I am working a new program these days. The program I was assigned to has finished up. It happened a little earlier than we expected but it is good to finally have it finished. The company has been real good about finding positions for everyone. Most of the people joined an expanding program over at one of our other buildings where they are getting ready to work on modernizing some of our ballistic missile early warning systems. Most of those systems were built back in the 70’s and are in serious need of updating. I was looking at joining them but was offered a position with the RAIDRS program in the same building I am currently working in. Continue reading
Category: General (Page 14 of 29)
The end is in sight. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I just completed a comprehensive final exam over the entire GIS program, have competed my 40-page “Masters Report”, and the only thing left is the oral presentation of the report coming up on Nov 16th. So, I am basically ALL FINISHED! WooHooo!
The comprehensive final was pretty rough. One of the hazards of stretching the program out over four years is you forget a lot of what you learned earlier on. It was a open-book take-home exam that you had 48 hours to complete. It definitely took the entire weekend to get it done. The worst part was some of the geostatistics problems. Statistics was never one of my strong suites to begin with.
My “Masters Report”, which is similar to a thesis, comprises an investigation into the deployment of geo-enabled sensors and how this technology will be implemented in more advanced applications. Continue reading
I ran across an interesting event that I wish I could go to later this month. The Wirefly X PRIZE CUP ’07 Holloman Air & Space Expo is being held October 26-28, 2007 at Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico. This event is a celebration of forward-looking technology, space exploration and competition for new aerospace technologies.
The first X-Prize if you recall was a $10 million award to the first private group to successfully build and launch a manned spacecraft into space. The X PRIZE Foundation sought to bring about a radical breakthrough in the advancement of human spaceflight, the aim being to open up the space frontier; something that has always been near to my heart. The long-term goal is to make space travel safe, affordable and accessible to everyone through the creation of a personal spaceflight industry. To win the prize, famed aerospace designer Burt Rutan and financier Paul Allen led the first private team to build and launch a spacecraft (SpaceShipOne) capable of carrying three people to 100 kilometers above the earth’s surface, twice within two weeks.
Today there are several different X-Prizes in the Space, Medical, and Automotive fields. Just last month the X PRIZE Foundation and Google Inc. announced the Google Lunar X PRIZE, a robotic race to the Moon to win a remarkable $30 million prize purse. Private companies from around the world will compete to land a privately funded robotic rover on the Moon that is capable of completing several mission objectives, including roaming the lunar surface for at least 500 meters and sending video, images and data back to the Earth.
The Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge 2007 is an interesting one designed to accelerate commercial technological developments supporting the birth of a new generation of Lunar Landers capable of ferrying payloads or humans back and forth between lunar orbit and the lunar surface. It will be held at the Expo in October.
The Competition is divided into two levels. Level 1 requires a rocket to take off from a designated launch area, rocket up to 150 feet (50 meters) altitude, then hover for 90 seconds while landing precisely on a landing pad 100 meters away. The flight must then be repeated in reverse—and both flights, along with all of the necessary preparation for each, must take place within a two and a half hour period.
The more difficult course, Level 2, requires the rocket to hover for twice as long before landing precisely on a simulated lunar surface, packed with craters and boulders to mimic actual lunar terrain. The hover times are calculated so that the Level 2 mission closely simulates the power needed to perform the real lunar mission.
There will also be launches, air show performances, displays of rockets, robotic displays, and military and warbird aircraft displays. Unfortunately I will not be able to attend this year because of school commitments but there is always next year.
This is the last Saturday that the three of us ‘at home’ will all be here before Kristina leaves for California next week. We decided that was reason enough for an adventure so off we went to Einstein’s Bagel shop for breakfast to get a good start on the day. It was a somewhat cool morning so we skipped eating out on the terrace. We chatted over breakfast about Daniel, the military, school, and of course, California. It was great to hear Kristina share some of what is taking place in Daniel’s life, how God is working and how that affects her future.
Taking Abby a little snack from our breakfast, we headed off to Glen Eyrie, a part of Colorado history, owned by the Navigators. It is an awesome facility down in Queen’s Canyon, named after Col. Palmer’s wife, Queen. He built a castle for her in the Canyon before Colorado Springs was founded. It is now utilized as a seminar facility for Christian seminars of all types. A truly beautiful place, the grounds are often frequented by part of the Big Horn sheep herd that makes its home in the canyon and on the adjoining Greg Francis Big Horn Sheep Refuge. The canyon is no longer open to the public on the weekends but one of Kristina’s perks as an employee of the Navigators is to have access whenever she wants it. Flash her employee ID badge at the gate and we are on our way.
The canyon was arrayed with reds, golds, and still a fair amount of green foliage as we drove through to the far end parking lot. We are hoping to see some of the Big Horn sheep in the canyon so we were constantly looking up the canyon walls for any signs. The cloud cover provided great lighting for my two photographers. Josh recently gave Kristina his old 35mm and so she is shooting today as well as her Dad. We have written previously about the trail and posted pictures so I will not go into too much detail as you can read the old post for a more in depth description of the trail. The trail doesn’t go very far in to the canyon before it crosses over into the National Forest and begins a continual, gradual increase to a tall waterfall. The trail was a magic place today – the leaves were falling and the stream that supplies water to Glen Eyrie was babbling as we followed along. Continue reading
Boy have we been neglectful of the website. Lot’s of things have happened over the summer but I’m not going to try and go back and write individual entries about them. I think a short synopsis will have to do. In no particular order….
We moved. Not very far but it was still a lot of work. Actually, we have talked about moving from time to time but we really like the neighborhood we live in and are reluctant to move away. There was a long list of fairly major improvements we would have liked to have made to the old house but were reluctant to spend the money and effort if we might move. Well, the neighbor across the street and down a few houses ended up solving our problem. He moved his family to Zurich, Switzerland and we bought his house. Sounds a little nuts but there was method to the madness. You see, he had already made all the improvements to his house and we were able to get a good price on it. Trust me…the math worked out in our favor. So, long story short… we got our house sold, my Dad came out and helped us move across the street. Thanks Dad!
Kristina is moving to California in a few weeks. She feels pulled to the area after visiting earlier this year. Boyfriend lives there too which might have something to do with it 😉 So she is leaving her job with the Navigators and striking out on a new adventure. We will be empty-nesters again but hey, we’re experienced at it now.
Rhonda is back in school. I am back in school. Josh is back in school. Kristina was almost back in school. Phew! What’s up with all this school stuff anyway? I am in the home stretch. All my coursework is completed, just working on my final requirement which is a Masters Report. Kind of like a thesis but not quite as rigorous. I will graduate in December. Rhonda is taking some exploratory classes at the local community college. Math and Biology, which are really making her stretch those dusty brain cells. Josh is enrolled in an engineering program down in Pueblo at Colorado State. Kristina got accepted to the Art Institute in San Diego but could not pull the financing together quickly enough to make it happen. That is by the way, where she is moving to so we’ll see what happens on down the road.
Hiking and camping have just not happened this year. 🙁 Ronda and I did get out for a couple of overnighters but that has been about it. Next year we are going to do better!
I finally broke down and bought a digital camera earlier this year. It’s a Canon SLR and it’s pretty amazing. I still have a long ways to go to master everything it can do. I am really enjoying it and will be going to a digital photography seminar up in Denver in a week or so with a friend and hope to pick up some good tips and tricks.
That’s all for now. Will try and be more faithful at writing in the future.
We had a bit of excitement we could have done without earlier this week. I was at the side of the house cooking some burgers on the grill when the dog found a rattlesnake right behind the tub I keep my grilling supplies in. I got her away from it and put her in the house while I pondered the situation. We live just a block away from a 300 acre park and that’s no doubt where it came from. I figured it would probably go back there if I just left it alone but on the other hand there are a lot of little kids in the neighborhood and I did not feel right about just letting it go.
So, I found the shovel and waited for it to come out. When it did I gave the shovel my best javelin toss and got it about six inches behind the head. Pinned it right to the ground but it didn’t kill it. About that time Ronda came out of the back door and the dog came with her. Next thing I knew the dog was right there and stuck her nose in a little too close **POWW** faster than you could really even see, the snake got her in the nose.
Naturally, this all happened just after dinner so our only recourse was to go to the local pet “emergency room”. Poor Abby started swelling up immediately and was obviously not feeling well at all. I guess a rattlesnake bite is extremely painful. The vet gave us the recommended scenario which included staying overnight, pain, anti-inflammatory meds and the anti-venom serum dripped in through an IV, etc., etc. Estimated cost $1,540.
While carefully refraining from laughing we asked about the “home care” scenario. The vet frowned but told us he could give her a shot of morphine and send home some pills but the dog might not make it and would be very uncomfortable. To his credit he did say the whole anti-venom thing was somewhat controversial and not every vet recommended that course of action. Needless to say we opted for the home care scenario and proceeded to give the dog her meds along with several homeopathic remedies. She has looked pretty rough and we has wondered if we are doing the right thing but she appears to be turning the corner today.
This was definitely some excitement we could have done without. And, yes…we kept the rattles!
Rhonda’s P.S. Matt writes of all the excitement but this event is keeping us from another event that is very dear to our hearts. We were planning to leave for Iowa yesterday for a wedding. Yes, the beautiful and dear Angie Cierzan has found the love of her life and is being married on Saturday. We have to make a decision today or in the morning as to whether we can leave Abby or if I will make the trip alone while Matt stays to care for Abby. We are trusting that God will make it very clear how to handle the situation, either scenario is difficult.
P.P.S. Note one week later – made the painful decision to not attend the wedding as Abby needed too much care and her life was hanging in the balance. She is almost fully recovered now. We have had a hard time keeping her from living life at full bore!
Kristina flew to Iowa from Virginia where she had been with Daniel after his abrupt ending to SEALS training. She was a bridesmaid as she, Rose, and Angie have been friends since they were 6 years old. I know that it was a lovely day that honored the Lord. Thankfully we will get to see the newlyweds at Rose and Willie’s wedding in July. Two of ‘my girls’ marrying in the same summer! What a blessing!
There have been several rally events this Spring with the Land Rovers where Ronda worked. The first one was an event sponsored for the clients and the second was for the employees. Both events centered around a 4WD trail named the China Wall over in the Tarryall Mountains. I volunteered to be the event photographer and had a good time burning up a bunch of film as the Land Rovers churned through the mud and up and down the rocks. The trail ends at the Tarryall river which is a terrific picnic spot and that is where we stopped for lunch.
I got a lot of exercise out of this deal as I was constantly hopping in and out of the vehicle and running back and forth snapping photos. I dedicated a page on the site to document the first event. You can look at the pictures (takes a little while to load) by going here. It was a lot of fun and Ronda got to drive one of the LR3s to find out first hand how well it handles the rough terrain.
Between the two events I spent an awful lot of money on film and developing which caused me to relook at the whole “digital” photography thing. I won’t bore you with all the detailed rationale but I ultimately decided to make the switch. I stayed with Canon so I could maintain my investment in lenses. I have not really had much opportunity to use the new gear yet so I’ll save that for another article.
School is out for the summer. Finished up my two classes last week. Now all that remains is my final project which I will do this fall and graduate in December. Speaking of school, Josh had been accepted to Colorado State University in Pueblo and he will be pursuing an engineering degree. He decided to jump right in and start taking classes this summer so he will be a full-time student now (classes started this week).
Kristina’s lease runs out on her apartment at the end of May and she is going to move back home for awhile while she figures out what’s next in her life.
Hoping to get out of town over Memorial Day weekend and get in some camping. Have not decided where to go just yet.
