Snow In Houston

It really did snow in Houston this year, and I have video proof!

4th of July BBQ

I went from having no plans for the 4th, to hosting a party/BBQ at my house. And it was awsome. A party complete with Burgers, Brats, Beers, corn on the cob (on the grill!), and Rock Band. Then we headed to Pasadena fair grounds for fireworks. It was all pretty fun, good food, good company. Here is the album:

Beach week, conclusion.

So, I guess I spent less time on the internet than I thought I would. That translated into significantly less updates over the course of beach week 2009. Anyways, I hope to give a good overview of the week here on the blog, complete with photo album and play by play. This may take a while to put together, due to all the house work I have neglected, but it will all be posted eventually. Here is an album to get you started.

Beach Week, Part 1

At the beach for a week with old High School buddies! Having a blast so far, so in the down time at the house we rented, I will be doing some blogging!

We got to Salvo, NC around 1pm Sunday, but couldn't get into the rental property until 2:30, so we spent a few hours that day on the beach and in the water. Then we did burgers and hot dogs on the grill for dinner.

Today was the first full day at the beach. The weather was great, and the waves were huge! Just got back in, showered, and am now helping Brian cook dinner. Tonight it is Chicken Breast on the grill, half with Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce, half with a sweet mescuite dry rub, cooked over the grill. Gotta go help now, so here is today's Burn Update:

Pictures from my last trip home

Totally forgot I had uploaded these!

From 2009-05-23 Ems graduation

Pictures from my last trip home: Emily's graduation, night out with my cop and lawyer friend, and hanging out with the family and the entire neighborhood. Good times!

Six person ISS crew on it's way, and nomination of new NASA Admin

Just wanted to post a little something about a few things NASA related that you all might be interested in. The first is the news that the second half of the first 6 person Space Station Crew is on it's way! Soyuz TMA-15 launched today from Baiconure Cosmodrome, on it's way to a docking with ISS for the start of 6 person ops. This is big news for us, especially since we just started processing urine into potable water last week (my group was partially in charge of getting the toilet to work so it could ship urine to the processor). We did a lot of other work to prepare for six person ops, but this is probably the most visible of our contributions. Internationally, it has big implications because the crew will be made up of astronauts from all the space agencies participating in the ISS program. NASA, ESA (Europe), JAXA (Japan), Roscosmos, and CSA (Canada) will all now have astronauts on board, come Soyuz docking day.

The other thing worth mentioning is the nomination of Gen. Charles Bolden as NASA Administrator. Obama has made his pick, now it is up to Congress to confirm him. As a former Space Shuttle Astronaut, you would think he would be a great choice for the manned spaceflight crowd, but the fact is he is also very supportive of the additional goals of the space program. He has shown his support for manned exploration as well as the science programs of NASA, many of which were cut when NASA had to reorganize after budget cuts. He is also a big believer that the work NASA does today is what will influence the engineers and scientists of tomorrow. With Bolden at the helm, I can see him fighting for more funding for science programs, and maintaining current funding for exploration prgrams (which would all be a good thing).

Anyways, that is the big news from today for you.

The Long Awaited New House Album...

I know, I know, this took me forever to put up. I have been really busy and only recently was able to upload the few pictures of the house that I have taken. I will try and add some more in the coming days, but for now this should be enough to get you started.

Stats:
House Square Footage: 1580
Yard: 8750
2 car garage
15 minutes from Johnson Space Center, no traffic ever.

Enjoy: