Back Outdoors Again

You heard about it last year, but this time I remembered to snap a couple pics so you could see it. We busted out the backyard screen for Harry Potter movie night last Saturday. For some crazy reason I didn't think blu-rays would show up well...then the system reminded me why it was so awesome. We even hooked up a good sound system outside for the show. Thankfully, Jon was willing to bring his old receiver over since I fried the power source in my old one just before the show, yikes! It was a great night of movie watching, that even required some sweatshirts as the temp has finally dropped...to the high 70s, brrrrr :-)

The Trumpet Vine

Our Trumpet Vine in the back yard finally bloomed after years of waiting!

Who would you hire?

Getting decked out for the world of career hunting again. I guess I can clean up pretty well...now we just need to do that to the house :-)

Relaxing Outdoors

(Lacey is still the only willing swimming puppy)

(Belle is a huge fan of Polish Horseshoes)

(Did I mention they're inseparable? :-) )

(Our girl likes having friends over, and still finds time to lay down and lord over her yard)

Momma K Visited

Our second Northern visitor in September was Momma K. More good times were had. The breakfast bar got its edging and grout! There was much chatting, shopping, and relaxing done. We very much enjoy having visitors...nudge, nudge, wink, wink :-)

Them Crazy Bananas Redux

Remember the culled banana grove we showed you back in May? Well, here is the old pic again, and then how it looks now! Whoa doggies!

And Daisy Helped!

Daisy loves to "help" Lady with her wire artwork!

Yahtzee & Friends

(Belle & Yahtzee relaxing)

(Ah, the inseparable sisters, Belle & Jupiter)

(Lacey & Yahtzee take a good 48 hours to wear each other out!)

(Another big event, Yahtzee now owns all the furniture in the house. She has officially joined us on our bed now. She is willing to share, however, if I get off the bed for any amount of time my spot is forfeit!)

(Yahtzee is very pleased with the picture that I got from a friend from work on D-day.)

Camera Filters

So, the new camera has some digital filters that you can use. One of which was superbly demonstrated while Lady was testing them. The first picture has a regular filter. The second picture has the filter that brings out faces! :-)

2nd Annual T Visit

Another great visit when T came down again. Tours, visiting, games, fun, and laser tag were all on the menu of a jam packed weekend. Quite certain that fun was had by all.

(T's first stop was at the NBL for a tour.

Yep that's an astronaut candidate all set to hit the pool for training!)

(He gave us a wave on the way into the pool)

(We got to watch Brian (L) work from his command center at the NBL.

Oh, and that's an astronaut next to him!)

(The extended U-crew!

L-R: T, [Lance, Nikki], Marc, [Lady, Mondo])

Rainbow

A testament to the coolness of our camera is the following picture. The picture may look like any other good pic of a rainbow, however, how it was taken was not simple. We were driving out of the neighborhood and saw the rainbow, Lady snagged the camera, flipped it on, and quick snapped the shot while we were turning away from the rainbow. Good stuff!

Congressman Olson

Congressman Olson gave a passionate talk about the goings on with the NASA budget back on September 1st for an AIAA dinner meeting. I was able to meet him and shake his hand, pretty cool moment.

Though recently an appropriation bill has been passed, that still doesn't equate to space industry jobs or a set path for NASA's future.

Never Would Have Gotten This Shot

Now don't get me wrong, we love our old camera and will continue to use it. However, it would not have been able to pull of this shot. High magnification of the frog still shows amazing detail.

Lady's New Art Corner

Lady decided she wanted a more open area to do her art, and she wanted to still be able to mock me while I play video games :-) So, she moved downstairs and this was the beginning of her art corner. Even now it is still in work because I haven't stepped up my game and built all of her requested storage items.

1st New Camera Pics

The 1st pictures we took with the new camera were...

One Door Shuts...

Well here we are. 5 days since I was laid off from United Space Alliance. I was given the official notice that I would be involuntarily laid off back at the beginning of August due to the WARN act because USA is laying off 1,400 workers. I was put on the involuntary layoff list because I was a Constellation Program worker. In case you hadn't heard, the White House and the NASA Administration decided to cancel the Constellation Program. Therefore, USA had to lay off the workers in the Constellation Program, me being one of them...however, not all Constellation workers were laid off, and we have yet to see a reason behind who was laid off and who stayed on.

So, that is the why we have fallen off the grid for a while here. I bet you folks are wondering what we were up to while we weren't posting anything...ok, so maybe you weren't, but we'll tell you anyways if you keep reading. Let's see, our last post was at the end of June. So...

Well, forgot most of what happened in July. Hit up a bunch of good movies, grilled, partied, enjoyed the dog park. The standard fare for a month. I also joined back up with AIAA to become the treasurer for the Houston section. Check out the Executive Council list at the bottom right of our homepage www.aiaa-houston.org

August brought about the official beginning of the end with the WARN notice. So, not a great start. The month did get better though. Did some pet-sitting, which always lifts the spirits and stress level. Celebrated our 6th anniversary together! With a giftcard from Mom & Pop K, we upgraded ourselves to the fancy world of digital SLR cameras. We got the Olympus E-420 camera, and it is awesome! Lady can finally take great close-up pictures of her art. Now that we are getting back on the blog (at least until the next crisis), we will plaster up a bunch of pictures we have taken with the new camera!

September was been a busy month. The D-day clock continued to tick down, but there is cautious optimism as well. We started the month with our first big event with AIAA, at which we had Congressman Pete Olson talk. He discussed the happenings in Congress about the NASA budget and how it was going. The outlook isn't good with recesses and elections. That started the whirlwind that has been this month. The next day our friend T flew into town for her second annual trip to our neck of the woods. Much gaming, partying, and fun ensued. We also were pet-sitting Jupiter & Belle over that week/weekend. T headed out and then Lacey joined the other pups at the Gecko Pet Hotel. Then Mom K came down and Jupiter & Belle went home. Much shopping, relaxing, working, and fun ensued.

While all that was happening, I began working with a career consulting group. We have been working with them to create much better resumes, and to help re-brand and market myself. The process so far has been excellent! This is the cautious optimism I brought up before. Not much exists in the space industry, so the possibility that I will no longer be involved with that is quite high. One door shuts, though, and hopefully an even bigger door opens!

So, there you have it. The good, bad, and ugly of what has been going on while we were away from the blog. We will be posting a bunch of the new pictures we have taken soon. Also, if you haven't already, check out Lady's new art page on Facebook. She has been going crazy in the art creation department cranking out some fantastic new art.