My dog snores.

I woke up around 6:30 to what sounded like talking through my wall. Claire wasn't up and I'm on the end of the building so I sat up for a few mins trying to figure out what it was. I looked at Pete who is sleeping in his bed. His shoulder blades are laying on the opening of the bed, his head and neck are on the floor and his back is perpendicular to the bed with his paws up in the air. He was snoring. I have a special dog.

The weekend was pretty good. Friday Claire and I went to dinner with Bino and Dane (one of the new escorts). We went and washed my car and then walked around Walmart for awhile. Saturday we watched TV and then went to a few places Claire has wanted to go for awhile. We grabbed Pete and went to Petsmart. Petsmart with a dog on a Saturday morning... Not the most brilliant idea. He had fun, though. I think he misses being with other dogs. We came back and Pete and I took a nap. We went and got our traditional Saturday pizza and watched the Bama game. We lost to Georgia in overtime. Sad days. Pete had a Bama tshirt on. Claire thinks its bad luck. I told her I think it is more a reflection on the team instead of what the dog is wearing. She wasn't too thrilled about that. Simon and Daylon came over for awhile. By about 11 I fell asleep. Sunday we hung out around the apartment and watched TV. We decided to give Pete a bath. He's now bathed, brushed and with his nails clipped. He did pretty well. I was proud. He goes into the doctor on Wednesday to have his check up. We headed over to Bino's pick up game and hung out with his daughter, Amanda. We grabbed some food, headed home, I talked to my mom for awhile and then went to bed.

Tracy texts me last night to tell me that a kid we graduated with died this weekend. I didn't know him really well, but it still kinda hits me. You think of these people you spent 7 hours a day with, sometimes more, for four years. They didn't seem that big of a part of your life but then when something happens to one of them, you see the community getting back together to grieve. It's pretty amazing.

Geof sent me a message today saying that he is working on something for most of the day that I can't help with. So until at least 2ish, I'm free. I'm bored and sitting here thinking, which isn't the best use of my time. I have to go home and let Pete out at lunch because Claire is having lunch with her mom. I'm looking forward to lunch (a few more hours to go) and watching a movie when I get back (I'll grab one when I'm at home). We have an ASME meeting scheduled for today but I'm not positive Nick got a speaker and I can't get ahold of him. So we'll see about that... Claire wants me to go to dinner with her mom and her. I'm not sure if I will. I don't want to butt in and honestly, it usually reminds me just, exactly, how much I miss my mom. So we'll see. If I work until the meeting, I get an extra 1.5-2 hours in. Yay for getting paid to do nothing and the ability to work shorter hours another day. :)

Peace, Love and Coffee-less mornings,
-m

Yup! I'm still a perfectionist!

I know this isn't really an update, but I'm not the type of person who can not update for a day after doing it everyday for two weeks. So....... at least it has an entry for today's date. I'll update more later.

Peace, Love, and Friday afternoons,
-m

The Beattie/Porter Family Would Like to Introduce Their Newest Family Member...

Petey Beattie.

We picked him up yesterday afternoon. He was happy to see us. We played with him for awhile and then packed him up and rode back to the apartment. We got all settled, he sniffed around and then fell asleep. He slept while we made dinner and while we ate. We then headed over to UAH to walk him around campus. He did pretty well with the 2.5 mile walk. He met a few new friends. We came back to the apartment, gave him some water and took him out one final time. We started to get him all calmed down for bed and then put him in his crate in my room. He slept through the entire night without waking me up. I woke up a few times on my own and he would pick his head up to look at me and then would fall back asleep.

I got up today, let Pete out of the crate while I got ready. I brought in his food and water and shut my bedroom door. When I got in the shower I put the crate to block the bathroom area from the bedroom. I brought his bed in the area and jumped in the shower. He was completely fine. When I got out of the shower he was sitting in his bed. He hadn't chewed anything or gone to the bathroom. I think after a few days we'll be able to let him romp. But we'll watch him for awhile... Anyway, I took him out before I left and put him back in his crate. I left for work and Claire was still getting ready. She gets off around noon and will be going home to check on him. She goes back to work at 2. I get off around 3 and will be going back to spend the rest of the evening with Pete.

Claire is going out with Simon tonight. She's unsure if its a date or not. I think it is, but I told her its up to her. Whatever she wants it to be, it is. She had her outfits down to two and chose late last night what I would consider the more date material one. Since I'll be home alone all evening I called Adam last night to see if he wanted to hang out this evening. He didn't answer so I left a message. I texted him later on to see if he were still up. I still hadn't heard from him this morning (I need to know if I needed to go in early or not. If we hang out, I go into work early so we both get off around the same time.) so I call him hoping I got him before he heads to work. He didn't answer. Oh well. I know I get busy in the mornings. So I might be alone with Pete tonight or Adam may come over. Who knows...

I got in at 6:30ish again this morning. Ive been here for almost three hours already. Yay. I finished another part of the project Terry and I've been working on. I combined our two parts and consolidated them. They'll be sent off soon to Houston. Yay Houston. I changed my wallpaper on my work computer to the pic of Heide and me at the NBL. It makes me smile every time I see it. Terry sent me a link to the new Astronaut Candidate Class's Application. I told him I wish. Maybe some day...

Anyway. Here are some more pics of Pete. :)

Peace, Love and Puppy Kisses Galore,

-m

Happy Humpday!

If Claire and I hadn't of been talking about it the day before yesterday, I wouldn't have realised that today is the 19th. Four months. We had talked for a long time on Monday about everything and I told her that I was getting better. That I wasn't counting down the days till the 19th. I don't have it counted down to every hour since then. I'm getting better. Then the next morning while I'm thinking in the shower, I realise that it was the 18th. So of course it's on my mind.

I'm getting Pete today. Yay! They called yesterday saying his procedure went well and that he is resting in the hospital overnight. They are going to get him this morning and I can get him anytime after 10ish. I told them I would be heading over after work which wouldn't be until 3ish. Claire asked me if I can stand a 35 min drive back from Decatur. I told her I could. And then I added it'll turn into more of a 20 min drive. :) We're taking him home, letting him get used to the apartment and then after awhile we'll take him over to UAH cause Bino wants to see him. I'm bouncing. :) I have a feeling Geof might just tell me to go home early cause he knows I'm so excited. :)

We have that telecon continuation today. We have a Cargo Mission Contract meeting at 8:30. It's every Wednesday and Friday morning. Then I think Terry (one of the engineers here) and I will be working on increasing the depth of one of the projects we've been working on. I think when I'm free I'm supposed to sit in on the rest of the telecon. Who knows... maybe they're already done; they were a few hours ahead when I left yesterday.

The cable guys stayed for two hours last night. Claire and I figured that they had another installation in Mountain View and they were doing the two simultaneously since they would leave for 20 min intervals. Oh well. We have cable (which we already had before), my desktop has internet (Claire's doesn't and my laptop doesn't unless I "borrow" it from my neighbours), and I have a home phone (if you're in Minnesota, mom has the number. If you're here or in Swissconsin, send me a message and I'll give it to you). With the home phone, I don't have an answering machine and figure I really don't need to go out and buy one. If you call home and you don't get me, call my cell. That way you can either get ahold of me there or you can leave a message. Also, I don't know if I'm going to keep the phoneline. I'm going to see if it is a real help. If it is, I'll keep it. If it isn't, I can use the 20 dollars a month somewhere else. And it's my own; the only phone in the apartment is in my room. So you don't have to worry about accidentally calling Claire.

Apparently the hockey players go running around campus at 9pm-ish. Claire and I drove around campus to see if we could find them. We didn't. We did, however, find a really cute German intern who jogs everyday... I'm not complaining. And a group (okay so there were only three of them... but 3 out of 3 constitutes a group) of RDs. Yup. Chris Bruno and his dog, the new CCRH RD and her dog and then Scott (without Max, which I found weird... maybe he ate him. hmm.). We saw them over by the Propulsion Research Center and then we continued along our way. I showed Claire the new road and the round-abooooot and wanted to show her this thing that I thought was a waterfall. I flashed my high beams so she could see from Madison Hall-ish to Lakeside/Sparkman. I didn't want to bother the people on Sparkman so I flashed it on and off a few times. Well....... I saw a group of people and I was like Ooops. People. and then I was like Crap. It's the RDs. Yup. I flashed the RDs. I told Claire they could add that to the list of things they hate about me. Hehe.

Did I mention sometime between leaving my bathroom this morning and getting to work the stone in my Claddagh ring fell out? Again. Today. Funny how those things work...

Anyhoo, I'm going to go get some work done... Of find some work to do?

Peace, Love and Chilly Mornings with Sunrises,
-m

A Nap Sounds Good

I got in today around 7:30. We had a 8am telecon with Lockheed, Johnson and some other random people. I brought coffee. Yum. When I walked into Geof's office, he had gotten a bag of Bruegger's. He had remembered from the other day when I said I wanted a Cinnamon Sugar one and handed me one of those. Later on in the telecon I had a Cinnamon Raisin one. The telecon lasted for four hours. I got a reprieve and went with Gene to the Clean Room to help out with some hardware. At least I got away for 10 mins. The telecon has broken for lunch but I think Geof will be joining in a little bit later. There is a meeting from 2-3:30 that I will probably be going to. I will need to head out a little after the meeting ends so I can run home before the cable guy gets there.

Yesterday I was in a better mood when I left. I got home and hung out with Claire for awhile. We went to run a few errands and grab dinner. We watched a little TV and then we decided to walk over to the apartment's playground and swing. We stayed for a little while before our butts started to hurt and then went back. We talked about stuff for a long time and then we both went to bed.

I'm counting down the hours until Pete comes home. I cannot wait! :D


Peace, Love and Warm Fall Days,
-m

Funky Moods

I've been in a funky mood the last few days so I'm sorry if you've had to deal with me or if this blog gets... funky.

This weekend was kinda... different. Friday, Claire and I went out to the Arsenal to do some shopping after dinner with Bino and Simon. We washed my car on base as well. We went back to campus to show Bino since he had been on my case about my car being so dirty. We dropped off the cat carrier at Will and Virginia's and gave them a couple onesies I got. They were cute, I thought. We went home and had our fondue night.

Saturday Claire left to go home and I hung out with Will and Virginia. It was the Trail of Tears and is Will's favourite day to go and heckle people at Cracker Barrel. We went to breakfast and then spent the rest of the day shopping. I got tired and went home. Claire got back and got ready for Oktoberfest. She left and I headed to the planetarium. I was in a rotten mood. Melissa showed up and we talked for awhile about Astronomy Day (Homer Hickam will be there! :D) and some other planetarium activities with other members. We ended up leaving at the same time. I offered her to drive her to her car because it was dark and creepy at that hour. I told her sometime I wanted to talk about a few things with her. She started in on the things right there. We spent forever talking and when I left I felt a lot better about things. I headed home from the mountain, called my mom and then went to bed.

Sunday I woke up and lounged around my room for awhile. It was 10 till 11 and Claire wasn't up yet so I decided I needed to get out. I was kinda irked by her and didn't really want to be around the apartment. I went shopping and came back. Her car wasn't there and I got even more bothered. I went upstairs, put everything away and then started to make lunch. She come home and we talked for a second before we both started yelling at each other. Turns out we both have had stressors that neither knew about that had been bothering us. In the midst of the yelling (if you know me, you know this) my voice began to shake and tears started welling up in my eyes. I walked over to her and hugged her. We both started sobbing. My favourite line from her : We're a pair, aren't we? We're better now and we've survived our first fight. I told her my part was mainly because I've felt so alone lately and then every time I come home it seems she isn't there and if she comes back while I'm there she leaves about 20 mins later. I told her I'll be weird for the next couple weeks since she was planning on being gone next weekend too. Though it now seems like we'll take Pete downtown for awhile and listen to some music at Big Spring Jam from somewhere downtown and then just hang out. So that doesn't seem as bad. Anyway, I'm hoping this bleh feeling I'm having will pass over. It's getting kinda old. Especially for me. After we worked everything out we had chocolate (it always makes everything better) and we talked. We then went out to Brent's (a former camp counselor who I have lunch with every once in awhile) to get some furniture. He had moved into a new house and had gotten new stuff. We got some random things. I got a desk, we got a recliner and silverware, Bino got a Papasean (sp?) chair, Bino's daughter Amanda got a Lava Lamp. It was a pretty productive trip. We went to Bino's hockey pick up game, moved the furniture into the apartment, ran some errands and then went home. We set up our stuff in our apartment and then both headed to bed.

Today was much slower than had been promised. I worked on finishing a few projects, but other than that, I've been sitting in my office, staring at the wall. The lack of things to do allows me to have ample time to think. If you know me, having any time to think is bad let alone having an entire work day of it.

The cable guy is coming tomorrow so we should have that all set up soon. Even better, my part is all paid up. :) I put the desk from Brent up last night. My desktop is now plugged in and my chair is ready for the cable guy to use. Once I start school again, I'll go and get my real desk, but until then, this will work just fine.

Wednesday, Claire and I are going to get Pete. I'm taking off from work a little early. I'm super excited, especially now that the apartment is clean and my room is all set. Once things got off the floor it helped me relax a little more. His bed and bowls are ready. There are bones around the apartment for him to chew on and toys for him to play with. We have his food in the laundry room and the carrier, leash and collar ready to go by the door. I have a squeaky toy and treats in my car. I'm taking him to the vet early next week after he gets settled in to make sure everything is okay and to get him on his meds right away. I am so incredibly excited! :)

I'm trying to turn around my attitude. I'm trying to count the blessings instead of the pains. I'm trying really hard. I promise.

Peace, Love and Patience,
-m

Raindrops keep fallin' on my head.

Well, I go home in about an hour and a half. Yay. It's a rainy day here and I would rather be in bed instead of sitting in an office, but such is life.

I've been incredibly busy today. They seem to be putting more faith in me and giving me stuff to do. We had a telecon at 8:30 with Lockheed Houston on how to appreciate and talk to other generations in a multi-generation work area. Yeah. That was fun. We were all making fun of it towards the end. I was in Geof's office for the start of the conference. Random people started walking in because they knew it was more fun with us two. :) By the end of the telecon we had six people in the office. I told every new person that walked in that I respected and appreciated them even though we were from different generations. We had three of the four generations represented and could have gotten the other if we had walked up stairs. I guess it was a good thing for a Friday morning.

Apparently next week I'm going to be super busy. They have a lot of projects finishing up and coming back so I'm going to help track those down. I have to get safety shoes...

I couldn't be working with nicer people. When I got back from one of my meetings around 11:10 Gary told me they were ordering pizza and I was more than welcome to take part. I told him thanks but I already had plans to meet a friend (Claire) for lunch. He told me I was still welcome to have a piece when I got back. Between then and the time I left about four people came in to tell me they were getting pizza. I leave for lunch, tell Allan and Geof they have pizza and head out the door. When I get back Gary sees me walking past the conference room, asks me if I had enough for lunch and tells me to grab a piece. I go back to my office for a little bit, finish a project. During the course of that about three more people tell me to grab some pizza. So in addition to my McDonald's I also had a slice of pizza. Yum.

I'm going out with Simon, Claire and Bino for dinner tonight. We're going to a Chinese place. Yay. It's been awhile since we all hung out. And we always have fun. :) Afterwards Claire and I are doing a fondue night. Yummy!

Adam came over yesterday and we hung out. He ended up going back to his room to change after work, sat on his bed and fell asleep so he was late getting there. I could tell he rushed over right when he woke up; his hair was a mess and his eyes were red. We watched TV and sat on the couch and talked for awhile. We went over to Teleni's for dinner, talked a little more and then he went home. I was in a funky mood when he came over so things were a little different. We talked a few things through and everything is okay. I really miss him but I know he has to work on some things. So do I...

I'm excited about the planetarium and just hanging around and sleeping this weekend. Maybe I'll be able to catch up with people? I've been meaning to hang out with Will, Virginia and Al for a really long time... Maybe this weekend?

I'm counting down the hours until we get Pete. His bed is all ready. There are bones randomly placed around the apartment. I've already got his bowls set up on a mat I got yesterday with dog paws on the border. I have a toy and some treats ready for him in my car. I can't wait! :D

If you're in Huntsville and you haven't heard from me lately, give me a call. Chances are I can hang out this weekend! If you're not in Huntsville, I can bet you I miss you like crazy!


Peace, Love and Plane Rides Back Home,
-m

Puppy Lovin'

It's a good thing I have nothing to do because I'm doing really good with this updating thing. :)


Anyway. Yesterday had some disappointments. Claire went to drop off my ticket at the Madison Police Station before her interview at Crestwood Hospital. They told her that they've had some problems in the past with other police signing tickets so they wouldn't accept it. Yesterday was my last day I could turn it in before I would have to go to court so I left work and swung by to pick up Claire and the ticket and went to take care of that. We waited at least a half an hour before someone got there to check the light. We told him I needed an equipment check, we went outside, I flashed my lights from low to high beam and then we were done. After we got in the car I kvetched to Claire... something along the lines of "hmm, imagine that. I, nor the cop who signed my ticket weren't lying when we said I had fixed it". Oh well. I got over it.


The second disappointment was the dog I wanted, Dory, on the left, had been adopted only hours before I was due up to Tennessee. Claire and I instead head over to Decatur, AL about 30 mins away. I had been looking online some more and saw that there was a Beagle named Lilly living there. I initially went to look at her but instead ended up looking at all the dogs. The first one I picked up was adorable. She was this little black bundle of energy. She had a sibling who was in the cage with her and was white and just as cute. She stayed asleep the entire time we were in there. Claire and I joked I wanted the one who's tail wouldn't stop wagging. Claire wanted the one that was asleep. Anyway, I pick up the black one. She was literally the size of my hand. I held her while Claire and I talked. She was a cutie, but we wanted a little larger of a dog. Personally, I want a dog that can jump up on my bed and sleep next to me. Not one that I would smush when I rolled over. She was sweet, but not exactly what we were looking for. We play with a Basset Hound for awhile but realise he was a little too lethargic for us.


We move into the larger area to look more. We walk into the puppy area and there are two other dogs about the size of the black one from before, one male, the other female. Their paws were larger than would be proportionate for their body so they would be a little bigger, later on, but they just didn't seem right. There were a few other puppies we talked about but for one reason of another they weren't what we were looking for. We walked around the larger area and said hi to those dogs. It was sad. I know I can't rescue them all, but I wanted to. Claire mentioned it seemed like they were in jail cells. A rather bony German Shepherd was adopted while we were there. Claire and I were excited about that. At least one more got out.


Anyway, we go back to the puppy area and Claire falls in love with this fluffy black little girl. We were ready to adopt her but we started wondering how large she would get since she looked part Lab. They said she was just a baby and would get to be about 40 pounds. We weren't sure because her paws were so tiny, but we didn't want to risk it. We knew if we fell in love with her and trained her and all and then she grew to be too big, it would break both of our hearts to give her away. She was a sweetie and fell asleep in Claire's arms for the most part of the conversation. When we put her back in her cage she was a lot happier than when we first took her out. She's a sweetie and I hope she gets adopted by someone who has a huge yard for her to romp in. After I consoled Claire for awhile we decided to walk around some more. There were dogs that would be perfect for when we both have houses. But until then, they were ruled out.


I had walked by this white dog a few times but had kept going because he was a boy and I wanted a girl. But for some reason, I kept going back to him. He's a Schnauzer Terrier Mix. He's white with black eyes and nose. His ears stick up and he looks funny. But when I saw him and stopped, he got up and his tail started wagging.
We talked to the staff there and they said he was about a year old. He is full grown and under the weight requirement for the apartment. The more we went over to his cage the more he got excited. We took him out and played with him for awhile. We took him to the fenced yard behind the shelter. While Claire and I were talking, he decided to sit down next to me and looked around. He would look up at us every once in awhile and then ended up laying down next to my feet. When we had finished talking I ran around the yard with him for awhile. He had the biggest grin and kept up with me while I ran back and forth and around in circles. Claire told me to see if he would let me pick him up. He did and Claire took a picture of us to send to her family. While I was holding him he started giving me kisses. I decided then that he was our newest family member. His name is Orson. I'm thinking I'll change it to either Pete (Conrad) or Gus (Grissom). We're not sure right now about the name but we've been talking about it for awhile. Claire thinks its hilarious that he'll then be Petey Beattie. I'm already feeling sorry for the dog. :) He's getting fixed on Tuesday and I can pick him up that afternoon. I'm already leaving work early and the cable guy is coming from 4-6. Boo. I'm going to have to go over and pick him up on Wednesday. :(


After we left the pound we headed to Harvest, AL to have pizza. :D We ate at Village Pizza and it was yummy. We got a large pizza so we would have enough to take home as well as breadsticks (of which we had none to take home) and cinnamon sticks. If I hadn't of gotten so full, I would have kept eating. Oohh its good food! We left there and went over to Athens, AL to stop at the Russell Stover Store. I got caramel apples. Yum. Claire got some random candy and I think she was pretty pleased. I joked that we could head over to Athens State... There were Runts at the candy store. :) Claire told me if I really wanted to I could. We didn't.


We go to Petsmart to get a few final things for the dog (bones, a collar, etc) since it's full grown. Claire will be going home Saturday morning and will get the last things we need from her house (pet carrier, nail clipper, etc). I'm super excited. And I don't care what Claire says, he's sleeping in the pink bed I got him! :)


We get home from all the shopping, put stuff away, talk for a little bit and then both of us get tired. We head to bed around 8:30. I call mom when I get into my room and then fall asleep. This morning when I got up, the water pressure was incredibly low so I sent my alarm for a little later and went back to bed. When I got up the final time and it was still low, I decided I can wait to take a shower when I get home today. Right as I was leaving, I checked the water and it was up to full strength. Yup. That's the way it goes... I went into work today at 6:30ish and will be leaving around 2:30. Adam is coming over for a little. He is going back to the Hab early so he can finish his reading for class.


I just got an email from Lockheed Martin Houston asking me to call in for a telecon, so I'm going to go and figure out just how to do that seeing as my phone is now in a different room. Hmmm.


Peace, Love and Caramel Apples,
-m

Changes

I'm pretty sure it's colder in here today than yesterday. Possibly around 57/58ish. I'm sitting, shivering, in my pea coat. I'm thinking about bringing gloves in; it's seriously that cold.

So Claire and I are going to go look at the puppy today. I was going to get away about three hours early since I had done nine hours the past two days and was going to grab lunch on the way up there. My good buddy Murphy comes into play again... The one time I plan on leaving early since, face it, I really don't have anything to do, Geof tells me that he wants me to do something. How does it always work that way? Anyway, I told him I was planning on leaving earlier and asked him if I could do the project this morning. Of course not. That would work out to well. lol. Anyway, I'll get the project a little earlier than he had planned on giving it to me, I'll sit in the first 30 mins of a telecon and then I can leave at 2:30. Not bad. Only 30 mins later. The place closes at 4 and it's 45 mins away, so that'll give us a good amount of time to play with her and get to know her. If we're hesitant at all, we'll wait a few more days. It's not that far away and this isn't something to rush.

The puppy is coming at a good time. The next two weekends Claire is spending with her friends. I was kinda bummed. Mainly because we have a pizza night every Saturday where we get Little Ceasars and watch movies. We've done it every week since I got back. I allowed myself to get upset for a second and then I got over it. It'll be kinda boring and a change in plans (look! I'm getting better!), but it'll give me time to get to know the puppy better and she'll be someone to watch movies (she'll learn to like Pirates) with and play with while Claire's gone. I'm looking foward to it. And you never know, maybe the puppy likes Crazy Bread, too. :)

I went over to Will and Virginia's last night. My headlight broke again. On Saturday after I got back from the conference and training I picked up Claire and went over to Little Ceasars in Madison. On my way back I got pulled over for a busted headlight. Apparently I was also speeding "a little" according to the cop. I didn't make a big fuss because I thought at that point on Hughes was 45 when it was actually 40. Oops. Learn something new every day. Anyway, I got a warning for the speeding and a ticket for the light. I got the light fixed and showed Bino. He signed off on the ticket and Claire will drop it off at the Madison Police Station for me today. Since I got it fixed in 72 hours, they'll throw out the ticket. Anyway, so less than 24 hours after Bino saw it was fixed I noticed it wasn't working again. I met Bino after work and he took a look at it. The lightbulb had broken again. I went and bought a new one and took it to Will. After awhile, he got it working. He said that the bulb was at an angle and it allowed it to overheat, busting the bulb. He thinks he got it fixed. Fingers crossed. Car light bulbs get to be expensive after two goes.

While I was over at their place Virginia told me that she's leaving for two weeks for work. I'll more than likely be spending a lot of time over there during those two weeks to help Will. Once I prove I won't cry when I change Al's diaper, he'll probably be spending some time at the apartment. On a side, yet related, note: He's starting to eat solid foods. Woohoo for the consistancy of the diaper to be... lumpier? :)

I'm looking forward to hockey starting up again! Blue vs White is next month. Yay! :D

My mom has an interview today with Metro State. I'm super excited about it, possibly even more than she is. And she's pretty excited. The job and the people sound great! Not only will it get her out of C&I, but would allow her to work with people who sound like they would value her. What a great idea... >:( Anyway, I'll have my fingers crossed all day. It's with Technology/Engineering/Science. I mean, how much better could it get?! :)

Once again I'm looking forward to lunch. I have to run to the bank. But I'm going to stop at Chik-fil-a and get some waffle fries. Yum. I've been craving them for awhile. Mmmm.

I'm feeling even better. My throat is good, and the pressure in my head is lessening. My headache is going away. My nose is getting better, still a little stuffy. Though it seems everything has now migrated to my chest. My cough is getting deeper, but at least it'll allow me to get it out. Yay for getting almost better!

Adam is coming over tomorrow to hang out. I'm getting loads better on MarioKart and have beat him most of the times we've played. He claims he "lets me win" but I can tell the difference. He's all into it until he gets so far behind that he can't get back up and then "tries to lose". He just has to face it. I'm better. :) Even when I sometimes lose, I don't get frustrated. I tell him he was just a better player then and then play him again. (I'm getting better there, too!) We have a lot of fun when we hang out. And I'm seeing some changes, already. In both of us.

Anyway, I'm going to get some stuff done before I leave for lunch (meaning I'll check Facebook). I'm planning on watching a movie after lunch and then heading to that telecon and doing that project. Then Claire will pick me up over here and we'll head up to Tennessee.

Peace, Love and Puppy Kisses,
-m

How many more hours to lunch?

It's pretty cold again in here today. So this might be completed throughout the day, once my fingers get a chance to thaw every once in awhile. I'm getting moved from my office with a door to a cubicle by the end of the week. Sad days. The bright side... it's usually warmer in there. Yay!

I'm still kinda sick but I'm feeling much better. I went to Tuscaloosa, AL for an ASME (American Society of Mechanical Engineers) Student Leadership Conference. I stayed in a Ramada overnight and think either my allergies got really bad because of something there or I picked up a cold a few days before (there is a guy here who has been coughing from a cold the entire time I've worked here. I've tried to avoid him as much as possible) because I started to feel sick on the way home. Either way, I'm getting to my final hump before I get un-sick.

We had our first ASME meeting yesterday. It went really well. I was worrying about it (imagine that!) a lot before. The meeting went smoothly, there were around 35 people there (we usually are lucky to have 6) and people got really interested in some of our projects. I'm excited. It seems like it'll be a good year, ASME-wise.

On a related note: Yesterday finally allowed me to see the fact that the guys have now started to accept me. I had two guys I had problems with last year in Microgravity show up to the meeting. They came up to talk to me afterwards and mentioned something about working together on a few things in the future. The main problem guy from my MAE 100 can crusher project showed up to the meeting (he's best friends with the VP). He hung out with us before and helped me carry things to the meeting. He hung around after to talk to me and helped us carry things back up to the ASME office. Some of my problem residents also came. There are a few that I won't associate with (mainly because they think its cool to find some reason to get me (nothing against me personally, but I was the RA they knew about who got in trouble so it's kinda fun to keep it going, I guess? I dunno.) in trouble for stupid things, like mentioning I was speeding on campus to a cop or whatever.) but I'm nice enough to them to get them on teams and involved and then I can leave them. The other residents I don't mind hanging out with, now. It was nice to be able to spend time with seniors and grad students in engineering that finally see me as a peer instead of a pink-loving, not as responsible, girl. I've finally proven myself. Things are looking up...

Work is slow. Imagine that... for me at least. Everyone is running around discussing meetings and deadlines. I wouldn't mind in the least to help with those. The guy across the hall is going to try to get me more involved with the Aries First Stage Project. I'm excited because that means I get to get a NASA badge. :D I go around a couple times a day and ask everyone if they need any help. Sometimes I'm lucky to get a few documents to work on or I get to go with someone to check the status of projects in the shop. Those are the times I look forward to. Hopefully thing'll start to move more quickly. We had a huge problem with one of our projects and had to ship it back to CA. I'm chocking the fact that we're slow up to that. If the main project we're supposed to be checking isn't here, we obviously can't work on it. While I'm waiting for something to do, I find enough I can focus on. Plus, today I brought movies to watch. I'm def going to watch Pirates 2... again... since I have not only fallen in love with the movies, but also Johnny Depp. I don't know what it is with me and guys from Owensboro. :)

Claire and I are going to Tennessee to look at a puppy sometime this week. I'm going to email them to see when will work best. Claire has all the puppy stuff at her home from when her golden retriever was a puppy so we'll stop at her house on the way back from the shelter. We have everything worked out with potty times and walks. We are both super excited! I'm already thinking of names... Right now I'm thinking: Procyon (Proci/Procie for short): it comes from the constellation Canis Minour and means "before the dog" since it comes up before Canis Majour; Chara: located in the constellation Canes Venatici and means "joy"; Lexi/Lexy: coming from the middle name of Yuri Gagarin, the first person in space. I know... I'm a nerd.

I'm not aware of any big weekend plans, yet. I haven't hung out with Adam since last Thursday, so I'll prolly meet up with him sometime soon. I'm helping out at a show on Saturday. I may get to help with the C16 Telescope (I got trained on it after the conference. It's pretty awesome!) or just help out with show stuff. Sunday we're going to Bino's hockey clinic. It's not a game and is rather boring, but we have fun. There's another girl who will more than likely be joining us in our ranks of Old People Hockey Cheerleaders. Her name is Amber and is the daughter of our former MAE Chair. Her dad, Dr Bower, died last spring. She seems pretty fun and I'm excited about the possibility of having a new hockey buddy! Other than those few things I'll prolly just hang around the apartment for the rest of the weekend. It's so nice to have free time. I'm starting to finally cherish it.

I'm still hoping to come up to Minnesota soon. My company is sending someone to Minneapolis in the next few days. I begged them to let me come. Alas, I won't be on the flight; I'm a lowly Co-op. :) I'm not complaining... I love my job. :)

Peace, Love and Bright Blue Fingertips,
-m

Hey Everyone!

I promised a blog for this year. I know I'm a little behind but since things have now begun to settle down I've begun one. Hopefully this'll keep people more informed with what's going on in my life. That is if I keep it updated. :) . And sorry for not calling as much as I should...

Love to all,
-m