it to the second story windows where I got to look in on the ISS mission control crew. It took a bit of knocking on the window to get there attention, but finally someone looked up and noticed me in the glass. So we got to wave to each other and take some pictures. Then it was time for me to continue ascending and end my dive. Afterwards, Lucy said I was only down about 15 minutes. I had lost all track of time, but I knew it wasn't very long. Certainly it wasn't near long enough. We got all of my gear off and I got cleaned up and went for my post dive physical (although I forgot and drank a bunch of water on the way over to sick bay, so the nurse didn't even bother to take my temperature. Which was probably a good thing. I was at 99.4 degrees before the dive. And I'm sure my temp would have been up higher than that afterwards. Mostly that was all due to the walk over from the training center over to sick bay in the warm, September early afternoon.) I then headed back to ISS mission control in time to help gather up our gear and head down for lunch.

I was a bit bummed that we broke the simulation and all ate lunch in the cafeteria. In the past, we've been able to eat "on orbit", each group eating in the location where they are currently working. But it was neat to get to sit with everyone and chat and take a bit of a break from the mission. After lunch, it was back to work for the second half of the EDM.

The crew on the orbiter swapped positions, as did some in mission control. That took me a couple of seconds to figure out, especially as I kept turning to my right to look for Bill when he spoke(who had been filling the roll of prop) and not seeing him. He was now on my left, filling the INCO role. We also had to remember that with the changes in position, everyone's medical issues changed (the medical issues stay with the position). The biggest thing we had to deal with was that the lights were off in the orbiter. Some on the crew had flashlights with them and they broke those out so they were able to work the checklists and procedures while mission control tried to sort out the problem. I immediately went for the reference books, looking up the fuel cells. We noticed that Fuel Cell two was producing no power and had no flow of oxygen or hydrogen. We tried a few procedures to shut the cell down and restart it while I continued skimming and reading. I found a couple of schematics and started tracing systems. I don't remember exactly how we finally solved the issue, but I do know that I'm now pretty familiar with how the fuel cells work and how they are plumbed and wired. Meanwhile, we had some more medical anomalies. Capcom's narcolepsy kicked in. Adam, who had trained me on the station a few days prior wandered in, having noticed that someone had tossed some flowers outside the door and wondered if anyone wanted those. That set of Capcom's sneezing again (which meant more benadryl and another little nap for him) before we could kick Adam and the flowers out. We had a gas leak that took a bit of time to diagnose. Half the team collapsed while the others had no message that they were having any ill effects. I kicked into House mode (yes, the tv show) and surmised that it could not be an environmental effect since not all of us were affected. I dug through the medical book, looking for anything the affected team members had in common and even asked if they had all had the fish for lunch (no one either heard me or caught the Airplane reference, but I thought it was funny). Soon the rest of us started to feel bad and a sign with the number for the United Gas Supply mysteriously floated around the room (well, mysteriously if you were pretending that you couldn't see the Space Ghost). Jet, who had been the ghost when I was in station for Charlie mission, who is just back from maternity leave and has a beautiful baby girl, showed up as our gas worker. Somehow she passed out before fixing the leak. We were getting a bit fed up with things and decided to just leave her there. Meanwhile, Dennis fixed the leak, the crew recovered and we went back to the mission, leaving Jet lying on the floor. Not the nicest thing to do, but as I said, we were a bit frustrated with the medical anomalies (especially the ones that we weren't given quite enough information, especially information that would have been available in the real world, to be able to solve quickly). But it was still fun.

As we got on towards landing, we noticed that the temperature in the orbiter was rising (we'd fixed the lights by this time) and that Cori and Martin were acting oddly, dancing about and such. We surmised that it was possibly due to the heat and worked that problem (trying to turn off the heaters, turn on the air cooling, etc). Turns out, they were, originally just goofing off. At least until the Ghost decided that things were getting decidely too silly and made the decision that they both had space demensia. Cori's demensia manifested itself by extreme mood swings (apparently she's one you don't want to cross) while Martin became delusional. I think he decided himself that he was a pretty princess. That got Lucy (still the EVA position and the only one in communication with the mid-deck area) laughing and after she advised the flight director of this development over the mission control main loop, the rest of us joined in. I asked for clairification of he was a pretty princess or a pretty, pretty princess and by that time, the crew was wrestling Martin into an impromptu straight jacket. I don't think they quite got to duct taping him to a seat, but I don't think he got out of the jacket until after the orbiter landed. Meanwhile, we continued to work the heat problem until about 5 minutes from landing. At that point, we gave up, figuring that the crew could just sweat it out and pop the hatch upon landing. After a beautiful (although just barely on the runway, in the short direction) landing, Enterprise was home safely with the crew and our EDM was complete. The biggest challenge for our team for the week was over and it was all downhill from there.

We had a brief debrief as a team and then had some free time to spend in the museum or whatever. I headed outside with some others to see if Space Shot was open. When we found that it wasn't, some of the team rode G-Force (and centerfuge) while Jeremy and I tossed a frisbee around, trying to avoid space center paying guests and a team of academy kids from Costa Rica (Jeremy and I both have centerfuge issues. I knew about mine before starting camp. Jeremy learned at the AC centerfuge.) Then it was time for our second NASA speaker.

I don't remember the names of our speakers, but they were both not only incredibly smart physics geeks (at least five degrees between the two of them) but also sci-fi geeks. They showed some Star Trek clips and we talked about the technology and how it was used and such. It wasn't terribly interesting, but as some of us commented later, it was nice not to have to think for a while after the EDM. After about an hour, it was time to launch our rockets.

Rocket launch was a lot of fun. Everyone had at least one rocket to send off. We had a few engine issues, some complete failures, some spectacular successes and a few that were lost to the wooded areas around the launch site. My rocket had a beautiful first stage ascent but something went wrong with the second stage and the engine burned through the wall of the rocket and melted the parachute. I was able to recover all of the pieces, but the rocket would never fly again.

We had all agreed the previous day that we would change up our evening schedule slightly, moving Space Bowl to before dinner so that we could enjoy a meal not cooked by the cafeteria for our final dinner together. Space Bowl was fun and provided a chance to test our space trivia, joke around with each other and have some friendly competition. The results were not revealed until graduation, with the mission specialists barely eeking out the win to take home the extra t-shirt.

We took a few minutes to clean up before heading over to Landry's for seafood for supper. Both Ray and Reagan had vehicles, so they shuttled us all over to the restaurant and back. On the back to pick up the second crew, Jason thought he spotted what was left of Bruno's rocket on the road. As we headed back to the restaurant with the final crew, we found the spot and Jason jumped out and sure enough, it was Bruno's rocket. When we got to the restaurant, Jason swapped the rocket out for Bruno's silverware (which was wrapped in a napkin). Bruno was surprised and excited to see his rocket again. It was neat to get away from camp and relax and hangout as a team. Valerie, Jason, Casey and Lisa (another counselor who had been around during the week and helped train us on some of the sims) all joined us. The meal was excellent and the conversation wonderful. I collected some more pictures from people. And we ended the evening by enjoying our mission cake for dessert.

After the very large meal and very long day, we were all tired, so we headed back to the hab to start packing up our gear and heading to bed for our last night in the hab at the end of our last full day at camp as a team.

Space Camp - Day 6 - Airborne thoughts on the way home.

2007-09-08T10:45:00.001-07:00

As I type this, I'm flying home from Huntsville (I'll have to post it later. No internet on the plane.). We're headed west, chasing the sunset and as we continue to climb, my ears are popping and clicking as the pressure in the cabin decreases. Sometimes on flights, I wonder why those around me are flying. Are they going to see family? Moving to a new locating? Traveling for business? Heading home? Tonight, the flight seems to be mostly full of business travelers. These men (and they're mostly men tonight) aren't hard to spot. Dressed in slacks and collared shirts despite the heat at both our departure and arrival locations, they're quiet and orderly. They know the drill. Some accomplish work on these flights, other read (tonight mass market paperback novels seem to be the book of choice), others doze. I never mind traveling with business travelers. They generally don't make a fuss about much. It's just another form of commuting to many. Routine in many ways.

I've always enjoyed flying at night. There's something about being up in the air as the sky darkens around you. I especially enjoy flying west into the sunset. It seems to take forever for that great big ball of light to dip below the horizon. And, since there's not a lot to do on the plane, other than the business of transporting me and my gear to another location, it's a great time to let my thoughts wander. And tonight, my thoughts are wandering in the directions of the future.

Earlier today, we were talking about how far aviation came in such a short time. In the span of less than 70 years, less than a lifetime, humans went from not being able to sustain powered, controllable flight to putting a man on the moon. It's amazing, when you think about it, But, then, in the next 35 (ish, yeah, I'm rounding) years, we haven't accomplished even half that much when it comes to aviation and space travel. I understand that priorities are different, and there's no cold war to win. The world's a different place. But part of me wonders if we haven't lost something, as a people, when we quit striving for more and more innovation in the fields of aviation and space exploration. Perhaps we have. Perhaps not. History is always studied in hindsight, while it must be lived without knowing what tomorrow will bring. But, especially since I've been surrounded and immersed in the space and rocket culture for the past week, I can't help but wonder where we could be in 10 or 20 years, if the space exploration once became and international priority.

And I think that's part of the point of Space Camp. There's a couple of signs mounted on buildings throughout the Space and Rocket Center that say "Through these doors walk the future astronauts, scientists and engineers". And that's true in many cases. I went to camp as a kid (multiple times) and now I design military airplanes. And I work with others who have also gone. There are astronauts in the astronaut corp who attended camp as kids. And I wonder what the kids who were at camp this week, and this summer will do when they grow up. Will they lead the nation and the world to more space exploration? Will they held design the next generation of aircraft and satellites? Will they walk on Mars and figure out ways to expand our reach into the heavens? I'd like to think so.

Space Camp - Day 6 - Graduation and Good-bye

2007-09-07T15:07:00.000-07:00

I'm sitting in the Huntsville airport waiting for my flight home. (Just a note, free Wi-Fi is wonderful.) And, as has been the case many times this week, my head is kinda swimming. In some ways, this has been a very, very long week. I've gotten to do so much stuff. I've met people who were strangers six days ago who I now consider friends. I've conquered some fears and had my priorities realigned more than a couple of times. I've learned much about all things related to space, about myself and about other people. In other ways, it's been a very short week. Especially the past few days have felt like the time has just flown by. It's hard to believe it's Friday already and I'm coming home. In some ways, I'm ready to come home. In others, I want more time. As I said, my head is still swimming. I'll need some time for reflecting on everything that's happened. But, fortunately, I have the rest of the weekend to reacclimate to my real world. I'm going to need every minute of it (and probably a few more).

Today was graduation day. Breakfast was pushed back 30 minutes to allow us to pack up our gear and move out of our rooms. I didn't think it would take me that long to pack, so I set my alarm for 6:30, an hour before breakfast. I didn't plan to run as I didn't want to have to pack sweaty clothes (or at least that's the current excuse.) Turns out, I woke up about 6 and figured I wouldn't be able to get back to sleep. I was down in the bottom of the hab, my gear safely stowed in the Bravo Classroom (where we designed our team mission patch and built our rockets. This was our work room for the week.) by 7. I thought about wandering around to take some pictures around rocket park, but instead ended up just hanging out with the team as people filtered down. I also continued to collect pictures off people's memory cards. Once I get home and get a few that will have to be sent to me (from people who either took way too many pictures or who had Sony cameras, which I can't read the memory cards for), I'll burn DVDs of pictures and send them off to the team.

It's been neat getting to look at everyone's pictures. I find it especially telling to watch the evolution of people's pictures as the week progresses. At the start of the week, it's all pictures of the facilities and equipment. Then there's pictures of the camera's owners doing various activities. And, as the week continued to progress, the pictures became more group pictures, other people doing various activities or just hanging out. It's another picture (no pun intended) of our coming together as a team.

After breakfast, our last Space Camp meal, we headed to the Astrotrek building (I think that's the name. Astrotek maybe...I'll look it up.) for the 1/6th G chair and the MMU simulators. The 1/6th G chair was originally used by the Apollo astronauts to simulate walking on the moon, which has 1/6th the gravity of the Earth. This is one of my favorite sims as it's just fun to get to bounce around. They've added a lunar surface type runway area that you get to bounce down and back on using the three primary methods of lunar movement. Those are the bunny hop, the sideways hop and the slow motion jog. For me, once I get a little momentum going, I'm good to go. Bunny hopping and sideways hopping are a lot of fun. Slow motion jogging has never been my favorite. But it's still fun. I actually used some of the sideways hopping moving around the bottom of the UAT (underwater astronaut trainer) yesterday during my scuba EVA during the EDM (more on that later...possibly in another post). The MMU is a mockup of the manned maneuvering unit, the personal propusion jetpack type thing that was used for a time on shuttle missions to allow astronauts to move about during EVAs untethered to the orbiter. It is no longer used, as the system doesn't have a lot of backups, should the propulsion methods fail. If that were to happen, the astronaut could be stranded outside the reach of anything or anyone attached to the orbiter or, worse, drifting away from the orbiter. This simulator is a chair mounted on four pads that allow the whole contraption to hover above slightly above the floor. Joysticks on the unit allow control of roll (to 90 degrees in either direction, so you can't go upside down), pitch (the range isn't a lot, not really enough to notice) and yaw (turning the whole unit) as well as forward and lateral motion. This is one sim I hadn't done before, so it was neat to get to try it out. Unfortunately, I had to stay on my square of concrete and so I could only intimidate Martin (callsign Pretty Princess) rather than actually go after him (all in fun, of course). But it was still a lot of fun and I think everyone enjoyed the opportunity, although none more than April. She had seen the MMU in various brochures and on the web site and had been asking about it all week. It was neat to see her enthusiasm.

After the sims, we filled out evaluations of our week and then had time for the gift shop. I supplemented my tshirt and polo shirt collection as well as picking up a few gifts. I figure it's cheaper to buy it here than pay for shipping when ordering things online later. In the gift shop, I got a chance to briefly meet Jeremy's wife and three daughters (all redheads and very cute). It was a bit strange to see Jeremy in the husband and father mode, especially after working with him during all of the missions all week long. Required a bit of a mindset shift. That's happened a lot this week. Then it was time for graduation.

Graduation is always an interesting time. While it's fun to have a little ceremony and get awards and stuff, it's also the last official function for our team. While we will always be team Marshall, our time at camp had come to an end. There were some awards given at graduation. The team I was not on won the Area 51 award. My team joked a bit that we were just too good. We didn't have any real personality or communications problems to work through. And, of course, we annoyed the facilitators a bit with our successful completion of each mission. :) I'm sure the other team earned the award. The second award was for Space Bowl, the Jeopardy style trivia competition that we did on Thursday evening. The mission specialists won by a slim margin and took home the tshirt. The final award was the Right Stuff award. This is the personal award that goes to the trainee who best embodies the spirit of the program, the one who steps up to lead, encourages others and all of that. The award went to Jason (which didn't surprise me at all). Upon receiving the award, Jason said a few words about knowing how difficult the decision for who is to receive this award is (if you don't have your score card handy, he's a former counselor) and that while he was honored to have received it, there was another on our team who also embodied all that the program is about, who conquered a lot of obstacles and had an incredible week. And then he presented the award to April. There were more than a few misty eyes among the team. When Jason put the medal around April's neck, her face lit up so bright. She was so proud and excited and probably a little overwhelmed. It was a great gesture by Jason and one that I'm pretty sure everyone on the team agreed was the right thing to do.

After graduation, we started to say goodbyes and the team scattered a bit. Lucy had to catch her bus to the airport pretty quickly and a few people took off with their families. I joined Cori, Jason, Reagan, Bruno, Ray and Martin for lunch at the Mariott, as lunch at the cafeteria wasn't provided for us. It was nice to have some more time to hang out and chat about the week before heading home. And the food was pretty good.

By the time we had paid our bills and chatted for a bit, it was time for Bruno, Ray and Martin to catch their bus to the airport. I would have been on that bus (and on Martin's flight), had I taken the earlier flight home. But, I decided I might want a bit more time to hang out with people and prefered not to ask someone to fight rush hour traffic to come pick me up at the airport. And that turned out well (at least the extra time with some people bit. We'll see about the traffic bit in a few hours). Cori, Jason, Reagan and I wandered about the museum, did some things out in rocket park including riding Space Shot (which I had declined riding before, to ensure that it wouldn't mess with my head, stomach, ears or anything else and make me unable to dive). We enjoyed some ice cream (because we didn't get any at lunch today) and then wandered back to the hotel so that Jason, Cori and Reagan could get ready for helping out with the Be Ready camp mock disaster this evening. They will be injured (or possibly killed) in the mock disaster that the campers have been training all week to respond to. Apparently this is a camp put on by the Alabama TSA to teach twelve year olds respond to natural and man made disasters. For this disaster, the campers will have to handle the situation completely on their own (except for any safety situations, of course). There are to be bodies in the lake, simulated fires, medical and other emergency response teams that they will have to direct. It sounds pretty cool and something that I think I'd like to be a part of, even though I'm well beyond 12 years old. Once I get home, I'll have to look into getting CERT (community emergency response team) training. That sounds not only interesting but also very useful.

Then it was time for final goodbyes. I've come to realize especially recently that the goodbyes that are the hardest to say are the ones that mean the most. They're not supposed to be easy. Being seperated from friends and family is never fun, even if it's just people you've only known for a week. There were hugs all around and promises to keep in touch. In some cases, I know we will, at least for a time. In others, perhaps we will not. It's the way life goes and I've been through it many, many times. I hope to keep in touch with some of these people for a long, long time. I know that some will be people I think of fondly on occasion. And there will be some who will fade from memory fairly quickly. Again, it's just how this world works. How I long for the day when I won't have to say goodbye ever again....especially today. Cause there's no easy way to say goodbye. Perhaps some of us will be able to get together for another Space Camp adventure. I'd love to have any of team Marshall on my team at some point in the future.

Until that time, I've got lots of pictures and memories and we've got email and telephones, cars, airplanes and the US Postal Service. And I've got some more friends to visit.

Space Camp is a very special place and I've had another week. More thoughts later. Until then, I need to get ready to get on the plane to head towards home and back to my real life and the rest of my family.

Space Camp - Day 4 - The Calm Before the Storm

2007-09-05T20:10:00.000-07:00

So, Day 4. Yesterday it was hard to believe that camp was half over. Today it's even harder to believe that it's almost all over. Tomorrow's the biggest day of camp. We do our EDM (Extended Duration Mission), what all of our shorter missions have been leading up to. As I mentioned yesterday, if all goes well, I will be doing a scuba EVA. And that will be very, very cool. Apparently that takes about 60-90 minutes total, the remainder of the time (EDM is six hours long) I'll be in mission control. I'll be filling the ACO role again. And there's still not a whole lot to do. That actually suits me just fine as I'll be able to help focus in on the anomalies that will inevitably come. But, enough about tomorrow. Let's talk about today.

If yesterday was about family and pushing limits, today was about resting up for what will come tomorrow, although we wouldn't have guessed that by looking at the schedule. We started the day with Charlie mission. For this, I was the station scientist. My job was to assist the station commander (Jeremy, we've been working together a lot this week) with various procedures (retracting the solar arrays and turning on the batteries when we arrived (since we were entering the night side of the earth, etc) and then do some experiments. Due to various anomalies (including one for which the prodcedure for fixing it was incorrect in the book that our mission scientist (the mission controler who is responsible for station) had was incorrect, we only had time for one experiment. So, we made a super ball. That was pretty cool. Although we didn't have a lot of time to play with it, as we had procedures to complete and the previously mentioned anomalies. Some might wonder why we had to rely on the mission scientist's checklist to fix our problems. The reason is that we, in the station, don't have the emergency procedures checklists. This is also the case for the orbiter. All of the books and, therefore, all of the fixes have to come from mission control. While this is not exactly the case in real life, it's part of the suspension of disbelief that we opperate under here at camp. The mission went well, as far as I know. Being in station, we were a bit isolated from everything going on in the orbiter and the rest of mission control. As we were told in training, for us, it was just another regular day in space. So, at least for the one hour missions, things are a little more relaxed in station.

After Charlie mission, we went right into Delta mission training. I was back in mission control, this time filling the propulsion officer (PROP) position. Prop monitors anything and everything to do with propulsion of the orbiter. If it can make something blow up, that's Prop's job. I've used the line, "I don't want to blow up" a lot this week (extra points if you know that's from Serenity...and it was in the trailer. Apparently, I'm the only Browncoat on my team, cause no one else has commented on it. But, no worries.) Today, I got to be more in charge of making sure that didn't happen, which was kinda cool. Mission training was pretty calm, as we'd all been in mission control before and only our positions had changed.

We had a bit of free time after training, so some of us wandered around Rocket Park a bit, went on Space Shot (like the Superman Tower of Power ride at Six Flags), tossed a frisbee around a bit on the mock-up of the lunar surface (that was pretty cool, although my disc now is a few micrograms lighter, as it got scratched up a few times) and then went to climb the "Martian wall" before our "history highlights" (time in the museum) as a team. Climbing the wall was fun. And, as a result of our time at the pamper pole yesterday, I was more bold in attempting to reach the upper parts of the section of the wall I was climbing (didn't make it, but I gave it a try) and it was fun and gave me a bit of exercise (no running this morning. I wanted to give my legs a break and recover from yesterday a little bit). Then it was time for lunch, but not before we filled the "Martian Explorer" simulator ride (very similiar to Star Tours or other motion based simulator type rides, although a little cheesier).

After lunch, we had our first guest lecturer of the day. This was a 90 minute talk by Ed Buckbee. He's the director of the Space and Rocket center, worked as a PAO (Public Affairs Officer) in the early days of the US Space Program and worked closely with Werner von Braun to develop Space Camp. Mr. Buckbee gave a great lecture about some of the history of the space program, more from the human side. He talked a lot about the astronauts and some of the contributions that the city of Huntsville has made to the space program (mostly, the rockets were designed, built and tested here). We also received signed books that Mr. Buckbee wrote with Wally Schirra, one of the original Mercury Seven astronauts and a moon walker.

After a bit of a break, we headed off for our Delta Mission. I have to admit, I was a little bored. The mission went fairly smoothly. Everyone was familiar with their positions and we kept on the timeline well. We had very few anomalies. I got to the point where I jumped to the ready when I overhead the mission scientist call out a station anomaly. Orbiter anomalies require three people in mission control to agree on the solution before the flight director gives the okay to proceed. Station anomalies are solved by the mission scientist and the team on the station pretty much alone (they can ask for help if they need to, but rarely do). By the end, we were all mostly joking around. So, it was fun, but not terribly exciting.

After Delta Mission was done, we decided on our positions for the EDM. There was little debate over who would go where amongst the mission specialists. Lucy (my backup for the scuba EVA) and I are required to take the positions of ACO and EVA respectively. About half of the remaining six team members didn't have a lot of preference where they would go. Apparently the pilots had a bit more of a discussion. But, in the end, I don't think they even had to resort to rock, paper, scissors to figure out where everyone would end up.

With our EDM positions determined we headed up to our main classroom to meet with the museum currator and archivist. I don't remember her name, but she was a wonderful woman who takes great pride in her job of not only leading the effort to gather artifacts and preserve what the museum has, but also in achiving various pictures, papers and anything else that's around. Her job is very hands on and she had some great stories about various things. Mostly she talked about the Saturn V conservation effort (the museum has a Saturn V test vehicle. It's the real thing, but it was built to be tested rather than to actually be flown. There are, I think, three or four actual Saturn V rockets still remaining. Johnson Space Center in Houston has one. There's one at Kennedy Space Center. The Space and Rocket Centere here has one. And I think there may be another...somewhere...Smithsonian maybe?). These amazing machines were never meant to last 30+ years, especially not sitting outside in the elements. But they have. And some people believe it's important to preserve them for future generations to see. Additionally, since the new space ventures (which will lead up to the US returning to the moon and hopefully going to Mars for the first time) are using many of the same basic technologies as were used on the Apollo missions (that's the missions where we went to the moon), various engineers from both NASA and various contractors have had questions about the Apollo mission hardware and have come to the Space and Rocket Center asking for questions and to inspect various parts of the Saturn V (among other artifacts). That was a neat lecture.

Next it was EDM training. Again, for mission control, there wasn't a lot of additional information to take in. For our EDM, after about the first two hours, the orbiter will dock with the station and everyone will hang out in station for about 90 minutes. During that time, mission control will become ISS control (we even get to move to a different room). I believe this may be when I get to do my EVA (don't trifle me with the facts that I'm in mission control and then will be doing my EVA in space. Just go with it. :) ). After about 90 minutes, the orbiter will undock from the station and will return to Earth. But, the interesting catch is that the orbiter will be operating on a timeline that mission control will generate while everyone is hanging out in station. I don't think it will be a particularly difficult task. I started working on it a little bit before Casey (our night counselor who did our training and who may be helping out run mission control tomorrow) took it away from me, cause that's something we're supposed to do tomorrow. We will also be presented with "thinking anomalies". Up to this point, all of our anomalies have been "buzzer anomalies". Buzzer anomalies are lights that light up (there's not actually a buzzer in the sims here, which is kinda a bummer). And each anomaly can be resolved by finding the procedure in the book (which isn't always as obvious as it sounds) and following the procedure (which hopefully, but not always, is correct). We've all gotten pretty good at solving buzzer anomalies. And, while there will, most likely be some that happen tomorrow, most of our anomalies won't have such easy solutions. We'll have to think more about the various orbiter systems and what might be causing the issues. Some of these may be generated based on things we do on the orbiter or station (like forgetting to put a checklist book away might cause it to float off and cause problems down the line. Cause you can't just leave things laying around in space. Without gravity, things don't just lay where you put them.) There will almost certainly be medical anomalies (each position has various medical issues. As ACO, I have low blood pressure, but no allergies. Dennis, who is playing INCO in mission control (I forget what the acronym stands for at the moment. Communications Officer is the last two words.) will be allergic to chocolate and hypoglycemic. So, no chocolate chip cookies at lunch for him. And there will be various other things going on. I think our team has a good chance of doing well at solving these anomalies. We have a number of return trainees and at least a couple of us are in mission control, so that should help. We also continue to work well as a team. So I don't anticipate there being any problems we can't solve. It may take up a while. But, overall, I think things will go well.

EDM training was followed by a quick dinner and then a chance to build model rockets. While I've always been on teams that have built rockets before, we've always built them as a team and I haven't done a lot of the work (there's always been at least one model rocket buff on the team who has some neat ideas for making something that's cool. So we go with that.) This time, we all got our own rocket kits (two a piece) and were told to do what we wanted. About half the team decided just to build the basic rocket. And that's what I did. My yellow and black (closest I could get to Georgia Tech colors) two stage rocket is currently sitting, drying in our team classroom. If the weather holds, we should get to launch them on Friday.

Our final activity of the evening (other than returning to finish our rockets) was RTLS. This is Return to Launch Site. Since we've been training in "Houston" all week, we had to head to Kennedy Space Center for our launch. So we headed over to Aviation Challenge to fly the sims again. There wasn't time for everyone to fly, so half the team flew and the other half rode backseat. I rode with Bruno who did a great job of flying. I even had him doing a few bits of flight test maneuver blocks as we headed for the Cape. He completed the landing on his first attempt and we were good to go.

All together, this was the most laid back day since Sunday (which was only a partial day). It was nice to have some "down time" (as down as it was) and some chances just to hang out as a team, especially before our big day tomorrow.

Some other things to note today.
Jeremy has been given the callsign "Cheater". During Delta Mission, Jeremy was in mission control as EVA (monitoring and calling out the procedures for the EVA going on in the orbiter). On all the previous missions, no team of mission specialists has been able to complete the full EVA procedure and replace both ailing antennas on the satelitte. Cori and Lucy were our mission specialists this mission and the counselor assisting them let them cut a few corners (start getting suited up a little earlier, etc). They also decided to change up who did all of the procedures Cori, who was on the Canada Arm, flipped all the switches. This actually makes a lot more sense, but it doesn't give the MS in the harness a whole lot to do but retrieve the antennas and float around (which would have been fine with me and Lucy was cool with it). So, Jeremy spent a reasonable portion of the mission calling them a couple of cheaters (I joined in as well, as I was sitting beside Jeremy in mission control. Although I couldn't hear their side of the conversation as I wasn't on their comm loop.). Lucy and Cori picked up on this and have started calling Jeremy "Cheater". He takes it well and a few of the other team members have picked up on it. I'm guessing the name won't stick after he gets home (Jeremy is married with three kids, so that probably wouldn't go over well) but it is kinda neat that we're close enough of a team to give each other nicknames.

Apparently, it's unusual for teams not to be excited about flying the sims at Aviation Challenge. We have a few people who enjoy them, but no one is really gung-ho about the whole ordeal.

Tomorrow's a bit later of a day. Breakfast (steak and eggs, the traditional astronaut pre-launch breakfast) isn't until 8am. But I'm hoping to get a good solid run in tomorrow morning. So it's bed time for me. Big day and I want to be well rested.

Space Camp - Day 3 - Half way and stretching my limits

2007-09-04T20:03:00.000-07:00

Wow! Hard to believe that Space Camp is halfway over already.
Another jam packed day. I'm getting a late start on this today, so I don't know how long this will be. I want to say I'll start with the highlights, but there were a lot today. So, I'll go with themes. One theme was pushing limits. The other was Marshall team becoming more of a family.

Pushing Limits
Today was a lot about pushing limits for a lot of us.
Early this morning was training for Bravo mission. I was ACO - Assembly Control Officer, a mission control position that helps to monitor and check on the EVA that's going on on the orbiter. This is not the person who talks to the MSs doing the EVA and directs them. Really, there's not a ton to do on this position and I was a bit bummed when I realized this. But I knew that it's a part of the team and every person is important (and all that stuff that they tell you, but it really is true). After a break where we got to ride the MAT (Multi-axis trainer, the thing that has the three rings and spins around. That's fun. Not REALLY fun, but fun enough for a 45 second or so ride.) we came back and did Bravo mission. It turned out to be a lot of fun for me. Since I didn't have a lot to do, I was able to help out Buck (yes, Buck Rogers....I still smile every time I say his name) who was the EVA (directing the EVA happening on the orbiter) and keep an eye on the screens. I spent a lot of time reading ahead in the mission script and clicking around on the different screens to see what was going on. Since I had my eyes on the screens most of the time, I was able to catch the anomalies (and there were quite a few of them) about as quickly as they came up. Since I'm familiar with the idea of emergency procedures (than you previous trips to Space Camp and many flight test briefings where we go over the "Emergency Procedure of the Day") I was able to pretty quickly find the anomaly in the MAD (mission assistance mumble...something...I'd call it a combination brain and EP book) and quickly make recommendations to the flight director for fixes for the anomalies. I also got the idea of, once a solution was agreed upon, pulling the page for that fix out of my MAD book (three ring binder) and passing it down to our Capcom (who is the only person who can talk to the flight deck), who was often busy working on other things and wasn't always able to keep up with the anomaly fixes, along with our recommended fix. This saved time as he didn't have to flip around in his book. So, while I've often thought of mission control as not being as interesting, I found it a lot of fun this time around.

Later in the afternoon, we went over to Area 51 to do the pamper pole. This is a 30 foot tall, free standing telephone pole with a 12 inch diameter piece of three quarter inch ply screwed into the top of it. With three safety ropes attached to you and your team belaying those ropes, you climb to the top on first a ladder (that gets you about 8 feet off the ground) and then on large staples hammered into the pole. Upon reaching the top, you have to figure out a way to get standing on top, stand up straight, turn around 180 degrees and then jump off, theoretically trying to touch a white rope hanging about 6 feet in front of you. I've had the opportunity to do this type of element on previous occasions, but I have never done it. Always been too chicken. However, as with everything else, the folks at Area 51 are amazing. Everyone who goes harnesses up, regardless if you are going to climb or not. They have a good system of working people through a line belaying and then waiting to climb such that, except for the first person, there's no volunteering. You climb when it's your turn. Chuck (call sign Bojangles, an amazing man), who design and built ARea 51 was helping to facilitate our team's time there and he was great at motivating people. He never pushed too hard, but he did push. His goal was to get you to go one step farther than you thought you could. And he did a great job. Some people only got up to standing on the staples. Some only got part way up. Some got to the top but didn't stand. And all of that was okay. Most of us got all the way up and stood on top. I was the last to go. I thought this would be difficult for me, as usually if I think about stuff too much I'll think myself out of going. But, the way things go, it was just natural when my time came up. I was strapped in and up I went. I took it slow and steady climbing up and that wasn't a big deal. The fact that I just kept my eyes directly in front of me, focused on the pole helped. Right arm up, left arm up, right foot up, left foot up, repeat. Then I got to the top. This was where I knew I would have trouble. Balancing wasn't the big deal for me. Thanks to months of balance work at the gym, I feel comfortable with my balance, the standing up on the top of the pole (remember, there's nothing to hang onto up there other than the piece of plywood and your ownself), that was where it god difficult. Thanks to my morning runs (oh yeah, I went running again this morning) and lots of walking and stair climbing, my legs have gotten pretty tired. So I was worried. But I knew I had my team behind me (literally, I could feel the ropes they were belaying me on) and I knew that if I fell, I wouldn't fall far (a big improvement over most pamper poles where you might fall up to 5-8 feet before the rope catches you. That might not sound like much, but when you're 30 feet in the air, it's a lot). Chuck had talked to Bruno (who went before me) and reinforced to me that no matter what, I was coming back down to the ground (in a controlled manner), so why not take the chance and, if I was going to fall, fall going for the top. So, after some hesitation and some convincing my muscles to give it a go (although not as much as I would have thought), I made it up. The feeling of that was amazing. Hearing my team cheer for me was great too. Turning around was easy (I think the key is not to look at your feet, just trust that the wood's not going to go anywhere). Then it was time to jump. Normally, when I'm on a ropes course, it takes a lot to get me to actually step or jump of a stable platform. This time, I thought about it for a few seconds and then just went. I knew my team would catch me. I knew I wouldn't fall far. I didn't make much of an attempt to try to hit the rope (they don't even want you to try to catch yourself on the rope, just hit it). By that time my legs were all but gone. And then I was swinging in the air and then descending to the ground. After we got unharnessed, we did some debriefing. I looked around and realized that the faces of these people I call my team had changed. They had become more familiar. I was used to them. We weren't just 16 individuals anymore. We were truly becoming a team. And, more than that, we were becoming a family. This is a great group of people. We work together amazingly well. Even April is well accepted by everyone. Just a great group. About a week before camp, I picked up a new rock (when God impresses something important on my head and my heart, I like to have something tangible to remind me regularly of that, to help work the truth into my heart. So, I pick up a rock and carry it around with me.) This rock reminds me that there's more than one kind of family. As we were walking up to the bus, I reached in my pocket and felt my rock. And realized that this is yet another type of family. (And that's the second theme. No separate paragraph. So I type without planning out exactly what I want to say. It's my blog.)
Our final event of the evening was the MS time in the scuba tank. I've never scubaed before. Last time I had the opportunity at camp, allergies kept me from even being able to attempt. Because my ears have always been slow to clear and because this was something very new for me, I was more than a bit nervous. But I kept going through the lesson time (about 45 minutes working on a four foot deep platform where you learn and practice the basics with the instructor). And then it was time for me to dive. Lauren, another instructor, took me down. I had to descend very slowly, as my ears did take a while to clear. But they did. And wow was it fun. It's like playing in a swimming pool, but you never have to come up for air. Just amazingly cool. I got to play with a 100 lb, neutrally bouyant ball. So, you can move it around, hold it on one finger, learn more about Newton's laws of physics and all that. Then we contrasted that by playing with a toypedo. Which is hard to throw with your feet (although I tried) but fun to stop with your head. Lucy, who was down with Max our dive instructor the same time I was on the bottom, and I built a large tetrahedron structure. That was fun and not as easy as you'd think. It's a good simulation of working in space, cause there's nothing to push against to get leverage. If you try, you end up pushing yourself around. I'm used to being able to use my own weight for leverage, so I had to quickly learn to work in different ways. And I got to launch an air rocket (just turning a bunch of valves in the right sequence, but it's still kinda fun). I was in the first group to go to the bottom and apparently I spent 25 minutes under water. It's hard to believe it was that long. It seemed like so much longer. I was never scared or really worried, except when my leg started to cramp up. But I quickly realized what was going on and with Lauren's help, massaged it out and went back to work. And even then, I kept a level head and I think I did a good job. Max must have too. I was hanging around the top of the tank (after taking pictures of Bill, Marlon and Corey (Jason's wife) as they worked and played on hte bottom) and after Bill came up, Max asked if I had ever dove before. I said I hadn't. He asked if I'd like to. I said I would. He said that Thursday was my day. During the EDM, I will again be filling the position of ACO and also getting to do a "wet" EVA. This EVA includes wearing a "hard hat" or bubble helmet, which will allow me to breath without a regulator and be able to talk via a microphone. It should be an amazing experience and I'm really looking forward to it. If for some reason I'm not able to dive, Lucy is my backup, but I really hope I'm able to.

And I think that actually covers most of the activities for today.
Another jam packed day but a great one. Best yet. Space Camp still isn't as good as RYM last year, but it's approaching RYM this year very quickly.
Tomorrow's a big day. Charlie and Delta missions. I'm in the station for Charlie. Not sure of my position for Delta, a couple of different guest lecturers. We'll have to decide on our positions for the EDM (although mine is already chosen) and have our final training for that. And I think there's some more activities. It's going to be a jam packed day and I'm greatly looking forward to it. Not sure if I'll get up and run tomorrow morning. Have to see how I feel when I wake up. May just end up sleeping in a bit, or going walking and taking some pictures.

Speaking of pictures, here's some:
Jeremy, Corey, Jason (callsign Tiller) and me at Aviation Challenge, after flying the F-18 sims last night.

In the tank, right before instruction time started.

Me, in the scuba tank, working on our tetrahedron.

Space Camp - Day 2

2007-09-03T19:12:00.000-07:00

Space Camp, Day 2 is winding down and I'm back in my bunk at the Hab for the night.
Another jam packed day. Last night I was debating reviving my standard "up in the morning for some exercise" routine that I generally try to do when I'm traveling (at least traveling in the US. I don't normally do that when I'm on mission trips.) I figured I would see how I felt in the morning.
I didn't sleep great last night (had some trouble falling asleep, which isn't unusual for my first night in a new place), but at around 6am, when Reagan (my roommate) got up, I decided I probably wasn't going to really get any more qualty sleep. So I got up and went for a jog. With the help of my ipod, I jogged around Rocket Park (outside area where all the rockets are) for a bit, did some situps and pushups under Pathfinder (the full scale Space Shuttle complete with SRBs (Solid Rocket Boosters), ET (External Tank) and Orbiter (what people normally call the Space Shuttle) which was built by NASA so that they could practice moving the thing around before they got the real thing.) and then headed back to the Hab to shower and get ready to start the day.
After breakfast (the food's not half bad. It's still cafeteria food, but it's reasonable. Maybe half a step below the food at RYM...and not quite as many vegetables. But they had lots of grapes at both lunch and dinner, so I'm making up for the lack of veggies with lots of fruit.), we trained for the first of our one hour missions. There are four of these and they all lead up to our 6 hour EDM (extended duration mission. Yes, we speak in acroynms here.). For the Alpha mission, I was assigned to the MS2 (mission specialist 2) position. That position is in the orbiter (space shuttle, we're using the Enterprise shuttle. Which is the same orbiter sim that I used when I was came for Level II so many years ago.). The job of MS2 is to work with MS1 (Jeremy from Iowa in this case) and repair a Westar communications satelite. The repair involves replacing two antennas. As we learned many times in training, there are four steps in any repair. Deactivate, repair, reactivate and run a diagnostic. Skipping any part can lead to problems. For the mission, to simulate the weightlessness of space, I got to strap into a sky diving harness and "float" around the cargo bay, helping with the repair, stowing the bad antennas and retrieving the good ones and basically doing a lot of the leg work that MS1, who is on the end of the Canada (robotic) arm can't reach with the arm. MS2 is one of my favorite positions. I love "floating" around the cargo bay. So much fun. So I was excited to get to do this.
After training, we watched the IMAX movie "The Dream is Alive". Narrated by Walter Cronkite, this movie talks a lot about space shuttle missions, some about the training and the people who are involved. It's probably my favorite IMAX movie. So, at this point, I was having a great morning.
Next up was our time at Area 51. We split into two teams of eight people (although not along "track" lines, which worked out okay) and went through a series of low ropes team building activities. My team worked incredibly well together and really frustrated the facilitators a bit, as there wasn't really a lot for us to work on. We were able to complete each "mission" in the alloted time (15 minutes), including completing the final one in under 5 (which Jerry (callsign Jumpman), our main facilitator said was possibly quicker than the time that the facilator team did it in.) I was very pleased with how we all worked together, listened to each other and were able to complete even very difficult tasks. I got to be team leader for one of the missions. That mission was to get our full team, and an injured team member (I called him George, short for George P. Burdell, the Georgia Tech any student) from one platform to another. The platforms are connected by a wire, which you have to haul yourself across while wearing safety harnesses and such. The trick is that there's only two sets of safety equipment and one 50 foot rope. Only one person can cross at a time and George can't be left alone. I think the planning could have gone better, we did have one team member who made a second trip and we had to throw the rope one time. But it still went well. I relied heavily on the skills of my team and our resourcefulness and flexibility to get the task accomplished. And it worked. Area 51 was a lot of fun and I'm glad that we had an opportunity to complete it. I think it helped to bring our team closer together (in many ways. On the final mission we had to move all of our team from one platform to another, but we all had to be on one platform or another, or on the boards crossing the platforms at all times. So we did a lot of standing really close and hugging each other. I think we've got pictures. Hope Jeremy's wife doesn't mind.
Next was lunch, our group photo and a chance to start on the design of our group mission patch. Jason took charge of the mission patch design (he and his wife are here for their 10 year wedding anniversary. They met when they both worked here as counselors.) and while we didn't get the design completely finished in our allotted hour, we came up with something that I think will look great.
Finally it was time for our Alpha mission. Communications problems seemed to plague the whole team and I don't think anyone felt really good about the whole event. Jeremy and I were only able to replace one antennae in the time allotted and, as it was, we still didn't make it back inside the orbiter in time for the landing (we suspend disbelief a lot in the one hour missions, especially when it comes to timeline stuff.). While people were a bit frustrated, everyone still had a good time and we're all looking forward to a chance to improve.
After our mission we had our introduction to scuba diving lecture and dinner. Then the two tracks split. The pilots went to scuba and the mission specialists (that's me) went over to Aviation Challenge to fly the simulators and ride the centerfuge. The AC sims are more difficult to fly than the JSF simulator. The stick is very much a motion as opposed to a force stick. And the aircraft (an F-18 F) seems very underdamped. So the controls were touchy. I did manage to fly reasonably well, not crash and accomplish a landing on a real runway (didn't go into the grass at all). Although I flew past the runway a lot of times and, at one point, got frustrated and decided to fly out over the ocean and do a few maneuver blocks to vent some of that. My time in the JSF sim and just my general understanding of how airplanes fly and what's important was very helpful. Not everyone enjoyed it quite so much, although everyone was laughing at the end of our time.
I decided not to ride the centerfuge. I've done them before and I just don't enjoy the experience, especially not the minor queasiness after the ride is over. But others did enjoy it. We had a bit of time after we got done at the centerfuge and we got a bit of a tour of some of the aircraft on static display at AC. I had never been able to get up close to a harrier before, so that was a neat experience for me. I also got to see an F-111 and an A-6 Intruder (which is what my senior design aircraft was very similiar to). That specific A-6 had a confirmed kill of a Russian Mig....something...37? in the Vietnam war. Jason (callsign Tiller) was very knowledgable about the aircraft and you could tell military aviation is a passion of his. So that was a neat time. And that ended the day's activities.

Some thoughts on the day and the week.
- The program that I'm going through is definitely less academic than it was on my previous trips. This might be better for kids, but I don't think it's as good for adults.
- One hour does not seem long enough for a short mission, especially for early in the week when there are communications and logistics issues to be worked out. On previous trips, I believe these missions were two hours.
- Area 51 is very cool. They've done a great job with building this area and the facilitators are top notch. Apparently this area was completely rebuilt last year.
- Casey our night counselor and Valerie our day counselor are both great. They hang out with us, keep track of us, listen to our issues and do everything they can to give us the best experience possible. You can tell that they love their jobs and especially like hanging out with adults.
- Our team is starting to come together more. There are definitely different groups who click better than others. But we all seem to work together well and enjoy each other's company. There's no real dominating personalities and no major annoyances.
- We do have one team member, April, who has some special needs. She's functioning on probably the level of a late elementary school student. But she's doing well. Everyone is working well with her, some more actively than others, and the counselors are helping out tons. I think it's helpful that we've got two female counselors, both of whom have worked with the younger age groups in the past. We are having to make some allowances, especially in terms of mission positions (she's very afraid of heights and would not do well in the orbiter), but the staff is working hard on that and everything is going well.
- I had a lot of expectations coming into this week. Some of them are being met, others are not. So far, this week hasn't been better than RYM last year and probably not quite as good as RYM this year. But it's still a lot of fun and I'm having a great time.
And that's it for another day here.

Space Camp - Day 1

2007-09-02T19:14:00.000-07:00

So, apparently the idea that's floating around the internet that there's only wireless internet in the cafeteria at Space Camp is outdated. Cause here I am, sitting in my bunk in the Hab connected to the web merrily (and sleepily) blogging away.

In some ways, it's hard to believe that I'm here. Space Camp! Wow. So many thoughts going through my head, so many emotions and so much. But, first let me go back to this morning....which, in typical, jam packed Space Camp style seems like soooo long ago.

This morning, no worries meeting Brad, Caroline, little Eliza (so cute with such huge blue eyes that seem intent to take in the whole world that is around her) Tubbesing and getting to church. We worshipped at Central Pres, an EPC (Evangelical? Presbyterian Church) congregation. I don't know a lot of the history of the church or the congregation, but the building looked like it had been there a while and I was told that the congregation left the PCUSA not terribly long ago. Brad preached an excellent sermon on Hosea 14 and didn't shy away from the fact that we're all like Gomer, the prositute, running towards everything that's not God looking for satisfaction and fulfillment. And then outlining how simple and joyful repentance and returning to the Lord is. Great stuff. If Brad isn't podcasting his RUF large group messages, he really should be. There was a minor event during the service with a medical issue with an older gentleman in the congregation. Paramedics were called, but the gentleman walked out with them, which can't be a bad thing.
After worship, we all went over to the home of some friends of the Tubbesings for lunch. This was an unexpected treat and the food was excellent topped off by an amazing lemon creame pie. Good conversations with God's people, there's little better way to spend a Sunday dinner. Although we weren't able to hang out for too long. I needed to get to camp for check-in and Eliza was getting sleepy.

When I arrived at camp I was struck by the feeling of excitement and almost disbelief. Here I was, walking through the same doors I had 15 years prior with about the same feelings. After so many months of planning and anticipation, I was finally here at Space Camp. Whoo with an extra helping of Hoo only began to explain my feelings. I got checked in and started to settling to room 420, which will be my home base for the next week. I noticed some things that have changed pretty quickly. There's an extra (bottom) bunk and some extra seating space in the rooms. And the age of the building is showing. But, after almost 20 years of campers coming through almost year round, I guess this shouldn't be surprising. I met my rommate, a young woman who lives in Atlanta and works as a script supervisor in the film industry. I learned that the script supervisor is the person who, among other things, makes sure that all the props that a scene calls for are available to the actors for the scene which is being shot. It sounds like an interesting job. After wandering about the complex for a bit, we met the rest of our team and the whirlwind started.
This week, there is only one full adult team, 16 trainees. We range in age from early 20's through almost (or fully) retired. Lots of occupations. Bruno is another guy in the film industry. He does a little bit of everything in a small production company working on education type films. After four years in the Navy right out of college, Lucy now works at a think tank outside of DC. Buck Rogers (no kidding) spent time in the Army and now lives in Alaska. I know he's got lots of stories to tell and I'm looking forward to hearing about them. There's a married couple who met here as counselors and are celebrating their 10th wedding anniversary. At least three people are here on birthday or Christmas present trips from their family. This is Bill's 11th trip to Space Camp. He's kinda quiet and I haven't had an opportunity to speak with him too much. There's a guy from outside of Seattle (I'm still learning names) who works at Boeing on the finance side. Sounds like about a third of the team has been here before (so much for the prereq being required for this program, but that's fine).

As for the activities, we've had a lot of tours of the buildings and areas, introductory lectures and some time to get to know each other. The information has come fast and furiously and with everyone still being kinda travel shocked (many had been up since the very wee hours of the morning, and often in different time zones), we were all dragging after dinner. Speaking of dinner, the food was pretty good. BBQ pork (or chicken). Not great, but reasonable for a cafeteria. There's a special line for "adult food" which we've been told we should take advantage of (okay, works for me. :) ).

Some first impressions of the week.
- The program here has gotten less academic than the last time I was here. There seems to be more focus on hands on activities and everything leading up to the missions rather than the more academic nature of learning about the shuttle systems and more of the mechanics of space travel.
- There's less division between the tracks (pilot and mission specialist). Mostly it's the different mission positions and dividing up for scuba and time at Aviation Challenge (the sister program to Space Camp which focuses more on military aviation).
- There's a different feeling between the campers than when I was in high school. We're taking longer to bond as a team, although we're starting to. I think this is because we all come from more diverse backgrounds than high school kids do, we've all had so many different experiences and we've all got different motives and expectation for and about this week. I think tomorrow's activities including time at Area 51 (and leadership reaction/challenge/low and high ropes course. I've heard it called all three things) will help a lot of that. I think it's partly also because with the tracks doing more together, it's a larger group. So there's 16 of us rather than 8.
- This place is still one of the coolest places I've ever been and it's going to be an amazing week.

That's all for now. Not too many pictures yet and I haven't downloaded them off my camera. I'm still a little travel shocked and will be heading to bed soon. Maybe tomorrow.

Overflowing with blessings

2007-09-02T06:59:00.000-07:00

This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.
That "us" there very much includes me. And I think I needed that little reminder. It is true that the hotel I'm staying in is not quite of the standard that I'm used to and the people I've been dealing with are also different than those I generally interact with. But it is also true that I have the resources to take this vacation including coming out a day early, staying in a hotel, getting a cab (or two) to this hotel, buying some food, taking hte time off work and everything else and, really, when I'm honest with myself, financially I won't even really feel this. But, beyond the material blessings that I've been given that have allowed me to do this trip, I'm also getting a chance to worship the one true, creator God this morning, with a family of believers. And that's all made possible thanks to a guy I've never met who's going out of his way to provide me transportation and, oh yeah, he's preaching this morning too. I have a family back home who will miss me this morning and will be praying for me, others who are taking care of my house and cats while I'm gone. And so many other things. Sometimes I get so wound up in worrying about how things aren't going exactly how I think they should that I forget how amazingly blessed I am.

This morning I was reading John 1. Jesus calls his first disciples in John 1:35-42. They ask where Jesus is staying, he says "Come and you will see." Later, Philip and Nathanael are talking about Jesus and Nathanael asks if anything good can come out of Nazareth. Philip responds "Come and see.". I'm looking forward to seeing what God has in store for me this day and this week. Oh that I would be open to the adventures and challenges He's laid before me and that, regardless of how tired and cranky I get (how cold the Hab is, how bad the food is), that I would remember tha amazing blessings that He continues to pour out on me.

Now I remember why I'm a hotel snob

2007-09-01T19:29:00.000-07:00

Rue's great big summer vacation - Part III* - The Story So Far (To borrow a phrase from J.C. Hutchins and the 7th Son Podcast, which I highly recommend).

- Shuttle to the airport from my friend Fred, complete with a bit of time to catch up and hear what's going on his life - Check.
- Flight from DFW to HSV** with a pseudo upgrade to a row to myself on the A/B side of the Super 80 (that would be the side with just two seats) - Check.
- Claiming my baggage at HSV - Check. No worries. The airport was all but deserted with the exception of the people from my flight. I saw I think four other small regional jets parked at gates. No other noticable air traffic in the area. I'm not used to flying into such small areas.
- Cab to the hotel...this is where it starts to get interesting.
As HSV is a fairly small airport and this is a holiday weekend, cabs were fairly scarce I had to wait a bit for a cab. Not a huge deal. The guy who was there (and already had a fare) called for one and in just over 10 minutes one arrived. I passed the time singing show tunes to myself. I have no idea why I sing show tunes when I'm waiting at the airport, but I do. Personals, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat, a bit of Les Miserables. I didn't get into Tommy but that would have been next. When my cab arrived I was less than impressed with the driver. Let's just say that it's a good thing driving a cab isn't rocket science. But, she seemed a capable driver. And we drove past the Space and Rocket Center (Rocket park was all lit up. It was a beautiful sight. There's a new space education center that looks very shiny. I had my nose all but pressed up against the window as we passed). So, I got to my hotel, paid the fair and collected my gear. I mentioned I had a reservation and stated my name for the desk clerk and he was a bit perplexed. Seems they were all full for the night. And that there are three La Quinta Inns on University in Huntsville. And I got dropped off at the wrong one. The friendly desk clerk called to the corrected hotel, verified my reservation and then called the cab company. About 20 minutes later (after another call by the friendly desk clerk) a cab showed up...from a different company. The desk clerk (I really should have gotten his name) talked to the driver, verified that he was called to take me to the other hotel and then gave me cash for the cab fare (which was more than I was hoping for. I figured I was going to have to pay and then spend some time on the phone with the cab company.) So, I got to the correct hotel and the equally as friendly desk clerk informed me that the hotel was overbooked and they had put me into the Holiday Inn down the street....and just as my brain was processing this information (I was still a bit travel shocked), I noticecd my cab driving away. The friendly desk clerk explained the situation again and tried to call me another cab. Apparently that was going to take an overly long amount of time. So, he stared at the computer, clicked around a bit and found me a room that was open. It was smoking, so I asked if I could check it out before I agreed. Turned out that the smoking status didn't matter. The room hadn't been made up and still had leftover pizza from the previous guest. So, my friendly front desk agent clicked around some more and found me another room, also smoking, but he said he's check it out for me. By this point I was almost ready to take just about any room, as long as it wasn't actually on fire. The room was good to go and I signed the paperwork and got the key. I don't quite understand how at least two rooms could be open if they were oversold by 15 rooms (as the friendly desk clerk told me), but maybe it was just nonsmoking rooms. In any event, I'm going to have to take some ibuprophen tonight before I turn in, as the smoke is starting to mildly bother my eyes. But it's a room and it's only for one night. And hopefully the people frolicking in the pool will head to bed soon.
But, tomorrow is another day and I'm confident it will go well (as long as Brad can find my hotel in the morning...)

*Part I was RYM Colorado in June. Part II was the mission trip to Reynosa in July.
**HSV - Huntsville International Airport. Which, apparently like every other airport I've flown into, out of or through in the past I don't know how many years, is doing interior renovations. But it's a cute little airport and easy to get around in.

All Systems Go!

2007-09-01T12:20:00.000-07:00

My gear is packed. My travel plans are confirmed. The house is tidied up. I've dealt with all the bills and pressing emails. My RSS reader is more or less clear. The mail and paper are on hold. I'm ready to go. It's been over half a year in the making (I registered for camp in early January) and the day of my departure is finally here. In about an hour my friend Fred will be picking me up to take me to the airport. I'm going to church with the Brad Tubbesing, the RUF guy at University of Alabama - Huntsville, and his family tomorrow. I don't know them, but when I blindly emailed him explaining that I was going to be in town and was looking for a ride to church, he was more than happy to help me out. So, I'll get to meet him and his wife and young...I think it's daughter, might be son...I know it's one of those two, tomorrow morning when they pick me up from the hotel. After worship, they'll drop me off at camp in time for check-in and then it's six whirlwind days of pretending to train like an astroanaut. I'm excited...in an opening night of a theater production way (lots of energy, trouble focusing on anything, overly happy, etc). Been a while since I've felt like this before a trip. And it's kinda fun to be excited about traveling again. I think work travel kinda spoiled the wonder of going off to a different place for me. Between not going many places that aren't the most fun and doing it regularly, the novelty and joy of travel has kinda been lost on me for a while. Maybe this will help bring it back. Maybe not. It doesn't really matter. I'm going to Space Camp!!!

T-13 Days and Counting

2007-08-19T13:40:00.000-07:00

Two weeks from now I will exchange the comforts of my home for a bunk in the US Space Camp's Habitat 1 as I start my week long adventure as a trainee in the Adult Advanced Space Academy program. For six days I'll be as close as it gets to training like an astronaut. I'm doing the mission specialist track which includes learning about the engineering and design of the space shuttle and international space station. I'll go through lectures and training; team building exercises; take a spin (literally) in the centerfuge; possibly get to fly the high performance jet simulators (I think they're still F-14s, but I'm not certain. This isn't all that exciting for me, as I occasionally get to spend time in the F-35 simulators at work); learn to work in simulated microgravity in the Underwater Astronaut Trainer (UAT, a 22 foot deep scuba diving tank); rotate through positions in the shuttle, station and mission control room during simulated missions during which I hope to get to go "play outside" and do an EVA (extra-vehicular activity) to repair and/or build something (usually a satellite, solar panel or something on the shuttle or station itself. I wouldn't be surprised if one of the standard anomalies includes fixing a damaged thermal tile on the shuttle.) and, at the very end, participate in an extended duration simulated mission (somewhere between 12 and 24 hours).

For those of you who haven't heard me talking about this for the last nine or so months, to say that I'm very excited would be an understatement. I've been to space camp before. I went through what was then called Academy Level I when I was in junior high and attended Academy Level II twice when I was in high school. They were all amazing experiences. The programs themselves are amazingly fun. There's so much to do and to learn and almost all of it is hands-on, interactive experiences. The schedule is almost non-stop and the staff is incredibly well trained. With the exception of the mediocre food and incredibly cold rooms in the Hab (I've heard neither has changed much), Space Camp is one of the most amazing places I have ever been.

But, beyond the camp itself, one of the things that I remember and enjoyed the most about my times at Camp were the people that I met. It should surprise no one that I was a pretty big geek in junior high and especially high school (and I have no illusions about the fact that I still am). I had a hard time fitting in and didn't have a lot of friends. Then, when I went to camp, I found myself surrounded by people who were so much like me. These people were interested in the same geeky stuff I was into. They were smart and not ashamed of that fact. Despite not knowing each other before the first day of camp, we found that was had so much in common that, we quickly became teammates and, in some cases, close friends. I still have some pictures from one of my weeks at camp on the wall in my office. And I can't help but smile whenever I look at them.

I'm hoping that in two weeks I'll be in the middle of another experience like that, at an amazing place, surrounded by other similiarly minded people, willing to put our lives on hold for a week to go off and pretend to be astronauts. It's like geek fantasy camp and I'm so looking forward to it.

Sunday, Random Sunday

2007-07-08T18:40:00.000-07:00

I think my birthday celebrations are officially over. Over the course of this weekend, I had five gatherings of multiple people, two of which were actually in honor of the day of my birth and my birthday was celebrated at another two. I've had a lot of cake, some ice cream, an amazing chocolate silk pie (even better than the chocolate creme pie I remember getting at Bishops in the mall in Janesville, Wisconsin every time we went to visit my dad's family when I was growing up) and gotten to hang out with a lot of great people. I know I said it in my last post, but it still amazes me how much God has blessed me with the community that He has placed me in here.

All that said, as an introvert, having this much time hanging out with lots of people, especially the gatherings where I didn't know as many people, has worn me out. I enjoy getting to spend time with people, furthering relationships with those I don't know well and meeting new people. But it does take a bit out of me. I'm looking forward to getting back to work where I can put my headphones on, deal with people sparingly and database the day away. I'm not sure what it says that I'm looking forward to some intense databasing (since it is one of the more mundane tasks I'm involved with at work), but it's part of what I do and I figure looking forward to it is a good thing. Plus, I didn't get to listen to Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me yesterday, so I'm looking forward to the podcast tomorrow.

I've got a crazy week this week. Multiple church events with the youth and the women's ministry, lots to do to finish getting ready for the mission trip to Reynosa, Mexico next week, work, eating, sleeping, time at the gym, not completely ignoring the cats, etc. I am so thankful that I've got an off-Friday this week or I don't think I'd be able to get everything done.

I'm having trouble finishing books at the moment (the title says "random", so here's some of the random stuff). I've started a couple of books.

Chris Kraft's autobiography about his work in the US space program, particually setting up and running mission control starting with the first few space launches, through the early part of the space shuttle program: Flight, My Life In Mission Control, a book my friend Mike mentioned on his blog which I could say I bought to see if my nephews might like it, but really I bought because it looked really cool to me: The Dangerous Book for Boys and a book that I'm reading as "homework" for the women's ministry leadership board at church: Women's Ministry in the Local Church. I think I'm supposed to have the first two chapters read by our meeting on Thursday. I've read about half the first chapter. None of these has been holding my interest recently. I'm not certain why, but I've been craving a good, fictional story. The rational part of my brain wants to finish these books before I get started with something else, especially since I plan to dive into the new Harry Potter book very soon after it comes out. But the other part of my brain just wants to a good yarn. Maybe it's because I'm not getting as much exposure to serialized television shows right now (although I am working through the first season of Angel and watching the reruns of Bones.) I don't know. It's not like I have don't have stack of books waiting for me to read them, and people offering to loan me more or regularly recommending other books I should read. Maybe I should just give in and pull something out of the "to be read" stack. But I just hate to be trying to read four books at the same time. On the other hand, I will be spending around 20 hours on a bus next week. So that should give me a couple of good chunks of time to get some reading done.

I'm also upset with Fox. They've twice now pulled the final two episodes of Drive from their schedule. I know there will be no resolution, since the show was mercilessly cancelled after airing only four episodes (over a span of just eight days. < Insert rant about the lack of wisdom of whoever's in charge of Fox network's programming. > < Insert sympathy rant from fellow Browncoats >). And I know they won't be tremendous telelvision. Maybe it's just my craving for more stores, but, I still want to see those final two episodes that have been shot.

And now, it's about time to finish getting ready for the morrow and head to bed. Another work week awaits with all of it's promises, challenges and responsibilities. But first, a time to rest...and maybe start another book.

Happy Birthday to me!

2007-07-07T16:04:00.001-07:00

I am so blessed to have great friends...people who are my family despite not actually being related to them. Two groups of people helped me celebrate my birthday today. They were laid back events, which is just fine with me. I'd rather just hang out with people than have a big spectacle that places a huge spotlight on me. I also mowed the lawn, hung out with some Browncoats and did some more shopping for craft supplies for the mission trip to Reynosa (for those keeping score at home, we leave a week from today). Also this weekend I saw Ratatouille (Great movie. Lots of fun. Who knew rats could be so cute? And "Lifted" the Pixar short before the movie was hilarious. Perhaps the best Pixar short I've seen. The studio should really release a DVD of all of the shorts collected together.). So, yeah, the weekend's only just over half over and I'm already pretty tired. Good thing it's bed time.

So, where does one get a couple hundred cubits of gopher wood?

2007-06-30T12:02:00.000-07:00

It's raining again. Which, it being this summer and north Texas, shouldn't really come as a big surprise.

I did manage to get my lawn mowed this afternoon. I was finishing up (literally running while pushing the lawnmower) as today's afternoon storm was getting started. I don't want to complain about the rain. It's helped keep the temperatures down and has meant that I haven't had to water my yard much this year. Both of those things are saving me money. But it is starting to get a bit silly. In previous summers Iearned not to leave home without a bottle of water (due to the heat). This summer, I don't leave home without one of my rain coats (yes, I have multiple and they've come in handy recently. One now lives in my car).

This weather reminds me of the summer of 1994 in Atlanta. It rained pretty much non-stop for 16 days, took a day off and then rained for another 11. To start with, I wore two pairs of socks, trying to keep my feet dry as I walked around campus. After a few days, I gave up, switched to sandals and kept a towel in my pack so I could dry off a bit when I got to my destination (I don't like to have wet feet, especially when in an air conditioned room. Makes me get very cold.). That was the summer I bought my big, Georgia Tech golf umbrella, realizing that with anything smaller either I got wet or my pack did.

But I'd rather be soggy regularly than bone dry and melting in the hundred-and-a-lot degree weather.

Mission Accomplished!

2007-06-17T15:46:00.000-07:00

Racing darkness and dodging puddles, I managed to get my lawn mowed last night. It's a lot easier to see where you've already mowed when the height differential between the lawn that has already been visited by the grass munching machine of doom and that which hasn't is on the order of inches. It's times like those when I should really probably bag the clippings as I mow, as opposed to mulching. But since I don't have a bagging attachment, a blower nor a rake, that wasn't an option. At least I beat back the weeds before they were able to do any major damage.

Next mission, should I choose to accept it...mail Dad's Father's Day present. It will be late, but probably not as late as my sister's birthday present (starting Tuesday, for a period of about three weeks, she'll be four years older than me...provided you're only talking in integers). However, I still don't have much of a clue what to get her and she hasn't responded with any suggestions, so this one might be tricky. As always, should I, or any of my Present Sending Force, be caught or killed, the Secretary will disavow any knowledge of the matter. This blog will self destruct in five seconds.

Or, well, maybe not.

I'm goin' in

2007-06-16T18:13:00.000-07:00

While I can't really complain about the rain we've been getting (again), it has been messing up my Saturday chore schedule. Normally I deal with the yard while listening to NPR on Saturday mornings. Click and Clack usually accompany me while I weed eat and mow. If I'm doing anything more serious, or it takes more than about an hour, the team from Wait, Wait...Don't Tell Me help me finish up. And that works out great. With headphones and ear protectors, my mind gets entertained while the rest of me keeps my yard from getting too overgrown.
However, between coming back from RYM and the rain, I haven't been able to mow since before I left and the weeds not only greatly out number me right now, but I think they're plotting to overthrown the nearby neighborhood associations (and tomorrow...The World!!!).

It's still a bit wet out there, but looking at the weather map, this may be the driest things get for another few days. So I'm going to at least get the yard mowed. I'll weed eat next week...if I survive. Nice thing is, I'm teaching Sunday school in the morning, so in about 13 hours, if I'm not at church, people will come lookin' for me. Wish me luck!