Housing Finale!

Closing is set for noon on Friday, January 6, 2006!

Move in will happen on Sunday, January 8 due to a ZERO-G flight in Ft. Lauderdale on Saturday. Anyone available to help move us out of Teresa's house will be rewareded with pizza!

After-Christmas Special

Episode 1: Christmas in GA

Traveled up to Locust Grove, GA, on Thursday morning. Thought about leaving Wednesday night, but didn't see the need to drive all night. Besides, driving during the day meant we got to stop at the St. Augustine outlets! Hooray for new Sketchers!

Once we got to GA we had fun with Mom, Dad, Robbie, and Lindsey (his gf) just hanging out and doing Christmas. Dad made a ham and we ate off of it the whole time we were there! Maw-Maw decided not to make her traditional sausage balls for breakfast on Christmas, so Mom made (and burned) them instead :-) They were still a hit! Jen made mac & cheese to take to Aunt Jerri's house (we are married now and must contribute!).

We opened presents on Christmas Eve instead of Christmas morning to keep from being so rushed all of Christmas day. It didn't work, but it was nice to have some time to play with new toys before heading out the door. The highlights:

• iPod Nano from Jen (2GB)
  
• digital camera from Mom & Dad (Fuji FinePix F460)
  
• super cool remote from Robbie (Logitech Harmony 676)
• new printer for Jen (HP PSC 1510xi)
• cool print of Mars picture from Tom
• a chocolate fountain
• DVDs
• books
• clothes

Christmas day was a blast! We were still late leaving the house, but got to Maw-Maw's in time to eat. It was good to see everyone, though the many of the cousins were missing. We grow up so fast!

Aunt Jerri's house was packed with people and food. Yum! It was nice to catch up with everyone before playing the present game. We started out nice, but got busy stealing in no time (the Pyrex set was a hit). I ended up with an electric screw driver!

The day went by quick, but we still made time to see Robyn and Craig in Stockbridge.

Next up: Episode II: The Northeast!

Disclaimer

Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit our best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low stress, non-addictive, gender neutral, celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasions and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all...

...and a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling, and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2005, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make America great, (not to imply that America is necessarily greaterthan any other country or is the only "AMERICA" in the western hemisphere), and without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith, choice of computer platform, or sexual preference of the wishee.

(By accepting this greeting, you are accepting these terms. This greeting is subject to clarification or withdrawal. It is freely transferable with no alteration to the original greeting. It implies no promise by the wisher to actually implement any of the wishes for her/himself or others, and is void where prohibited by law, and is revocable at the sole discretion of the wisher. This wish is warranted to perform as expected within the usual application of good tidings for a period of one year, or until the issuance of a subsequent holiday greeting, whichever comes first, and warranty is limited to replacement of this wish or issuance of a new wish at the sole discretion of the wisher.)

Settling in to the Space Coast

We are having fun while waiting for final mortgatge approval for the house. I have been working steadily at FSRI while Jen has been keeping up with her ZERO-G duties from Teresa's living room. This week we are getting Jen a badge and a desk at the FSRI offices at KSC so that she can get out of the house and quit watching so much daytime tv!

Last week we went back down to Ft. Lauderdale to complete my Communication Course at Landmark Education. That is a long drive for one night! We drove down for the 4-hour class completion and then turned around and headed back. Jen did most of the driving while I snoozed. Eventually we stopped for a nap at a rest area. No sense driving when you're too tired!

After that trip, we didn't go back for the ZERO-G Christmas Party on Saturday night. It would have been a great time, but we were pooped! We ended up sleeping in and then going to Timber's house for a cookout. It is so nice to have friends around so that you can get together on a Saturday night!


We stayed over at Susie's house on Saturday night so that we could all get up early and go to Busch Gardens in Tampa Bay! It was a fun drive with Paul and Susie in the car and a cheap trip as Susie used complimentary employee passes to get us in the door. The day was mostly grey and rainy, so there were very few people in the park. We rode all of the roller coasters with almost no waiting! The new coaster, ShieKra, gave some amazing free-fall time as you dangle over the top and then drop straight down over 200 feet. You can't even see the bottom! WOO-HOO! It zips you along at over 70 mph. (it feels much faster in the front row). Thanks Susie, Paul, Timber and Sniper! We had a great time.

Now it's back to work for a few days before heading up to GA. See you soon!

Housing Updates & Holiday Plans

It's been a busy week! The inspection went well with only minor issues identified. We are now gathering all of the necessary W-2's and account statements for our mortgage company.

Closing is still looks like it will happen the first week of January. Until then Teresa has graciously allowed us to continue staying with her.

Here is our Holiday Travel Schedule:

• Dec 22-26 - Georgia
• Dec 26-31 - Pennsylvania
• Dec 31 - Jan 1- Washington DC
• Jan 1-2 - Georgia

If you will be in one of those states and want to make a plan, let us know!

Jen's First Post

Here's my first addition to the blog. Let's see how it goes.
We had the home inspection this morning. It lasted almost 3 hours, because the homeowner, Michelle, really can talk! She didn't want anything to be wrong with her house. She had an explanation or a story for everything the inspector found. But we did get to spend more time at the house figuring out where furniture would go, etc. There isn't anything significantly wrong with the house, so it looks like we're still a GO!

Nice floating picture

While we're waiting for news on the house, enjoy a cute picture of Jen and I floating around!

(actual news: contract is signed, inspection on Tuesday at 10am)

Contract Pending

We found a cute little house in Titusville and have put a contract on it! The address is 3540 Young Street, Titusville, FL. It is a 3-bedroom, 2-bath (1574 sqft total under air) with a 2-car garage and large back porch (adding another 948 sqft). The house was built in 1967 and sits on .23 acres.


Here we are looking into the laundry room and then into the kitchen.



Did I mention that it has a fireplace!?!



We are so excited!

Dec 1 - We are officially Homeless

Driving up the highway last night, we couldn't find an extended-stay motel in the area that had any rooms! We had Sniper calling all over the place looking, but he wsn't finding much. Finally he IM'ed Teresa and she agreed to let us stay for a few days--Hooray!


Teresa lives near KSC and has three cats (so our two were no problem). She bought a house and moved in about a month ago, so she has been having fun repainting and decorating. Teresa is even painting Parisian scenes on the bathroom wall--how artistic!

Now we are intently looking for houses--and a place to store our stuff. If you have any ideas, please let us know!

This is where we used to live...

With Alice & Tom's help, we finished moving all the big stuff on Tuesday and finally got it all out on Wednesday before 5pm. It was weird to see the whole place so empty! We filled up an entire 24-ft moving truck plus Jen's car and still had to leave a few things in my car at the office. WOW. We have a lot of stuff.

So, now we are refugees! We are heading North to the Space Coast, but we don't know where we'll sleep or what we'll do with our stuff before we have to return the truck on Saturday morning. The Adventure Begins!

Three flight weekend

We pulled off three flights this weekend! We had a birthday party flight on Saturday morning, a filming flight on Saturday afternoon, and a last-minute individual/corporate/media flight on Sunday morning. It was a blast, but we are dead tired. And now we have to really get moving on packing...

HINT: You may want to watch NBC on December 9.

Turkey Day!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Jen made an amazing dinner:

• ham
• homemade mashed potatoes with gravy
  
• Stovetop stuffing
• green bean casserole
• cranberry sauce
• rolls

It was fantastic. And then we had a Grasshopper Pie! MmmmMmmm!

It was nice to have a few minutes with just the two of us to reflect on our lives and how thankful we are for each other and all of the people around us. It would be great to have found a good house by now, or to have that next great/high-paying job or some other thing. But we both are thankful for the people in our lives more than anything else. We can go and do great things because we get supported by our family and friends. Even when we do crazy things like announce our move to a city where we have no jobs and no place to live, we get help. We've been offered housing, storage, and job opportunities by a multitude of people in addition to the moral support of our families and friends. WOW.

Thank you to everyone. Thank you for making it possible for Jen and I to live our dreams.

2 out of 4 ain't bad...

We had a big plan for this weekend: two individual flights on Saturday from FLL and then two flights on Sunday from the SLF for the residents of the WORLD Ship! We were all worried about the logistics of moving everyone and everything three hours away, but Jen had it all planned out. She even dealt with the WORLD Ship being the training and party location. I was preoccupied with a Japanese TV crew and a British TV show both filming on the same flight!

Everything was going fine. We took off almost on time for our first flight, ZG-51, and were getting ready to take the group picture when we got the call to return shoes and get ready to go back! Frustrating, but necessary. Apparently one of our AC packs had quit working and the crew couldn't maintain a constant cabin pressure. While this is slightly irregular on a normal flight, it is a NOGO for parabolic manuvers. We went back.

While the plane was being repaired, we went ahead with the next training on schedule. We might have to cancel one flight, but the second one would definatly go...right? Wrong. Another problem creeped up and needed to be fixed on the plane. Easy enough, but we had a lift for one mechanic and the job required two. Well, it takes two people to get it done in a reasonable amount of time... So both Saturday flights were cancelled. The group that was set to ferry up with the aircraft (me, Jen, Sarah, Edwin, the AJ crew and mechanics) sat at Jetscape until after 10pm waiting for a GO/NOGO for the flight up to KSC. We finally waived off for the night and got sleep.

The next day we had two good flights from the SLF, though both were a bit bumpy from turbulence. The WORLD Ship passengers and crew had a great time. I learned later that the Ansaris paid for the ship crew to come on the airplane with them. I was astonished. The story is that Anousheh Ansari gave away 14 tickets that got raffled off to the crewmembers. That is worth over $50,000. Jen told me that some of the flyers were engine room workers that had never even seen the conference room on the ship where the pre-flight training was held. It is that strict around there.

Other highlights from the day: hanging out with Jim Kennedy (KSC Center Director), finally meeting Jack Fox (local NSS coordinator), and getting to see the WORLD Ship (after going through 2 metal detectors and 3 security checkpoints). The guys at KSC are really excited about having ZERO-G around. The WORLD is a nice ship. And it is harder to get into than KSC.

Spelling is for losers

Can you read this?

Olny srmat poelpe can.

cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh? yaeh and I awlyas ! tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!

if you can raed tihs psas it on !!

Florida Space 2005

Went house hunting again this Wednesday. Saw 3 places with Susie and her mom, but only one in Rockledge was really nice. I drove through the surrounding neighborhoods and through some of Port St. John to get a 'feel' for the area.

I went over to the Florida Space 2005 reception and talked with Gwendolyn (ZERO-G's Director of Educational Programs) and people from the Economic Development Commission. I learned that there is a Young Professionals of Brevard group that meets several times per month to meet and network with other young people in the area. Sounds cool!
Thursday Robert gave a presentation on ZERO-G during a panel on research and development. That was nice, as was Alan Ladwig's presentation on... it didn't matter what it was supposed to be, Alan made it good :-) That was about all I could stay awake to watch. [Robert and Alan were both approached numerous times that evening and thanked for their great presentations!] Dinner was at the Apollo/Saturn V Center and was delicious! We munched and told stories about the tour to Alan's co-worker at Northrop and the AGI reps. We couldn't make up stuff that crazy!

During the maddness, I talked with Sam Durrance and Eddie Ellegood to finalize the details of my employment with FSRI. I am expecting an offer letter tomorrow! It is a lower salary than what I requested, but that gives me room to negotiate time out of the office for SGC in Valencia.

"I've got a beautiful feeling everything's going my way!"

SEDS Conference Mania

Went to the SEDS conferece, SpaceVision2005, at the University of Illinois at Champagne-Urbana to

1. exhibit for ZERO-G
2. get interns
3. tell the students how to get on our airplane
4. hang out with all* my cool space friends
   

(*note: some cool space people were not there, but enough that it was still a good time!)

I arrived in Chicago late Friday night and was picked up by Will Pomerantz. His friend "Chema" let us crash at his place in the city. Chema is now a cop in Chicago. He and Will met during school at Harvard.

Will and I got up early and made the 2 hour drive to the conference just in time to set up our displays (Will was representing ISU and the NASA Academy programs). I met a lot of enthusiastic and well-qualified intern applicants and handed out a lot of brochures. Unfortunately, this meant we missed the talks by our cool space friends and colleagues! [As a side note, it is extremely wierd to know half of the people presenting at a conference. It's also extremely neat to be included in such a group:-) ]. After checking into our hotel, we went to the closing banquet. Bob Richards was the keynote speaker and highlighted the 25 anniversary of SEDS and the enormous contributions of the late Todd Hawley. It was a phenomenal presentation that really made me proud to be part of the drive to push humanity out into the stars.

Then we went drinkin' at a local pub. Oh my, college town bars are cheap. You can buy a dozen shots for under $10. (Trust me.) We all had a good time together talking about the next steps after the conferece to bring to life the ideas from the SEDS workshops. Later we toured a lab office and had pizza [?] and then Will and I chased rabbits on our way back to the hotel. (Yes, we were surprised that there were rabbits too!)

The next morning we were treated to a presentation from Loretta about her appearance in James Cameron's Aliens of the Deep. I had no idea she was featured so prominently! She talks about it like she was on screen in the background when really she narrates parts of the film! I am amazed, but not surprised. Loretta is a champion of "what's possible in the world" and is always doing some new, impossible thing. Her fiance, George, was the keynote speaker at lunch. What a couple!

After several hours discussing the Space Generation, Will and I drove back to Chicago with Josh and John from X PRIZE. John just needed a ride to the airport, but Josh came back to Chema's with Will and I for the night. Getting up at 4am on Monday morning to make a 6am flight out was not fun and highlighted the damage that cold Illinois air (and cheap liquor) had done to my immune system. I'm sure I'll get over it in a few days. Or not. Either way, I can't stop now--too much to do!

Streamlining

In an amazingly painless and swift move, our COO (Glen Gates)and Director of Finance (Lynn LaFrance) both quit on Thursday. How did I find out? I was passed a note. Seriously, a note. No corporate teleconferece, not a phone call, not even a mass-distribution email! I feel like I'm in Juinor High again :-)


Although I have not seen their letters or talked to them since their departure, I believe this was a good move for both guys. Glen was extremely ineffective in his position, partly due to the lack of necessity for a COO. To be honest, we need people that work, not just people that manage. He could have done both, but he didn't. Glen was also fond of playing games instead of having open and honest communication. I wish him luck in his next venture.


I actually talked with Lynn a few days before his resignation. We discussed my reasons for moving to Titusville and creating a new position working for FSRI. Although low salary and lack of benefits (health insurance, retirement, etc.) were factors in our choice to leave Ft. Lauderdale, Jen and I are both ready for the next step in our lives. We have learned amazing things here at ZERO-G and would not trade our time here for anything! In fact, we will both still be working for ZERO-G after the move (me part-time and Jen full-time until she lands the engineering gig). We both fully intend to continue to support the mission of the company and contribute to the development of the personal spaceflight industry.

That said, I do have some 'unresolved issues' with the ZERO-G.

• We do not communicate effectively.
  
• We waste time and energy on low-priority tasks.
  
• We wait until the last minute to spend money, thus spendin even more to get what we need where we need it on time.
  
• There is not a concensus on where the company is going and how to get there.
  
• We operate velow the bare minimum of staff and salary at all times.
• We do not treat all people in the company equally.

Every company has areas that could use improvement--ours is no different. Lynn, unfortunately, saw only problems. And he saw them compounding. He was frustrated that no one was taking his ideas and using them to 'fix' the problems. Lynn brought a lot of knowledge and experience to the company and felt that he was largely being ignored--no matter how loudly or frequently he tried to give advice. I understand how frustrating and uninspiring that can be.

Lynn and I both have a "loss of faith in upper management". I do not know about Lynn, but I still have faith in "the team". I know the operations team will keep fighting to stay alive no matter what decisions are made at the top. My job now is to help them from the outside by providing new resources and ideas that were not previously available to me. I will work smarter and harder. I invite Lynn to do the same. He is a great asset to the company, whether he recognizes the effect of his contributions or not.

Mission Success

Our weekend of flying from the Kennedy Space Center Shuttle Landing Facility went great! Neither Jen nor I got to fly this weekend, but it was still an amazing experience to work at KSC. Our passengers trained at a special conference room overlooking the Apollo/Saturn V Center and then were bussed across the street to the aircraft. The first flight had their Regravitation Party at the VIP "Midfield" Press Site, the second went back to the Saturn V Center. It was beautiful to see the aircraft do low-altitude passes down the runway!

Jen and I stayed around Titusville the rest of the weekend looking for housing. First thing on Sunday we went to a doctor to look at an odd rash that had been bothering Jen since last week. It was spreading from her legs to her arms and neck. The doc said it was some kind of alergic reaction and gave her a prescription. So far it has had little effect :-/ Next we looked for apartments, but didn't find any that were cheap and not scary. On Sunday night we went to a cookout at Susie's house in Melbourne. It was so nice to hang out with young aerospace people! We have really missed that part of life living down in Ft. Lauderdale.

Susie heard us talk about wanting a house (but not having time to actually buy one before the end of the month) and told us her mom was a real estate broker that could have us in a house in 2 weeks. Well, that changed everything! We talked to a mortgage broker Monday morning and went looking at some houses we found online (only a few were good). The broker, Tom, met with us later so we could sign papers and get our morgage options. Things are moving fast!

Jen and I also met with Eddie and Robert at the Center for Space Education to discuss my new position. FSRI really seems to be the right place for me! When I asked about time off to do Space Generation things (like the SEDS conference or Space Generation Congress) Eddie told me "Your extra-curricular activities at ZERO-G will be part of your job here at FSRI." This is so cool. Oh, and I get an intern. Just because I asked for one :-)

We had dinner with Timber at TGI Fridays in Melbourne and then headed back south. It was a fun weekend driving around KSC like we owned the place! Funnier was the Budget van we were driving all over the Cape and out to look at houses. Seller beware--we're ready to move in today!

Prep for Launch

This week is crazy as we prepare for our flights from the Shuttle Landing Facility at KSC this Saturday. Friday Jen and I are heading up to Titusville to prepare. We are staying until Monday so that we can look for an apartment. Our lease here in Ft. Lauderdale runs out on November 30, so we need to get moving! To make things a bit more exciting, we don't have any free weekends between now and December, so we'll be packing and moving mid-week. (I don't know that I've ever moved on a weekday.)

Our job situation is continually improving. Discussions are underway to develop a position for me at the Florida Space Research Institute (FSRI). I would be contracted from FSRI to work with ZERO-G to attract and coordinate research flights in Florida--the part of my current job I really like to do! I may also be put in charge of highly technical projects like the MoonROx NASA Centennial Challenge. Jen is still looking for a systems engineering job at the Cape but may be able to continue her employment with ZERO-G while she looks.

South Florida is still a mess with 70% of the traffic lights still missing or inoperative. Large sections are also still without power. I can only imagine what it must be like in New Orleans right now. I forget how much of my world is dependant on electricity and well-stocked stores! We still have not gone and replaced the food we lost, partially because stores have been closing early.

Hurricane Wilma Refugees

I made it back from Japan! It was a great experience, but really odd. There is so much wierd stuff in foreign countries. Just look at the vending machine pictures in the previous post. They hot drinks in a can in the machines. Wierd, I tell you--wierd!

So we had another hurricane. Her name was Wilma. She blew down lots of trees in the apartment complex and knocked out power for 95% of South Florida. After a few days of camping at home (and hearing that some parts of the area would be without power for a month) Jen and I packed up the cats and became Hurricane Refugees. We travelled north to Titusville and stayed with Robert and Karen Ward. It was nice to have a warm shower and internet access :-) We've gotten power back in our part of Ft. Lauderdale and are heading back down. We should be fine, but if you have the urge to send money or food, go right ahead!

Japan Update

Sorry for not posting any updates for a week! I was extremely busy being the MC for the program and trying to keep everything on track. The 2005 Space Generation Congress went extremely well, with all of the delegate working groups presenting their projects on Sunday afternoon. We have several great ideas for improving web-based interaction and capabilites to encourage other people or groups to learn more about space exploration. The "Inspire Space" team challenged all 100 participants to return to their high school and give a presentation on space exploration to inspire the next generation of space pioneers. To help, the group will assemble presentations and tips on how to speak to large groups.

Ok, so we also had a lot of FUN! Saturday night was Japanese Cultural Night. I chose to go to a traditional Japanese tea ceremony hosted by our Japanese Event Manager, Yusuke Muraki. HE had been going to classes for six months to learn how to perform the ceremony! It was a great insight into the Japanese culture and a tasty experience. Afterward we went to an outdoor food booth and had famous Hakata Ramen noodles! Trust me, they are much better than anything you will ever find in the grocery store.

Below are some additional pictures of Japan. More are available at the SEDS Gallery.

Konichiwa

I've made it to Japan--though not without drama! Flying on stand-by tickets is always fun, but flying standby in a foreign country is insane. If not for a friendly Japanese guy also going to Fukuoka, I would not have made it at all! Thank you kind stranger!

Things No One Will Believe I Did in Japan #1: ate penne noodles with salmon on the plane ride over.



Things No One Will Believe I Did in Japan #2: took off my shoes and put on slightly-too-small sandles every time I came into the hotel. No exceptions! It's the standard rules.

Below is a picture of my room on night #2. Ulf and Sarah are monkeying around. Ulf is sporting the hotel-provided sandles. The bed behind them is a bunkbed built for 6! We'll see how that works out... But it is a large room with a table (foreground) on a raised platform. You can sit on the mats and put your feet down the hole under the table! It's like being at summer camp--but none of us understands what anyone is saying or any of the writing. Still, we are helping each other and learning a lot. It is great to finally get to work together in person after spending so much time talking online! The final pieces of the conference are pulling together. Tomorrow should just be getting ready for moderator training on Wednesday.


PS--Being in a timezone 13 hours different from home after 26 hours of traveling takes a bit out of you. Trust me on this one...

Week in review - Preparing for departure

The past week was a whirlwind! I downloaded all of my knowledge about the NASA flights to Sarah and Robert. I was tracking down parts, sending out engineering reports, and printing out modification orders like crazy.

In the middle of the chaos, on Wednesday all of Operations went to KSC for a meeting about our use of the SLF in November. We discussed out operational requirements with the various NASA departments and then got to go on tour! We ate at the KSC-HQ cafeteria (cheap!) and then drove out to the SLF Midfield Site where the new Control Tower and VIP/Press Area is located. Then we drove down the 15,000 ft. runway! That was really neat :-) We also saw the cargo staging area near the Mate-Demate Device used to take the Orbiter off of the 747 carrier aircraft. Then we went over to the Apollo/Saturn V center and got to see the large second-floor conference room we will use for training. Awesome! We ended the day with no unanswerable questions and got a press release about ZERO-G using the SLF the next day.

My idea... making someone else rich!

For the past year or so (maybe longer) I've been tossing around the idea of a keyboard with programmable LEDs on each key. I figured gamers would love to have a totally customizable keyboard, but that wasn't the real market. Serious cash would be made with international machines. (But gamers would still think it was cool and have an awesome freeware program to modify the keyboard for any game any way.)

A big problem with making an interface with numbers or letters on it is that most languages use different symbols that don't have an equivalent in other languages (example: ñ ). So, how do you use a machine built for another language? Sure, the software can show any language on the screen, but you need to be able to input the language first. I've seen a friend use a Sharpie to write Korean characters on her laptop keys to remember what was what when she was writing home. Horribly inefficient and ugly to boot.

The answer was to have an input device that adapted to the user. Of course, you could just use a touchscreen, but those don't give you any tactile response (that feeling of pressing in a key so you know you hit it). Most people don't like using a touchscreen for very long. The better way was to integrate a high-res LED into each key of a keyboard with a standardized layout that would accommodate any language.

Imagine: you walk up to an internet terminal in downtown Tokyo and hit the US flag on the keyboard;instantly the keyboard displays the same standard layout you see at home. A Russian walks up next to you and hits his flag; and he gets his standard layout as well! Given the choice between this and either (a) touchscreen keyboard, (b) some wierd mixed-language keyboard where I have to hunt-and-peck or (c) this elegant LED keyboard... well, I'd choose "c" even if it cost more!

Well, just because I didn't get around to making it doesn't mean it's not a GREAT idea! And there's still money to be made marketing it and putting it out in the hands of the consumer.

More at http://www.artlebedev.com/portfolio/optimus/

Wedding Weekend Whirlwind

This weekend we headed up to Daytona Beach for Brian and Leona's wedding. Jen and I were in charge of Robert and Karen's baby girl , Anna, because they were both in the wedding party.

Friday I got to play with the sound system as a stand in for the music guy. Then we all went to Harbor Inlet and had dinner. My mom and dad happened to be in Daytona this weekend as well (total coincidence!) so they came over for a while too.

As it got late, the boys headed over to Brian's house and played poker for a few hours. Brian and Leona have great decorating skills, and they do themed rooms just like me and Jen! I stayed at Brian's place; the couch was comfy but leather. I kept sticking to it and nearly yanking my skin off when I tried to roll over!

Karen turned Anna over to Jen before I got back to the hotel, so I was in charge of watching the baby while Jen got a shower. Bad move. I let her sit on the chair while I was polishing my shoes. She was looking at the colorful fabric and cooing--until she somehow pulled a somersault off the chair and into the floor! I freaked out (just a bit) but she was ok. She cried for a while, but a nap helped.

After all of the excitement, we were late getting to the ceremony! It was at the Chapel in the Garden in Port Orange. We used to live just down the street from it, but we'd never been inside (no reason!). The place is very picturesque with fountains, walkways, and tons of little spots perfect for photos. The chapel itself is cozy with extremely squeaky floors. Our mutual friend (and new notary) Matt Cross performed the ceremony beginning with lines from The Princess Bride:

"Mawidge...mawidge is what bwings us togewer today...Mawidge, the bwessed awwangement, that dweam wiffim a dweam..."

No kidding, he did it. And it was the funniest thing! Almost as funny as the fact that everyone stood when Leona walked in, but no one was told to sit down. Ever. The whole ceremony was scripted out and they forgot that part! It really didn't matter as it was a short, sweet ceremony.

Afterwards I helped the picture guy (Kaare's job, but he and Laura and Elizabeth were absent!) get all of the non-wedding party people's pictures [yes, it's odd, but nice] while Jen played with Anna. At the reception we got to see all of out APO brothers and dance to good Howl at the Moon songs. Then we picked up APO brother Isabel and her boyfriend Ray and all went to Howl and danced the night away! Afterwards we ate/played at the Denny's down the street :-) Drunk people are fun to watch!! (I was DD.)

Sunday morning Jen and I had brunch at Aunt Catfish's. It was nice, but too filling. Jen and I both had to take a nap at Robert and Chale's before going home! Then we got stuck in an hour of stand-still traffic due to a tractor-trailer truck catching on fire.

We made it home safe despite rain and had a wonderful time overall!

Living a life powerfully and living a life I love

I went to my final Self Expression and Leadership Program class on Thursday. This completes Landmark Education's "Curriculum for Living" series, but I am already registered for more!

I have gotten so much more out of my life since I took the Landmark Forum last December it is hard to know where to begin! Although I've always had fun and done cool things in life, I never really felt like I was in control or had any say in how things happened. I was a "passenger" for most of my life, just reacting to whatever was going on. Now I am the driver, creating my life and loving it all. Sure, there are still bumps on the road and detours along the way but now I don't get sidetracked by what is handed to me by life. I finally see how amazing people accomplish impossible things.

I've also developed a new way of looking at the world. Before the Forum, I didn't realize how cynical and judgemental I was about life. I really approached life as though everyone else was stupid and everything "happened to me" all the time. It worked great for a while, but I've come to see how limiting it is as well. The most surprising thing was to find out that other people knew I was an ass but didn't tell me! Talk about a blind spot; I had no idea I was an arrogant ass or that other people could see it. That alone was life-altering.

To make a long story short, I have gotten a lot out of my classes with Landmark:

• I have new tools to use in making my dreams into reality.
  
• I operate in 'today' instead of 'some day'.
• I see what happens in life separate from the meaning I give to the events.
• I don't get stopped when things don't go the way I thought they would or don't turn out like I want them to.
  
• I have an amazing relationship with my wife where we can discuss anything--litterally anything that ever comes up--at any time with no fear of 'cost' or retribution for bringing it up.
• I love with my whole heart. No holds barred. Nothing held back. And it is fantastic!
  
• I live life powerfully and live a life I love!

Yes, I do slip into my old habits at times. I see it and recognize it (mostly), but I am no longer trapped by the past and by those old comfortable habits. Now I am constantly surrounded by a conversation for what is possible in my life and what is possible for everyone around me. It is inspiring, motivating, exciting, and miraculous.

"This is your life, are you who you want to be?" ~Switchfoot, This is Your Life

Jack goes to the vet (again and again and again...)

We've had little Jack-a-roo over a month now and he is still sneezing up big snot wads and his eye has not opened up all the way. We were told it was a scratch and would go away on its own, but it's not. So we took Jack to the Aventura Animal Hospital (we only know about it because it's next to an Old Navy store).

The vet was amuzed at Jack's constant purring regardless of what they did to him (even when they gave him an anal probe to take his temperature!). She decided Jack has an upper respiratory infection that caused ulcers around his eye--and that's why it swelled up. We got 3 kinds of medicines and were told to come back in a few days.

Fast forward to today. Back at the vet, we find out that he isn't getting better so they are putting him on a fourth medication and upping the frequency of his doses! This wouldn't be so bad, but three of the medicines are anitbiotics that you squirt directly into his eye. If you have never put neosporin-looking stuff in a cat's eye, you are lucky. We now have to do it four times a day times three medicines: twelve times a day we poke the cat in the eye. I'd feel like a horrible parent, but he keeps purring!

The other med is some kind of supplement that comes in a delicious paste. You squirt it on the cat's paw and they lick it up. Simple! And much less dangerous that squirting tuff in it's eye or trying to get it to swallow a pill.

I have no idea why the cat loves us. All we've doe to him since we got him is do mean things like shove pills down his throat or squeeze medicine in his eye!

Side note: since we are going out of town for Brian and Leona's wedding this weekend, we are putting Jack into the "pet resort" at the animal hospital. This way he still gets all of his medications and Azriel gets a break from crazy Jack.

Howl Re-opens!

Howl at the Moon dueling piano bar reopened in Orlando this weekend. Jen and I drove up to Orlando on Friday night, had a good time dancing and singing and then drove back (Jen was DD). It was a lot of driving--and we had to wait in line to get in--but it was worth it! Brian Wilson & Leona, Timber, Paul & Susie, Matt Cross, and crazy Chris were there along with 'long-time, no-see' John Bartos with his wife Jennifer ("What a coincidence! I have a Jennifer too!"). Former intern Todd also showed up with his roommate. All had a wonderful time! Can't wait to go back next weekend after Brian & Leona's wedding!

Pottery Pick-up

We picked up the pottery we painted on Jen's birthday. They all turned out really nice! And it's a cool thing to do for a present too--you can personalize something that is useful!

Sniper's mug...



Cat bowls by Alice and Jen...



Cool Chinese dog by Tim....

Publicity!

I sent in an article about the reaction of the Space Generation community to NASA's new plans for returning to the moon to Ad Astra Online and it was published! See the whole thing on SPACE.com at http://www.space.com/adastra/050920_genx.html.

How exciting! I have never been on the front page of a publication before! Time to update the ol' resume.

Massive Weekend Update

Here's all the news that's fit to print (and then some):

My weekend started on Friday afternoon when I was unexpectedly called in to help load the airplane. This was unexpected and a bit disappointing as Jen's mom was in town, Sniper was on his way down, and I had planned to go out with George and Loretta. Ultimately it turned into a great training experience for Sarah as we had mechanics that hadn't done the load before. We really had to know our stuff to be able to tell them what to do, how to do it, and when it needed to be done. Steven Steiner also made it down to help, despite having his flight from Boston delayed several hours.

Getting home at 5:30am on Saturday, I was greeted by Jen and her mom heading out the door to prepare for our two ZERO-G flights. I managed to get a few hours sleep before heading out the door for a meeting with a local college professor. We toured the airplane and were drawn into the final cleaning and preparation that hadn't been completed the night before. We left the airplane as the passengers arrived. They included: Snoopy, Ball State University, Jen's mom, and Sniper! I went back with Jen to the Hard Rock to prepare for ZG-46, where I was the Gold Team coach. My team was fun and I finally got to do a Superman!! Wa-hoo!


After the Regravitation Party we all went to Buca di Beppo for Jen's birthday dinner.

We ate her icecream cake from Cold Stone Creamery and feasted on wonderful Italian food. Then we talked in the parking lot for a log time and the cake melted. Tragic, but true!


The next day, Jen and Alice and Sniper and I all went to Joe Picasso's and painted pottery. It was so much fun that I stayed for four hours working on my little statue.

Then we went out to eat at the Melting Pot fondue restaurant. None of us had ever eaten fondue before so it was a neat experience! We had melted cheese, cooked meat in boiling broth stuff, and then had the most wonderful chocolate ever. Jen picked a good place to eat for her fancy-pants birthday dinner.

Now we are at home recovering from a wild flight and birthday weekend--and here comes another hurricane! Rita is bearing down on us sending palm fronds flying and weather reporters out to the most dangerous spots they can find. Once again, I am sure we will survive.

Tim & Jen's Television Debut

Tonight is the season premiere of NBC's weight-loss show, The Biggest Loser. We flew for them out in Van Nuy's California back in March. The contestants had to float around gathering up ping-pong balls and stuffing them into a bag on their belt. The catch: some of these people were over 400 pounds!

Jen and I were both working on that flight and ened up on camera for a lot of the show. We were in the front of the aircraft keeping the contestants from hitting the front wall or going through the forward doorway that leads to the cockpit. Jen is on camera a lot! Everyone recognizes her and says "oh, was that you on the other side?" I am so happy we were on tv together!!

Weekend in Miami

Sarah and I spent the whole weekend--50 hours over Friday, Saturday, and Sunday--working at the aircraft repair station in Miami. We were overseeing the installation of power panels in the aircraft to support research flights. This is a critical step in being able to support NASA flights and other research activities. It will also come in handy when we do media and filming flights (previously, everything had to be batterypowered--ugh!)

As usual, we got very little sleep while we were in Miami. No, not because we were partying! We need to be on-site from the time the first mechanics arrive at 7 am until the paperwork is completed at 12 am or later.

This was the first time Sarah had worked at a repair station without Robert. She did a fantastic job! We ended up getting all of the work on the aircraft done but still have some more removable pieces to finish up that are needed to make it all work. Overall: Mission Accomplished!!

When Squirrels Attack

No kidding, a squirrel knocked at the front door at the office today. There are some cats that roam the office park so I assume it was one of them making the noise. You can imagine my surprise when I see a squirrel banging its fists on the door!

I tried to take a picture of it, but it vanished. Literally. I ran out to find it but it was gone. Weirdest thing that happened all day.

Weekend fun with Shannon

Our good friend Shannon came to town to hang out with us over Labor Day weekend. Hooray! It was awesome to get to see her again. The last time we got together was at our wedding in April (Shannon was the Maid of Honor).

We started out Sunday at the Beach Place (on the beach!) where we ate at Lulu's Baitshack. They had red beans and rice with andouille sausage!! It's my favorite cajun food. MMMM!



We rode on the Water Taxi for only $5 and got a great tour of the big houses on the intercoastal waterway. There are some monsterously huge houses with equally gargantuan yachts out there. The guide said some people pay over $20,000 per month in property taxes. That is insane!

We got off the taxi at River Walk, but we had just eaten so we walked down to the art festival on Las Olas Boulevard. The streets were closed to traffic so the vendors could set up tents in the road. It was...interesting. The art was neat, but the people were fascinating! There was a couple bicycling through that really caught our attention: the guy was wearing boxer breifs and shoes. That's it. Oh, and a fanny pack--where else would he keep his wallet? We figured they were foreign--it's just not socially acceptable in most of the U.S. to ride around in your underwear.

Other notable events were:
- dinner at the Cheesecake Factory
- the extremely-ethnic food court at the fancy-pants Aventura Mall
- a huge sale at Macy's/Burdines
- Scatergories ("items in a desk" starting with a k??)
- walking to the Cold Stone Creamery to burn off the calories from the delicious icecream

On Tuesday morning, Shannon went back to Kentucky to her huge cat Leo. Thanks for coming! Come see us again soon!!

Up and Flying again!

After some debate with our airline "partner", we finally got the go-ahead to do flights for the rest of the year. This is very good as we have 15+ flights already on the books for the next four months!

Basically they thought our modifictions were causing problems. After a careful, independant engineering analysis, however, it turned out that their own people were screwing things up. To 'solve' the problem we are putting on cute "touch this switch and DIE" placards for now and planning to add a pressure-relief valve later. Hopefully this will mean that even when the mechanics break all the rules and procedures they still can't do much harm.

We are fixing a system that isn't broken. But if it gets us flying--we'll do it!

Side note: I read today that SpaceX was modeling their operation after an airline. Please, please don't pick Amerijet as your model, Elon!!

Oh, and Jack taught me how to do cool animations in ImageReady so I can make pictures do funny things. This could be fun ;-)

Weekend Update

We made it through Katrina just fine--our power stayed on the whole time and we didn't get flooded! Unfortunately, sometime over the weekend our automatic cat water clogged up and quit working. I celaned it out, but I think we burned up the motor. Bummer. But I am glad that is the worst thing to happen to us in a hurricane!

The weather was nice on Sunday so we went to see The Brothers Grimm at the fancy Aventura Mall. It was a nice movie, but not nearly as good at The 40 Year Old Virgin. Jen took me to see it last week and it was hilarious! Definately not a kids movie, but absolutely a must-see.

On Saturday I went to the last workday for my Self-Expression and Leadership Program at Landmark Education. The power was off at the building, so we cut it short. at only 8 hours (instead of 12). With the breeze blowing and my shoes off it was quite bearable! It reminded me of summers before we had central air in GA: I just wanted to go jump in the pool!

Tomorrow Jack Little from Aero Decals is coming so I can teach him how to write HTML and edit his company website. Jack does all of the decals for the inside and outside of the ZERO-G aircraft. He is a cool guy and knows everyone. Seriously, it is spooky sometimes. I am going to ask Jack to be a sponsor for the Space Generation Congress in Japan. We have $50K but need another $10K to really put on a good event for the 130+ delegates from around the world. If anyone else is interested in kicking in a few bucks, please let me know!!

Speaking of teaching, I am looking at starting an online MS in Education. It is fun to teach! Plus, I really want to get back into school and finish my Master's degree. This would let me start now and finish up wherever I go! And there are rumblings that we may be moving in the next four months...

Palm Fronds Down!

"THERE ARE PALM FRONDS DOWN!"

(this one is in front of our door)

Don't you just love weather news? We're in the midst of a tropical storm in Florida. Florida. They act like we've never seen rain before! Here we are in the eye of the storm and all they can find to write about are palm fronds on the ground.

Although I do appreciate all of the frantic phone calls, I have not ever been to a hurricane shelter and do not intend to go to one today. We weathered a Category 3 hurricane last year, so this Tropical Storm shouldn't kill us.

Yes , we do have water and food to last us through 'the aftermath' of a coconut rolling down the road (honestly, this was on the news). And we even have an APC backup that will let me stay online when the power goes out :-) See you on the other side of the storm!

Jen's New Title

Jen has officially been recognized for all of her hard work! She is now the "Director of Customer Relations" for Zero Gravity Corporation. Of course, there was no salary increase and we still have no benefits whatsoever, but it's something...

If anyone out there has a systems engineering job--specifically one that involves manned spaceflight--please let us know! This was supposed to be a temporary job and now she handles half of the company. Specifically, she deals with all of the customers, sets up all of the vendors and locations for training, coordinates all of the staff for flight day, and is responsible for all of the merchandise. If she had time to learn how to fly a 727 she could run the company herself. The problem: this isn't her dream nor her passion. As good as she is, she'll always want something more (like, for instance, a decent salary and benefits).

So, seriously, if you have any openings PLEASE let us know!!

Jen's New Car!

Yesterday we went down to Miami and picked up Jen's new car! It is a 2003 Saturn Ion 3. We found it on Craig's List and Jen just had to have it. She talked to the owner and bargained the girl down to less than market value--and less than the girl owed!

Really, Jen did need a new car. Her old '97 Saturn has been having electrical problems for over a year. Recently, it has started to randomly decide not to start! It sat at the mechanic's shop for three days and started every single time. They checked everything out and couldn't find a problem. We drove it home, drove it to a restraunt, and then got a ride home. It refused to start! No clicking sound, no nothing. The running lights and some dashboard lights come on, but nothing else works. We left the car there overnight and when we went back, it started right up! It's a gremlin, a ghost, or something wacky. Whatever it is, we don't want it any more!

This weekend we are going to sell the old one to CarMax... if we can get it to start and take it over there!

Not-so-manic Monday

The weekend was fun and relaxing. Saturday I was a bum most of the day, but I did work on the RFI! On Sunday Jen and I went on a crazy shopping extravaganza and bought new shoes, some clothes, and a new toaster! I like shopping with Jen :-) She bought new pink cords from Old Navy--and they are CUTE!

This morning Jen and I both had dentist appointments. Mine was at 9am. 9am!! And I was only 5 minute late :-D Jen already told them all I like to sleep in so they were all picking on me. I had a good cleaning (only a few stains from the occasional coffee and constant Diet Coke--or new Coke Zero). It still felt like she was ripping off parts of my gums at times. Which, from the bleeding, she may have been doing! I am tasked with finding my old X-rays to save money whe I get my exam next time. Every dollar counts when you are paying out of pocket! I am committed to finding my own health care before the end of the month. The CEO said they would pay half since we don't have a group plan yet. Hooray for minor miracles!

The office was a muted madness as we answered the phone (Marketing is out at a conference all week) and lamented the lack of an intern (our intern Todd had his last day on Friday). Sarah's computer was acting bad so I worked on it for her. Not a terribly hard thing, but extremely time consuming! In the end I bought her a copy of Norton with the company card. Being without virus protection is simply unacceptable to me!

Tomorrow is booking up with calls and a class on starting a business. I can't get anyone from the Small Business Association on the phone, so I'm seeking them out in person! On a side note, I was looking for a business checking account and discovered that Washington Mutual has no minimuns, and no fees whatsoever. Just like the commercials said....only I didn't beleive them. I am thinking of switching banks. Any bad WAMU stories out there?

Down with the Sickness

So, I was sick today and stayed home from work. Nothing big, just felt kinda crappy. Ended up still working all day, but I got to wear my pajamas :-)

Also talked with Loretta about Life, the Universe, and Everything. [Loretta is my Wonder Twin--she helps me unlock my super powers] I figured out that I wanted to be appreciated at work and that was causing me a lot of frustration. I am cleaning up with the CEO and creating a powerful team to move us forward. AAAahhhhh! Much better! With all that frustration it is no wonder I felt crappy ;-)

Oh, I also neglected to get stuff done today and missed my Landmark SELP class tonight. And now I am blogging instead of writing the response to the NASA RFI that I was supposed to send to Will today... Back to work!!

New addition to the family

Ladies and Gentlemen, I am proud to introduce our newest family member: Jack Bailey! He is a 4 month old kitten from the Broward County Animal Shelter last Friday. He weighs 5 lbs. but is eating so much I expect him to double in size soon!
Azriel took a little time to get used to him, but now they are almost buddies :-) Jack is crazy and runs all over the house chasing the toy mice. He also loves to climb on Azriel's cat tree. He's a cutie!

Speaking at TFAWS

Yesterday I was the keynote speaker at the 2005 Thermal & Fluids Analysis Workshop at the University of Central Florida in Orlando. It was a three and a half hour drive each way, but that gave me lots of time to talk on the phone :-) I haven't ever been a featured speaker at a real conference before--it was fun! And I think I was the most exciting thing to happen that day. Middle-aged guys talking about fluid analysis just doesn't strike me as a hopping party (though I heard they loved the open bar the night before!). I got my first ever speaker award too--a Galileo thermometer with a "TFAWS 2005" plaque on it. It went straight to my desk at work!

While I was in Orlando I also met up with Will Pomerantz of X Prize and SpaceAlumni.com to talk about writing a proposal to have the Space Generation Foundation administer the Quest level prizes for NASA's Centennial Challenges program. We spent several hours going over the details and ended up dividing it up and taking parts home. I only have until tomorrow to get my half finished--yikes! Better get started...

Weekend Update

The weekend was relaxing, but not very productive! We got to enjoy our new cat (tentatively named "Jack"). We got him from the Broward County Animal Control center. He is 4 months old and white with tiger stripes splashed on top of him. I would upload a picture, but we--ok, I --lost the camera last weekend during our visit to the Museum of Science and Discovery.

We did take the duvet (feather comforter) to the dry cleaners on Saturday because Jack peed on it Friday night. And we did find the local tire place, though I decided not to get tires yet.

Oh, and we went to the beach today for a few hours! We layed out under a palm tree on Hollywood Beach and just relaxed.... We often forget that most people would die to live this close to the beach. We never go. I have this story that it is too much of a hassle to get all sunscreened and then take all the stuff and lay out and get sandy and sore and burned (even with the sunscreen). Plus I think the water here is dirty with seaweed(though it is actually clearer then Daytona). I went in the water today and decided I liked the rocks on the bottom and the seaweed wasn't too bad :-)

I feel like a bum because I still have things to do on my "to do" list. I bet if I had put them on the calendar and made time for them they would have gotten done :-P

Next week, here we come!

first post

wow, i feel like a dork naming this 'first post', but it is.

And maybe one day I'll post another. Let's see how this goes...