A long week...

[jay]

I'm back home now. It was a long six-day trip.



Wednesday, after being flushed by my cellphone-toting colleague, I worked out (to get rid of the stress) and dragged my dirty laundry over to geekchick's and C's apartment. In a gated complex, in Fairfax... strange. I could see the utility of more security in some parts of the DC area, but rampaging rioters from, say, Herndon or Falls Church seem unlikely. We went to a South American broiled-meat/grillhouse restaurant. Carnivore heaven... they bring around huge skewers of roasted stuff to one's table, and one indicates whether one wants some of the current offering... lamb, bacon-wrapped turkey, chicken breasts, beef and pork ribs, NY sirloin, smoked sausages... and a buffet for side dishes. My entire week's protein quota, consumed in one night! And getting to know C was fun (grin).

Then we went back and I started laundry, and was introduced to The Osbournes, sitting on the couch with geekchick while C worked on circuit boards at an adjacent table. Finished up at 1:30am... back to the hotel.

I arose two hours later, packed, and left DC early Thursday and flew to Houston. Sleep is not really necessary, beyond a point...

Later that morning, I saw the drill that is JSC's entrant into the Mars 2009 mission "sweepstakes"... it is a tethered unit that grips the sides of the hole and pushes its own rotating bit downward (both motors are in the bit assembly). Different than I expected.

Then I went over to the spacesuit vs. rover tests at JSC, met some of the people there, got sunburned and eventually the test was scrubbed due to poorly-working analog voice comms to the spacesuit. Then my teleconference (weekly project team meeting back to Ames) was fractious and argumentative... it sounded like folks were uncertain, maybe a bit anxious. I need to get back there ASAP...

And then I had to move to a different room when my hotel room flooded (a/c chilled water leak, through the roof). I was in the penthouse floor, and there was a chilled-water leak which pooled on the roof until it found holes above my room. Sigh... I had to break off in the middle of a conversation with 7patches.

Friday led to more planning discussions about this summer's field tests, then a meeting with the spacesuit technology folks. We met in their lab... machine shop, electronics workbench, and suit parts and photos from past missions. In the corner is a supported Apollo suit, with a "Do Not Touch" sign. With slightly soiled boots. Thursday's prototype was across the lab.

Then it was off for home, with a delightful 5-hour stopover for cuddling and dinner in Minneapolis before arriving home around midnight.

Yesterday I slept in, lazed around, and went with the kids to a neaby park. Rollerbladed to stretch and burn off some of the excess calories from this past week. patgreene and I had a quiet evening watching Dr. Who videos. Today... church just finished, then later we'll go to a matinee ("Spiderman") hopefully joined by 7patches...

Comments

Teleconning

[purpletigron.livejournal.com]

my teleconference (...) was fractious and argumentative... need to get back there ASAP...

Hope you can resolve things. I ponder the limitations of telecons: would it help to have more frequent informal sessions, or different technology; what are the fundamental limits of telecons, and why?

watching Dr. Who videos ... later we'll go to a matinee ("Spiderman")

:-))))

Re: Teleconning

[brian1789.livejournal.com]

Much of what's lost, given the state of the technology, is body language and minute changes in attitude. Things like respiration and eye dilation. Videocons still lose the latter...

And Spiderman was excellent! :-)

Re: Teleconning

[purpletigron.livejournal.com]

Much of what's lost, given the state of the technology, is body language and minute changes in attitude. Things like respiration and eye dilation.

There ought to be some PhD theses out there about these things by now :-) So much to learn about human intercommunication, and the likely mid-term future of communications technology, and compensation techniques in the meantime :-)

And Spiderman was excellent! :-)

OK - I think I have to schedule a trip to the cinema now!

[geekchick]

In a gated complex, in Fairfax... strange.

Indeed. My theory is that it allows them to tack extra on the rent because it's a gated community. Minimum security, maximum inconvenience. (If you lean on the fence hard enough it's likely to fall down.)

getting to know C was fun

You two scare me. *grin* (I thought it was likely that you'd get along, glad to see I was correct.)

The Osbournes

Kind of puts everything in perspective, no? ;)

[brian1789.livejournal.com]

C was fun ;-). Although the Osbournes' kids remind me somewhat of my two youngest...