Another quiet day...

When I got home this morning, Lee had come home and was occupying the bedroom, so I briefly considered staying up until 6:30 am, when I could safely wake her up, do a quick linen change, and then hit the sack myself.

Then I realized it was Saturday - a major intellectual victory, seeing how the days have all seemed alike over the past ten days or so - and understood that attempting to wake Lee at so early an hour would be pointless. Add to that my extreme fatigue from the just-concluded shift and drive home, and I was happy to make myself comfortable on the living room couch.

I woke after 2 pm and started a load of laundry, had something of a breakfast, and then turned to the task of cleaning the place. It's still hard, but I'm slowly developing the momentum necessary to chuck stuff that is well and truly useless. Among other items, I gave away my old collection of Objectivist newsletters to Lee's friend Jessica when she mentioned, in casual conversation about the usefulness (and lack thereof) of bookmarks, that she had read - and loved - Rand's Atlas Shrugged.

Later today (around 2 pm), Lee will help me load the washer into the Ford before she disappears with her friends somewhere. (I shall have to make a point of having the oil changed before that happens.) After the last shift on Monday, I'll grab a few hours of sleep and then finish loading the van. Once the van is full, I can again turn to the task of cleaning out the house, with the goal of filling the rest of the package of trash bags that I bought a few days ago.

I intend to get a good night's sleep on Monday and then, if all goes as planned, take off for Colorado on Tuesday morning. The only fly in the ointment is the possibility of having to show the place to a potential renter early on Tuesday afternoon, which will just shift everything by a few hours, more or less. I may decide to leave after the showing, in which case the best I can hope for is to cover about 30-40% of the road before turning in on Tuesday night, or I may decide to take it easy and shift everything one full day.

Decisions, decisions...

Cheers...

Жду перевода...

Первая половина смены прошла достаточно быстро. Разговоров с Москвой не было. РИО сидел и соченял какие-то сообщения, которые скоро должны отправляться, но пока никто не обращается с просьбой их перевести. Чем дольше будут ждать, тем меньше будет время писать перевод. Не смотря на то, что письменный русский язык у меня слаб, я все-таки должен заставить себя писать на русском. О чем? Не знаю. Это пока не важно. Что важно, это найти кого-то кто будет указывать ошибки и недостатки в тексте.

The first half of the shift went by rather quickly. There were no conversations with Moscow. The RIO sat and composed some messages that must be sent soon, but so far, nobody's asked me to translate them. The longer they wait, the less time there will be to translate them. Despite the fact that my written Russian is weak, I've nonetheless got to force myself to write in Russian. About what? I don't know. For now, that's not important. What is important is that I find someone who will point out the errors and weaknesses in the text.

Cheers...

One more night...

Последняя смена этого полета наконец-то наступила. Ольга сейчас сидит в зале управления, а я сменю ее через примерно три часа. Вчера много разговоров было с Москвой во второй половине смены. Можно даже считать, что это не были отдельные разговоры, а один длинный разговор - почти непрерывный обмен информации. И мнениями. Сейчас, завтрашняя расстыковка является самый важный вопрос, который должен решаться группам управления в обеих стран. Но внимаине тоже выделяется к полету следующего Прогресса на МКС. Но к времени стыковки Прогресса, я уж буду дома.

This flight's last shift is finally here. Olga's on console, and I'll be relieving her in about three hours. There were a lot of discussions with Moscow during the second half of yesterday's shift. You could even say these weren't discussions, but one long discussion consisting of a continuous exchange of information. And opinons. Right now, the flight control teams in both countries are focused on tomorrow's undocking, but folks are also working through issues related to the upcoming Progress flight to the ISS. But I'll be home by the time the Progress docks.

Cheers...