Bacon

Why is this post titled Bacon? Well because I have given up bacon. And pork. I don't really miss bacon... I mean its good but I never eat bacon. I eat... bacon cheeseburgers, or bacon chicken wraps. So now I just eat cheeseburgers and chicken wraps. It doesn't seem to matter. What do I miss? Sausage. And pepperoni. In fact I think I need to make a special exception for pepperoni. It was kinda a knee jerk reaction after Yom Kippur. I got a good dose of jewish guilt that day and then decided I should stop my evil pork eating ways. Which sounded easy when you talk about bacon. But harder when you talk about sausage.

Work... what to say about work. Well they decided that two of every class would go first into the breach (aka sim flow). So me and Mark were picked for Spartan (as the best two, because we are) and we participated last two weeks in eval sims for the different disciplines. These were the toughest, craziest, power failure heaviest sims we have ever had. And they were really really fun. I got a good eval too, including one outstanding. So yeah work is going well. The week after thanksgiving, we have another sim... our last of the year. And then in January we start generic sims... 5 of those then we are certified (or at least thats the plan). I really cant wait to be certified. All these months of hard work finally paying off. And I know its alot of off normal hours (nights, weekends) and many many months of boredom but every so often theres a few moments of terror. Just 2 weeks ago they had a major on orbit failure at midnight. Thats gonna be our shift. Which means I could be the one that gets the major failure next time. And I think, if that happens, I would be ready for it. Because we had basically the same failure in the last sim. And it went well.
Then its on to specialist training, specialist sims, specialist cert. And then instructor. And along the way procedures, and I actually enjoy writing procedures. And other paperwork of varying levels of interest. But I go to sleep every night knowing that because of something I did today, people will continue to live and work safely in space. And thats... more than I ever hoped for. People. In space. And I get to be a part of it.

Next week is thanksgiving and I'm going to New York with Rami's family. Well, meeting them there. As long as its not snowing in Baltimore. I got a new wintery coat for... I dont know.. winter? And I finally finally got a fleecy vest. I always want them and I never get one cuz its hot. But this year I'm going to new york and then back to manchester and then also probably to Colorado with some coworkers in Feb and it also gets a little cold in Texas from time to time. Plus it was only like 11$ at the crazy old navy sale. So I finally have one.

Oh and I was watching Say Yes to the Dress and thinking about weddings and stuff. How crazy is it that people spend 4,000... 6,000... 10,000 dollars on a wedding dress. I hope to get mine from the Davids bridal $99 dollar sale. Or just some Dillards prom dress that happens to be white-ish. Yeah all that sounds better than spending 6,000 on a custom fitted designer gown. Oh and another thing... dont do beading above the waist. It will rub your arms raw. My mom had a beautiful beaded dress that I borrowed once for some formal party and though it looked wonderful and fancy... my arms were all red and splotchy and hurt like nothing else the next day. But then, I don't tolerate beauty pain very well. And also, I notice that none of these dresses have sleeves or even straps. Does everyone wear a shrug for their church wedding? Or does nobody even have church weddings anymore?

Anyways, thats whats on my mind today. :-) Happy Thanksgiving everyone!