Slow sim...fast everything else...
May. 1st, 2002 11:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alexpgpI tried to leave the house early to get some stuff done before my sim started at 12:15, but my plans didn't quite get implemented.
I started out by stopping by the courthouse to get a 30-day temporary permit for the car. That done, I toddled on over to the Vietnamese noodle joint at the intersection of Bay Area and Space Center, but they didn't open until 11. So, I shot down to NASA Road 1 and stopped by our bank, and then over to the Eckerd Drug store to pick up a prescription. Finally, I went to JSC, parked, and went over to the cafeteria next to Building 30, only to find that they started serving at 11, too.
I parked my carcass at the Execute Package area around 10:30, with the intent of working on the 4-pager that Lev assigned yesterday, but it didn't work out. Alex K. was grousing about my being assigned to the sim, because he already had 15 radiograms in his queue, and the person replacing me today is not any kind of speed demon.
I kind of wished I did the Execute Package today, too, as the sim was pretty boring, and among the few times I did get to say anything, I fell over my tongue (it took me way too long to remember how to say "launch restraint" and "enable desaturation ops").
One of the TVs in the sim area was tuned to CNN, so we got continuous pictures of the situation in the Middle East (complete with closed captioning). Interspersed with that coverage were brief shots of some kind of industrial park that was burning wildly out of control somewhere in the Houston area.
I scampered on over to one of the local TV station web sites and found that it wasn't just anywhere in the Houston area, but about 4 miles from the house, about halfway between Pearland and Friendswood! (The story on the KPRC web site datelined the story in Pearland.) Apparently, something caught fire last night at some kind of chemical storage facility, causing an explosion that was reported heard five miles away (I was asleep) and a fire that could be seen from even further away (I was asleep).
I didn't notice any large pall of smoke on my way in this morning (but then again, I wasn't looking for it), and by the time I left the MCC at 7:15 pm, the sky was pretty clear (though the sun seemed a bit redder as it hung low in the sky). Apparently, earlier reports to the effect that the fire department was going to let this one burn a while before suppressing it with foam were incorrect.
I watched Spy Game, with Robert Redford and Brad Pitt. It certainly is a different kind of espionage thriller, and I liked the movie a lot. I recall Redford in an earlier movie where he played a CIA worker (Three Days of the Condor), and wondered for a while about where this movie might go. One thing was for certain, I didn't expect an old-fashioned, cut-and-dried espionage thriller along the lines of a John LeCarré novel, nor an overly slick piece of business like Mission: Impossible. The movie delivered.
So, tomorrow morning, I need to get up early and edit the translation, which I managed to get done before I started this post (I'm feeling cryptic), and then send it off. I then need to print out and send the invoice for the last 9 days of April (all in all, a nice payday).
But first, I need to get some sleep.
Cheers...
I started out by stopping by the courthouse to get a 30-day temporary permit for the car. That done, I toddled on over to the Vietnamese noodle joint at the intersection of Bay Area and Space Center, but they didn't open until 11. So, I shot down to NASA Road 1 and stopped by our bank, and then over to the Eckerd Drug store to pick up a prescription. Finally, I went to JSC, parked, and went over to the cafeteria next to Building 30, only to find that they started serving at 11, too.
I parked my carcass at the Execute Package area around 10:30, with the intent of working on the 4-pager that Lev assigned yesterday, but it didn't work out. Alex K. was grousing about my being assigned to the sim, because he already had 15 radiograms in his queue, and the person replacing me today is not any kind of speed demon.
I kind of wished I did the Execute Package today, too, as the sim was pretty boring, and among the few times I did get to say anything, I fell over my tongue (it took me way too long to remember how to say "launch restraint" and "enable desaturation ops").
One of the TVs in the sim area was tuned to CNN, so we got continuous pictures of the situation in the Middle East (complete with closed captioning). Interspersed with that coverage were brief shots of some kind of industrial park that was burning wildly out of control somewhere in the Houston area.
I scampered on over to one of the local TV station web sites and found that it wasn't just anywhere in the Houston area, but about 4 miles from the house, about halfway between Pearland and Friendswood! (The story on the KPRC web site datelined the story in Pearland.) Apparently, something caught fire last night at some kind of chemical storage facility, causing an explosion that was reported heard five miles away (I was asleep) and a fire that could be seen from even further away (I was asleep).
I didn't notice any large pall of smoke on my way in this morning (but then again, I wasn't looking for it), and by the time I left the MCC at 7:15 pm, the sky was pretty clear (though the sun seemed a bit redder as it hung low in the sky). Apparently, earlier reports to the effect that the fire department was going to let this one burn a while before suppressing it with foam were incorrect.
I watched Spy Game, with Robert Redford and Brad Pitt. It certainly is a different kind of espionage thriller, and I liked the movie a lot. I recall Redford in an earlier movie where he played a CIA worker (Three Days of the Condor), and wondered for a while about where this movie might go. One thing was for certain, I didn't expect an old-fashioned, cut-and-dried espionage thriller along the lines of a John LeCarré novel, nor an overly slick piece of business like Mission: Impossible. The movie delivered.
So, tomorrow morning, I need to get up early and edit the translation, which I managed to get done before I started this post (I'm feeling cryptic), and then send it off. I then need to print out and send the invoice for the last 9 days of April (all in all, a nice payday).
But first, I need to get some sleep.
Cheers...
