Jen is in New Mexico, Tim gets an Optimash Prime

Jen is off to New Mexico for two weeks of additional safety training in Albuquerque. Seems as though her 3 months of training in Alabama just wasn't enough!! This time she is in an interesting place, so Jen already has plans to visit museums and cool local attractions.

I would be going out to visit, but our good friends Paul and Susie are moving into their new house this weekend!! Their new place is only about 2 miles from us--how exciting!! Jen and I spent most of last weekend painting the inside of the house before the furniture arrived. We are good using painters tape :-)

Being left all to myself, I ended up at a Toys-R-Us in Daytona Beach with Robert Fischer. There I found an Optimash Prime (Transformers-themed Mr. Potato Head). This is a **previously approved** purchase from a Wal-Mart trip with Jen. [Apparently there was some kind of recall on them that forced Wal-Mart to stop sales, even though some were still on the shelves. It was a disappointing trip to the cashier that day...]. I am excited that I have a new transformers toy :-D Yipee!

In other news, Shannon has been enjoying her time in GA with my parents. She has gotten a nice place in midtown Atlanta, but I'm not sure she wants to move away from the neighbors she's met in Locust Grove!

Also, there was a fatal accident this week at the Mojave Spaceport involving SpaceShipTwo. This is to be the first passenger-carrying spacecraft for Virgin Galactic. Sympathy goes out to the families of the 3 men that lost their lives in the explosion. I talked about it a good bit in this week's SpaceTaskForce podcast. These are the real risks of being rocket scientists and space visionaries. This is what we face as we make space travel a real industry.

"If we die, we want people to accept it. We're in a risky business, and we hope that if anything happens to us it will not delay the program. The conquest of space is worth the risk of life."
~Gus Grissom, Apollo 1

Dinner with old friends

Robert and Chale Fischer came down to Titusville last night for dinner with me and Jen. It was nice to see them and show off our house. This was their first time coming to see us since we moved to Titusville. We visited their home in Deland back in May and were nearly eaten by bears.

To give the evening a bit more adventure, we tried a restaurant we found online: New York New York. The online reviews said it was great, so we figured "why not?!" Honestly, we did a double-take when we saw the place. It is nestled in between some really nice houses right on the Indian River but looked a little run-down. When we pulled into the parking lot we could see the extensive deck and tiki bar--along with the VAB and Shuttle pads just across the water! Definitely a hidden gem for watching launches.

The food was good with generous portions. Jen's fried shrimp dinner was overloaded with 12 shrimps! I still have half of my grilled chicken sandwich and homemade chips in the fridge. The mac & cheese was homemade as well and delicious. Chale enjoyed her huge grilled chicken with Key West seasoning (think 'lemon pepper' but with lime!) and Robert liked his grouper sandwich. All-in-all, a great meal!

Best, of course, was just being with Robert and Chale. It was nice to have them so close when we lived in Port Orange. We've decided we need to have a game night at least once every month. The challenge now is to find a date when we are all in town... :-)

Sunshine ZERO-G video

I am going on another ZERO-G flight this weekend!!! I am excited to be flying in the new 35-seat configuration. More seats and more floating space--what a combo!

Below is a clip showing some clips from a ZERO-G flight I was on with the production team for the movie "Sunshine" (opening July 20 in the US). Check it out for some shots of Dan Florez floating around!!

Touring Embry-Riddle

I got the unusual priveledge of taking an orientation tour of my alma mater this week! Our old family friends in Tampa have a son that is interested in an engineering degree. When they came over to the East coast for July 4th, I set up a tour of Embry-Riddle. I had seen the campus just after the Christmas Day tornado, but a lot has changed in the past 6 months!

Plywood covers almost all of the windows on Spruance Hall. That's one of the only things that differentiates it from the other construction sites across campus.:

• the exterior of the new College of Business building is
  
• the new "Apollo Hall" dorm facility behind McKay Hall is nearing completion and should be open for the Fall 2007 class
  
• a towering new fitness center behind the pool looks ready to open any day
• the lobby and basketball courts in the ICI Center (aka 'Fieldhouse') are still being repared

Otherwise, things look pretty much the same from when we were in class. It's funny how much things change and how much they stay the same! I hope Austin decides to go to ERAU, but in any case I look forward to going back more often. I miss the school and it's eclectic demographic. Plus, I saw an APO jersey and want to meet all the new Brothers!!

Transformers: More than Meets the Eye

Last night Jen and I went out to see the new Transformers movie in Merritt Island with some friends. It was GREAT! MUCH better than I imagined.

There are a LOT of differences between the 2007 live-action movie and the 1980's cartoon and animated movie. LOTS. One glaring difference is that humble sidekick "Bumblebee" is a Camaro instead of a VW Beetle. I understand marketing, I really do. And I will admit that he did look HOT as a 2007 Camaro.

Despite the altered storyline and visual changes, the basic themes and characters were kept intact. The cheezy Good vs. Evil banter was still present between Optimus Prime and Megatron. And, yes, Optimus had the same commanding yet gentile voice we remember from our childhoods (best decision EVER).

If you are looking for a deep, thoughtful movie please go elsewhere. If you have tunnel vision and can not see past the original Generation One Transformers TV show and movie, you will not like what you see. However, if you want a good movie with amazing special effects that reimagines a piece of your childhood then this is the movie for you. "Autobots, transform and roll out!"

PS- the new theme song is pretty cool too!