Shuttle Camp 1989

11 July 2011, 4:22 pm by Giggles
Categories: Remembers, Science & Tech

Saturday I mentioned that I went to Shuttle Camp when I was younger. And then yesterday while I was looking for a poster for a lesson I was teaching I found the collage frame I’d put together with the pictures of me/by me from Shuttle Camp in 1989, twelve years ago this week. Yea!

So here you go, me at Shuttle Camp, dreaming of space, dreams that still live in me somewhere.

First up, this is me wearing a space suit, one that actually went to space if I’m remembering correctly. It’s an adult sized space suit and I was not adult sized yet. So that’s me trying to hold the pants up so I don’t fall over, and salute at the same time. It’s harder than you’d think.

Next up, this is me in a flight simulator. I’m apparently very good at that. Didn’t crash it at all. My hidden talents – fighter jets and rifles (unrelated story for another time).

Here is me sitting at a scenic outlook when we went on a hike up the mountain to see several sun/star observatories up there (there’s an observatory up the mountain here where we live now, one of these nights we need to go up there and see what they can see). I am just super stylish there. That jacket is where I kept my patch collection until the collection and I both outgrew the jacket. And then we moved it to a quilt. There are several NASA patches in the collection.

This is the group I was in. We are sitting on one of the rails that made up the track they broke the sound barrier on on land. I’m fourth from the right on the second row. And my certificate of completion that year.

We all have dreams. I doubt I will ever stop dreaming about space. :star:

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Education. Exploration. Motivation.

9 July 2011, 6:35 am by Giggles
Categories: Education, Politics, Science & Tech

I caught the shuttle launch yesterday morning. {videos at the end in case you missed it}

And as I watched, a part of my heart died, not just because that’s the last shuttle, but because I was reading about NASA budget cuts putting the successor to Hubble in danger at the time.

I also noticed two political cartoons yesterday that at first glance might not seem related – It’s gonna be a long long time & The future of public education.

Let me explain.

I am a NASA junkie. I dreamed of being an astronaut and going into space. I love space. I love the moon. I love the stars. I love the planets. I love it. I went to Shuttle Camp at the New Mexico Museum of Space History more than once when I was in elementary school. I built and launched my own model rockets. I ate my share of space ice cream and tried on a space suit. I collected space trading cards. I dreamed of going to a launch. I went to Johnson Space Center when I visited my brother in 2001 and got a picture of me juggling in the ISS.

I was inspired. And I wasn’t the only one. :star:

Entire generations have been inspired by the literal reaching for the stars that our country has done. Inspired to go into science and math. Inspired to dream. And it seems like right now the ball is being dropped and the inspiration is fizzling out. NPR ran a story yesterday about “The Inspiration Gap” and the kids today. Will they want to reach as far as we did? Will they have those same dreams?

Every government report about education that comes out says we are falling behind in math and science. They’ve been saying that since Sputnik (check out the book Rocket Boys). And now not only do schools have to deal with their own budgets being cut, but the funding for the science and math exploration is being pulled as well. There are few things more motivating than space. Cutting funding for both is not how we “catch up” with the rest of the world in math and science. It’s stepping back and letting others take our place.

I’m with the kid from this political cartoon from last October though – despite the slashed funding and political hostility, let’s give this education, exploration, and motivation thing a shot anyway.

In the words of Gene Kranz, “Failure is not an option.” If we reach for the stars long enough, we just might get there.

Launch and solid booster rocket separation.

External tank separation.

Photos of the last Atlantis flight:

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Learn something.

7 July 2011, 5:43 pm by Giggles
Categories: Learn Something, Questions

Brett and I regularly tell each other “Be good and learn something.” I thinking of making a quilt wall hanging that says that.

Today my mom and I did learn something. We learned that there are four types of skunks in the Tucson area. More types of skunks than anywhere else.

Also, the ring-tail is the state mammal of Arizona. And it can smell like a skunk when it’s scared.

What did you learn today?

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We WILL have grilled hamburgers!

5 July 2011, 12:39 pm by Giggles
Categories: Family, Food, Happy Things

While we were running a few errands yesterday afternoon we saw some clouds in the distance but figured they wouldn’t interfere with our plans at all. We’d had a brief 15 minute storm late the previous night and figured if it did rain again at our place it would be more night time than mid-afternoon when we were planning on barbequing. So we made up the hamburger patties and fired up the charcoal. And then this is what happened.

As I went inside to try and see if we had something that could be used as a rain coat or maybe grab an umbrella to keep Brett dry, I quickly realized we needed something bigger. So with my mom’s help we did this:

And the hamburgers (which we ate inside) were delicious.

Brett is an all-weather griller. 😀

The rain stopped by early evening and we were able to enjoy the fireworks downtown too. (Did you know the different types of fireworks had names? Makes sense that they do. Next time I’ll know what to call them (aside from just pretty).)

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Mothers of faith

3 July 2011, 6:05 pm by Giggles
Categories: Family, Gospel

Today would be my maternal grandma’s 95th birthday. She died when I was nine months old. But I have heard many stories about her. I know her hands would get cold like mine do. I know she loved music and the Relief Society. She and my mom used to sing silly songs while they’d wash the dishes.

My mom and me on my mom's mom's birthday.

From all of my grandparents I have received a wonderful legacy of faith. From my grandmas, my mom, and many other mothers I have known, I have learned there are some things that all good moms have.

Good moms have faith. They pray. They read the scriptures. Their children see them do these things.

I see my mother kneeling with our family each day.
I hear the words she whispers as she bows her head to pray.
Her plea to the Father quiets all my fears,
And I am thankful love is spoken here.
(Love is Spoken Here)

Moms have charity and hope. They keep their covenants and attend church meetings and the temple.

I am not a mom. But that does not stop me from developing the traits of a good mom. For they are the traits of good women everywhere. Living a life of faith, charity, and keeping my covenants will bless my life and the lives of those around me.

Every girl and woman who makes and keeps sacred covenants can have a mother heart. There is no limit to what a woman with a mother heart can accomplish.
– Sister Julie B. Beck, “A ‘Mother Heart,’” Ensign, May 2004.

It is interesting to me that the same woman, Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, who said, “Well-behaved women seldom make history” is also described as having studied “the silent work of ordinary people” in her approach to history. Well-behaved women and mothers might not have their own names in the history books, theirs might be a silent work, but as surely as they live they have altered the course of human history.

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Bad Day

1 July 2011, 11:49 am by Giggles
Categories: Life

Ever have one of those moments where you wish just SOMETHING would go right? It’s not just one thing, it’s the sum of all of them together. It’s about time that I get my way.

link to clip on youtube

I need a freeze ray.

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Priorities that matter

29 June 2011, 2:56 pm by Giggles
Categories: Musings

I’ve been thinking a lot about my priorities the last many months. There is only so many hours in the day and I only have so much energy to use in them.

It seems the priorities that are pulling me in all of their directions always need more time and more energy than I have. And so things get dropped. Things don’t happen. Some things only get a cursory once over and fix before I have to move on. Not everything in life is at the same level of priority.

I’ve been using the term “minimalist” to describe how I feel about certain things. It is very easy to blow some priorities out of proportion and think they deserve, or need, more time and energy than they actually do. I’ll get the minimum done and then if it works out I can do more, I will.

I can’t feel guilty about my priorities. I am doing what I can. I am focusing my energies where I believe it will matter most in the big picture.

My moments are limited. I’m making the most of them that I can.

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