It’s only Wednesday but this week is a doozy. On Sunday, I flew from Houston to Pittsburgh and then drove 1.5 hours south to Morgantown, West Virginia to support a meeting on Monday at NASA’s Independent Verification and Validation Facility.
Yes, NASA has a facility in West Virginia! Little known fact! It’s about 25 minutes farther south of Morgantown, in a smaller town called Fairmont. Last year it was renamed in honor of amazing “hidden figure” Katherine Johnson.
The IV&V team performs independent assessments on all the critical flight software used on NASA spacecraft, and I was there with a small group to coordinate their efforts for the Gateway program. It was a productive day, and overall a nice trip. It was really cold, but despite the predictions it did not snow — something which I was actually quite happy about. I was not loving the idea of having to drive in snow!
I flew back home yesterday, arriving just in time to squeeze in a late lunch with my friend Karen, who had herself just flown in from Atlanta for a couple days at a conference in Galveston.
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While I was gone, Jose and the girls learned how to make madeleines. Yum! They made the batter on Monday night and it had to chill for a while, so I was lucky to get home in time for the actual baking. They were delicious.
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I also managed to get sick during my trip. Sigh. I felt the telltale tickle in my throat on Sunday, so I knew it was coming. I feel a bit lousy, but advil plus cold/flu meds are keeping me functional. And unfortunately I really NEED to be functional this week.
Today, I have an interview for my own job. As in, the job I have been acting in since the fall is now officially open, and I have to interview for it. Yes, it is a little strange, but NASA works in strange ways sometimes. In any case, formally securing this job should be quick and easy, but if I’ve learned anything in the last 20 years of my career, it’s that things don’t always go the way you expect. So. We shall see.
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So, work trip, job interview. That would be enough for one week, but there’s still plenty of other lower level things going on. On Friday I have to present to a big review going on at NASA Langley in Virginia. I’ll be doing that by telecon, thank goodness, since two trips in a single week would have been too much.
But once I get through that it’s fun time. On Friday night, we are going to see the USA Women’s soccer team! They’re playing several Olympic qualifiers in Houston this week and I’m excited to see them in person! Saturday is the annual winter carnival at Emma’s school. Sunday is the Super Bowl. And in the midst of all that, I’ve got a quilt deadline to meet so there will be some good sewing time too.
Better get to it…
I hope you enjoyed your visit to WV. I have been here 30 years. There are several nice quilt shops in the Fairmont-Morgantown area.
Oh dang, I hadn’t even thought to look up a quilt shop! I basically had no time outside of work — got in at 7 pm Sunday, worked Monday, left at 7 am Tuesday. But if I ever go back I’ll have quilting on my list!