efaardvark

Just applied for a job working for JPL!  I've actually been working -at- JPL for years now but as a contractor, not as a direct employee.  This will mean my paycheck comes directly from JPL.  (Well, CalTech actually since the university manages JPL as a NASA center.)  It will also mean I'll probably wind up being even more busy but it'll be pretty much the same job with more money, better benefits, and fewer contract management chiefs to deal with.  And in fact my immediate boss will probably be one of my old bosses too so that will be a nice side-benefit since I got along pretty well with him back in the day.  Really hoping I get this "lateral promotion"

Today a co-worker pointed out a 2-second pan-shot in the Cassini episode of the Netflix show "7 days out" that contained him, me, and another guy in the control room where we work.  Now I need to track down my brother so I can borrow his netflix account & see if I can snag a screen shot or something.   

Ain't THAT the truth....

Got a short weekend this week, courtesy of OSIRIS-REx delivering pieces of Bennu to Earth.  24 hours on-call the day before then 10 or so hours on-site Saturday leading up to the reentry of the capsule containing the sample.

Any 賭ケグルイ fans in the audience?   So is Elon Musk apparently...

Somebody - an anime virgin - saw the picture below on my computer, provoking the remark that "70% of the world's weirdness comes from Japan".  I could not refute this objectively, but neither do I accept the premise that such a situation - should it be proven factual - is necessarily a Bad Thing. 

So L.A. county is dropping a step to orange-tier restrictions on Monday.  It will be interesting to see if the idiots out there can be responsible and not cause another spike in COVID cases.  I have my doubts.  I’ve already heard at least one person say she’s “glad the pandemic is finally over”.  

Just added Houkago no Pleiades to my queue at someone's recommendation based on my liking of Rocket Girls.  Looks "softer" (in SF terms) than I'd like, but we'll see.

Jeez.. you people have been busy!  I come back after a week and there's about a hundred* pages of new posts!

(*not really... maybe only like 80 or so. )

AT&T FINALLY has fiber in my neighborhood so next weekend we're upgrading our 'net connection from ~10Mb DSL ("up to 27Mb") to 300Mb fiber.  At the risk of jinxing it, I'm looking forward to the ~10x speed bump! 

Getting a second wave of oranges on our tree out back...

Yesterday was one of my twice-yearly trips to the middle of nowhere in the California desert. 

Happy New Year!  Hope it's a better one...

This is how old my house is..

Happy Hogmanay!

Got some swag (medallion and presskit)

and a

certificate of appreciation

for TESS launch support.  Sweet...

It has been a while since I cleaned under/behind the bookcases.   

In case you're wondering, this is a "tinybopper" from a microgame called "RIVETS" that was released in the mid-late '70s.  I bought them all as they came out, and still have most of them.  Er.. somewhere. 

Of course the first video played from space was a cat video.

https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasas-tech-demo-streams-first-video-from-deep-space-via-laser

mst3k ftw..

Turnspit dogs used to be a thing.  Who knew?

Well that sucks.

Boss had me batting cleanup on the TESS launch today so I went in late and I'm just getting home (1am).  Only it was scrubbed, so I get to recycle and do it all over again tomorrow and Wednesday.  Maybe longer if it still doesn't go. 

Got my EDL shirt!  24 days to go!