MleFire's Blogging Wonder

Tornados

2011-05-03T16:48:00.003-05:00

I just thought I would update everyone on what is going on now that I got power back.

As many of you have probably heard, last Wednesday north Alabama got hit pretty hard by a series of tornados.

That morning, (Wednesday, 4-27) I was woken by the siren once before my alarm even went off. It went off again as I was getting ready to head to work. The sirens went off twice while I was at work and one of those times we had to take shelter for over an hour. I found out from my room mate that while during the time we spent an hour taking shelter that the power at our apartment went out for a while.

By the time I got home the power was on again. I turned on the TV to keep an eye on the weather and stocked my closet up with lots of pillows. Around 5/5:30 the weather people said there was a confirmed tornado on the ground just up the block from my apartment complex. Just a few minutes after that and the power went out. Sadly the radio I thought ran on batteries didn't so I really had no idea what was going on. I am very glad that I didn't hear any freight train sounds of a tornado.

After a while I could see that it wasn't raining anymore and ventured out side. from what I could see nothing much had really happened. There were some leaves and twigs scattered around, and someone's doormat got blown to the bushes, but that was it. My cell phone wasn't letting me call or text anyone but my ca radio did have some info. Some teenage in my complex told me that she had gotten a call from someone telling her that more was coming though in less than an hour so I went back inside.

Around 8:30/9:00 everything had pretty much blown through. I went out to my car to listen to the radio and to try and charge my phone. Managed to make some calls finally. I let my parents know I was fine then called to let my roommate know that our building was still standing, though with out power.

We were with out power from Wednesday night around 5:30pm and finally got it back Tuesday around 1pm. Six day's is more than I want to go with out power unless I am at out cabin and then I am prepared for it. Up there we have the lake and the boats and something to do.

The damage immediately around where we live is not bad. That tornado must not have been to big. Some signs and trees and shingles. I will post all those pictures soon.

Any way, I am safe, I have a roof over my head, and now I have power. We don't have anything left in our fridge but we do have a lot of hamburger left that managed to stay cold.

Updates and Exciting News

2011-03-24T20:54:00.003-05:00

I know my posts are sporadic and far between, but I got another one for you! And not too long since the last one. So here it is, an update on a very busy few months.

The mission development I started doing back in January is going well, especially now that we finally have our capsule and lunar lander simulators. I have typed up what sometimes feels like a billion checklists. Though really it's probably only about 100, maybe a little less.

I also designed an experiment that basically involves looking at an ant farm. It's much more exciting than it sounds.

I had two weeks away from development the end of February/beginning of March to do Honeywell. Honeywell is a special leadership program we put on for high school aged kids of Honeywell employees. This year was the second year space camp has had this program but it was my first time working it.

It is an awesome but exhausting program. I was working a lot of 16 hour days for those two weeks. After many revisions of what I would actually be doing for those two weeks I ended up being support the first (helping out team leaders and management) and had a team the second.

I had kids from all over the world; China, Check Republic, Poland, England, Spain, and the U.S. By the way, pronouncing names in Spanish OR Chinese properly is one thing. Pronouncing Spanish AND Chinese names one after the other as you read there names off at graduation AND saying them the right way is quite another.

During that second week of Honeywell I had one or two members of management tell me I should apply for the open weekend sims supervisor. I told them "Maybe." I had applied to be a supervisor and not been chosen 4 times since I started working here. I didn't really feel like being rejected a 5th.

I did end up applying with help from my awesome roommate; in my sleep deprived state I wasn't forming coherent sentences. A few days later I had my interview and a long and agonizing weekend later I was approached by the weekend manager. He offered me the position. YAY!!!

I'M GONNA BE A SUPERVISOR!!!

So starting tomorrow (Friday) I am officially a supervisor. Finally. Sadly though, they, the powers that be, said I couldn't keep working development. The fact that I am now a supervisor has become more real as the week has progressed. I got my management uniform shirts on Wednesday. I got my keys today. I also got a lesson on what I don't already know about the Mission floor. Like where I turn the lights off at the end of the night, or how to run the chaperon viewing room (where missions are recorded).

Sometime tomorrow I think I'm getting certified to run the 2 sims (rides) that I'm not already. Hopefully I'll be getting set up on the computer as well.

So, that is the last few months and my exciting news in one long blog post. I need to post more often so I don't have to type so much.

Until next time...

Rants and Cookies

2011-02-19T23:21:00.004-06:00

So, how are gas prices in the rest of the country? They are ridiculous here in Huntsville. Even Kangaroo, the place I usually get gas at is over three dollars, and it used to be the cheapest. There where a few days where BP and Exxon where cheaper than Kangaroo. Crazy! The new Kroger gas station held out the longest. They just got over three dollars and are still the cheapest by far.

Any way, here's to hoping that prices drop soon.

On a completely different note; Support your local Girl Scout Troops, and buy some cookies! There is an awesome FREE app for iPhone and iPod touch that locates where Girl Scouts are selling in your area. It only happens once a year! And really, who can resist a five year old Daisy G.S. asking if you want to buy some cookies?

New Opportunities!!

2011-01-13T17:08:00.005-06:00

Good things come to those who wait... and work hard. I guess it's true after all. Over the past year there have been a few instances where I have wondered at the sanity of management when they have chosen someone who is less experienced and has been working here half the time I have been working here for a position. Though I ended up being very glad that I didn't get either supervisor position that I applied for last spring because it meant that I got to have a 12 day team and have some of the best 2 weeks ever. Most recently I have been a little annoyed at who was chosen to be a mentor for the new counselors. and one person in particular. But that is something for a totally different post.

One of the reasons I most wanted to be a mentor was the fact that it would mean getting hours the next few weeks. January is always a slow month, (probably why new counselor training is this month,) and now that I have an apartment an even tighter month.

All that is about to change though!!

I got back home from doing some errands this afternoon and noticed that I had a missed call and a voice mail. It was one of the assistant managers asking me to call him back about some opportunity for hours. And what an opportunity it is!

For more than a year now Space Camp has been in the process of redesigning the space missions that kids get to do. Since Space Camp has started one of the things that has made it so awesome is a simulated Space Shuttle Mission. In fact, that shuttle mission is one of the things I most remember about my own time as a camper. Now that the Space Shuttle is being retired we decided we needed to update our own missions. Construction efforts started over a year ago tearing down one of our space station simulators and moving one of the Shuttles. (We used to run 5 missions at a time now its 4 and ongoing construction zone.)

Anyway, all this brings us to my opportunity for hours. I was chosen to help design the new missions. That means come up with the timelines, scripts, anomalies (problems), experiments, checklists, etc. for these new missions. I will be working with three other people regularly; the Assist. Manager who called me, a supervisor, and a fellow Advanced Academy Counselor.

I be getting regular 9-5 (well, really 9:30-5:30), Monday thru Friday hours for the next 4 months! All this fun-ness starts THIS MONDAY! If I had been chosen as a Mentor I would be done with that in a few 3-4 weeks. This is lasting me 4 Months!

Apparently when they (managers) started thinking about counselors to help out I was the 1st to pop into the previously mentioned Assist Managers head; because of my knowledge of the mission floor and just space knowledge in general.

I am so excited! This is going to be awesome. I'm sure I will be posting much more about this in the future but for now I am going to stop before I start rambling. (or ramble even more!)

Snow Photography

2011-01-13T16:48:00.006-06:00

This winter I have seen two good snow falls so far. (For the south that is). At home in North Carolina it started snowing Christmas afternoon. It snowed enough to make a decent snowman and to make driving thru the mountains interesting on my way back to Alabama. It also made for some really good pictures. It snowed here in Alabama this past sunday evening. Within minutes of noticing the snow it was sticking and within a few hours we had several inches. the news said we had 8.9 inches in total. (this is AL. that is A LOT!) It is also the most snow since 1993 for the area. Once again took some great pictures on Monday morning. The fallowing pictures are my favorites. Most of these are black and white though a few of my color ones look pretty good as well.

ENJOY!

Madison, AL, January 10th, 2011:

Greensboro, NC, December 26th, 2010:

Three years? Really? Time Flies...

2011-01-07T20:30:00.004-06:00

Today at work we had the State of the Center/ employee awards. Basically a Center wide meeting where our new CEO talked for a bit and they talked about what is coming up then they give out awards like "Employee(s) of the Year" and a few others. Most of the wards handed out were Length of service certificates for seasonal/part time employees that have been working at the Rocket Center for 3 or more years. Guess What! As of the sixth (yesterday) I have been working here 3 years! Amazing, I know. Counselors (like me) also got star pins to wear on our name badges, one for each year employed. I was excited about that because I had seen people who have worked here many years longer with these pins but they stopped giving them for a while. Then all of management got them about a month or two ago. I actually have more stars than at least 5 supervisors.

My Certificate, signed by our new CEO

My Name Badge on my Space Camp Jacket with 3 Shine Silver Stars!

Pancakes!

2010-12-19T13:52:00.007-06:00

I have been wanting to cook pancakes almost since I moved into my apartment. Not just any pancakes though, the wonderful fluffy pancakes that mom and dad make.

So I asked mom if she could find the recipe for me. After waiting a few weeks I told her I still hadn't received the recipe so she sent it again. I think she later found she had never mailed it.

When I finally got the recipe I decided it was the wrong one. The one I remember had you separate the eggs and then beat them so they were all nice and fluffy. I would be going home soon so I decided to wait and look for the recipe myself at Thanksgiving. And we did find one that had you separating eggs.

I still didn't make pancakes right away once I got back to my apartment. at first it was because I didn't have the ingredients then work got in the way. When I did have several days off I kept sleeping to late to make them, it would be lunch time when I got up.

It has now been three weeks since I got back to Alabama and I have FINALLY made my pancakes. They were delicious!

At the moment I don't have a griddle so I cooed my pancakes in the frying pan. I have discovered that frying pans lend themselves to Mickey Mouse Pancakes quite easily! Though the first one didn't work out well casue the batter didn't look like it was bubbling and thus ready to flip.

The Batter

Cooking

1st Attempt, Overcooked

Mickey Mouse (with squished face!)

Add syrup, YUM!

Christmas Decor!

2010-12-12T22:09:00.005-06:00

I have been meaning to post some pictures of my new (first) apartment since I moved in (4 months ago). Unfortunately work has gotten in the way and so has my messy room. Even though most who know me have seen my room when its messy, I'd rather not post those pictures on the internet.

So sorry, but you'll have to wait a little longer.

To tide you over though, here are some pictures of my Christmas decorations:

The lights as I drive into my apartment complex

Our little tree, and presents I've wrapped for family (guess which ones for you!)

My little Poinsettia

My stocking and advent calender

The Whole Picture! and our never been used fireplace...

My Christmas Light from outside...

The back and right side of Gingerbread house (Kim's part)

The front and left (my part!)

An attempt at taking a picture of my glowing tree... looks kinda cool anyway

Outside lights up close (with flash)

Up close again (without flash)

Apartment Life

2010-09-22T14:05:00.003-05:00

Apartment life is going well. It's really nice to be able to cook and eat REAL food; opposed to the crap they serve in the camp cafeteria or eating fast food. The apartment is still a little sparse. we have two folding chairs in our living room that would look more at place in a collage dorm room or a teenagers bedroom. But hey, at least we do have a place to sit. sadly thats all there is in the living room, no TV there (yet.)

Best news though is that we are soon (friday soon) getting internet! YAY! For the past month we have been going to the clubhouse to get internet and check important things like facebook... I mean our bank accounts. I have even gone several times to hang out at Barns and Noble or Starbucks to take advantage of the free internet there. Like right now, I'm sitting at B&N typing this. Though if i think about it it's not really not that free. Its free with the perches of a frappiccihno.

So, as soon as I've go internet at home (and my room is a little neater) I will finally post some pictures for all you wanting some.

Now other great news, maybe even better than internet, is that we are getting a washer and dryer! My most amazing brother Matthew is bring his old washer and dryer to us. only two more weeks of paying for clean clothes!

Matthew wins the #1 (out of 3) brother award! congratulations Matthew! as your reward, I'll wash your clothes for you in my new washer and dry them to! hehe.

stay tuned for pictures, coming soon!

Apartment!

2010-08-11T15:20:00.004-05:00

I have now found something Blog-worthy to talk about! actually there have been a few other blog-worthy things happening but in the summer I'm too busy to actually post them and then I forget. Any way, I digress. I am finally moving out of the HAB (basically dorm living for space camp counselors) and getting an apartment! About time!

I will be moving the 19th with my friend Kim. I get my own bedroom AND bathroom. (yay!) Finally have a kitchen so I can eat REAL food. (another yay!) hopefully we will eventually get a washer and dryer so we don't have to take our laundry to the onsite laundry.

I'm super excited!

I will give new address to all those family/friends that need/want it.

Firebaugh Family I have updated the online address directory.

Or ask my mom. I'm sure she now has it.

Tricky Mind

2010-04-23T13:01:00.002-05:00

Have you ever thought you did something but didn't do it, or didn't do something and thought you did?

That happened to me this week. I had a 2 day team and the last thing we did was launch our paper rockets.

We have a cool little launch pad; it has six pipes that we put the rockets on. Those are connected to an air compressor. Then we have a button that the press to launch, the counselor, (me) must be pressing the arm button at the same time for it to work. When they press the launch button air shoots out and launches the rocket.

Now, since the rocket launch is near to where the general public can get to it we have a little key in a small lock box right there. to turn the rocket launch on you have to put the key in the stop button making it pop out... and then you can go about launching rockets.

So now that you have the background, back to my story. I got to rocket launch and put in the combination to get the key then realized I didn't need it cause somebody didn't press the stop button last time. So I put the key back in and spun the combination out of whack and went on to launching. La-de-da. Went on with the rest of my day. Saw my team off, went to go take a nap.

Then I got woken up from my nap. It was one of the assistant managers calling to ask me if I had the key. I was the last one to launch rockets after all, and it was missing. I told him I put it back but checked my pants pocket anyway. Wasn't there. An hour or so later I was getting ready to go out to get some dinner when I picked something up off my messy floor and what do you know? There is The KEY.

I took it down with me and gave it to a supervisor, and since then I have been mercilessly teased. I even tried to avoid the night staff that night and still ran into all three of them. Uhg. Hopefully the weekend staff wont be teasing me about it cause I have to launch rockets there again this weekend.

Now the worst part? I still don't know how the key came home with me. I still swear that I put it back. Oh well. I did find it... eventually. And they found the spare.

Reality TV

2010-03-23T12:30:00.002-05:00

So I have never much been into reality TV. At least not the contest ones like Survivor, amazing Race, or The Apprentice. I do Like some of the Discovery shows like Myth Busters, Dirty Jobs, and whatever the crab fisher ones called. but those are more like documentary or educational shows... not really what we think of as Reality TV.

Any way, what does all this have to do with anything. Back the end of January my friend Kim said we should apply for the Amazing Race. I had at least seen clips of it and thought it better than Survivor and jokingly said yes. Next thing I know Kim has printed out the applications and we're making plans for our submission video. And the more I thought about it the more I could think of things I could do with the prize money. :-D

Sadly by the time Kim asked me and we started filling out the application we had about a week, maybe less before it had to be submitted. Add in one or both of us working and the Video Submission was not to be. Oh well. We are going to apply next time.

Since I'd never really seen Amazing Race other than catching the tail end while waiting for other shows, Kim decided that I needed to watch it. It was time to be educated in what I might be getting myself into. So for the past month and a half or so, every sunday night we get some take out and watch the Amazing Race. And sadly, I have now gone over to the Dark Side.

I am addicted. Yep, I even got online to watch an episode I'd missed due to work.

Some of the stuff they do is really cool. Plus it's a cheep way to see the world. I hope the Cowboys win. I hope the Models get eliminated soon. OMG, I really am addicted!!

We have also been watching another show on Sunday nights. Undercover Boss. It's Kind of cool. The CEO of a major corporation goes undercover working the jobs that are the backbone of their company. i.e. the head of a shipping company packing boxes, etc. At the end they reveal themselves and try to make changes in their company from what they saw. Some of what goes on is really hart felt and life changing.

But then again, at the end of every show I say, "so that person has 'whatever issue' going on and your giving them a promotion or money to help, but what about the other hundred people in your company who have the same or similar stuff going on in their lives?"

Anyway, tune in Sunday nights on CBS. and if I do get on Amazing race in 2 more seasons, you better be watching!

A New Kind of Chritmas Carol

2009-12-22T12:00:00.003-06:00

I know some who visit this will have already seen it on the Maya blog but I thought I'd post it here as well. This is a video of my niece Maya singing the Birthday Song. As it is almost Christmas we should probably teach her some carols, but this is still cute!

Holiday Season

2009-11-24T15:37:00.004-06:00

So this holiday season instead of making the 9 hour trip back and forth between Huntsville and Greensboro, for both Thanksgiving and Christmas, I decided to not go home for Thanksgiving.

I will be home for Christmas though. Probalby coming home to 16th or so.

So for the first time ever I am not going to be with my family for Thanksgiving. Instead I am spending the holiday with my friend Jeramy, (and for all who are wondering, no not my brother, and Jeramy is a girl,) and her family. There are several of us who are spending Thanksgiving with her and not going home, either because of the drive or the cost plain tickets.

Last night three of us went home with Jeramy. Had some dinner, went to walmart and had the tour of her home town in the dark. This morning we had waffles, went out back to shoot a shotgun, (she livs on a farm) then had the tour by day.

Now we are all sitting around watching a movie and on our laptops. Later this afternoon I am taking Kenny back to Huntsville because he is spending Thanksgiving with his family. Brian S. and Heather are coming tomorrow. tonight it is just going to be Me, Kim and Jeramy. It should be fun.

Have a great holiday everyone!

The Rise and Fall of the Breakfast Club

2009-11-10T21:29:00.004-06:00

One night the beginning of October, one of us (I don't remember who, I think it was Kenny,) had a craving for breakfast. SO, Kenny, Jeramy (not my brother), Krista, and I went to Ihop for breakfast... at 10pm-ish. And thus started a new tradition. I do not remember whose idea it was but we decided to for the "Breakfast Club." This club has only a few guidelines. First, It's only Breakfast Club if all four of us are there. Second, any guests must be approved by all of us. Third, uh... Maybe third is we get breakfast but it has to be at night? was that a rule?

The second time we had Breakfast Club we had the BEST waitress ever. When we go we look around for our waitress. she joined right in with our teasing and stuff. the time we went after that she actually switched with another waitress so she could have our table.

Some time after our first Breakfast Club outing we started calling every outing that any combination of the four of us went on a "Club." Sounds sort of 6th grade if you think about it but it was fun. Here are some of the clubs we had.

Girls Club- any outing where Kenny does not come with me, Krista and Jeramy. For example; when the three of us went to Macaroni Grill, and when we went to see Toy Story 3D... without Kenny.

Coffee Club- Kenny, Krista and I going to Barns and Noble's at 9:30pm for something warm to drink, toting our laptops along in hopes of some Internet with less firewalls. By the way... the Internet sucked and B&N closed 30 minutes after we got there.

Adventure Club- Krista started having adventures around the Huntsville area and then writing about them in her blog. The last time she and Kenny went I was going to go to... but they both thought the other was texting me... Oh well!

Apparently Jeramy and Krista had a Hair cutting club, and I think we had a few others but I can't remember right now.

Sadly, the clubs are sort of coming to an end because 1/4 of the Breakfast Club is leaving.
Krista is leaving Huntsville and the Rocket Center in less than 5 hours. Tuesday was her last day at work and we all went out for one last evening of trying to pretend she wasn't leaving. In fact, after everyone else has said their good byes and it was just the four of us in the ward room, we spent about 30 minutes trying not to say good bye.

Good Byes have now been said and I am going to miss you terribly Krista!

One thing for sure... if it is this hard to just say good bye to one person, what is it going to be like if I get this job I've applied for and its my turn to say good bye to everyone?

Goose Pond Vaction 2009, pt 1

2009-09-01T21:03:00.008-05:00

Since I know that there are some people who would like some pictures from our family vacation... here ya go. many more to come! (I think I took almost 600 pictures!)

The Family

Ally, Matthew, Emily (Emmy), Joshua (Papa), Maya, Mom (Noni/Karen), Dad (Bubba/Jon)
(Jeremy didn't come and has been disowned and Julia couldn't come since she had to work)
(Don't remember what Maya Called Matthew and Ally... if anything?)

Standing in a puddle... i got some Gortex shoes

Matthew standing around while Ally helps with dinner

Mom and Dad... yeah i know... just a bit blurry there

Mom Reading

Dad Reading

Matthew and Ally Grilling

Matthew and Ally

Maya getting a piggy back ride from her Papa

Maya playing in the tent

Maya looking at frogs with her Noni and her Papa

Maya, her Papa, her aunt Emmy, and Wally the Stegosaurus

BTW... just a random fact, my header picture is a Goose pond sunset taken a few years ago.

My Birthday

2009-04-30T22:44:00.005-05:00

Had a wonderful birthday today. I got lots of birthday wishes, via text, on facebook and in person.
I did have to work today but that was fine. Every time I went in the sims pit (the office and storage) to refill stuff for experiments or to wash out graduated cylinders Krista would say "Happy Birthday." Jeramy (friend, not brother) tried to get me to come over so she could get the cafeteria to sing to me at dinner. I ran away form that. ;-)
After work I went to Olive Garden with several friends and Krista even turned up after she got off. I of course, got sung to there and got a cake. Olive Garden actually gives you a real cake. I still have half of it, even after sharing. Got lots of birthday cards today. Maya even signed the card that Josh and Julia sent.
Thank you to Grandma and Josh for the $$. and I guess I should thank Mom for money too. speaking of which... have you paid for half of my wii fit yet?
So all in all a good Birthday. Now I am going to go and yell (aka, tell them sternly) at the kids in the room next to mine to be quiet as it is almost 11 and there lights out was at 9:30. they should be asleep by now.

Whats been going on in the life of Emily...

2009-04-11T21:09:00.001-05:00

Been working... mostly corporate camps. (aka, big company's send there employees here for team building stuff... and they get to do a little shuttle mission.) I haven't had a team of kids going on 3 months now, and depending on how Tuesday goes, possibly never again.
So what could change on Tuesday? I have applied for a supervisor position here at Space Camp. My interview is on Tuesday. Not entirely sure that I do want this position because it would mean no more teams, but it will be good experience.

On Friday had the craziest meeting ever. about half way through we had to go downstairs to the main museum area due to a tornado watch, the 3rd we've had in about a week and a half (the first 2 in the same day). Since it was a Friday the museum was busy so we had to find a (somewhat) quiet stairwell. It did hale but as far as I know no tornado... the rockets are all still standing anyway, and that is all that matters.
After the warning was over I and 3 others had to go and get som extra information about the upcoming corporate camp then my afternoon had dissipeared and it was time to get ready for the movies.

As a kind of reward for the crazy week we as counselors had been put through we got a FREE viewing of The Dark Knight in our IMAX theater. I was one of the only ones there who had seen it the previous summer when we had shown it. It was just as good if not better the second time in IMAX. (better becasue I didn't have to work the next morning after only a few hours sleep.

Other highlights of the week:

Washing my car only to have it rain and pollen fall on it so you can' tell.
Trying to find a plac to get my hair cut that did not have a long line and high prices.
Finaly getting my hair cut 4 inches and it still falls below my shoulders... wow!
Getting my tax refund... and its more than turbo tax said it would be, cool huh?

And a reminder to anyone who cares, my Birthday is soon!

New Advanced Counselors

2009-04-04T18:48:00.002-05:00

This past week I was scheduled to help train the new Advanced Academy counselors. I had a lot of fun. I got to teach them some of the mission stuff. I also got to teach them how to do egg rockets. I also ended up teaching a few more things because one of the managers was running late.
One of the best things about helping with the training is that I got to know some of the new counselors. I haven't really been around any of the counselors from the January (or February) training class. It was nice to be able to get to know the people I will be working with.

One thing this new group of AA counselors got to do that we didn't get to do when we trained in last year was an EDM (extended duration mission), which is our 6 hour mission. I did get to run it though. One of the problems we usually through for the kids is a tornado anomaly. what we do is send them tornado warning messages on their computers, then they have to go and sit out in the hallway for a little while. While they are out of the room we, as counselors, trash the room. We unplug headsets, over turn chairs, empty the med bag, and place hang a wire from the celling so they can get "electrocuted". Unfortunately I didn't get to do that anomaly with the new counselors. The reason?

Well, about an hour into the mission, just as the Mission Specialist where getting in their space suits and helmets and going "outside" to do their space walk one of the managers came into mission control and told me we had a "code 1". That means a tornado warning, and we have to go to one of the designated tornado areas. So we had to pause the mission and go into the museum. We sat there for about 45 minutes and then it was time for dinner. After dinner the mission went pretty well.

During the last two hours of the mission there is a second space walk. And once again as the Mission Specialists were getting harnessed up, a manager walked in and told us there was another code one. Luckily that one only lasted 10 minutes and the Mission Specialists were able to do their space walk. So, since we had two real Tornado anomaly's I didn't get to do a fake one.

Readership Poll

2009-03-22T17:26:00.002-05:00

Though I will keep writing this blog even if no one ever reads it is nice to know that someone does read what I write. So, if you look on the bar on the right side of the page you will notice a poll. I would be much appreciative if you voted in it.

I predict that there will be two or three in the Family column... thought it would be nice to know other people read my ramblings as well.

The Case of the Disappearing (and Reappearing) Toothbrush

2009-03-20T12:38:00.005-05:00

Yesterday morning I was in the bathroom getting ready for the day when I noticed my toothbrush was missing from its pocket in my shower caddy.

First thing I did was check the other pockets then I glanced at my friends caddy just to make sure I didn't put it there the night before. Both searches turned up no toothbrush. for a little while I thought that maybe I had never unpacked it from the trip to Memphis but it was now Thursday and we had been back since Sunday night... no way I had gone that long without brushing my teeth!

So, wondering where on earth my toothbrush disappeared to I went to target and bought a new one.
Last night I glanced at my shower caddy and noticed that my toothbrush was back!

Where did it go? How did it get back? these are questions I may never know but I do know that I am not useing my old toothbrush... I was needing a new one any way.

Time Change

2009-03-08T11:57:00.003-05:00

I hate daylight savings time. It messes with my head. This past week there have been fliers posted around the Rocket Center to remind employees of the time change. Guess they don't want us to be late for work. I noticed the fliers and made note of them, reminding my self to reset my clock and then promptly forgot about on Saturday night.

Luckily, (or not so lucky) I was still up at two (three) am. I had turned my computer off but then had to check something on it so turned it on again. I looked down at the clock and saw it was after three. I sat there for a second looking at the clock and wondered where the time went because I could swear It was before two when I turned the computer back on and then it was after 3am? I looked at my alarm clock and noticed that that one said it was only a little after two and for a second I wintered if I had messed up my clock when I was trying to set my alarm. Then I remembered about Daylight Savings Time and double checked my wall calender for the correct date, set the time on my alarm clock and went to sleep... cause really, 3am is rather late.

P.S. I luckily did not have to work today. though I was woken up by some really loud kids and I needed to do some laundry before the washers were taken... so I am running on not enough sleep. Maybe that is why this post is starting to look like a run on sentence. except I do have some punctuation. I am going to stop typing now.... until next time.

Things I've Learned This Week (or maybe the last couple)

2009-02-26T22:32:00.003-06:00

Sharpie now makes pens... not just markes. (thay also make highlighters but I've known that for a while.)
It is possible to delete my entire text inbox at once.
Same with the text sent and draft folders.
How to use the quick text function on my phone... makes thins so much easier... not that I wouldn't mind a full keyboard.
Facebook does not have an 800 number, or any number really.
Facebook doesn't have an Email address to contact them.
There is a Stairway right next to my room. Who knew?
Not to let my phone die... I had 5 texts and missed call when I got back to it at the end of the day.
Not to leave my phone in my car... or my room...
Not to lock my keys in my room (and to make sure said keys are on the key chain.)
My O key sticks.

Tune in next time for more "Things I've Learned!"

Math Problem Answeres

2009-02-08T17:04:00.002-06:00

The answers to the problems I posted. Apparently there are several ways to arrange it because my numbers were switched slightly.
Original Problem

The Back of My Head...

2009-02-06T21:57:00.003-06:00

Here is one of the media camp videos. One of the guys I put on the MAT posted his video on YouTube. Enjoy! Any yes... that is the back of my head.

Media Camp

2009-02-06T20:20:00.005-06:00

This weekend at space camp we have something going on called 'Media Camp.' Its pretty much what it sounds like, the media has come to camp. Thirteen different news anchors, newspaper, and magazine people are here to go through a little Space Camp weekend and to get their stories.

What does this mean? Well, the TV people each have their own camera person fallowing them around.

What does this have to do with me? I am working Space Station this weekend (teaching everyone in station what they need to know for their mission,) and as such, I'm working the Media Camp mission. I also helped out with some of the Astrotrek sims. These are the simulations that are modeled after real trainers that Astronauts used or might have used.

It has been really interesting working with these people so far. since they are all here to do a story for their various media outlets I have been filmed teaching them. They also stop to get shots or explain to the camera what they are doing. I was even interviewed at least twice. A few times, like when I was teaching them what to do in station and one of the times I ran the MAT (a sim) I had a microphone on.

At first all those cameras were pretty intimidating, but I got used to them as the day went on. When we were explaining about the sims one of the guys I was working with explained about the first one then said I'd explain about the second. When all those cameras turned to me my mind went a little blank. I have gotten much better with talking in front of group with all the teaching and graduation speeches I've done over the last year but that was definitely the worst I've ever done of explaining about the MAT. (even worse than the first time I had a team... as far as I remember... more embarrassing at least. I was better when I only had one or two cameras and it wasn't the whole group watching. And I was a little better prepared and didn't have someone saying "hey, Emily is going to tell you about this!"

Teaching station was kind of funny. I had the four person station crew and then three or four camera men and their TV cameras and tripods. It was slightly crowded even for one of our largest stations.

So when am I going to be on TV? Good question. I don't know. I only know where one of the guys is from, and that is because he is the Huntsville CBS Weather Guy. I put him on the MAT. Which once I recognized him and saw his name tag, I thought that was pretty cool. I may be able to catch that on TV, though I don't have a VCR. If and when I find out when any of this might be on and if any of it is national, I'll let you all know. (I for one really want to see this stuff.)

So all in all, I had a really interesting day. I have their mission first thing tomorrow so that will be cool.

More information to come.

This is the MAT. (Multi Acces Trainer). And yes, that is me on it when I came to camp when I was 14.

Math Problems

2009-01-30T21:47:00.003-06:00

Found these on CBS's Numb3rs site.

A. Arrange the numbers 1-8 on the corners so that the 6 faces have magic sum 18.
B. Arrange the numbers 0-7 on the corners so that the connecting edge always has a prime sum.
C. Arrange the numbers 1-12 on the edges so that faces and parallel edges have magic sum 26.
D. Arrange the numbers 1-12 on the edges and (0,1,2,3,4,7,9,12) on the corners so that each edge gives the difference between the corners it connects.

I have solved all of them.

At time of posting I have solved A, B, and C.

Updated Maya Video

2009-01-22T23:46:00.003-06:00

7 Pounds

2009-01-21T21:35:00.003-06:00

I went and saw "7 Pounds," the new Will Smith movie with a friend tonight. Not sure exactly what I was expecting, but This wasn't exactly it. I'm not saying that I didn't enjoy it though. "7 Pounds" is an excellent movie and I think I'd even see it again. Will Smith did an absolutely amazing job he has come a long, long way from the "Fresh Prince"
Going into the theater I knew that "7 Pounds" was about a guy down on his luck and that he was going to try and help 7 people have a better life. What I was not expecting was the way he went about helping those people. This is not a happy "oh-he's-going-to-make-these-peoples-lives-better-everyone-lives-happily-ever-after" movie. Not to say there aren't any happy moments, because there are, but it is kind of sad to. It is an excellent movie though and I recommend seeing it. It's very thought provoking. Now I could say much more about this movie but I don't want to spoil it for those of you (thousands and thousands) who regularly read my blog. (Well, maybe not thousands... I know of two, maybe three who read this regularly-ish.)

(Movie Disclaimer... No jellyfish were harmed in the making of this movie.)

Inauguration

2009-01-21T10:20:00.003-06:00

I spent most of yesterday watching Inauguration coverage. I even found a news channel on my XM when I had to run some errands. (Oh my God, what is the world coming to? Emily was listening to the news.) Any way, there was some interesting stuff going on yesterday.
I also found a pretty neat web site, (well, heard about it, then found it.) It is kind of a photo college of the many angles of the Inauguration, kind of a 3D view. You do have to download the viewer thing though. Click HERE to see.

On a side note my O key is not cooperating this morning. I keep having to go back and insert O.

Yet Another Video Of Maya

2009-01-16T15:01:00.002-06:00

Mom sent me these pictures of Maya to make a video, this is the finished project.
Song is "Stealing Cinderella" by Chuck Wicks.

HOURS!

2009-01-15T15:28:00.002-06:00

I actually have hours week 18 (last week of January.) Supposedly some of the Indian chaperons that were here a few weeks ago are bringing back another group of kids. I've got an Advanced team... YAY! I even have doubles one day cause my day team leader has something else scheduled. Maybe I'll even get over time? So anyway, this is the first Advanced team I've had since the end of October (week 5 to be precise).
So I got a group Saturday and Sunday then I'm off till the fallowing Sunday. Its a good thing I'll be working soon, I'm getting pretty bored.

On a totally different thought, I finally put in the memory card dad got me for my phone Christmas '07. I think My phone is a little faster now, though I'm not really sure.

Counselor of the Month

2009-01-09T00:22:00.004-06:00

So, last night I had put my dinner tray away and was getting ready to head back down to the Hab. The night manager stopped me and asked if I was leaving already. When I told him I was he asked me to stay for a moment. I was a bit confused and for a minute thought I was in trouble, which didn't make much sense since I had not worked the night shift lately (not worked at all lately, really. Or get into trouble ever.) To end my confusion and to stop me from leaving (I thought he was teasing me, I wasn't working after all,) he informed me that I was the 'Counselor of the Month'. Yay me! The funny thing is that I was the 'Counselor of the Month' for November. In case you haven't noticed, it's January now.
Any way, it's cool that I got 'Counselor of the Month'. I've never gotten any award like that here, not even the COW award (Counselor Of the Week.)
As part of 'Counselor of the Month' I also recieved a gift card to Wal-Mart. I also got my picture taken and it will be posted... somewhere. Unfortunaly, since I wasnt working today and spent most of the day cleaning my room I was in track pants and a hoodie, terriffic picture, really.
Now that I've been going on about this for a bit I think it's time to stop. There is really not that much more I should be able to say about this.
YAY 'Counselor of the Month'!

Maya Dance

2009-01-08T18:00:00.009-06:00

Over Thanksgiving I took a really cute video of Maya Dancing with mom and dad (aka, her Noni and Bubba) I couldn't post the video then due to limited space on my computer, not so the case now. Due to how long this video is (2 1/2 minutes) I have posted it in two parts. Enjoy!

Part 1

Part 2

Get your Ark!!

2009-01-06T14:51:00.002-06:00

Wow.Is it raining outside or what? There is a torrential downpour going on outside. I really don't want to leave the hab at all today. Unfortunately though there are a few things I need to do today. I went next door to Hab 2 to check my mail and ended up getting a little damp. The weird thing is the two buildings are connected by an awning.
Good luck on staying dry everyone!

Harlem Globe Trotters

2009-01-04T21:08:00.006-06:00

I went with a few friends last year to see the Harlem Globe Trotters. They were AWESOME! Well, I've finally gotten around to posting some of the videos that I took, so enjoy!

Every Day This Year

2009-01-03T19:30:00.002-06:00

This makes the third day in a row that I've posted. That makes every day this year. How cool is that? It wold be even cooler if I managed to post every day this month. Not likely cause I don't really have any thing to write about, not even today.
New RA's have started coming in today, I have met a few of them. The new counselor training starts on Wednesday. The counselors who are going to be the mentors for the new counselors are the only ones with steady hours for the next couple weeks. I really hope that changes soon. Any way, I don't have anything more to say at the moment.
Until next time.

Soon to be Flat Broke

2009-01-02T20:07:00.002-06:00

Well, not totally, I still have money in my account. But if I don't get hours soon I will be broke. The only reason I am working at all this coming week is because the scheduling department needed someone to do some corporate camp thing next weekend. and then I don't work again till the weekend after that. So yeah, I wont be doin' much the next couple weeks. With the free time maybe I'll clean m room? Or maybe get a gym membership? Play DDR? Spend money I don't have? The one thing I do know is that I will be getting lots of sleep.

2009-01-01T00:03:00.001-06:00

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

some pics and stuff

2008-12-28T21:27:00.004-06:00

Maya looking at the tree with Noni

Maya with her new Moose. Its almost as big as her

Future Carolina Fan

Sporting a new look, half naked and Christmas stockings

Opening Presents

Eating a fake sandwich

A new doll for Christmas

Noni and Maya palying DDR

DDR... What Is It?

2008-12-23T22:28:00.006-06:00

DDR or Dance Dance Revolution is a video where you use your feet. Its been around for a while, first at arcades then the stared making versions for Play Station and other gaming consoles, most recently the Wii.

Okay, First thing you do is choose what mode you want. There is a free play mode where you just play what ever songs are available, or you can play the different stages where you have to do certain things with in each song or get a certain score to open new stages and levels. There is even a work out mode. The next thing you do is chose your character, choose from several available songs and the difficulty as well. Once you've done that, it's time to DANCE!

The object is to step the arrows on your mat at the same time the corresponding arrow hits its mark on the screen.

You have to wait till the green arrow reaches the outline arrow at the top before you step on the corresponding arrow on your mat. The arrow is coming up is one you have to hold... like a long note or something.
These arrows are quick steps.
The moves and steps get harder as you move up in difficulty.
This is an awesome game and you can quickly work up a sweat! I'm not so sure it will be a good game to play in my room in the Hab at camp. I'm on the third floor and I don't want to be stomping on peoples head, (not that I have a TV in my room right now or anything.)

This blog entry is dedicated to Aunt Debbie who just got more and more confused as Jeremy and then Mom tried to explain it to her over the phone.

Christmas #1

2008-12-23T21:41:00.006-06:00

We had Christmas #1 this past Sunday. Matthew is working on Christmas so he and Ally came for the afternoon. We opened a few gifts, mostly to or from Matthew or Ally. I did open my present from Dad though cause Mom and Jeremy wanted me to. Turns out it was DDR (Dance Dance Revolution,) a game for my Nintendo Wii. We played that and Guitar Hero: World Tour, (Matthews gift to Jeremy).

After a wonderful dinner we played a few board games. Well, technically, that's not true. The two games we played used cards, but each game used special cards! We played Apples to Apples which is always a crowd pleaser, and a new game that Dad just got. It's called Whoonu... Made by the people who brought us Cranium. It's kind of like Apples to Apples in the whole one person judges other peoples cards but that is where the similarities end.

Pictures below: Matthew wanted a sweatshirt like mine so that's what he got. Now we're sweatshirt twins...
Also, my sign for my Christmas Present Wrapping business. Business is booming! I think I've wrapped all of the presents from Mom and Dad, (except the ones to me). Money's not very good though... I ask for cash and they remind me that I still have a room and ask if I want dinner.

Tune in next time for an explanation of what exactly DDR is...

Laid Off

2008-12-15T14:24:00.003-06:00

I've been Laid off!!!

But not to worry... I'll be working back at the Rocket Center by the end of the month.
All temporary employee's of the US Space and Rocket Center have what they call a 'Lay Off Week.' Basically, we're Laid off for the week, have to fill out another application and then start working the next week after being 'In Precessed'. Its the Rocket Centers way of having us be seasonal employees and not having to pay us more or give us benefits. With the hours that I work as a Level 3 counselor I would be full time if I didn't have this lay off week.

Missing the Middle

2008-12-10T22:24:00.003-06:00

About a month or so ago, when Mom and Dad Came to visit me, I bought a used book. I was really excited cause I had just finished the book that came before it. Well I finally picked it up to start reading it yesterday; I've been busy with the twilight saga so I hadn't gotten around to it. When I picked it up I noticed that the spine of the book was a little odd shaped. I flipped to that part of the book, and at first glance nothing seemed to be amiss. after a closer inspection I discovered I was in fact missing about 61 pages from the middle of the book. it skips from chapter 67 to 82. (15 chapters!) Guess I'll have to get the book from the library after all.

On another note, I'll beheading back to Greensboro next week. Most likely on Monday or Tuesday. Don't really know...

How Many Different Ways Can I Talk to Mom in One Day?

2008-12-08T21:29:00.001-06:00

Well, at least 3 it would appear. I emailed mom back and forth today, called her, then texted her something else... I am so cool.

Twilight Series

2008-12-08T15:35:00.005-06:00

I have now finished the Twilight series. And can I just say WOW! A terrific story. Twilight was good, New Moon and Eclipse were okay and Breaking Dawn was Amazing. The middle part in Breaking Dawn, from Jacobs point of view, was a little creepy and I had to stop reading for a few hours cause it was weird. The last half of the book? Wow, just wow! I Don't want to say to much more so as not to give anything away. The one thing I will say is these are a must read! As with any book it is much better than the movie. Though the movie is good to, I have seen it twice.
Hurry up and read Breaking Dawn Mom, It's Awesome!

What I Want for Christmas

2008-12-02T12:04:00.002-06:00

TV (or Money to contribute)
iTunes, Target,or Best Buy Gift cards
Wii Games - Mario Kart, Mario Party, almost anything else Mario, Wii Fit, Wii Music, Guitar Hero 'World Tour'
DVD's - Love Actually, Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull, and other movies
Photoshop
Brian Regan Live CD (iTunes)
External Hard drive - WD My book
Rangers Apprentice series by John Flanagan (I own Book one) -2. The Burning Bridge, 3. The Icebound Land, 4. The Battle for Skandia, 5. Sorcerer in the North, 6. The Seige of Macindaw, 7. Erak's Ransom, 8. The Kings of Clonmel
Khaki Pants (I choose and try on before you buy.)
A month or two of my car paid off

Long, Long Drives

2008-12-01T15:01:00.003-06:00

I'm back in Alabama after a wonderful Thanksgiving home and 17 (total) hours of driving. I got back last night after driving all day, most of it in the rain. Ended up in a long line of cars stuck behind a very slow vehicle going through the Nantahala Gorge. thought it was a RV at first but it was a car. This car had at least 20 cars backed up behind it but wouldn't pull over. Then once out of the gorge had to wait until I was close enough to pass it. Now, being stuck in the long line of cars behind the slow poke I got a good look at the car immediatly in front of me. Once the road widended I pased that car as well. Funny thing is, that very same car ended up right infront of me as we wound through the Ocoee. I never saw the car pass me but I did make a quick stop. Talk about weird though...
I hit some traffic on 75 which turned out to be an accident then a little later on 24 which lasted all the way through Chattanooga and almost to the Georgia state line. Got some gas for $1.54 at the GA exit and continued on, getting to Huntsville about 6:30 central time.

Other news...snow fell from the sky today here in Northern Alabama and my new winter coat is nice and warm!

Thanksgiving 2008, Part 1

2008-11-28T15:53:00.003-06:00

Here are several pictures from Thanksgiving. just a little collage of my adorable niece Maya. More Pictures to come!

My (clean) Room!

2008-11-24T16:42:00.005-06:00

My room from the outside.

Home, Sweet Home!

2008-11-17T20:07:00.003-06:00

So, last January I switched my blog to WordPress. I was just going to try it out for a bit, see how I liked it. A little bit turned into a long bit (almost a year!) and I did like it. But I have decided that for my needs blogger is better so I'm back again. Blogger isn't letting me import my WordPress blog so I copied and pasted by month. To see any old post just look for that month, or, for the time being, you can still visit my WordPress blog.

November 08 (wordpress)

2008-11-16T18:49:00.001-06:00

Overtime!

10 11 2008

Great news! As of the begining of October, all tempory USSRC employees, which enclueds Space Camp Counselors, are elligable for overtime. With over 90 hours last pay period this upcoming paycheck will definitely inclued overtime. It may not be much but it is still exciting.

on another note, since I haven’t posted lately I was planning on writing all the backlog of posts I’d planned, but there is to much to go into so here is a little update.

End of September had a SciVis team. SciVis stands for ‘Space Camp for Interested Visually Impaired Students’. I had a really great group of kids with varying levels of sight. THEY WERE AWESOME! If you click here (2, 3, 4,) you can find some pictures of my team and a few of me. Number four has more of me in action teaching.
Had several other teams since then. one Academy team (middle school age) with Indians, Americans, and one Australian. An Advanced Academy team with Indians and two British teams.
I’ve also had 2 pathfinder teams now. Pathfinder teams ar generaly elementry/middle school age and they are only here 3 days. The fact that I am getting these kinds of teams showes that the end of summer is here. The ammount of advanced teams has dwindled.
Mom and Dad came down for a visit. I had fun showing them around the Rocket Center. on sunday we drove around and visited Catherdral Caverns. Pictures to come soon.

October 08

2008-11-16T18:48:00.001-06:00

Mail

11 10 2008

We have an office here called ‘Camper Services.’ It’s where we go to get new badges printed when our kids loose them, where lost and found is located and where camper mail is sorted, amoung other things. It is also where the mail boxes for those that live here are located, and where we pick up our checks. This past week I’ve been in camper services at least once a day to check my mail, looking for my next Netfix dvd and my absentee ballot. There was nothing in my box all week. Acording to the Netflix site my dvd should have been here tuesday and mom requested my ballot sent to me a few weeks ago. It finally clicked on thursday why there was no mail in my box. The lady incharge of Camper Services is out of town and the other two women who work there wernt putting out mail in our boxes.

I went back this afternoon intending to dig through the pile of mail on Camper Sevice lady’s desk to find that someone had finally put my mail in my box. My movie and ballot were both there.

Now I just need to vote…

September 08

2008-11-16T18:47:00.001-06:00

Happy New Year!!!

28 09 2008

Well, Space Camp new year any way. Here at Space Camp (well, the US Space and Rocket Center really), each week has a number, kinda like how each week of the summer had a different session number at most of the other camps I’ve worked at. Thing is, we offer programs all year long, so we have 52 ‘weeks’. Today was the start of 2009 for us here at the USSRC. Welcome to ‘Week 1′. Week numbers are handy, though I don’t really pay attention to specific dates of when things are.. I couldn’t tell you what I was working October 3rd, but I do know what I am working Friday of week 1. (same day, if you couldn’t guess.) So, for any of you who want to keep track of time my new way, (mom?) week one starts today, September. 28th. My birthday is the Thursday of week 31. =-)

Yet to come… All about Sci Vis week, which for most of 9 months I knew was blind/visualy imparied week, but didn’t know what the acronym stood for. Tune in later thes week to find out about that and all about my amazing team…

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Categories : Uncategorized

Gas Prices

17 09 2008

So, about a week ago I was out with a friend and while we were out I decided to fill up my gas tank even though I had about a 1/4th a tank left. At The Kangaroo, one of the cheapest gas stations, gas was $3.49/ gal. Last night, just a week and a half later it was at $3.99/ gal. Boy am I glad I got gas then, I am almost scared to see what it is today. I really do not want to see gas prices over $4. I remember when the great stops at home first opened and gas was $0.89. All the other places around it were over a dollar but it was nice to see those prices.I think I must have been 15 or 16 becasue I wasn’t paying for the gas yet.

Any way, I wish prices were like that still. Boy do I love my Hyundai Elantra and its excelent gas millage now!

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Categories : Car, gas

Journey To Tortall

12 09 2008

I recieved one of the best presents I can ever remember on my 12th (13th?) birthday. The fact that I still enjoy it when I’m now 23 should attest to that. My twin Best Friends had each gotten me 2 books of a quartet. The Song of the Lioness Quartet by Tamora Pierce. The series is set in the mythical Relm of Tortall. It is kind of set in midevel times with kings and princes, knights and lady’s, but there is also magic and Gods.

The first book, ‘Alanna’, is about a young girl, about 11, of the same name. She has a twin brother and they are both about to be sent away to continue their education. Alanna, as all noble girls, is to learn how to be a lady and her brother, to be a knight. They decide to switch places, her brother to go to the convent as that is where they also teach young boys magic and Alanna pretends to be a boy so she can become a knight. The first book covers the first several years of Alanna’s training as a Paige and the trials of hiding who she really is as well as those of growing up and other adventures. Along the way she makes friends with the Prince, the King of Theives, one of her teachers, and many others.

The next book, ‘In The Hands of the Gods’ is about her years as a Squire. More people find out about who she really is through out the book, she meets a God, gets a peculiar pet, and investigates a plot against the thrown and hopefully survives the Ordeal of Knighthood. The other two books, “Woman Who Rides Like a Man’ and ‘Lioness Rampent’ are both similarly exciting books. Alanna is now a knight and is looking for adventure. Along the way she falls in and out of love, makes new friends, travels to distant lands and make it homw in time to save the day. Just the way every good heroien book should be.

After The Lioness Rampent series, Tamora Pierce has writen severl other quentets set in the land of Tortall. The ‘Immortals’ quentet including: ‘Wild Magic’, Wolf Speaker’, ‘Emperor Mage’ and ‘The Relms of the Gods’. These are about a young woman, Dain, with a stange magic with anamals. She come to Totall and starts working at the palace and learning magic. We meet new Charecters and some old. As Dain finds her place in this stange new land she has no idea the pivital role she will play in the war that is brewing.

The Protector of the Small Quartet is about a young girl, Kaladry, who wants to be the first Lady Knight since Alanna. Throughout ‘First Test’, ‘Page’, “Squire’, and ‘Lady Knight’, we fallow her through the good and the bad, bullies of all sizes and the expectations of being the first known girl to train to be a knight. ‘Daughter of the Lioness’ is about Alanna’s daughter, Two books this time, Trickster’s Choice and Trickster’s Queen. Both very good books.

Now we get to the reason for this blog entry. I just read the latest of Pierce’s Tortall books. ‘Beka Cooper, Terrier.’ This book takes place 200 years before Alanna. It is about a girl named Beka who’s magic is to hear the dead. She is the medevil version of a cop, well, rookie cop. Beka is the ansestor of George, Alanna’s King of theives friend.

One of the things I love about this book and all of Pierces books, is how she ties things together. Sure this book happens 200 years before but I still recognize things and it sets the stage for how things happen later.

I had read a few pages of the book a few days ago but last night was the first time I really sat down and read ‘Terrier’. I was up till 5am (don’t think I started reading till after 11pm). I got up around 1pm today, got breakfast started reading again and didn’t really leave my room till about 7pm when I finished. Pierce’s books are so captivating and she make such strong, compelling female characters that it really is hard to put them down. My copy of the first book is in tatters I have read it so many times. It has been taped and taped again so it doesn’t fall apart. The seecond book was left in the rain by my little brother, who by the way also really enjoys these books. the rest of my Allana books, though not in as bad as shape, have all been taped at least once. One of these days I am going to have to get new copys of them all.

But first, the next ‘Beka Cooper’ book comes out in April. You all now know what to get me for my Birthday next year.

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Categories : books

Netflix Watch Now!

5 09 2008

For all you Netflix subscribers!! Apollo 13, one of my most favorite movies ever, is available on Netflix Watch Now. Watch instantly on your computer. And for all of you Firefox users, you must watch in Internet Explorer. And speaking of Firefox, anyone else download the new version? What do you think?

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Categories : movies

Busy Month

4 09 2008

I have been so busy this summer, no time for anything let alone posting on this blog. I’ve finally moved rooms, still need to unpack now. All the RA’s are consolidated into one building now that things are slowing down. I had a lovely few days with Mom, Dad, grandma, Josh Julia and Maya at a cabin Dad rented in Murphy, NC. Not to far for me or Josh to drive. I’ll post pictures of me new room (with a window!) as soon as everything is unpacked.

Playing with blanket

Maya and Aunt Emily

August 08

2008-11-16T18:46:00.001-06:00

Cockroach Clusters

11 08 2008

I HATE COCKROACHES!!!! In fact, I hate them so much that if it had registered in my brain that Alabama had cockroaches, I would have thought twice about moving here, maybe even tree times. Over the past several months I have seen many outside, especially after dark. But that was ok. They were outside I was inside… most of the time any way. The point is, I could get away from them.

For the past couple months I have been meaning to give my room a major cleaning… which never happened. I’ve been working 12-16 hour days at least every other week since May and If I’m not then its a 6-8 hour day. So if I’m not working constantly I’m recover for the next week and don;t feel like cleaning. For the past couple weeks I’ve been trying to motivate my self by saying “clean or you’ll get cockroaches hiding under the stuff on your floor. Didn’t help much… until last week.

I walked into my room a little after 10pm, after working since 7am. I flipped on the light to see a cockroach scurrying away from my chair. Needless to say, it freaked me out. I went into a cleaning frenzy and got most of the stuff up off my floor. I thought the cockroach gone.

A few days later I was in the bathroom digging through my shower caddy and saw something moving in the bottom. this time I did scream and jump back. I ended up knocking my shower caddy over into the sink and very carefully retrieving everything in it. The evil cockroach went scurrying away somewhere.

Seeing all these cockroaches make me very happy that in a week or so I’ll be moving across the hall into hab 1. I’ll be shaking everything out before packing to make sure that there are no stowaways. this is also a great chance to organize. Yay!

The other awesome thing about moving is that I’ll get a window and I think I get a desk to. There will be pictures of my new room as soon as I’m moved in.

July 08

2008-11-16T18:45:00.003-06:00

Happy Birthday Car!!

12 07 2008

My beautiful Hyundai Elantra turned 1000 yesterday. Happy Birthday Car!

My Odomiter (?)

A brief history on the car birthday. Jeremy and I used to have this Klutz travel book that had all sorts of fun activities and games and stuff. One of the things is to sing happy birthday to your car every time you get a new , hundred, thousand, etc, miles on your car.

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Categories : Car

The Quick Version

10 07 2008

Here is a quick update on whats been going on latly. I could probably write paragraphs on each of these but I don’t have the time, so here you go…

Worked Mars Simulator (Ride) over the weekend. I was giving the shpeil to the 14 passengers when this woman answered her phone and was telling whoever was on the other end that she was on a ride. Her talking on the phone right there kept on distracting me and throwing me off my groove.
Played ‘Musical Sims on Saturday. Was scheduled to work Atlantis Hab (Mission stuff) but didn’t have anybody, the positions I train in hab are the last filled. Got sent to work the Mars sim (which I was scheduled to work the next day) then due to not enough people working and someone getting heat stroke I was sent outside to work Lunar Lander (kiddie ride) the person there was trying to get it to work cause it had broken. Had to track down a supervisor to come look at it, she was at G-Force and told me to come there so she could look at Luner Lander. I’m not trained for G-Force so she gave me a quick lesson then went to Fix LL then sent me back there when it was fixed. Four sims in on day, yay. I even got a little award for all that.
Went on a marketing trip for space camp to a little town. basically demonstrated how some of our simulators worked at this fair thing the town had and sweat all day. Did get to sleep in a hotel though, lost $5 in a poker game and ate out twice with the USSRC paying for it.
Had an awesome team. 15 Girl Scouts from all over the country and one from Germany. They rockerd. They also got the best team award.
Had a few counselors telling me they didn’t like my team. Saying that it was one of the worst missions they’d worked and that they shouldn’t have gotten best team. I don’t care what they think, my girls were awesome. just because there was no testosterone on the team doesn’t make it bad, guys!
There was this really, really annoying kid who kept on riding Lunar Lander when I was working it on Saturday. he kept on pushing past kids trying to get to the ride again. then started crying when his mother told him to apologize to one kid he pushed. Then he turned up at Mars on Sunday. still trying to push past other customers. I was glad to see him go.
I get my first full day off in a while tomorrow.
I only have to work 4 hours today.
I had an eye exam and my eyes are better than perfect.
My room is a disaster (nothing new there).
Stargate: Atlantis starts its fifth season tomorrow at 10/9c
I have the best mom ever. (she put my Netflix on hold for me since I the site is blocked here)
I figured out how to solve the top layer of my Rubiks Cube without cheating and had some camper solve the rest for me.
And ordering Chinese can fill up to 3 meals… mayber 4.

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Categories : Random update

BLUE ANGELS (part the third)

7 07 2008

Well, here it is at last. Pictures from the air show last weekend, including the BLUE ANGELS (well, their planes on the ground any way.

Navy Rock Band

More Navy Rock Band

Plane…I don’t know what it’s called

: another plane

Golden Knight with American Flag

Golden Knights

More Golden Knights

Aerobatics

Some Cool Stuff

The Blue Angels F-18

Blue Angel F-18 up close

My view durring the STORM

Collapsed Tent

Traffic on the way out

My Muddy Shoes

Commercial Pane take-off

I’ve got lots more pics but this is it for now. ENJOY!

June 08

2008-11-16T18:45:00.002-06:00

BLUE ANGELS (part the seconed)

29 06 2008

I went to the Air Show today, mainly to see the BLUE ANGELS. I got there about 11 and saw several plains fly, saw the Army’s Golden Knight Parachute squad and some other cool stuff. A little before 2pm a storm blew through and I, among many others, ran to take cover under the tents. Though I was under a tent I was on the outside of the group of people under it and closest to the direction that the wind was blowing from so my shorts were drenched, the top half of me stayed dry due to my rain coat.

After the rain & wind ended I ventured out once more looking forward to the rest of the show. The BLUE ANGELS were going to fly in about a half hour 45 min. Unfortunately it was not to be. the rest of the show was canceled due to damage and injuries. At the time I thought, well that just sucked. I know the main tent near the stage were the announcer was collapsed but the BLUE ANGELS plains looked fine and as long as they were ok to fly they should.

I met up with some equally drenched people from sapce camp. wandered around with one of the guys I work with who arrived about 5 minutes before the down pour before making my way back to my car and making my way back to the Rocket Center. It took me 25 minutes just to get out of the parking lot (if it can be called that) and probably another 15 to get to the interstate.

Later, back at the Hab, I found out the real reason behind the canceling. It wasn’t just a few minor injuries. A 5 year old boy was killed when the tent collapsed. you can read more here. I can understand why they canceled now.

I will post pictures of what I did see and the collapsed tent at a later date.

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Categories : BLUE ANGELS

BLUE ANGELS (part the first)

26 06 2008

I am a very happy person today. I have known for about 2 months or so that the Blue Angels (the navy’s jet demonstration squadron) was coming to Huntsville. Since I heard about it I decided that I wanted to go and see them. I put my time off request in and began waiting. Then the schedule for this week came out and it said that I was going to be one of six to go on a marketing trip. I thought, ok, as long as i get back on Sunday I’m all good. Then the next weeks schedule came out and showed the trip on Sunday as well, my time off request was denied. At this time I still have a chance at seeing the Blue Angels. as long as I get back to Huntsville before 3pm on Sunday.

We had our meeting about the trip today and guess what?

WE GET BACK SATURDAY NIGHT!!! I GET TO GO SEE THE BLUE ANGELS!!!

On a side note… our 1 star hotel does not have TV, Phone, or internet (or little piece of paper said NoFi, hehe) and sketchy cell reception. yay. update on that once I get back and have internet again.

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Categories : BLUE ANGELS

work, work, work!

25 06 2008

I’ve pretty much been working all the time since I got back from my week long vacation home to NC. I’ve had 2 week long teams now, one high school aged and this week middle schoolers. I miss my high schoolers, I get another high school aged group on monday… YIPPEE! my kids this week arn’t that bad, they just don’t always listen. I only have one more day with them. They leave Friday sometime before 3, which is when I Take over from the day team leader, so I wont see them after tomorrow. Plus I have to go on a STUPID MARKETING TRIP over the weekend. I get to promote space camp! how fun is that? NOT! Well, I wouldn’t be so bummed about having to go but the BLUE ANGELS are flying at the air show this weekend and I wanted to go see them. Then theres the fact that after I told Mom about wanting to see them she found out they were going to be in NC and she, Dad and Jeremy went to see them. At least I got a hat put of the deal… speaking of which it had arrived so I need to go pick it up.

Here is a picture of me working. I’m wearing a headset cause I was working EVA (Extra Vehicular Activity, aka space walk) and was listening in to the instructions that the person in mission control was giving the guys in space… and i just looked cool. The sunglasses were because where I sit during the EVA I’m looking up at a really bright light.

taken on my cell, so not all that great quality.

also! notice the t-shirt. now that its summer and really hot we wear t-shirts instead of our polos and polos on pick up and graduation days instead of hot flight suits.

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Categories : work

The Golden Compass

19 06 2008

I just finished reading the golden compass again (the first time being several years ago.) I have been meaning to read it since I saw the movie in December. When I saw the movie I recognized some things but it had been long enough ago that I didn’t really notice what was different. Now having read the book again I can spot tons. The book of course is much more detailed and explains a lot more of Lyra’s back story. The movie finishes earlier than the book. The Church references are a lot more obvious in the book as well. I would say more but I don’t want to ruin it for mom who was kind enough to let me bring the trilogy, that she had just bought, with me to AL. I’m just sorry it’s taken me so long to read it. It is a terrific book.

The next question is do I start on the second book now or do I wait till the after the next movie comes out so I don’t ruin it? Then again, since the movie stopped before the book, I’m already ahead of the movies. Plus I don’t think I can wait that long.

Mom, I’ll get you this book as soon as possible so you can read it. Or maybe the line at the Library is shorter now?

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Categories : books

Space Station Eats Sunglasses!

15 06 2008

No really, it did. In one of the space stations we have there is a crack between the wall and the floor.

I leaned back in my chair and my sunglasses, which were on my head, slipped off and fell down below to live with everything else thats fallen. =-(

Luckily, I was telling somebody about it and they told me you could lift the floor up so I did not have to go and buy new ones that very night. It was pretty gross down there though.

Ways not to say INTREPID (one of our missions):

Intarded, Intrepet, Interped, Interpid, Interpeded…etc

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Categories : Sunglasses

Some Random Pictures…

4 06 2008

Our Pathfinder orbiter broke last night… and the caution tape blocking off a 20-30 ft space around it. My new shoes. Mission control. The orbiter in orbit and on the lunch pad. We have some really cool graphics.

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Categories : USSRC, pictures, work

Some Pictures

1 06 2008

Top: My new car! I thought I’d finally post a picture. Bottom: Picture of me in a tunnel of one of our orbiters and a scale model of the Saturn V rocket.

May 08

2008-11-16T18:42:00.005-06:00

Flip Book

27 05 2008

The fallowing is what happens when you have to much time on your hands… I started messing with Paint (the program, not actual paint) and just kept on going…ENJOY!!!

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Categories : video

Advanced Acdemy Training & Weird Formating

26 05 2008

Yummy Gatoraid… breakfast is served starting at 7:30, guess when training started… this and breakfast bars were my breakfast for the week.(top to bottom: My Advanced wings from training, My Academy wings from when I came as a kid, & my camp wings from my January counselor graduation.) and my training manual…

(Picturs left to right: The Iron Man Face of out egg, the face I drew on our egg, our Rocket the JERICO on the launch pad,and our egg after launch.)

I started writing this several days ago but just got around to publishing it, so its a little out of date. This past week, after a wonderful week at home, I started right back into work with doubles (shifts). I was working from 7:30am-9pm. In the mornings I was doing Advanced Academy training. In other words, training so I can work with the high schoolers. There were 17 of us (out of like 40 who signed up) 2 of whom were already trained but had to go through some of the training again because there are some difference between the 6 day programs of the off season and the 8 day program of the summer.

Some of the cool stuff we got to do during training include going down to AC (Aviation Challenge… they do fighter plane stuff instead of space stuff) and try out the flight simulators. I crashed a lot, and got lost. When we did the air craft carrier part I took off ok but then couldn’t find the carrier again. We also got to do some of the water activities that simulate a helicopter crash in the water. If I can get some of the pictures from one of the people I work with I’ll be able to show you cause if I try to explain it, it will make no sense.

We also got to do something we can Egg Rocketry. We (well, the kids really, but we got to try it) get certain pieces to design and build a rocket. After several tests a raw egg is placed inside (and hopefully protected in some way) and launched. The object is to still have your egg in one piece after it lands. This is done in teams of about 4 or so (or for us counselors, eight) My team did not win due to several factors.

I also learned more than anyone who doesn’t work for NASA or one of NASA’s contractors should ever know about the shuttle and its systems. We also had two tests to take. The first on all the information we need to know to be able to run Advanced missions. It was split into 5 parts and each was graded separately. To pass we had to get a certain amount right in each section. 10 of 12, 6 of 7, all 7, etc… If we missed more than allowed on a section we had to retake that section the next day. Out of the 15 of us who had to take the section, 10 of us had to retake at least one part. With the retake we got 2 bonus questions. See if you can get this one right: “There are 17 sheep in a field. All but 6 die. How many sheep are in the field.” The other test we had to take was on Orbiter Systems (the orbiter this the part of the shuttle that looks like an air plane that everyone thinks is called the shuttle.) So basically the test was about the systems that filter the water, run the AC,electrical power, hydraulics, computers and other stuff. Didn’t see my grade for this one but I assume I passed casue we all graduated on Friday. I got some nifty new wings now.

After we graduated I had a couple of hours before I started a long weekend of mission trainings and missions. Eight teams… which adds up to 16 hours in a little space station. All in all I think I’ve worked about 77 hours this past week alone.

This week I am working the Advanced Academy missions. I didn’t do to bad today. Especially since I had to help out in two other areas that I wasn’t really prepared for. Friday will be a lot of fun becasue they have their 6 hours missions and we get to have a lot of fun with them, giving them medical anomalies and stuff. Like if they stand up while they are ‘launching’ we get to tell them they have a broken arm and stuff like that.

I get my first Advanced team Friday, June 6. Not only is it my first team longer than 3 days, but I have doubles so I get them 16 hours a day for 8 days. I’ll let you all know if I’m still alive at the end of it.

I’m going to stop writing now or else I’ll start to ramble…

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Categories : Advanced Academy, work

NEW CAR!!

23 05 2008

Last week I spent most of my Saturday at the Hyundai dealership in Greensboro with Dad and after a few hours Mom joined us. We traded my Volvo in for a 2008 Hyundai Elantra. I got a new car! (and car payments!) I love my car. It’s got a CD player, a place to plug in my iPod, XM radio (free for 3 months), sun roof, heated cloth seats, nice windshield wipers. And then there is the important stuff acording to dad, the ESC (electronic stability control.)

I also managed to put about 500 miles on it in about a day of owning it. Guess thats what happens when I drive through 4 states the day after I get it.

Pictures to come when I have the time and my car is clean…

I spent the last week at home in NC. I saw lots of family on mothers day, also saw lots of movies. I went to see Ironman with JJ and Matthew. It wasn’t exactly what I was expecting (not sure what I was expecting) but I liked it a lot. It was better than some of the other Marvel movies I’ve seen (Spiderman 3 for example). I saw Narnia: Prince Caspian with mom. It was amazing! I remembered some of it from the book. I brought mu Narnia books on CD back with me so that maybe I will get around to ‘reading’ them. I have till 2010 to read the Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

The other really good movie I saw was Music Within. It was terrific! It’s about this guy who comes back from the Vietnam War mostly deaf. It goes through his life and the process of creating the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act). There is even a special feature with the real guy talking about his life and why he made the ADA. This is definitely a must see movie!

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Categories : Car, movies

the wait is over!

6 05 2008

At long last the month long wait to see if I was one of the few to get chosen to do Advanced Academy (our High School program) is over! I was on the phone with mom when my phone started beeping like I had another call, I ignored it cause I thought it was dad calling me back when I didn’t need my question for him answered anymore. Found out when I checked my voice mail that it was one of the managers letting me know that I got Advanced. YAY!!!!!!!!! That means that I got more training in a week and a half… cool. I am so excited. I really didn’t want to spend another whole summer with an age group I really don’t like all that much.

um… yeah, that is all I got tonight. Just had to let ppl know.

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Categories : Advanced Academy, Job, training

4 05 2008

This past week working Atlantis Station, means that I had a lot of time that I didn’t really have all that much to do. A lot of times I’ll bring a book or something. Ashley, the counselor running mission control had all her markers and colored pencils and had started doodling on her schedule. these were not ordinary pencils though, they were Crayola twistable colored pencils. Later that night I was at target and ended up buying my own and a coloring book to go with it. The next day (Tuesday) another friend , Elaine saw me coloring in my new coloring book and also commented on the cool colored pencils. Then on Wednesday (my birthday) Elaine and Kim came by the MCC floor to bring me a present… two GIANT coloring books (Disney Princess and Pirates of the Caribbean) and double ended twistable crayons. I’m 23 and I got coloring books for my birthday…

I also got the usual from grandma and a purple post-it note from mom. Well, I am really getting the DVD and soundtrack of August Rush but I have to wait till I get home. The fact I was getting them was written on a purple post-it note though.

Went out to lunch with some friends on Friday to a new restaurant (to us any way). It was called the Furniture Factory. Weird name i know. We got carded to see if we were at least 19 cause it was a smoking establishment. Even though we sat on the non smoking side and we were all over 21. The lady said we looked young, which I suppose we do, but not that young. Then again, When we went out to eat when we were in TN for Maya’s B-day, Dad was carded and he is in his mid 50’s.

Went up to Sewanee to see Josh, Julia and Maya for the weekend. Maya can now walk if she holds onto your fingers. She also knows a few baby signs like: more, all done, down, dog, flower, and frog. She is adorable

April 2008

2008-11-16T18:41:00.002-06:00

Happy Birthday to me and some other stuff I haven’t gotten around to posting…

30 04 2008

Happy Birthday to Me! I am now twenty-three! so far I’ve gotten lots of Facebook birthday greetings, a card with the usual present from Grandma, a card from my Mommy with a purple post-it note promising my gift when i come home to visit in a few weeks, and a very nice email from my Daddy with some attached songs. Also, after four months working here, our nifty space camp uniform flight jackets have finally arrived. and its to warm to wear it.

So what am I doing for my birthday? Well I got a call from Dad this morning a little before 9am my time (10am for most of my family) wishing me happy birthday. After hanging up I got back in bed only to receive a voice mail from Mom, I guess she called while I was on the phone with Dad. Funny how they were both at work and call me at about the same time. The rest of my day so far has been spent watching some PBS show about life on a Naval Carrier, funnily enough called “Carrier”. Luckily PBS has joined in the genius of CBS, NBC, ABC, and other TV networks and posts episodes of certain shows online for free, otherwise I would have missed a lot of this show. I hat having to share a TV with 30 other people.

I went out to lunch with my friend Kathy, we went to a Mexican restaurant called “Casa Blanca” for good Mexican food. Definitely beats the nachos we get every Wednesday for lunch in the cafeterias. I have to work this evening for about 4:15 to 9pm and then I think I am going out with a bunch of people. Don’t know where they are taking me or if they even know.

This past weekend was the first time I was ever scheduled for support. Support is exactly like it sounds, they are the counselors who help out when team leaders need it. They help out with sims, rocket launch, make sure all the supplies needed for rockets and other stuff are in the classrooms, make sure classrooms are clean and they got hunt down team leader when one of their kids forgot to take med and take that kid to the sickbay so the counselor doesn’t have to take the whole group there. Well, I did all of about 15 minutes of support when Hainey (one of the weekend supervisors) comes up to me and asks if I would take one of the Pathfinder teams cause someone called in sick. I said yes of course so instead of supporting I was supported. I had a pretty good team. it was the first Pathfinder I’d had in about two months and I’d almost forgotten how to build rockets and do graduation speeches. Oh, my team also won best mission patch, it was the description I know it.

I’m Scheduled for Atlantis Station all this week. Atlantis is on of our four (almost 5) orbiters that we use for missions. Station (our version of the International Space Station) is one of the places you can be during the mission, the others being the Shuttle and Mission Control. The ids in Station get to conduct experiments and flip lots of switches, and the older ones have to fix problems. On Monday and Tuesday only 2 of the 5 teams actually had people in station so I mainly hung out with Ashley in MOCR (Mission Control). And helped her when she was tiered of listening to kids with the biggest speaking part struggle over words like “Space Shuttle Main Engines.”

Well, I am sure there is more I could say but I have to be at work in an hour and kind of need to get ready. Hope to see many of you when I’m home in May!

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Categories : Birthday, Job, MOCR, home

16 days till my B-Day…

14 04 2008

Here are some of the things I would like for my birthday.

Target Gift card

iTunes Gift card (so I can get the August Rush Soundtrack… it is awesome)

August Rush DVD

TV DVD’s (NCIS season 2+. Numbers, Stargate SG-1, & Stargate, Atlantis… all seasons)

Money

If you want my address so you can send me a present, please Email me… or I will be home in Greensboro the week of mothers day… Later, I got to go work soon. Love you all!

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Tags : Birthday
Categories : Uncategorized

Storms, Scheduling Screw-ups, Shows, Simulators, and Stuff…

12 04 2008

STORMS: Everyone who knows me well knows that I can get freaked out by storms. Weirdly enough, they never really bothered me when I worked at camp during the summer, maybe because I had to take care of the campers or something. So why, when I am freaked out by storms, tornadoes especially, did I move to Alabama where we have had TWO tornado WARNINGS in the three and a half months I’ve been here? Good question… It could be the fact that I had no idea that Alabama had so many tornadoes when I moved here.

So why am I telling you all of this? Because yesterday afternoon, right as I was about to Smash Brothers with a bunch of people, one of the managers came into the ward room and, in a very calm, no hurry tone of voice… “I just thought you all would like to know that we are under a tornado warning.”

We all kind of stared at him for a second before someone asked “is that the one where we need to take shelter immediately?” At his affirmitive we all headed over to the ground floor of hab 2 which is mostly under ground, (I live on the second floor of hab 2). We got to sit in the hallway for about 45 minutes before they told us we could go. You will be glad to know that there was no freaking out on my part. Weather that was because I knew I was underground or because it was the second time we’d had to do that I don’t know. I do have to say that this time was a lot better… For one thing I wasn’t woken up by loud banging on my door just hours after puking my guts up; for another, I had my laptop and I didn’t have any kids I had to keep an eye on. Any way, today was a bright, sunny, clear day after yesterdays storms. Though it did cool down quite a bit.

SCHEDULING SCREW-UPS: The last couple of weeks have been a little slow on the hours so I have been picking up more when I can. Last Saturday I ended up working at the climbing wall all day. The woman I was working with had another job that she was scheduled to work as well as being scheduled here today. I told her I’d take her hours if I wasn’t working. I was going to check my schedule before I said yes for sure but I thought I had it memorized so I ended up not double checking. I had it in my mind that all I was scheduled for this past week was corporate camp on Monday and Tuesday. Last night one of the supervisors came up to tell me what time I needed to show up for the birthday party I was working. I told him, with a confuesed look on my face, that I was working something else. He went to double check then I went with him to look again, and sure enough I was scheduled to work a b-day party. Thing is I’d already had a manager sign of on the other thing for which I’d get more hours… oops. I think they got support to work it instead, which is fine with me. I was saying just a few days before that if i got another b-day parthy that I would give it up. So that takes us to…

SIMULATORS: Or more commonly know as RIDES. Today I worked Lunar Lander, a little kiddie ride for those under 8 years old, under 54 inches, or to short to ride Space Shot. Business was a little slow in the morning and it is in the shade so it was a bit chilly. I had almost no stop kids after I got back from my lunch break. I started off counting how many kids came through but a lot of them ride it several times so I lost count after 15. I had to run it last Saturday while someone had their lunch break and thought I broke it myself for a few minutes. Turned out I had just forgotten about the foot peddle you have to press along with the green button.

Part of my duties of running the ride is telling kids who are to old or to big to get off the playground that is right their. It can be fun some times, especially when teenage boys are being stupid and playing on little shuttles that are for 3 year olds. There are other rides for them, Space Shot and G-Force. I am supposed to be able to run those as well but they are the only ones that I have not yet been certified on yet.

SHOWS: Now that the writers strike is over msot of my favorite shows have started back up. Even though I have a TV and satalite available to use, it’s the TV for 50 some people and you nevver know if someone else is watching something, plus it can get a bit noisy in the ward room so I can’t always hear whats going on. Luckily CBS and several other networks have most of my favorite shows online. I watched the newest episode of NUMB3RS last week. It was pretty good. That reminds me, as soon as I finish writing there is another episode waiting for me online. NCIS also has new episodes playing again. The newest episode was on of my favorites. I love it when Tony is the one to figure out what is going on .

I’ve also seen some great movies the past two weeks. 21, which is now in theaters. It’s about a really smart college kids who needs money for med school so he joins a group that goes to Vegas to count cards in black jack. He ends up getting a bit addicted to it. I did not want to see it at first but it was great, I really enjoyed myself and have been trying to play this card counting came online ever since.

I go The Game Plan from netflix. It was a silly and sweet Disney film. It’s about this star NFL player whose daughter, that he didn’t know about, shows up on his door step. He has to learn how to take care of someone other than himself, a small someone at that. He ends up falling in love with her and his life is changed.

I also go August Rush. An absolutly terriffic movie. I would love to own it, (my birthday is in 18 days! Hint, hint.) From the preview I thought that Robin Williams charecter would be a good guy so I was kind of surprised when he wasn’t exactly. Here is the netflix synopsis: After cellist Lyla (Keri Russell) and guitarist Louis (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) share an enchanted night together, circumstances rip them apart, and the child produced by the union is raised by a caring stranger (Robin Williams) who nurtures the boy’s musical talent. Determined to find his parents, the boy, known as August Rush (Freddie Highmore), relies on music to draw his mother and father to him. Terrence Howard co-stars in this magical drama.

I also so a movie called The Feast of Love. It was a great movie with a terrific story line. Starred Morgan Freeman and Greg Kinnear (little miss sunshine). The only thing I didn’t really like about the movie was that it showed a bit more skin than I expected or that you usually get in a movie.

STUFF: I’ve been playing a lot of Smash Brothers on Joe’s Wii latly. I actually came in 1st twice (of four) the other day. I am usually 4th.

The schedule that I have been awaiting has finally come out. Whats so great about this schedule? It says I have a meeting on Sunday the 20th. A meeting about Deaf Camp, which means that I’ll have one of the four Deaf Camp teams the fallowing week. I am so excited! I’ve wanted one of the Deaf Camp teams since I heard about it. The kids will come with interpreters which is a good thing cause 1) I wasn’t fluent when I was taking sign last year in school and 2) I haven’t practiced in a year. I’m going to look through my sign books before they come so I can at least say (sign) a little. Did I mention that Deaf Camp is the week of my birthday? (April 30th in case you’ve forgotten.) Hmm… guess I better start thinking about what I want.

I also signed up for Advanced Academy Training. AA is the high school program. I like working with high schoolers, you can be more sarcastic. They also get cooler, more in depth missions and they get to scuba dive in the neutral buoyancy tank. I hope I get it. The training for that starts a week after mothers day so hopefully I will get to make it home before I start up with that training.

that’s all for now… later!

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Funny Video

10 04 2008

A funny video, you should watch. Especially if you like Star Wars.

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Charlie Duke, Astronaut

9 04 2008

Cesi, one of the people I work with, sent me a video of Charlie Duke, the Apollo Astronaut that came to speak at our Counselor Graduation. In this video he is telling us a story that we routinely tell the kids. It was so cool to, not only have one of the Apollo Astronauts come talk to us, but to hear on of my favorite stories from the lips of the person it was about. So, without an further blabbering from me…

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Finally!

7 04 2008

Finally! Picture posting on WordPress just got easier! To commemorate this day I have posted several pictures of me from when I came to Space Camp at 14, (8 years ago) enjoy! More pictures to come soon.

And here is a Picture of me and Jeremy waiting to see the shuttle launch. (Dec 1998, STS-88)

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Moon Dirt, Shuttle Landings and Some Other Stuff…

1 04 2008

When you think of a Space Camp Counselor, you would think that most of what I do is working with kids and basically normal camp counselor stuff. While most of my job is that, there are also many times where I don’t have my own team; like when I’m helping to run missions, or if I’m on support (which I have not yet done) or, like yesterday, I work a birthday party where I am basically a glorified gofer. Then sometimes, when there are not that many teams here so people need hours and they (the people who decide this kind of thing) want to fix up the place a little before we do get over run with kids, we get but to work doing some other stuff. The past two weeks a group of people got put to work putting a fresh coat of paint in the Hab and MCC floor. This week, instead of painting, a bunch of us got to help set up for the Moon Buggy Race that is taking place on Friday and Saturday.

The idea of the moon buggy race sounds exciting, the obstacles (now that their set up) look really cool. Its just the whole act of actually having to set them up. The obstacles are made out of wood and tires hammered/ tied down to more wood. The Facilities guys would dump a bunch of pugmix on top and we would have to spread it out and shape it so where ever there is a tire it looks like a crater and where the wood is it looks like a ridge. Basically we are trying to make it look like a very bumpy ride on the moon. The pugmix stuff (which, I’ve been told’ is used under asphalt when building roads) is gray with lots of rocks and other stuff so it does kinda look like moon dirt. its also kinda thick and hard to maneuver… I broke the garden rake I started out with.

I Spent most of my Monday doing this (10:30-3). We’d get one done then have to wait for another load of pugmix… the bobcat only goes so fast. Even better, we were told to arrive at 9 so we did a lot of waiting around. We even managed to fit in a ride on space shot while we waited.

Later that afternoon, after I had been of work for a while, I decided to lie down for a little while and it turned into a couple of hours, and ended up playing an early April fools on my self. I woke up a about 8 pm, missing dinner (I’m glad I still had some chines in my fridge). When I woke up I saw the 8 and for a minute I thought it was 8am and that I had to get up and ready for work… hehe. A couple of seconds later I woke up fully and realized that it was 8 pm and I still had more than 12 hours before I next had to be at work.

I did get up with plenty of time to get to work today, once again a day with no interaction with the public. I am scheduled to work Corporate Camp next week so I had to get trained on what to do. They will be thrown a ton of anomalies and have one of the coolest missions ever. I can’t wait till may when I can get trained for Advanced Academy (high school program) and have involved missions all the time. I get to train flight deck. Yippee! for most missions, even thought the kids get to use the joystick and try to land the shuttle, the joystick doesn’t do any thing. They will land no matter what. This corporate group gets to land manually. So, when we were done for the day I got to go practice landing since I’ve never done it before and it’s easier to teach when I’ve actually seen or done it. I did manage a (mostly) successful landing. The only problem was that my landing gear wasn’t down, but then that is the pilots job and I didn’t have a pilot in the orbiter with me.

Other news… after 2 weeks, my room mate is back. Don’t know how long she’s going to be here before she moves out of the Hab but she is here for now. Umm… don’t really have any other news at the moment… I will get some pictures of the obstacles up as soon as I upload them.

March 2008

2008-11-16T18:34:00.002-06:00

A little bit of this and a little bit of that…

27 03 2008

In return for the free food and housing I get as an RA at Space Camp, I have a week of on ‘On Call’ every 6 weeks or so. ‘On Call’ just means that if any campers (or Trainees as we call them) need anything in the middle of the night, get sick and need to go to the ER, or are being to noisy after lights out, I get woken up to deal with it. Luckily I have not yet (knock on wood) been woken up in the middle of the night while “On Call’. When the tornado’s went through the beginning of February all RA’s were woken up to help with all the campers. That was a great night cause I felt like crap. So, I’m ‘On Call’ this week for the second time since I started working here. That means I have to be in my room from 11pm until 7am just in case I get a call or security comes knocking on my door. Some times I don’t mind, I’m usually in my room by 11 any way. but then there are nights like Wednesday when I want to go out with people. It was about 9pm when a couple people said something about going to get something to eat. I didn’t eat much for dinner cause it was nasty burger night, so I went along. I drove separately so I could be back in my room by 11. We ended up going to chillies and most of us got appetizers. I did end up having to leave before the other 3 to get back on time but still had plenty of time to sit and eat with my friends/coworkers. The one bad thing about the whole evening (besides the rude waitress) was that I kept looking at my watch because I didn’t want to be late, and since I would be getting back after 10pm it meant signing in with security when I got back so there would be a log saying I wasn’t where I was supposed to be if I was late. I was on time, and nobody needed me in the middle of the night, so all is was well. Only 3 nights left!

Last week I had off from Wednesday afternoon until Monday evening. Since I didn’t want to spend those 5 days in my little box of a room I decided to take a little road trip on Saturday and Sunday. I drove up to Chattanooga and went to the aquarium. Buying tickets online is definitely the way to go. There was a really long line when I got there Saturday afternoon but since I had pre-ordered them I got to get into a much smaller, quicker line. I Started out in the river place as usual. I got to see the Otters (my favorite) active for the first time ever (that I remember anyway). I got some video of them that I’ll post sometime. took a ton of pictures all the way through. Went and saw a #D IMAX movie, something about preastpric sea monsters. It was pretty cool. then I went over to the new ocean building and saw the penguins, some more sharks and some other stuff to. Before I headed back to my car I stopped and got some Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream (Guess what flavor!)

I thought about driving back to Huntsville or calling Josh and Julia but ended up staying at a hotel about 20 minutes on my way. I spent the evening enjoying the cable TV to myself, the big bed and room in the shower to shave. All in all, it was a very pleasant little trip.

I spent the drive listening to a book on CD that I started when I first drove down here. It’s called ‘The Lion’s Game, by Nelson DeMille. I had read a few of DeMille’s other books and enjoyed them but it is a different experience to listen to them. The guy who reads it is awesome. I had not yet finished it by the time I got back to the USSRC so I spent the rest of the day finishing it. A very good book. just when you think it’s over and they are solving the mystery, something else happens.

I think that is about all I’ve got for now so i’m going to leave it at this. here is a list of the pictures shown… the sign outside my door (for three more nights), all the astronomy and space books I’ve bought since coming here, a funny looking Sea Horse, some Otter pics, an Alligator (or maybe a Crocodile?), A Diver in the tank, an ugly fish, cool Crabs, Jelly fish, and me enjoying my ice cream.

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PICTURES!

27 03 2008

I may have finally found a way to upload pictures that I like… we’ll have to see. If not, I may have to go back to blogger even though I like WordPress… well, everything but the picture problems anyway. So to test this I have Posted a few of my favorite pictures from when I went up to Sewanee for Maya’s Birthday weekend. With almost 200 pictures and videos taken, it’s amazing that I’ve narrowed it down to 12

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The past week…

13 03 2008

I went with several friends to see the Harlem Globe Trotters on Tuesday. They were great! It was the most entertaining basketball game I have ever seen. I’ve got several pictures and videos of the game that I will post as soon as I get an external hard drive cause I apparently am running out of room on my computer. If you ever get the opportunity to see them play… take advantage of it.

This week I have been working on the MCC (misson control center?) floor. Instead of walking around everywhere with my own team I have been helping run the Missons of other teams. I was supposed to work [the space] Station but the counselor who was doing EVA (Extra Vehicular Activity aka…space walk/fixing something out in space) was not certified to run one of the EVA’s so we switched back and forth. So, when I get with all my missions for the day I go and ask someone in Sim’s, like I’m supposed to, if they needed me to do anything else or if I was done. (sometimes we finish missions before 3, which is the shift change.) Today, like the past three days, I was expecting them to say, “No, you can go.” But did that happen? Nope! They go and call one of the assistant managers to see if they need people to do anything, which they do. So I get to go help put stuff in team notebooks and then help set up for one of the graduations happening tomorrow. Yippee!

Any way… I’m done now. I pick up a UFT (Ultimate Field Trip) tomorrow, basically just a school field trip, and then I’ve got the weekend off… What Fun!

It got up to 70 something today! I was wearing shorts! (but that could be because my pants are all dirty.)

Pictures coming soon!

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Now playing: Chuck Wicks - Stealing Cinderella
via FoxyTunes

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Fanfiction Addiction…

10 03 2008

One of my favorite websites ever is Fanfiction.net. Fan fiction are stories written by the fans of certain book, movies, tv shows comic books, etc. They use the characters and general plots of the show, book or whatever and write stories using those characters and universes. Some stories stay pretty close to the real series and some are very AU (aulternit universe.)

So… why am I telling you all about Fan Fiction? Because I love Fan Fiction. I started out reading Harry Potter Fan Fiction then moved on to reading stories about my favorite TV Shows, first NCIS, Jag, and The West Wing. Now I mostly read Stargate SG-1 and Stargate: Atlantis. If I have one addiction, fan fiction would be it. I love reading these stories. but I don’t just read, I try writing my own as well. Most of the time the stories I write don’t get past the first or second chapter, though I have gotten to chapter 9 on a story I am still slowly writing. I hope to finish chapter 9 soon cause it’s been about 3 months since I posted the last chapter. And here lies my new problem…

Though I do get free wireless internet living and working at the USSRC, the network firewalls block some weird stuff. I couldn’t get on to some job hunter site that kept sending me emails about job openings in GSO to unsubscribe. Up until a few days ago getting onto Fanfiction.net was no problem… now the site will not load and I am getting the same error messages that I get on other sites that are blocked.

So, the long and the short of it is… I can no longer read any stories and I hope when I do get to them there are a ton of updates on the stories I read, AND I can’t post anything either. Maybe I’ll get lots of writing done and then have an tone of posts at once!

I wonder who I would talk to about unblocking FF.net?

By the way… any one knows a good and easy way to upload pictures on wordpress, let me know. When I looked at th FAQ it said something about being able to have a small version of you picture on the page, and I’ve seen other blogs where they have pictures like that and when you click on it it takes you to a bigger version… how do you do that?

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Now playing: Rodney Atkins - These Are My People
via FoxyTunes

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Maya Slide Show!

9 03 2008
http://www.slide.com/r/IFwP-HFt1D9YCZkoCBX7g4KJbYpFrzAz?previous_view=lt_embedded_url

I’m Baaack!

2 03 2008

Back again! With more news by me, about me, for you. So, have you missed me?

I just checked and its been almost a month since I last posted. Its also been about a month since I finished training and started working. Work is going well. I’ve gotten lots of teams… seven (I think) so far. most of the teams I’ve had are just here for 3 days (2 nights). I’ve had good teams and so-so teams. haven’t had any really horrible or really good yet. I did have an all girls team and they were pretty awesome. Each kid had one parent with them so that was pretty cool to. I jsut had a team from North Carolina, which was pretty cool. One of the chaperone’s had a WCU shirt on, though he wasn’t in my group. their were 180 of them so they were in 6 different groups.

February 18th through the 24th was the craziest week ever. I had back to back pathfinder teams. Pathfinder teams are here for three days. They get here about 11am-1 on Monday, Wednesday or Friday and leave about 11am on Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday.I Was scheduled for a Monday and Friday team so I was supposed to have Wednesday afternoon and Thursday off. since people were sick I picked up a Wednesday team as well. that means that from Monday the 18th at 11am to Sunday 11am I was working pretty much non stop. I’d get off at 9 or so and have to be at work at 6:15. I worked 5 14 hour days (6 if you add monday and Sunday together.) That week alone I worked over 100 hours the fallowing week will be added to the same paycheck! So, yeah, lots of fun.

I am currently enjoying a few full days off, the first in at least 2 weeks. I don’t really have all that much more to say.everything is going well. I have this coming Saturday and Sunday off so I can head up to TN for Maya’s 1st Birthday, then Mom, Dad and Aunt Debbie are stopping by Huntsville on their way back home to visit with me some more and get their own privet tour.

I am kinda bored right now… I need to get out of my room, maybe go see a movie, see what other people are doing.

More later!

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Febuary 2008

2008-11-16T18:32:00.001-06:00

Camp Acronyms and Terminology

6 02 2008

I have decided to make a list of acronyms and terminology that I use so that you all know what I’m talking about. So her goes…

Hab 1- Habitat 1: a four story building used to house most of the campers. The camper rooms hold up to 6 or 7 people.

Hab 2 - Habitat2: the 2 story building where I live. Campers stay in bays which hold more than 20 people. The lower level is built into the gound on one side so it is where we bring trainees during severe weather.

Trainees- our word for campers

Team Leader- the counselor in charge of a group. there can be up to two team leaders per group, a day counsleor and an evening counselor.

Support- a counselor who goes where is needed to support the other counselors or who could be running some activity or other.

Doubles- when you are both the morning and evening team leader.

USSRC- United States Space and Rocket Center, located in Huntsville, Alabama.

Shuttle- the assembly that takes our astronaust into space now.

Orbiter- the part of the shuttle that looks like a plain which most people think of as the shuttle

SRB’s- Solid Rocket Bosters: the two white rocket looking things on either side of the shuttle. they are the engines that get us moving.

ET- External Tank: the big orange thing. it is just a huge fuel tank. it fuels the SSMEs on the Orbiter.

SSME’s- Space Shuttle Main Engines: The three big engines on the orbiter. Fueled by the ET. Also used during launch.

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The BEST 24 hours EVER!!! (not!)

6 02 2008

Yesterday after I got off work I had planned to go take a nap, that never happened. Instead I decided to go out to eat with some friends, we had planned to meet about 6. It turned into about 7:30 before we left because we were waiting for someone to get out of a meeting that went longer than she planned. When I came back to my room later I felt a little sick but I thought it was because I was so full. NOT! I woke sometime after midnight and ran to the bathroom, throwing up right as I entered, not quite making it to the toilet the first time. By the time I was done, there was puck everywhere. My awesome new roomate went to get the head RA who cleaned up everything. YAY HAINEY! YOU ROCK! I threw up one more time before going back to sleep, hoping to be better by 6am-ish so I could work.

About 4am we were awoken by lowed banging on our door. We had heard earlier that their were tornado watches, the banging was one of out suppervisors telling us that there was a tornado warning and we had to help get all the kids from hab 1 (four story building) to hab 2 (where I live, 2 story with the lower level kind of basement like.) I was still feeling bad so I just headed downstairs. Everyone else got all the kids woken up and into some of the bays (bigger room with lots of bunk beds) Waking up all the kids and getting them down to hab 2 went pretty quickly for a couple hundred people. a half hour or so after we had everyone there we were told we could heard them back to bed. while everyone else was getting the kids back in bed I talked to the day supervisor and told him I wasn’t feeling good and wasn’t sure I would by 6:15 when I had to report for wake up.

I did sleep through wake up but got up to meet my team for breakfast. I ate one cracker and drank some sprite (since I didn’t have any genger ale) I started feeling sick again and asked Adam (day supervisor) if support could take over for me after all. He asked if I could wait a little so that support could eat. I told him okay, took my team to the nurse so those that needed meds could take them and then went to our first activity where I met up with a guy named Matt who was working support duty today. Talked with him for a bit then introduced my team to him and left.

I went to return his walkie-talkie for him, clocked out, through up again and went to bed. I slept most of today. My roommate, Teresa went to target before she had to got to work and got me some ginger ale (which I did keep down.) I did feel much better around 1pm stomach wise though I had a headache so I slept the rest of the afternoon. I’m feeling better now. I’ve had some more ginger ale and I’m eating some crackers. Head doesn’t really hurt at the moment either. I am pretty sure that by tomorrow I will be able to work again. Luckily I don’t have wake up, so I don’t have to report to work till about 7:30 as compared to 6:15.

So, yeah, this was my wonderful past 24 hours.

A great BIG thank you to my roommate Teresa who was awake just as much as I was last night (though luckily she was still awake when I threw up and I didn’t wake her up, just kept her up) and still had to work this evening. And to Hainey,wonderful head RA in Hab 2 who cleaned up after me. She ROCKS!

Any way, now I am going to eat some more crackers and possibly go out to but some sup or something to try to eat.

By the way, assides from getting sick afterwards, dinner was fun. It was neat to hang out with Joseph, who was our training mentor, out side of the USSRC.

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My First REAL Day…

5 02 2008

I had my very first team today. Well, I’ll actually have them till Friday but they are still my first official team. They are in 6th grade and most of them are pretty lively (after they wake up anyway.) I am their morning counselor so I have them from about 7:45am to 3pm, at which time their evening counselor comes.

When I first got them this morning they were so quiet. that didn’t last long. I got so many questions today, and not all of them related to Space. “When are we going to G-Force?”(after Imax), “When is Imax?” (after lunch), “Can we get dippen-dots?” (not right now), “Can we ride Mars?” (your doing that with Grace this afternoon), “Can we go over there?” (no, you need to stay with the group), “What are we doing next?” “Can I go to the bathroom?” “Whats for lunch?” (I don’t know, I haven’t memorized the menu yet)… are just a few of the questions I got today.

All in all, things went pretty well today. There are a few things I’ve got to figure out like when to leave breakfast so I can take campers to get their meds and still make their first activity on time. I like my group, they are a pretty neat group of kids. I think I know all their names now. I am also somewhat amazed at how much information I retained from training. When I did get questions about Space I knew the answer for the most part.

I have been up since 5:45am so I am going to take a nap now… stay tuned for more updates.

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A Very Quick Trip

5 02 2008

I went to Tennessee Sunday for a very quick visit with Josh, Julia and Maya. I didn’t stay long but it was still nice to see them. It was also nice to have a hot shower and a nice bed. What can I say, their daybed/couch thing is more comfortable than my bed here at the USSRC.

While visiting I did manage to get some video of Maya crawling. It is so cool to see how much she has changed or what she has learned since I last saw here, which was only a month ago. To see the videos and other pictures of, head to http://mayamauzy.blogspot.com/

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What I’ve been up to the past week

3 02 2008

Finally! I’m back! I haven’t been able to post for a while because I had to get a new power cord for my laptop and I have bee busy finishing up training and stuff.

So, what has been going on? Good question… here is a brief sumerization of whats been going on.

Camp for a day (several school groups came out for several hours and we got to experience what it was like to lead a team.)
Gala- the 50th anniversary celebration of NASA and the opening of the new Davidson center. Very fancy even, lost of astronauts and other NASA big shots in attendance: Buzz Aldrin, Homer Hickam, Jim Lovell, Charlie Duke… and other people I don’t recognize. What was I doing at the Gala? WORKING! yep, thats right, I was close enough to touch these people but I was working and not allowed to even ask for autographs. My job for the day? I started out stuffing inserts into programs and setting them out at tables. (I saw Buzz Aldrin’s name card). Then, since it was raining and we couldn’t set out the luminaries, I got to stand out in the freezing rain for more than an hour with a glow stick around my neck as a “human luminary.” I was among those lighting the way from the VIP reception. So, while I did not recognize them, I am pretty sure the above mentioned people walked right by me. I also got to see some of the proceedings on the big screen in the discovery theater then got to help with the gift bags at the end. I even got to keep one of the extra ones.
Graduation- We had a special graduation ceremony to officially become counselors. It was nice enough. The Highlight, Charlie Duke, one of the astronauts to land on the moon during Apollo 16, came to speak to us. HE WAS AWESOME! I got pictures of him but I’ll post them latter when I have more time.
Had some more test and teach backs somewhere in here… I assume I passed because I am still here.
I get my first real team on Tuesday- Friday, then I have a cub scout group over the weekend and anther group for three days the next Wednesday after that.
I may be getting a room mate
I am going to visit with Josh, Julia and Maya this afternoon and hopefully don’t have to be at work tomorrow.
that is all i can think of

I will post pictures soon.

Have a great week everyone, and wish me luck with my first team.

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Tags : astronauts, camp, computer, Graduation., Job, life, training

January 2008

2008-11-16T18:30:00.001-06:00

I mentioned how I have to take tests to prove I know the stff I will be teaching to campers (aka, trainees) like the Apollo missions and stuff. Well, with three out of the four tests we are allowed to bring in a 3×5 card with as much handwritten information we can fit on it front and back. This was great because while I may remember funny stories or know the basics of what happened during Apollo 13, I don’t remember all the dates and stuff, and when my brain just blanks out it is a pretty nice thing to have. Here are the pictures of the cards I used for my ‘Early Space History’ an d Shuttle/International Space Station (ISS) tests. I can barely read what I wrote myself.

And here is a picture of me (in my uniform) sitting in the MMU (manned maneuvering unit) model in the Shuttle exhibit in the museum. Also pictured is the star finder and parachute I made.

Thats all I have for now. I’ll post some more later. I need to go to sleep.

Most recent test scores… Shuttle/ISS=92 (counted off for stupid mistakes) Flight Deck/ACCESS= 104. One more big test left!

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Hsitory Test

17 01 2008

For those who care… I did pass my Space History Test. I got a 99. I missed two questions but answered one of the bonus. Yay me.

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To The Moon!

16 01 2008

When kids come to space camp they get to do several things. They get to do the simulators; 1/6th gravity chair, (simulates how it would be to walk on the moon) the MMU (basically it sims what it would be like to use those big jet pack things they used for a while to maneuver in space) G-Force (simulates the pressure of G’s [gravity]) and several others. They also get to build and shoot off model rockets and do other science expeiriments. we have some other fun things they get to do like the mars simulator, climbing wall, IMAX movie and during the summer they get to swim. Then, of course, the biggie… the MISSION. Depending on what program you do you can have 1 or more missions. Kids are either part of the shuttle crew, up on the space station, or in mission control. I remember when I came to Space Academy when I was 14 that the missions were definitely what I looked forward to. They have time to rehearse for the mission and then they go through it completely the next day.

Another big part of Space Camp is the history. The history is part of the reason there is a space camp. As a counselor it is up to us (for the most part) to pass on that history. Throughout the week we will have scheduled “briefings” to teach the kids about early space history, the Mercury program, the Gemini program, and the Apollo program. for the past week (have I really been here that long?) we have been going over this stuff over and over and over and over. We have to know this stuff so we can teach it to the kids.

So why am I telling you all this? Well tonight we had the first of our teach backs. For teach backs our team is split up into smaller groups and we each picked a topic out of a hat. The topic we picked out of the hat is what we have to present like we were teaching it to a group of kids. so with out group plus the grader we head to the museum and take turns presenting our topics. I am sure that all of you who know me know how much I hate to get up and speak in front of a group (so why do I want to work at camp where I regularly have to do this?) but I actually did pretty well. I was the 3rd to go so I got to see some of the others go and hear the feed back that was given to them. It also helped that we could have not cards to help us remember things like dates and stuff. We were also told a pretty good tip about hiding your notes in one of the mission books like the kids get so the kids don’t know that you have anymore info than they do in their books. During my feedback session I told my group that I felt like I was looking at my notes a lot but they said it didn’t seem like it… that could be because I had a light blinding me through the whole thing though. Now that I went through all that your probably wondering what exactly I was presenting about. I drew Gemini, which was kinda lucky because it was one of two (out of five) that I felt most comfortable teaching. The other being Mercury. you’d think with all I know about Apollo that that wouldn’t be to bad but their are a lot more missions and people to remember in that and not near as many funny stories. I don’t know what my grade was for the teach back yet but I know I didn’t fail so that means I at least got an 18 out of 25.

my training manual inside and out and one of the camper mission journals

Now that we have our history teach back out of the way… we have our history test tomorrow. I do not anticipate this being all that bad. We get to bring a 3×5 card with writing front and back as kind of a little cheat sheet to help us remember dates and stuff. As I think I mentioned earlier we have to pass it with at least an 85%. We have had several quizzes so far and I have done okay with those. In fact, my whole mentoring team has done well on them. We have won the knowledge stick (for team with highest cumulative score) both times so far (well, I think we won today).

One of the things that we have been told is that we can use props and other stuff when teaching. I have been to the gift shop (for which I get a discount) several times and have spotted several things I’m going to get once I’ve gotten paid. For instance, I’m going to get the little toy model set of all the rockets and the shuttle, I am going to get a cupple of the mission patches, and there might have been something else but I don’t remember what off the top o my head… I’ve got a list somewhere. One of the many people who has talked to us and done some of our training suggested a couple of books I want to get as well.

We did do some some stuff other than jsut history today. We learned how to put the eingins in the rockets that we have now built twice (out of thousands more we’ve been told) and we got to launch them. My rocket had no problems and it managed to land safely. Some Rockets weren’t so lucky and got stuck in the trees. In fact, the trees behind the launch pad have hindreds of rockets stuck in them.
My two rockets Fireball I & II, the F-II after landing, Look at all the rockets in the trees… (Have I mentioned how everyone loves my name and I am pretty sure that I’ve already got the nickname Fireball?)

So if any of you are in the Huntsville area and you let me know at least two weeks ahead of time so I can get time off, I’ll give you a privet tour… and I’ll probably know what I’m talking about by then. Also, I get discounts for people here and at the Marriott down the road (I’m pretty sure I do anyway.)

If anyone wants my contact info, let me know and I’ll get it to you as soon as I know it. Every time I go by camper services to get my mailbox the lady is not there.

I got to go to bed now so I will be awake during my test tomorrow.

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My Room

13 01 2008

Here are some pictures of my room in Hab 2.

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Now playing: Jewel - Sweet Home Alabama
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Sweet Home Alabama…

12 01 2008

I know that several people have been wanting to know how it’s been going since I got to Alabama. Well, it’s been busy.

I got here, The US Space and Rocket Center a little before 6pm (central time) Tuesday night. I met the head RA of my building and another counselor who gave me a quick tour and helped me move in. Training started 8 am Wednesday morning, and I think I filled out more paperwork than I ever thought possible; stuff saying that when I leave I wont start my own space camp using anything I’ve learned here, the usual tax forms, direct deposit forms, and other stuff. We also got our ID badges which have to be worn, or on our person whenever we are on USSRC property, even if we are not on duty.

Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning were spent going through MiniCamp, a chance to see Space Camp from the kids point of view. We even got to do our own little mission. I was CapCom, in Mission Control, the person who communicates with the Shuttle (or to be more specific, the Orbiter, the shuttle refers to everything, the Orbiter is the air plain looking thing that most people think is the shuttle.) We completed our mission and our team was the only one (that I know of) to actually land our orbiter.

Thursday afternoon was spent in our new mentor teams (the team we will be going through the rest of training with, led by a veteran counselor as our mentor) getting a more in depth tour of the facilities and then we spent the rest of the afternoon in the Challenger Auditorium listening to people talk about Policies and Procedures, getting introduced to a lot of people in other departments and other stuff. Which I guess was great, not leaving the building anyway, because it was pouring rain outside.

After that we went to get our uniforms and then we were done. I had Friday off except for an RA meeting, then I went out to eat with a bunch of people since the Caff was closed. I also have today off and start training again tomorrow afternoon. The two mentor groups have different schedules, they have Sundays off but work Fridays, we get Fridays off but work Sundays. they have their training in the morning, we get the afternoon, which is fine by me.

Well, I need to go get some lunch and then I’m meeting some people to do a little studying. Yep, you heard right, studying. we have tests that we have to pass by 85% to show we know the stuff and can teach it. the first one is on history, so we have to know the main stuff about all the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo missions. We have this huge notebook with all the information.

I’ll post pictures later.

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Job

6 01 2008

The plan now is to go to the training starting January 9th. Quick, I know, but as long as my car is ready by then I think I can make it. It’s an 8 hour drive so I plan on leaving Tuesday morning. I drive right by school on the way so hopefully I may be able to have lunch with one of my friends on the way.

So, since I have 2 days to pack I better get off of my computer and back to packing…

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Employment!

3 01 2008

I got a call this morning from Space Camp. I Got a job! Yay! So, I start training either the 9th of January or February 6th. At first I said I’d be able to move by next Wednesday but then I started thinking about it more. My car needs to go to the shop before I go. At the moment the battery is dead and it dies if I don’t drive it every day. Definitely need to get that fixed before I go. I also have an appointment with my orthopedic doctor in 2 weeks so I’d have to drive 8 hours back here. Not so sure I want to do that.
I should be getting an email with more information sometime today. So, I don’t exactly know yet when I’m going. Kind of depends on my car.

More to come…

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New Years and Second Christmas

2 01 2008

My lovely niece Maya (and her parents) have come for a visit. Here a few very cute pictures of her opening presents and just being adorably cute. She is so entertaining to watch. She is not quite crawling, though she gets in that position a lot more than she did when we saw her over Thanksgiving. She is also pulling herself up to a standing position now. If she is holding onto something (like the ottoman) she can walk her way around it. She also loves “walking” with someone supporting her. Sometimes I think she’ll walk before she crawls. Well, maybe not, she is still pretty wobbly.

On a another note, I had phone interview today with Space Camp. I think it went well. Now I am just waiting for a return call from them. Training either starts January 9th (really soon!) or February 6. I am kinda hoping for January.

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2008!

1 01 2008

Happy New Year!

I hope all is going well so far and wish everyone the best in this coming year.

So far the year looks promising with upcoming job interviews, preparing to move out (I hope) and lots more.

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Now playing: Kenny Chesney - Don’t Blink
via FoxyTunes

WordPress

2008-11-16T18:29:00.000-06:00

31 12 2007

So I had seen a little of wordpress, and Matthew mentioned something about it so I though I’d come try it out for myself. So far I like it. I think I might stay here. I’ll let you know…

Anyway, welcome to the new home of my blog.

New home

2008-01-01T14:16:00.000-06:00

I have found a new home for my blog... to continue your glimpse into my life please visit me here.

Job?

2007-12-28T13:26:00.000-06:00

My lazy days are almost over! (I hope.) I finally got around to filling out an application yesterday to work at Space Camp in Huntsville, AL. as a counselor. I got a call today from them to set up a phone interview. And, of course, they called while I was at PT. Any way, I called them back and I have an interview next Wednesday afternoon. YAY!! The woman I talked to said they looked over my application and saw that I had lots of experience working with kids so they wanted to talk to me. Yay experience!

So, wish me luck! Hopefully I will be in Alabama and getting payed sometime within the next month.

2007-12-25T12:39:00.000-06:00

Merry Christmas!!!

Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat...

2007-12-18T15:38:00.000-06:00

Ever year for the past several years dad has come up to my room and asked me to wrap his presents (well, all but the ones to me.) Mom has also started asking me to help. This year in an effort to raise some money so I can buy other people some presents, (and cause I'm greedy and broke and just want some money;-) I am charging them to wrap their gifts. Dad really did pay me to. Not much but it is more than I have in my bank account...

So, if you don't want to wrap your gifts this year... bring them to me and I'll do it for you, I'll even throw in a bow (once we buy more) and a custom gift tag. TELL YOUR FRIENDS! Family discount available upon request...

Pretty gifts I've wraped---->
Also, I went to the KPC staff holiday party this past Sunday and anfter having played a Nintendo Wii, have decided that I really want one... so anyone who wants to get me one, feel free :-D

7 days and counting!

Merry Christmas!

boycott the banning of Hohoho!

My Christmas List!

2007-12-12T19:40:00.000-06:00

If your wondering what to get me for Christmas, look no further...

A New Winter coat (North Face)

$Money$ (you will be contributing to essential things like toothpaste, & books, scrapbook supplies, & other stuff like that)

Gift Cards

A Job (so I can get more money)
Lifetime supply of gas (for my car)

My car to stop Dieing (or a new car)

Warning lights in my car turned off.

$$ so I can payoff my computer before I start getting charged interest.

iTunes gift cards

Digital picture frame

TV DVD's (Stargate: SC-1 & Atlantis, Numbers, NCIS (season 2 on), JAG, west wing (2-6)

Someone to solve my Rubik's Cube :-)

SGA 2008 calender (found here)

Paid month of Netflix

Catch Phrase (non-electronic version)

Stardust DVD

New Wireless Mouse & Keyboard (of my choice)

PhotoShop

New Desk Chair (of my choice)

Cell phone to computer transfer cord

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Now playing: Simple Plan - My Christmas List
via FoxyTunes

Just A Little Video Clip...

2007-12-10T23:01:00.000-06:00

Took this over Thanksgiving and thought I'd post it.

Mom (noni) and my lovely niece Maya playing piano...

Emily Reviews!!

2007-12-10T15:08:00.000-06:00

Books: I recently read a very good book called 'The Time Travelers Wife' by Audrey Niffenegger. It is about a guy who time travels (duh!) He goes forward and backwards. Sometimes he meets himself and sometimes he sees his wife at different ages. It switches back and forth between his point of view and his wifes. It is very well written until the last three or four chapters. The book kind of loses steam and just ends. Here is the description on the back of the book:
"When Henry meets Clare, he is twenty-eight and she is twenty. He is a hip librarian; she is a beautiful art student. Henry has never met Clare before; Clare has known Henry since she was six..."
I definitely recommend this book.

Movies: I went to go see 'The Golden Compass' last night with my mom, dad, and grandmother. It was awesome. It stayed true to the book as far as I can remember, though it has been a while since I read it. The Visual effects were great! Not very much Daniel Craig in it, may be there will be more of him in the next one? The girl was pretty good and it was neat to see a bad Nicole Kidman. The guy who used to play Cadfael on PBS was also in this movie playing a bad guy... big change from a murder solving monk.
A must see...

Saw some good looking previews as well. The next Narnia movie, 'Prince Caspian', is coming out next year. there were some others but I forget what they are at the moment.

TV: Well, there is a lot I could say about the TV shows I am watching but I don't feel like typing all that much at the moment. I will say this though... The first half of 'Stargate: Atlantis' Season four has been wonderful. Each story has been full of plot twist and turns, lots of suspense, just all around wonderful. Even if I miss some of the old characters the changes in cast makes the story.
The last episode This Mortal Coil was terrific! I can see why Joe Mallozzi (exec producer and writer of that episode) had trouble with it, lots of stuff going on.
Can't wait till January when SGA comes back...

Yeah.. that is all I have for now... go read or watch some TV or a movie...

2007-12-03T16:09:00.000-06:00

I saw this t-shirt on some website and thought it was really funny, even though there are at least 18 people who have visited my blog (I think 4 are me before I figured out how to make it not count my visits) and some of those are the same person just back after I've updated. Special kudos to Aunt Barb... the only one to ever comment on my blog.

Link to the shirt with creepy guy model...

Videos

2007-12-01T16:32:00.000-06:00

Here are a few funny YouTube videos I like... Enjoy!

Just a few days (12) of Christmas!

Some funny cats...

I think that is all for the moment. Tune in next time for more of my favorite vids!

Thanksgiving '07

2007-11-24T12:46:00.000-06:00

I've been kind of putting off writing here because there is a lot I wanted to write about and now several more days have gone by so there is even more... so where to start first?

Thanksgiving was just this past week. had lots of food and family and brothers. Josh, Julia and Maya (my lovely baby niece) came, JJ was home from school for the weekend. Matthew also made it in in time for dinner and brought his friend Ally as well.

We ate at my Aunt and Uncle Smith's. There was lots of good food and pies. Justin and Julia were eating with babies in their arms. Maya and Grayson were adorable (Maya is more adorabler.) The people on the benches where a little cramped, one good thing about my knee, I got prime seating because there are only so many places that are comfortable to sit around the table when I can't bend my knee very far.

After dinner we had a wonderful game of Catch Phrase. I think it is now part of our Thanksgiving tradition. Well, we've played it two Thanksgivings in a row any way.

So, nothing more to say about Thanksgiving. nothing much to say at all right now really... here are some pics.... there are lots more with Maya but it takes to long to update them all on here, ENJOY...

The Family

the spread

More food

the table

My Plate

Pies

Julia's pretty (and yummy) apple pie

Joshua and Maya

JJ and Matthew

Maya & her mommy (Julia) looking in the mirror & the funniest napping position ever

Knee Update #Nine

2007-11-21T12:04:00.000-06:00

Had another doctor appointment yesterday. He said my knee is looking good, that I have good quad control... how exciting. He did have one o his assistants move my brace up (or down?) a notch. It is now set so I can bend my knee 45 degrees. That is exciting. You have no idea how much difference 15 more degrees makes. It is easier to sit in a chair, drive, walk. I also got the prescription to start Physical Therapy (PT). Isn't that funny? I need a prescription from my doctor before I can start. It's about time too.

Last time, as I might have mentioned, my doctor had me start PT as soon as I got this brace. Well, when I start PT is not the only thing he's changed with this knee. Instead of having my brace moved up every two weeks he said to have the PT people move it to 60 in a week (which is also kind a funny because I will have only had one appointment by the due to thanksgiving) and to 75 the week after that. after having my brace on 75 for a week he said I can start wearing my other knee brace (which is a lot smaller.)

iGoogle

2007-11-17T21:17:00.000-06:00

When I click on my Firefox icon the web page that first pops up is iGoogle. iGoogle, if your not aware, is the customizable Google search page. You can have from the weather, your Gmail, quotes, and headline news to jokes, games and funny pictures... all on your start up page. Plus, since it is Google, you have the search bar right there.
So why am I telling you all this? especially since Blogger is Google and I sound like an advertisment? Well, becasue on my page I have 'Quote of the Day' and 'Fun Pics' and 'Jokes' and I wanted to share some with you all. So with out further rambling here are several quotes, pictures and jokes that pop up when ever I get online... ENJOY!

SOME QUOTES
Some national parks have long waiting lists for camping reservations. When you have to wait a year to sleep next to a tree, something is wrong.
- George Carlin

Elections are won by men and women chiefly because most people vote against somebody rather than for somebody.
- Franklin P. Adams

Ask not what you can do for your country. Ask what's for lunch.
- Orson Welles

Life is an unbroken succession of false situations.
- Thornton Wilder

SOME JOKES

I was recently riding with a friend of mine.
We were coming to a red light, and he shoots right through it. I ask him, "Why'd you do that?" He tells me this is how his brother drives.
We come to another red light, and again, he shoots right through it. I ask him, "Why'd you do that?" Again, he tells me this is how his brother drives.
We come to a green light, and he SLAMS on the brakes. My heart nearly goes into my throat. I shouted at him, "Why do you do that?!"
He replied, "You never know, my brother could be coming the other way."

!rotinom ruoy edisni kcuts m'I ,pleH

How do you know when a woman is about to say something smart?
When she starts her sentence with "A man once told me ..."

SOME PICTURES

Hmmm, there seem to be a lot of kitty pictures... wonder why that is?Hey look, more kitties... I'm on a role
Just one more... I got a pic of my cat doin' something similar.
I thought I'd do something different...

I'm So Smart...

2007-11-17T00:53:00.000-06:00

I have figured out how to post YouTube videos on my blog... yay me!
So to celebrate I am posting one of my favorite videos... enjoy!

Hello Moto... Can you hear me now?

2007-11-13T15:41:00.000-06:00

Got my knew phone yesterday. A Verizon Motorola RAZR. I am loving it. I have added all my contacts (I think) and as you can see, added my own little personal touch to it. My mom, younger brother, and grandmother all have the same phone so I don't want to mix it up.
Not that you wouldn't be able to tell that it was my phone once you flipped it open or heard it ring. This phone has some great features that my old piece pf crap didn't.

First off, this is phone is a camera flip phone while my old phone was neither of those things.
I now have speaker phone, video, pix and txt messaging. I can also record voice reminder things. I also found a new use for the voice recorder today. I don't have VCast so I cant download music or ring tones or anything fun like that, but you can set what ever you record as a ring tone. So I recorded a song I wanted as a ring tone and set it. It's not very good quality but it will work for now. Is there away to turn music you already have into ring tones and add them to you phone?

On the knee front... everything is going ok. I am looking forward to next Tuesday when they let me bend my knee a little more, and hopefully start therapy. For the first time in 10 years I wont know where all the machines are 'casue they moved into a new building, how exciting. Also, when I saw the doctor last week I asked him when I could drive since this is my right knee and he said now. So after driving around the block with mom to prove that I could slam on the brakes if a kid ran out in front of me I can now drive. Yay freedom! Now I just need a job...

Yesterday I discovered that people really do read my blog, or look at the pictures... or else they just come across it while searching Blogspot blogs and come across mine and don't read it. So, what ever you're doing, enjoy, I'll keep posting whether people read or not.

Pictures: My phone and my lovely decorating job, and a funny picture I saw somewhere... Dad wants to play golf there.

Oh! by the way... there is this wet, water stuff falling from the sky. I think it's called rain but it's been so long I've forgotten

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Now playing: Kenny Chesney - Beer In Mexico
via FoxyTunes .

Comic books and the US Postal Service

2007-11-10T15:29:00.000-06:00

I like Sci-fi. Some of my favorite Sci-fi movies and TV shows are all Star Wars, Stargate SG-1, and Stargate Atlantis. I'm sure there are a few others but I can think of them at the moment. So why do I mention this? Well, I was at the library yesterday with my mom and saw this comic book (graphic novel?) on the "New Books" shelf. I am not really into that kind of thing but it had a funny title so I picked it up and flipped through it. turns out its basically a spoof of all things Sci-fi. so far i have been able to pick out Star Wars, Star Trek (lots of Star Trek), Planet of the Apes, I thin I've even seen some Stargate but I'm not sure, possibly some Jurassic Park as well. So yeah, it's pretty funny and will give me something to read over the next 2 weeks.

I think the Postal Service has gone Whack. The first evidence of this is the fact that it took three months for my brother to get something that my mom sent him.
what other evidence do I have? Well, you never know when our mail will arrive. sometimes it comes before 12, sometimes it's after 5pm. I'm not sure it even came yesterday. I was supposed to get a Netflix movie in the mail but it never came and the movie I put in the mailbox to send back was still in the mailbox this morning. It is now almost 5pm and I finally heard the mail truck. The worst part of this? Monday is a mail holiday so I wont be getting a new movie anytime soon. I will be getting a brand new Verizon Phone on Monday though. More on that later.

Knee Update #Eight

2007-11-08T14:14:00.000-06:00

Got a new brace. Well... not new exactly... I got after my first surgery... but I'm now wearing it on the right knee. This brace has some little hinge thing, so I can only bend my knee so far... 30 degrees. Which, as you can see from the above picture, is not very far. this brace is so annoying... velcro pops off sometimes, have to make it tight so it doesn't slip down (not that it helps) and it clicks as I walk.
On the other hand I learned that it is called a "Bledsoe" brace which sounds like Blood-Sew.
I also told the physicians assistant person that I knew how to adjust it. she says I'm not supposed to figure that out. Hey, i can't help it if my brother accidentally messed it up last time and the people at therapy haven't had to adjust one in a while so they forgot how. I figured it was a good thing to know how to fix it. :-)
Haven't started physical therapy yet. which is weird, I had started PT by this time after the left knee. What ever. I do try to avoid seeing those people.
I'm down to one crutch, some times no crutch.

I AM GETTING A VERIZON PHOEN!!! A RAZR.

I was going to say something else but I forget what...

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Now playing: Simple Plan - My Christmas List
via FoxyTunes

nother joke...

2007-11-06T09:45:00.000-06:00

Don't think I've posted this one yet so here is a joke for you all.

A young man with a wild and multi-coloured hairstyle sits next to an old man on a park bench. The old man stares at the young man.

"What's the matter, old man?" says the young man. "Never done anything crazy in your life?"

The old man replies: "Yeah. When I was in the Navy, I got really drunk one night and had sex with a parrot. I thought you might be my son."

November

2007-11-05T20:19:00.000-06:00

I finally noticed today that my calendar was still on October. While flipping it I decided that it really is to bad that in 2 months I wont be looking at those funny sayings anymore. So I decided to take a picture of all the sayings and post them for everyone to see. In no particular order, here is the first one, from the month of November. Yep, this is what I see when I look at my Calender this month.

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Now playing: Craig Morgan - International Harvester
via FoxyTunes

Knee Update #Seven AND Other Cool Stuff

2007-11-01T15:36:00.000-05:00

So, I had a doctor appointment on Tuesday. Definitely one of the fastest appointments I've ever had. my doctor can in the room in less than five minutes. So anyway, his assistant guy unwrapped the ace wrap (which turned out to be two) from my leg then took off all the cotton (which some of which stuck to my leg thanks to the sticky yellow stuff they use) and the dressings over my knee. He also took out one of the stitches. If you look at the picture immediately above the side of my knee with four pieces of tape still has stitches in, the lone piece is where he removed the stitch. (as a side note, the tape stuff they use is 3M brand.)
They gave me a much smaller ace bandage to wrap around my knee. It's cool, it has Velcro so you don't have to use those metal things that always end up falling off and getting lost.

I am sill wearing the straight leg brace thing, I get it off this coming Tuesday, YAY!
The other pictures of my knee are the little bandage thingy they put on that day and an ice pack on my knee.

The pictures at the top are my newest gadget. Dad found it at Aldi. A travel keyboard. It's made out of some rubber squishy thingy... best part? IT'S PURPLE!
Other new gadget news? Dad found a good deal for Verizon phones and I think he is getting them for us. So pretty soon I should have a MotoRazr... hopefully pink.

So, yeah... that is all I can think of at the moment... Later.

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Now playing: O-ZONE - Mai Ai Hee (Dragostea Din Tei) [Original Romanian Version]
via FoxyTunes

Knee Update #Six

2007-10-26T11:48:00.000-05:00

I'm doing much better today. No more dizziness or passing out. I'm spending the day in my chair instead of sleeping in bed. I can't wait until this thing comes off my leg. I am counting down the days. not much more to really say about my knee. I can't get up from my recliner with out help, and I'm on crutches of course.

One of the things they tell you at the outpatient surgery place is not to drive and stuff for 24 hours after you surgery. HELLO? I just had my right leg operated on and at the moment I can't even bend it. How the hell do they think I am going to drive? It's been 4 days now, still can't bend and have enough trouble driving. There must be some really crazy people out there for them inclued those instructions. Hey, I'm related to one of them. Dad went and played golf the weekend ofter he had knee surgery, though his surgery wasn't near as heavy duty as mine.

I am already getting bored with this. it better be worth it. no more knees popping out.

Knee Update #Five

2007-10-25T13:13:00.000-05:00

Yesterday when mom came home from work, she had my new prescription with her. I was all for it after spending all of Monday night itchy and most of Tuesday and Wednesday fuzzy headed and tired from the benidryl.
I will happily take "sleepy, and fuzzy headed," (maybe even a little itchy) over how i feel now.

This morning after my helped me up I made my way to the bathroom while she went to make me some breakfast. I started to get really dizzy and lightheaded and both mom and dad had to help me back to bed.

I spent the rest of the morning watching a movie on my computer and sleeping. Got dizzy again when I tried to sit up to eat and got really lightheaded on the way back form the bathroom. Fun stuff... Doctor says to take less and wait longer... DUH? I think that the hospital people and my doctor need to learn how to talk to each other. one says to wait until I feel my knee hurt while the other says to take something before it hurts. I think I listen to my Doctor and wait... don't feel like passing out...

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Now playing: O-ZONE - Mai Ai Hee (Dragostea Din Tei) [Original Romanian Version]
via FoxyTunes

Knee Update #Four

2007-10-24T10:47:00.000-05:00

Either Benidryl effects me kind of strongly or Benidryl and Codeine don't mix all that well. The Benidryl definitely cut down on the itching. Instead it's made me a little lightheaded and slightly dizzy. What fun. Mom is getting me a different prescription on her way home from work. Hopefully it will work better. Dizzy and lightheaded is definitely better than pain.

My leg is still somewhat numb, very weird feeling.

Picture: the Ace bandage covering my leg. A week till I get the ace bandage off. What is underneath all this? gauze and bandages. yellow sticky stuff, betadine and some lovely stitches and tape over the stitches.

Slide Show

2007-10-23T16:43:00.000-05:00

Knee Update #Three

2007-10-23T08:29:00.000-05:00

Codeine has some weird side effects which I didn't really experience last time. It says it may cause itching. No, really? I was half awake and itching all over for at least a couple hours last night, and kind of itchy while watching Transformers with my parents. I told my mom about it this morning and sure enough, its the drug. My tummy kind of itches now actually. So, since I itch all over my mom called my doctor to see if there is anything to do about it so now I'm taking Benidryl also. I hope it kicks in soon. I itch. I was planning on typing the other side effects to my lovely drugs but my dad put them out of my reach. Maybe later.

I decided that I need one of those toy clay things, like we used to use to pinch people from far away when we were kids. That way when things are only a little out of my reach I can get them with out calling my parents upstairs.

So, What's with the picks? The first, if you can see it, is my IV puncture and the little bit of bruise
2nd: my leg all wrapped up. My knee is actually not as big as it looks... I have Ice under there.

Stay tuned, more updates coming soon!

Knee Update #Two

2007-10-22T11:30:00.000-05:00

So, at the moment I am still a little groggy. They game me some nerve blocker thing so my right leg is almost entirely numb. which is a good thing 'cause at the moment I'm feeling no pain. I'm also becoming less and less groggy. Yay. Any way, I will post more later.

The Right Knee

2007-10-21T22:53:00.000-05:00

My knee... normal and no scars... for now any way. In 9 1/2 hours my doctor will be cutting into it and hopefully fixing it.

You know the worst part about knee surgery, especially since I just had my left knee done 5 months ago? It's not so much the cutting it open part that bothers me. The pictures of the inside of my knee that I get to see later are even kind of fascinating in a creepy sort of way. The worst part is that the reason I am getting this surgery is to stop my knees from dislocating and at the moment my knee is perfectly fine and doesn't hurt at all. Starting tomorrow I will be on crutches for about two weeks and my leg will be in a foam brace thing that keeps my from bending it. Not that I'll feel like bending it cause it will hurt to much, sometimes I wont even be able to lift my leg with out picking it up with my hands, (codeine really is a wonderful drug.)
wouldn't it be awesome if my doctor could cut into my knee, fix everything that needs fixing and then have my knee be perfect and ready to walk and run and bend afterwards? I wouldn't mind that at all.

Then after two weeks I get all my stitches out (ewe) and get another brace. This brace will have a hinge that can be set to different degrees or angles. My doctor will set it to 30, which isn't very much, can't really even sit down in a chair normally. I will also be starting physical therapy at that time... two and a half months later I will have full range of movement but my knee will still be weak.

Its been a little over 5 months since I did my left knee and I can still tell it is weak. It gets sore going down hill, I can tell that I still favor it slightly when I go down stairs (that wont last much longer.)
When I last saw my doctor I asked him how long it would be till it was normal... he said 6-9 months, months. That means it will be July at the latest before my knee's are back to normal (minus dislocating?) if it doesn't take longer with my right since my left is still weak.

Okay... enough depressing thoughts... I am going to got to bed now... more updates to come.