Return to Flight

It doesn't get much cooler than this!

Satellite tracking

Passed along to me by Emmett, another intern here: http://science.nasa.gov/Realtime/JTrack/3D/JTrack3D.html

This is the coolest website ever! It opens up a java window that shows the Earth and over 500 satellites that are currently in orbit. You can watch it in real time or speed it up to some absurd rate so that GEO satellites zip around the Earth, and you can also click on the individual satellites to bring up a window with basic information about each satellite's orbital parameters and purpose for existing. Yay for space!



P.S. You have to accept the NASA certificate for the program to load all the satellites.

Slinkies and Mount Rainier

A funny quote from Mike, the Michigan intern who sits next to me: "Some people are like Slinkies - not really good for anything, but you still can't help but smile when you see one tumble down the stairs."

I finally posted pictures from our intern trip to Spray Park and Mt. Rainier on Sunday... no editing yet, but maybe one day soon... Here's a shot of Matt and Mike standing underneath the falls:


And here's about as close as we got to Rainier at the end of the hike:

Pedometer

Another reason why Google maps are awesome:

http://www.sueandpaul.com/gmapPedometer/

No shuttle launch today

Boo for the low-level cutoff sensors in the external tank! And can I just say, I'm a little miffed that the Shuttle is actually launching this summer. One of the (small) reasons I decided to quit my job when I did was because it didn't sound like there was any way that STS-114 would launch before November, so it didn't matter if I stuck around for the summer. Now that it looks like it's going to happen, I REALLY wish I could be there for it. So, of course, the entire U.S. space program should have consulted my schedule before they decided on launch windows.

This afternoon I went running in Seward Park. It's quite a ways south of where I live, but I had heard that it was another one of Seattle's great parks for walking, running, biking, and just generally being outside, so I thought it would be worth the trip on an otherwise dull Wednesday. It turns out they don't call that area "Rainier Beach" for nothing - as soon as I turned the corner into the park - WHAM! There, floating above Lake Washington in some hazy clouds, was Mt. Rainier. I couldn't have put the scenery together better if I had arranged it myself. I've decided that I need to start bringing my camera with me everywhere I go, because Seattle is such a beautiful city.

Speaking of pictures, this is one that I took several weeks ago down by Pioneer Square. It had rained the day before and left big puddles throughout the square, and so I took a picture of the reflection in the puddle. A friend of mine had taken a bunch of pictures of that same thing and had rotated hers to make it appear that you were actually looking at the city, and I thought it was a really neat effect. Mine didn't turn out quite as well, but you get the idea.

Lake Washington

My favorite picture from today - a dock on Lake Washington.

The pickup

On Thursday after work, my intern friends and I went to the Boeing Museum of Flight. As budding aerospace engineers, we all get totally giddy looking at SR-71's and MiG's, plus admission to the museum is free on the first Thursday of every month from 5-9pm, and we're all broke college students. Anyway, toward the end of the evening, my roommate and I were talking about how much longer we wanted to stay and which exhibits we wanted to see before we left. As he wandered upstairs to look at World War I planes, I went back to reading a poster on the wall about World War II pilots. As soon as I looked to my right to see what else there was to read, a random Indian dude appeared next to me and started asking me about the museum and how I liked it. Expecting our conversation to be short and consist of useless chitchat, I gave some lame response and a smile and went back to reading. Mr. Body Odor plowed right on to ask me where I lived and if I had a lot of friends in Seattle. "I just moved here, and I'm trying to get connected to a social network," he explained eagerly. Umm... okay. I told him I didn't really know how one met people in Seattle since I had only been here for a few weeks and the only people I really knew were the other interns I worked with. I was really hoping he wouldn't ask if he could tag along on the next intern get-together, but it turned out there was a worse question: "Well, maybe you and I could hang out sometime." Before I could object, he started asking me if I liked hiking, rafting, and other things he dubbed "adventure sports."

Me: "Uhh, yeah... I hear this area is great for that sort of thing."
Random Indian dude (RID): "Okay, so maybe we could go hiking or something some weekend."
Me: "Um, I guess so..."
RID: "Okay then, can I get your phone number so that we can make plans?"
Me: "Um, I guess so..." (As you can see, I'm very articulate)

I couldn't really tell if he really was just lonely and wanted to get to know more people in Seattle, or if he was trying to ask me out, but either way, I didn't really want to spend any more time with this guy who wasn't very well acquainted with his shower. However, I couldn't bring myself to say, "No, I don't think so," because I imagine it would have been horribly awkward. So, I gave him a fake number. I have since been told (from a guy) that the appropriate way to handle this situation is to ask for his number and not give out mine, so that way he has no way of calling me. Well, live and learn, I guess.

Anyway, so that was Thursday. Today, I was wandering around Pioneer Square looking for the Elliot Bay Book Company when this beefy blond guy sauntered up to me while I was waiting to cross the street and asked if I was from Seattle. From experience, I can tell you that answering "yes" to this question means you will inevitably be asked where some bar is located, and with my general lack of Seattle barhopping this summer, I can never answer these questions. So with an apology and a no, I turned back to waiting to cross the street. Unfazed, he introduced himself as Brad and asked where I was going. I explained that I was just out wandering around Seattle, and then he asked if I wanted company and maybe we could stop somewhere and have a drink. I said no thanks, I just wanted to walk around and take some pictures. As he started asking if I was sure, I wondered why this had to be the longest "Don't Walk" of my life. We stood there in awkward silence for a few moments, and then he asked where I was from. After telling him I was from Michigan, he exclaimed, "I'm from South Dakota!" My face must have shown my confusion about why that was so exciting, so he explained that we were from sort of the same neck of the woods. Sure... Finally the light turned green, so I gave a quick "take care" and hustled across the street.

I dunno... that sort of thing just makes me so uncomfortable. Maybe because people never ask me out, so I just never know what to say. Or because it's never the cute, nice guys who ask you out - it's always the weird, sketchy ones. Oh well... either way, I'm not looking. :)

Rain

Today it's raining. Well, you say, it's Seattle, right? Yeah... but it's drizzling, a little chilly, and Friday, so if I were still in college, I'd be skipping class to stay in bed, sip hot chocolate, and watch movies all afternoon. Well, at least that's what my senior-year roommate and I planned to do some rainy day when we could both skip class, but that day never materialized.

I wouldn't be so bummed about going to work on a day like today if I didn't hate wresting with OTIS so much. The learning curve on this program is much higher than anything else I've used. Ugh. I don't want to talk about it.

In other work news, I think I might single-handedly go through the entire stash of hot chocolate mix here, making my do-it-yourself mochas. It doesn't look like anyone else really drinks hot chocolate, so I might have to bring in a Costco-sized box at the end of the summer to replace the stuff that I've gone through. And maybe I'll leave them with the same "no sugar added" crap that they have. Why on earth would you not add sugar to hot chocolate mix? If there's no sugar, what else is left??

My first issue of Time magazine came in the mail a couple days ago. Yay! I think I'm turning into my parents, because I think the magazine really has gone downhill over the past decade or so - it's becoming more like Newsweek. I'd feel better about myself if I were getting my news from more sources like The Economist or Atlantic Monthly, but the sad fact is that I don't have the patience or attention span to read magazines like that from cover to cover. So I guess I'll have to stick with my short, 1-page articles with a very American slant.

Some pictures from Vancouver

I didn't really have my camera at a lot of the opportune moments this past weekend, but I got a couple of shots that were okay. The first one is the view from our hotel room on Burrard Street, and the second one is overlooking Lynn Canyon (the cheapie version of the Capilano Canyon, a big Vancouver attraction).

Unicycles and the USPS

My package arrived today! I love the internet - you pick out what you want without having to deal with parking, lines, or noisy children, and then a week later - poof! It arrives on your doorstep. Today, my package contained a new hands-free headset for my cell phone and the new Howie Day CD. Most of the time, you can only expect to like a couple of the songs on a particular CD, but so far I like the majority of the tracks. Collide is still my favorite though.

So I felt like I had made some significant progress at work last week, which was good because I was supposed to give a status at our group meeting today about what I've done so far. However, this morning, I discovered that I had only made faux progress last week - it turns out the program actually wasn't giving me anything near what I had thought because I was printing out the wrong output. ARRGHHHH!!!! Thankfully, one of my co-workers helped me get it straight this morning, so I spent today trying to make some actual forward progress instead of the negative progress I made last week.

I love Seattle - today I came home from running to discover a middle-aged man learning to ride a unicycle. His back porch faces the back entrance to my apartment complex, and he was clinging to the railing for dear life as he haltingly pedaled back and forth. How great is that! I hope I'm still picking up new hobbies when I'm 40.

I've been thinking about entering a road race near the end of the summer. Well, actually, I've only been thinking about it for about the past two hours or so. I've been pretty good so far about keeping myself motivated to go running every day, but it'd be nice to have some sort of tangible goal in addition to the plain goal of undoing my slothfulness. I think that something between a 10K and a half-marathon would be a good distance, because I need a decent kick in the butt to get out of my 3-4 mile rut.