It's official. Christmas is over for our house. Today the tree came down, the stockings were lovingly put away, and the boxes (only 6!) are ready to be stuffed in the attic for their long hibernation. The saddest part - the house looks so empty now! It's amazing how big your room gets when all of the green goes away.
*Sigh* So long Christmas ... it was a good year. But Happy New Year all!
I get in my car, with a topic in mind. I'm composing as I drive (granted the stories always sound better in my head) and bam! I walk in the door, get a drink, sit down at the laptop and stare at the screen. Where the story went ... if only I knew. What the topic was ... I wish someone could remind me.
I shed a tear this week for the Christmas I made my family leave at home for the 70+ degree weather out here in Houston. My sister probably loves me for it, but for me ... I'd rather be digging out little brother's car.
I've noticed that there are a lot of references to work here without very many words describing what I mean... So I'm going to give a quick little 101 on Space Station operations.
ISS = International Space Station = vehicle that I work for.
Increment = Length of time that a given Space Station Crew is onboard. Currently we are operating in Increment 14.
Flight = Space Shuttle flight. This one is STS 116/12A.1. STS 116 refers to the shuttle manifest number, while 12A.1 refers to the ISS assembly number.
FCR = Flight Control Room = Mission Control. This is where you will usually see people work on TV. Whenever you see the blue desks with the big screens in the front of the room you are looking at a FCR. There are two of them - the Station FCR and the Shuttle FCR. I will only be seen in the Station FCR. :)
ADCO = Attitude Determination and Control Officer = group that I work with. We are in charge of tracking, steering, and coordinating the vehicle's location in space. It is also our call sign in the FCR.
MPSR = MultiPurpose Support Room = Backroom support. This is where I will spend the first few years of my career. The back room is the "starting place" where people are responsible for knowing their systems very well, but they aren't expected to be as well versed in recognizing and planning for the complete vehicle impacts and situation. They are responsible for their systems whereas front room controllers are responsible for knowing how their system impacts the vehicle as a whole. Subtle difference, but very key in making the transition from one to the other.
HawkI (pronounced Hawk-eye) = Way too many engineering terms mashed together to describe here. Ask me sometime if you are feeling nerdy. This is the backroom call sign for our group. Right now I am training to be a HawkI.
Simming = Training with the simulators. We spend months learning about our systems in training manuals, tests, and written workbooks. Once we have a solid knowledge foundation, we learn to apply it with the simulators. This is our first real taste of what it is like being a flight controller and where you learn things like communication and listening skills. Eventually I will learn to follow 4 conversations at the same time... Right now I'm only good at about 2. (If that.)
OJTing = Training by watching. When there are flights going on, or before I am assigned to my own sims, I will train by watching other people work and asking a lot of questions. This is know as On the Job Training or OJT. Right now with the flight I am OJTing all the time. When there isn't a flight going on, I am spending time each week OJTing with the people who are simming. Confused yet? :)
Somewhat random post, but if you see any other terms here that you don't understand, feel free to post a comment and ask! I'll be more than happy to add to the list!
With the successful launch of the shuttle last night, I will start working the night shift this evening! The first couple nights are 1am - 10am shifts, followed by 7 days of 9pm - 6am.
I'm training during the planning shift to get a good feel for the work we nominally do, which is planning, planning and more planning. If you want to try and get a peek at me, I'll be working in the ISS Front Flight Control room tonight and tomorrow. I'll be sitting in the front with Todd until Tuesday when I move to the back room. I will do my best to keep you all posted, but watch the blogs linked on the right and you'll get a pretty good picture of all that is going on. :)
All systems are currently go for the launch of Space Shuttle Discovery on the 3rd mission to the Space Station this year! Launch is scheduled for 8:35 CST. For more information on the flight, go here! I get to work the planning shift this mission, which means I don't see the activities (like EVAs and such) but I'll be learning more about the standard activities we do on console every day. It also means I'll be working overnights, so I'll let everyone know when not to call. :)
Well crap. For such a great weekend it sure ended on a not so great note. In the last hour I tried to put up my new shelves but some of the hardware was missing. Bust. Then I tried to make the first batch of toffee for the year and definitely flash burned the butter and sugar. That's not supposed to happen. Bust. And the final straw was that in burning the butter and sugar I think I might have ruined my brand new super pan. Triple bust. Bring on the week...
From the Sears commercial I just saw:
"There's nothing like sticking your hand in the business end of a turkey before sunrise."
What's your favorite?!
Holy ouch! I definitely decided I need to get some cleats... Tonight while rounding third I took a nice slide toward the dugout and tried really hard to get the guy behind me out. My rear end took the majority of the beating and my shin took the rest. Gotta love days that end on a wipe out note! :)
(And stupid Hobby Lobby told me my wreaths weren't on sale but apparently they are. Evil Hobby Lobby. Don't they know that I bring their profits up for the entire month of November?!!)
On a SUPER happy note: my frames are done! Check it out!
Three day weekends are the best. Between my roommate and I, our place is starting to look bright and shiny for the holidays!
On Friday we went out and got the last minute items for our Thanksgiving table and I picked up some fresh new colors for my bedroom. I'm hoping to get my room prepped for painting this week and give it a whole new look in time for the holidays. The room is currently an odd camel brown color and I'm thinking I'll turn it a slate blueish-grey color. I have some aqua colored pillows as accents and all white bedding and furniture, so it should look quite cheery when I'm done. :) I can't wait!
We also got all of our Thanksgiving planning out of the way and finalized the shopping list for next weekend. I'm excited to host the Orphan-Thanksgiving again this year ... if you know anyone who needs a home and a warm meal for Thanksgiving send them my way! Our table is big and I only ask for a little bit of a heads up and some dessert. :)
Saturday I finished the first two of my Christmas projects. One wreath is down and two more to go. The other project was a set of framed mirrors for our big yellow wall behind the couch. I had to get my mirrors cut down to a standard frame size (they were metric ... the only downside to IKEA) but as soon as I pick them up I will get pictures posted! They turned out much better than any of my roommates expected, but just like I had pictured in my head... I love it when that happens. ;)
Sunday is wrapping up the weekend. I finally got a slip cover for our really (really) gross sofa in the living room and cleaned up the bathroom with a new shower curtain and bath mat. I just need to get in some last minute studying for my command board tomorrow and this weekend will have been a success!!
All told, things are looking up! I can't wait to show you all the fruits of my crazy (or as my roommate likes to say "Martha-esque") labors...
Or rather, anything but! This weekend was AWESOME! I went crazy at all of the Christmas sales that were going on this week and I'm just about ready for the holidays... Here is just a sample of the spoils from the weekend:
And you can see the rest of it here! I'm still working on getting my Christmas Tree, some jingle bells, garland, a tree skirt, and stockings but I'm almost there!
Christmas is a big thing in my family's house. Every year on the Friday after Thanksgiving my mom and I break out a dozen or so tubs of Christmas decorations, lights, ornaments, and fun and go wild turning our house into a catalog home. This year I get to start decorating my own place (okay, not my own - but Justin said I could!) and I'm on the hunt for Christmas decorations.
A few people in my office think I'm crazy for getting started this early, but this is when the sales are good and the selection is great as well!
My question for the rest of the world:
When is too soon for Christmas to start in stores? I agree with most that you can't start decorating in October, but I think it's fair for craft stores and places that sell Christmas goods to put them on the shelves by then... It gives me time to get everything together before the day after Thanksgiving!
And poll #2 for the post:
What kind of Christmas tree do you like to see next to the hearth at Christmas? The "catalog" or "pretty" tree with the matching ornaments, balls, garland and flowers or the tree full of memories - kid's ornaments, the crafts you made in kindergarten, and the ones that have their own stories that were given over the years? I have a special place in my heart and home for each, but I'm curious to hear everyone else's take on it!
I think it's safe to say that I have fairly random tendancies... Especially when it comes to food. It's a fairly normal occurrence to walk in my front door and decide to do something crazy like make chicken cordon bleu from scratch or throw together a seafood risotto just because it sounds good.
This weekend: Apple Pie. I don't know why, but I got a cinnamon apple candle and it smelled good so I decided to try my hand at apple pie. For those who know me well, you might know that baking is not exactly my strength. I tried to make chocolate cookies from scratch once... The boiling, burning mess that covered the bottom of the oven was all I had to show for it. I learned pretty early on that pre-made cookie dough was the way to go for me.
I had the bug, though, so I sent out the roommate for ingredients and started mixing up a pie dough (yup! The pie shell was even from scratch), peeling apples, and getting things ready for the experiment du jour. The crust seemed to go well - I only lost count of my tablespoons of water once and it seemed to be close to the consistancy of store-bought pie dough. Justin made the caramel sauce that went over the apples and we had family movie night while it baked.
When it came out of the oven 45 minutes later, it was a beautifully browned, delicious smelling success with only minor issues that come with experience! The crust is a little on the tough side because I think I got an extra tablespoon of water in it after all, but the apples are amazing and the overall effect was quite tasty. I vote SUCCESS! Next stop ... pecan pie to practice for Thanksgiving. Any good recipes out there?
So I suppose it's safe to say that I haven't posted in a while - but for good reason! It's been pretty busy lately with a trip home, some family matters (that have turned out very well thank goodness!), work, and life in general.
The good news: My trip was AMAZING! I was super excited to go home, and I knew it was going to be a good trip when I flew in with my mountains on my side of the plane and a beautiful view of some snow-topped peaks the whole way into Colorado. A quick rundown of the highlights for my trip:
Seeing my family ...
Visiting my grandma ...
Running into an old friend from high school for the first time in years ...
Running into an old friend from high school and seeing her baby for the first time ...
Hanging with my college kids (ah the joy of not being a course assistant anymore)!
Chatting with one of my favorite mentors of all time (thanks Bennett!) ...
Watching the best football game I've ever seen (even though we lost to Baylor) ...
Running into a friend from Pennsylvania at the football game ...
Watching CU lock up their first win of the season: 30-6 over Texas Tech baby!!
Eating Half Fast, Noodles, Tokyo Joes, Lucille's, and Mom's cooking ...
And last, but certainly not least:
Eating breakfast on Flagstaff Mountain with the best views of Boulder in the world. It's definitely one of the things I miss most about Boulder and was arguably one of the most peaceful, rejuvinating, and best things I did on my whole vacation.
Overall, the trip was great. It reminded me of all that I love about Colorado and how much I miss it, but I'll be going back again soon!
I haven't been very good this past week about keeping things up to date, but it has been a crazy week...
First and foremost - Austin City Limits was AWESOME!! I'll try to get pictures here at some point (I have to get them from friends who went with me) but overall the weekend was a blast! Some discoveries I've made as a result:
1. Not-on-the-radio John Mayer is actually pretty good ... I was ashamed to admit it, but I may have to check out his latest blues CD to see what the radio isn't smart enough to pick up.
2. Ben Harper plays a mean Stevie Ray Vaughn.
3. Phoenix = small band of the weekend.
4. My roommate has way better taste in music than I do (thanks Justin!).
Post ACL, things have definitely been on a downward swing... but that means they have to head up eventually, right? I'm thinking about you Grandma and I love you! See you in October...
Here's to good friends and a shoulder to cry on.
It's official - the Space Station has two more arrays for power generation bringing the total number to four! Today was the day when the arrays were deployed and everything went well. There was a delay due to some issues with the Solar Array Rotary Joint (the primary steering mechanism) but once those were resolved the deploy went as planned.
Solar Array Deployed 50%Now that we've launched the shuttle, this marks a busy week for me. Well, it was much tougher before we delayed the launch, but it's still a crazy week:
Monday #1: 3:30am - 12:30noon
Monday #2: 7:30pm - 4:30am
Tuesday: 7:30pm - 4:30am
Wednesday: 11:30am - 8:30pm
Thursday: 3:30am - 12:30 noon
Friday: AUSTIN CITY LIMITS FESTIVAL!!
So if I don't answer my phone call during my off hours there's a good chance I'm sleeping. :)
Let the construction begin! The shuttle is in the air and on the way to the space station to do the next assembly mission. I'm on my way to work in a couple of minutes to get the books ready to go, but I'll try to keep you up to date as the mission progresses.
Liftoff of AtlantisThe meeting is over and it looks like we are a go to attempt a launch tomorrow. Will we succeed? Who knows... they are doing more testing and analysis tonight that could put a ceasefire on the entire deal. But fingers and toes are crossed because it will only get more difficult the longer we wait.
(Only mixed news - I have tickets to the Austin City Limits Festival next weekend which means I'll miss the end of the mission. What timing...)
Today was a day of mixed highs and lows... Here goes the summary.
Bad News: The launch was scrubbed. See Scrub #1 below for the explanation...
Good News: I might have a chance to be command certified (meaning I've completed the training required to be eligible to perform commanding tasks to the Station) by the end of next week. This doesn't mean I actually get to command - that won't happen until I get through my complete system certification - but I'm another step closer.
Bad News: The launch for tomorrow was scrubbed. See Scrub #2. Maybe Friday?
Good News: We won our first softball game!!
Bad News: We lost our second.
Good News: I was hitting like a champ in the home run derby after the games!
Bad News: One of the guys got nailed in the head with a line drive in the home run derby.
Good News: No concussion and he doesn't need stitches!
Bad News: I almost hit a deer on the way out of the field.
Good News: I stopped in time and missed him!
Bad News: In stopping abruptly my cell phone slid forward from underneath my seat to be miraculously "found". ... yup. That's right. 3 days after I paid uber-dollars to replace it. Gotta love the timing.
Good News: I don't have to spend an additional $25 on a new sim card for the phone?
*sigh* It seems petty to complain after all of the shockers that have happened to family and friends, but we'll focus on the positives for now: Launch on Friday (fingers crossed people!), no expensive damage to a head, no damage to the car, and a few extra dollars saved on replacing a "lost" phone. All in a days work, I suppose.
Well, with only three possible launch days we've scrubbed on day #1. Apparently they are having fuel cell problems that require troubleshooting. Details here, but here's hoping that we can launch tomorrow!
... when at the softball field: go ahead and leave your cell phone in the car. I made the mistake of taking mine with me and I've been trying to replace it ever since. So if you've been attempting to call me - fear not! I am not ignoring you. I am simply disconnected from the world. Hopefully I will get a replacement sometime very soon (Tuesday? Maybe?) but it should be in the mail.
Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to present ... MY NEW TOY!
Yup. Decided to go all "high tech" and stuff. I figured since I was paying for it anyways, what the hey. Might as well get something I like! I learned my lesson, though, and phone replacement insurance is now being added to my plan.
Have I mentioned lately that I'm excited about the start of the football season? Temperatures are dropping, grills are getting hot, and the men of winter are ready to bang it out for another season. Hooray!! Only one more week of preseason madness then let the real games begin!
The highlight of last night's games: Denver won (of course), Raiders lost (yippee!), and Cutler is looking better and better.
Cutler making waves...
Atlantis on the padI've been meaning to put together one of these things since I got to Houston. I'm bad about e-mail and I'm not very good at the phone either, so this is my attempt to keep people up to date.
Keep checking back here to get updates on what has been happening, what I've been thinking, and what's going on next!
