Bob Space

Nasty blustery weekend is upon us. Good time to be indoors.
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I’m swearing off my fantasies of writing rocketry calculators for webOS (and off of computer programming in general). I will retire the Palm PDA (and its rocketry apps) to the range box. (Gotta update that motor database though!)

On equipment: I’m going to, in the words of the MST3K theme song, “really just relax.” Take whatever gear I feel like flying from. Keep the Big Gear on hand if the girls decide to try something mid-power, or if I decide to emerge from my self-imposed very-low-power confinement someday (’cause APCP motors are really cool to watch…).

As far as what I’m going to build? Just mostly finish what I’ve got (two cutaway motor models, a Quest Astra, and a book). When those are done, try some new things. I haven’t done helicopter recovery yet. I’d like to see what wadding-less recovery (using baffles) is like.

At the bottom, after finishing NARTREK, it’s time for me to settle into small projects that amuse, “fly casual,” and support the girls if they choose to start building and flying.

Clear day, satnav led us to the designated spot about 7:10 AM. The Daughters and I unpacked and were setting up the range when the first of the 4-H youth arrived. The other made a surprise entrance at about 8:15. So lots of flying got done on the lakebed.
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(You’ll have to read The Jeopardy! Book to get that one. Or ask me, but beware the tale is long and trivia-ridden.)
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I have been battling a cough to little effect for a week. I now diagnose this as some sort of sinusitis, and I prescribe saline nasal irrigation, frequency and tonicity to be determined.

I gave the Lady of the Manor my Christmas wish list today. Her reaction: “Really? ” I think she’s suprised that I finally put some list ideas together right around the time she usually starts thinking about gift shopping. Hey, it only takes me fifteen years to pick up on these things.

The Daughters will be drafted as range crew to help me at the next couple launch days. They do not yet know this. And I do not yet know how to fit all three of us and my flight gear into the Honda Accord. That seems fair to me.

Shuttle Discovery‘s final mission is now aiming for November 2010. Endeavour‘s final scheduled mission is now aiming for February 2011. Both dates were pushed out due to difficulties with the paylods. For Discovery, it was refitting a portable cargo module into a permanent addition to the Station. For Endeavour, it’s the ever-popular Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, which needed rejiggering to suit the new plans to extend ISS operations out past 2015.
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I’ve always been fascinated by handheld radios. Wanted them when I was a kid (would have probably gotten), was insanely jealous of one neighbor’s “Space: 1999″ walkie-talkie commlocks. When I was a young adult, I bought a pair of 3-channel transceivers from Radio Shack. I only got to take them camping once, but they worked.

When I restarted the rocketry hobby and was trying to build a club, I had visions of the club operating a range, so I accumulated several of the best Family Radio Service (FRS) handhelds I could find. Now that I’m rescaling my activities, I have no need for so many radios.

All that as prelude to pointing out that my radio auction on eBay will close down soon. If you’re interested, bid.

So, what’s going to be filling my time (besides work, housework, yardwork, and sleep)?
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Work with the life you have, not with the life you wish you had.
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A very nice flight for the first SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket this morning. Pretty much a flight right on plan, but with just enough “funnies” (yes, that’s a technical term) to make the upcoming post-flight data mining a decent exercise. The esteemed Senator from Texas tried to throw cold water on the success. Wake up, Senator. This is the reality we have, not the one we wish we had. And frankly, this reality, with SpaceX getting such a good flight on first attempt, is worth keeping.