Nike+ Human Race

All across the world people are running...not running from anything in particular, but running, for fitness, for charity, and for the fun of it...bleh, i think i threw up a little there on that last part of the comment.

We didn't run in Austin as previously planned. We ran here in Friendswood. There were a lot fewer people than there would've been in Austin. Although i think the Austin run would've been fun...not necessarily the running part, but the atmosphere.

So, i guess i'm nearly a quarter-marathoner...ick. i must stop. this is getting ridiculous.



Here we are...post run. Six+ miles later. I noticed some error in the distance so we ran a little bit extra to ensure we made the 6.2 miles.
My time was 1:06:03 for a distance of 6.3 miles.
Carla ran 6.51 miles with the last two miles with an unknown flying insect sting. what a trooper.

Not terrible for my first 6-miler.

We missed Lisa, who was going to run with us. She is supporting the US space program from Huntsville, AL (due to Gustav).

Barrier No More

I finally knocked down that 4 mile barrier. Today's run took me a new personal best...4.17 miles. I guess a new barrier has been built. I'm sure i'll knock that one down too. But I don't see me knocking down too many barriers in the running world.

On another note...There is something so wrong about having 33 hours (of a 40 hour work week) on Monday. I am completely exhausted. A few more days of work to go though...i'm not quite done for the week.

While you Sleep...

...this weekend...i'll be flying space stations. ok, just one space station. Nonetheless, i'll be trying to stay awake and flying the ISS. This is probably the worst part of the job...the overnight shifts. It puts a little more money in my pocket...the only incentive.

So, sleep for me. And enjoy your weekend for me...
Sometimes i must live vicariously through others...

Astronaut...for an hour.

This week at work, I finally got to play the role of an astronaut. I finally got my ride in the motion based shuttle simulator. The motion based simulator is used to simulate ascent and entry for the crew.

Once strapped in to the the 5-point harness, we were maneuvered into the launch position. The simulator has 6 degrees of freedom and can pitch to the vertical position. So, there we are, on our backs watching the clock slowly click away to zero. Around 6 seconds remaining, the main engines light up to full power and off the pad we jump when the SRBs light up at zero time. There is some vibration as we ascend. And then there is the "noise" of the SRBs. Around the 2 minute mark, the SRBs burnout and are jettisoned...the vibration stops...the "noise" stops. And we are still climbing uphill.

However, in this simulation, we'll never make it to orbit. A system problem forces us back to the cape. The computer maneuvers us to an attitude such that we are burning off the fuel and no longer gaining altitude. This attitude also stops our easterly trajectory and brings us back to the west. We gain velocity towards the west and then dump the ET when it's out of propellant.

Now we become the flying brick. A heavy glider. We come in for the approach and land on the runway and come to a stop on the centerline.

Unfortunately, that was the end of our motion based ride. But the fun was not over. We, the students, got a chance to land the orbiter from 50,000 feet. Well...that was a fun hour.

The reports from the real astronauts are that the ascent portion of the motion based simulator is fairly accurate. There is a bit more vibration and a bit more noise on the real ascent, but the general feeling is the same.

My landing wasn't too bad. I was 4 feet off of centerline and about 130 feet down from the target touchdown point. My approach speed was about 6kts faster than ideal and my sink rate was about 3 ft/sec higher than ideal. Other than that, i was able to bring her to a stop on the centerline.

Here are a few pictures of me in the pilot's seat.

Low Key Event

Finding Reason played our 2nd full "show" last night. The venue was Red Flag Studios (home of Liquid Casing). Just a small room where those that love playing music can get together and get a little jam on.

This was the first time that we weren't going to be playing through a PA system. We played through our amps...which can get very loud. Ear plugs were a must. I felt comfortable on most of the songs, but there are still places that i kept messing up. Just had several bouts of the brain farts. It was very noticeable to me...hopefully not too noticeable to the others. Just keep practicing...can't really do anything else to get better, other than practice.

I know a lot of you are wondering when we'll do a public show...i don't have an answer to that just yet. One of the problems we are facing is the lack of a drummer. This hinders our practices and our availability to play on a whim. We will continue our quest...and soon (hopefully) you can enjoy our passion.

House Party

Late Tuesday afternoon i found out that Finding Reason was invited to play at a house party on Saturday. AHHHH!!! I have very limited time to get prepared. Since the house party is a much smaller version of JenFest, we will be playing through a different set up. Previously, we've been playing through a PA system. My effects board has all the sounds set up to run through a PA system. I have a matter of a few days to tweak my effect board to sound decent through guitar amps. I am not happy with the sounds i have right now. I worked on some new sounds yesterday, but i'm still not happy. It's frustrating actually.

And with work getting in the way, i have even less time to get things squared away. Good news is that i haven't atrophied what i know...the songs are still pretty fresh. We will have a practice session on Friday night...

We will go on first and run through our set. Then i can relax after that.

Sorry you won't be there...

Mini Flyweight vs Heavy Lightweight

Mom and Dad came for a visit today and after lunch we turned on the Wii. I introduced Mom and Dad to boxing. I think they will be sore tomorrow morning. But it looks as though they were having lots of fun.



Both had several knock downs, but the Mini Flyweight was the victor.
There were also several games of Bowling and Baseball. I think boxing was their favorite though.

Mom and Dad's hand-eye coordination is not good enough for guitar hero...so i didn't introduce that to them yet. Maybe next time.

4 Mile Barrier

I can't seem to break the 4 mile mark in one continuous run. I seem to run out of gas right around that time. I think part of it may be that i've been running on a 1/2 mile trail...and after 8 times around it's all a little boring. Maybe i'll go back to the ~1 mile trail that carla and i ran on last. I think i need my running partner to help me through that barrier. The good news is that Carla will be back soon and she wants to run 5 miles on our next run. We'll see how that goes...

It seems that the new sensor pouch is yielding consistent results. I need to go on another short calibration run as i cleared the sensor inadvertently today.

wait...i've been running...no...this must be some elaborate dream...certainly.