Seventeen years, not thirty.  I’m not old enough to have been around for all thirty years of the Space Shuttle program, and I didn’t know about the Space Shuttle Program until I was around ten.  We moved into a house that had a permanent satellite dish in the yard.  The dish was so big, that it had to stay with the house when the previous owners left. It turns out there are free channels that you could get on satellite back then and one of them was NASA TV.

This was in the winter of 1994 / 1995.  The Space Shuttle program was going strong.  It had been nine years since the Challenger disaster and America was starting to believe that we could do space travel regularly.  The United States had just started a partnership with Russia to actually send Space Shuttles to Russian’s orbiting space station called MIR.

I don’t remember which launch was the first one I watched.  It must have been somewhere around STS-63 in Feb of 1995.  As an Eleven year old, I remember following the different US astronauts that stayed on MIR for extended periods of time, riding up on one Space Shuttle, and then back down on another.  I remember taking cardboard boxes as kids and making rockets in the Family Room.  We would lay on our backs with our legs up on the piano bench and boxes with dials and numbers scribbled on them lying next to us.  We would do the countdown and finally, blastoff.  My grandparents bought me a complete Lego Space Shuttle kit and I would act out the entire countdown experience with the Lego men.  I even took a complete roll of pictures on Dad’s camera of my Lego space shuttle, only to get the pictures back and see that they were all out of focus (he was not happy).

I have warm memories of those early flights.  I would literally camp in front of the TV for the full three hours of the countdown coverage if at all possible.  To most of you, this would be pretty dull television.  Up until liftoff there are no explosions, no fast moving TV shots, very little drama in fact.  The crew goes through the exact same set of steps that every crew goes through.  When TV coverage begins they are just finishing up tanking, and the crew is just having breakfast, then the crew suites up.  There is a team that checks the launch vehicle for ice problems.  The crew gets into the Astrovan and drives to the launch pad.  They spend over an hour getting into the Orbiter and then there’s an hour of communication checks and the crew verifies that all the switches are set for launch inside the cockpit.  Finally after all that time, the Shuttle Launch Director would give the go for launch and the final nine minutes would click away.  Then I would see what most of the rest of the world would tune in to see, the two minutes of launch up until the Solid Rocket Booster fall off.  Then everyone else tuned out, but there was another seven minutes after that before the Shuttle was in orbit.  Finally, after eight and a half minutes of powerful flight, the main engines cut off, and the Space Shuttle is in orbit.

This sequence happened every time, again and again.  But I loved every second of it.  I could predict what was about to happen.  I could listen to the cryptic communications between all of the ground crews as they got ready to launch and after a few launches I could tell you whether things were going well, or not.  Even before the announcer (George Diller) told us what was going on, I could tell if things were progressing towards a launch, or if we were headed towards a scrub.  There was a certain thrill during every launch attempt.  Would they launch, or would they have to stand down for another attempt?  A problem has come up: Can the team figure out a resolution in time to get off the ground?  Will they have to scrub?  Will they have to stand down for several days?  Maybe even roll back to the Vehicle Assembly Building?

I loved every minute of every countdown.  I knew what date every launch was set for and kept track on my school calendar.  In the days leading up to a launch I would watch the morning status briefings.  I knew the participants by name.  Shuttle Launch Director Mike Leinbach, and Shuttle Weather Officer Kathy Winters were my favorite two to watch.  They would give detailed reports on how things were going technically, and what the weather looked like for launch day.  Then launch day I would plan my whole day around the launch time.  If the launch was in the morning and we were doing school, I would do my school in the Family room as I watched the countdown.  If the launch was in the middle of the night I would set my alarm and sleep on the couch.  I even devised a way to fit my wristwatch in between my teeth headgear and my ear so that the alarm would blare right into my ear.

Some of my clearest memories of the Space Shuttle program involve a Thanksgiving launch.  I’m not sure which one it was, but I remember the Johnsons were over and I had convinced Mom to let me be slightly anti-social and watch the countdown on and off.  Then we got the whole family down in the family room for the final countdown.  Uncle Craig shouted “Booom” as a joke after liftoff and made all of us jump.  I also remember our Home School visitor teacher was scheduled to come during a countdown and I convinced her to work the launch in around her visitation.  She even stayed for the launch.  The most exciting countdown that I remember during those years was one which halted at 31 seconds to let the liquid fuel pressure stabilize.  A few minutes holding, and they were ready to pick the count back up.  That was the first off-nominal launch countdown that I remember.

But it wasn’t just the Space Shuttle that I enjoyed.  I loved everything about space.  I would print off the NASA Calendar which outlined everything about space from rocket Launches to Comets to Meteor Showers and when they would be visible.  I followed the launch of the Mars Pathfinder mission and watched the few Mars missions followed.  I enjoyed the countdowns of the satellite rockets nearly as much as the Space Shuttle.  I particularly enjoyed the Delta II rocket because of its nine strap-on boosters which fall away in quick succession about two minutes into flight.

As I got into Jr. High and High School, NASA changed their satellite TV format and we could no longer pick them up on our receiver.  We didn’t have high speed internet yet, and NASA hadn’t switched over to an online broadcast, so my ability to watch the launches fell off.  My interest faded as well as school and life began to be more important to me.  I thought I was growing up and that my love for space would slowly die away as I got older.

It was during this time that we lost the Space Shuttle Columbia.  I was sad, almost embarrassed, that I had not witnessed it live.  It almost felt like I had let the crew down because I hadn’t watched the mission.  It took this loss to realize that I loved the Space Shuttle Program now just as much as I ever did in the 90’s.

I was thrilled a year and a half later to see Discovery take to the skies again.  I was so glad that America and NASA had pushed past the disaster and had returned to the skies.  But we lost more than the crew in 2003 to the Colombia disaster.  The Nation’s view of the Space Shuttle Program changed over time.  The Space Shuttle was no longer viewed as a necessity.  And it was now viewed as dangerous.  Questions were asked: Why are we flying a dangerous vehicle spending money on things we don’t need?  In 2005, the Space Shuttle Program was discontinued.  The president instructed NASA to complete construction of the International Space Station, and then to retire the Space Shuttle.  This was to happen no later than the year 2010.  Suddenly my interest for the Space Shuttle program grew tenfold.  I only had five years left before the program would end.  I couldn’t image not having a Space Shuttle program.  It had been such a special part of my childhood.

I followed the missions more closely through college.  It was harder to fit them in around my classes, and I had less drive to get up in the middle of the night (especially if it involved waking up my roommate with my alarm), but I followed the missions in the news.  I was thrilled that we were still building the Space Station.  We were going to have a permanent presence in space.  I loved that we were partnering with so many nations, and how we were doing things that were not possible just as a single US nation.

At the end of college I was given an amazing gift by my parents and grandparents; the opportunity to go to Florida and see a Space Shuttle launch live.  It was so special, so incredible.  The first trip down, we didn’t get to see a launch, but it was amazing just to see the Space Port of the United States.  It was so advanced, and yet it was run by normal humans just like me.  The Space Station itself was being built in nothing more than a glorified warehouse.  This didn’t discourage me; it made me appreciate so much more that normal people were the ones who were putting the Shuttle into space.  These weren’t super-humans; they were everyday people like me.

It took a few more launch attempts before I saw a launch live, and during that time we experienced the final launch of the Space Shuttle Discovery.  This awakened in me the realization of what it was going to be like on the last launch of the Space Shuttle.  There were only two more to go.  Only twice more would I be able to sit through a live countdown.  Only twice more would I hear George Diller (the voice of the Space Shuttle countdown).  Only twice more would I see the vehicle that is the Space Shuttle lift off the ground and rise majestically into the sky.  Only two more missions, two more dockings, two more un-dockings, two more deorbits, and two more calls of “Wheel Stop.”

I saw the 2^nd to last launch live, what was the Final launch of Space Shuttle Endeavour.  It was an emotionally charged moment.  I was so proud of what our nation had done, but I knew it was just another last; the last flight of Endeavour, the last major part brought to the Space Station, the last full crew to ride on the Space Shuttle.  And I silently mourned for my favorite orbiter, Endeavour.  If I ever wanted to see her again, it would be in a Museum in California.

And then, only two months later, we were getting into the final countdown preparations for Atlantis, what would be THE last space shuttle launch.  I watched the pre-launch new conferences as I had done for seventeen years.  I watched Kathy give the very poor forecasts for launch day and couldn’t decide if I wanted it to delay so we had one more countdown, or if I just wanted it to go so we could have a final on-time launch.  Launch day came and I couldn’t go to work.  I couldn’t watch the last launch from my cubicle.  The launch was in the morning, so I would only have to miss a half day.  I listened to George give his final commentary.  The weather improved all morning, and I became convinced we were going to launch.  The close out crews all gave their farewells; there were numerous final goodbyes by the various members of the launch team.

Then we had one last bit of excitement to remember Atlantis by.  At 31 seconds the clocks held and the millions of people watching held their breath.  The gaseous arm had retracted, but the sensors had not triggered telling the computer that the arm had, in fact, fully retracted.  Two minutes later, mission control was able to get a camera pointed at the arm and verified that it was all the way back.  They gave the go, and with just minutes to spare before the window closed, Atlantis roared off the pad one final time.

I’ll never forget that climb to orbit.  She cleared the pad, rolled over and headed up into a partly cloudy sky.  As she passed through Mach 1 and a wonderful shock wave formed around the whole vehicle, she shot through the clouds.  A camera on the belly of the orbiter captured the climb up through the separation of the SRB’s and then on up until the eight and a half minute mark.

As Atlantis rolled over on its final ride to orbit and the Main Engine flame went from white to blue to black, the weight of it all settled on me.  Never again will I see this, this is the end of a huge part of my life.  The future is exciting, but the Space Shuttle is what I love.  I will miss it; remember it fondly, forever…

This video shows some of the timeline and the actual launch video:

I wanted to write about this last launch attempt, specifically because the launch experience is so much more than just watching the shuttle go.  I wanted to get my thoughts on “paper” since it was such a unique experience.

Laura and I were required to show up at the bus pickup location at 11:00 PM Sunday night.

Let me first back up and tell you, if you don’t already know, that Saturday was not a small day.  My brother, Alex, got married and Laura and I were both in the wedding.  Now here we were only the next day getting on a plane at noon, flying to Florida, driving for several hours, and finally getting to our hotel at 7 PM.

Needless to say, we were ready for a full nights sleep by then, but we only had time for a short cat nap and we were up again by 9 PM getting packed and ready for the night.

We left the hotel and took the short ten minute drive up to Cape Canaveral where the buses picked us up.  We had tickets with a 3rd party tour company.  The plan was for them to pick us up in Cape Canaveral, drive us to the visitor center where we would all go through security (even the buses), then they would pick us back up from inside the visitor center and drive us to the viewing location.

We got to Cape Canaveral and got in line for the first time that night.  There would be many, many more lines.  One of the fun parts about attending something like this is that you know that every other person there is just as crazy as you and loves space and the space shuttle program just as much as you do.  Why else would anyone stay up all night standing in lines for something that may end up being scrubbed at the last minute.

Our tour company opened the gates to the buses at 11 PM and we filed in showing our tickets from the previous launch.  We were on bus #33 which everyone decided was lucky because that meant we only had to remember one number.  The tour company must have been family run because throughout the evening we met the mother, father, wife and aunt of our tour guide.  He was a lot of fun, if not a bit full of himself.

After waiting for everyone to finish getting on the buses, we drove the 30 minute drive to the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex.  Once we arrived we were given our green tickets to allow us to get out onto the causeway.  Then we got into a massive line to go through security.  This was around midnight.

Once we got in to the Visitor Complex we knew we should go to the Space Shop first because last time it was swamped with people by the time we thought of buying anything and the lines to purchase anything wrapped around the whole store.  So we went and bought our STS 134 coins and a program and then settled into another line to re-board the buses.  It was beautiful outside in the warm Florida evening air.

We got in line around 1 AM and the line didn’t move until around 3 AM.  We dozed in and out of sleep as we waited.  At after 3 AM we boarded the buses again, and then slept on them for another 3 hours.  Finally around 6 AM the bus was actually rolling to the causeway.  We had been teased all night by seeing the spot lights on the space shuttle shooting up into the night sky, but we hadn’t seen it yet.  As we crossed onto the causeway, I got my first shot of the space shuttle Endeavour sitting on her launch pad.

The causeway is really just a road across the river with about 70 feet of grass on each side.  Somewhere around 60 buses bring people out to the causeway and park in a huge 3 x 20 line.  Concession, port-a-potties and massive speakers make it feel almost like the 4th of July.  Here’s a shot at about 6:30 AM of the causeway area.

Everyone made a mad rush for the north side of the causeway to stake out our spots.  We grabbed a slightly larger area than we needed, so a nice guy from Jersey asked to setup his tri-pod next to mine.  He even said he would send any pictures he took to my email after the launch.  Once the tri-pod was set up, I was able to take a stable shot from just over 6 miles away of the space shuttle Endeavour.

Until the sun came up, it was a bit cool so we curled up with our large beach towl.

There was a dense cloud deck to the east, and as the sun peaked over the clouds, it started to warm the causeway.

Everything started to ramp up after the sun came up.  The thick clouds cleared and the winds were not a problem.  Everything was go for launch.  The shuttle launch director gave the go to launch Endeavour and we all held our breath on the causeway for the final 10 minutes before launch.

Up until 31 seconds before launch, any number of things can cause the team to scrub the launch, but once we hit 31 seconds the computers on board the space shuttle take over, and it’s very rare to scrub at that point.  Everyone on the causeway gets excited and you can feel the anticipation.

I chose to video the launch since I love being able to hear the crowd react to the launch.  I knew that I would have hundreds of pictures all over the web to choose from if I wanted pictures.  You can watch the video I took of the launch here.  I’ll walk you through what it was like on the causeway for each major frame of the video.

Just before launch the orbiter access arm (used by the crew to get in Endeavour) is retracted.  Next the vent arm is retracted from the top of the External Tank.

At 31 seconds to launch everyone gets real intense.  You hear this at the beginning of the video above.  We’re all real sure we’re going to launch now!

Everyone starts counting with the announcer at 10 seconds and we’re just praying nothing last minute goes wrong.

The main engines light at just over 6 seconds until launch.  A fire orange glow can be seen at the base of the shuttle which is quickly blocked by the building cloud.  Everyone goes wild as the cloud builds because that means we’re moments from liftoff.

The Solid Rocket Boosters light at 1 second to liftoff.  The entire space shuttle has been blocked by the exhaust cloud at this point.  We’re just waiting for the announcer to say the words “Lift Off”.

As “Lift Off” comes across the speakers a cheer can be heard across the entire Causeway – over to the visitor center – and across the entire space coast.  The orange External Tank climbs slowly out from behind the white cloud and the Space Shuttle quickly picks up speed.

The crowd is literally going wild as Endeavour climbs off the pad and rolls counter clockwise to head out over the Atlantic Ocean.  As the entire vehicle climbs out from behind the exhaust cloud at the pad, the intense orange ripply flame coming from the Solid Rocket Boosters is so intense that you almost can’t look at it.  No video I have ever watched of a launch has captured that intensely bright orange.  I was also impressed to see the difference in color of the two exhaust clouds.  The cloud coming off the main engines (which is mostly just steam) was much whiter than the cloud coming out of the Solid Rocket Boosters.

As the shuttle approached the thin cloud deck, a halo of orange reflected off the clouds and closed in on the shuttle.  The shuttle seemed to cut a hole through the clouds and then was gone.

The clouds were broken higher up in the sky so everyone immediately moved their gaze to the break in the clouds, holding our breath as we waited to see it again.  As it burst through the crack in the clouds the crowd cheered with renewed energy.  The orange of the flame against the blue sky with the white clouds framing it was an incredible image.

Over 30 seconds after the launch, the sound of the main engines lighting hits us.  Six seconds later, the sound of the solid rocket boosters hits the crowd and the air literary shakes around you.  Every hair on my legs was vibrating.  Explosion after explosion passes over you like the grand finally of every Forth of July exploding around you at once.

Two minutes in to flight, the Solid Rocket Boosters separate.  We couldn’t see it because of the clouds, but a large cheer went up from the crowd since the orbiter was now well on it’s way to orbit.  We all started cleaning up and I had our Jersey friend snap this picture of us with the exhaust cloud in the background.

Everyone was grinning as we boarded the buses on the way back to the drop off location.  Traffic wasn’t terrible so we got back to our hotel a little after 10 AM.  We were both exhausted, but it had been an incredible day.

Thanks to everyone for all the support and prayers and emotional distress you went through with us.  Thanks to God for giving us this incredible experience!

We read through ours before we moved in and note that “A tree fell on the house several years ago, everything has been repaired.”  After the inspector went through, we didn’t see any evidence that our house had been the victim of a tree falling on it, so we figured it must have been a small tree and not a big issue.

We did find some mysteries in our house as we went to repair it.  We found two cracks in the western and southern foundations of the house.  We noted that a window on the western wall of the master bedroom had been replaced.  The kitchen was completely remodeled, but other parts of the house looked original.  When we replaced the fans in the bedrooms, we were surprised that the electrical in the master bedroom was more recent than the electrical in the other bedrooms.  All of this isn’t completely unusual, people update their houses all the time.  What we never thought was that all the upgrades were actually connected!

The very week we moved in, upon meeting the neighbors, almost the first thing they said was “Want to see pictures of the tree that fell on your house?”  Naturally we agreed.  This was no small tree.  The tree sat between our house and the house to our West.  It appears to have been planted when the house was built, or probably even before that.  It is most likely a maple tree.  Other details of the tree’s life and family lineage were not released.

I forgot to get copies of the pictures from the first set of neighbors we met, but several months later, another set of neighbors showed us the same pictures and I was able to get copies, and now I present them for your enjoyment.  Since I was able to scan them, I can point out some key points that might be missed when just looking at the 4 x 6 pictures.

Note that the event happened on or just before May 8th or the year 2000.  You can talk to anyone in my neighborhood that has been there for more than ten years, and they know the event, and they know my house.

May 8th dawned stormy.  In fact, according to weather-underground, we didn’t get much past the Dawn because a wind gust of 45+ mph went through right around 6 AM, and it’s my belief that that is what fell the tree.  The Whitmore’s were early risers and had vacated the West half of the house.  They heard the huge tree crash through their bedroom and they rushed outside, thankful they weren’t hurt.  They weren’t prepared for the sight they saw.

They took this picture from their backyard under the shade of another tree (that has since fallen).  Notice the tree completely smashes through their bedroom, continues through the bathroom, and comes out above the kitchen.  It appears the only thing that stopped the tree from falling further into the house was the concrete foundation.  Click on each image for a bigger view!

That's a big tree!

A closer up view of the side of the house reveals that the tree just missed the closet and fell straight through the middle of the bedroom.  Note the dirt thrown up against my neighbor’s house as the tree was uprooted.

Side Yard

A wider view from the backyard shows that while the tree came out over the kitchen, the canopy of the tree lays all the way past the garage!

Back Yard Wide

Notice the roof and how it sags on the West side of the house where the tree has just come down.  There are also tree branches strewn about the yard, indicating that this is probably the same day as the storm.

Then the show began.  Naturally someone called the news to capture this story.  A news reported showed up soon after and began recording the disaster.  I did some quick hunting on the internet to see if the news report is viewable, but it was over 10 years ago and I found nothing.  I can’t tell which news agency it is either, possibly NBC based on the emblem on his microphone.  I do feel bad for the guy, having to run the camera and give the report all by himself.  Maybe it was a big news day for the rest of the town too.

Reporting

This guy is hard core, notice the intense expression on his face.  And he’s standing right next to the newly fallen tree which could settle at any moment and take him and his camera out.  Also, notice his Gatorade water bottle to his left and the cream cheese – wait cream cheese?

Maybe it helps keep him calm while he reports.

More reporter’s showed up later that day (including this one with his own camera man, but no cream cheese).

More Reporters

The tree was so large, they had to send for a crane.  By this time in the day, the tree falling on the house was known around the neighborhood and it was becoming a real event.  People were setting up lawn chairs and preparing to watch the crane do it’s job.

The Crane

Chainsaw experts cut away as much of the tree as possible before the crane would get to work.  I like the way one of the guys is holding the other guy on the roof.  And the shirtless guy is just hanging out.

Cut the Tree

Finally the crane pulled out the huge stump and the shredder machine chewed up the brush.  The afternoon wore on and the tree was completely removed.  Note the tree across the street.  It too has branches that have fallen down.  This was quite a storm.

Pile of Wood

This didn’t fix the house though.  The tree had smashed through the bedroom, the bathroom, and into the kitchen.

The Whitemore’s snapped this picture from inside the living room showing the tree falling down into the Kitchen.  We were actually blessed that the tree fell, because it means the kitchen was completely remodeled.  Even some of the bathroom and master bedroom were replaced.  Here’s the kitchen in May of 2000 – a bit worse for wear.

Kitchen

Note that the time is 12:09 PM, and the huge branch through the kitchen.  I also think it’s cool that the drawers have been removed from the island.  There must have been some important items in the drawers.

And here is is in spring of 2010.  Much better!

Kitchen Now

We are now down to only one “native” tree on our property that was original to the building of the house.  All the other trees have fallen or were torn down.  None of the other trees were nearly as exciting as this one though!

But never fear, we’ve managed to  have a great time despite some of the negative similarities.

The weather shaped up real fine this morning for a launch this afternoon.  The winds were forecast to be a bit high, but the forecasts were getting better with each time around.

We headed out to the Kmart pick up point for our tour company at about 6 am this morning.  The tour company was very unorganized and we sat around until about 9 am before we finally got moving.  The poor tour guide that was on our bus was actually not a part of the tour company at all, and was about as frustrated as we were about all the waiting around and lack or organization.  He even told us he thought he was going to get to see the launch as a bystander, and then showed up at 3:30AM to find that he was actually going to be a guide.

They started fueling the shuttle around 8:30 I think while we were still sitting at KMart.  They start filling real slow and then once everything looks good they kick it into fast fill mode.  Filling the tank builds up pressure in the tank because they start with the output vent closed.  As the pressure builds they cycle the vent value open and closed to keep the pressure in the range that they like.  As they cycled the valve open and closed a “significant” leak appeared at the vent valve.  After cycling the value a few times and seeing no improvement of the leak they decided that they needed to scrub the launch for today.

Now all this happened before we made it to the space center since we were being disorganized at KMart.  Turns out to be a bit of a blessing that we sat around for so long because they scrubbed the launch before we used any of our tickets so they’re still good.

Then they also found a large crack in the foam on the tank next to the orbiter.  This would have probably caused a scrub even if they hadn’t had the leak because a large chunk of cracked foam could come off during ascent and strike the orbiter, which is a very bad thing indeed.

So we didn’t have a launch today.  We sat behind some Canadians on the bus and they were very upset indeed and the wife kept telling her husband to stop “badgering” him.  I might need to start using the word badger.

Because this wasn’t a weather delay, but a mechanical issue that involves draining the tank completely, the delay forced a 72 hour delay.  This of course means that the next opportunity was on Monday which is after the window closes.  There was some talk about whether the window could be extended to Monday, and early this morning Nasa had decided that Monday was an option for launch.  We were planning on leaving Sunday, so this posed a large dilemma.  Should we change our plans and stay until Monday?  This means canceling the flight (or extending it to Thursday) finding another way home, getting another couple of days for the rental car and finding another hotel.

Laura and I went to McDonald’s to get some quality food to help us think.  I grabbed the laptop so we could see if any final decisions had been made by Nasa.  We were having some troubles connecting to the wifi when a man about Grandpa’s age (but obviously not with Grandpa’s technical skills) looked over my shoulder.  He asked if I was having any luck getting on the network.  He had an iPad and was trying to find out information about the launch as well.  However he couldn’t get on McDonald’s network.  We troubleshooted the network issues and finally got both our computers up and running.  Turns out he and his wife had come down with another couple to see the launch and they were having the same troublesome week we were (as far as the launch goes).

We chatted with them for a while and tried to figure out whether Nasa really was going to try for Monday or not.  We finally parted ways and wished each other luck.  Laura and I headed to StarBucks and watched the 1 PM news conference.

Finally Nasa made the decision to wave the Monday launch attempt and move the next launch attempt to November 30th.  This was due to the amount of work required to get ready for Monday, only to have one day to launch.  This means we will not see a space shuttle launch this time around in Florida.

I am disappointed, yes, but we still had an excellent vacation which was very relaxing and enjoyable.  I’ll post some more highlights from the 2nd half of the trip later.

Right now we need to get some dinner soon.  We watched this show on the food channel with real good looking grilled food so I need some grilled meat real bad.

We’ll put pictures up once we get home.

Thanks for all your prayers.  God will answer them all, just maybe not how we expect.

So what have we been up to for the last five days?  Here’s a short summary of our trip.

We had a lovely flight down and sat next to a guy named Kurt.  He even played Phase Ten with us!

We stayed at the Double Tree for 80% off (thanks priceline) for the first night because our flight was on Thursday, but the resort didn’t have any openings until Friday.

Laura’s Highlight – good, smooth, fun flight

My Highlight – on time flight, and cheap hotel.

We found out (also by staying at Double Tree) that the Thunderbirds were in town that very next day for the CocoaBeach airshow.  We talked Double Tree into letting us park in their parking lot one extra day (using their parking pass) so we could use their beach to watch the Airshow Practice on Friday.

On Friday, we checked into the resort and stocked up on food for the week.  We also found out they had delayed Discovery a day.  After checking in to the resort, we went back down to Double Tree and hung out on their beach while watching the Airshow Practice for free!

Laura’s Highlight – Relaxing on the beach

My Highlight – Got to see the Thunderbirds, an F-15, and an F-18 on the beach for free!

Saturday we checked out the resort.  Turns out they have put-put golf, a lazy river, a water slide and access to the beach all included.  We decided today to push our end date out three days to Sunday since Discovery was delayed yet another day (this is what brought us to Wednesday for the launch date).  This was the day of the actual airshow, which we didn’t go south on the beach and pay money for, but we still got to see from up north on the beach.  I even got my wish of seeing the F-22′s fly over!

Laura’s Highlight – A lovely pool and more rest on the beach

My Highlight – Got to see two F-22′s, they fixed the leak in Discovery

Sunday consisted of another restful day at the resort.  More time on the beach.  Watching the 3rd day of the airshow from afar.

Laura’s Highlight – reading on the beach

Andrew’s Highlight – building a sand castle and reading on the beach

Monday (today) we went over to Orlando and visited Universal Studios Islands of Adventure.  We spent most of our time at the new Harry Potter exhibit which was very well done and then wandered in the Jurassic Park section while we looked for cotton candy (a must when visiting an amusement park).  The day was fun in an exhausting sort of way.  Laura took a nap when we got back, and we’re going to do more relaxing this evening.

Laura’s Highlight – Hogwarts castle at Universal

Andrew’s Highlight – Hogwarts Castle at Universal (and resting once we got home)

The look ahead.

Tomorrow we plan to rest and prepare for Wednesday.  We will probably spend it on the beach again.

Wednesday will be another long day like today.  We have to be ready by 6:30 AM for our ride to the Kennedy Space Center and then we get to hang out there for 10 hours while we bite our nails and pray the weather doesn’t sock us in.  Lord willing we will see an on time 3:52 PM (2:52 PM CST) launch of space shuttle Discovery.

We have four delay days after Wednesday if we need them.  If we don’t, it’ll be more time on the beach!

That’s the status.

The past 17 months since the last time we went down I have actually been trying to get tickets for every launch since that one.  Naturally just about every launch between last May and now has launched ON TIME in the FIRST window.  We hope to get some of that action this week.

The trouble with getting tickets this time around was that NASA changed their ticket giving policy since they anticipated more people wanting to come down to see one of these last launches (they were right).

The old system was a simple checkout procedure that allowed you to purchase tickets at 8:00 AM and whoever could get to the “submit” button first after putting in their credit card info and address, well they got the tickets.

I guess NASA thought this was unfair for those of you who can’t type as fast as me (note that I got the tickets last time   ) so they rejiggered the system.  Now you submit your name into the list of thousands of people and a computer randomly picks 2000 to get causeway tickets, and another thousand or so to go to the visitor complex etc.

I was not picked for any of these tickets.

So I tried another route.  I had heard you could just email your senator / governor and request tickets through them.  They in turn send your name to NASA which then sits on a waiting list.  The good news is, if they get to you, you get to have VIP seating and go for FREE.  The bad news is, by the time I got on the list there were probably 10,000 people in front of me.

I was not picked for those tickets either.

I also entered my name in a drawing (which was probably only intended for children) on a website that was giving away free space shuttle launch viewing tickets.

I was not picked for those tickets.

Then NASA decided to do what’s called a Tweetup.  This is an opportunity for people who use Twitter to get Super VIP passes for the launch.  You actually get to go down to the launch pad the day before and watch them retract the service structure from the Shuttle for launch.  You get to watch the launch from the Press Site which is only 3 miles from the pad!

Shiraz and I estimated 2500 people signed up for the drawing.  They were only picking 150.  It actually was closer to 3000 people that signed up.  That makes it a 5% chance of getting to go.  Not terrible odds really.

I was not picked for those tickets either.

So I thought STS 133 was out and was preparing to transition to STS 134, when I got an email from NASA reminding me that I hadn’t been chosen (thanks) but at the bottom of the email they reminded me that they had sold a handful of tickets to two tour organizations in Orlando and those tickets would go on sale the next morning at 7 AM CST.

I knew about these tour organizations and had shy’d away from them previously because they put lots of extra rules on their tickets and costs.  I re-read their website and found that they had removed most if not all of these extra costs and rules so as to be more like NASA.

I had a meeting from 6:30 to 7:30 the next morning so I was not confident there would be any tickets left by the time I could purchase them.

But I logged in to the first tour companies website at 7:45 to see if they had any tickets left.

Sold out.

I logged into the second tour companies website.  This website happened to be one of the SLOWEST websites ever created.  In fact, I’m guessing they had to have designed it to be slow, because there’s not way it could be this slow just because of traffic.  Not only that, but it was very poorly designed visually.  For example, when you went to select a “Causeway” ticket to see if there were any left a “Please Wait” sign popped up.  HOWEVER, the “Causeway” tickets were at the bottom of the page and you had to scroll to them, and the “Please Wait” sign was at the top of the page and now out of view.  This “Please Wait” sign probably sat there for 3 minutes before anything popped up telling me yes / no whether tickets were available.

There WERE causeway tickets still available!  But remember, this is the worlds slowest website.  Every click to another page takes 3 minutes or more.  I made the mistake of adding two tickets to the Visitor Complex before I found out that the Causeway tickets were still available.

I made it all the way to the checkout before I realized I needed to remove the Visitor Complex tickets.  This required even more clicking (and waiting) and clicking (and waiting).

It was well PAST 9 AM by the time I finally made it to the checkout and had entered my info and clicked submit.  It was definitely possible someone else slipped past me and was quicker at getting their info submitted.

But there came the confirmation email saying they had taken my money.  I didn’t believe it though, so I called them, and they confirmed it on the phone too!

I had STS 133 tickets to the causeway!

Then things went into full speed for vacation preps.  Because they don’t sell these tickets until 3-4 weeks before launch, it’s impossible for you to get all your reservations nailed down.  Now that I had the tickets, I could start to price watch.  However, I didn’t want to secure anything that I couldn’t back out on since the launch date wasn’t finalized yet.

They don’t actually finalize the launch date until about a week from launch.  I like to buy my plane tickets etc. about 2-3 weeks before launch because that’s the best time for prices.  I got a great deal on the airline tickets, but here’s the lesson learned from this trip.

NEVER bundle a rental car with your cheap airline tickets.  The cheap airline is just that – a cheap AIRLINE.  I found way cheaper car rentals on Priceline and later found out that the airline company would not CANCEL my car rental, they would only CREDIT the cost of the rental to my account.

So here we are – the day of the flight down.  I tend to not sleep the week leading up to the launch.  And that’s actually why I was up at 5 AM this morning and why I have time to write this post before I head to work (they changed the lock combination yesterday and I forgot to get the new one, otherwise I’d be at work right now).

Pray for a safe flight, good weather, no technical issues, and that everything goes smoothly on the first launch attempt.  And most of all, that Laura and I can enjoy the trip no matter what!

Go Discovery!

We got the house a month before we moved in.  We took a few pictures as we went.

Task: Painting all rooms in house

People That Helped: Grandma and Grandpa Imhoff, Jess, Mom and Dad Laird, Lissa and John, Mom Anderson, Laura, Andrew

We decided to paint every room in the house. A large undertaking, but the house looks so much better now.  The new colors really make it feel like home.

Jess, Alex’s girlfriend, helped us paint several rooms and even acted like she enjoyed it.

John and Lissa came and helped us for a weekend.  They helped finish up some of the painting and work on the toilet.

New windows

Dad Laird

We got new windows from Lowe’s, but not without challenges.  I had set up the windows to come in a couple of weeks before we moved so that we could then have the carpet cleaned after the installation and be cat dander free before we moved in.  One of the windows was back ordered and Lowe’s misread the install by date on the windows so the windows still weren’t in three days before moving day.  Dad did some of his businessman talk and helped the Lowe’s guys see some sense and they came over and installed all the windows but one staying until 10:45 PM to get them all in.

The big move

Mom and Dad Laird, Mom and Dad Anderson, Grandma and Grandpa Imhoff, Alex, Jess, Jesse, Laura, Andrew

Finally after a month of preparations, with the house looking decent, we got the family together and moved everything from the apartment to the new house.  It was the smoothest move we’ve ever had. Grandma Imhoff made us an excellent lunch including rhubarb crisp (which Jess thought was celery).

Spray yard with weedkiller

Grandpa Imhoff

There was an abundance of creeping Charlie in our yard when we bought it and Grandpa Wayne sprayed the first round of weed killer on the whole yard.  He mixed it strong and fought the creeping Charlie back to a manageable level.

Repair upstairs toilet

John, Dad Laird, Andrew

The upstairs toilet was sticking when flushed so that the float wouldn’t drop and start the water refill.  Dad gave some tips and John (Lissa’s husband) and I spent a weekend replacing the inards of the toilet.  It still has some challenges, but we’re closer to a working toilet.

Set medicine cabinet into the wall

Dad Laird

The previous owners had bought a new medicine cabinet.  It was larger than the old one, but instead of cutting a larger hole in the sheet rock, they just left it hanging five inches off the wall.  Dad and I took an evening and sunk the cabinet.  The bathroom felt twice as big just getting that extra five inches.  This also gave us access to our laundry shoot!

New shower head

Laura

The old shower head had enough pipe in it to re-plumb the kitchen and it got in the way.  So Laura picked out a fancy new one at Walmart.

Split wood in back yard

Dad Anderson

The previous owners of the house chopped a tree down, but left the majority of it in the backyard for us.  Wayne came over with his log splitter and split the logs into manageable chunks.

Stack wood in back yard

Dad Laird, Grandpa Laird, Andrew

Grandpa Laird and Dad came over the next weekend and, in a downpour, helped me stack the wood.

Hang pictures and other wall hangings

Mom Anderson, Laura

Jodie helped Laura get all the pictures and wall hangings put back up so the house can look more like a home!

Install weather station

Alex, Jess, Dad, Andrew

I bought a weather station with my birthday money.  One evening while Alex was over, I talked him into climbing on the roof with me and installing the mast.  After I tested it out, Dad helped me tack the wires neatly out of the way so it would look all proffesional.

Hang new blinds in windows

Laura, Alex, Dad, Jess, Andrew

Only about half of the windows had blinds in them, so Laura and I bought some cheapo blinds at Walmart and spent a couple days putting those up in all of the windows.  Now our neighbors can’t spy on us!

Cut down tree in front yard

Andrew, Dad Anderson, J.W.

A tree in the front yard needed to come down since it was already falling apart.  Wayne and J.W. took it down and let me help.  J.W. gave us a great deal too!

Fill hole left by tree

Dad Laird, Alex, Andrew

With the tree gone, we had a large hole where the roots used to be.  Dad gave us some black dirt and helped fill it in.  We let it settle for a few days, then Alex brought another load over.  By the end of the summer we had spread four to five loads of dirt around the yard (we had more holes than just the tree).  This last week we spread grass and straw over the bald patches and we hope the grass comes up soon!

Install utility sink

Dad Laird, Andrew

There was a utility sink in the basement when we moved in, but the sink didn’t have any facet.  So one weekend Dad came over and we put in a new one.

Cut down bookcase for basement

Alex, Dad Laird, Andrew

Laura wanted a bookcase moved downstairs into her craft room.  Fortunately we measured it before we moved it down and realized it was 3 inches too tall.  Alex came over and helped me chop off the bottom and squeeze it downstairs.  Then Dad helped anchor it to the wall.

Fix front pillars

Dad Laird, Andrew

The front pillars were rotting real bad.  So bad that the overhanging roof had sagged three inches.  We cut off the rotten base, jacked up the pillars and put in some temporary bases until we can get a more permanent solution.

Straighten front light pole

Dad Laird

While we were jacking up the front roof, we straightened the light pole out front.  It still doesn’t have electricity to it, and needs a new head, but at least it’s straight.  Dad also painted it so now it’s solid black.

Hang cabinets in garage

Laura, Andrew

We had to take two cabinets down in the garage because the Radon evacuation system needed to go through that wall.  Laura helped me get them put back up in a more usable part of the garage.

The final bedroom

Mom and Dad Laird, Laura, Andrew

Mom and Dad came over and helped us finish up the final bedroom painting.

Before and After

So here is how far we’ve come, as of mid-September.

Kitchen

Dining Room

Living Room

Master Bedroom

Guestrooms 1 & 2

Bathroom

Craft Room

Family Room

Thanks again everyone that helped out! We couldn’t have gotten where we are without all of you!

It must have been when I was just learning to read.  Ashley and I went to Mom who was working on Laird Enterprises work and asked her if we could have a Vitamin C.  Perhaps we had an unhealthy like of Vitamin C if we were asking mom if we could eat them.  We didn’t feel that way towards other vitamins, but Vitamin C was out favorite.

Mom of course said we could.  She reminded us where the vitamins were kept and told me to read the label to make sure it was Vitamin C.  Ashley was probably too young at this point to read.  We scurried up to the kitchen and got a stool so we could get up to the cupboard with the vitamins in it.  We eagerly climbed onto the counter and I shuffled through the vitamins looking for Vitamin C.  Mom had trusted me to READ the label, so I had to use my letters.  I knew what C looked like, but I was still a bit fuzzy on the others, especially those last few v,w,x,y,z those guys were hard to remember.

Finally, I found the one with the C on it.  I sat down next to Ashley on the counter and unscrewed the lid.  We each took one, as Mom had told us to do, and popped them in our mouths.  I decided I would chew my Vitamin C today.  I anticipated that zingy tart, taste running throughout my mouth.  It never came.  Instead I got an incredibly bitter taste all throughout my mouth.  I looked over at Ashley who was drooling and trying to spit out her Vitamin out on the counter.  What was wrong with my Vitamin C, it was making me want to throw up.  We both rushed to the sink and spit out our vitamins and rinsed our mouths with water vigorously.

“The Vitamin C doesn’t taste right”, I said to mom as I showed her the bottle I had grabbed.

“Oh no.  That doesn’t say Vitamin C Andrew”, Mom said.  “It ends with a C, but see it begins with a Z.  It’s a Zinc.  I bet that didn’t taste too good.”

Mom took us back upstairs and got us the real Vitamin C and we got the bitter taste out of our mouths as quick as we could.

I took to heart what mom said.  Specific letters are only as good as the letters that come before them!

I decided on a whim last week to download the Release Candidate for Windows 7 Ultimate.  Reformatting my computer turned out to be a nightmare, but was completely user error (which I may tell you about some other time).  That aside, I finally got back to a clean working computer state and was ready to install Windows 7.  Below are my first impressions.

Installation

My first impression when installing Windows 7 was that there are several screens that should have hour glasses or “please wait” signs in them so that you don’t think your computer has locked up.  I came very close to resetting my computer a couple of times (glad I didn’t) because I thought something had gone amiss, but nothing was really ever wrong, it was just working in the background without telling me.

Other than that, I was very impressed with the LACK of time it took me to install the OS.  Windows XP always seemed to take around an hour – no matter how fast your system was – before you could actually start installing drivers and applications.  Windows 7, despite the fact that it’s several times larger than XP, was done installing within 45 minutes, maybe less.

I noted that they don’t ask for your key now until AFTER the entire OS is installed.  Several cynical ideas went through my head as to why they would do this, such as “A pour sole gets all the way through installation and realizes their key is no longer any good – but since they are so close to being able to use their OS, they are more prone to buying that new key” – or they might have just thought it fit better there…who knows

Movie Desires

Laura and I wanted to watch a movie last night – we chose The Two Towers since I am reading through The Lord of the Rings again and had recently finished that book.  That is no short movie as you know and we decided we should start it no later than 6 so we could get to be on time (which is preferably before 10).

I had just finished “healing” my PC from the previously mentioned (Andrew induced) sickness which I won’t go into now either.  The time was a little after 4 PM.  I started installing Windows 7 and started thinking trough all the steps that I usually had to go through with an XP install to get to the point where I can watch a movie.  Six o-clock wasn’t looking very promising.  Windows XP could take me 3-4 hours just to get the OS ready and the drivers installed.

I could have ditched the Windows 7 install and tried to XP up to Movie Watching status as fast as I could, but I decided to press ahead with the Windows 7 install.

Fast Installation

So thirty to forty-five minutes later I was already in to Windows and it was configuring my network for me and activating the OS.  But there were still all those pesky driver disks and restarts to go through.

Side Note

I was very happy with the user interface this time around for Windows.  It feels very natural.  I was able to customize all the basics without having to use any help forums (which is what you would expect, but not necessarily from Windows).  I was most excited when I found a slider in the “Getting Started” section that allows you to turn the UAC (also known as Windows Hand Holding) all the way off.

The user interface is only as good as the OS behind it right.  Well perhaps this can be a small proof, six-o’clock came and Laura and I were actually starting our movie.  Not only that – we ran to pick up some pizza before we started it.

Devices Just Work

I was completely impressed with how many of my devices Windows 7 just knew how to use.  I turned on the printer, Windows 7 set it up.  I detected ALL of my motherboard devices and set up my network for me.  It set up my video settings intuitively (although I did go a grab the latest driver just to ensure optimal performance).  And the one device that it couldn’t get on the first try (the sound card) it sent me right to Creative’s website and told me what to download so I could get going as fast as possible.

Application compatibility was another concern I had.  I figured some of my XP programs wouldn’t work right and I would still have to load Windows XP just to be able to do everything I need in a given day.  I can honestly say that so far I have found no reason to put XP back on.  The real test will be when I start putting on some of my games and development software, but as far as watching our movie and checking the budget before I went to bed last night.  I have no reasons to go back to XP.  In fact, several of the features (burning ISO images for example) that I used to have to load programs for are now built right in to Windows.

I’ve just started to dig into the system level applications, but at first glance, it looks like there is a whole suite of programs that come with Windows designed to help you keep your computer running its best – from resource monitoring tools to a program that will give you a complete health report of your computer.  I have yet to see how helpful these programs will actually be, but it looks promising.

It’s Still Windows

The last thing I did before I went to bed last night (after our movie which ran great) was to copy my backed up documents and music from my external hard drive, back to my internal hard drive.  This reminded me that, yes this is still Windows.  As I was watching the “Estimated time left” it went from 40 minutes to 3 Hours and then ended up taking about 50 minutes.  Obviously, they did not spend any time updating their file copy algorithm.  This was more humorous than annoying.

It’s Got Potential

I was impressed with how things just seemed to work after I stalled Windows 7.  Then I thought “really, that’s how it should be”.  For some reason we’ve come to expect (and be OK with) a Windows that requires several hours of a user’s time to get it going.  Hopefully, this trend will continue.

I like to have goals when traveling.  The following were a few of our goals for this trip.

#1 See the space shuttle Endeavour launch during our stay – live – as in not on TV – in person

#2 Visit the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex

#3 Go to at least one beach (Laura hadn’t ever been to the beach)

#4 Parasail (It was Laura’s Idea…really)

#5 Swamp Tour – And hopefully see an Alligator

#6 Relax

#7 Not get sunburned

#8 See a space shuttle launch

#9 Eat ice cream with Jenna’s money after seeing a space shuttle launch

The space shuttle was our main goal for the week, but as many of you probably know, it was the only goal that we didn’t accomplish.  Other than that, I have to say it was a very successful trip.  Here’s a visual summary of everything we did.

Thursday – Departure

We flew on an MD-80 with Allegiant Air

I took a picture of the cockpit so I could see our initial heading

Friday – Recover from Travel

Strange ducks that lived at our resort

Saturday – First Launch Attempt Scrubbed

No pictures – but seriously who wants to see a grown man cry

Saturday – Parasailing

Pictures coming in part II since I have to scan those in (didn’t want to take the digital camera 800 feet in the air)

Saturday – Atlantic Ocean

Pictures coming in part II since I also didn’t want to risk the digital on the beach.

Sunday – Swamp Tour

I can't remember any names - so this is a bird taking off

A tall white bird

Baby alligators running away from us

Year old alligator swimming away

This guy totally could have eaten the Ern alive - good thing he didn't get to come

A cow hanging out by the Alligator lake

We found a Lamborghini on the way home and I insisted we get pictures!

Spook Hill

Ok Spook Hill needs some explanation.  There is a legend that in the old days, farmers found that their horses were actually struggling to pull wagons DOWN HILL.  And thus the name “Spook Hill” was given to the hill.  I heard of it, and since it wasn’t too far from the swam we went to, I figured we’d stop by.  The picture doesn’t show it as much as a video (and maybe that’ll be in Part II) but basically what you see the the picture shows a road going down to a dip and then climbing.  If you drive to the dip in the road and put your car in nuteral – it will actually roll backwards “Uphill”.  Of course the truth of the matter is that the dip is an illusion.  Notice you cannot actually see the skyline.  So that was Spook Hill!

Monday – Rest Day

Laura didn't get to see the white sands beach - so we had to do with golf course white sand

Phase 10 took up much of our rest day

These guys were everywhere, we made a special trip with our camera just to photograph them

Tuesday (Day) – Kennedy Space Center Tour

Coming in Part II – in order to build suspense!

Tuesday (Night) – Second Launch Attempt Scrubbed

Ok – here’s the closest you get to see my cry

At this point - I just wanted to go to bed

Wednesday – Rest Day

You can't have a rest day without Krispy Kreme

Then we went to Disney World (since we were resting)

Saw Epcot

And rode the tram - well ok we saw the tram

Ok so we didn’t actually go INTO Disney World – that’s not really important though is it?

Thursday – Fly back Home

Big storms moving through just before we take off - That's our plane through the window!

Wonderful view from our plane!

That’s something worth remembering!

And I must end with this completely cute picture of Laura!

Laura in our apartment / hotel room

When we got home – The Ern did not appear to have missed us or even realized that we were gone…

The Ern is Out