In return for the free food and housing I get as an RA at Space Camp, I have a week of on ‘On Call’ every 6 weeks or so. ‘On Call’ just means that if any campers (or Trainees as we call them) need anything in the middle of the night, get sick and need to go to the ER, or are being to noisy after lights out, I get woken up to deal with it. Luckily I have not yet (knock on wood) been woken up in the middle of the night while “On Call’. When the tornado’s went through the beginning of February all RA’s were woken up to help with all the campers. That was a great night cause I felt like crap. So, I’m ‘On Call’ this week for the second time since I started working here. That means I have to be in my room from 11pm until 7am just in case I get a call or security comes knocking on my door. Some times I don’t mind, I’m usually in my room by 11 any way. but then there are nights like Wednesday when I want to go out with people. It was about 9pm when a couple people said something about going to get something to eat. I didn’t eat much for dinner cause it was nasty burger night, so I went along. I drove separately so I could be back in my room by 11. We ended up going to chillies and most of us got appetizers. I did end up having to leave before the other 3 to get back on time but still had plenty of time to sit and eat with my friends/coworkers. The one bad thing about the whole evening (besides the rude waitress) was that I kept looking at my watch because I didn’t want to be late, and since I would be getting back after 10pm it meant signing in with security when I got back so there would be a log saying I wasn’t where I was supposed to be if I was late. I was on time, and nobody needed me in the middle of the night, so all is was well. Only 3 nights left!
Last week I had off from Wednesday afternoon until Monday evening. Since I didn’t want to spend those 5 days in my little box of a room I decided to take a little road trip on Saturday and Sunday. I drove up to Chattanooga and went to the aquarium. Buying tickets online is definitely the way to go. There was a really long line when I got there Saturday afternoon but since I had pre-ordered them I got to get into a much smaller, quicker line. I Started out in the river place as usual. I got to see the Otters (my favorite) active for the first time ever (that I remember anyway). I got some video of them that I’ll post sometime. took a ton of pictures all the way through. Went and saw a #D IMAX movie, something about preastpric sea monsters. It was pretty cool. then I went over to the new ocean building and saw the penguins, some more sharks and some other stuff to. Before I headed back to my car I stopped and got some Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream (Guess what flavor!)
I thought about driving back to Huntsville or calling Josh and Julia but ended up staying at a hotel about 20 minutes on my way. I spent the evening enjoying the cable TV to myself, the big bed and room in the shower to shave. All in all, it was a very pleasant little trip.
I spent the drive listening to a book on CD that I started when I first drove down here. It’s called ‘The Lion’s Game, by Nelson DeMille. I had read a few of DeMille’s other books and enjoyed them but it is a different experience to listen to them. The guy who reads it is awesome. I had not yet finished it by the time I got back to the USSRC so I spent the rest of the day finishing it. A very good book. just when you think it’s over and they are solving the mystery, something else happens.
I think that is about all I’ve got for now so i’m going to leave it at this. here is a list of the pictures shown… the sign outside my door (for three more nights), all the astronomy and space books I’ve bought since coming here, a funny looking Sea Horse, some Otter pics, an Alligator (or maybe a Crocodile?), A Diver in the tank, an ugly fish, cool Crabs, Jelly fish, and me enjoying my ice cream.
