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")

:-))))

[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? ;)