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Trying my luck...
May. 14th, 2010 06:58 pmInternet access was out for very nearly 12 hours, returning only at a little after 10 am local time. Since then, access has come and gone more often than luck at a blackjack table in Vegas. The Internet was up when I started this post, and I hope it's still up when I click on "Post entry."
As a runup to propellant loading, which starts tomorrow morning and goes for five days, the French team hosted a dinner event last night featuring a dish called daube, a sort of beef stew cooked with a lot of wine and spices.
I didn't really get a chance to enjoy it last night, as I took my nourishment standing up between gusts of interpretation, but some leftover daube was served at lunch today, and it was good (better than I remember it from last night, which may be due to the "better on the second day" effect that occurs with many similar dishes).
There was a lot of wine at the party last night, some full-bodied dark red Fitou and a lighter red wine called Gaillac, if memory serves. The French invited the Russians, so there was vodka on the table as well.
I left at around 10:15 pm, and am reliably told that the party finally broke up somewhere past 1 am.
Olga and I are on the hook for propellant loading, so we'll be at 92A-50 tomorrow and Sunday for the oxidizer part of the operation, after which there'll be a one day break to reconfigure the equipment (put away the oxidizer, take out the fuel, making extra specially sure the two don't meet unintentionally), followed by two more days of fueling. Between the operations performed on the satellite over the past few days and the propelllant that will be loaded aboard, the vehicle will resemble something of a clock that has been very tightly and very precisely wound to enable it to get to a specific position above the Earth to do its job (communications).
One of the other interpreters is celebrating his birthday today, and as you have probably gathered by now, it doesn't take much of an occasion to trigger a celebration of some kind during a campaign. I'm sure a few glasses will be raised and the appropriate words said.
In the meantime, it might not be a bad idea to see if the sauna is operating.
Cheers...
As a runup to propellant loading, which starts tomorrow morning and goes for five days, the French team hosted a dinner event last night featuring a dish called daube, a sort of beef stew cooked with a lot of wine and spices.
I didn't really get a chance to enjoy it last night, as I took my nourishment standing up between gusts of interpretation, but some leftover daube was served at lunch today, and it was good (better than I remember it from last night, which may be due to the "better on the second day" effect that occurs with many similar dishes).
There was a lot of wine at the party last night, some full-bodied dark red Fitou and a lighter red wine called Gaillac, if memory serves. The French invited the Russians, so there was vodka on the table as well.
I left at around 10:15 pm, and am reliably told that the party finally broke up somewhere past 1 am.
Olga and I are on the hook for propellant loading, so we'll be at 92A-50 tomorrow and Sunday for the oxidizer part of the operation, after which there'll be a one day break to reconfigure the equipment (put away the oxidizer, take out the fuel, making extra specially sure the two don't meet unintentionally), followed by two more days of fueling. Between the operations performed on the satellite over the past few days and the propelllant that will be loaded aboard, the vehicle will resemble something of a clock that has been very tightly and very precisely wound to enable it to get to a specific position above the Earth to do its job (communications).
One of the other interpreters is celebrating his birthday today, and as you have probably gathered by now, it doesn't take much of an occasion to trigger a celebration of some kind during a campaign. I'm sure a few glasses will be raised and the appropriate words said.
In the meantime, it might not be a bad idea to see if the sauna is operating.
Cheers...
