Workshop

Today was my first day peering into the world of scientists. The Mars mission I'm supporting had its first landing site workshop, which is where the scientists get together and, given what we know now, start to discuss where would be the best place to land. It's pretty neat, and a very democratic process. Lots of discussion and they eliminate sites one by one. Sometimes it is rather dramatic, due to the personalities and subject matter: everyone has their own favorite landing site.

There were some ideas I thought of with during the discussion, and there is someone from the USGS we may work with in the future to help describe the performance and limitations of the entry system on a global scale. Which will be very useful for helping the scientists chose landing sites. So that was pretty cool.

I must have been getting tired near the end of the day, though. A prominent Mars scientist, who is a principal investigator for several Mars missions, was rather emphatic that the scientists needed more data from the 'lazy' engineers on the shape of the landing ellipse and that this laziness shouldn't be tolerated. Perhaps he was joking, but I didn't hear that in his tone. Instead, I heard an insult directed at my team, and in particular, at me. So I promptly stood up and answered him, explaining why the ellipse was the way it was and that it probably wouldn't be changing any time soon. As I finished, my project manager spoke up and managed, with a single comment, to turn the matter lightly, evoking some chuckles, and calm the situation. Which I appreciated. We spoke with the scientist afterward, he apologized for his choice of words and he had some good suggestions on how the engineers could help future landing site discussions.

Anyways. I don't think it was my most diplomatic moment out here. I'm still fuming a little bit about it. And wondering if I could have handled it better. I always wonder how to handle things better.

Sarah's flying out tonight, we have another technical review tomorrow so I'll have to miss a day of the workshop. Hopefully on Friday I can catch the end of it. I wonder how many baseballs games I'm going to see with Sarah over the next few days...

Passed

Tomorrow is 30 days before the expected launch of STS-121. This means that I'm incredibly busy at work. I'm just hoping that I won't have to work much this weekend. Everyone keeps asking me if we're really going to launch in July. Well, I can't exactly say. But, I really think we're going to try.

I had my final rendezvous cert sim last week. It went fairly well. It looks like I won't have to do it again. :)

CrazyNASAAnimals.com

My co-worker friends and I have a running joke about creating a web site called CrazyNASAAnimals.com. On it we would post pictures of all the crazy animals we see on NASA property. At JSC I've seen or heard about sightings of longhorn cattle, prarie chickens, deer, armadillo, possum, snakes, alligators, ducks and ducklings. The best has to be the commando squirrel that we watched doing backflips and crawling around on its belly during lunch one day.

Or that was the best. As Gavin and I were leaving JPL when I was out there, we came across this...


A bobcat! Crazy!

Homeward

This week's review is over. We passed. I got some special kudos for my work, which was nice because I worked my butt off for it. I'm looking forward to heading back home tomorrow.

I sat in at the end of the open-to-the-public NASA Advisory Committee meeting today, it was rather dry but there were some interesting tidbits about programs and budgets and agency objectives that will be useful to think about in the years ahead. Plus, I got to sit in the same room as Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin. I wonder how often that happens these days. It will be a sad day when that is no longer possible. There were several dozen other people who probably deserve mention for their accomplishments, but I didn't recognize them all.

As I'm packing in my hotel I just saw a TV advertisement of prescription medication for Restless Leg Syndrome. I don't think it's the best example I've seen of American ingenuity.

Slug Fest

I went to the Astros game last night, and it sucked. You can read what Sarah wrote about it if you're interested, I don't want to depress myself by rehashing it. Of course the Astros are currently trailing the Giants AGAIN by 6 runs in the 8th. What happened to our offense? What happened to our pitching? :P

I was a total slug this morning. I didn't have to show up to work until this afternoon, so I slept in. Late. My alarm clock woke me up at 11am late. I guess jetting out to the west coast for the weekend isn't the way to put yourself in an early morning mindset. I'm going to have to go in at a decent hour tomorrow because we have some presentation charts due at noon. :P

Astros now trailing 10-1. :(

I've been slowly turning into an ice cube during my sim today. Becca and I called the facility guy 3 times to complain. I don't think it does any good. I'm going to start coming to sims in a parka. Something with a fur lined hood might get the point across.

Fast Forward

So, I'm back from Cali and I've already gotten right back into work. I had to go in for a while after I got back to Houston at 1:15PM, but I ducked out early. I was tired, and I'm going to have to work enough later this week.

This next part is going to drive Sarah nuts. When I got back from seeing Jo at Mely's tonight, I turned on the TiVo to watch the Astros game. After three innings it was 8-0 Giants. Now, I'm still a bit tired, and I have to get up early in the morning. So rather than suffer through this game for 3 hours in real-time, I'm watching it on fast forward. The low setting, so I can see what's going on. See, I told you Sarah wouldn't like it. For the record, this is the first time I've ever done this. But it was so depressing to start with, and I don't like reading game recaps as much as watching. Think of it as a visual recap... :)

For only the second time, I think, since I started listing my next trip in the header of my blog, I don't have one there. I don't actually have a trip planned at this point. Oh, sure, I have grand plans that include catching my niece's 2nd birthday party in August or sneaking off to Colorado for a weekend of backpacking. Those are just vague plans, though, with no target dates or even sureties of coming to pass. It's the Shuttle mission. I just can't make plans. I was in this same situation last year, too, but I had a smaller role in the mission and Sarah had the Washington trip planned for Labor Day that I could put out there as a tentative. Now there's nothing. Anybody wanto to plan a trip somewhere for Labor Day that I won't be able to commit to until August?

Nature

As it turns out, I had a lovely day yesterday. I took my time getting up in the morning, took a nice long bath, and watched some TV. Gavin came back and took me out to lunch at Big Boy Diner, because it's next to his hotel and we just had to, you know? Then he had to go back to work for what he estimated would be at least four hours.








So, I kidnapped his car and camera and drove up the Angeles Crest Freeway until I got up above most of the pollution. I took my time, stopping at all the turnouts to get out of the car and play with the camera. I didn't have a destination in mind, so I just followed the road signs to wherever seemed interesting.







I ended up driving up Mt. Wilson. As it turns out, I'd just missed the walking tour of the observatory. Darn! OH well, I spoted a sign pointing to a trail that says "Vista Point .8 miles". That sounded like a good place to see. So, I walked about a mile down the Rim Trail through the telescopes at the observatory.









When I reached Vista Point, I was rewarded with a somewhat hazy view of another mountain that still had some snow left on top! I haven 't been able to learn the name of that mountain... Any California readers that can hazard a guess? The view is to the north from Mt. Wilson.







Since I didn't have any water, I turned back at this point. I drove back toward LA a bit, and with some help from the ladies at the Native American Culutral center found a great little hike by a stream, through the woods, to Switzer Falls. That hike took a bit longer than I'd anticipated, mainly due to me stopping every 20 ft to take pictures (SLRs are fun!). I had to hoof it back to the car to get back down to JPL to pick Gavin up.



Gavin decided that I hadn't walked far enough at that point and took me to Brand Park. This park is only a few blocks from his hotel, and is huge. We climbed a little mountain in the park. I was pretty tired at this point, and the air was pretty smoggy, so I didn't take any pictures there.

All in all, very satisfying. I love the idea that you can go hiking for an afternoon and be back by dinner!

LA Obscured

I'm in California this weekend to visit Gavin. Unfortunately, he's got a lot of work still to do. He's there right now, and may be there all day. I thought this might happen with next week being the review and all, but it was the only weekend that I could come. At least I'll get to see him at night. :(

I was watching Supernanny on TV the other week, and they had this family on where the dad worked 3 1/2 hours away from home and only came home on Sundays. They'd been doing that for years. How crazy is that? I couldn't ever do something like that long term. Even this 4-month thing is driving me nuts. The craziest part was that the wife was a stay-at-home mom. Hello! Move closer to work!

Anyway, it's a nice day outside, but the air is LA polluted. I can see some hiking trails on a mountain about a mile away, but I'm afraid that getting there would induce resperatory failure. Seriously, look at this mess!

Feeling Satisfied

I've been working hard at home the last few days. I went on a cleaning spree, assembled new book shelves, put up display shelves, and mowed the lawn. I think I'm done for a bit, now. Until I decide to organize the storage room...

I bought Zoya a new dog house FINALLY. We sacrificed the dog shanty to the hurricane preparations last summer. Anyway, I just got another igloo house like Roxy has (but smaller). I dragged the new house into the back yard and set it next to the old house, and now I'm going to have to clean all the mildew off the old house because the contrast between the two makes it look completely awful. Stuff like that bugs me - even if it's just a dog house.

Crunch Time

Last few days are turning into a blur.

Weekend was great, I got to see Loretta and George and a few other people at the conference, plus Cari since she was in town. The conference was good. Very different focus from the research/technical forums I'm used to at AIAA. I liked it. Next year is in Dallas, I may try to go then too. I got to sit next to a woman who works in a restaurant in Philadelphia. She came out to the conference because she feels that space is the future. I think she watched Armstrong live on TV.

Since the conference lasted through Sunday, I didn't really get much of a weekend. I worked 12 hours yesterday. Probably will do the same today. And probably tomorrow. Getting some work done and starting to make slides for our big review next week.

Jen is supposed to come this weekend which will be fantastic... if I'm done by Friday. If I'm not done, I think it'll be great she's here but she probably won't be as happy.

Shiny

I got a new computer at work. It has a flat panel monitor, 80G of hard drive space, and a DVD-ROM / CD-RW drive. It is very pretty. It also syncs with my Palm Pilot, which is so exciting I'm bouncing in my seat. I haven't been able to do that for like 6 months.

Yesterday I went on a cleaning frenzy. This is good, because the house needed it. In addition to the normal rooms I cleaned the game room, which hasn't been done for ages, and as a bonus I did some wall hanging. Darts anyone?

Obsession

I like shoes a lot. Now, I know several of you are picturing little baby sneakers. I admit I have a think with baby shoes. But, let’s be fair, really, I have a thing with shoes that fit me, too.

So, I want you to understand the emotion here when I say that I LOVE THESE SHOES! I may just have to go to Utah and steal them from that crazy ex-Mormon dooce because it’s not fair that anyone else but me should have these.

Blushing

I had to think for quite a while to come up with the following list. Not because I don’t get embarrassed easily, but rather because I hate being embarrassed so much that I tend to bury the experiences. Anyhow, here we go…

Jen’s Most Embarrassing Moments

1) Third grade. Determined to emulate my friend Denise, I sat through an entire school assembly with my legs folded back and my feet sticking outward next to my behind. At the end of the assembly the lights came on and I discovered that a) This made my legs fall asleep so badly that I couldn’t walk, and b) The snap on the old brown courdory pants my mom was still making me wear, which were too tight, very old, and very unattractive, had come unsnapped and unzipped prompting one of my classmates to announce that "Jenny’s taking a breather".

2) Junior year in college. I have to go beg a professor to allow me to take a final late because I thought it was at 1:30pm when it was actually at 10:30am.

3) Eleventh grade. My first solo in choir goes south when I get so nervous my voice suddenly develops a vibrado as wide as the Mississippi valley.


So, if you were me, where would you put the following on the list?

Age 29. Not *quite* making it to the bathroom before getting sick in the Mission Control Center just as everyone is coming into work at 8am Tuesday morning.

Back in LA

I'm back at JPL this week. The first review (of several this month) is going well. My presentation at the end of the day yesterday was just "alright", I think I got my message across but I may have provided too much info -- info they will see in more detail at the next review.

Later this week we have the International Space Development Conference, which has a great lineup of speakers this year. I haven't gone to this conference in the past, but I will be going to this one. Hopefully I can grab a seat in the luncheon where Burt Rutan speaks.

I came across an interesting blog post (here) today that discusses how the President and Congress, for the foreseeable future, are going to be valuing from NASA and whether or not NASA is taking that into account as they make the plans to return to the moon. It's good. It makes sense.

I got back to my room last night after a nice dinner with the team, and caught Notting Hill. It's a girl movie. I've seen it once or twice, and for a girl movie it's pretty funny. I normally wouldn't watch it again, but seeing it reminded me of Jen who I saw it with the first time. So I watched it again.