50 Years of NASA in Cleveland

Recently, Glenn Research Center (GRC) celebrated their 50th anniversary. See if you can find me in the picture. Hint: I'm not dressed like Waldo, but if I had known about the picture ahead of time.....



An observer with the right military background might notice the two S-3 Viking aircraft at the top of the picture. I don't know what their function is, though. During Hurricane Ike, there were several E-2 Hawkeye aircraft that came in for a day or two. They were deployed for weather monitoring as the hurricane came ashore.

I got to see them shipping some of the rocket sections for the Ares I-X one day. That seems like an interesting project, and one that is keeping jobs here at GRC.

If it wasn't for Wikipedia, my blog entries would me pretty damn boring!

Oh yeah, today is Tess's birthday. She's 91 today. I've got a little party planned for her for tomorrow at Mitchell's. Hopefully, I'll have some pictures to post from that.

My first 35kV splice and terminations

I spent the last couple of weeks working with Junior (not the same Junior I've posted about before) on some 35kV splices and terminations. This Junior is Dr. Bob's son. It's pretty cool to get to work with both of them. Junior and I went to 5 years of trade school together, then 2 years of High Voltage Splicing class. The splices were the easiest I've ever done, since they were at the perfect height, and in a large, warm, dry, clean room. I could get used to this sort of work! Here, Junior is chamfering the end of the insulation.


"Hey Shawn!" "Huh?" Yeah, he got a good stupid look out of me. I'm applying the yellow stress-relief mastick to the connector area of this splice. The two completed splices are hanging below.

This would be a great picture of me working on the terminations, if I had only looked up.

35kV cable is a bit bigger than what I've worked with in the past. The terminations are essentially the same, though there is much more exposed insulation (called tracking distance) on a 35kV cable termination than on a 15kV cable termination.

I'm very happy working at NASA. All of the guys there are pretty cool, and we do have a lot of fun busting each other's balls. One of these days, I'll get to work on some lead cables. That will be a new experience for me because, unlike the lead cables I've worked with before, these cables get "wiped", which means working with molten lead to fill in the joint between the cable jacket and the termination.

A sad day, indeed.

I read on /. that soon Opus will be no more. NPR has more info. I wonder myself where in the attic my old Opus plush doll might be found. He's probably playing with Hobbes.

Side note: I wonder how many morons got Opus tattoos.... When I was in the Navy, I knew a guy who got a Calvin tattoo. How often does he have to explain who Calvin is?

A pleasant autumn day

I went out to see my folks Sunday morning. We had breakfast in Wellington, then headed out to the farm. I love an early Sunday morning in farm country. The dew was sparkling off the fields, the air was crisp, I could even taste it.

During breakfast, we discussed the bailout (none of us like it!), and politics, and what everyone was up too. Dad and I shared a good chuckle when Shane's name came up because Dad can't talk politics with Shane without the two of them getting pissed off. Shane tends to dominate the conversation. I told Dad that I can't talk politics with Shane either, and we both have the same views! (I know you're gonna read this bro, and when you do, just imagine me sitting here, snickering) After breakfast, back at their house, I stood by the wood-burning stove, enjoying the fire I had recently started, and saw, on the 'fridge, where once was a picture of "W", there was now a picture of John McCain and Sarah Palin. I had to give dad a shot about that, and offered to get him a picture of Barak Obama.

We all walked out to see how the demolition of the grainery was coming. There isn't much left anymore. Mom and Neph have most of the wood either piled up neatly to save for firewood, or in a bonfire pile to burn one of these days. There were some concrete blocks, and some stone there still to be moved, but mom didn't want me to move them. I did pick up some nice stones for the front of my house. Mom kept trying to get me to take more of them, but I didn't want to load the truck down too much, or have to unload them when I got home. I did pick up two really nice ones for my front yard.

The rock in front must weigh 150 lbs. It was tough to get up into the truck. Now it's peacefully sitting there, not needing to be moved, zero inertia.

I sat for awhile with my dad, on the back porch, just enjoying the morning and chatting. I could hear the occasional train horn, the wind rustling the pre-autumn leaves, and Mom's cat purring deeply in my lap. It was very relaxing. Dad mentioned how he liked to sit there and think about all the projects he'd like to do. He mentioned that he could sit there for hours, thinking about the projects that he'd like to do....which sounded just like me. I can sit for an hour imagining just how Shelby's playhouse would look, what materials it would need, what tools, the roofing, and paint, and double-hung windows (two of them). I could spend another hour putting it together in my head, imagined weekends drifting past, trips to the hardware store, the smile on her face...and never get a damn thing done! (Hey bro, now I'm chuckling at myself)

Mom had copied a picture of Tina from this blog, and put it up on the family collage. She was disappointed when I told her that Tina and I had broken up, and that I was interested in a different woman. I didn't go into too much detail, because as of now, we're just friends, but who knows what the future holds.

I headed home to take Katie for a walk, then did some yard work, while the weather was nice. I ended up sitting in the back for a bit, and started a fire. I drank some apple cider with a shot of rum, while I cooked a couple of hot-dogs over the fire. Katie was laying on the ground next to me and I watched the stars come out. It was a nice end to a pleasant day.

Life is good!

I have been pretty busy lately. One of the greatest benefits of the new job is it's closeness to home. Driving 10 minutes to work gives me much more time for fun. Since we've had a week of incredible weather, I've been out on the bike more often. In fact, tomorrow I'll go pick up my new motorcycle jacket. It's Union Made in USA, which is nearly unbelieveable. Thanks Kip for that tip! I've got a couple of leather jackets already, but they aren't motorcycle jackets. The main difference being that a motorcycle jacket has a flap either under, or over, the zipper (some have both) that keeps wind from penetrating through the zipper. As the weather gets cooler, this becomes a huge difference. Tina just got a great buy on a Harley Davidson jacket (also Made in USA) at a second-hand store. Her's is $500 new, and she got it for $75!! I got her a helmet for her birthday, so maybe we'll get some riding in even in the fall. I'm considering getting chaps, or even leather pants, but that'll be next year.

I started going to the gym again, though I don't know if I'll keep the early morning (5 am) schedule, or move to an afternoon workout. NASA has a fitness center that I'm welcome to use also. Next Tuesday, I go in for a fitness test. I guess they want to make sure I won't keel over on the elliptical machine. I had to get a physical for work, and some blood tests to check lead and zinc levels in my body. Everything checked out ok, but both the nurse and doctor suggested I get my own doctor, and the nurse said I should have my eyes checked. Growing old sucks! I know I need reading glasses, because soon my arms won't be long enough for me to see what I'm doing.

Speaking of work, it's going great! For the last couple of weeks, I've been doing HV terminations. They are only 2400v unshielded terms, but NASA is very particular about how their work gets done, so it takes a little time. I really enjoy getting the time to do a top-notch job and not have the aggravations I had with the other company. I've got a few more days on this switchgear, then I'll start on a 34.5 kV job, with an old tradeschool classmate of mine. In fact, I was working with his father not too long ago. Bob Sr. is nicknamed Dr. Bob. Bob Jr. is nicknamed, well, Junior, but the guys at work extrapolated that to June Bug, and pretty much Bug, or The Bug has stuck. I think nicknames are great. BTW, my nickname is Shawn Two, since there is already a Sean on the job.

Katie is doing well, though I was pretty pissed at her today when she puked on the couch. Most of the time, I keep blankets on it, for protection, but I hadn't adjusted them recently and she found the one spot not covered. It's my fault for not taking her outside after she ate, or for keeping the couch covered. I've been taking her down to the Metroparks for walks and swims, though the water is starting to get cold. A couple of times I've also taken my neighbor, Tess. She'll be 91 on Halloween day. We walk a little, then she'll sit on a bench and watch the children playing, or the bikers, or joggers, or pretty much anyone while I take Katie for a short walk. She's what Bill F+11 would call "a pisser"! She's very frank and straightforward, and we talk about pretty much everything.


I haven't asked her what she thinks about the bailout of the financial industry though... I wonder what she'll say, with her knowledge of the Great Depression.

Yesterday, I played sand volleyball for the first time in 15 years. What a great time! It's a co-ed fall league that'll last 5 weeks, but we play two sets of 3 games each week. Everyone is close in age, so we were all tuckered out about the same, and I'm sure sore today. I was pleasantly surprised that I can still dig the ball out of the net and serve over the net. I'm looking forward to Wednesdays!