While You Slept

Did you know that while you slept, i was in the studio workin' on music? Of course i didn't amplify the sound...I didn't want to disturb you. It was 3:30am.

Two quotes from last night's movie: "I move the stars for no one." and "It's only forever, not long at all." Not sure why those two stuck out, but i thought they were cool.

Getting up for football this morning was tough. But the weather couldn't have been nicer. And i think the lack of sleep affected my performance...but i still had fun.

On a completely different subject...You have to see it for yourself!

Sunday Rockstars

This morning's rockstar practice went pretty well. It could've been better, but we all felt pretty satisfied with our performance. The one thing i'm not satisfied with yet is my sound through the PA system. My effects pedal is set up for the studio sound, so things sound much different (often horrible sounding even) through a PA system. I'll be headed back to Groovy B studios later this week to work my sound through the PA system.

This week we're concentrating on "Ghost". That'll give us 4 good originals to polish up. With the 2 covers almost ready...we'll have 6 songs available in our arsenal. It seems i get a little better with each additional song we work on. I hope that trend continues...

On another note...the Superbowl contenders are the New England Patriots (no surprise there) and the New York Giants. I'm not sure which team i'll be going for yet...it'd be kinda funny if the Patriots lost the most important game of the season...at the same time it'd be neat for them to pull off the greatest season in all of football.

Tomorrow i think i'll take advantage of my day off and do some grocery shopping and try to clean up the house a bit. Of course i'll work on some music too. For those that have to work...i hope you make the best of it...

Random

Yes, we played football this morning. Yes, it was cold...at first. I think the temperature was around 45 degrees F this morning...but the wind, the wind is what sucked. It was incredibly cold with the wind. But once we all got moving around it wasn't so bad. Two hours later we were done for the day.

Following football some of us headed over to Buffalo Wild Wings for lunch. I have never had good service at that establishment...and i'm not the only one that has had that experience. It's a shame too, cause the food is pretty good. Well, i don't visit that establishment that much so i guess i can put up with horrible service for the good food.

Didn't work a whole lot on music today. I know...i was bad. I did put in half an hour's worth of music though. Tomorrow morning, too early for me on a Sunday (8:30am), Finding Reason will have a weekly jam session. We'll work on our our material as well as our cover material. i think i may have stumbled across some new music in my 15 minutes of work. But i didn't plug in the electric to see how it sounds...i'll try it out tomorrow.

Hope you had a good Saturday. Stay warm...

Absolutely Gorgeous!

Her name would be weather. Wow...the weather is absolutely gorgeous today. I hope you get a chance to get out and enjoy it. This morning i got out and got some exercise. We played football for a little over 2 hours. It was great!!

I hope the weather holds out for all the marathon runners tomorrow. This is where i wish all the marathon runners good luck tomorrow. I'm sure i'm gonna forget some people but here it goes: The 26 milers: Charlie M. and Erin. H. The 13 milers: Erin R. and Branelle C. The 5Kers: Melissa W. and Lisa P. I seem to have drawn a blank, but i think there are more people that i know that are running the marathon.

If you ask me, all of you runners are psycho. I just don't get it...which leads me to my next question. Why do you run?

At any rate...have a good run and enjoy the weather! Good luck!

Night Off

After a long week on console, flying this nation's space station, i decided to take the night off; the night off from working on music. I know i have a lot of music work coming up this weekend. Sometimes you just need a break.

I just curled up on the couch and watched a movie. Bowie decided to join me, but he just mostly slept...but that's what cats do...

Tomorrow morning, i'm gonna try to get out and play some football. We haven't played football in months. I also hope to catch up on a little sleep. I can get an extra 2 hours of sleep tomorrow morning...woohoo. But knowing me...i'll be up by 7:30am.

I hope you have an awesome weekend!!

I've Seen It Before...

Aggies blow a football game. Well, i'll give credit where credit is due, Penn State did play a tough game. The Aggies were a little too cocky...and then came that horrible call on 4th and inches...A quarterback sneak would've worked...Fullback up the middle would've worked ... but the option was shut down cold! Penn State was ready for that and executed the defense well. Anyway...typical Aggie fashion. Cory and Erin got their money's worth out of that game. Congrats Cory and Erin...

Other football news...New England Patriots have gone undefeated in the regular season by beating the NY Giants tonight. Although it wasn't a pretty game...but they pulled it off to become the fourth team in NFL history to achieve that mark.

Did a little more studio work today. Focused mainly on getting rid of some fret buzz on my silver strat. I think it's always been there, but has only become more annoying to me as my ear starts to become attuned and aware of my sound. I haven't been able to eliminate that noise yet. I have a few tricks i'll try, but if that doesn't work, maybe i'll take it in to the professionals. And while my strat is in the shop, i'll just buy a new guitar to supplement that one... hehe.

So, where are all the parties at?

New Music

Isn't it nice when you have plans, but you just don't feel like following them through? Tonight i was supposed to drive up to northwest Houston to watch LTS play...probably Ron's last performance with LTS as the drummer. But as the day crept along, i lost the desire to make the drive. Had the guys been playing a little closer to home, i definitely would have attended.

So, with me staying home for the evening, i decided i should make the best use of my time. I hit the studio. I decided to bring in my acoustic-electric from the bedroom and plug it in here in the studio. Man, i have forgotten what a lovely sound the Ovation makes when electrified...crisp, punchy, and bright. I truly love the sound of that guitar. I stumbled upon a chord progression that i liked and then i thew down some arpeggios based on the chord progressions...and i think there is something there to work with. I recorded it, but what a pain that was. It took over 40 attempts at getting it to the point that i wouldn't be embarrassed to play it for the guys. I'm not good at recording...or rather, making clean recordings. But as the hours ticked by and as my fingers started to hurt, i decided that i had enough and it was good enough...for now. It almost hurts to type...i really abused my fingers tonight. No pain, no gain...

Let's rewind a bit: I woke up this morning to very cloudy skies. No rain, yet. Saturday morning football was merely an hour away. As i headed out to the field, it started to rain a little...but people showed up...a lot of people showed up...14 in all. That made for a fun game of football. We played for nearly 3 hours. It felt really good to get out and do some exercise for a chance...

Now let's fast forward a bit: I should really get to bed...i've got another full day tomorrow...then it's back on console for Thanksgiving week...woohoo.

Tid Bits...

I have nothing profound to say tonight so i'll leave you with some tidbits.
Tonight, the MudDogs won the final game of the regular summer season. We should be advancing to the playoffs for the third consecutive time. Hopefully this time, we will prevail as champions. Second place is getting old.

But with the upcoming mission, that championship run may have to wait. The next mission is scheduled to launch...in less than a week!! Yep, it almost seems like yesterday that i finished my mission. But attention has turned to Melissa Green's mission--a very complex mission. And with melissa less than a month away from having her second child, we are definitely paying close(r) attention. Currently i am melissa's backroom support for the mission. Should the little tyke come a little early, i'll move to the front room and Lisa will take my place in the backroom. Needless to say, we are hoping that melissa gets to fly her mission...since she's done all the planning.

Sadly, i've been quite busy of the last few weeks and haven't spent too much time in the studio. The time i have spent in there has been shared between working on music and working on the new Finding Reason logo. I think we've got something to work with. The current version (which i don't think will change that much) is on the Finding Reason myspace page. I'd post it here, but it's on the other computer...and i'm too lazy to go get it. Let me know what you think? You may be seeing it in the future...

Kneed Me?

I can be clever too. I'm taking a page from the "Are You Reeding This?" and "Write Under Your Knows" chronicles. And there in lies the title of this blog. Although this blog is quite literal...No 'needing' me. Tonight the MudDogs pushed to another victory. Near the end of the game, i was doing my best at preventing the defense from getting to my quarterback, when my knee was rudely introduced to the defense's knee. The good news is i think i'll be okay. I've got a serious limp and my knee is pretty stiff, but with proper care and the right treatment, i should be back to my old ways soon.

On another note, i had my eyes checked today. My vision has improved. Wait? How'd that happen? Yeah, i asked the same question. Turns out with nearsightedness, vision tends to improved later in life, generally. Usually nearsightedness worsens during the teens and 20s (which it did in my case.) Usually in the late 20s or early 30s the vision stabilizes...and then tends to get better. I never knew that. I'm still quite the blind one though. With the good news, i went out and bought me some new frames.

On to the studio...i ran out of paint today putting the second coat on the walls and ceiling. Wow...what a difference. I think the ceiling is done. I haven't seen any spots that need to be touched up with a third coat. I might put a third coat on the walls. Just depends how much paint i have left when i'm nearing the finish. Tomorrow i should finish the 3 walls. Then all i have to do is move the desk, computer, and monitors...and paint that wall. And apparently, i still don't do well with painting inside the lines. I got a little red on the white trim...oh well, that should be easily fixable. I guess i need to start looking for a nice comfy love seat to put in there.

I think i had more to say, but i can't remember it now.

Console and Football!!

Nope...i'm not mixing the two. But i was on console again today!! How did that happen you ask? Well, schedule confusion and double bookings led to today's situation. I was supposed to be supporting a flight specific sim today, but when we saw there was no one supporting console, i bailed from the sim to cover console. Luckily i wasn't slummin' too bad...i was going to wear jeans today, but decided not to. Probably a wise choice.

Well, tonight is the opening game of the 2007 NFL season. Ahhh...HD is so grand. It's going to be a good season. Well, i'm getting poked and prodded tomorrow -- flight control physical. I hate those things...

Long Lunches, Late Nite Football, oh, and a Perfect Landing...

Endeavour made a picture perfect landing today at the Kennedy Space Center. Probably one of the prettiest landings i've seen in some time. I don't know if it's cause i got to spend time with some of the crew or what, but i had a better appreciation for that landing. It's amazing how that spacecraft-turned-aircraft plummeted 28000 ft in less than 3 minutes. The double sonic boom was pretty cool...as always. i'm not sure the little Cessnas that i flew could even fall out of the sky that fast. It seems i get a new appreciation for aerodynamics every time i watch a mission. The shuttle is truly an impressive machine.

With the successful landing of Endeavour, i declare the STS 118/13A.1 Mission a complete success. The crew will be returning to Houston tomorrow and shortly after than there will be many crew and post landing parties. We all need a little break.

I wasn't even going to go into work today, but i had a meeting i had to be at to fill out background information for a new badge. I figured since i was near work today i'd just go in and watch the landing from the place i watched the launch: the FCR-1 viewing room with my 13A.1 orbit 2 team.

So, little motivation leads to a long lunch. It was a nice little lunch. But i tell you, doing any work after that was a lost cause.

So, i came home a little early and got in some quality jamming...ahhh...things are getting better. But i'm a little disappointed in the cover that i'm working on. I've got some of it down, but i'm too slow and i don't have it all down yet. I guess more practice right?

Tonight, the MudDogs prevailed in a pretty good little game. It was a tougher challenge than last week, but we beat an undefeated team. So...it was an all around good day.

FD7 -- Success!!

What a day!! Of the entire mission, today was the day i was worried about the most. We had a ton of activities on the timeline today. Today was the day that the ISS had the best chance of losing attitude control. We call that LoAC (lo-ack) or Loss of Attitude Control. LoAC is generally not a good thing. That means something happened unexpectedly. It also means that we are not able to point the ISS in the proper orientation and this affects several other disciplines. Power generation could be compromised or temperature sensitive items could freeze or overheat. No one is happy when we LoAC.

There were two events in which the potential for LoACing was fairly high. The first being the external stowage platform installation. This 7000 lb platform was removed from the shuttle's payload bay and "swung" out to an external truss. This "swinging" of the robotic arm (if moved fast enough) could cause us to LoAC. But we made it through.

The second opportunity was when we were attempting something we only tried once before. And that once before ended in a LoAC. After some analysis and additional brainstorming, some flight controllers/engineers came up with a way to make it work. We tried out that plan and things worked. It was exciting.

We also incorporated the new CMG into the control law today. This was the first time that we used the new CMG for what it was intended. The new CMG was a tremendous help. I'm sure there were some excited people all around...i know i was excited.

So...today was a great day.

After my shift i had time to make it to the football field to join the rest of the MudDogs for a great game. We were worried that there weren't going to be enough people tonight with the mission going on so we recruited some help. We had the most substitutions that i've ever seen. I was moved from my normal position of rusher to corner. I ended up with two interceptions (one returned for a touchdown) and nearly a third. I have a little secret...i used to play corner in junior high and highschool. It was fun.

Well, i'm off to bed...i'm tired.
Tomorrow's color is yellow. I don't have any yellow...dunno what i'm gonna do...

MudDogs downed.

Today was the first game of the new season of Gilruth flag football. Yes, we played in the horrible houston heat. The MudDogs didn't win. The other team didn't beat us, we beat ourselves. We played a really good game up until the last two minutes of the game. I think we did okay for not playing for several months. I must say that my muscles ache. i'm glad we're starting up again, i was beginning to feel like a fat slob...and i'm sure the docs will tell me i'm fat at my physical later this month. The docs on site are on a different scale than the rest of civilization. I think they are still using charts from the 60s.

Tomorrow evening, Endeavour should be on an 8 minute ride into orbit for an 11-14 day mission. All systems are go and the weather looks promising.

For those of you that have NASA TV, you might catch a glimpse of me on TV...anywhere from 9:30am to midnight.

Try to stay cool! What did the doc tell you?

As Expected...

...it was a hectic day. With the launch of Space Shuttle Endeavour later this week, much work needed to be done today to get prepared. Luckily i had some help. Thanks Lisa. Thanks Jeff. I still have a lot of work to do tomorrow too. Not all of the information that i need was ready for me. Hopefully tomorrow everything will be at my disposal and i can get everything done.

So far there are no show stoppers for wednesday's launch attempt. The Phoenix mission is no longer in the way and the vehicle seems to be doing well. The only thing to be worried about is weather. Forecasters predict a 70% chance that the weather will be go for launch. I sure hope so. I'm not a fan of planning and re-planning and then re-planning again.

Today was the hottest day of the year here in the Houston area. The thermometer reached 97 degrees. Luckily i was indoors for most of today. Tomorrow i won't be so lucky, as another season of Gilruth Flag Football starts. But i'm glad to be getting some exercise again...

Nemesis Defeated

The MudDogs have finally beaten their nemesis. We played some pretty good defense today and put those trash-talkin' fools down with, what i think is their first loss (at least since i've been playing). Ahhh...it was a sweet victory. The superbowl of Gilruth flag football is next week. We play another team that beat us this season. We played poorly in that last game...so if we play like we did tonight, we should do well in the superbowl. I hope that i can play...i may have some work related things that might keep me from playing...

I hope i can make it through tonight...i think i got enough sleep today...but we'll see. The good news is i now make extra money for each shift that i work from now until October. It's going to a good christmas...

A Very Long Day

Well, the day is over...and it was a very long day. I didn't get to see everyone that i wanted to see, but it was a rather interesting day nonetheless.

The day started off around 6:30am. I wanted to watch the Soyuz landing to close out my increment. I made a pan of cinnamon rolls for breakfast and watched NASA TV for the landing footage. As the previous post stated, the crew landed safely and was in good health.

The first stop was the regularly scheduled saturday morning football fun. This week was a little different...we had visitors. The Tobin's, Jim and Jenny, were in town for a wedding. Jim is the originator of saturday morning football and that is where i met him and his wife. I had only known them for a few months before they moved to D.C. So, it was nice to see them again.

My original plan was to leave football around 10:30 go home and get cleaned up and then head to Boondoggles. Well, that didn't quite work out. I decided to go straight to Boondoggles from football...yes, i was unclean and in my football clothes. I had just pulled up and Ginger had a Jack & Coke on the way. Thanks Ginger. For a while it was just me, Ginger, Al Drew and Joan Higginbotham. Little by little more and more Increment 14 members arrived at the party. Part way throught the celebration, Mike Lopez-Alegria called Ginger's cell phone to say hello. Wow...talk about surreal. It wasn't a few hours earlier that i watched a recovery crew pull him out of a Soyuz capsule. So very cool.

Just as the party was getting into full swing, i had to bail to get to Luke's b-day party. I flew home took a quick shower and headed out to the park. The weather was great, the food was great, the entertainment was great, the birthday boy had fun. Josh, the photographer took some pictures of the event. if you ask nicely, maybe he'll post some?

Next it was home for another quick shower and a shave. I had another party to attend. By now it is about 5:30pm. The Merancy's (saturday morning football friends) were throwing a BBQ for the Tobin's. After several hours of eating, drinking, and socializing, i decided to call it a night. I started to get a headache and it kept getting worse. I don't normally get headaches, so it is really an annoyance when i get one. The night ended about 11:45pm. If you do the math, that is about an 18 hour day.

Call me crazy, but i still managed to spend some time writing you this update. I hope you had a productive day. For those of you that i saw today, it was good seeing you. For those that i missed...well, i missed you. Have a good Sunday.

I'm off to bed...

A First...

Ok, so not really a first, but for the first time in about 8 months, i left work early. I left work about 3:30 and it was awesome. I took a short power nap before i had to get out on the town. I had guitar lessons in Pearland, and then i had football back at JSC. I was worried that i'd miss the first part of the game, but traffic was light, the stop light gods were good to me and i made it there with about 15 minutes to spare. We picked up a few extra players this week since softball was canceled again (Sorry once again Moose & Erin). The MudDogs needed to perform well...especially since our last performance was less than stellar. We did very well tonight...but we weren't playing a very good team. However, a win is a win and definitely a confidence booster. Yours truly scored 2 touchdowns...

Congrats to my cousin Kristine who just got her Aggie Ring.

I think i will take half a day off on Friday...i recommend you take some time off too... Perhaps we can go do something together?

Ever Have...

...a moment where you wanted to do or say something, but then you somehow talked yourself out of it? Well, i didn't have that moment today, but i have been experiencing it more often over the last few weeks. Well, that's about all i have to say about that...it was just a random thought i had today and thought i'd share it with you.

Today was a rather long day. I spent 11.5 hours at work. We had a flight specific simulation preparing for the STS118/13A.1 mission. That flight isn't scheduled to launch until NET (no earlier than) August 5th or something in early August. I have to put in the NET because the launch schedule is dependent upon some repairs being made to the External Tank for the STS117/13A mission. I will keep you informed on the progress of my flight as i learn more information.

Due to the long work day, i missed guitar lessons tonight...oh well. I also missed dinner. the day pretty much went like this: work, drive home to get football gear, drive to football, home to take a shower...and now i write to you. I at least ate lunch.

Football was miserable...MudDogs took a beating. But i'm over that now...

The weather was awesome today too...too bad i spend half of it indoors...in a windowless buidling...such is life.

I hope that the weekend turns out to be a good one...i'm exhausted already. I need to relax...

MudDog Seven

Tonight kicked off the Gilruth flag football league for the Spring. And I'm happy to report that the MudDogs won the game. There were only seven of us tonight...just enough to match the other team. With no one available to sub in and out we were on the field the entire time. A lot of running ensued...but we prevailed. It was a good workout.

There was a scary moment though. Cory "break-a-body-part" Sholl took a shoulder in the ribs. He was down for a good five minutes trying to recover. He did and added another score to the scoreboard. Luckily nothing was broken...he'll be sore and bruised for a few days. Final score was 13-0. Next week hopefully we'll have some more of our regulars to sub in and out...

Have you ever had such a busy schedule that you needed someone to tell you to "stop what you are doing and go eat something!"? Well, i needed that someone today. I didn't eat supper tonight. From work, i jumped into Finding Reason rockstar practice here at the house. I wanted to work more on "blue devils"...that song is really taking a toll on me. After rockstar practice, i loaded up the guitar and headed out to guitar lessons. And then following that i dropped off my gear and headed out to the football field for some good ol' flag football.

And now i write to all my faithful readers...you are special! (i think the lack of food is affecting me...)

Wonderful Weather

Today was absolutely a gorgeous day! I took advantage and spent most of the day outside. It was another good day for football. No one got injured and all had fun. The post football grub run was to Freebirds. Sorry, Erin, but Chipolte cannot beat Freebirds. It was so damn delicious today. I'll reserve Chipolte for my pulled pork needs.

Following Freebirds it was straight to Rockstar practice. We need to hit the lotto or stumble upon some money. We need our own studio. It's such a pain to drag all the equipment to and fro and set it up, tear it down, blah, blah, blah. If we had our own studio, we could just show up and go to work...

Well, the weather distracted us from our practice. We ran through our two crowd pleasers and then wandered outside for a bit. Ok, we did try to work on some new material and it started to go somewhere, then it died and went nowhere. Then we wandered outside. We started talking about what we need to do and how we need to get there and such. It was a nice talk. We attempted to go back in and work on some yet unfinished music. The "driving" song is a lot further along than i remembered. The driving song was an old piece of work that was put aside to complete further along works. I think the driving song is nearing completion...there are some lyrics that need to be written, but the overall structure is complete. I guess i'll get to work on this one...

Now, that the sun has gone down, i think i'll just sit here and relax and watch a movie.
Enjoy your Saturday night.