justing.net

Week Notes No. 18

By Justin G. on 24AUG18SUN

There are two weeks contained in this “week” note. And there are a lot of words.

AUG05MON

A lot of careful thinking required at work today. Interpreting, digging, describing, clarifying, communicating. That sort of thing. It’s tiring.

I made the mistake of also trying to learn some new muscle memory. A friend gave me a split keyboard for my birthday and I got it working yesterday. Had to setup my env, assign the keys and flash the firmware. It turns out that was the easy part (it really wasn’t that difficult). Teaching my hands to do the right things was much harder. Hard enough that I had to postpone my evening run to the next morning. Is this getting old, or did I just not notice before? Alternative hypothesis: some lingering brain effects from Covid a couple of weeks ago.

AUG06TUE

WFO this day, so there was a commute to and from. I’m writing this a couple of weeks later and it’s unremembered at this point. After work there is a National Night Out block party down the street. Some friends of ours (TFam) come by to take it in and we join, but if I am honest, the long day and commute have exhausted me. I wasn’t much conversation or activity. Still, the music was good, even if it hasn’t been my style in quite a while. I have my second It’s It ice cream sandwich of the day. Those are great!

AUG07WED

Booked a car rental for next week now that the satellite launch date is confirmed. We’ll be going to Cape Canaveral to enjoy our first rocket launch. My wife gets the VIP treatment, and I’m super happy to just be there (I like making my own adventure actually quite a lot too). Also keeping an eye on the potential hurricane, as yet unnamed Ernesto, that is forming in the Atlantic. It could be lining up time-wise to be where we are going to be next week. It turns out to stay off the coast and jeapardizes neither our lives nor the launch.

I started the focaccia recipe that I mentioned in the recent Now update. It’s a two day affair.

AUG08THU

With this vacation finally coming together, I had booked a haircut for today. The only available slot was in the evening, which is not really my preferred choice. But, needs must. And my barber texts me to ask if it’s possible to pull it in to the afternoon, which is perfect for me. I much prefer to take a break during the day and think about my problems outside of my usual context. So I roll with it.

The other big deal: ladies and gentlemen, the sandwich of 2024. It’s killer. No, it’s serial killer. I’ll be making this again.

Played NMS with J later in the night. We had a great time and stayed up way too late.

AUG09FRI

It’s the Friday before vacation begins. I have vacation-itis. But also several things to accomplish at work. I get them done and still manage to bag off early. I really should book a long weekend in September and October. Maybe take the Tuesday off after Labor day.

During my weekly catch up with B, who is always inventive and has good ideas, he points out a couple of things. One, that with the amount of bread that I bake, I could easily justify the purchase of any bread making implement. And two, a heated seed starting mat could easily double as a proofing heater at a much lower cost even if I had to also get a Variac¹. We swap garden stories, even though most of mine are vicariously through A. Furthermore, his suggestions of reminding A to start winter seedlings now (or soon) is super helpful. And his other offhand remark about the pickling peppers or other veg has resonated with our overwhelming tomato problem! Wait, can you pickle tomatoes??

A and I both decide we’d rather play NMS than watch the Olympics tonight.

AUG10SAT

Lazy day, a mix of Olympics watching, NMS playing, low-key packing, etc.

AUG11SUN

Packing for real. Okay that sounds way more serious than it is. After a few rounds of taking packing too seriously, I mostly stick to the “if I really need it, I can buy it” method. I do meticulously sort out my audio recording and photography gear. Glad my new roll on luggage arrived in time on Friday!

The Second Week

Travel week. Heading to the Space Coast to watch Falcon 9 launch Worldview Legion 3 & 4. And take in Kennedy Space Center Visitors Complex.

AUG12MON

Time to fly.

Well, after a carefully timed run down to our dog trainer to watch M for the week, and back up. Then get a Lyft to the airport and get through security. It goes too smoothly and Southwest delays the flight by 30 minutes. We’re too early. We’re there so early that we have time to order coffee and drink it before boarding starts.

Our first stop was Midway in Chicago. On landing I noticed that there are houses really quite close to the airport. I didn’t get a picture, you’ll have to be satisfied with a Google Maps Satellite view. At least they built a blast wall around it. Must be an “interesting” place to live, outside that wall. I would be interested to make some pictures out there sometime. The scenes would probably be unlovely, unremarkable, and odd. Just my type.

Midway was a reasonable airport to transit though. No complaints from me. We continue onward to Orlando.

Now the one remarkable thing about this flight was how an otherwise normally speaking flight attendant could turn into an inebriated motormouth for just the safety dance part of the flight. I’ll try to describe this particular verbal affect: all the words were run together, and all emphasis was minimized, as were most syllables or hard sounds. Basically any part of speaking the words that took much effort or motion from the resting pose of the mouth was highly attenuated. And yet, it was still mostly understandable, but just barely. It gave the impression of having been done a million times and all the extra parts were worn off. It also suggested that they couldn’t be bothered to try any harder or care. I’m not at all sure she was aware she was saying it this way. I’ve never heard anything quite like it. But once some other announcement was needed, she sounded totally normal. We made it to Orlando without incident.

Other than the two tolls we paid in cash, totalling 3 whole dollars, and the one toll booth attendant that was very much enjoying some comedy show yet was still very cheerful for us, it was an easy drive. Well, it was very dark out, and unfamiliar, so that made it a little more harrowing.

It was a long day but relatively uneventful. Only sorry I missed dinner.

AUG13TUE

KSC day. In the morning we met up with David, one of A’s colleagues, who was also here for the launch. Breakfast outside was a mistake, for me anyway. I had sat in a window reflection, so I got the sun from both directions. It was probably already in the mid-80s and very humid.

The KSC visitor’s complex is both bigger and smaller than it appears. I’ll just give a few vignettes.

The Saturn V rocket is bigger than it looks, and would give a more imposing impression if it was upright. But then you wouldn’t be able to see it. I’ll take seeing it. Seeing several actual Apollo artifacts that had been to the moon or were actual moon rocks was for me much more impactful in memory than in person. Also, I can appreciate how someone might look at some of those things and just call BS, believe it’s a hoax and move on. But we did go there.

Seeing the Atlantis shuttle is indeed quite moving. It’s really impressive. It does recall the sister tragedies, but also the spirit of exploration. Space is a hard thing. I hope we have learned the necessary lessons to continue as safely as possible. Maybe some² have not.

They have a lot of gift shops, including the world’s largest.

AUG14WED

We joined up with another of A’s colleagues at the end of the day yesterday. So, we again journeyed the short way to the KSC visitor’s complex. I didn’t mind at all getting to see some of the same things again. There is a lot to take in, and having second day to look again is well worth it. If you can’t do that, at least take some notes in case you get to go back again some other time.³

In the evening A and her colleagues had some events to attend to for the launch, so I was free. But I also had a headache, probably from a little too much sun. I texted with T While I waited to see if the Excedrin would help or not. Neither of us had high expectations for this part of the country, but we both appreciated that lowering your expectations can lead to being pleasantly surprised. With my head starting to feel better, I headed out into that warm blanket that is the eastern Florida coast after a thunderstorm.

It wasn’t my most productive evening of wandering around, but I did find a few interesting things in Titusville. Some photographed better than others. I walked around the most downtown part, around Main street, for an hour and a half trying to find the energy, the interesting threads through town. It was pretty weak, and dispersed. There were a few murals around, and some old buildings. Surprisingly little electrical conduit or external plumbing; the utility poles were pretty good (but I struggled with the lighting); there were train tracks. I found a few unremarkable and odd places. Most of the area was not unlovely enough to be very admired, nor so put together that it approached artistry. I think the kids these days would call it “mid.” Still, I did made some pictures. Maybe I’ll share a few someday, I’d like to print a few of them first.

Next time I would grab a paper visitors map of the area, or at least looked for a pdf of one online. I’m sure I could have found this in the hotel. I’ve kind of fallen into the trap of thinking that online resources are the only ones. They are not, and things like Google Maps are not designed for this purpose: exploring an area you aren’t familiar with. They don’t give a good high level overview. Instead they are both too scant at a high level, not even being good at identifying towns or major geographic areas, and too dense at a low level since they don’t have any real prioritization lens either. If I don’t know what is there, how can I search for it?

I had dinner solo at restaurant that was having Neapolitan pizza night, and they just happened to put out a fresh one to go to a table right as I walked in. It was easy to convince me. I’m happy with my choice. I had toasted coconut and ube ice cream after, at the place up the block.

A got back late and then went back out because of some delay and then got back even later. It was totally worth it.

AUG15THU

Launch day. No hurricane, Ernesto stays far off the coast. No other schedule shifts either.

After A and here cadre clear out on their bus, I grab a cup of coffee from the hotel bistro. There’s no line after they all left, see. I zip out to Playalinda beach, on the Canaveral National Seashore to find my own view of the launch. This is the closest I can get, and my view of the launch pad is unfortunately obstructed. Also, it’s already impressively hot and expectedly very humid. It’s only about 8:30 when I exit the air conditioned environs of my rental.

The beach is not particularly crowded. I think I would prefer to be here in the fall or winter, when the climate is a little more polite about not making you perspire. So, I make my way down the beach to the cones, which are the limit of approach, about 6.5 miles (I think) from the launch pad. The view is surreal, the launch complexes are truly megastructures, like something from the future, something we mere mortals aren’t to approach or even really understand; distant. They recede down the coast into the hazy humid atmosphere, partially hidden behind the shore dune. Borrowing something that I read earlier just this day (that I’m writing this), it gave a strong “Tarkovsky vibe.”

The 10 minutes before launch take at least 20. I don’t have a good enough cell signal to stream the countdown, but one of the handful of other people nearby does. I can’t really hear it over the surf, only 20-30 feet to my left. I text a little intermittently with A as my weak cell signal allows. It’s a wildlife refuge and a national park, and a beach too. No place for LTE, or rockets for that matter. Launch goes off exactly on schedule, and the Falcon 9 rises above the dune slowly at first but every instant faster and faster. The 8 minutes for the booster to land go by in about 2 minutes. The dang thing is basically impossible to see, but a neighbor spots it very very high, and at least for a second or two I see it too. It’s not until the booster is almost back that I can track it. It’s true what I heard: rockets shouldn’t go that way. Cool as heck. Worth it.

• Viewing help
  • I mostly used Ben Cooper, but he doesn’t mention the NPS fee for getting to Playalinda.
  • Scriptunas is similar, I used their camera settings.
  • Later I found Supercluster which has a great map.
• They’re working great.
• More details
• Livestreams: Spaceflight Now, The Launch Pad

More could be said but to sum up; we took it easy the rest of the day.

AUG16FRI

Return trip. Similarly smooth sailing.

I noticed the clouds are so regularly gridded that it almost looks unnatural.

The order taker at the chicken place where I get lunch in the Nashville airport has another altogether different verbal affect. Everything is a statement. “What you want.” “Sides.” “Dipping sauce.” She is an order ticket in human form, fill in the blanks. But she is paying attention. “What’s your name.” Justin. “Joseph.(?)” That’s my father’s name. Maybe a hint of a smile, maybe I imagined it. Everyone at that place was above average interesting. I would order there again just for the people.

Two other noticings: the river meanders and all the water features of the south are quite beautiful from the air, and as usual the mountains and canyons of the southwest are similarly gorgeous. They both present similar problems, if you are trying to travel across these landscapes. I have lots of photos from the air of the southwest, but I don’t fly out to the southeast all that often, so I don’t have many of those. Next time.

AUG17SAT

Out early to get M back, a day later than expected but it was so kind of our trainer to offer. Much of the rest of the day is spent either extracting my notes from The log from the Sea of Cortez or just taking it easy. But I also made baguettes. And sandwiches with those baguettes. They’re great, but I see some things I can improve. They would be perfect for banh mis. Not bad for my first try.

AUG18SUN (today)

We found a lost dog?! After seeing him scamper by alone, we simply followed his lightly bloody paw prints to find him. One of our usual neighborhood dog people, SA, helped catch him, and knew the number to call to find out what to do. Poor little guy had been running all morning and his paws were raw and bleeding a little. But he was friendly enough, or maybe just exhausted. We took him to the right vet and they checked for a chip, none found. Left him there, the city pound would come get him in a couple of hours. A posted it on Nextdoor (that app is trash, I gotta say), and one of the respondents suggested Pawboost. Not sure what did it, but the owner found one of the posts and retrieved their pup from the vet before the pound got there. Happy endings all.

Many more tomatoes were harvested from the garden. A week’s worth. L was supposed to pick some while we away, in exchange for watering. Oh well. However. Folks: the tomato salad of 2024. Cherry tomatoes, just washed and not even cut. Good extra virgin olive oil. Balsamic glaze. Salt. That’s it. OMG.

Character Key

Note: I plan to move this to its own page soon. Notenote: I added Week Notes Key with this information, and it will get updated.

• A: my wife.
• B: a good friend I’ve known for almost 10 years. He moved away a couple of years ago, but we catch up weekly.
• C: a friend I stay in touch with about once a month since the company we worked for folded.
• J: close friend of mine, I’ve known him since college. We text chat daily.
• L: a neighborhood dog friend that has grown to be more.
• M: our dog. Seventy pounds of hound. Solid goof.
• SA: neighborhood dog/person pair we see sometimes. S looves M.
• TFam: family friends my wife and I have known for almost 10 years. They live nearby.
• T: my backpacking buddy. We text chat multiple times a week.

Email me about space coast.