Farewell, Constellation, We Hardly Knew Ye

So, yeah the world is pretty much turning upside down here in Space Town. For those that aren't part of the NASA crowd, the 2011 budget published by the Obama administration this week cancels the Constellation program, which was the new human spaceflight program intended to follow the Shuttle retirement late this year. And it has been replaced by - nothing.

I can't even really process all this right now, especially since I haven't been to work in months. I have just two coherent thoughts right now.

First, I like the idea of outsourcing access to low Earth orbit and the ISS to private companies. I really do. However, I am terribly afraid that technical, financial, or legal concerns will get in the way of those private companies realizing their designs and ultimately producing that access. And then the USA will be stuck with no way to get people into space. Without a NASA vehicle as a backup plan, that would be a very bad situation and could last a decade or more.

Second, in my (admittedly limited) experience hobby shop innovation projects that are not connected with concrete programmatic goals rarely ever produce anything useful. This budget removed the programmatic goal and replaced it with a nebulous call for innovation. I see that being a money sink that will ultimately result in the budget being taken away because nothing is being produced.

I could maybe get on board with this if I believed that the NASA budget would be used to fund a series of flight test development projects with very well-defined and concrete technologies that are needed to further human exploration of our solar system. I don't think that's what's going to happen, though.

The administration and the NASA DC crowd is insisting that this is a "bold new vision" for human spaceflight. That we will be exploring to solar system on some yet to be defined timeline. They are going to have a hard time convincing the line troops that's the case. From down here, it looks like the politically expedient way of starting to shut down NASA's human spaceflight program without actually admitting that's what you're doing.

There's a Person in There!

I think we're on the cusp of the twins starting to get some personality. It's strange how one day they are just kind of little wiggly lumps with vacant eyes, and the next you see them give you a look and you're like "Dude! There's a person in there!"

Screecher is starting to lose his worried old man look in favor of curious little boy. Worried old man was funny, but I kind of like the one that makes him look like a baby more. He's still pretty quick to cry if he doesn't like how things are going. He has a pretty intense pre-cry pouty face, too.

Squeaker is just going to be a sweetheart, that's all there is to it. She makes cute little coos when she's comfy on your shoulder, and cute little squeaks when she's not liking the way things are going. She smiled a coulple times today, and we're debating whether they were almost real smiles or just gas. (If it's gas, she has cute gastrointestinal distress, too.) She didn't cry at all during her bath tonight, which is a relief. You'd think during those early weeks that bathtime is highly invasive baby torture from all the screaming. Still not getting any splashing so I think it's more about tolerating the torture better, but we'll get there.

Gavin says we should nickname Carina Screecher to go with the twins nicknames. She's definitely at that age. Although, I think it's cutest when she puts a finger to her lips and whispers "We have to be quiet, the babies are sleeping" in that over-exagerated 2-year-old way. She's loving the higher frequency of pizza nights that we've been having since the twins came home. She keeps charming the delivery people by jumping up and down at the door yelling "Yea, pizza! Yummy!"

I went to the mall today since it was rainy. I can't go more than 10 feet without having to stop and answer the same questions.

Yes, they're twins.
They're 8 weeks old.
They're fraternal - a boy and a girl.
They're going about 5 hours between feedings once a day.
Yes, I was surprised when I found out.
No, we don't have twins in either family.
No, they're not my first, I have a 2-year-old as well.
Yes, I have my hands full.

How Not to Impress

How not to impress a prospective employer:

Respond to my add for childcare telling me you are 17 years old, have been babysitting progressively "tounger" kids for years, and you are a "cery truthful" person. Do not capitalize anything in the message.

I'm trying out care.com. I haven't had any good leads word-of-mouth for people that are interested in part-time like we're looking for. One of the MOMs had luck finding someone on the site. I hope the other responses are bit more impressive.

Pronunciation is Key

I'm trying to put Drake down at the same time Carina is getting out of the bath. I thought I could change him and get him into bed while she played in the tub, but she was inexplicably not interested in playing for a long time tonight. I duck out of the bathroom while she's brushing her teeth to get the diaper changed. I hear her come out of the bathroom and go into her bedroom and figure she can entertain herself for a bit without me. I have Drake on the floor getting his new sleeper on when Carina comes into the nursery.

"Mommy, I'm copulating."

"You're WHAT?!" I look up at my naked 2-year-old wondering what innocent statement my adult mind has morphed into that sentence.

"I'm copulating!"

I sit there with my mouth open, frantically trying to figure out what she is telling me.

"I sitting on my diaper."

A giggle escapes me as understanding dawns. "Oh, you're cooperating! Good job, sweetie! Let me put Drake in his blankie, and I'll come put it on for you." Smiling to myself, I'm already blogging this in my head.

"Mommy, was that funny?"

"Yes, that WAS funny."

As I put her diaper on, we practiced saying "cooperating". She still puts an 'l' in it, but I think I got it to "cooperlating". Not as funny, but more appropriate.