Another Lonely Night...

Well, heather is off in the gulf somewhere for another 3 or 4 day job. Here is where she was on her first job, about 120 miles offshore of Louisiana.



With heather gone, that means i'm a lonely guy. Well, i've been busy today, so it hasn't been that bad. I have done a little cleaning today, replaced the air filters, went to band practice and went to church. So, i've been keeping busy. It's been a while since i last posted, so i'll try to catch you up on the goings on.

Roger Clemens made his first major league start of the 06 season the other night. A large group of ADCOs and family members attended the game. We were a part of Minute Maid Park history that night...setting the all time attendance record. Here are a few pictures of the night.



Here's a wide-angle view of Minute Maid Park.



Here's a good shot of Mr. Roger Clemens.



And here we are enjoying the game. Well, it could've been better!



Here's the proof that we helped break a Minute Maid Park record.

Tomorrow, I plan on finally getting around to getting my flowerbeds in order. I finally have an idea of what i want to do with the dead space that has been there for years. Tomorrow, weather permitting, i'll post some pictures of the newly landscaped flower beds.

Well, i'm gonna do a bit more cleaning before bed.
Stay tuned for Horelica House of Music editions 5 & 6. I'll post two since i've been busy this past week.

Heather's home...

I'll let her write up a trip summary later.
We're catchin' up...
Will write more later...

Need a New Car?

Check out this website for a load of great information for that next trip to the stealership, er, dealership.

This website has all you need to know about shopping for a new car and how not to get taken for a ride.

I'm sure i'll be using these tactics when heather and I go look for her new car...and perhaps i'll buy me a new one too??

Speaking of Heather, here is the latest update (as of Saturday morning.) She was still waiting on favorable conditions before they blast. The schedule was to blast today (Sunday) assuming the conditions were favorable. The original plan was to blast Friday morning, but weather has kept them from blasting. Keep looking here for the latest updates. I'm sure when she gets home you'll see some pictures that she took while out there off the coast of Louisiana.

Horelica House of Music (#4)

This week's collection comes from Heather's stash of CDs. Since she is on her way to her first off shore gig, i figured i'd pull from her collection. Heather will be on a helicopter headed out into the gulf at 8am tomorrow morning. Wish her luck.

Anyway...here are two albums from her collection:

1) The debut album from that great little band from Anaheim, CA!



2) And Heather's collection wouldn't be complete without this.



On another note, the cats despise me. Heather wasn't even out of the driveway yet and Flicker decided to yack on the carpet. Hopefully that will be the last time i have to clean up after them.

Come back tomorrow and perhaps i'll have an update from Heather to pass along to all our faithful readers (a special recognition: just so you know I know, those in Washington, Virginia, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Texas.)

New Hair Style

Today i went to get my haircut. I went for a new look.
Here are a few pictures i took today...not great by any means...i need better lighting and perhaps another person to take the pictures -- heather is in palacios.

This hairstyle requires a bit more maintenance, and i haven't quite got the styling down yet, but i think i'll like it...gotta get used to it first...

06/06/06

My mom's cousin sent this site in an email:

http://catholic-resources.org/Bible/666.htm

check it out...kinda interesting, kinda funny.

Enjoy.

Horelica House of Music (#3) & NIN

Welcome to week three of Horelica House of Music. This episode is going to revolve around Nine Inch Nails. Why you might ask...simple answer; Heather and I saw NIN live last night at Cynthia Woods Mitchell pavilion. Before I get into that, here are a few NIN albums to take a look at.

1) The debut album from NIN released in 1989.



2) Here is the latest album from NIN released in 2005.



I think i got into NIN around '94. But it wasn't until '95 that I actually owned one of their(his) CDs. I say "his", cause NIN is really Trent Reznor. Not to belittle the rest of the band, but that's the way it is. Heather bought me Pretty Hate Machine somewhere in '95.

I never thought I'd go to a NIN concert! The violent nature of the concert is really what had kept me away. When i say violent i really mean the potential for moshing and thrashing about is quite high--expected even. Even though this was at Cynthia Woods, it's not unlike some energized concert goers to really get into the music. I would never be able to handle a general admission concert...there, i'd be sure to be trampled. Anyway, a pair of ticket became available and bandmate Ben and his girlfriend asked me if i wanted the tickets. Of course, knowing the tickets were under the covered reserve, it was hard to pass up.

Before the show, we went to Market Street in the Woodlands for dinner. Market Street is a quaint little open-air shopping "town". I say city, because it reminded us of the little square in "Back to the Future", nice little shops, movie theater, restaurants, etc. in a nice park square setting. We ate at a joint called Jasper's.
The swanky little restaurant had really good food, a bit pricey, but good!

Ok, on to the show. The first band, TV on the Radio, is a band from NYC. TVotR are an indie band with a nice sound. I was fairly impressed with these guys. They have a different sound. I suppose i'll be looking for some of their music next time i'm at the store. Perhaps you'll see them on an installment of Horelica House of Music?

The next band, Bauhaus, was pretty good too. Evidently they've been around since 1978 and are the founders of Goth music. Interesting? Their stage presence was...um...extravagant, yeah, that's a good word. The lead singer knows how to work the crowd and was quite entertaining. The good news is the music was good enough to not be completely weird to see him and his bandmates strut their stuff.

Now, on to Trent and company. The stage set up was more or less bare...6 or 7 large vertical light panels in the back of the stage, the usual rig lighting and a nifty "mall security gate" chain fencing that was lowered and raised at key points throughout the show. The show started out with the fence down. The neat thing about the fence is that it had LEDs all over it.

This was my first NIN show, so i figured the energy level was going to be high...i was not disappointed there. NIN came out hard and fast. Again, thinking ahead, we had earplugs. They protected well...and there wasn't a degradation in the sound...i could still hear everything. And when i say everything, i mean even the fans that try to sing back to the band and horribly butcher the song. Luckily there wasn't much of that, but every now and then you could hear someone...but i'd rather hear that, than not hear at all...And another odd surprise, heather and I didn't have anyone sitting on either our left or our right...we were not squeezed whatsoever...what a relief. That made the show even more enjoyable. I also had a pretty good view too. heather traded places with me cause there were a string of overly tall people in front of us. She said she didn't have the best view...i suppose we could've stepped to our left or right. Oh well...

Here is the setlist. I can't take credit for this list (it may not even be accurate). There were a few songs we didn't recognize.

Somewhat Damaged
You Know What You Are?
Sin
Terrible Lie
March Of The Pigs
Something I Can Never Have
Closer
Burn
Gave Up
Help Me I'm In Hell
Non Entity
Only
Wish
La Mer
Into The Void
The Big Comedown
Suck
Get Down Make Love
Hurt
The Hand That Feeds
Head Like A Hole

My favorite songs of the night were Hurt and Head Like a Hole. Once Trent started to play Hurt, some guy behind us yells out, "Alright! Johnny Cash!" Yep, for those that don't know, Johnny Cash covered Nine Inch Nails and he did a damn good job too. Head like a Hole had a lot energy and was a good way to end the show. The guitarist, Aaron North, was throwing his guitar about...and when he went to pick it up the strap had come undone. He tried to continue to play it without the strap, but that proved to be too difficult...so he chucked the guitar into a speaker cabinet. That didn't satisfy him, so he pulled it out and repeated the assault on the speaker cabinet...

All in all, it was a pretty good show. I've been a long time fan of Trent and it was cool to see him live. Although honestly, i wasn't blown away like i thought i would be. There are other concerts that rank higher than NIN, but it was still awesome to see a legend in the business. I do seem to rank it higher and higher the more i think about it, but Bowie is gonna be hard to top. I'd probably rank this concert in the top 5. What are your top 5 concerts?

Now, that i've seen him live, i can truly appreciate the DVD that i have.
Here is a bit more information about NIN.

My Monday Musing

Let's start off the week with a little alliteration. This particular past week had been busy. I spent a week on console with additional meetings to cover, putting my total to about 48 hours this past week. Pretty tiring week. There's been a lot of rain here...enough to make the grass grow at an accelerated rate and yet prevent you from mowing in a timeline fashion. Although my "scheduled" day of mowing is on the weekend and the lawn dried out enough to continue on schedule.

Finding Reason's new practice/brainstorming day is now Saturday morning. This does put a little conflict in my mowing schedule, but that task is easily movable. This weekend we worked on some new stuff and arranged some old stuff. We've worked through some technical issues with our laptops...we now just need to figure a way to do some mobile recording. The debate is still out for that...we each want a little bit different thing. We'll come to a consensus though.

Ahh...the lawn mowing task. I'm really getting annoyed with mowing the lawn...probably more so annoyed with failing equipment than the task itself, but it's still an unpleasant chore. I burned out my weed eater motor this weekend, but that's okay, i was about to replace it anyway-due to another part failure.

We have a winner: Horelica House of Music is going to be the new name of my weekly music post. Good job Ramon! Sorry Chris... Be looking for the next post. It will contain the 3rd installment of "Horelica House of Music".

Todd's Tunes (#2)

...Ok, Chris, you were the only one to suggest a name for my weekly music post. I'm not completely thrilled with it, but until a better one is suggested, Todd's Tunes it is.

This week, I dig deep into my cabinet of CDs and pull out:



That's right boys and girls...Otis Redding. I've always liked "Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay" and another catchy track is "Tramp" and potentially my favorite track from this album is "The Hucklebuck". If you are lookin' for some oldies...grab this to satisfy your needs.



No collection would be complete without Bob Marley and the Wailers. I list Bob Marley as one of my influences. Although, I don't think you'd pick that up in any of my work to date. Make sure your collection has some Bob Marley.

Well, that concludes installment number 2 of Todd's Tunes, or whatever i decide to call it.

My intent wasn't to give a review of each of these albums. I could easily do that, but it'd take me forever to get these posts out. These posts were merely intended to show you what kind of music i listen to. I will also point out that some of the music may be from Heather's collection. We have a lot of CDs, so i expect this to go on for a while. Keep me honest...if i'm not postin', let me hear about it.

If you happen to pick up any of these albums you see on here, let me know, so that I know that I may have been an influence on your music selection.
Enjoy...
-Rock On-

Where have i been...

Well, i've got some catchin' up to do on my posts. But the lack of posting is not entirely my fault. The day i intended to post, blogger.com was down. So, i had to delay any postings.

This will be the first in a short group of postings...things that i wanted to post about earlier in the week.

This is my new tool cabinet. I noticed Walmart was having a Memorial Day sale on this particular cabinet. I picked this up on Memorial day before i went to work. I wasn't able to assemble it until the next day...the day that blogger was down. So I had good intentions.

A little of this...A little of that...

Not too much to report about tonight, but there are a few things.

Heather and I saw "The Da Vinci Code" tonight. We both read the book and enjoyed it, so we figured we'd enjoy the movie. No surprise, the movie was entertaining...but very hollywood-ized. what else would one expect?

Last night, Finding Reason had a meeting to discuss our future projects and how were were going to handle them. Our new drummer didn't show up...typical drummers...hehe. No, he had some personal issues to take care of, so we met and ate without him. We, for the umpteenth time, decided when to meet and how we would orchestrate our future jam sessions. We just need to keep up with our plans. We also starting generating ideas for font/logo work for Finding Reason.

The next shuttle flight is progressing nicely. If things stick to schedule we'll be launching the first of July. Work is busy as ever, with getting ready for this flight and the subsequent flights, planning out the next 6 month increment, of which i am lead for my group, etc. I stay pretty busy.

Heather completed her first week of her new job. So far things are going well. We'll see how things go when she actually leaves for a spell.

Tomorrow, i'll be mowing the lawn and doing some general household chores. I suppose i'll try to do some work for Finding Reason.

How was your week?

Music from Todd's Collection

For those of you like me who don't listen to the radio, here are a couple of albums to check out.

1)



This is classic Tool. Tool can be harsh to some listeners and is not suitable for young children, household pets, or some species of fish. I have no idea what that's supposed to mean. 10,000 Days is my current choice of driving music.
2)



Ok, you may want to sit down for this. Matisyahu is a Jewish guy that does, get this, reggae! Yep, i said reggae. Before you mutter the words, "No way", it's actually pretty good. It's a mix of reggae and jewish song. Don't get me wrong, it's not Bob Marley, but it is catchy.

Well, that concludes this week's installment of Music from Todd's Collection. I need a better name for this newly formed weekly installment. I'll let my loyal readers dream up the new name. Have fun with it.

Heather's First Day

Today was Heather's first day at her new job. She works for NOAA.






She'll be a platform observer. I believe this week is training and safety seminars. She gets to do some helicopter ops this week too. I'm jealous.

Anyway, stay tuned for more update from our newest NOAA employee.

Astros versus Giants

On Monday, Moose, Heather, and I went to see the Astros battle the San Francisco Giants. It was also a chance to see major league baseball history. Luckily we didn't see the tainted homerun history. We did sit in the zone that would be the location of that history making hit. It was a dismal game for the Astros as they were rocked 10-1. Did see a grand slam, but that wasn't my first time to see a grand slam. But it was neat to see Brad Ausmus playing second base and Andy Pettitte as a pinch hitter. But that was about it...not much else to cheer about. I'll leave you with a few pictures that i took with my Canon S2 IS. By the way, if you are looking for a quality digital camera, I recommend Canon!!


Here's a wide angle shot of our view.


Here's Brad Ausmus, the regular catcher, playing second base.


Here's Andy Pettitte doing a little pinch hitting.


That looks like a 4-seam fastball grip. Pretty impressive to be able to see the grip from where we were.


Here are a few of the signs that were floating around the stadium in reference to Barriod Bonds, er Nancy Bonds, er Barry Bonds.

Severe Storms, Hail, and Loss of Power.

Today at the Horelica residence, we experienced some rather intense storms. Around 2pm, a line of large storms moved through our area, spewing pea-sized and marble-sized hail about the area. A few moments later the power went out. It looked to be a brief power outage, but the power never came back, until 2 hours later. There was no damage in the area...at least not any that i could see from the relative shelter of the house.

Power has been restored and all is well here. How did you fair?

Happy Mother's Day!!!

To all the mothers out there, hope you had a special day today! We wish to thank you for everything you've done for us! For without you we would not be here! Hope it was enjoyable.

Heather becomes a Former Aggie!

Today, on this 13th day of the month of May in the year 2006, Heather graduated from college!!! When you get a chance, congratulate her!!!
She graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Marine Biology from Texas A&M University Galveston.

The weather was pleasant for graduation, but started to get hot later in the day. The Texas A&M officials did not anticipate the large number of guests today and they had to bring in more seats for the guests. I suppose this was the reason i was only allowed 6 tickets for mine. Well, i also had over 2300 graduating in my class and she had 149 people.

We had a nice lunch at the Saltgrass Steakhouse and then a small gathering back at the Horelica residence. It was an enjoyable day.

Here is the new grad sporting her cap and gown.



Heather's yummy cake (red velvet with cream cheese icing)



And here is the unframed diploma. We'll get that framed so that it looks nice.

Today's word brought to you by the letter W.

As i was reviewing a paper that my mentee wrote, I noticed a spelling error. Well, I thought it was a spelling error. I asked Sloan if she used spell checker. She said she did. So, that got me thinking, is Word screwing up again. I put the word into Word and well, the word was actually a real word. Now, my curiosity was peaked. What does this word mean? I know, you want to know the word.

Wether. Sloan typed wether instead of whether. Now, the vocabulary word is not suitable for young children.

Wether:
Pronunciation: 'we-[th]&r
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English, ram, from Old English; akin to Old High German widar ram, Latin vitulus calf, vetus old, Greek etos year
: a male sheep castrated before sexual maturity; also : a castrated male goat

This is a new insult word to add to your bag of tricks.

Fashion Flaws.

The 1960s called and they want their fashion back! It was not cool then, nor is it cool now, to wear a short-sleeved white shirt with a tie. In the 60s and 70s, it was a skinny black tie. Today it was a fatter brown tie, but the effect was the same--lame-o uncool. I know, NASA engineers in the day, that was standard issue dress. But I like to think that today's NASA crowd is a little more image hip. Just look at Tarik--Houston Chronicle's most fashionable. This cat knows how to dress...

So, running shoes or tennis shoes do not go with a dress pants. The only sneaks that go with dress pants or suit pants would be a kick ass pair of Chucks. By the way, for the cool people, design your own Chucks here at Converse one.
Here's a good one: White socks with black pants and a black pair of dress shoes.

What fashion flaws have you seen lately?

A trip down memory lane...

Today, I went to College Station to attend the Texas A&M University's Aero Department Senior class Critical Design Review (CDR). A CDR is a review of a design by other engineers and management, etc. In the case of the Aero students, members of industry and government come to give comments and ask questions. This allows the students to be exposed to tough questions and comments from people that are in the business. It is a very intimidating time for these young engineers, because it's probably their first time to make a presentation to this type of audience.

Anyway, today, i was one of the 19 persons from industry and government. I was the only one affiliated with NASA and the only operations guy there. I was also the youngest of the persons from industry and government. In fact, i was mistaken as a student.

I was impressed with all the presentations, especially the rocket team's presentation. Being a former Rocket Rat, i has a special interest in what they've been up to over the last 7 years. Yes, it has been 7 years since i have graduated from college. Crazy, I know. They have progressed beyond what i could've imagined. They have progressed into launching their hybrid engines. We never progressed beyond static testing on the test stand. The program has really come a long way, and I'm a bit jealous of their accomplishments. The good news is that they are still using the launch tower that our class built.

It was also nice to chat with a few of my old professors. Dr. Pollock is still the same guy i remember. He caught me up to speed on all the goings-on and future plans. He's trying to get a launch site in Angleton. So, hopefully that will go through so that i can actually see a rocket launch. I also spoke briefly with Dr. Carlson and Dr. Valasek. Dr. V will be at JSC next week, so i'll try to meet up with him then.

So, back to the trip down memory lane. It definitely was a trip down memory lane to be back in that building again. The smells were still the same. Walking through some of the classrooms brought back good memories and bad memories. The one classroom that i dreaded was the one in which i had numerical methods in, taught by Debbie Furey. I didn't do well in that class and had to take it twice...both times with Debbie. Luckily i was able to move on after the second time. Another fond memory was just being on campus and making the walk between buildings. From the parking garage, i walked passed a building that i had most of my math classes in. I made the walk to the H.R. "Bum" Bright Bldg from the math building (Blocker). A walk that i had made many times, but this time i didn't have thoughts of did-i-pass-that-test-panics, or when am i gonna get that report written, or did i finish my homework...etc. This time it was a completely enjoyable walk...i was able to stop and take in the scenery! Being back on campus was nice...

Well, that was my trip to College Station and my walk down memory lane. Have you taken a recent trip down memory lane?

Frank, the computer repairman...

Well, the last post describes my problem. This post will describe the solution.
After coming home from a very, very, very early sim today, i checked my phone messages. There was a message from Frank asking me to call him back. Well, with typical repairmen, i figured i'd have to set up an appointment around my schedule and then wait on an arrival window over a 4 hour span. Not so in this case. Frank is the man! He said he was twenty minutes away and could come do the repair right now. This was a shock to me, and since i was home, i was eager to get this thing fixed. About 30 minutes later, Frank is at the door. Luckily i had enough time to do some much needed cleaning before Frank arrived.

Frank is a large man. Large but extremely nice. We headed for the living room to do some laptop repair. Frank is really friendly and we started talking. He asked me if i was some kind of rocket scientist. I was a bit weirded out by that at first, cause i hadn't told him that i was. How did he know that? Well, then he told me he got the information from my voice message at work. I didn't give Dell my work number on Sunday...but i had when i bought this thing...so it was still on file.

Anyway, he asked what i did for a living and i told him. He said, "...kinda like Gene Kranz?" I told him kinda, but not exactly. He proceeded to tell me a story of how he worked on Gene Kranz's computers. He prefaced his story by saying that he didn't know who Gene was. He said he went to this gentleman's house and saw all this space memorabilia and asked Gene what he did for a living. Gene's response was something along the line of, "Have you seen the movie, Apollo 13?" Frank's response, "yes." Gene then asked him, "Do I look like Ed Harris?" Frank answered, "No, not really." And then it sunk in, "You're the guy that wears the vests?" Ah ha...he finally realized he was working on the computer of someone famous. Pretty funny story.

Keep in mind, he's still working on my laptop.

He tells me another story. He tells me that he went to the house in the West Village(i think?). A lady answers the door and tells him to come in. She tells him that he'll be down in a minute. As Frank is looking around, he notices a lot of baseball memorabilia on the walls, Craig Biggio posters, and the like. Frank thought to himself, "Man, this guy really like Craig Biggio." Then the homeowner, comes down the stairs. Frank said to himself, "Now, i see why this guy likes Craig Biggio...it IS Craig Biggio." Frank then tells me that Craig Biggio is by far the nicest celebrity that he's ever met.

By this time Frank is re-assembling my laptop. But in the process of replacing the keyboard, he accidently pops off a key of the laptop. After struggling to replace it, he says, i'll just order you another one. I'm not too worried about it, the laptop is still functional. Of course, i want my new keyboard, so he places the order. Frank tells me it'll be here tomorrow and that it's customer replaceable. He's a bit skeptical that it will come with instructions, so he gives me the run down on how to replace the keyboard when it comes in.

Frank tells me a few other stories about how his company is affiliated with the NBA and does work for them. Frank proceeds to tell me that he had lunch with Allen Iverson and Lebron James and he's chatted with Shaquille O'Neill.

And there you have it, my experience with Frank the computer repairman. So, if you ever need a computer repairman, I hope you end up with Frank!

Another warranty pays off...

This weekend, while looking at some photos on the laptop, heather noticed a vertical line down the display. Power cycling the computer didn't make the line go away. My first thought is that the display is going bad and that it's a line of dead pixels. I contacted the online dell help people and they helped me out tremendously. The online chat session is a novel idea. Sure there is a lot of typing involved, but there are no language issues and you have a record of your conversation in writing. The first guy i talked to had me run the diagnostic test and get back with them with the results. well, i couldn't get the diagnostic program to work properly on my machine -- probably cause i did some harddrive cleaning and re-installation of better software. The second guy had me connect the laptop to another monitor (why didn't i think of that??). Well, i did what he suggested and it turns out that the graphics card is fine. The vertical lines didn't show up on the desktop monitor. Well, that narrows down the problem. The technician set up an appointment for a technician to come to the house and replace the display. I'll report on how smooth this procedure goes. I hope all goes well. The interesting thing is that my warranty expires on this laptop in 7 days. Whew...talk about cutting it close! But another warranty pays off...it's gonna be hard for me to not buy warranties in the future.

Where have I been?

I just got off a shift of 3pm to midnights this week. This was a pretty busy shift for me with all kinds of planning activities to do. Good news is the International Space Station is still functioning and I didn't have any failures this week. This next week, i'll be pretty busy too, but hopefully i'll be able to post a few more times than i did this week.

Here are a few pictures from Luke's 2nd birthday party.

Aloha Brandon and Jessica!

As I type this, i'm sure brandon and jessica are enjoying the warm hawaiian sun on the beach in Maui. They are spending the week in the island chain to celebrate their union.
As promised, here is how the wedding festivities went down.

Rehearsal night...

Some people were running behind due to San Antonio traffic, so the rehearsal started late -- a minor setback. During rehearsal it was discovered that the wedding license was left back at Jessica's apartment -- this was another minor issue with major impacts. Brandon and Jessica retrieved it later that night.
After rehearsal, it was time for rehearsal dinner. The locale for this dining feast was to take place at Casa Rio. Casa Rio was the first restaraunt on the river walk. Well, I told mom that i had a GPS unit and didn't need directions to the place. She told everyone to follow me. I must admit, this made me a little nervous. I hadn't tested out the pedestrian function and was banking on technology that i hadn't tested yet. I was hoping Barbie would lead us to the right location. Alas, she took us straight there, no back tracking, no adjusting the route...found it with no problem.
Dinner was tasty...as mexican food is probably my favorite. After dinner we decided to walk back to the hotel. It was almost 10pm and we figured most attractions were closed on the riverwalk. Heather and her parents decided to hit a bar before heading back to the hotel. On the way back to the hotel I spotted a bar that was playing the Astros game. I took a peek in the window to find out that the Astros were about to wrap up another win. After returning to the hotel, it was time to retire to the room. Heather had breakfast with the ladies at 6:00am. I had pictures with the guys at 9:15am. I got to sleep in a little more, but it really didn't help.

Wedding day...

Wedding day started off with pictures in travis park, across the street from the hotel. Another snag, one of the groomsmen was nowhere to be found and no one knew how to get ahold of him. The photographer took a few pictures of brandon and his bestman. The rest of us just stood around ...waiting... Finally we tracked down the guy and did all of the pictures we could. I liked the photographer. He was very professional and had many great ideas. For instance, he had us do a couple of crazy poses and several jumping shots. He also made us do a walking shot -- a la Resevoir Dogs style. I hope it turns out okay...i really want those pictures.

By this time, the sun was starting to break through the clouds and the temps were starting to rise. The girls went to the park to take their pictures. Family members were appearing and arriving left and right. The place was getting chaotic.

It was nearing wedding time and everyone headed up to the roof, where the ceremony was to be held. There was a bit of confusion once we got up there, but nothing the guests would've noticed. I played the part of an usher and seated my grandmother, my aunt, and my mom. And then it was time for the big event!! Jessica and her Dad, Bill, made the long walk. Everyone was all smiles, and the ceremony started.

Presiding over the ceremony was the Rev. Ray Wells, of the father-in-law Wells. Yep, that's right. Heather's dad, who presided over our wedding, also presided over brandon and jessica's wedding. It was quite hot, so the ceremony was just as long as it needed to be. It was quite a lovely ceremony. After the ceremony everyone retreated to the conforts of air conditioning. Down in the lobby, hors d'oeuvres and beverages were served, while we finished up all the pictures. Once the pictures were done, we moved on to the reception.

Each groomsmen and bride's maid was introduced and finally the happy couple was introduced, Mr. and Mrs Brandon Horelica. We were served a wonderful meal and then the mingling began. There were too many people to get to everyone, but they were all there to see brandon and jessica, so i tried to keep a low profile when the happy couple was around. But it was nice to catch up, even if only briefly, with family and friends.

Well, once all the hubbub was over with, the newlywed couple retreated to their suite and all the guests departed back home. Heather and I headed back home as well. Fired up Barbie and had her take us home. I followed her prescribed route out of San Antonio, although i'm not sure it was the shortest (it wasn't the same route in which we came in on). I didn't complain, cause there was no traffic and we were on I-10 headed home in about 10 minutes of driving. Having the GPS is wonderful...I'd recommend anyone thinking about getting one to get one. So far she's been very accurate. Total drive time was about 3.5 hours on both the going and coming. A great tool to have.

Here are a few of the other pictures that I took that are decent enough to post.

Congratulations Mr. & Mrs. Brandon Horelica!!

My little brother got married today!!! He married a wonderful girl named Jessica! We had this joyous occasion at the very same hotel that heather and I spent our honeymoon at -- the historic St. Anthony Hotel in San Antonio. I'm not sure brandon new this before selecting the place, but he and i have been thinking a lot alike (recently at least). For instance we nearly wore the same outfit for the rehearsal dinner last night -- We both wore pin-stripped charcol slacks, nearly the same belt, and almost the exact same white tie. Our shirts were different colors but everything else was pretty much the same...of course, we didn't plan the attire to match. I don't have a picture of the occasion because i didn't have either of my cameras with me at the time. I know, i've got two cameras and they weren't utilized. I know, i am disappointed too. Well, since it's been a long day, i'll post one picture that was decent enough to post (well, it's not that good, i didn't check the settings and i don't think there were in best settings for the surroundings) I can't wait to get some of the professional shots back.



I know this is a bad picture, it's the best i have right now. And to think i used to be a photographer in high school. Yes this was my fault, i didn't grab the bigger camera. As soon as i get some from the professional, i'll post them here.

I'm tired...i'll post more about the wedding tomorrow.

Happy Birthday Luke

Happy Number 2 Luke!!!

Our Godson turned 2 today. Unfortunately, both heather and I were busy tonight and we weren't able to wish the little tyke a proper birthday. Hopefully we'll be back from San Antonio to celebrate his birthday at his big birthday bash on Sunday.

Here is a picture of the little tyke from Easter at the Parris'. I borrowed this shot from the Green's website -- I think photo credits go to Josh.

Finding Reason auditions drummer...

Tonight Finding Reason auditioned a drummer. The drummer role has been missing from Finding Reason since the inception of the band. We've been using computer generated drum tracks to help us along the way. While some of the drum tracks are fairly decent, it's still not the same as having a real live drummer with you.

So, we piled our gear into greg's vehicle and went to Alvin to see what Mike had to offer. He's a pretty good drummer. He's way too loud though. My ears are pretty banged up right now. I think if we can get him to quiet down a bit, we'll be alright. We (meaning greg and I, since ben already has 'em) might go with in-ear monitors. That way we can set the volume we need and block out everything else. This should hopefully save our ears.

Mike has ample room for us to practice and some of the stuff we did last night sounded pretty good with him there. And he has not heard our stuff before and he added the beats with no problem. That definitely makes me the weakest musician of the group. I've been saying i need to start lessons. Perhaps it's time...

The next step is to get Mike mp3s of our current stuff and then start practicing. Perhaps we can start recording some of his takes and then we'll be able to post more to the website.

Finding Reason may have found reason to start producing more quality music...
Stay tuned for the latest.

Reboost Aborted

Today I supported console for an ISS reboost. The reboost was more of a test than an actual reboost, but nonetheless, the space station was supposed to move today. Well, I encountered my first failure as an ADCO. Reboost Aborted was the caution message. Well, that told me something went wrong and we did not reboost. There isn't much that i can do from my seat with this failure since the Russians are the experts in this aspect. But it was a failure and I'm glad to get that out of the way...

Happy Easter!

I hope everyone had a great Easter!
Our Easter was a good one. We spent it in Palacios at the in-laws.
We had a great feast of shrimp, grilled shrimp, cocount shrimp, and shrimp enbrochette, cole slaw, twice baked potatoes, baked beans with bacon, and tea. I was stuffed after all that good food. Kudos to the chef(s).

Well, this was the first time that Barbie got a work out. And she did well...got us from point A to point B. There were a few places where the maps were incorrect. But that's to be expected since things change so often. I'm not angry about that...as some people were on the reviews of that GPS. Nothing is perfect ... but the Nuvi is a great little gadget. The next test will be coming up when we travel to San Antonio for my brother's wedding.

Here's a screen shot from the trip back home today. This is the trip calculator. You can see what kind of information is available to the user.



Did you have a great Easter?

Do people still...

...run out of gas these days? It seems that people would pay more attention to their vehicles. Today, on my way home from work, I was aggrivated to find out the reason for the traffic tie up were two middle-aged ladies who ran out of gas. Get this...it was IN FRONT OF A GAS STATION!!!! Women...must think that cars, in this case, a Chevy Tahoe, runs infintely. Women also think money is infinite. Now, to be fair, I too from time to time spend money that could go to better uses. But, this gas thing...man, that was annoying. Didn't the little light on the dash warn the driver of the impending starvation of go juice? Or were they too busy chattin on their cell phones? At first i was angry...then i just laughed. I thought it was quite amusing to run out of gas in front of a gas station...

These people should not have licenses to drive.

I'm just 4 days away from some tasty Freebirds!!!
What lenty item did you give up that you will return to?

Do the Chickens have large talons...

It's been a while, but tonight heather and I watched Napoleon Dynamite. This movie is disturbingly funny. I think it's one of those you either love it or hate it, there is no inbetween. Well, since my lyric post didn't generate much discussion, perhaps this one will?

What is your favorite Napoleon Dynamite quote?

K bye...

Quotable Lyrics

Today while I was listening to mp3s on my new GPS system, I came across a song that is one of my favorite songs from the great Pink Floyd. Not only are Pink Floyd a musical prowess, but their lyrical mastery is second to none. Lyrics so powerful and yet so beautiful. Perhaps one of my favorite lyrics are as follows:

...At a higher altitude with flag unfurled
We reached the dizzy heights of that dreamed of world

Encumbered forever by desire and ambition
There's a hunger still unsatisfied...

I can't think of a more powerful lyric. These lyrics come from High Hopes off of the Division Bell album. I like this lyric so much, that i'll probably add it to my tagline on my work email. It essentially speaks of man's desire to continue to explore...and in the case of my business, continue to explore space.
Words that envoke imagination and vision.

What lyics inspire you?

Good News...Bad News...Good News...

Good News: Baseball has started up again, in a more formal setting. Tonight was the first Exhibition game and Heather and I attended with glee. Tonight was also the first time the Canon S2 IS made a trip to Minute Maid. I was a bit camera happy and snapped off 344 pictures. I haven't gone through all the pictures yet, but i'm hoping there are some good ones in there.

Bad News: The Astros lost the exhibition game. Backe didn't have such a good outting and there were several errors made by the Astros in the field.

Good News: The loss doesn't count. Opening Day is April 3rd. Unfortunately, that day is already sold out...but you can bet Heather and I will be at many games this year.
Morgan Ensberg, Lance Berkman, and Preston Wilson hit home runs for the Astros. So the bats were a swinging.

Here are a few pics from the night. Overall, i'm pretty impressed with the Canon. Had the light been better, more of the shots would've come out...

Heather and I enjoying the night.



The Minute Maid logo.



Morgan Ensberg at bat.



Phil Garner and the Astros Doc look over Mike Lamb. Lamb was hit either by his bat or the ball after swinging through a pitch. He continued the at-bat sending a drive deep to left center for an out.

5 year pin...

Today I received my 5 years of service pin from Barrios Technology.

The pin shown below, is a representation of the company logo with a gold background and a silver "arrow". Imbedded in this pin is a ruby.



Sorry for the not so great picture of the pin, but it seems i've never been able to take really good pictures of jewelry. Just don't have the right set up i guess.
Actually, i'm almost done with my 5th year and on to my sixth year. We only do these award banquets once a year and it just happens to be closer to my 6th anniversary than my fifth.

Perfect Fit...

Today while i was killing time before my haircut, i wandered in to Lids at the mall. I saw a cap I couldn't leave without.

Here I am sportin' my new lid.







While I was at Lids, I realized I had a lot of caps and no where to put them. I saw this nifty device as I was checking out and decided this would suit my needs for our cap storage. Here are the caps situated on our closet door.



I'm a Pepper...
...what are you?

Heather Eats a STEAK!!!

This bit of information is definitely news worthy. Heather eats a steak at local establishment. Tonight, Heather's parents and brother took me and heather out to eat for my birthday. My choice of eating establishments was Texas Roadhouse. It's been a while since i've been there and of course I got their famous ribs. And to my surprise, heather ordered an 8 oz sirloin steak. Those of you that know heather know she is not a steak eater...well not anymore. She ate every last morsel of that USDA meaty goodness, and she liked it too!!!
Be on the lookout for heather the steak eater...

In other news, I think i have finally figured out what i'm going to buy myself for my 30th birthday. The Garmin Nuvi 350 GPS unit. For a full review of this cool gadget, see CNET's Review here. I'm gonna look for the best deals, cause this is an expensive gadget. I'll post more about it...if i even get it.

Small World

Today at work I met the prime crew and the backup crew for Expedition 14. I will be the lead ADCO for Expedition 14. Well, in talking with one of the backup crew members, I found out that he has done some high school basketball officiating in big ol' East Bernard. I was a bit shocked to find out that someone, an astronaut even, knows where East Bernard is...and has even been there! It's just a small world...
Do you have any small world stories to share???

Thirty...

The human odometer rolled over to 3-0 today. Yep, that's right, i'm thirty years old today. Happy Birthday to me. I'm just a year older now...nothing more, nothing less. As a dear friend (who just turned 30 a few days ago) said, "I'm a real adult now."

It's too early to have a mid-life crisis...so i don't see myself going out and buying that Range Rover. Or, should I? tempting...but no.

I don't know what i'm going buy myself. I'm sure i'll post it here when i finally get around to it.

Thanks for all those that have written me, called me, or printed to me to wish me a happy birthday. It means a lot. Thanks.

Interesting conversation...

Today, I was involved in this email conversation.
Today's players were Greg, Ben, and myself.
Here it goes...

G: one night only! Finding Reason! Live at The Chisholm Retirement Home for Sickly Fish! 7:00!

B: come one, come all… see the amazing fishness of sickness… watch as they dazzle you with their upside-down floating trick...

T: Sounds fishy

B: yeah, but you should check it out, just for the halibut….

G: Seriously, it will be good to play some tunas...

B: would salmon please stop this guy?!

G: can't make it though. I took my stingray into the shell station and the mechanic said I'd blown a seal! I told him to leave my personal life out of it, and just fix the dang thing...

G: So come out of your shell, and maybe someday we'll get some groupers...That is if the band doesn't tank.

B: you beta cut it out… this is turning into a whale of a bad email chain.

G: don't be so crabby

G: ok ok I'm done...

fin

B: ok, but don't do anything squidly on your ride home...

T: Kelp me understand this madness...

G: That's terrible! You're really fishing for 'em now!

G: Squids are a type of motorcyclist who clown fishes around on the highways. They are a real bikers true anemone, because they turn the tide of law enforcement against them.


And I think that was it...pretty bizarre, huh?

Road Rage

I'll leave you with this last post.

Can someone answer me this, what are those white/yellow lines painted on the road called? A better question would be, what are they used for?

It seems that some people find them to be merely graffiti. At some large intersections there are these little dashed lines that help one stay in their LANE as they make this treacherous turn. This lady did not realize that was the intent of those little dashed lines...and cut me off, not once, but twice. It was just after the second time that a sudden urge of rage hit me. Some people are just lucky that i'm not interested in going to jail.

Here's another issue I have with stupid drivers (yes, i agree they should be eradicated). You can pass a cop as long as you don't break the speed limit. It drives me crazy when a mass of cars is going 5 to 10 MPH slower than the posted speed limit...only to find out they are petrified to pass a cop for fear of being pulled over. When in fact, they should be pulled over for being stupid.

I could go on and on and on and on about what drives me crazy on the road. I think i'll let you tell me what drives your crazy on the road??

Death of Lawn Equipment

Today after work, i decided i would break down and perform the first lawn work of the season. After all, i was nearly the last one in the immediate area to do so. Well, after about 18 pulls on the cord, the lawn mower finally started. Now, this has a Briggs and Stratton engine that is supposed to start in one pull. The most i've ever had to pull is 3 times. So, i suppose i'll do some general maintenance to see if that will solve that problem.

However, the self-propelled portion of the lawn mower is nearly toast. I was having major issues with it. While i don't mind pushing under my own power, the shaft is not straight through and it goes through some gears in the transmission. So, it's not as simple as just pushing. I could tear the transmission apart again and replace the gears, but call me lazy, too much work for the gain.

Alas, as I was about to blow the remnants of my victory off of the driveway, the blower/vacuum combo started to crap out. Luckily i was able to make it work long enough for me to get most of the clippings cleaned up. Now, I know what the culprit of the failure was on the blower--poor design. A simple electric motor with a rotating shaft. The rotor of the electric motor has a what appears to be an inferior bracket that holds the shaft of the rotor firmly in place. I think this inferior bracket was designed to fail after a few years worth of usage. This bracket has worn itself into a large oval...this is allowing the electric rotor to wobble and bind against the stator...this has caused a degradation in the motor...it's pretty much useless now.

Now, previously, i mentioned i was going to outsource the yard work duties. I've got a collection of cards that were left on the front door. Perhaps i'll see if i can find someone to do my yard for me. I think i might be able to get the gear working so i at least will mow my backyard...but we'll see?

Multiple Post Day

Well, i've got a few things to say today and i figured i'd make multiple posts today. I've been busy over the last few days and i think you deserve content.

The first bit of news is an old highschool friend and his wife are expecting.

CONGRATS KELLY AND JORDAN!!!!!!!!

For those of you who know Jordan, you can visit his website and follow the progress.

Thanks...

I just wanted to say thanks to all those that have been commenting. The comments are what makes this fun...it also lets me know that someone is at least reading some of the things that i've been sharing. I know there are some lurkers out there, and I appreciate your business as well...

So, keep up the good work of commenting, and i'll try to keep the blogs coming.

Eradication?

Here's an off the wall topic for tonight.
This will be a two part question. If you had your choice of eradicating cockroaches or stupid people, which would you choose?

If you could erradicate anything from existence, what would that be?

While cockroaches and stupid people are very similar, i believe that stupid people do more harm to the world...good bye stupid people.

Hmmm...the second question is a little bit tougher. I believe that everything has its place in life and removing one thing would upset the balance and life as we know it would implode in a world of chaos. So, that leads me to eradicating stupid questions...like this post.

Discuss amongst yourselves...

On call

This week I'm on call. That means that if something happens during the middle of the night and the person on console can't handle it or has questions, i get a call. Usually the person we have on console in the middle of the night is one that is looking after 3 systems, not just one. So there are certain things that these operators just can't handle...hence, the reason we are call.

Last night, er early this morning, i got my first call at 2:27am. I won't go in details as to why I got the call, but i got the call. Nothing major happened. I was back asleep by about 3:45am then got another (expected) call at about 5:15am. Was asleep not 5 minutes later.

Being on call is not a fun part of the job, but i suppose it's a necessity.

No worries melissa...

Let's play a game...

Josh's post has inspired me to think about automobiles.
So, here's the game:
You have been given an opportunity to pick out any vehicle you want and customize it however you want. The amount must not exceed $100k. There are caveats to this unbelievable deal. You can only have one vehicle...you can't get two cheaper ones and you don't get the difference between the amount of your vehicle and the $100k. I think that's pretty much it...one vehicle worth up to $100k.
What would that vehicle be?

For me? It would be this



Yeah, a 2006 Range Rover HSE Supercharged. At this point i haven't decided on a color, but it would be either black or silver. I think the beast comes with just about everything, so i don't imagine any upgrades. If I wnet with the black, i might upgrade the rims to a nice set of black rims...black on black with some dark tinting. That of course would probably come close to maxing out my $100k limit.

Well, with all the vehicles out there...what would you get with $100k.

Short term....what?

I must be getting old. Don't respond to that...that was a rhetorical statement. I've noticed over the last few days that my short term memory is well...what was i saying?
Ok, so that was slightly exaggerated. But seriously, i've had some issues with my short term memory, or maybe it's just a bad case of ADHD. I eventually remember whatever it is that i was trying to remember.

I guess everyone is susceptible to older age. Perhaps, i'll remember what it is that i wanted to post about tonight...

Do i know you??

What's in a weekend?

Well, it's been a few days since i've last posted. Weird thing is, i haven't been all that busy. What have i been doing?

Friday: After getting off a busy day on console, i went to a going away party for one of our Russian counterparts, Natasha. She's been with us here in Houston for a few months; now it's time to head back to freezing Moscow.

Saturday: Well, i couldn't hold out anymore. I had to start doing some yardwork. The front yard hasn't even started growing yet...just a few random weeds. I mowed the backyard jungle of weeds and cleaned that up. After i was finished in the back, i moved to the front to do a little work. I removed the flowers that we planted last season. They were getting too large. I haven't replaced them yet, but i haven't decided what to put in their place. I'll be looking for some more mulch for sure...but that is for another day.

Sunday: Two-thirds of Finding Reason went to the Pasadena Gun Show today. Why, might you ask? Well, our music may be just that bad to incite riots...we need protection. Okay, that's not the reason. Greg is looking for a handgun for protection. I went along cause i've been thinking about getting another gun. I didn't do any buying today, but perhaps in the near future. Now, i'm watching Titanic -- it's such a long damn movie, we had to start it early today.

Hope you enjoyed your weekend?