Gee...

It's still here. Looks the same. Hmm... Nothing has changed. *kicks tires* Holding up good. But what a thick layer of dust. Maybe next time I visit, it will have developed cobwebs.

Quite interesting are people

Have you ever seen a person transform before your eyes? I don't mean something as simple as changing their mind or going from frown to smile. I mean a deep, significant change, and you see it happen as you watch this person? Well, I have. And it was one of the most fascinating things to see.

A close friend of mine, George, is a clown. He will do anything for a laugh. Even when the subject is serious, he injects humor; not to make fun of the subject. It's a natural ability he has to be able to bring humor into situations without seeming to make light of them. Watching him talk politics, however, is a thing unto itself. He can get himself stirred up so quickly and so considerably with a rant that isn't just a rant, but shows his frustration and concern and makes good points. But he does get stirred up and can't be still or keep his voice down. Everyone in the building hears him. He's hyper anyway and that just doubles it.

Well, the congressman from our district is retiring. It was never in George's mind to get involved in politics, at least not as an office holder. As an informed citizen in dialogue with elected officials...always. However, several people around him urged him, and he, to my very great surprise, decided to enter the race.

So, on Sunday morning while he was talking strategy and trading information with his strategist, that's when the transformation took place. George came in with his usual bluster, but when he and Dennis began to talk...this hyper, voluble, tornado of a man became a settled, orderly and incisive speaker and thinker. His usual level of inform and knowledge was and always has been present, and yet it packaged itself up into a person who could run and could be elected, from the wacky clown who usually greets me with a deafening GOOD MORNING!!!! and a crushing hug. This was a congressman now, not a clown. No ranting but real discussion and exchange of information. An entirely different man, and yet the same. I've heard people speak of instantaneous transformations and I always nodded and basically ignored it. Until now. I've seen it, and it was an amazing sight to see. Even when (not if) he shifts back to wacky mode, I'll never forget what I saw and the impression it made on me. Beneath the thin nutty surface, there is a deep passionate man who truly cares and understands.

SSME TTB

This is a photo of a Space Shuttle Main Engine being tested here at Marshall Space Flight Center. I recall the days of working in building 4666. We could step out behind the building and be about 300 yards from the test stand. You'd see the igniter light, but it would take a handful of seconds before the sound got to you, and the pressure wave. You could see the pressure wave traveling as it pushed aside the bushes and long grass and then...wow, it would hit you square in the chest. The roar of power owned your ears...no point trying to converse. The engine demanded your attention until the flash of the lights at engine level signaling that the cut-off signal had been given. Then the roar died off into answering echoes, and you could hear...a bit muted for a while. Wow