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I am wonder woman! May 5, 2006

Posted by spacemom in : Nance , add a comment

I must be wonder woman! Or at least I drive in an invisble car!

In the past week, I have had 3 near accidents. It is very frustrating. Today was the most frustrating of all.
I was going straight. A woman was trying to turn left in front of me at a stop sign. The person going the opposite direction WAVED HER ON infront of me. I slammed on the brakes, the horn and nearly hit BOTH of them (to miss her car, I almost hit the car that waved her on). Turns out the guy who waved her on was a cop! And he started yelling at me through the window! WTF???

I am wonder woman!

I did tell my car that it would not be terrible if it got totaled so I could get my new car, but I added the caveats that nobody could get hurt.
sigh!

Doing better May 4, 2006

Posted by spacemom in : Depression , 1 comment so far

Thanks for putting up with me the last few days. It’s been a pain.

I am doing better. I did score that light on Craig’s list. The man selling it had it from his daughter. They were remodeling and she decided that any fixture that came down needed to stay down. The light is 3 years old. Dr. Jay is going to put it up tomorrow. I paid $10.

I am also bidding on eBay on a nice First Leap pad for Luna. She always steals her sister’s. We had the classic "STOP COPYING ME" this morning. It was so funny. Soleil had an itch on her arm and complained, so Luna complained to. I was getting coffee (ah, sweet nectar) and when I got up Soleil was screaming "No Luna, you don’t have an itchy arm. I do! STOP SAYING THAT)
Sigh…
Anyway, retail therapy is helping! Time to get the girls and enjoy the day!

Weather is here…. May 3, 2006

Posted by spacemom in : Depression , 2 comments

"The Weather is here, I wish you were beautiful"….Jimmy Buffett

I am in a very bad place right now. I can’t quite understand it. Some days, I wonder why I bother to get up, but I have 2 kids to drive my out of bed even if it is to cries of "Applesauce Mommy!" The lack of me is really getting to me right now. I know, I know, that sounds so weird.  Seriously, I wonder how much is the weekends. Dr. Jay has joined our temple’s softball team. The Temple Isaiah Red Lox (yes, the puns are amazing).  Every Sunday morning, he has a game. Add to that, he is a switch player between teams 1 (the good traveling team) and team 2 (the not so good, play 10 minutes from home team). Sunday, he was traded twice between the teams, causing him to be late for a game that was 30 minutes from home because, for an hour, he was on the second team. But I digress. I have the girls every Sunday morning this summer. All summer. Plus all Monday, Plus Saturday we do things together, so my "me" time is way way down.

Last night, I went to bed right after Luna went to sleep (after her 30 minute scream because I refused to let her open the dishwasher for the sole purpose of throwing dirty utensils around the kitchen because she was mad at me for taking away her drink that had to be consumed in the kitchen). I watched the end of my hockey game and then found this movie on the IFC. The game was fun, but lacked the excitement I needed. The movie was beyond depressing. I love European films because they are so REAL.

But I couldn’t sleep. I feel detached from the world right now. Not sure why? Just am.
I hate these posts. I feel like I am whining, but on the other hand, this is who I am.

Sigh. I may have scored a chandelier on Craigs’ list. ANYTHING is better than THIS that hangs in our dining room!

Come sail away, come sail away, come sail away with me! May 2, 2006

Posted by spacemom in : Kids, Depression , add a comment

In another life, in another time, I lived on the ocean. The salt air would enter my lungs and I would be one with the sea. My hair would become an unruly mass of curls as the humidity took over and the sea breeze would tussle it around.

However, I live in this life. And I am a terrible swimmer, I don’t tolerate cold water well and I fear drowning. Yet, when I get a whiff of the sea, my soul is pulled in that direction. No wonder I loved living 5 minutes from Long Island Sound.

We went to downtown Boston this weekend. There was a free sailing weekend. We rode for about 20-30 minutes with the kids on a nice sailboat. I wish it was warmer here. I would love to learn how to sail. I would love to sit on a sun drenched deck, my hair a rat’s nest and enjoy the warm breezes from the ocean.

But I live too far north to enjoy that.

Photos are on the left, at the bottom.
Enjoy!

Tagged by Kikalee May 1, 2006

Posted by spacemom in : Weblogs , 1 comment so far

I’ve been tagged by Kikalee. How cool! Johnny has put a twist on this meme, so here it is!

I want you to think of 5 things that people
typically don’t know about your profession OR some questions people
have asked you that you thought, "Well, no one has ever asked me that
question, but I’m sure it’s something many people think about"

You are an astronomer, COOL! What do you do?
I actually have the oh-so-not-cool title of "computer specialist"
which means, "not a PhD". I work on a team of 4 people that work on
the commanding of the ACIS instrument on the Chandra X-ray
Observatory. We basically make sure our instrument is safe and we are
constantly working on getting the most science for the buck (I think
it costs something like $1M per second to operate the spacecraft, yet
we still cost LESS than the Iraq war by a ton!)

So, you have the coolest job on the planet!
No, sorry. I often sit in front of a computer either taking data and smooshing it to death trying to analyze something small or I am writing memos about analyzing the data. Ok, I admit, there are cool parts. I am on duty once every 4 weeks. This means I review the command load for the next week. These are the commands sent to the spacecraft to take the data. We are only in contact with the spacecraft a few times a day, so we create a week’s worth of commands, review it and send it up. However, I also need to respond to spacecraft or instrument emergencies. That can be a pain during bath time or at 4am, when these things generally seem to happen. Before Kids, I would also go observing at ground based telescopes for research. That is much harder to do now and I let Dr. Jay do that. But man, that was fun to hang around Kitt Peak or Cerro Tololo.

How did you get this job?
I majored in astronomy/planetary sciences and physics for my bachelors degree. I then stayed an extra year before applying to grad schools. I ended up deciding to stay with Dr. Jay instead of taking Ohio State’s offer. In staying with Dr. Jay, I decided to get a Master’s degree in astrophysics instead of  getting a PhD. When he was hired for his job,I flooded the Center for Astrophysics for jobs, and got hired for a data jockey job. I have switched jobs three times since I got here.

I hear you went to Hawaii on the government’s dollar?
Yep! You heard it here first! Many astronomical meetings are held in places that people want to come to. Why? So people come to them! Also, in this case, the organizer works at the University of Hawaii. We often travel to cool places for meetings because astronomy is a small field with a large international contingency. I am technically a government worker because I am employed by the Smithsonian Institution and the Chandra moneys come from a contract with NASA. (follow all of that). Even with all of that fun sounding stuff, I am not truly a "federal" because I am payed from the "trust fund" for theSmithsonian, not from "federal". Very confusing, but the upshot is I get my money from the National Finance Center run by the Department of Agriculture (yeah, that’s what’s wrong with our country, the Farmers run the money).

Really, did work pay for your trip?
Actually, yes and no. I also do some scientific research as part of my job. To actually observe with Chandra, you have to propose and if you win the time (after a group of scientists review your proposal), then you get money to pay for your research. This money (called a grant) can be used to pay for computers to work on the data, hiring a data jockey to work on the data or travel to meetings to discuss the data or to meet with your collaborators. In that case, I used research money to go to Hawaii. And I did work. In May, when I go to Orlando, I am on Chandra money because this is straight for my job. I am presenting results from a project I am working on for ACIS.