CheeseinParadise: 6/3/07

Friday, June 08, 2007

This is Josie's Dog

Sadie

nicest Chihuahua around

This is not Josie's dog - but according to Ginger (my sister) Sadie's been subjected to similar clothing choices.......

Why TEXAS is a great place to be - Part 1

Where I-20 meets I-10

When you first get to Texas, the mile marker reads 837. We didn't actually travel I-10 the whole way. Our exit was 34 - this is a welcome sign still over 100 miles from home.

Thank goodness for this.........not so good for gas mileage

The terrain is pretty much the same (it is a desert) but I do welcome the sight of the mountains. No trees to block the view (or give shade for that matter)

A Visit with ERIC

We were in Midland, Eric is in Odessa, so we stopped by for lunch.

On the phone with Dad (Keith)

I love this shot!! It was a short but great visit!

Midland, Texas - what the heck is that?

It's a bug - part of the tick family. On the ground it looks like a piece of velvet.

So you're asking - why is someone holding a tick? Apparently it doesn't bite humans or animals - just put on the planet to look cool.

It's a puppy (a pit bull). Cute right? She's not showing you her razor sharp teeth.

So, I have no pictures of my best friend from high school Patty and her family, just a dog and a tick - but it was a very relaxing couple of days.

Thursday, June 07, 2007

Houston, Part 2

Teachers, if you get a chance, the Department of Education has workshops all over the country, all summer and they are free - check it out: https://www.t2tweb.us/Workshops/About.asp

One of my stops along the way to El Paso was to a great workshop at Johnson Space Center.

My brother Keith is a good one for knowing the events surrounding the Space Shuttle missions. This time one of the astronauts is from El Paso (the city is very proud). From the front page:

El Pasoan John "Danny" Olivas will live the dream of traveling to space as he and six other astronauts blast into space on space shuttle Atlantis at 5:38 MDT today from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla.

Just a bit more interesting than P. Hilton and her fragile state of being.....

So more about the conference - we were able to sign up for two field trips. I chose Habitat, Air Revitalization and Water Reclamation and Neutral Buoyancy and Advanced Space Propulsion.

This is a 40' deep pool with a "space station" in it. The white hose is connected to an astronaut that is surrounded by divers. This is the best training they can do for what it will be like for them in space. The water is blue because it is so deep.

The scientists were pretty excited about their work - I was totally amazed. Besides building a habitat that can be replicated on the moon (2020) they are working on getting to Mars in 115 days. The air and water components were very advanced, I think a major focus is now getting the technology smaller so that it wont take up too much room on the space craft.

During lunch on the first day we contacted the space station by ham radio and listen to Suni Williams answer questions asked by teachers in the audience. We also listened to Matt Abbott (the flight director for STS-118) and a very interesting account of space travel by Astronaut Don Thomas. Among other things, I am aware of how they use the bathroom in space (that age old question - email me for details)

At lunch the second day a woman gave me her pass to the Mission Control Field trip.

Suni Williams on the space station - Hair by Zero Gravity

Me being a dope

FYI that is the actual work station for the space program until 1992 - Apollo 13 included. They had a lot of interesting factoids about the room and the equipment - like it was so antiquated that they couldn't find replacement parts and even resorted to buying some of them on EBay. Also, they had a system like they use at the drive-up tellers at the bank. Sometimes they'd send little creatures through it (once it was a tarantula - caused havoc on the whole first row of Mission Control).

Houston, Texas May 28th - June 3rd

Part One

Family and Friends

It's always so nice to see family! This is Grandma Frankie, Nikki, and Carol just outside their new home in Humble, TX.

We had such a good time! It took me all of two minutes to sound like a true Texan - and I didn't sound like that growing up, I'm just so susceptible to that twang.

For those of you who didn't know it - I am a "Grandmother"

She calls me "Nana"

Logan showing me her treasures

You know what this makes Dan..... Papaw

The next best thing - visiting friends.

This is Bonnie and she hasn't changed since high school - just as sweet.

Of course Carol was "adopted" her new name:

Dakota Moon

I have some catching up to do - OM Worlds

May 22nd - May 27th

As I said before, I was excused from teaching the last 3 days of school (which you should NEVER do to a substitute) so that I could attend the Odyssey of the Mind World Competition in Lansing, Michigan as a district chaperone.

I was totally blown away. What a great program.
If you're interested, check it out http://www.odysseyofthemind.com/

The atmosphere was so safe and cooperative - it was a real pleasure being there. This was the final competition with state finalists and teams from around the world.

Our school had created a skit from the Large and Small of It problem. It was just fascinating to watch their creativity. Although I had absolutely nothing to do with all the work they'd put into getting to this level, I was filled with pride.

All in all 800 teams were competing for one of 6 places per problem, per division (elementary, middle, high and even some college) I certainly never thought this way as a kid - but given the right environment, I'd be very willing to sponsor a team.

Anyway, a few photos.......enjoy.