I left home so early this morning that Starbucks wasn’t even open yet. I know! It was horrible! I had no choice but to stop at the only 24-hour establishment within a few mile radius: Whataburger. Moments later, I was on my way to work with my standard #9 (that’d be the breakfast taquito) and coffee. Mmm. Their coffee is no Starbucks cinammon dolce latte, of course, but it’s not bad, and at 5 a.m.? Well, coffee is coffee. I will drink any form of it.
The first of at least three separate days with increasingly early wake-up times has begun, all in the name of STS-120. Today is the TCDT, or Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test. The crew’s in Florida in the orbiter, and we’re here in Houston ready to do our flight control thing. We pretend that it’s launch day and do everything as we will on October 23 — except we don’t actually launch. Simple.
It’s going to be a long day though. After this test is over, I have a couple hours in the office before heading to a training session for the STS-124 crew. They’ve just started their flight-specific rendezvous training, and as one of the flight controllers supporting that rendezvous, I get to attend their training. This is a fun thing; however, it might not be so fun today as I try to remain standing and watch them fly without falling asleep.
The day doesn’t end there either. If I have time, I plan to squeeze in a run before heading to class tonight where we have our second test. Now you might ask: didn’t you just have a test three weeks ago? Yes, yes I did. But apparently it is time for another one. Sigh.
At least the reading is interesting. The most recent chapter in the textbook was about the invention and history of the PC. Did you know that one of the first PCs, the concept of a graphical user interface, and the first computer networking all happened at Xerox? I would never have guessed that. And: “Three decades ago, just like today, a flight between New York and Paris would take about seven hours and cost about $900. If advances in air travel matched the pace of computer transistor development, that international jaunt would take a second and cost a penny.” Another interesting tidbit: the question of whether all this rapid advancement will ever slow or end. Will there ever be a computer that’s so good that nothing better will come along to replace it? Can they really improve indefinitely?
I honestly have no idea.
Will you drink warm water with a brown crayon dipped in? 🙂
I ahve decided I like the new layout. I am just not a fan of the comments being at the top of the post. And there you go.
Be happy – no Whataburger in North Dakota. 🙁
While not an actual occurrence, I always found this funny (and somewhat scarily accurate) – http://www.snopes.com/humor/jokes/autos.asp; I’m rather partial to #6. 🙂
$900 was worth more three decades ago than it is now, so, comparatively, it’s a less expensive flight today.
Jamoosh, this template and layout isn’t permanent. It’s just until I have time to re-do it. I don’t like the comments at the top either!
Your job sounds *so* much more interesting than mine.
mmmm…Starbucks. My standard these days is a grande non-fat, sugar free hazelnut latte.
You didn’t know about Xerox parc? Where have you been, under a rock?