Flip Book

The fallowing is what happens when you have to much time on your hands… I started messing with Paint (the program, not actual paint) and just kept on going…ENJOY!!!

Advanced Acdemy Training & Weird Formating

Yummy Gatoraid… breakfast is served starting at 7:30, guess when training started… this and breakfast bars were my breakfast for the week.(top to bottom: My Advanced wings from training, My Academy wings from when I came as a kid, & my camp wings from my January counselor graduation.) and my training manual…

(Picturs left to right: The Iron Man Face of out egg, the face I drew on our egg, our Rocket the JERICO on the launch pad,and our egg after launch.)

I started writing this several days ago but just got around to publishing it, so its a little out of date. This past week, after a wonderful week at home, I started right back into work with doubles (shifts). I was working from 7:30am-9pm. In the mornings I was doing Advanced Academy training. In other words, training so I can work with the high schoolers. There were 17 of us (out of like 40 who signed up) 2 of whom were already trained but had to go through some of the training again because there are some difference between the 6 day programs of the off season and the 8 day program of the summer.

Some of the cool stuff we got to do during training include going down to AC (Aviation Challenge… they do fighter plane stuff instead of space stuff) and try out the flight simulators. I crashed a lot, and got lost. When we did the air craft carrier part I took off ok but then couldn’t find the carrier again. We also got to do some of the water activities that simulate a helicopter crash in the water. If I can get some of the pictures from one of the people I work with I’ll be able to show you cause if I try to explain it, it will make no sense.

We also got to do something we can Egg Rocketry. We (well, the kids really, but we got to try it) get certain pieces to design and build a rocket. After several tests a raw egg is placed inside (and hopefully protected in some way) and launched. The object is to still have your egg in one piece after it lands. This is done in teams of about 4 or so (or for us counselors, eight) My team did not win due to several factors.

I also learned more than anyone who doesn’t work for NASA or one of NASA’s contractors should ever know about the shuttle and its systems. We also had two tests to take. The first on all the information we need to know to be able to run Advanced missions. It was split into 5 parts and each was graded separately. To pass we had to get a certain amount right in each section. 10 of 12, 6 of 7, all 7, etc… If we missed more than allowed on a section we had to retake that section the next day. Out of the 15 of us who had to take the section, 10 of us had to retake at least one part. With the retake we got 2 bonus questions. See if you can get this one right: “There are 17 sheep in a field. All but 6 die. How many sheep are in the field.” The other test we had to take was on Orbiter Systems (the orbiter this the part of the shuttle that looks like an air plane that everyone thinks is called the shuttle.) So basically the test was about the systems that filter the water, run the AC,electrical power, hydraulics, computers and other stuff. Didn’t see my grade for this one but I assume I passed casue we all graduated on Friday. I got some nifty new wings now.

After we graduated I had a couple of hours before I started a long weekend of mission trainings and missions. Eight teams… which adds up to 16 hours in a little space station. All in all I think I’ve worked about 77 hours this past week alone.

This week I am working the Advanced Academy missions. I didn’t do to bad today. Especially since I had to help out in two other areas that I wasn’t really prepared for. Friday will be a lot of fun becasue they have their 6 hours missions and we get to have a lot of fun with them, giving them medical anomalies and stuff. Like if they stand up while they are ‘launching’ we get to tell them they have a broken arm and stuff like that.

I get my first Advanced team Friday, June 6. Not only is it my first team longer than 3 days, but I have doubles so I get them 16 hours a day for 8 days. I’ll let you all know if I’m still alive at the end of it.

I’m going to stop writing now or else I’ll start to ramble…

NEW CAR!!

Last week I spent most of my Saturday at the Hyundai dealership in Greensboro with Dad and after a few hours Mom joined us. We traded my Volvo in for a 2008 Hyundai Elantra. I got a new car! (and car payments!) I love my car. It’s got a CD player, a place to plug in my iPod, XM radio (free for 3 months), sun roof, heated cloth seats, nice windshield wipers. And then there is the important stuff acording to dad, the ESC (electronic stability control.)

I also managed to put about 500 miles on it in about a day of owning it. Guess thats what happens when I drive through 4 states the day after I get it.

Pictures to come when I have the time and my car is clean…

I spent the last week at home in NC. I saw lots of family on mothers day, also saw lots of movies. I went to see Ironman with JJ and Matthew. It wasn’t exactly what I was expecting (not sure what I was expecting) but I liked it a lot. It was better than some of the other Marvel movies I’ve seen (Spiderman 3 for example). I saw Narnia: Prince Caspian with mom. It was amazing! I remembered some of it from the book. I brought mu Narnia books on CD back with me so that maybe I will get around to ‘reading’ them. I have till 2010 to read the Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

The other really good movie I saw was Music Within. It was terrific! It’s about this guy who comes back from the Vietnam War mostly deaf. It goes through his life and the process of creating the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act). There is even a special feature with the real guy talking about his life and why he made the ADA. This is definitely a must see movie!

the wait is over!

At long last the month long wait to see if I was one of the few to get chosen to do Advanced Academy (our High School program) is over! I was on the phone with mom when my phone started beeping like I had another call, I ignored it cause I thought it was dad calling me back when I didn’t need my question for him answered anymore. Found out when I checked my voice mail that it was one of the managers letting me know that I got Advanced. YAY!!!!!!!!! That means that I got more training in a week and a half… cool. I am so excited. I really didn’t want to spend another whole summer with an age group I really don’t like all that much.

um… yeah, that is all I got tonight. Just had to let ppl know.

This past week working Atlantis Station, means that I had a lot of time that I didn’t really have all that much to do. A lot of times I’ll bring a book or something. Ashley, the counselor running mission control had all her markers and colored pencils and had started doodling on her schedule. these were not ordinary pencils though, they were Crayola twistable colored pencils. Later that night I was at target and ended up buying my own and a coloring book to go with it. The next day (Tuesday) another friend , Elaine saw me coloring in my new coloring book and also commented on the cool colored pencils. Then on Wednesday (my birthday) Elaine and Kim came by the MCC floor to bring me a present… two GIANT coloring books (Disney Princess and Pirates of the Caribbean) and double ended twistable crayons. I’m 23 and I got coloring books for my birthday…

I also got the usual from grandma and a purple post-it note from mom. Well, I am really getting the DVD and soundtrack of August Rush but I have to wait till I get home. The fact I was getting them was written on a purple post-it note though.

Went out to lunch with some friends on Friday to a new restaurant (to us any way). It was called the Furniture Factory. Weird name i know. We got carded to see if we were at least 19 cause it was a smoking establishment. Even though we sat on the non smoking side and we were all over 21. The lady said we looked young, which I suppose we do, but not that young. Then again, When we went out to eat when we were in TN for Maya’s B-day, Dad was carded and he is in his mid 50’s.

Went up to Sewanee to see Josh, Julia and Maya for the weekend. Maya can now walk if she holds onto your fingers. She also knows a few baby signs like: more, all done, down, dog, flower, and frog. She is adorable.