The Best (and Last) Weekend in LA

This weekend was a blast!

Friday night a few of us went to Dothan for dinner, had a drink at Beef O'Brady's, then found a new nightclub in "downtown" Dothan. The club would have been cool if there were more people there, but we managed to have a good time. On the way back, we made an unscheduled stop at Adventureland to go go-karting!

Saturday was the end of class party on base at Lake Tholocco. We went expecting to only stay for an hour, but it ended up being much more fun than anticipated. There was way too much food, as always. I spotted some 4-person paddleboats along the shore, so we "borrowed" them and went paddleboating around the lake. After the party, I took a nap, then we headed back to Beef O'Brady's. We had the party room in the back so we could make a ruckus (and have control over the TVs). After a couple hours at Beef's we headed back to Adventureland to mini-golf. I finally found my mini-golf nemesis--Steve. He beat me by 4 points!

Sunday we got up early to drive to Panama City Beach. We had lunch at Pineapple Willy's, then went to the beach at the state park. The water is beautiful there! We barbequed by the boat launch, then headed home a little more toasty then we started. (That's toasty, not toasted.)

Jough, LT, Margaret, Emily, JB (me), Kenny, and Steve in front. (My new nickname is JB :-P )

Tim goes to Vegas, Baby!

Last weekend I went to Las Vegas for the first time!

I was out for some ZERO-G flying to roll out their new look and logo. We did one flight on Saturday and had several mechanical issues in a row that kept us grounded until Monday. We were supposed to go to California and fly from Moffett Field at the NASA Ames Research Center on Sunday but didn't make it there. I was looking forward to the flights because I would get to see friends that work at Ames and put on a great Yuri's Night party.

ZERO-G kept us well-fed while we were in town with meals at the Terrace Pointe Cafe at the Wynn and Olives at the Bellagio. (Delicious Fiery Chicken Sausage flatbred and olive tapenade! ) I also got to see the fountain show at the Bellagio [pic] [vid] and watch The Producers (starring David Hasselhoff). Thanks to Sabrina and Allen for getting us tickets!!

Vegas was a lot of fun and a lot of work. I can't wait to go back and explore more of the city! I really want to ride the roof-top roller coaster at New York New York :-)

My pictures from the trip are available here. You can find ZERO-G pictures here.

Update from LA

We're closing in on graduation day here at Fort Rucker. The mood is definitely more upbeat, especially since we finished our big presentations yesterday!

Here's a shot from Yuri's Night a couple weeks ago.

And last night we had a party at Beef O'Brady's to celebrate the completion of the dreaded Council of Colonels. This is me and Jough.

YNDC + Zero Gravity flights hit #100

This past weekend I flew up to DC with ZERO-G for flights 99 & 100. We left early on Thursday, so I wasn't able to attend the Yuri's Night party in Cocoa Beach that we organized under our local NSS chapter. Good news is that I did get to attend the DC event and hang out with Shandy (see pic). She is another ERAU alum and an old classmate of Jen's. Every time we see each other we are in another town! So far it's been in Mojave, Valencia, and DC. What a traveling friendship! Hightlights of the evening included free vodka shots (!), browsing around the Russian Cultural Center in DC, and enjoying the live band "To the Moon". I also snagged a pint glass branded with a YN logo. we need those at all the parties next year!

Our ZERO-G flights on Friday and Saturday operated from the Smithsonian's Udvar-Hazy Center at the Dulles Airport. This is a new facility dedicated to showcasing the amazing collection of aerospace artifacts like the Space Shuttle Enterprise and an SR-71 Blackbird. Basing our missions from the Hazy Center made us feel like real space heroes!

Our customers were great and we had a blast finishing out our double-digit flights. ZG-100 was a great trip with outstanding long parabolas. We had a little champagne toast back at the hotel to celebrate this milestone flight. It is an honor to have been crew on ZG-1 and ZG-100.

Thanks go out to the fun folks onboard the plane during the ferry flights too! my ex-intern Katie got to take her first ferry flight as did new coaches Niki and Vanessa. Deb showed off her new Kids 2 Space patch. I co-authored a chapter and now she is writing the teacher's guide! What a small world!

Check out more pictures here.

Easter Weekend in GA

I drove from AL, and Tim & Jack drove from FL to GA for the Easter weekend. Here were the highlights:
--Tried to go the Aquarium, but ended up at Truett's Grill and the flea/antique market instead
--Visited Tim's cousin Greg Cobb and his new wife and baby
--Went bowling with Jim, Scarlett, Robbie & Lindsey, saw frost on the cars when we came out of the bowling alley. Brrr...rabbits!
--Attended Scarlett's church on Easter morning
--Had a big Easter linner (that's lunch/dinner) with Mawmaw and company on Sunday afternoon
--Toured Robbie & Lindsey's house for the first time

Space Task Force update

Quick update from the Space Coast. NASA looks to June for Space Shuttle Atlantis, Charles Simonyi talks about life on board the International Space Station - and is Bill Gates booting up a trip into space? My Space Task Force co-host George Schellenger takes a look.

More at SpaceTaskForce.com

Weekly Dinner in AL

For the past month or so, my classmates and I have been going out to dinner on Wednesday night's to get away from the boredom of Ft. Rucker. This picture is from last week at Longhorn Steakhouse in Dothan. We're still deciding on this week's location.

Multimedia extravaganza!

Big news of the week: Tim is now on a weekly podcast! I have been invited to co-host a new weekly space show, the Space Task Force Netcast. I met George Schellenger (Emmy-award-winning producer) through my work with the World Space Expo. We've done our "test flight" of the concept by recording our first show with guest Frank Miller (the Expo's Event Manager).

Our intention is to create a fun, easy-to-understand show that anyone can understand. We recap the space events of the week and have some interesting guests. Our first run was almost an hour long and is available online at SpaceTaskForce.com. Please listen to the show and send me feedback!

This past weekend was not quite as exciting, but I did get to see the new Disney movie Meet the Robinsons with Robert and Teresa. It was really good even though we didn't see it in "Disney 3-D". Robert went back the next day and saw it again in 3-D. I think that is cheating :-P

I also held a "Global Chat" for the organizers of the 95+ Yuri's Night events happening world-wide around April 12. I love to hear all of the plans for space parties and really get people fired-up about their celebrations! Where will you be on the anniversary of manned space flight? Is there a Yuri's Night World Space Party near you? We are partying at Paddy Cassidy's Irish Pub in Cocoa Beach. Come by if you are in the area!

Birthday Recap

I forgot to recap my Birthday!

With the delay of the space shuttle flight due to freakish hail damage, March 16 was open for my birthday cookout. Bonus: people scheduled meetings around the launch and then still had to come to FL even though the launch was canceled! It was great to have some out-of-towners at the house for a relaxing evening.

This was the year of books! Jen sent me the new Heinlein novel Variable Star in the mail, my mom got me the Heinlein classic, Starman Jones, and I got a cool signed copy of Riding Rockets! Add in a sledge hammer (for easier removal of bathroom furniture). What more could I ask for?

Our friend Chris from our ERAU days flew in from Huntsville for the whole weekend and hung out. We went mini golfing with Robert on Saturday. They were nice and let me win :-) Pics are online here.