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.