I’ve been busy with the conference, compounded by the fact that I brought the wrong mouse with me for the laptop, so light posting. But it’s worth noting the anniversary of the loss of Challenger. Which is also (as always) my birthday.
Category Archives: Administrative
In The Air
Heading to Orlando, via West Palm Beach. Both flights (went through Charlotte) have been delayed for lack of flight attendents…
Light Posting Explanation
Sorry, I’ve been at a conference in Orlando (AIAA SciTech), and pretty busy. Driving down to West Palm tomorrow to catch a flight home.
Off The Air
Driving up to the Bay Area for the Foresight Vision Weekend. We’ll be driving back down Monday. I’ll have the laptop with me, but don’t know if I’ll have much time for blogging. So comments are open.
Happy Thanksgiving
The turkey is brined and in the oven, the dressing is ready to go in, and friends are coming over. I’m thankful for my health at an age I always figured as a kid would be OLD, friends in the space community, and the fact that things I’ve been hoping for for decades in space may finally be on the verge of happening. I’m also thankful that Jared gets another shot at running NASA. Finally, I’m thankful for my faithful readers, some of whom have become old friends, in both senses of the word, and some of whom we’ve lost over the years, but I always welcome new ones.
I’m less thankful for the Lions, but they’re not completely out of it yet.
Disport yourselves cordially in comments.
Bloggus Interruptus
For those wondering, we’re on an actual vacation, and not just on a pleasure trip combined with business, for the first time in a long time. We flew to Cancun yesterday, and are ensconced in a resort between there and Playa del Carmen. Keeping an eye on the hurricane, but the current projected tracks show it heading north, not west, after it beats the hell out of Jamaica and Cuba. We’re here all week, and I may find some time to keep up with events and blog, but we plan to see some Mayan temples and do some diving. Next Friday we head to Orlando, and then I’ll be at space conferences next week at the University of Central Florida.
Anyway disport yourself gently in comments on topics general.
Crazy Busy
Posting has been light because we had to repipe the house at the same time as we were scheduling painting the exterior, and the plumber had to break a lot of stucco to run the Pex. (The copper pipes were installed in the slab when the house was built almost half a century ago, and the hot water started leaking in it, and it was judged better to repipe rather than tear up concrete to repair it when it was likely to just develop another leak).
We got the stucco redone yesterday, and are doing everything else necessary for the painters, who are coming tomorrow for a walk through. And when that’s all done, there’s a lot of drywall to patch, and repainting inside (not to mention having to remove a lot of ceiling popcorn).
Light Posting
Sorry, I’ve been slammed with getting corporate taxes done, and I’m going down to Chapman University this afternoon to talk to Joel Kotkin’s class on tech and reindustrialization issues.
Terry Savage
I don’t know how many of my regular readers knew him, but he was a founder of the Los Angeles L-5 Society (aka OASIS) back in the late 70s, and he passed yesterday. I’ll have more anon, but if anyone did know him, feel free to comment. I’m in good health, but one contemplates mortality more and more as one’s cohorts pass on.
[August 14, 2025, update]
I’ve started a memorial page for him.
[Bumped]
Light Blogging
I don’t know if I mentioned it, but I had a hernia repaired a couple weeks ago, and I’ve been having some post-surgery complications. I’ve also been writing an op-ed for the WSJ, and answers to FAQs for the Reason project. We’re going to Vegas on Monday for the AIAA ASCEND meeting, where we’ll be all week.
For those concerned, though, I should be fully recovered and back up to speed by next weekend.
[Monday-morning update]
Driving to Vegas today for AIAA/ASCEND. I’ll try to check in during the week from there.
[Bumped]