Imagine that

Let me introduce you. This is Michael Griffin, current NASA administrator. I did the drawing, intrigued by the intense concentration in a photo of Dr. Griffin watching a launch. I hung up a copy at work and that was basically it. Until yesterday when a close friend, Steve, urged me to email it to Dr. Griffin. Well...I didn't know about that. It seemed bold and probably a breech of some special protocol on who could contact the administrator. Steve strongly urged me...and I decided to give it a go. I wondered what awaited me...being ignored, chastised... But I got a very nice note from the administrator and a request for a print...signed by me. Well, imagine that. We actually exchanged a couple of emails and he's quite pleasant, and amusing. I'm sure it is of little or no interest to anyone but myself, but I'm quite pleased...

Reading

I have to say that I've been relieved to find several people like me in the past couple or so months. Like me, crazy? No, although one of them is. No, like me in reading. I am a voracious reader. Well, that's not it either. I know plenty of people who are that. The thing of it is that I read three or four books simultaneously. I expected that there probably were others out there who did the same. Since I've found I'm not the only person who loves to pour over maps for hours on end, read the dictionary, and collect for future use many kinds of interesting paper, I've come to learn that the things which others think make me "weird" are often shared by many people. It did take time to find another map person. The other dictionary person was easier. The other paper person, the easiest of all.

However all of the other voracious readers that I knew did not read multiple books simultaneously. In fact a couple thought I was beyond weird and wondered how I could keep the books straight. So as long as I've been reading, I really did begin to wonder. And the better half (who does not engage in recreational reading) was especially bemused by this habit.

However, one day in Barnes and Noble, other half mentioned to the lady behind the counter that I read several books at once. She said, "Of course! You have to have a book in the living room, one in the bedroom, one at work, one in the car..." A kindred spirit! Finally! As I knew it had to be, I was not alone.

Well, this just cracked the door. Since that fateful encounter, I've learned of others who are multi-task readers...people I don't even know. I heard an interview of Liam Neeson who said he read, "three or four books at a time." It was simply a matter of opening up the search. I'm not the wierdo. Those who do not take advantage of the great treasure of affordable books available are the unusual ones to me. There are books for every taste and interest, and audio books for those who don't read well (which is why other half doesn't indulge...learning disorder). I guess what I really don't understand is lack of curiosity. There's an incredible world out there just waiting to be discovered.

Books, books! A veritable gold mine!
Piled as high as a Ponderosa Pine.
Treasures of data, volumes of lore.
I want to read! Give me more!
Piled to the ceiling, piled to the trees.
Leave me in quiet with my reader's disease.

BLA

Totally cool

At 5:58, less than half an hour after sunset, we stood out in the front yard waiting and staring upward. Just when we were certain that we'd missed it, we saw the dim light racing across the sky and becoming brighter as it rose up from the horizon. It was amazing to watch it, knowing what it was, where it was and who was there.

It was the ISS, International Space Station, with the newly added Columbus lab from ESA, European Space Station. And the space shuttle was still docked to it. The ISS has grown so much in the last couple of years. It looks brighter each time as more elements are added. Now with Columbus...and with the shuttle still tagging along, it was huge. It was bigger and brighter than Venus...and that's very bright. And it rose up nearly overhead. We watched it down to the other horizon. As it went southwest, further around the planet from the sun, it began to fade with less sunlight shining on it. It's rare to see it for so long. Generally we have clouds or too many trees or some obstacle blocking our view. But this time it was horizon to horizon, dim, bright and dim again. It was an incredible sight, totally amazing to think of the ten people up there living and working ordinarily in a hostile environment. And it's more startling still to realize one has had a contribution to it.

A wee bit o' stir

After every shuttle mission the crew makes the rounds of the NASA field centers for morale visits (obviously our morale, since I doubt these whirlwind hops in the middle of their regular duties does much for the crew). They are nice events though. Generally the crew is gracious and genial. In the auditorirum they say a few words, show some cool video of their favorite parts of the mission, including a "blooper reel". I don't know if they get any sort of coaching from PR, but they do a good job of narrating the video, mixing the proper amount of humor and seriousness...even at the right time. After the program there is an autograph session, but it generally is kept to a strict 30 minutes to maintain the schedule. If you are not fast to hit the line and are over half way back, it depends on how much talking goes on as to whether you'll make it to the table or not. Well, I do go to some of these events, as my schedule allows, but the autograph line is not nice sometimes. Some employees bring all their relatives out. And a new trend is to invite a class or two. I have no problem with that. The kids need to hear this and be inspired. But that does keep employees from being able to attend sometimes when all the seats get taken. I suppose that is irrelevant. However, some people will kill you getting in the autograph line fast. I don't generally do that part unless I get lucky and it looks like I can get up front easily. But yesterday the STS-120 crew was at Marshall. That was the mission with the female commander, to refresh your memory, and they did the "potentially fatal" space walk to repair the solar array. I've been thinking for some time that I should get one of my shuttle paintings signed. I've done several oils of the shuttle, which I used to hang in my office...when I had a real office. (Not that it matters, but that gets mixed reviews from "great" to "geek!") So I brought in one of my favorite paintings and was going to attempt the auto line. Guess what...I was waaaaaaaaaay back in the line. I didn't watch the time...because I couldn't stand the suspense of whether I'd make it before someone broke it up to maintain the schedule. I got to the table at 11:30 exactly...cutoff time. And after all that, there was a lady from the public affairs office who was standing guard over the table where the astronauts were sitting. She was collecting the pictures to be signed and pretending to be glad to see everyone. She lost that attitude quickly when she saw me. To say she gave me a wilting look is like saying the sun's surface is warm. "I don't think they'll sign THAT!" she informed me in her best annoyed tone. (I think she practices it each night.) But then Pam Melroy, the crew commander, saw me and she said, "Bring it over!" I obliged her. Of course. Now that I think about it, I wish I'd looked at the PAO lady to see her reaction, but I had quickly forgotten her and never looked back. At any rate when Pam saw the painting she said, "WOW, are you sure you want me to write on that??" I was sure. I had thought about it and I knew that as much as I back space exploration and love my job, yes, sign it. That would only make it a more special painting to me. (Someone later said, "That will be worth a lot of money some day!" I didn't do it for that. I'd never sell it. To me it is priceless. My motivation had nothing to do with money and everything to do with who I am and where I am.) The entire crew very happily signed the painting. They were quite nice and cooperative about the entire thing. They were asking me more questions than I asked them...and I had thought of some (I hope) intelligent questions to ask, but never got to ask them. That's okay though. "Are you the artist? Do you do other space art?" "How long did it take?" "What medium?" "Where did you sign it?" You would've thought I was the celebrity. One other detail is that I had made my own crew shirt. I used to order mission shirts (with the mission logo on the left chest area) from Countdown Creations in Houston. However, I am still waiting on a shirt that I ordered 7 months ago. (I don't recommend them.) Needless to say, that was the last order I placed. I do have an embroidery machine. However, I like to do it for fun, not the stress of all that fine detail. And I'd rather stitch my own "stuff" that I design. But after that... Well, I don't do the entire patch. But I noticed that the astronauts have begun wearing golf shirts that only have part of the patch design stitched on it. Even I could do that. And I have done three missions now. So I wore my STS-120 shirt yesterday, like the crew shirts. I know you can't buy those anywhere. They make them especially for the astronauts. And Stephanie Wilson noticed mine. She asked me about it. So I told her I just copied theirs after I saw which part of the patch they were using and stitched it out on my machine. Not difficult at all. But she was as impressed with that as the painting. I don't stand in such awe of astronauts after 26 years at NASA. But impressing the astronauts was still something that made my day a bit brighter. They were great about the entire incident. And I have a very particularly special keepsake that I created and they acknowledged by signing.