One Dead Monkey

Here We Go Again

2009-06-01T19:50:00.008-04:00

Endeavour rolled to pad A yesterday. It's only been two weeks since Atlantis launched on the Hubble repair mission. That is not much time to get the pad ready for another vehicle, but everything got done. This week will be extremely busy. All of the normal launch pad system validations need to be completed this week because launch countdown preparations start this weekend and into next week. Launch is still set for June 13, so that means the countdown will start sometime next Wednesday. Now that there isn't a shuttle on pad B there are a few more people to help share the load. There just aren't enough people to fully man both pads so we end up splitting our time between the two. That can get really confusing at times. I think we managed pretty well though.

The main point of this post is to share some pictured that I took as Endeavour rolled past our building on her way to the pad.

Water is sprayed on the crawler way to keep down the dust from the crushed rocks. This is so the crawler crew that walks the entire way beside it doesn't breath the dust.

Land and Water

2009-05-21T20:12:00.009-04:00

I stopped by our property on the way home from work today. We have had so much rain I wanted to see just how much of it was under water. The answer: most. The driveway was soft and squishy and was starting to wash out in spots. Our new footers were almost totally under water. Luckily they have been there for a few weeks so I don't think it will hurt them. I took some pictures with my phone so I could show Jen the state of things.

We are thinking of going back to the first mortgage lender that we were working with over a year ago. We didn't have any problems with him, but none of the banks that he works with would lend any money at the time. We tried the credit union and were moving along when the appraisals come back so poor.

The plan was to pay for everything in stages with the money we had saved. That plan was working, but we might have to move a little quicker so that all of our dirt doesn't wash away in our Florida downpours.

I'm Alive, I'm Alive

2009-05-19T20:00:00.003-04:00

OK, here we go again. Got out of the habit of writing and lost motivation for a while. Recently I've been really busy with school and work. Going to school and working full time eats up most of my days. Seems I'm always worrying about the next assignment and don't seem to do much else but study or put off studying. I've been thinking about this for a while though and I think I need to try a little harder to post at least occasionally.

As you can see by the new addition to the side bar I have been doing some posting on Twitter. It has sort of got me back into everything. There are so many interesting people on there to meet if you just give it some time. A lot of my followers, and those that I follow, are 'space' related. There are more people out there that are interested in the space industry than I thought. It's not just space related though. There is an ever expanding universe of things related to Twitter. It takes a little effort to weed through everything but the rewards are worth it. If you are reading this and want to get some inside info into the space program follow me @apacheman.

I'm currently taking two classes: Principals of Management and Macroeconomics. Right now I'm in week seven of the 8 week classes. They have had their rough spots, but overall they haven't been to bad and I really am learning something. These are my third and forth classes for my BSBA/Project Management degree. Only 14 more to go.

The dogs and birds and tortoises are all doing well. Our eventual new house has footers now but nothing else. We have to find more money somewhere to continue. We have some options so we aren't licked yet. Work is going okay, we keep losing people and just have to make due with less, but we are getting by. Atlantis will land in a few days from the final Hubble servicing mission. I'm glad it is done, having a vehicle on both pads is really hard since we barely have people to cover everything on two pads. That should catch everything up now so I can start doing normal posts from now on. What ever a 'normal' post is. Keep checking back, there will definitely be more coming.

I Think We Need An Ark

2008-08-21T10:00:00.011-04:00

One of the weather guys on TV made mention of needing an ark for the rain that was to come. The weather people down here are notorious for not predicting the right thing. This time though he turned out to be right. Our street has over a foot of water in it right now. That's not to bad considering there are some parts of the county in waist deep water or worse. In the eight years that we have lived here our street has never flooded at all. Our rain gage broke so I'm not sure how much rain has fallen at our house but I think it is probably in the 10 to 12 inch range by now. Some areas have gotten twice that amount. The Melbourne Airport was closed because there were fish washing up on the runways. Jen found a picture on one of the news sites of a catfish swimming along the street gutter.

It has rained almost steadily for the past three days. Sometimes it slows just enough so that we can let the dogs out to pee but it never lasts that long. Right now it is pouring and I think an ark might not be a bad idea. I think it would work, all of our animals are two by two after all.

Here are some pictures from around the house.

A Long Summer

2008-08-12T19:10:00.002-04:00

It has been a long summer. I took two classes this summer, Speech and Trigonometry. The trig class was online. I had Speech class two nights a week from 6pm until 8:40. The entire rest of the week was devoted to math. It seemed that all I ever did was math. It didn't help that it was summer term which is several weeks shorter that a regular term. I got an 'A' in Speech of course although I'm sure that it could have been much more fun than it was. Our teacher wasn't very good. There was almost a revolt toward the end of the term but we lost our nerve. It's probably for the best. I managed to squeak out a 'C' in trig. That's all I was shooting for. I needed at least a 'C' in order to get reimbursed from the company. That was also the last math class I should have to take. There is only one more class I have to take to complete my Associates degree. I still need a physical science so I chose astronomy. It was going to be Chemistry but I figured why beat myself up when the harder class won't help me obtain my eventual BS degree. That degree will now be a BS in Business Administration with a concentration in Project Management. I can hardly wait until I can start on the real classes.

Eleven...Ten

2008-05-31T08:45:00.021-04:00

Only ten more shuttle launches to go after this one. Yesterdays launch was flawless with perfect weather. It is always exciting to see a shuttle launch.

I was poking around on the NASA web site and came across a page that described in detail what happens during the launch countdown. The countdown actually begins about four days prior to launch. This is taken directly from the NASA website.

The Countdown Clock is one of the most-watched timepieces in the world. On this page, you'll learn how the countdown operates, and what milestones to watch for during our Live Launch Coverage.

Image to left: Spectators gather on the grounds in front of the countdown clock during a Space Shuttle launch. Credit: NASA

Here are some of the key events that take place at each milestone after the countdown begins. Note: Event times and lengths are approximate and subject to change.

T-43 hours and counting
The Shuttle Test Director performs the traditional call to stations and the countdown clock is activated.
Begin final vehicle and facility close-outs for launch
Check out backup flight systems
Review flight software stored in mass memory units and display systems
Load backup flight system software into the orbiter's general purpose computers
Remove middeck and flight deck platforms
Activate and test navigational systems
Complete preparation to load power reactant storage and distribution system
Complete flight deck preliminary inspections

Image to right: The Space Shuttle launch team seated in Kennedy's Firing Room 1.
Credit: NASA

T-27 hours and holding
This is the first built-in hold and typically lasts four hours.
Clear launch pad of all non-essential personnel

T-27 hours and counting
Begin operations to load cryogenic reactants into the orbiter's fuel cell storage tanks

T-19 hours and holding
This built-in hold typically lasts four hours.
Demate the orbiter's midbody umbilical unit

T-19 hours and counting
Begin final preparations of the orbiter's three main engines for main propellant tanking and flight
Fill launch pad sound suppression system water tank
Resume orbiter and ground support equipment close-outs
Close out the tail service masts on the Mobile Launcher Platform

T-11 hours and holding
This built-in hold varies in length, but typically lasts 12 to 13 hours.
Flight crew equipment late stow
Move Rotating Service Structure (RSS) to "park" position
Activate the orbiter's inertial measurement units and communications systems
Perform ascent switch list

Image to right: The Rotating Service Structure (RSS) is rolled slowly into the "park" position, revealing Space Shuttle Atlantis as the launch countdown for STS-98 enters its final hours. Credit: NASA

T-11 hours and counting
Activate the orbiter's fuel cells
Clear the blast danger area of all nonessential personnel
Switch the orbiter's purge air to gaseous nitrogen

T-6 hours and holding
This built-in hold typically lasts two hours.
Launch team verifies no violations of launch commit criteria before loading the External Tank with propellants
Clear pad of all personnel
Chill-down of propellant transfer lines
Begin loading the External Tank with about 500,000 gallons of cryogenic propellants

T-6 hours and counting
Finish filling the External Tank with its flight load of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen propellants
Final Inspection Team proceeds to the launch pad to conduct a detailed analysis of the vehicle as the team walks up and down the entire launch tower

T-3 hours and holding
This built-in hold typically lasts two hours.
Perform inertial measurement unit preflight calibration
Align Merritt Island Launch Area (MILA) tracking antennas

T-3 hours and counting
Crew departs for the launch pad and, upon arriving at the pad, begins entry into the orbiter via the White Room
Complete close-out preparations in the launch pad's White Room
Check cockpit switch configurations
Astronauts perform air-to-ground voice checks with Launch Control (Kennedy Space Center) and Mission Control (Johnson Space Center)
Close the orbiter's crew hatch and check for leaks
Complete White Room close-out
Close-out crew retreats to fallback area

T-20 minutes and holding
This built-in hold typically lasts 10 minutes.
Shuttle Test Director conducts final launch team briefings
Complete inertial measurement unit preflight alignments

Image to left: Space Shuttle Discovery waits to launch on mission STS-103. At the top is the External Tank gaseous oxygen vent arm system with the vent hood (sometimes called the "beanie cap") poised above the External Tank. Extending toward the cabin of the orbiter below is the orbiter access arm, with the White Room at the end. Credit: NASA

T-20 minutes and counting
Transition the orbiter's onboard computers to launch configuration
Start fuel cell thermal conditioning
Close orbiter cabin vent valves
Transition backup flight system to launch configuration

T-9 minutes and holding
This is the final built-in hold, and varies in length depending on the mission.
The Launch Director, Mission Management Team and Shuttle Test Director poll their teams for a go/no go for launch

Image to right: A fish-eye view captures Space Shuttle Endeavour just after liftoff on mission STS-111. Credit: NASA

T-9 minutes and counting
Start automatic Ground Launch Sequencer
Retract Orbiter Access Arm

T-7 minutes, 30 seconds
Start Auxiliary Power Units

T-5 minutes, 0 seconds
Arm Solid Rocket Booster range safety safe and arm devices

T-5 minutes, 0 seconds
Start orbiter aerosurface profile test, followed by main engine gimbal profile test

T-3 minutes, 55 seconds
Retract Gaseous Oxygen Vent Arm, or "beanie cap"

T-2 minutes, 55 seconds
Crew members close and lock their visors

T-2 minutes, 0 seconds
Orbiter transfers from ground to internal power

T-50 seconds
Ground Launch Sequencer is go for auto sequence start (T-31 seconds)
Activate launch pad sound suppression system

T-16 seconds
Activate main engine hydrogen burnoff system

T-10 seconds
Main engine start (T-6.6 seconds)

T-0
Solid Rocket Booster ignition and liftoff!

Image above: Space shuttle Discovery thunders off the launch pad at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Photo credit: NASA TV

Shopping

2008-04-12T23:34:00.003-04:00

Jen and I went shopping today at a bunch of outlet stores in Vero Beach. We had stopped there once before but couldn't spend much time looking around. Today we hit every store that we thought looked interesting. There are quite a few clothing stores. That is really a good thing because I am in need of new clothes. Taking me shopping is usually a very painful experience. I am kind of picky and really cheap when it comes to buying clothes. For some reason I feel like I am wasting money buying clothes. I'll spent some real money on tools, but if a t-shirt costs more than $10 it might as well cost a thousand. Being that incredibly cheap means my closet is full of a bunch of old t-shirts that either cost around $10 or are at least 5 years old. In short, I have a closet full of rags. I've been doing better lately, and today I actually bought 8 new shirts. None of them were over $15, but they are nice polo or button up shirts. Clearance is a great thing. All those new clothes and Jen never felt the need to run screaming into traffic. No joke, I am that big of a pain to shop with.

Small Ray Of Hope

2008-03-15T21:34:00.003-04:00

Our builder came over this evening so that we could re-re-revise our building cost estimate. I think we might have just about got it. Finally. We had to cut out some things and figure out what we really needed to do right away and what could wait and be done over time. It will also mean that we will have to do a little more work ourselves than we planned to. My shop is down to to just drywall on the ceiling. Actually that is what I wanted from the beginning. I have seen a lot of really interesting ways to finish the inside. It will take a little longer but this will really let me set up the shop the way I want. We are so ready to get started. Keep your fingers crossed that in a couple of weeks we will finally start moving some dirt around.

Get Simpsonized

2008-02-23T18:07:00.005-05:00

I recently stumbled upon this site that lets you take a picture of yourself and see what you would look like as a Simpsons character. It has been around since the movie came out but I just found it the other day. This would be me if I were on the Simpsons.

Two Busy Weeks

2008-02-22T16:53:00.003-05:00

The past two weeks have been non stop. When Atlantis launched on February 7 it was full speed ahead to get ready for the next shuttle. Since STS-122 was delayed for so long it has kind of crunched up the schedule a bit. We only had 12 days to get the pad cleaned up and two months of backlogged inspections done before Endeavour arrived at the pad. It was crazy. I still wonder how we managed to get everything done. Somehow it did though. Endeavour arrived at the pad early monday morning and this week has been nonstop. The flow has been compressed by several days so that we will be able to launch Discovery on April 24. At least we are keeping busy I guess.

Confirmed

2008-02-14T05:17:00.001-05:00

OUR BUILDING PERMIT IS FINALLY OUT OF THE COUNTIES GRUBBY PAWS!!! WOO HOO!!!

Permit Hopes

2008-02-11T19:54:00.000-05:00

Our building permit was supposed to be ready to pick up today. We haven't gotten a call from our builder saying that he picked it up yet though. I'm not sure if that is good, bad or otherwise. Until we get confirmation that he has it in his hands we're not going to celebrate. We have been disappointed so many times before. Money is still an issue though. The economy really sucks. All of the mortgage lenders lost their ass so bad lending money to people who had no business getting a loan, that now people with great credit can barely get any money. Once again, tards ruined it for the rest of us. I should be used to it by now. Anyway, keep your fingers crossed that our permit is out of the county's hands. I'll let you all know how it goes.

New Readers

2008-01-18T20:48:00.000-05:00

I would like to welcome all of the new readers that have found this site recently. I appreciate you all notifying your friends via email about what I hope is content that is worth reading, although a bit dry at times. There are many topics so try not to dwell on only the space category. It's over now, just let it go. No hard feelings here.

Darwinism At Its Finest

2008-01-12T18:52:00.000-05:00

Everyone stop what you are doing right now and follow this link. The picture is awesome. I don't think I have ever seen more complete idiots in my life and I will bet neither have you. Most complete morons alive.

New Way To Fly

2008-01-12T18:22:00.000-05:00

I found this online just now. The frames per second of the video camera just happened to sync up with the revolutions per second of the rotor blades. Very cool!

http://view.break.com/295948 - Watch more free videos

Together For A Week

2008-01-06T17:52:00.000-05:00

The tortoises have been living together for a week now. They are not getting along to bad so far. Emma followed Virgil all over when we first put them both together. She even buried herself right next to him the first night. It was very cute. Now Virgil follows her around. I think he has taken quite a liking to her if you know what I mean. We weren't sure if Emma was a girl or not but over the last week Virgil has turned into a complete idiot. Emma must be a girl. As promised here are some pictures of the finished Turtle house. It took me a while to think of how to mount the light so that it would look like it belonged there. I think it turned out pretty good.

Condiments Gone Wild

2008-01-02T20:10:00.000-05:00

Movin' On Up

2007-12-31T19:46:00.001-05:00

During our Christmas break I have been building a new house for our two Hermans tortoises. Virgil, our first tortoise, is out growing the habitat that I built for him last Christmas. He is almost to big to get around some parts of his enclosure. This past November we got another baby Hermans. So far that one has been a different box for the recommended quarantine of any new addition to the group. This new house is definitely an upgrade from the prototype. I guess it is about 20 percent bigger with two ramps an a built in light holder. Move in day is tomorrow but for now I only have pictures of the skeleton. The finished product is way cool. More pictures will be coming soon.

All I Want For Christmas Is A Septic Permit

2007-12-29T11:11:00.000-05:00

It's official, we got a call from our builder on Thursday, the septic permit is finally ours. Of course in order to pick up the permit and take it to the county office we had to sign yet another authorization to let our builder act on our behalf. They are only good for six months so the first one expired since this whole ordeal has taken so long. The next one hasn't expired yet but, wouldn't you know, they can't find it. Tards. So we had to fill out another one and fax it to our builder so that he can go and et the house permit ball rolling on Wednesday. Hopefully everyones not to hung over from their new years celebration and is still able to function. Those people are so slow anyway I can't imaging what a two day old champagne headache would do to their productivity.

Merry Christmas

2007-12-26T08:56:00.000-05:00

I hope everyones Christmas was better than ours. I had it all planned out. The day before christmas we went looking for building materials to build the next bigger tortoise enclosure. We also spent quite a while looking at doors and windows and such for the new house. Anyway I finally settled on some wood at Home Depot. I needed 12 inch wide boards this time because the little tort is almost big enough to clime out in a few places now. Since nothing is open on Christmas day anyway I had planned to spend all day working on it. Everything started out ok while I was using the two four foot boards. Once I got to the eight foot board though everything went downhill. First of all my ability to cut wood that is that wide is severely diminished by some of the tools I currently have. I can generally over come this obstacle and achieve the results I want though. the big problem really is that you just can't buy strait wood from Home Depot. I bought the straightest one I could find but when I actually started cutting on it was immediately obvious that there was no way I was going to get the results I wanted using this crap. The wood was so cupped at one end the there was a quarter of an inch difference between the edges and the middle, and this was the best one I found. The other end was much flatter so I decided to move on and make as many pieces as I could. Trouble was that once I got the board in my jig properly I noticed a slight warp to the entire board. Now I was stuck because I wasn't sure which way I should position this rocking chair to get the right cut. UURGHH stupid @%$#&^%#$%%%$#@!!!!!%^% board. Sigh. After that I decided the best thing to do was to clean up and do something else.

Shortly I will be off to the Home Depot again to buy more wood. This time I am only buying the four foot boards though. I can't wait until I get my shop and can finally get the tools I need to make the wood as strait as I need it. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone.

How Many Can You Beat?

2007-12-19T21:12:00.002-05:00

There must be some kind of shameless advertising conspiracy going on. If you click on the box above and take the test, it takes you strait to some dating sight. Lame. Click this link instead and it will take you to the real testing sight. Try to answer honestly so if the need ever arrises you will have some idea of your odds. Happy bashing.

Fat Dog In A Little Bed

2007-12-16T16:32:00.000-05:00

We have a bunch of dog beds all over our house. Many of them we have had for many years and were bought for a particular dog. Since we have such a dynamic pack of hounds things rarely stay the same for long. Some doge lose weight(Cody due to his diabetes), some dogs gain weight(Louie for no particular reason). Since Louie has gained a few pounds he likes to find a soft place to rest his considerable form. This past spring we took out the rug we used to have in the living room. That got rid of a lot of soft real estate downstairs. He could sleep on the couch but with the rug gone the tile doesn't give him as much traction as he likes so he is afraid to jump. That brings us back to the the dog beds all over the house. He is to big for almost all of them but that doesn't stop him from stuffing his fat sausage body into. I guess we should get a few bigger beds so he has somewhere to lay down, but it is just so funny to to see him in those small beds.

One Down Many To Go

2007-12-13T21:11:00.000-05:00

Tonight I had my final exam of the first math class since I was in high school. I think I did alright, but only because it was multiple choice. My head hurt when I was finished. I didn't stay around to see what my score was. No matter what I get on it i've got a 'B' in the class. Only about 6 or 7 more math classes to go. The next term doesn't start again until mid January. I have already signed up for College Algebra and Humanities 2. I really need to get going with school. My G.I. Bill money runs out in 2009 so I need to get moving. My AA degree will be finished in about 5 classes. Then I really will have to decide what I want to get a degree in. For now though it is bedtime. Later.

It's a No-Go For Launch

2007-12-10T20:38:00.000-05:00

You might have heard by now that we didn't launch. It is the same problem that we have ben having off and on for a few years now. The sensors that tell the the shuttle that the external tank is empty are not working properly. It is very complicated so I won't go into it. Search google if you want to know the details.

Right now the preliminary schedule has us launching on January 2. It is schedule that has at least some people working on both upcoming holidays. If this is really the way it goes down I think that I will be working at least on New Years eve. I still have quite a bit of things planned for the break, if I get it. We really need to get some stuff fixed on the house to start getting it ready to sell eventually. If I have to work I have to work. That's just the way it goes. All that really means is I have to work that much harder on the days I do get off.

It's A Go For Launch

2007-12-06T05:10:00.000-05:00

It's launch day again today. The weather is supposed to be perfect. I heard yesterday it was 90% go for weather. That is really good because the weather people usually never give more that 70% chance with more than a day to go. Lift off will be at about 4:27 pm this afternoon. I will have to watch this one from the house. I have school tonight so I can't stay to watch. If you get the NASA channel, tune in and watch.

The Buffalo Theory

2007-10-28T12:51:00.001-04:00

(click to enlarge)

Space Shuttle, Space Shuttle

2007-10-23T18:34:00.000-04:00

Space Shuttle Discovery lunched today and it was perfect. Earlier this morning it rained and there was only a 40 percent chance to launch. Luckily the skies began to clear not to long after sunrise and it turned out to be a good day for a launch.

This was the second lunch that has happened since the union went on strike. I have been working in one of the union shops almost since it began in June. It has really been interesting to see the whole flow from a different point of view. There are a lot of things that just always happened, but I never knew who or how it happened. After over 4 months away from my shop at the pad I think I am about ready to go back. There are a few things that I would like to help them get accomplished first, but I think I will be going back in the next few weeks. It will be good to get back.

Here is a video I took of the launch today. No matter how many times i see it it will never get old.

Astronaut Training

2007-10-20T16:04:00.000-04:00

I got a chance to participate in the astronaut training about two weeks ago. I knew basically what happened when they were on the pad but never got a chance to be there while it was going on. Since I am one of the small group of people that has done quite a bit of work on that system since the strike, I got to participate.

After the crew does a complete dress rehearsal inside the vehicle they practice what they would need to do in an emergency to get off of the tower quickly using the slide wire basket system. They get in the baskets and hit the release lever. We have he baskets tied off and locked with chain so that the basket will not go more that a few inches. After that is all done everyone goes down to the slide wire landing area so the crew can practice getting out of the one basket that is fully released and allowed to slide all the way to the bottom. Here is a picture that is posted on the NASA web sight. I just managed to get into it.

News With Pictures

2007-09-09T20:03:00.001-04:00

Okay, I promised some pictures and here they are. I'll start with the kitchen. The finished product might not be exactly like this but it will probably be close. I knew cabinets were expensive but holy cow. We have already found some creative ways to cut the cost and still get what we want.

Now I'll throw up some gory pictures of my knee. I have no idea what I did or really when I did it. The second picture really doesn't do it justice. It is much more bruised than it looks here. It is stiff most of the time and starts to ache if I have been on it for a while. This morning we went shopping a few places and stopped at Lowe's to look around. By the time we got home I needed to sit on the couch with my leg up for a while. Once it starts to ache it takes quite a while to feel better. Medication helps, I'm taking Ibuprofen by the handful sometimes. Ok, not really by the handful but quite a few. I hope it gets better, I'm getting sick of hobbling around.

Whole Bunch Of News

2007-09-08T20:04:00.000-04:00

A lot has happened since the last time I posted on here. I won't get into it all now because I want to go into detail on some of it. I am still working in one of the striking shops. Everything is going really well. I don't think I would want to stay permanently but the work isn't bad and it is a nice change of pace for a while and a great way to make friends and contacts that might be useful later on.

Things are still moving along on the house. I am going to the county commission meeting again on Tuesday. This should be the final time. The actual agreement that will let us build on our land will go before the board in the 'consent agenda'. That is the part where they pass a whole bunch of stuff that everyone agrees on all at once. Our issue shouldn't even get mentioned unless a commissioner wants to pull it for further discussion. After what happened at the last meeting I don't think it is likely. Nonetheless, I am going anyway, just in case.

In other house news, we were supposed to meet with our builder and the land clearing guy and the fill guy last weekend. Our builder was there but the other two were not. I guess one was stuck in the middle of the river in a boat the wouldn't run and I'm not sure about the other. It was rainy withe a lot of lightning anyway so we wouldn't have gotten to look at much. in the near future Jen and I need to go back out ant remark the points that the environmental guy laid out as the line between the uplands and the wetlands.

We have also started to work with a local kitchen design place. We went in last weekend and gave them the house plans so that they could model the cabinets on the computer. It was much easier to visualize the kitchen with a 3-d color image. It made me feel like I was standing in the finished kitchen already. We have a lot of work to do. The first estimate with what they had drawn up was all Kraftmaid cabinets came out to about $15,000 for just the kitchen cabinets. We are working on figuring out how we can lower that price and still keep the door styles and finishes that Jen likes. There seems to be a wealth of Kraftmaid accessories on the internet. Hopefully we can figure something out. The bathrooms are another story entirely.

We have also revamped our flooring choice. Originally we had picked out a bamboo flooring. While it is very nice to look at it is far to soft for our household. We have decided to go with laminate flooring instead. I didn't want just some ordinary looking wood so we spent sometime online looking for something more unique. We found some Armstrong Swiftlock flooring in Italian walnut. At first glance it looks like there is a lot going on in it but once the furniture is in place I think it will look really nice.

One last thing, about two weeks ago now i must have done something to my knee. It swelled up to about half the size of a baseball on my kneecap. Something similar happened a few years ago and by the time I got to the doctor it turned out to be nothing. Therefore I didn't go to the doctor this time. Now, after two weeks it is bruised pretty good, stiff, and tender to the touch. none of this happened the first time.

Lastly, I have started going back to school again. Currently I am taking Intermediate Algebra. I think I am doing very well considering that it is my first math class since the 10th grade. I need to take a lot more math so I hope this trend continues.

I have pictures of a lot of the things that I just posted about. I'll try to set down tomorrow and post a bunch more.

Celebration or Funeral.....Results

2007-08-07T13:08:00.000-04:00

Celebration!!!!!!!

Celebration or Funeral?

2007-08-06T18:17:00.000-04:00

Well, tomorrow is the big day. It is finally time to go back before the county commission board to once again ask for the waiver so that we can build our house. This time we will have a lawyer, and engineer and an environmental firm on our side. Cross your fingers or what ever you do for luck for us. I have a good feeling about it but you can never underestimate the power of dumb people in groups. The whole thing should be done with by 10:30 or so. We plan to go out for lunch since we will both be off work. We don't get to that kind of thing very often. We will either be happy or extremely let down. Hope for happy.

Visit From Endeavour

2007-07-31T15:55:00.000-04:00

Since launch is next week I thought that I should finally post the pictures that I took as the shuttle stack passed our building. I had come back to my regular shop for the week of rollout and then went back to the union shop that I am helping out.

Legal Preparations

2007-07-31T15:28:00.000-04:00

We had a meeting today with our lawyer about the legal strategy we are going to use at the county commission meeting. There is not much to it really. Our lawyer will speak and outline the whole issue and why the board should grant the waiver. Next, someone from the engineering firm that engineered the road originally will give a short speech on why the road was designed the way it was and how other options are simply not feasible. Then, the guy that helped us get all of the environmental permits will stand up and explain why the project is impossible because of all of the wetland issues that will arise. Our future house builder will also be there and will say something if he feels it is necessary. I doubt that we will say anything. The board didn't listen to us last time, so we're not going to bother this time. Besides, be this time our response is 'You had your chance, now talk to our lawyer'. I think our chances are good. At least I keep telling myself that.

We are on the August 7th meeting agenda. The meeting starts at 9:00am and one way or another our portion should be done with by 10:30 or so.

Union on Strike...Update

2007-07-30T19:14:00.000-04:00

The union has been on strike now for 45 days or so now and there is no end in sight. It seems ordinary now to see the strikers at the gate in the mornings. Most of the people holding signs have been replaced by signs staked into the ground. They have tents and grills and fire barrels along the side of the road. It is kind of like a hobo village.

I have personally talked to many of the union members that have crossed the line and the story is always the same. The union lied to us. The negotiating committee only gave us some of the information. Those bastards wanted the strike no matter what. They gave us false information so that we would vote for the strike. I filled out the paperwork to get out of the Union. I will never trust them again.

What really sucks for them is that it is all true.

The company is using this opportunity to weed out the dead wood. Apparently when someone calls human resources and wants to come back to work there is a list that is checked first. If you were a good worker and contributed in a positive way you can come back. On the other hand if you were a boat anchor the answer is 'to bad we don't need you'. You walked away from your cushy job, and you sucked anyway. Although, if there is a contract settlement and all of the union members come back then everyone can come back.

With a seemingly dishonest negotiating committee and a company that is finding out how much more and better work is getting done without the union, I don't see them going back to the table anytime soon.

A Union On Strike

2007-07-04T13:48:00.000-04:00

Once again, no excuse for not posting. Nevertheless, happy 4th of July to everyone. I have been working a lot this past week (six ten hour days if weather permits. As you know from my previous post the unionized part of our company are on strike. Some months ago I volunteered to help out in other areas if a strike actually happened. For the past week that is what I have been doing. I have been apprehensive about posting this because I wasn't sure how the friends I have that are union members would take it if they found out. It is a huge deal if a union member crosses the picket line and comes back to work. I am not in a union shop but I am currently doing their job. I think I have finally figured out how I really feel about it. For me it comes down to preserving my own job. The connection is not an easy one but it is there. We are coming to the end of the current program. I believe the USA is doing its best to acquire new contracts and continue as the prime contractor for Americas manned space program. If our company were crippled by a strike we no longer look like an organized cohesive group that can perform this very complicated task. Therefore I volunteered to help out to keep things running smoothly. Things are running so smooth in fact that the shop I am working in has about one third the people it usually has and we have made up the majority of the backlogged jobs, supported everywhere we have been requested and have even gotten a little ahead on the regular preventive maintenance inspections (which were also behind) since the strike began just over two weeks ago. This efficiency is not isolated. I have heard similar stories from numerous other union shops. Talking to the other guys back in my regular shop, getting support has been easier and faster than the regular workforce and with just as much skill. It seems that all of USA is a great deal more efficient with the union on strike. Hopefully the union will realize its mistake and bring the workers back soon. Unfortunately for them I think the past couple of weeks have have been an eye opener for quite a bit of USA's upper management. Things will definitely change when and if they come back to work.

In case your curious about how a union runs a strike here is a link to a blog they set up to keep there members informed about what is going on and keep them motivated. It sounds more like continued brainwashing to me, but decide for yourself.

Strike

2007-06-14T20:01:00.001-04:00

The union workers that work for United Space Alliance decided to go on strike today. At 10:00am they walked off of the job. I have only heard second hand information of the problems the union leaders were having with the contract offer. Mostly benefits disagreements I think. What ever the problem is, I know that quite a few of them voted for the contract and didn't want to strike. I'm sure most can't afford to lose a weeks pay, let alone the possibility of way more than that. The last time this union group went on strike I've heard the the union gave each of them $100 the first week and nothing for the rest of the strike, which lasted several more weeks. I just can't see why, no matter what the reason, anyone would want to go on strike. It just doesn't make sense to me with all of the federal laws that there are now to protect workers. If a company doesn't pay a competitive wage, they won't be able to keep the most qualified people. That may be very simplistic, but that is the way I see it.

Buried Treasure

2007-06-10T19:10:00.000-04:00

A lot of dogs bury things. Most of the dogs we have had could not have cared less about digging, much less covering something up in the hole they just made. Sure some of them try to hide rawhide bones or bigger treads that they want to save for later, but that is a far cry from the effort it takes to bury something. Denny is another story. He loves to bury things. There are several dog toys that apparently have to be buried. I find a lot of them when I am mowing the yard. He has gotten pretty good at it. Usually there is only a leg or an ear sticking out of the ground. The whole thing is kind of cute except that eventually one of the other dogs find his buried treasure and bring the filth covered thing back inside the house. I took some pictures of his better jobs.

All We Want Is ANew House

2007-06-09T21:20:00.000-04:00

I just wanted to direct everyone to the Tortoise Hollow site. If you haven't read it in a while there have been some new developments.

A New Start

2007-06-09T20:50:00.000-04:00

I have gotten really bad about posting and I'm sorry. I have moved back to first shift and temporarily taken over the lead spot while the normal guy does some training in another area. That's not a good excuse but it is all I have got. It has also taken a bit to get my body adjusted to getting up at 04:30 in the morning. I was used to 8:00 for the past year. Anyway I guess I will have to force myself to write something about every night. I need to spend time with Holly, our new Cockatoo anyway. That is what I am doing right now. She has always let me pet her, but I want to be able to get her out more often. I am setting here at the dining room table with her door open to just let her come out on her own. She has done it a few times and is really sweet when she lets me hold her. We also put Charley in the cage with her sometimes. They seem to get along fine but I don't think she really likes him that well.

"The Process"

2007-05-14T19:07:00.000-04:00

OK. We had our meeting with the commissioner and the county attorney and some assorted other reps. It started out like many other meetings that we have had. They say we can't have what we want, we say why not, they come up with some lame reason, we tell them why it won't work. And round and round we go.

After the obligatory county "beating of the dead horse" that has happened at all of our meetings so far, we finally started to get some where. Aparently we have been on some great quest where everyone knows the rules but you. The county board will not approve the waiver because it might set a precedent in some alternate reality. The thing is that the denial of the waiver request was also part of the process. Now that we have crossed the great void that is the county commission we finally know the last clue that will lead us to the holy grail. The final part of our journey is to hire an attorney and have him argue that we have exhausted all of our options and now the county has to either has to pay us for the land and everything that we have spent or let us build the way it is. There is a lot of legal stuff that goes along with that is the gist of will happen.

We are pretty sure that almost everyone else finally gets what the situation is. There was definitely an intelligence "bell curve" in the room. As usual most of the people were in the high middle, but the low ends were there in force. On one end was the land development representative. She really liked that dead horse and kept going over and giving it another kick. i guess she really liked it. On the other side was a guy that liked to pick ideas out of thin air. He was beating the other end of that horse. Poor horse. It would all be very comical except that he is our assistant county manager. Really gives you that warm fuzzy feeling that everything is in good hands.

To summarize: "Go hire a lawyer, come back to the board and you have a high percentage chance of getting what you want". You've gotta love government.

The Wheels of Government

2007-05-09T21:41:00.000-04:00

We got a big fat denial to our request. It is not quite the end of the world. Yet. There are still some things that we can try. We are going to be meeting with our commissioner again along with the county attorney and some others to try and convince them of the uniqueness of our situation.

I must say that our county government could be run better by a bunch of high school kids. A great deal of time is spent on recognizing individuals and groups at the beginning of the meeting. That is all fine but when they came to the part where actual laws were passed or money was allocated they breezed through those without much discussion at all.

Our issue is fairly complicated and this is how it went and we spend a great deal of time writing out what actually went on in the past year(one post down). We are reasonably certain that some of the commissioners did not read it even though it was made part of the official meeting agenda. Two of the commissioners didn't ask any questions, ours asked questions that everyone should have already known the answer to. The final commissioner, has been on the board for almost 20 years basically preached to the rest of the board about why they should vote no. And they did. Bunch of spineless panty-wastes. Doesn't anybody have the balls to stand up for anything anymore? The answer is no. The general rule is to just go with the flow and keep your nose up the guys ass that has been there the longest, don't make waves and maybe you will get re-elected. Brevard county's new motto: "We screw over the little guy to protect our ass".

Lizard Hut

2007-04-25T11:18:00.000-04:00

We have a small wooden house that sits on a fence post in our backyard. I think it was left on the fence by the previous owners and was there when we moved in. We didn’t have any particular feelings about it so we left it where it was. Soon we noticed that the small lizards that live every where here in Florida liked to live in it. You can see them from a long way away looking out of the little holes. I managed to get some really good pictures yesterday.

Us vs. The Man

2007-04-25T09:24:00.000-04:00

Here is the full transcript of our much revised argument to the county commissioners for why they should grant our waiver request.

To the Brevard County Board of Commissioners:

In February of 2006, we purchased a 7.59 acre piece of property on north Merritt Island. Since then we have been working within the county and state regulations with the intent to build our dream house on that property. We have spent over a year and $17,322.28 toward that goal. We are requesting a waiver to the Brevard County Code of Ordinances Section 62-102 (b), which states that in order to obtain a building permit, the property must abut a county maintained road.

Our first priority was to determine how best to use the property due to the existence of wetlands over the majority of it. We have been working with an environmental company for the past year to get a wetland permit to allow us to build on the property. This was finally accomplished at the end of March of 2007. In order to mitigate the .24 acres of wetland impacts we had to dedicate 6.86 acres of our original 7.59 acres as a permanent conservation easement. In addition, we are required to remove all of the invasive Brazilian Peppers that are growing on our property as a result of the wetland being previously disturbed. Removal of the invasive vegetation will keep it from invading the surrounding healthy wetlands. Developing our property will actually be beneficial to the environment.

The real problems began when we had to determine legal access to the property. Our property abuts a fifty-foot wide public access right-of-way. This right of way is an unimproved dirt road that has been used to access our property and four others from around 1969 to the present day. It is cleared and has a drivable surface. Three of the other properties abutting Jenkins Lane have already been built upon, and two of them use it as their sole physical access. Since the right of way is not a county maintained road, in order to get a building permit we had to enter into an Unpaved Road Agreement with the county. Under this agreement we would design, engineer, and build the dirt road up to county standards at our own expense and then pay an unspecified amount of money for maintenance of it. After its completion the county would take over maintenance of the road.

We began the Unpaved Road Agreement process late last spring and spent $8788.28 obtaining surveys, soil bore samples, and engineering drawings of the road. It wasn’t until after the design had been reviewed by county engineers and the SJRWMD and sent back to our engineer for the second time that we discovered that it was not possible to fit the road within the existing right-of-way due to the high water table relative to the road. Because of the high water table the road surface would have to be raised nearly a foot above East Crisafulli Road, which it adjoins. This is an increase of almost two feet in elevation for some parts of the road. To retain the storm water runoff, there would be drainage swales along its entire length on both sides. The maximum slope on the back side of the drainage swales is mandated by the SJRWMD and cannot be exceeded. Because of these requirements, the proposed project sprawled beyond the bounds of the fifty-foot wide right-of-way to eighty feet of width. We were told we needed to acquire an additional fifteen feet of private property on either side of the right-of-way to accommodate the road and its associated swales.

This was a major problem. The right-of-way passes narrowly between two existing homes. Even if the property owners would agree to give up some of their land for the project (they would not), there would still be problems. The edge of the drainage swale on one side would extend to within approximately five feet of the foundation of one of the homes. The new road would also cause significant surface water impacts and additional wetland impacts that there is no way to mitigate. Our property has already been dedicated as a conservation easement in order to mitigate the building of our home. Mitigation for wetlands on Merritt Island must occur on the island, where there is no mitigation bank to draw from. In short, the project is not feasible as designed.

The county land development engineer told us that he thought the road would be technically possible if it were reengineered somehow to fit inside the allotted 50 feet. He said that it could potentially be done if the entire road was built up using large culverts and retaining walls along its entire length but even he agreed that a redesign of that magnitude would push the cost of the dirt road well over a quarter of a million dollars, assuming it was possible at all. Regardless of the fact that it might be physically possible to build such a road, we feel that it is simply not right to force a single property owner to bear that kind of burden in order to build a single-family home. Due to the environmental issues that affect our property, even though it is large we can only build one house on it. It cannot be subdivided, and therefore we have no opportunity to defray any of the cost involved in constructing such a road.

The alternative suggestion from the land development department was to have the county vacate the access entirely. We pursued this course of action for several months only to have it turn out as another dead end. Since the right-of-way was platted with the property across from ours, only that property owner can petition the county to vacate the land. They have tried to do so in the past only to run into access issues, which still exist today. The Land Development department of the county requires that a plan be in place to ensure that all properties that take access from the right of way have access to their property before the land is vacated. This plan must be approved by the Planning and Zoning office. However, the Planning and Zoning department will only entertain the application for review after the county commission board has vacated the land. You can see the problem there.

In the end, vacating the land would be problematic at best. If the county were to vacate the right-of-way, it would go back to the landowner that owns the property it was originally platted with. If the landowners would agree to split the land down the middle to create two 25-foot wide access strips, these could be used as flag stems for their property and ours. Easement could be provided to the property at the end of the road over one of those two strips. Because only one property can have easement over a flag stem, we run out of options for one of the properties fronting the county maintained road. They have legal access from the county maintained road, but since their physical access is from Jenkins Lane they will not agree to the vacating unless they are granted irrevocable easement over Jenkins Lane. This is precisely what caused the last vacating attempt in 2004 to be unsuccessful. These homeowners came to the meeting and protested because they were afraid that they would lose access to their homes via Jenkins Lane. These problems only take into account current property uses. The 7.59 acre property on the west side of the right of way and the 26+ acre parcel at the end of the road could be subdivided in the future, creating even more access problems. Future land use rights would easily be enough to preclude any possibility of vacating being approved.

So, we are at an impasse. We hold in our possession wetland permits from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the Army Corps of Engineers to build our proposed home. All that stands in our way is this access issue. The only reasonable solution is for the county to grant us a waiver to the section of the code that requires the property to abut a county maintained road. We have tried to comply with all county regulations and explore the other options given to us by members of the county staff. As outlined above, each alternative solution has either run into huge obstacles or is simply not possible. In our opinion, our situation is unique enough to warrant this waiver. While unimproved right-of-ways are not uncommon in this county, the bevy of environmental issues surrounding this right of way and our property, the large size of the properties involved, and the fact that three of the five properties have already been developed make this situation different from the rest.

Ultimately, if we were to be granted this waiver, all parties stand to benefit. The county and state would get a nice piece of environmentally protected land, removal of nuisance plant life and the revenue generated by a newly developed property. The property owners with existing homes on the right of way would be able to continue using the right-of-way to enjoy uninterrupted access their homes. We would be permitted to build our new home and be able to live peacefully out among nature. A waiver would also maintain all of the land use rights of the other properties and retain the potential to develop multiple properties in the future if the large parcels are subdivided for development.

We do not believe that the original intent of the Unpaved Road Agreement was ever to force one property owner to shoulder the burden of the entire cost of a public road project allowing abutting property owners to enjoy freely at no cost to them. In a conventional situation, all of the properties would be developed around the same time and more than one property owner would participate in the project. Since three of the five property owners on Jenkins Lane have already been permitted to build, there is no motivation for them to participate in any such process, making this a unique situation. The environmental issues only push it further into impossibility. The denial of this request would effectively condemn our property from any practical use and would constitute a “regulatory taking” of our land. So, we are asking you to evaluate this situation individually, for what it is, and to do the right thing by granting us this waiver. Thank you.

What do you think?

The Biggest Writing Project Ever

2007-04-20T09:17:00.000-04:00

It has finally come down to us standing in front of the Brevard County Board of County Commissioners and asking them to do the right thing. I think our reasons are valid and have hope that it will go our way. We only need to convince three people to see things our way. Over the last week or so Jen and I have been killing ourselves preparing the documents we will be submitting to the county board. I don't think I ever went over a writing assignment for school even close to this much. Not to long, not to short, not to wordy but just right. We are probably stressing a little to much over some of the finer details but the stakes don't get much higher than this. House or no house, we will know on May 8 2007.

New Member of the Flock

2007-04-09T11:13:00.000-04:00

We are getting yet another animal in our house. Jen's aunt used to have two birds, an African Gray and Cockatoo. Apparently when they were transferring the Gray to an outdoor cage it got away. I'm not sure how old it was but the Cockatoo had been with it all three and a half years of it's life. Now I guess Harley the Cockatoo is a little depressed without it. Since we already have Charley Jen's aunt thought that we might want to take Harley so she could have a bird friend again. We didn't say yes right away, we wanted to be sure that she would be good with dogs, did she bite, does she attach herself to only one person? The answer is that she is a very well behaved bird that likes to be held and played with. She also likes all of the same foods that Charley does. Her aunt is bringing Harley up next weekend. She comes with a large cage, perches, toys and I'm sure a lot of other stuff. That's good because it is expensive to get set up to care for a large parrot. Hopefully Charley will accept her quickly. He is going to have to deal with it because she is not going anywhere.

Medical Update

2007-04-05T08:50:00.000-04:00

Jen had her liver biopsy on Monday. That was a huge production for what they actually do. I guess it is done for a reason though. We had to be there at 7:30am for the 9 o’clock procedure. She was prepped for it just like someone would be for a much more in depth surgery. The actual procedure only took about 20 minutes. We had to spend another two hours in the recovery room so that they could monitor her. Everything went very well. We got home at about 1 o’clock. She took it easy for the rest of the day and I stayed home that night just in case. We aren’t sure when all of the results will be back, hopefully soon. Until then….we wait.

Dealing with Government...Part 2

2007-04-05T08:43:00.000-04:00

The meeting with our county commissioner didn’t go as well as we had hoped. To be fair though I think our expectations were a little high. He did know and understand many of the county ordinances we are having trouble with. That made things a little easier. It would have been that much harder to explain what our problem was and also have to explain the all of the specific ordinances to him. He seemed to look at everything very objectively and didn’t make any promises that he might not be able to keep. On Monday he has a meeting with most of the department heads to go over next weeks county board meeting agenda. At that time he will bring up our problem and see if anyone can come up with some sort of solution. I sure hope so. I’m not ready to give up on this, but it is getting harder and harder to be optimistic.

Dealing with Government

2007-04-04T09:10:00.000-04:00

This morning we are going to meet with our county commissioner about our problems with our building permit. Our hope is that once he hears everything that we have been through he will be inclined to vote for giving us a waiver for the road dilemma. So far no one else in the county government has been so inclined. The difference between him and all of the others that we have talked to is that he is in an elected position. He should be more inclined to help us out, especially since we have tried all of the other possible options. Jen made a good presentation last night and we have all kinds of documentation and pictures to support our position. Even if he is on our side we will still need at least three commissioners to vote our way, but one will be a good start. Keep your fingers crossed that he is a reasonable person.

Everyday Stuff

2007-03-29T08:59:00.000-04:00

It seems like there hasn't been much to post about lately. Work...home...work...home, same thing everyday. I just spent a long weekend in Ohio to visit my side of the family. It has been a few years since I have been there. I had a really good time visiting with everyone and catching up on what has been going on. A lot was the same, quite a bit of new things were built and some old things burned down. It was fun taking a drive around town. Two and a half days just wasn't enough and it went really fast. I wish Jen could have come along. She has only met the whole family a couple of times. All of our animals prevent both of us from going anywhere together, but we would never dream of not having them.

Us four "kids" from top left, Melissa, Lori, Brian, and me.

Happy Anniversary!

2007-03-04T18:58:00.000-05:00

Today is my sister Melissa's first wedding anniversary. She and Dustin have been together for several years but this is the first official year. There have been some hard times in the past but they got through it and it's all behind them now. Here is to many many more years. Happy Anniversary Sis.

p.s. I know what the date stamp says. The year is wrong. Leave it alone.

Hail, Hail

2007-02-27T09:53:00.000-05:00

We had one heck of a storm roll through the space center last night. Winter in Florida is usually dry with rain only coming when a front passes through. Severe weather is uncommon this time of year. Yesterday was the exception. Yesterday was also start of the servicing operation for the orbiters internal propellant tanks. There were people in SCAPE suits in several different areas around the pad. I was out in a suit when the lightning started. Then it started to rain. Lucky for me our time was up right about then and a new crew took over for us. Not to long after we got back to the SCAPE base it starter raining really hard and the wind picked up. Then the hail started. It was so bad at one point that visibility was down to only a few feet. We a had about marble size hail at the biggest were I was at. We were the lucky ones. Apparently at the OPF's there were car windshields broken and some severe vehicle damage. Out on Pad A there weren't any window damage that I herd of but there was some vehicle damage. There were reports of two inch hail but I can't confirm that. It is probably my fault. I washed and waxed my truck this weekend. Sorry everybody.

All of that is bad but it might get worse. The external tank also got hit with potentially two inch hail. The tank foam was supposed to be inspected as soon as the sun came up this morning. Some of the camera views that I saw last night looked like there might be damage. There was also a rumor that even if no damage is seen that the stack will have to roll back to the VAB to be inspected in greater detail. There are access platforms there that allow for a much more detailed inspection. I haven't seen anything on the news and I can't find anything about it on the internet yet. Before the day is over I'm sure everyone will be talking about it. Just remember, you heard it here first!

Here It Comes

2007-02-15T09:06:00.000-05:00

The space shuttle stack is on its way to the launch pad at this very moment. I hope we are ready. Pad A hasn't launched a shuttle since Colombia back in February 2003. It will be different for me this time. Since we are at the other pad I'm not in charge of the shop that I am in. I'm still getting used to letting someone else take care of making sure everything is coordinated. Trying to go back to being a regular tech is harder than I thought it would be. I see so many things that I know need to be done that I just want to go and do them. Normally I am used to being so busy during a flow that it is hard to wait for a job to be assigned to me. However, I have to keep reminding myself that if the situation was reversed I would not want some else telling me things that I already know about or generally doing my job for me. Believe it or not, doing less is harder for me than running around trying to do twelve things at once. It's a little twisted.

Here is a picture that I took last night on my way home from work. Some of the VAB doors were open to allow the crawler transporter to move into position under the stack.

It Had To Be Done

2007-02-11T21:48:00.000-05:00

Have you ever put off something that you needed to do, but didn't really want to do? And then put it off again because you didn't feel like it. And then put it off again because you had something more important to do, like go sit outside and watch traffic. Then, when you finally have the courage, it has just gotten to scary and you lose your nerve. That's us and our "to be filed bin". Today was finally the day. The tray has about one inch sides on it but the pile was about a foot tall. We had stuff in that tray from 2005. Told you it had gotten scary. Jen actually filed and sorted our whole file cabinet by herself. She removed things from almost every folder and put the contents of every folder in to chronological order. That's a little twisted of you ask me. I would have helped her but I was cleaning the carpets. They needed it really bad to. We have five dogs after all. Filthy little beasts. That's twenty little feet tracking in who knows what. Not to mention what those two girls do the the carpet while I'm not looking~shutter~. Everything is done now, thank goodness. Though I'm sure that even while I was cleaning the carpet those dogs were already conspiring against me. Just waiting for the chance to bring in a mummified frog, dead earthworm, anything organic to shred, or what ever else interesting they happen across out in the yard. Oh well, what can you do, that's our family.

Probationary Swami

2007-02-04T20:31:00.000-05:00

The swami is back for one last chance. It is into the third quarter of the Super Bowl right now and the Swami is pinning more that just his reputation on the Colts to win. A victory for the Colts will put the Swami back in our good graces. A close loss for the Colts will result in continued verbal abuse for the Swami. A blowout for the Bears will mean a harsh punishment. We will render a punishment from the old country that will cut off future generations of Swamis. Place your bets and keep watching the game.

The Big Merge

2007-02-04T19:44:00.000-05:00

I've been working at Pad A for a week now, it isn't so bad. It's not like I don't know anyone over there, but usually we only work together occasionally. It will still take some time to get to get used to how everyone works though. My new locker is finally set up so that it is a little homier. I miss my desk. I like having a bigger area for the things that I am working on. As a shop lead I am used to having to think and worry about all sorts of things. It may sound a little twisted but I like having more responsibility. I am happier that way. Don't get me wrong, it is nice having a break. Not having to think about who is doing what job, which one is more important, who needs to know when it's done, and if all of the paperwork is correct is nice, for a while. Unless something changes it will probably be a year before I get back to that. I will just have to wait and see.

On a side note, my teeth hurt again. The back teeth feel sore every time I have something to eat. I think they are moving around. With my wisdom teeth gone the rest of them aren't all mashed together anymore. It is definitely easier to floss lately.

The Beginning of the End

2007-01-28T21:15:00.000-05:00

It's official. The next shuttle will launch from Pad A. That means Pad B will almost shut down completely. The entire second shift is moving to Pad A to help them finish getting ready. Since I'm on second I will be moving over there this week. It will be different working over there, kind of like two semi disfunctional families moving in together. There will be some growing pains and some adjusting for sure. The move is semi permanent. Next year when the Hubble mission launches we will have the rescue shuttle on Pad B. After that Pad B will be permanently turned over to the new program.

The Sky Is Falling

2007-01-19T10:01:00.000-05:00

It has been foggy in the mornings and cloudy in the evenings lately. I think it is part of that same weather system that snowed on Malibu CA. I had to work a little late last night and the clouds were low and descending as the temperature was going down. At about 12:30 am this morning the clouds had dropped below the top of the VAB. Since I got my new camera, I keep it with me in my truck so I have it when I see something interesting. This is really a neat sight and these pictures don't really do it justice.

Personel Issues

2007-01-09T09:13:00.000-05:00

Due to some unforeseen and unpredicted circumstances the Swami will be be on a leave of absence for an undetermined length of time. This decision was was considered more politically correct than the more popular, beating with a bamboo pole. During this time there will be no predictions made for this sight until we can come to grips with the crushing defeat of our Ohio State Buckeyes. Congratulations to the Florida Gators for a very well played game. They deserve to be national champions.

Swami Says

2007-01-07T09:03:00.000-05:00

So Many Tools...but no space

2007-01-06T21:29:00.000-05:00

I get new woodworking magazines and tool catalogs in the mail all the time. I will look through each page and pick out what I want. Oh the things I could do and build with them. A tool for everything. Projects would be so much simpler to build. I would be so happy…and then I wake up from that obvious dream and wipe the drool from my chin. I can’t buy anything new, there’s no room for any of that stuff in the garage. Every square inch of wall space is already used up and only 1 car fits. I am really a very patient person but I can barely wait until the new house is built and I can move into my new 600 sq. ft. shop. It will be a space only for tools and project making that I get to design. There won’t be anything cute or foofy out there, only guy stuff. I may just sleep out there.

No Style

2007-01-05T09:05:00.000-05:00

I got my hair cut yesterday and while I was waiting for my turn I thumbed through one of those books with pictures of different hair styles. After looking through the whole book it struck me that my hair cut wasn’t in there. Nothing even close. I guess just plain and short doesn’t count as a style. That’s too bad, a hair cut that can be combed using not much more than a damp towel is a great thing. There loss.

Turtle Condo

2006-12-30T19:55:00.000-05:00

It's finally done! Well actually it was done two days ago, but I am just now getting around to putting the pictures on here. I think it came out really well. There are some things that I wish that I had done differently but for the first one it's OK. The dirt in the bottom is supposed to be better for him than the bark pieces he had before. It will give him the bigger range of temperature that he needs. Virgil really likes it. He ran all around when we first put him in there. It only took about five minutes for him to figure out the ramp. He sleeps in his little hut that is on the top and comes down to eat or get a drink of water. He was used to eating greens from the grocery store so he was a bit stubborn at first about eating his weeds. Those weeds are actually a special blend on seeds that are specifically for a tortoise like him. The broad leaf one are apparently the best. He tends to trample them until he gets something he likes.

Moving Foward

2006-12-29T17:49:00.000-05:00

Our builder came by yesterday with some papers that we had to sign and get notarized so that our building permit package would be complete. He also showed us the completed set of plans that were to be turned to the county. It's very exciting. The whole package was turned in today and eventually accepted. There are still some big things that we need to get worked out, but it is nice to see something moving in the right direction. It actually seems like we might be able to build after all.

Brand New Diggs

2006-12-24T17:10:00.000-05:00

I spent a few hours yesterday and most of today in the garage building a new turtle habitat. Virgil, our baby Hermans tortoise, has been living in shallow 10 gallon aquarium since we got him in early November. He really needs more room than that to roam around. Jen found an interesting two level enclosure that someone had built special for their turtle and looked fairly easy to build. I have the main construction finished and sanded. Tomorrow we will pick out some stain that will look good on it. After the stain and several coats of polyurethane for moisture proofing I will finish all of the fine details. There are some tree branches that someone gave us to make Charley a play gym, but we never did. The idea is to cut them into small pieces and then split them in half. Once they are split I can use them to make the railings for the upper level and the ramp. The ramp will also be paved with the sticks and some others will be placed around the inside to make it feel more like outside for him. The bottom will be a mix of dirt and sand with a small trough of live weeds for him to eat. Here are some pictures off Virgil's new home so far.

What Brown Won't Do For You

2006-12-22T22:43:00.000-05:00

Christmas is busiest time of year for anything and everything retail. That also applies to the shipping business. Since Christmas is on a Monday this year there will be three days in a row where regular UPS shipped packages won't budge. All those gifts that could be delivered won't be. Unless of course you buy the extra super duper Saturday shipping. You would think that due to the the holiday situation and the amount of things shipped this time of year, they would have made an exception and ran their regular service at least on Saturday. One extra day isn't that big a deal. Instead they say "screw little Timmy and his new laughing hyena Elmo that had to be purchased on the black market and will probably sent his parents to prison until he is 25, we're taking a three day weekend." Just one more reason I mark the Fed X or DHL button whenever I have a chance. Thanks a lot Brown for jacking up Christmas this year.

All for the Puppies

2006-12-21T19:22:00.000-05:00

Jen and I spent the afternoon at the mall yesterday. We weren't shopping, we were wrapping presents for the poodle rescue. Different charities were taking turns wrapping gifts for their particular cause. We obviously can't handle fostering dogs, so we help out at charity events when we can. It wasn't to bad. I'm not the fastest gift wrapper in the world. I'm too picky about how the folds go.

I did spend a lot of time talking to people about the rescue and pushing adoptions. I talked for a long time to an older lady about just about everything. She had wanted to go to the theater and see "The Nativity Story" but the last bus back to Cocoa Beach left at 7 pm and there wasn't time. We got to talking and apparently she and her husband had a poodle that lived to be 27 years old. I don't have any reason not to believe her, but that seems really old for any dog. The way I understood the story was that the dog was really attached to her husband and after he died the dog went not to long after. It's kind of sad really, all of a sudden she was on her own. From that high note it we moved on to her only grandson. He passed away in New Jersey this past spring of something ( I didn't ask any questions) and his father, her son, didn't tell her until her birthday this past September. Such a wonderful son she has. What an asshole. Wait it gets better. Then she asked if I had herd the story on the news about the head being chopped off of the baby Jesus in a manger seen at a church in Cocoa Beach. I hadn't, and we went into discussing why people would do such a thing. Everything had mostly been said after that and we each said Merry Christmas and went our own way.

After she had gone Jen said that I must have the patience of a saint. She would have run off screaming long ago. One of the other ladies that was there said that she was trying to come up with a reason to interrupt and get me out of it. I told them both that I wasn't in any distress and that I thought that she just wanted to talk to somebody. I think that I have actually met her somewhere before. I'm just not sure where.

We found out today that almost $2000 was taken in that day. Not to bad.

Tis The Season

2006-12-18T18:48:00.000-05:00

We finished all of our Christmas cards today. Finally. It wouldn't be that big a deal I guess if we hadn't started doing them last night. We are up to 41 or so this year. Not a huge number, but a decent amount of work. The hardest part really, was getting the newsletter thing just right. We can be kind of "particular" about things like that. Probably too particular, but I say why fight it. Go with your natural instinct.

That same instinct comes out when I put up the lights outside. Luckily, I remembered some of last years lighting debacle. Last year I hung the same strand of lights on the garage about 4 times. There was always a better way to do it and I just had to have it that way. This year wasn't as bad, but only because I got it right the first time. Also for the first time the bushes out front got some lights. We bought boxes and boxes of lights after Christmas last year so I had plenty of lights to work with. I wanted to make the front of the house really gaudy this year since we weren't going to put up the tree. I couldn't go through with it though, I guess I was all talk.

Due to space issues this year we didn't put up the tree. There is just to much to move. The bird cage doesn't fit anywhere else and now we would have to find a different spot for Virgil the tortoise. There are also small stuffed Boyds Bears ornaments all over our tree. Small dogs love that kind of ornament. They love them to the point where they become a spity, matted, mangled lump of stuffing and almost chewed off eyeballs. That is a horrific sight that we just didn't need this year. Hopefully next year we will be decorating the new house.

The Big Project

2006-12-15T23:09:00.000-05:00

It looks like the road we have been trying to build might not happen. It is a setback for sure, but it might also be a blessing in disguise. The next course of action is to petition the county to vacate the right of way. This would probably cost a whole lot less than improving the road to the county standards. I really think that this might happen. There are only 5 properties that abut the right of way and I think there is only one property that is an total unknown. Hopefully it will be easy to get his approval as long as he is guaranteed access to his property. Keep your fingers crossed. For in depth updates go to the "Tortoise Hollow" link in my Blog Roll. Here is a picture from Google Earth of our new property.

Artic Fun

2006-12-14T10:40:00.000-05:00

This has to be the greatest polar bear picture that I have ever seen. Those damn penguins. Special thanks to my sister Melissa for sending it to me.

Woo Hoo!!

2006-12-10T21:45:00.000-05:00

It has been a long couple of days but it was all worth it. Two 12 hour days in a row really wears a body down. Oh well, seeing a launch like that is well worth it. Jen came out to see the launch since she had never seen a night launch from up close. I think she was really impressed. Some of the pictures that she took came out a lot better than I thought they would. Here are just a couple.

Long Night Ahead

2006-12-08T09:00:00.000-05:00

The shuttle launch was scrubbed last night due to heavy cloud cover. Normally we would try again today but the weather is just as bad or worse. Saturday is the day now. Hopefully the weather will hold up. Until then there is a lot to do. The decision was made to top off the cryogenic storage tanks that supply the orbiters fuel cells (that is what my shop deals with). It is lot of work to get from launch configuration back to a place where we are able to do the top off and then back to launch mode. Basically it is everything that my shop does over the last week before launch all mashed up into under 24 hours. The next problem is that this week I am the only one in my shop on second shift at pad B. It isn't as bad as it sounds. There will be plenty of help from the other pad and from some of the other shops. Still though, I don't plan on leaving tonight until 3:30 am tonight/tomorrow morning. At least tomorrow is Saturday, it really sucks when I get out of the shower after coming home from work and Jen gets in as she is getting ready to go to work. It just makes you realize how long you have been awake.

Launch Day Minus 1

2006-12-06T08:56:00.000-05:00

Well, tomorrow is launch day. I hope the weather holds up. There is a chance that it will be cloudy at launch time and high winds are expected for Friday and Saturday. Tonight we will rotate the service structure away from the shuttle for the final time before launch. It is scheduled to be at 12:30am tonight. Urggh. Once it gets moving it takes about an hour to get fully retracted. However, this operation never gets started on time. It could be a very long night.

This is the first night launch since 2002. Night launches are really amazing. It is hard to describe just how bright it is. Imagine what it looks like outside just before the sun comes up in the morning. That is about how bright it is 3 miles away from the launch pad. Darkness to dawn in just a few seconds. There is nothing else like it. Be sure to watch if you can, I here there is supposed some really amazing new cameras tracking this launch.

I Think I Made It Rain

2006-11-30T09:41:00.000-05:00

The weather was nice Tuesday morning, mid 70's and a light breeze. Since I hadn't washed it for months I thought it would be a great day to do it. That thing really needed it. Once finished washing and drying it I decided to go to the auto parts store down the street and get some other cleaning products. I polished all of the water spots off of the chrome and put some of that tire shine stuff on the tires. We don't need a front license plate in Florida so I finally broke down and bought a vanity plate for the front. It is a black and silver Chevy symbol with the same color flames coming off of it. Everything was looking really good when I got done...and then it rained... and has been raining off and on ever since. The rain is supposed to last all through this weekend. I may never wash that truck again. Sorry to everyone in Florida.

House Plans

2006-11-26T21:43:00.000-05:00

We got the first draft of our house plans last week. Our builder was going on vacation for Thanksgiving and wanted us to have them to look at over the long weekend. Today we finally sat down and made a bunch of revisions. When we got done it looked like some of the tests that I've taken, red ink everywhere. There were a total of 37 things that needed to be changed. The last thing on the list required an elaborate drawing to hopefully explain what we want. I think we are probably a little more thorough than most people. Be sure to take a look at "Tortoise Hollow" on the blogroll to see all of the updates on our project.

5 Years Ago Today

2006-11-24T13:29:00.000-05:00

Today is our 5 year anniversary. It is hard to believe that it has been 5 years already. Time goes so fast. Five years ago today we got married in our back yard. It was a small ceremony with only our close family. I'm really glad we did it that way. Not because it was a lot less expensive, but because it was so much more personal. The two families got to talk and get to know each other a little more than they would in a more traditional event.

Even when I had only known Jen for a few weeks, it seemed like I had known her for years. We had so much in common then and we still do today. We think so much alike that we often have the same thought at the same time. Our tastes in almost everything are identical. A perfect match. I don't know what I would do without her.

To celebrate we are going out to eat to Carrabba's this afternoon. That might not sound like much, but we go out so infrequently that it is much more of an occasion for us. It makes us happy, and that is really all that matters.

Black Friday Eve Bummer

2006-11-24T12:40:00.000-05:00

Well, we went to CompUSA last night and stood in line for about 45 minutes. By the time the store opened the line was all the way out to the road. Once we got inside that place was crazy. I'm just not cut out for running over people to get what I'm looking for. After everything, they didn't even have the camera that we went there to get. Apparently they never got those cameras at all. Bummer. All that for nothing. I guess we will have to keep an eye out on the internet for a good deal.

Jen did get up early this morning to go to Staples. She got there around 4:30am or so. I stayed home to feed the dog and give him his insulin shot. She did managed to get everything she was looking for. They were much more organized and ready for a big crowd. She was in and out in less than 15 minutes.

Happy Thanksgiving

2006-11-23T17:46:00.000-05:00

Another Thanksgiving has come and gone. We ordered the turkey diner from Publix again this year. Everything comes ready to go, just pop it in the oven until it's hot and your all set. We ate early (about 1:00) so we didn't have to make a separate lunch. There is also the standard football watching and nap taking that happens on Thanksgiving afternoon. Jen has spent most of the day ciphering the Black Friday sale ads to see if there was anything she couldn't live without. I was surprised, she only found one thing. Tonight we are going to Melbourne to CompUSA. Their sale starts tonight and there is a digital camera in the ad that fits the kind of camera that I have been looking for. I hope they have more than two in the store. We will be there when they open at 9:00 and hope for the best. Staples will be tomorrow's trip. We are actually going to try to be there when they open at 6am. I have never done the 'day after thanksgiving, crack of dawn shopping' before. This will be the first and maybe the last time I do. We'll see how it goes.

Family Day Results

2006-11-22T09:58:00.000-05:00

Family day went really well. Jen’s Mom and Dad got to the house around ten o’clock and we left for the space center right away. We did the launch pad tour first to try and beat the traffic. It took about a half an hour to get up to the pad, so it wasn’t bad. However, once we got there the pad operations building was closed to everyone. The VAB, OPF, and the Launch Control Center were really interesting. I haven’t been in some of the places on the tour, so I had just as much fun.

It was really disappointing that we weren’t allowed to go into the building that I work in. Apparently security closed it off almost as soon as it opened. The rumor is that someone took their kids over to the crawler way and let them play in the rocks and maybe on the crawler itself. This may or may not be true. I won’t mention any names, but if it is true, there is only one person that works on the pad that has that kind of lack of judgment and is also a complete idiot. A complete idiot. That is just speculation of course. What it really amounts to is that I cleaned my desk off for nothing. Oh well, it probably needed it. Here are some of the pictures Jen took while we were out there.

Hazardous Operations

2006-11-21T12:22:00.000-05:00

It has been busy at work lately. We have been fueling the shuttle with the fuel it uses to maneuver in space. It uses two different hypergolic fluids. Hypergolic liquids are two liquids that ignite on contact with each other. These chemicals are very hazardous and we have to wear special suits to protect us. They are called SCAPE suits. That is, Self-Contained Atmospheric Protection Ensemble. Basically they are large sixty pound rubber suits. The suit itself weighs about twenty pounds and a full air pack weighs about 40 pounds. Regular street clothes won’t fit inside the suit so we change into thermal underwear. A friend of mine took some pictures of me getting out of a suit about a week ago and I wanted to share them.

Family Day

2006-11-16T09:36:00.000-05:00

This Saturday is Family Day and Kennedy Space Center. This is a day in which any employee can bring a car load of family or friends out to the center to see where they work. Many of the normally very restricted processing areas will be open to visitors. One of the OPF bays will have the doors open exposing the shuttle Endeavour. I think visitors will also have limited access inside the bay. The VAB Transfer Isle will be open and visitors will be able to go inside far enough to get a feeling of how big that building really is. That is where all of the shuttle stack elements go through before being stacked on the MLP. There will also be a shuttle stack at the launch pad. It will be covered up by the pad structure but it will still be a great sight. There will be a whole lot more to see but those are the main attractions. This time employees will also be able to take there guests to the office or shop area where they actually work. I'm not sure if we will be able to go to Jen's office or not. We will be able to go to the building where I work. I just have to make sure that when I leave work on Friday night that I clean all the crap off of my desk.

Jen's Mom and Dad are coming into town Saturday morning and Jen and I will take them on a really good tour. They a coming from Tallahassee, FL which is about a five hour drive. They are driving down early Saturday morning and are planning to leave Saturday evening. I think this is crazy, but they are doing it so they don't have to put their dog in a kennel. I can understand that. We could never put our hounds in a kennel either, no matter how nice it is.

This is the first family day at KSC since 2000. The 9/11 attacks shut down all events similar to this for the last 6 years. I really didn't think they would ever have anything like this again. I'm glad they are though.

Vehicle Troubles

2006-11-12T21:54:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I thought I was doing a good thing by taking my truck in to have some things fixed. The original front brake pads are still on my 7 year old, over 100,000 mile truck. I figured it was time to have them replaced. Also, the power steering pump was seeping a bit. Not enough to make a puddle, but I didn't like it. All of the belts were original from 1999 also, so I figured while they were off to change the power steering pump why not change them as well. I take the truck to the local Firestone Tire place for any work that I can't or won't do myself. I've had really good luck there in the past and there work is usually very good. We agreed that they would do a complete inspection and give me a call before they did anything really expensive.

While the inspections were going on Jen and I went to the mall in Viera to get something to eat and find a gift for her gift exchange a work. As soon a we got there, they called with there recommendations. They said even though the brakes were old they were still in good shape, the power steering pump needed to be changed and the belts should also be replaced. All fine with me. They also suggested the the belt tensioner be replaced as well. They explained that they can start to wear out after a while. I wasn't really sure but it wasn't that much so why not, then everything is new.

Fast forward to today. This afternoon I was on my way to work. I went to pass a car and gave it more gas than usual. All of a sudden the power steering was gone. I mean all the way gone. Even at speed I could barely turn the wheel. There were only some curves ahead so I kept going, thinking that maybe there was maybe air in the lines that would work itself out. The steering didn't come back so I looked for a spot to pull over. Unfortunately, the road I was on didn't have any good places. I had to make one right hand turn and headed for the KSC visitors center. The parking lot is big and there would be plenty of room for a tow truck. Turning that truck with no power steering is not easy, but I got there alright. The temperature gage was pegged so I shut the truck off as soon as I could. The first thing I checked was the coolant level. That was fine. Hmmm? Then I saw it, or rather didn't see it. The serpentine belt that had just been replaced was no longer there. Crap. Thank goodness for cell phones and AAA. Of course I had also forgotten my wallet so I had to call home to get the number for AAA. It was towed back to the Firestone dealer so what ever was broken could be fixed. They were very apologetic and said they would fix what ever was broken.

Turns out that the new tensioner that they talked me into was defective and that was probably all that was wrong. I believe them because I don't think the engine was hot enough for long enough to cause any damage. One of the guys offered to stay late and replace the tensioner and the belt. I have to go back tomorrow and get them to reimburse me for the part of the towing that AAA didn't cover.

The thing that really bites was that Sunday is double overtime. That is a lot of money to miss out on. I'm not a big overtime hound, but it is nice every once in a while. Especially with the new house project and all. Oh well, there is always next week. I'll have to try and get something extra out of them when I go in there tomorrow.

Fish

2006-11-12T12:57:00.000-05:00

A while back I wrote a post about a wood project I did for a guy at work. I made a new spear gun for him. Payment wasn't necessary of course, but he said that he would get me a fish the next time he went out. About a week later he had a nice sized red snapper for me. It was still a whole fish so I asked him to fillet it for me. I could have tried myself but I'm pretty sure that I would screwed up a very good fish. There would have been nuggets instead of fillets. Unfortunately, my wisdom teeth extraction was the next day so we couldn't cook it right away. It would have to wait.

Yesterday I found a recipe for baked red snapper on the internet. It was a Food Network recipe. I thought it sounded good and wanted to do something really good with the fish. So this morning I made a special trip to Publix to get what I needed. It was a relatively simple recipe That I was sure I could make. The recipe was intended for use with a whole fish but the fillets were big enough that I could cut a pocket into the fillet to stuff the peppers and okra. It turned out really well and looked good to.

A Lot To Do, SoFew People

2006-11-09T09:33:00.000-05:00

I just saw on the news that space shuttle Discovery got to the launch pad on time this morning. The doors to the VAB were open last night when I drove past on my way home. It is a good looking sight. A shuttle that has just gotten to the pad means a lot of work for a lot of people. There are easily 4 or 5 times the amount people on the pad when the vehicle is there as when there is no vehicle. Think of stepping on an ant hill. When the mound is moved, all of a sudden there are ants everywhere. The space shuttle has the same effect.

The work load has actually getting worse with the imminent end of the program looming the work force getting thinner. In the last several years there have been quite a few experienced technicians leave the launch pad area. The reasons vary, some are tired of pad work after 15 to 20 years or more at it. A few are for more personal reasons, some are retirees and lately the reason has been a move to find a position that they think will still be around in the next program. Through all of this there has been very little hiring going on. The shop that I am in only has 5 people left in it on our pad. Three on first shift and two on second shift with no new additions likely. I'm on second shift right now so all it takes is one person to be out and the shop is down by 50%. Under normal circumstances two people can handle the work load on second. However, once the vehicle rolls out that can all change. Work happens on a schedule that doesn't care how many people are in what shop or on what shift. Then it can get a little hairy. So far we have made it through Ok. Last time we had a vehicle on the pad our shop had 3 people on second shift. This time, only two. We will have to see how it goes. Wish us luck.

The Journey Begins Again

2006-11-07T11:07:00.000-05:00

The payload for the next space shuttle flight rolled out to the pad last night. It will take almost everyone at the Launch Pad all day to transfer all of the payload components into the tower structure. It is an extremely slow and tedious process. As of last night the shuttle stack is supposed to begin it's journey to the pad at 12:01 am on Thursday. This was supposed to be the last flight off of Pad B and that the pad would undergo modifications to get it ready for the new program. However, with the addition of the Hubble servicing mission, that might not be true anymore. It will be very interesting to see what happens in the next few months.

This is a picture of the payload canister from the last mission. It is basically the same thing as a shuttle payload bay. I didn't have a camera last night to get a picture the one that is there now.

Steroids

2006-11-05T21:35:00.000-05:00

One of the medications that I got for my teeth was a steroid to help control the swelling. I hate them. All they make me want to do is eat. And I don't mean the stuff I'm supposed to eat. I want to eat only junk food. Every fast food commercial I see makes me want to eat. At one point I was even willing to eat the McRibb sandwich from McDonalds. Usually very gross, but tonight very appetizing. Luckily I took the last of them tonight. Thank goodness. I haven't stopped eating since this afternoon. However I still can't wait until I am healed enough to go get a big hamburger.

My Big Mouth

2006-11-05T16:45:00.000-05:00

I did it again. I opened my big mouth. Friday when I was all drugged up and Jen was taking care of me I told her the I didn't want to just get her some crap for her birthday that when I felt better I would get her whatever she wanted. I know, bad idea. It sounded good at the time though. Today I felt a lot better so we went over to Orlando to the reptile show. Immediately she was drawn to the chameleons. They are pretty cool and she really likes them. She got to hold a few and the guy we talked to said that they weren't as hard to take care of as we thought. I said no, she couldn't have one, we didn't have any room for it. She protested but moved on. We walked around and saw all kinds of snakes, lizards, spiders, scorpions, and turtles. Every time we passed a turtle we stopped for a while. At about the last exhibit we stopped at there was a small Hermann's tortoise. It was a cute little guy/girl (we are not sure yet) in a cage by itself. Jen made up her mind that she either wanted the tortoise or the chameleon. Uh oh, now what? I had said the words "what ever she wanted". I really didn't think we needed either, but she wouldn't budge. So...I said it would have to be the tortoise or nothing. I really didn't feel like dealing with the whole live food thing and a tortoise should be easier. I hope it will be because we got him. I think it is a him. Right now he is sitting on the cabinet next to Charley's cage. He has a heat lamp and a water bowl and a food dish and now he has a terracotta pot to hide in. Here are a few pictures of the new addition to our family.

Teeth, The Final Chapter

2006-11-04T19:09:00.000-05:00

Ok, this is the last I'll post about this. Actually it is all have to post about. I've laid around all of yesterday and most of today. I think the anesthesia is still wearing off. After another nap this morning I think it mostly gone. Eating is not as hard as I thought it might be although soft foods don't stick with you very long.

This weekend there is a reptile show at the Orlando civic center that Jen wants to go to. It might be kind of fun. Luckily the civic center isn't hard to get to. We will have to get up early and go, so that there might be a better parking spot. After spending a few hours we'll come home so that I can still watch some football (and possibly racing).

Well that is about all for now, there is a very insistent woman sitting next to me wanting a foot rub. No rest for the weary.

Teeth Part 2

2006-11-03T18:39:00.000-05:00

It is almost 12 hours after the pulling and I'm doing pretty well. The numbness is almost gone and I have been taking pills well. I don't think that I was in the dentist office for even an hour. But then again I was knocked out for the procedure. Jen has bee waiting on me all day. I know it is probably getting old for her but I'm glad she is doing it. I guess she still loves me even after 5 years of putting up with me (Our anniversary is the 24 th of Nov). So far since we got home I'll the I have done is lay in bed. Actually I'm propped up with many pillows. Jen is going to make me mac & cheese after she gets done playing with the bird. At the moment I feel good enough to stuff for myself but Jen won't let me yet. That is probably for the best, the last thing I need is to stark bleeding again. Apparently I was referred to as a "bleeder" this morning. I'm keeping my hopes up that in the morning I will be able to move around and do a lot more.

Wisdom Teeth

2006-11-01T09:10:00.000-05:00

Only two more days until my wisdom teeth come out. I put this off for 31 years, but it is finally time. They don't hurt or anything, but the gums on the teeth in front are starting to suffer. I'm going to have them knock me out completely. Jen says that I shouldn't because it will take me a long time to get back to feeling like myself. I say I don't care. The last thing I want is to experience the dentist pulling and hammering on teeth that far back in my head. Also I tend to gag a lot at the dentist. I'm not a very good patient. I think that I will take my chances with the anesthesia. Thursday I am coming home early from work so I can get a good night sleep and take the first of two Valium they gave me. This will also be the first Valium that I have ever taken. This also gives me an excuse to lay around the house all day Friday. It is a rough way to get a day off but I'll take what I can get. Sometime on Friday I'll try post and give the post-op report.

OK, But Just Because It's your Birthday

2006-10-31T08:32:00.000-05:00

About two weeks ago I cleaned our bedroom. It needed done really bad. I vacuumed all the cracks and crevasses, the ceiling fan and the window blinds. We have three fake plants in there too. They really needed cleaned, so I moved them to the back porch and proceeded to beat then with vacuum cleaned attachment to get the loose dust off. That was about all I had time for that day, so that is where they stayed.

Last night, when I called Jen from work, she said that she knew what she wanted for her birthday. She wanted me to finish cleaning those fake plants. I really don't want to, but I guess if it is for her birthday I have to. So this morning that is what I"ll be doing. How they get cleaned is still up in the air. Wipe every leaf? Hose? Dip in the pool? Match? I haven't decided but I had better get to it.

Side Projects

2006-10-29T13:17:00.000-05:00

I did my first wood working project in quite a while. One of the guys at work who does a lot of fishing and diving asked me if I could make him a new shaft for his spear gun. He gave me a piece of Teak that he found floating in the ocean. The wood was a little bowed so we couldn't make it quite as long as he wanted. It only took me about and hour and a half to make two of them. I really need to get a few more tools. Anything new will have to wait until the new house is built. There is just no room for anything else in the garage. It felt good to get the tool out again. Not much gets done out there during the summer because of the heat. Only recently has the weather been cool enough to really do anything outside. Now there is so much that needs to be done to get the house ready to sell that will probably be most of what I do this winter. I'm glad I like doing house projects otherwise I'd be really miserable.

Busy Busy

2006-10-27T13:23:00.000-04:00

I said that I wanted to post as often as possible and I am trying. I guess that I will have to set aside some time just for writing or I will never have time. I don't really feel like going to work today but I'm going to be the only one in my shop there tonight. That's OK because I have left early on Friday the past two weeks. I won't go in at all next Friday because I'm getting my wisdom teeth pulled that morning. I have put it off for a long time but it is finally time to have it done. All four of them are coming out. It is supposed to take about an hour. This weeks grocery trip will have to include a bunch of soft food. I'm not worried at all about getting it done (at least not yet). The doctor is highly recommended and very professional. I will be sure to post on how it turned out.

2006-10-24T11:36:00.000-04:00

Welcome!

Welcome to anyone that has been reading the blog I started on Myspace . I really want to keep up with this and post at least every few days. A post everyday would be better, but I am only so creative. It has finally cooled down here. It was 54 this morning and windy. I even had to wear a jacket earlier. I'm glad though, high humidity and the low 90's were getting old.

Since it is getting cooler I've had more motivation to do some house projects outside. I've been scraping caulk from around the windows and replacing it. I know, I know you can't stand the excitement. It really did need to be done though. Anyway, as is my usual luck, when I'm fixing one thing I tend to screw up something else and give myself another project.

This past Sunday I was working on the upstairs windows. I can't do these during the week because my wife (Jen) says she has to be home when I do things up in the air just in case someone needs to call 911. I guess it is a good policy. Back to the story. Since I had the ladder out I figured that I would clean off the gable vent on the other side of the house. When I got up there I found that the cover was in much worse shape than I had thought.

It was severely dry rotted. Thinking that I might be able do something with it on the ground I pulled the cover off. And of course I broke the part that holds it on. So now I have a 12 inch hole in the side of the house. Oh bother. It is an octagonal cover with a square mount. The only way to fix it was to go buy another vent. Of course I figure that I can just go buy a new one and snap it on the old mounting piece. Nope, they've changed. Now the mounting piece is octagonal. More work. Luckily it was not going to rain, so I put it off until this morning since it was going to be cooler. It didn't take as long as I thought and it looks really good now that it is done. Compared to during when there was insulation blowing all over the yard and siding falling off and flapping in the breeze.

2006-10-21T21:43:00.000-04:00

Test Test 4...5...6

Alright, lets try something fancy. It's picture time. Ok I know I could have picked a picture of something really good for a test , but your stuck with me. This is a picture of me at my desk at work. I promise I'll put some better stuff up in the future.

2006-10-21T21:27:00.000-04:00

Test Test 1...2...3

Ok. This is the second blog that I've started in as many weeks. This one however, will hopefully be the the one that I like the best. It is mostly a preview post for me so there won't be any good stories here today. Someday, but not today. The reason for the name choice wil be a story for another day, so stay tuned.