A space roundup in Dallas: Yeeee-haw!

Jen and I made it back safely from the 2007 International Space Development Conference in Dallas, TX. We had a great time and got to see some really great presentations! Jeremy and Kristin from ERAU and our good friend Robert Driscole came from Florida too. We all roomed together in a 2-story suite at the hotel!! It was a little cramped, but having 2 bathrooms helps a LOT.

Other neat things included:

• recording segments for the Space Task Force podcast
• giving a presentation on the World Space Expo education program
  
• meeting sci-fi author Ben Bova
• presenting our bid to host the 2009 ISDC in Orlando (thanks to DNC and Disney for your help!!)
  
• seeing Pete Worden, Center Director for NASA Ames, presenting both in person and via avatar in SecondLife
• attending the Space Blogger Summit and getting tips from heavyweights like Alan Boyle, Jeff Foust, Robert Pearlman and Glenn Reynolds
• listening to Alex Tai describe plans by Virgin Galactic
• hearing about the Mars Phoenix Lander and its cool logo
• seeing the lunar lander, Pixel, before it competes in another Lunar Lander Challenge
  
• and, of course, meeting new space friends!!
  

For a glimpse of what the conference is like, check out our photos.
The recent interview of our good friend and NSS Executive Director George Whitesides in Wired will also give you an idea of the tone of the conference (and it's a good read).

Glad to be back home with the cats. At least for a little while :-)

Wedding bells start ringing for friends

Congratulations to two spacey couples that have recently announced their engagements!

Todd Romberger, former ZERO-G intern and current Bigelow Aerospace employee, is marrying his sweetheart Nola Hogan here in FL on August 19. They live in Las Vegas, NV, and have been together forever (or so it seems). You can find their life story and wedding info here.

Also recently announced is the 2008 wedding of our long-time friends Paul Sierpinski and Susie Allen. We've known them since our college days and are excited that they have invited us both to be in their wedding! We have the privilege of serving as Best Man and Matron of Honor. (I can' wait to make my speech!!)

We are also excited that Paul and Susie are moving to Titusville from Melbourne :-) They are building a house about 3 miles from ours!!! See pics and more here.

Back from California--on to Dallas!

I just got home from a 3-day trip out to California and I'm already running out the door again! I love it :-)

Friday night I stopped by Port St. Lucie to record another episode of the Space Task Force. This episode of the podcast features some interviews we did at Jen's welcome home party. George and I are working well together and seem to have found a good rythm to the show. Please take a listen and let me know what you think!

Saturday morning I flew out of Opa Locka on G FORCE ONE going out to the NASA Ames Research Center. We arrived to find some warbirds doing flights from Moffett Field! We were parked next to some legendary aircraft. It was amazing to watch them fly over us as we loaded and unloaded the aircraft.

That evening, Bryan Rapoza (the ZG photographer for the weekend) and I went up to "The Mansion" for a party with the cool kids at Ames. (This was where Jen lived when she was out at Ames organizing the NGEC.) We met some new friends and got some old friends to take a ride on ZERO-G the next morning. Congrats to Will, Jessy, and Aaron on your first taste of weightlessness! Jessica also went, but she had already gone up in the NASA plane. For her, this was a totally relaxing trip instead of work.

We also had another birthday group: 10 Flyers + 8 crew = F U N ! I was able to play with the passengers and help them do some amazing tricks. One woman did 4 flips in a single parabola! Wow! I can't wait to see the video!

I was in the hotel lobby at 5am Monday morning for my flight back to FL. Jen picked me up and we had a nice dinner before heading home. I've had time to hit a doctor's appointment and unpack a few clothes but that's about it so far. Now I'm packing up again so we can leave tonight for ISDC! We'll be in Dallas for the conference until Monday. Plans are to do more podcast interviews, give a talk on the World Space Expo education program, and present a bid to host the 2009 ISDC in Orlando. Whew! Here we go...

I'm Back

Back home again in Florida!
I really enjoyed my welcome home party. Thanks, Tim! Though sitting there, in the middle of the party, I felt like some people were missing. Then I realized, my CP-12 classmates weren't there. :-( I met some really cool people and miss hanging out with them.
The cats and I have been hanging out this weekend. Tim is doing ZERO-G in CA. I've gotten good stuff done, though, while I have the house to myself.
Short week at work this week. We're going to Dallas for ISDC on Wednesday!

When BEARS Attack

We had a nice visit at Robert and Chale's new house last week! They moved to Deland, FL, over a year ago, and Jen and I finally went up to see them after she got home from Alabama. They took us to a cute restaurant in downtown Deland and then we got Baskin Robins ice cream! We went back and saw the final cut of the wedding video (I was the videographer!) and looked at their fancy-pants Disney Weddings album.

Before we left, Chale had me stand in the yard and make my turkey sound. This is one of my animal tricks, similar to how I talk to chickens. She wanted to have this as her phone ringer. then Robert got the same idea and I was gobbling away! Unfortunately, they had me gobble so much that bears came after us!!

No kidding.

We hear a rustling sound and Robert says "it's a bear." We are all inside so fast it was ridiculous. Robert got his big MagLite flashlight and went back out to see if it was safe to approach the cars. What he found was more bears!! There were several cubs climbing a tree in the yard across the street. After they ran off, Robert was able to count 5 bears roaming the neighborhood. I had no idea Deland was so far out in the country!!

We managed to say our goodbyes and get to the car without being eaten. It was exciting and memorable to visit Robert and Chale's new house! Look here for a few more pics.

Tim's Treo Saga

As many of you may know, I am addicted to my phone.

I am very aware of this fact. Really, it comes in quite handy. I can make phone calls, send text messages (using a full QWERTY keyboard!), check my email (POP, IMAP or web-based!), and even use Google Maps.

As you can imagine, I behave like any addicted person: I LIKE HAVING MY PHONE. So when my trusty Treo 700p died during a recent ZERO-G trip, I was not a happy camper. Have you watched an addict do detox cold-turkey? I can tell you from experience, it is not fun.

I ran through the mall in DC hoping that the Sprint Store could save me from total withdrawal, only to be told that they couldn't help me (franchise retail center only). When I got home (a day later), I took the phone in to a Sprint repair center and was told, "yep, it's broke." Other than being annoyed at having to get a professional opinion on this fact, I was annoyed that I couldn't get another phone right away. They had to ship one to me. Until then, I was out of communication with the world (no land line at the house and no long-distance calling at the office). I might as well have been back in Japan!

When I left on Thursday for the ZERO-G trip to Vegas, I still hadn't seen my new phone. I reactivated an ooooold Sanyo and bought a charger for it just to last me through the trip. It was gross, but it made and received phone calls.

Getting back from my stone-age vacation with a 'normal' phone, I was frantic to discover that my new phone still had not arrived! I made my 15th call to Sprint and (after being transferred to a dialtone once) finally got a smart customer service agent that figured out how to call the repair center in Merritt Island. Turns out, my phone was shipped to them instead of directly to me. "Ooops!"

No problem, let's just get the phone.... and it's a 700 WX. This means it runs Windows Mobile operating system instead of the Palm OS. (Think of it as PC vs. Mac). I was ok with the change, at least willing to try it! But alas, the new phone didn't work! At this point, even the repair tech felt bad for me. It had been well over a week without my Treo. He put in for 2-day express shipping directly to my house. The phone arrived 5 days later.

After 2 solid weeks without my Treo, it was a joy to spend hours upon hours synching the phone, rebooting the phone, installing cool software and resetting the phone (about 3 times that day). I've had to completely start over about 3 more times since then (WinMobile is very sensitive). Still, I can't complain too much: I would rather have my Treo than no smart phone at all!