One last shot
Monday, November 27, 2006
Grand Canyon Nov 06
Success at Last!
We had a whirlwind weekend with my brother in Phoenix and area. We flew over on Thanksgiving morning. The flight took 50 minutes. Man that sure beats the close to 7 hours we would have spent driving there.
We were picked us up at the airport in a Jeep. That was cool.We didn't have the top on so it was like riding in a convertible. We drove the long way home so we could see a bit of the city. We finally made it and were glad we had arrived.
My brother's house is really nice. He has done such nice things to it. The backyard has gone from being rather empty and dull to a paradise. He built a nice water fountain, brought in cactus and built up flower beds and planted grass. It really is pleasant sitting out there. A hummingbird hovered around us the whole time we were there.
For Thanksgiving dinner we had it all.My brother cooked a turkey to perfection unlike my experience last year. My niece made green bean, cream of mushroom soup & dried onion casserole. We also had mashed potatoes & gravy, stuffing, cranberries and dinner roles. Pecan pie was for dessert. No one left the table hungry. It was a feast.
The rest of the day was spent catching up and planning the rest of our visit.
On Friday morning we prepared the Jeep and took off for the Grand Canyon. We stopped along the way at Montezuma's Castle (cliff dwelling) and had lunch in Sedona. Road construction plus Thanksgiving crowds meant that the trip through Sedona was really not pleasant. It dragged on & on. We arrived at the entrance to the Canyon close to sunset. We thought we would be able to drive right in but think again. We weren't the only ones with that thought in mind. The line of cars waiting to get in to see the sunset was looooong! We crawled along all the while watching the sun setting lower & lower. We were sure that the one ranger on duty was spending much to much time greeting everyone entering the park. We were sure he was inviting everyone to a lecture on the squirrels in the canyon. Actually there were multiple rangers & ours didn't mention squirrels once. We broke free from the crowds & sprinted (in the Jeep) to the first lookout point. There were hundreds of folks already there which made parking a nightmare. My brother graciously dropped us off & went to park while we got our first glance. IT WAS AWESOME!
The reason I started off saying SUCCESS AT LAST is because when I was last at the canyon it was snowing so I saw very little.
Once the sun had set we moseyed (is that how you spell that) back & checked into our hotel, went across the street for a steak and then settled in for the night.
The next morning began at 6am. We threw on some clothes and drove back to the canyon. This time we were some of only a handful of folks. We parked & waited for sunrise which was to be at 7:15 am. More & more people arrived in preparation for the viewing so we got out and readied ourselves. Boy was it cold. We could see our breath but after our extremities adjusted (think froze) it was okay. First a sliver of light was visible but slowly the cliffs turned golden.
What more can I say. We took picture upon picture until we had enough. Then we went and had breakfast & went to the gift shop. After that we drove back to my brother's place, had some pie, rested & finally went to the airport. The rest of the trip went as planned & we were back home with our cats in our own bed by 10:00 pm.
I hope all of you had a great Thanksgiving.
Scott
We had a whirlwind weekend with my brother in Phoenix and area. We flew over on Thanksgiving morning. The flight took 50 minutes. Man that sure beats the close to 7 hours we would have spent driving there.
We were picked us up at the airport in a Jeep. That was cool.We didn't have the top on so it was like riding in a convertible. We drove the long way home so we could see a bit of the city. We finally made it and were glad we had arrived.
My brother's house is really nice. He has done such nice things to it. The backyard has gone from being rather empty and dull to a paradise. He built a nice water fountain, brought in cactus and built up flower beds and planted grass. It really is pleasant sitting out there. A hummingbird hovered around us the whole time we were there.
For Thanksgiving dinner we had it all.My brother cooked a turkey to perfection unlike my experience last year. My niece made green bean, cream of mushroom soup & dried onion casserole. We also had mashed potatoes & gravy, stuffing, cranberries and dinner roles. Pecan pie was for dessert. No one left the table hungry. It was a feast.
The rest of the day was spent catching up and planning the rest of our visit.
On Friday morning we prepared the Jeep and took off for the Grand Canyon. We stopped along the way at Montezuma's Castle (cliff dwelling) and had lunch in Sedona. Road construction plus Thanksgiving crowds meant that the trip through Sedona was really not pleasant. It dragged on & on. We arrived at the entrance to the Canyon close to sunset. We thought we would be able to drive right in but think again. We weren't the only ones with that thought in mind. The line of cars waiting to get in to see the sunset was looooong! We crawled along all the while watching the sun setting lower & lower. We were sure that the one ranger on duty was spending much to much time greeting everyone entering the park. We were sure he was inviting everyone to a lecture on the squirrels in the canyon. Actually there were multiple rangers & ours didn't mention squirrels once. We broke free from the crowds & sprinted (in the Jeep) to the first lookout point. There were hundreds of folks already there which made parking a nightmare. My brother graciously dropped us off & went to park while we got our first glance. IT WAS AWESOME!
The reason I started off saying SUCCESS AT LAST is because when I was last at the canyon it was snowing so I saw very little.
Once the sun had set we moseyed (is that how you spell that) back & checked into our hotel, went across the street for a steak and then settled in for the night.
The next morning began at 6am. We threw on some clothes and drove back to the canyon. This time we were some of only a handful of folks. We parked & waited for sunrise which was to be at 7:15 am. More & more people arrived in preparation for the viewing so we got out and readied ourselves. Boy was it cold. We could see our breath but after our extremities adjusted (think froze) it was okay. First a sliver of light was visible but slowly the cliffs turned golden.
What more can I say. We took picture upon picture until we had enough. Then we went and had breakfast & went to the gift shop. After that we drove back to my brother's place, had some pie, rested & finally went to the airport. The rest of the trip went as planned & we were back home with our cats in our own bed by 10:00 pm.
I hope all of you had a great Thanksgiving.
Scott
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
Saturday, November 11, 2006
Katrina Clean-Up Nov. 06
We all remember the images of Hurricane Katrina ripping through New Orleans and other gulf communities.
We were shown vivid pictures of wind, rain and the destruction they caused. There were pictures of people huddled in the Superdome in New Orleans, waiting for drinkable water & food, lines of cars, buses and other vehicles filled with people and possessions all trying to get away from the destruction. We heard people's stories about narrow escapes and heroism and suffering. Locally we read of families being relocated to EI Paso, Houston, and all over the country. We heard complaints leveled at leaders about how fast or slow local or national agencies responded to the unfolding nightmare. We thought we would never forget those images. It was pretty horrific.
Did you know that the area devastated by Katrina equals the size of Great Britain? A 30' storm surge, the largest ever recorded in the US came ashore and wiped out homes, businesses, infrastructure and whole communities. For those directly affected life came to a standstill.
We heard and saw all that from far away. Our hearts went out to those affected and many of us responded with donations of supplies and monetary contributions. Do you know that all that took place at the end of August in 2005 or 15 months ago? By now our lives have moved on. And now people look back and say, oh yea, I remember Hurricane Katrina being bad, I wonder how things are going?
In Ocean Springs, Mississippi, Christus Victor Lutheran Church became a disaster response sight. The church opened its doors to all that they could to provide beds, food, and comfort. Soon the need became so large that they moved their work to another facility. Then they linked up with Lutheran Disaster Response, a ministry of the ELCA & LCMS church I believe. Soon truck loads of supplies & volunteers arrived in the gulf to team up together to make a difference.
I joined forces with a member from our sister ELCA church in Las Cruces to organize a team of people to go to the gulf to help. Ten people committed themselves to this effort. We arrived in Ocean Springs on Monday, November 6 and were put to work.
We stayed at Camp Victor (the name of the volunteer camp & food distribution facility) with 230 others ages 18 to 80 from all around the country. There were people here from Pennsylvania, California, Seattle, Minnesota, Wisconsin, New Mexico, to name a few. Some came as individuals and others came in large & small groups. Some drove while others flew in. This week others filled our places as volunteers come and go all year long.
I can tell you that I saw signs of hope returning along the gulf coast. Stores are returning, homes are slowly being attended too. The casinos though are up and running and look great. I guess for those with money reconstruction can happen fairly quickly.
Our small group had two major focuses during our week. We worked on the home of an African-American grandmother by the name of Linder Mason who is raising three of her grandkids. Her home had sustained water and fire damage. The other place we worked was in the Food Distribution Center.
Linder & the grand kids live in a FEMA trailer in the front yard of her home. Virtually all of their possessions are in boxes or loosely stacked under the car port and under the front porch.
At the beginning of the week our team picked up the supplies we thought we needed, loaded the supplies in the trunks of our vehicles and drove 45 minutes to our work site in Pascagoula. Once there we tore down moldy drywall and replaced it and mudded it, we re-hung doors, scrapped tile off the floors, primed and painted bedrooms and hallways, scrubbed out water damaged kitchen cabinets with bleach water, repainted those same cabinets, some minor plumbing and electrical work, and made great progress. We hoped to be the ones to finish the job but that will fall on other volunteers.
The work was hard but felt good. At least we helped one family.
The Food Distribution center is where people from the community come to receive bags of groceries and other supplies. As volunteers we unloaded trucks of donated foods, unpacked boxes and shelved what we could. Some hotels had donated bedspreads and linens that needed to be folded. Cleaning supplies (which surprisingly were in short supply) had to be organized along with paper products, diapers, etc. When people arrive to pick up supplies they are interviewed about their needs and then their order is sent to us. Each family receives 2 or 4 bags of groceries depending on the size of the family plus first-aid supplies, cleaning supplies, linens, and so on which we then take out to their cars or trucks.
Each day started out at 6am. We had breakfast together, packed our lunches for the day and took off. We returned in time for dinner at 5pm. The evening was spent recovering while quietly reading, checking email, chatting with others, working on Soduko puzzles, playing cards or going to bed early. The next day starts it all over again. I have to confess that I haven't physically worked like that in awhile. It felt good.
I hope to go back again.
We were shown vivid pictures of wind, rain and the destruction they caused. There were pictures of people huddled in the Superdome in New Orleans, waiting for drinkable water & food, lines of cars, buses and other vehicles filled with people and possessions all trying to get away from the destruction. We heard people's stories about narrow escapes and heroism and suffering. Locally we read of families being relocated to EI Paso, Houston, and all over the country. We heard complaints leveled at leaders about how fast or slow local or national agencies responded to the unfolding nightmare. We thought we would never forget those images. It was pretty horrific.
Did you know that the area devastated by Katrina equals the size of Great Britain? A 30' storm surge, the largest ever recorded in the US came ashore and wiped out homes, businesses, infrastructure and whole communities. For those directly affected life came to a standstill.
We heard and saw all that from far away. Our hearts went out to those affected and many of us responded with donations of supplies and monetary contributions. Do you know that all that took place at the end of August in 2005 or 15 months ago? By now our lives have moved on. And now people look back and say, oh yea, I remember Hurricane Katrina being bad, I wonder how things are going?
In Ocean Springs, Mississippi, Christus Victor Lutheran Church became a disaster response sight. The church opened its doors to all that they could to provide beds, food, and comfort. Soon the need became so large that they moved their work to another facility. Then they linked up with Lutheran Disaster Response, a ministry of the ELCA & LCMS church I believe. Soon truck loads of supplies & volunteers arrived in the gulf to team up together to make a difference.
I joined forces with a member from our sister ELCA church in Las Cruces to organize a team of people to go to the gulf to help. Ten people committed themselves to this effort. We arrived in Ocean Springs on Monday, November 6 and were put to work.
We stayed at Camp Victor (the name of the volunteer camp & food distribution facility) with 230 others ages 18 to 80 from all around the country. There were people here from Pennsylvania, California, Seattle, Minnesota, Wisconsin, New Mexico, to name a few. Some came as individuals and others came in large & small groups. Some drove while others flew in. This week others filled our places as volunteers come and go all year long.
I can tell you that I saw signs of hope returning along the gulf coast. Stores are returning, homes are slowly being attended too. The casinos though are up and running and look great. I guess for those with money reconstruction can happen fairly quickly.
Our small group had two major focuses during our week. We worked on the home of an African-American grandmother by the name of Linder Mason who is raising three of her grandkids. Her home had sustained water and fire damage. The other place we worked was in the Food Distribution Center.
Linder & the grand kids live in a FEMA trailer in the front yard of her home. Virtually all of their possessions are in boxes or loosely stacked under the car port and under the front porch.
At the beginning of the week our team picked up the supplies we thought we needed, loaded the supplies in the trunks of our vehicles and drove 45 minutes to our work site in Pascagoula. Once there we tore down moldy drywall and replaced it and mudded it, we re-hung doors, scrapped tile off the floors, primed and painted bedrooms and hallways, scrubbed out water damaged kitchen cabinets with bleach water, repainted those same cabinets, some minor plumbing and electrical work, and made great progress. We hoped to be the ones to finish the job but that will fall on other volunteers.
The work was hard but felt good. At least we helped one family.
The Food Distribution center is where people from the community come to receive bags of groceries and other supplies. As volunteers we unloaded trucks of donated foods, unpacked boxes and shelved what we could. Some hotels had donated bedspreads and linens that needed to be folded. Cleaning supplies (which surprisingly were in short supply) had to be organized along with paper products, diapers, etc. When people arrive to pick up supplies they are interviewed about their needs and then their order is sent to us. Each family receives 2 or 4 bags of groceries depending on the size of the family plus first-aid supplies, cleaning supplies, linens, and so on which we then take out to their cars or trucks.
Each day started out at 6am. We had breakfast together, packed our lunches for the day and took off. We returned in time for dinner at 5pm. The evening was spent recovering while quietly reading, checking email, chatting with others, working on Soduko puzzles, playing cards or going to bed early. The next day starts it all over again. I have to confess that I haven't physically worked like that in awhile. It felt good.
I hope to go back again.
Monday, October 30, 2006
Saturday, October 28, 2006
Wirefly X Prize Cup in Las Cruces
Do you remember reading about the X prize Cup? It is the private sector effort to promote the science and technology to send ordinary folks into space. A few years ago a $10 million dollar prize was collected by a team of people who designed a ship, I believe they named it Earth One, that took a man to the edge of space and safely returned him. They then turned around and did it again three weeks later.
The Wirefly X Prize Cup is part of that effort to promote space to the general public. A consortium is building a spaceport about 40 miles north of here in Upham, NM. Hopefully commercial rockets will routinely be blasted off from there in the near future.
A few weeks ago The Second Annual X Prize Cup was held in Las Cruces. Last year 20,000 people attended the 2 day event. As a "trekkie" I decided to volunteer to do my part to promote space exploration.
After attending a mandatory FAA training session I joined a large contingent of volunteers from all over the country. I was out at the sight at 5:30 am in order to grab a breakfast burrito and a diet coke before going to work.
It was dark and cool at that time of the morning. My job was to be a "goon" - checking ID badges in order to allow folks into a restricted area. It was a bit lonely. If any of you happened to be watching the webcast I was down below guarding the steps. I did allow a NASA shuttle pilot to go to an interview. That was the closest I came to a celebrity. Apparently Al Gore had been in town a day or two before the event. He was there along with Sam Donaldson, Buzz Aldrin and other VIPs at a symposium.
After my 6 hour shift I took a quick look around and then headed home to get ready for an afternoon wedding. Next year I hope to see more of the event. I did manage to see a few rocket launches including the Lunar Lander challenge that is mentioned in the following article. I also saw a static burn (a rocket engine test), someone using a rocket propelled back-pack like "Rocketman", and a few attempts by different teams to have a vehicle climb a 200 foot ribbon.
The following article appeared in our local publication called "The Bulletin".
Texas Team Take 3 Tries at Lunar Lander Contest
By TODD G. DICKSON
The Las Cruces Bulletin
The two days Of X PRIZE Cup was filled with surprises - mainly, pleasant and sunny weather for launching sounding rockets and powering "space elevators."
Even more surprising was the single team competing for the $2 million NASA Lunar Lander Challenge making a real show of it by making three flights in two days with the same vehicle. .
The fate of Armadillo's Pixel seemed doomed on the first day of the X PRIZE Cup on Friday when it descended too rapidly to a replicated lunar landscape out beyond the Las Cruces International Airport’s runways. The hard landing essentially broke Pixel's four legs and started a fire in its electrical components.
But early in the morning of the X PRIZE Cup's second day, the Armadillo team had put new legs on Pixel and switched out electrical components from Texel,, the backup vehicle identical in its center single engine balanced by four globular tanks holding liquid oxygen and ethanol fuel.
After a seemingly flawless flight and a softer landing, Pixel unfortunately only landed half-on the landing pad and tipped over again.
The third' flight seemed to be the charm when it flew smoothly and landed correctly on the lunar landscape pad, though one of its legs was damaged in the landing. To complete the challenge required a return trip to the-launch pad, but Pixel tipped at takeoff and careened into the desert.
By that time, however, Armadillo's never-say-die had captured the audience who were rooting for the only team to take on the NASA Lunar Lander Challenge for the X PRIZE Cup event.
John Carmack, the Doom game inventor who has been bankrolling the testing of the vertical launch systems at Armadillo's workshop in Texas, put the effort into prospective by noting the two vehicles were developed in six months by a small team of people working part-time on a $200,000 budget. Considering the type of money, time and personnel used on usual NASA projects, "that should shame some of their contractors," Carmack said.
"We provided a little more drama than we would have liked trying to fly with a broken leg," Carmack admitted at the end of the second day.
Although it wasn't flying its racers this year, the Rocket Racing League gained a lot of attention by flying its pace jet for the crowds, having one of the more interactive booths with flight simulators and a merchandising shop, unveiling its new Thunderhawk vehicle and announcing the formation of a New Mexico team.
Compared to last year's Countdown to X PRIZE Cup Expo, this first event had more exhibitors and food-beverage vendors spread across more of the airport field. Buses running spectators back-and-forth from the parking at the Southern New Mexico State Fairgrounds seemed less crowded. ,
Peter Diamandis, X PRIZE Foundation founder and chairman, said an estimated 20,000 people attended the event during the two days, which was the organizer's target number. He also was very pleased by the pleasant weather compared to last year's high winds that scrapped a number of launches - and the excitement generated by Armadillo's attempts to win the first level of the NASA Lunar Lander Challenge. "I was pulling for John like the rest of the crowd," he said.
The end of the last day also brought one last surprise - and a touch of nostalgia for some of the media who have long been following space development in New Mexico. Erik Lindbergh, grandson of aviation pioneer Charles Lindbergh, and Nancy Conrad,m, widow of the late Pete Conrad, announced a new annual award they would be giving to the most inventive spacecraft development. Pete Conrad was the third astronaut to walk on the moon and became a strong supporter of building a spaceport in New Mexico while helping McDonnell Douglas develop its Delta Clipper single-stage rocket at White Sands Missile Range in the 1990s. The new Pete Conrad award will be a traveling trophy given to each year's winner, like the America's Cup, Lindbergh said.
The Wirefly X Prize Cup is part of that effort to promote space to the general public. A consortium is building a spaceport about 40 miles north of here in Upham, NM. Hopefully commercial rockets will routinely be blasted off from there in the near future.
A few weeks ago The Second Annual X Prize Cup was held in Las Cruces. Last year 20,000 people attended the 2 day event. As a "trekkie" I decided to volunteer to do my part to promote space exploration.
After attending a mandatory FAA training session I joined a large contingent of volunteers from all over the country. I was out at the sight at 5:30 am in order to grab a breakfast burrito and a diet coke before going to work.
It was dark and cool at that time of the morning. My job was to be a "goon" - checking ID badges in order to allow folks into a restricted area. It was a bit lonely. If any of you happened to be watching the webcast I was down below guarding the steps. I did allow a NASA shuttle pilot to go to an interview. That was the closest I came to a celebrity. Apparently Al Gore had been in town a day or two before the event. He was there along with Sam Donaldson, Buzz Aldrin and other VIPs at a symposium.
After my 6 hour shift I took a quick look around and then headed home to get ready for an afternoon wedding. Next year I hope to see more of the event. I did manage to see a few rocket launches including the Lunar Lander challenge that is mentioned in the following article. I also saw a static burn (a rocket engine test), someone using a rocket propelled back-pack like "Rocketman", and a few attempts by different teams to have a vehicle climb a 200 foot ribbon.
The following article appeared in our local publication called "The Bulletin".
Texas Team Take 3 Tries at Lunar Lander Contest
By TODD G. DICKSON
The Las Cruces Bulletin
The two days Of X PRIZE Cup was filled with surprises - mainly, pleasant and sunny weather for launching sounding rockets and powering "space elevators."
Even more surprising was the single team competing for the $2 million NASA Lunar Lander Challenge making a real show of it by making three flights in two days with the same vehicle. .
The fate of Armadillo's Pixel seemed doomed on the first day of the X PRIZE Cup on Friday when it descended too rapidly to a replicated lunar landscape out beyond the Las Cruces International Airport’s runways. The hard landing essentially broke Pixel's four legs and started a fire in its electrical components.
But early in the morning of the X PRIZE Cup's second day, the Armadillo team had put new legs on Pixel and switched out electrical components from Texel,, the backup vehicle identical in its center single engine balanced by four globular tanks holding liquid oxygen and ethanol fuel.
After a seemingly flawless flight and a softer landing, Pixel unfortunately only landed half-on the landing pad and tipped over again.
The third' flight seemed to be the charm when it flew smoothly and landed correctly on the lunar landscape pad, though one of its legs was damaged in the landing. To complete the challenge required a return trip to the-launch pad, but Pixel tipped at takeoff and careened into the desert.
By that time, however, Armadillo's never-say-die had captured the audience who were rooting for the only team to take on the NASA Lunar Lander Challenge for the X PRIZE Cup event.
John Carmack, the Doom game inventor who has been bankrolling the testing of the vertical launch systems at Armadillo's workshop in Texas, put the effort into prospective by noting the two vehicles were developed in six months by a small team of people working part-time on a $200,000 budget. Considering the type of money, time and personnel used on usual NASA projects, "that should shame some of their contractors," Carmack said.
"We provided a little more drama than we would have liked trying to fly with a broken leg," Carmack admitted at the end of the second day.
Although it wasn't flying its racers this year, the Rocket Racing League gained a lot of attention by flying its pace jet for the crowds, having one of the more interactive booths with flight simulators and a merchandising shop, unveiling its new Thunderhawk vehicle and announcing the formation of a New Mexico team.
Compared to last year's Countdown to X PRIZE Cup Expo, this first event had more exhibitors and food-beverage vendors spread across more of the airport field. Buses running spectators back-and-forth from the parking at the Southern New Mexico State Fairgrounds seemed less crowded. ,
Peter Diamandis, X PRIZE Foundation founder and chairman, said an estimated 20,000 people attended the event during the two days, which was the organizer's target number. He also was very pleased by the pleasant weather compared to last year's high winds that scrapped a number of launches - and the excitement generated by Armadillo's attempts to win the first level of the NASA Lunar Lander Challenge. "I was pulling for John like the rest of the crowd," he said.
The end of the last day also brought one last surprise - and a touch of nostalgia for some of the media who have long been following space development in New Mexico. Erik Lindbergh, grandson of aviation pioneer Charles Lindbergh, and Nancy Conrad,m, widow of the late Pete Conrad, announced a new annual award they would be giving to the most inventive spacecraft development. Pete Conrad was the third astronaut to walk on the moon and became a strong supporter of building a spaceport in New Mexico while helping McDonnell Douglas develop its Delta Clipper single-stage rocket at White Sands Missile Range in the 1990s. The new Pete Conrad award will be a traveling trophy given to each year's winner, like the America's Cup, Lindbergh said.
Monday, October 23, 2006
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