I'm Going to Disney World!

Howdy!

I know it has been a while, but things suddenly started picking up at work. I was recently assigned to work STS-103, which will be the third time we go and visit the Hubble Space Telescope. This was on top of already working on STS-93 (AXAF - a big telescope we are deploying) and STS-98 (the fifth American flight to the space station). It just seemed like a lot of things needed to be done at once.

The next two days I will be learning how to use Access (a database). I know a little about it right now, but my payload officer for STS-93 wants me to do a lot more with Access than what I know. So, even though I am not in school anymore, I still have to go to class sometimes! But I have to admit I like these classes better than the classes I took in college because we don't have exams and homework now. That makes it much more relaxing and I can focus more on learning than being afraid of a test. The bad thing about taking the classes at work is that sometimes I have meetings that I have to attend. So, I miss some of the class, which then means I am confused about what is going on when I return. When you leave the class, it isn't like you can go back and talk to the teacher if you don't understand something later. Most of the time, the teachers are brought in just to teach a certain class for a few days and then they go home.

Outside of work, I am staying busy preparing for my vacation to Florida later this month. It should be fun. A friend and I are driving to Orlando, which is a 16-hour trip from Houston. I just hope we are still friends when we get there! We are going to visit Disney World and relax on the beach in Cape Canaveral. I just hope I don't get burned too badly. I have fair skin so I always have to wear sunscreen.

Well, I better get back to work . . .