This is what Building 1 at NASA looks like at 5:55 am. Building 1 is where all the program managers are, you know, the big guns. I am not a big gun, therefore my office is elsewhere…but this morning I had a meeting in Building 1. Their conference rooms are FANCY. I am jealous.
If it was light outside, you’d be able to see the duck pond in the foreground, but it’s not light, because it’s 5:55 am. I’m tired, so I can’t remember if I’ve said this here before, but: if I’d known how many 6 a.m. meetings my new job would require, I might have reconsidered accepting it! I’m kidding, of course, but geez.
6 am is early. Very early.
Let’s see. What else…
It finally feels like winter down here. Something about flat, gray skies does it every time. I did a long run on Sunday morning of 11 miles, which went really well. It was overcast but it didn’t rain, and the temperature hovered in the low 50s. I debated long sleeves or short sleeves with my running capri tights, and eventually went with short sleeves — which was the right choice. Then I passed an older couple sitting on a bench next to one of the lakes in the neighborhood who were wearing thick sweatpants, puffy ski jackets, gloves, and fuzzy hats. I know we live in Houston, where 50 degrees actually is pretty chilly, but it wasn’t THAT bad.
My friend Cayce lives in the DC area and saw this license plate over the weekend. It makes me happy that there are people out there who are passionate enough about spaceflight to put it on their vanity plate. It makes me sad that it will probably be many, many years before we “Go2 Mars” with anything besides robots.
Did you know that the volume slider on an iPhone is conveniently located in the SAME PLACE as the unlock slider? I realized this moments ago when I destroyed my eardrums with my iPhone. I thought it was locked. Apparently it doesn’t auto-lock when it’s plugged into the computer. In the future, perhaps I shouldn’t try to outsmart my iPhone by unlocking it without looking.
A couple months ago, Jose got a stereo receiver and speakers so he can hole up in the bonus room and listen to music. He chose which system to get after talking to one of the sales guys at Best Buy for a half hour. The sales guy was really helpful and knowledgeable and we were going to buy from them, even though I knew it would be more expensive. We would have happily paid $20, $30, even $50 more because we appreciated the good service. But I found the exact same system for sale online for $100 cheaper PLUS the retailer threw in a $100 gift card. So we bought online, and Jose said I could use the gift card. Since it was basically free money, I bought 2 games for my Wii and spent many hours this past weekend playing Super Mario Galaxy.
I take video games way too seriously.
And now my thumb hurts from slamming it against the joystick on the nunchuk.
It’s a rough life.
Mario Galaxy is fun!