Launch Beard Time Lapse

While I was out in California growing my launch beard I thought it would be fun to take a picture of it every day so that I could make a time lapse video afterward.  This afternoon I took a little bit of time and played around with Windows Movie Maker and below is the result. There were only 15 days worth of pictures so I went through twice, the second time with fading transitions in between the pictures.  Poor Pamela is married to a huge nerd but it's okay, she makes a guest appearance on day 15 and she looks pretty happy to see me.

Launch Beard Update - Day 14

This will most likely be the last launch beard update since Pamela is coming out to visit tomorrow.  I am super excited to see her.  Even though it's only been a couple weeks it seems like way longer.  Possibly because I've only been home for a few days over the weekends for the past two months.  Either way, it's going to be awesome to see Pamela and spend some time with her.  But that means the beard will have to go.  It was fun while it lasted but I think I prefer not having a beard.  Plus I don't think it helped to give the rocket good luck anyway.  It wasn't anything we did but the launch is delayed again.  So apparently my launch beard wasn't sending the rocket good karma.

launch Beard Update - Day 7

woekI'm still working on my launch beard and I wanted to post an update.  Mostly because there is not much else new going on for me out in Lompoc.  So it's been a week since I stopped shaving and although I would have liked to have a more substantial beard, I do have a decent foundation going on.  In these latest pictures you can see a good amount of growth but I'm afraid some of it is lost in the quality of the webcam image and the fact that my hair is sort of blond and blends in with my skin.  Either way, I'll still be taking pictures and tracking my progress.  I only have one more week until Pamela comes out to visit (Hooray!), so we'll see how much more I can grow before then. 

Launch Beard

It was brought to my attention a couple of weeks ago that the engineers here at Orbital like to grow beards when they are traveling for a launch campaign.  It's sort of like when athletes grow beards when their teams make it to the playoffs, especially in hockey.  I think it's mostly a superstitious thing and the beards are supposed to be good luck.  I'm not sure about all that, and Pamela prefers me without a beard so I've abstained from growing one.  But now that I'm staying out here until we launch and Pamela doesn't come to visit for two weeks, I thought I would try growing a launch beard.  I haven't tried growing facial hair for a while so this should be fun.  It's just the first day today so all I've got is some minor stubble but I'll post again next week with my progress.  Hopefully this will bring good luck to the rocket too.

On the Road

...but still staying in touch. 

Pamela and I both travel a decent amount for our jobs, but when one of us in on travel we like to stay in touch as much as possible.  This usually includes texts, emails, and in the evenings we like to do skype webcam chats so we can see each other and talk.  It is really nice to see a familiar face when you are in strange city working with people who you may not know that well.  This week Pamela and I are both out on business travel.  It doesn't happen much but even when we are both out, we still like to meet up for our skype chat after work.  We are both surrounded by unfamiliar hotel backgrounds but it's comforting to see that familiar face to remind you of home. 

Little town of Lompoc

Today I'm heading back out to California for work. I'll be out there for a couple weeks while we try to launch our rocket. We work at Vandenberg Air Force Base and we stay in a town outside of the base called Lompoc. I'm not surprised when I tell people where I'm going and they have never heard of it before. Lompoc is very small and you would only know of it if you've been through that area. For my friends in Arizona I thought I would put together a list of cities for comparison. Google page results may not be the most accurate way to judge a city, but it does give some sort of quantitative value to how big or interesting a place is.



If you've ever been to any of these cities in Arizona, or more likely, driven through them on the way to someplace else, you can get a feeling for what Lompoc is like. I guess the good news/bad news is that we are at work for most of the day and don't have to spend much time in Lompoc itself. Wish me luck for our launch and hopefully I wont get too bored while I'm out there.

Software Fail

So I was using this software application at work a while back and I guess I did something wrong or unexpected and this error message popped up. I suppose the software engineer didn't expect anyone would use the program in such a manner to get it to this state, but somehow I managed. At least he had a sense of humor, because instead of putting up a random numerical error message he put in the text "Something really bad happened." And for that, I'm glad. It turned what was quickly becoming a frustrating experience around and made me laugh. I took a screen shot of the unusual occurance and now I can look back at it to cheer me up whenever I'm struggling with a program.

Data Logging

I was in a meeting this morning and the subject of data loggers came up. Everytime they would say "data logging" or "data logger" I wasn't thinking about electronics. Instead I pictured logging in terms of trees and lumberjacks. I'm not sure if it was because it was early in the morning or because I wasn't very involved in the main conversation. Maybe it has to do with my affinity for using wood to fix all things electronic.

My work is like a reality TV show...

 

Except the best thing I can win is my current job.   They just did another round of layoffs, or as they like to call it, a "Reduction in Force."  After they do this RIF they like to hold a meeting for whomever is left and tell us our jobs are safe, for now.  I understand that layoffs happen and there is no good way to go about it, but maybe they could make it more fun by handing out roses to the employees that get to keep their jobs or doing a cool torch ceremony.  At least they could come up with a cool catch phrase for the people they let go.  That's all I would ask for if I happen to be one of the unfortunate few in the next RIF.  Well that and maybe a nice severance package would be nice.