Where in the Universe are Tim and Jen?

Moving blogging sites

2008-09-03T11:11:00.004-05:00

We are testing out a new blog format over at WordPress, another free blogging site. Check out the new site (with all the old posts!):

http://SpaceBaileys.wordpress.com

Guest Room: Painted!

2008-08-18T01:37:00.004-05:00

This weekend we tackled one of the few remaining rooms we need to work on at the house: the guest room. We've done minor work before (curtains, closet knobs, etc), but never actually painted. When Jen's mom visited about a month ago, she helped take down the ugly loon border paper around the ceiling (thanks, Alice!!). That left a gross line around the top of the wall that demanded a paint job.

On Saturday I touched up a few holes and then we primed the top to cover over any residual border paper glue. We let it dry while we went to the Wilson's BBQ to meet new their baby, Danny. On Sunday we got up and got to work painting! The color Jen chose came out beautiful! It is a slight shade of lavender. What else would we put in "the princess room"?

Jack's First Post

2008-08-03T14:59:00.002-05:00

Daddy said I could blog, so here I go.
I've been really busy lately. The geckos are running rampant in the yard. It's a hard job to keep their population in check. But it's fun to play with them. For some reason Mommy & Daddy yell at me when I bring them a gecko as a present.
This morning was really exciting. There was a squirrel on the food thing that the birds come to. But I scared him away.
I pulled a good one on Azriel the other day. She was sitting on Mommy's lap on the couch. I walked underneath them & tapped Az on her butt. Mommy screamed & Az hissed and ran away. It was a great day.
Blogging is a lot of work. I have to go take a nap in my cat tree. Meow!!!

Eureka video

2008-07-29T20:06:00.001-05:00

Hilarious commercial for the new season of the sci-fi sitcom Eureka

Wild Weekend in Vegas

2008-07-22T16:26:00.006-05:00

Jen and I are honored to have been selected as Matron of Honor and Best Man for the upcoming wedding of our long-time friends Paul & Susie. As part of our 'duties' we organized the Bachelor and Bachelorette parties last weekend in Las Vegas!!

We were excited to have 9 people from Florida, along with a friend living in VA, and 6 others living in Vegas come out and celebrate with us! All the out-of-towners stayed at the Platinum Resort & Spa behind Ballys. We got two 1000+ sqft suites--one for the bachelor party and one for the bachelorette. It was really nice!

On Friday night we went out to see the hilarious musical Spamalot at the Wynn. The Vegas locals scored us great half-price tickets to the closing weekend. It was a hilarious show!! Afterwards we hug out at a pub watching college kids playing beer pong (also hilarious).

Saturday morning the girls went to the Spa while the guys bummed at the pool. We met back up for lunch at the Cheesecake factory in the Forum Shops (Ceasar's Palace). Then we headed back to get ready for our Red Carpet VIP evening!

We started the night with 'bier und brauts' at the Hofbrauhaus Bavarian Restaurant. A live band featuring accordions and drums filled the great hall as we ate and drank. Everyone enjoyed the 1-Liter beer mugs! The restaurant made dinner an event unto itself.

We split up after that so that the guys could enjoy Sapphire, the worlds largest gentlemen's club, while the girls went to see the Australian male review, The Thunder From Down Under. We all had a very good time. (Sorry, no pictures!)

For the grand finale, the two parties merged into one at the Ghost Bar at the Palms. The limos dropped us off and we walked past the line to our VIP table, complete with bottle service. The table was next to the doorway to the amazing balcony with a view of the Vegas strip--and a floor window looking straight down! We had a great time partying into the early morning hours. Some partied harder than others...

Overall we had a fantastic time and loved this once-in-a-lifetime extravagent adventure. Thanks to everyone that came out with us in Las Vegas to make this a great time for Paul & Susie!

Our new laundry room!

2008-07-03T12:01:00.003-05:00

The tile man is done! Our laundry room looks GREAT. We still have some work to do to put back up all of the baseboards and door molding (and possibly replace a door..). Still, it looks 100% better. The cats are gonna love their new room! See the before and after pics below:

Videos

2008-06-26T13:45:00.002-05:00

Here are a couple of recent videos for you to enjoy!

First, I chase Jack around the backyard--one of his favorite outdoor games.

Next, Jen tests out a solar powered "car" she made to test out an educational kit for an upcoming Society of Women Engineers event.

bathroom, bike, & tile: a weekend at home

2008-06-22T20:08:00.003-05:00

After spending so much time on the road or otherwise occupied on the weekends, we finally have a weekend at home! To celebrate, we worked on 3 big projects: fixing the bathroom wall (in progress for over a year), get the Buell in good working order & ready to ride, and getting tile for the laundry room.

When I got back from my 3-week adventure, Jen surprised me with a bare concrete floor in the laundry room. She had recruited her mom & Shannon to help her pull out the old carpet while they were in town. Although it was not the top of *my* list, Jen really hated the nasty old carpet and wanted it gone! This weekend we shopped for tile & have an appointment to get a final estimate this week! I hope the cats like beige tile...

The wall in our guest bathroom has been 'in progress' for over a year. We pulled out the old medicine cabinets and filled in the holes with new drywall. After unsuccessfully trying to spackle the job (wrong stuff!) I hung a mirror that covered most of it and just ignored the problem. Armed with drywall mud and tape (the right stuff!) we scraped, sanded, mudded, and taped several times until it looked fairly smooth. Now we just need to prime and paint to be done!

The bike was a bit more of a challenge. Robert and Art both came over to help with the project. We stripped down and cleaned out the carburetor, gas tank, spark plug, and air system. In the end, it took a $2 can of carb cleaner and a $3 spark plug to get it running. That and 3 days of manual labor stripping it down, putting it back together, losing parts, finding parts, and testing it out. We had at least five "this must be the last thing" moments! In the end we did finally get it up and running and out for a test drive. This week Art is taking the bike out to use for his motorcycle license test. Good luck, Art!

It was a great, productive weekend! Good thing, too, as we'll be busy for the next month or so... as always!

Tim's 3-week trip begins!

2008-05-24T21:36:00.006-05:00

Its been a while since we gave an actual update, so there may be some retroactive postings going up to fill in the gaps between... whenever and now. :-) Between the podcast, other website updates, and Twitter, sometimes I just don't feel like writing another thing! Thankfully, I have gotten some requests for updates so I know people read the blog and are interested. I'll be sure we post here more frequently!

This weekend I am in Las Vegas for a couple of Zero G flights. It is always great to see the ZG crew and hang out together! This weekend is super-cool because I got to fly from Orlando on the same flight as my friend Paul. Last night we had dinner with friends at the Bootlegger Bistro, a classic LAs Vegas eatery complete with lounge singer! This morning I'm are going out to scout locations for Paul's bachelor party in July. (Yes, Jen and Paul's fiance are both coming too!).

On Sunday I fly out to Washington DC for ISDC 2008, the annual National Space Society conference. This is especially important as our local NSS chapter is hosting ISDC 2009 in Orlando! I'll get to learn a LOT about how this conference runs (what comes up at the last minute, people's expectations, etc). Most of Wednesday will be spent talking to Congressional staffers about space issues. On Wed night, Jen will arrive!!! She's slated to be doing volunteer work at the conference.

Jen will head back home on Sunday after ISDC while I will head out to Ocean City, MD on the following Monday. I'm working as the Director of Volunteers & Training for the Ocean City Air Show June 10 & 11. On June 12, I'll finally head back home!!

I'm looking forward to this adventure, and to getting back home to see Jen & the cats at the end. Now, off to explore Vegas!

Interview live from SPACE on the Colbert Report!

2008-05-09T02:23:00.001-05:00

On Thursday night, astronaut Garrett Reisman was a guest on the popular comedy/news show the Colbert Report on Comedy Central. Garrett was broadcast LIVE into the taping earlier in the week via a video hookup through Mission Control in Houston.

Stephen started the interview by showing Garrett wearing his signature "Wrist Strong" bracelet in a NASA photograph! The crowd LOVED Garrett and went wild when he admitted to being part of the "Colbert Nation" fan club--and suggested they expand it to be the Colbert Universe.

Stephen and Garrett had a long talk and touched on a wide variety of topics--including the new Constellation program! Garrett even did some neat tricks for the show like flipping around inside the international space station. Soon you will be able to check out clips from the show online.

Kudos to NASA for allowing the interview to happen! With the immense popularity of the Colbert Report and the GREAT performance by Garrett, this may do more to get people interested in space than any other single interview in the last few years. Thanks, Garrett!!

Yuri's Night Cocoa Beach!

2008-04-09T23:01:00.006-05:00

For the past few months (ok, year), we have been working hard to create a big public outreach event down here in Florida to celebrate Yuri's Night, the anniversary of manned spaceflight, on April 12. Although we've done some of these events with our local NSS chapter before, we've never attempted anything on this scale! We've got a day of beach games followed by live music and food/drink specials at the Cocoa Beach Pier.

It always seems like things are flying around helter-skelter, but in the end it works out great. One of the best indicators that we are moving in the right direction is our new radio ad on 95.1FM. Click below to listen.

Find out all about the event at www.SpaceBeachParty.com!

Depth Perception

2008-03-20T01:57:00.001-05:00

Every wonder why I wear glasses? It's a depth perception issue. The audio clip below talks about some other depth news:

Eye movements combined with the motion of objects in the field of vision enable some depth perception even with only a single eye. Cynthia Graber reports for 6o Second Science from Scientific American.

Explaining Twitter

2008-03-06T13:45:00.004-05:00

Here is a great video to explain the little box on the right labeled "Tim's Twitter Updates" and why the stuff in it changes so randomly. Enjoy the show and check out more web concepts explained in plain english at http://www.CommonCraft.com/show

Mr. Bailey goes to Washington (again)

2008-02-26T15:51:00.005-05:00

I was in Washington Feb 10-12 to chat with Congress. You may recall that last year I went to DC for the Space Exploration Alliance Legislative Blitz. This is an annual event where space advocates meet with Congressional staffers (and the occasional Senator or Representative!) to discuss space issues and do a bit of informal education. This year we chose to organize the Blitz to fall just after the new 2009 NASA budget request was released by the White House. I realized how much I'd learned in my previous trips when I had a conversation about appropriated verses allocated funds and how continuing resolutions to the omnibus bill was bad for everyone. (Did you get all that?)

The 2008 SEA Blitz was successful with over 100 meetings on the Hill. I was typically grouped with several other people--including an 8th grader who came with her dad. She was well spoken and knew a lot about NASA's prize competitions and the COTS program. We ended up having so many meetings scheduled that I even talked to a few staffers alone instead of with a group!

The trip was fun, but unexpectedly COLD. I figured we'd get into the 30's, but one morning it was 12 degrees. That is ridiculous. I don't own clothing appropriate for that kind of weather! I almost bought a $250 wool coat to stay warm (it was a nice coat). My journey became more perilous when the icy cold weather caused traffic accidents and shut down the highway going to the Dulles airport. I missed my flight and had to stay in Virginia overnight!

Normally I prefer to fly from Reagan National (DCA) in the heart of DC and accessible via the Metro. It is so easy to get in and out of there! However, this time I was flying out to California and had managed to get a seat on the new Virgin America airline. Even with all of the delays and unexpected overnight stay, it was worth it! Everything from the check-in line to the cabin lighting was cool, sleek, and hip. I even ordered a snack from the touchscreen entertainment system at my seat! If you ever get the chance to fly VA, just do it. It is a great example of how well an airline can run!

The Amazing Sticky-Note Trick

2008-02-26T15:47:00.004-05:00

This has nothing to do with anything, but it is a neat trick and a great example of how a small change in a process can have a dramatic effect on the whole system.

Originally posted at Communication Nation.

Click To Play

Great video

2008-02-10T15:17:00.001-05:00

This is a cool video made from an Obama speech by some musicians, actors, and artists. I thought it was really powerful, no matter what you think of Obama as a presidential candidate.

January Update

2008-02-05T00:02:00.004-05:00

Ahh, the new year! Already a month has gone by. Hard to beleive. I think it has already lost that 'new year' smell. Perhaps that's a good thing...

We started the new year with a *BANG* out in Las Vegas with friends. We drove out to where we could see the strip and the coordinated fireworks display. It was cool, but I've seen Disney shows that were about as good. The coolest part was watching the fireworks coming off of the Stratosphere (think Seattle Sky Needle). THAT was a neat thing to see!!

Unfortunately it was disturbingly cold and dry in Las Vegas. Being there for several days led to me getting a viral infection that kept me company for most of the month.

I spent several days up in New York for Zero G flights--including a taping of Good Morning America! We did a studio tour early in the morning and I was pulled off the street to do an interview for FOX Business News. It was surreal. And COLD. Very cold. After all the Zero G fun, I got to attend a party for Virgin Galactic where they had the new models of SpaceShipTwo. It was very swanky and a great time to meet some new space friends.

While I was gone, Jack had some eye surgery and had to wear a funny collar for two weeks. Poor thing! He bathed for a whole day when he finally got the stitches out of his eye. Things seem better and he isn't sneezing nearly as much. We are watching him to see if his eye stops being so cloudy and whether it helps him see better.

After New York, I got to spend a day with Jen and the cats before heading off to a whirlwind session of annual Flight Attendant training for Zero G. We squeezed 20 hrs of training into 2 days! Early mornings and late nights helped everyone to make it to training without missing work.

More fun is ahead in February with the SEA Blitz in Washington, DC, and NGEC-2 at NASA Ames in California followed by a week long cruise in the Eastern Caribbean!

Jack's Surgery

2008-01-21T18:18:00.001-05:00

Jack had surgery on his eye today. His third eyelid was curled under (since birth). It was rubbing his eye making his eye water and his nose run. That's why he sneezed all the time.
He is home now and feeling fine. He's still a little woozy from the drugs, but he's playing with his string. He has to wear a collar so he doesn't scratch his stitches--for 2 weeks! Plus he has the added indignity of having pink stitches.
Here are some post-surgery pics. Sorry for the low quality. They were taken with my video camera. Tim has the digital camera in NY.

Mom & Tom in Town

2007-12-18T21:00:00.000-05:00

The first week of December Mom & Tom were in town. Really they were at Disney, but that's close enough. I wanted to share some fun pictures from our visit with them.
Yarrr!!! But why is the rum gone?The claw is my master. Tim, you shrunk!The Behind the Seeds tour in D'land (The Land in Epcot). Hangin' out in Mexico with the Three Wise Guys.

Ball Pit Mania!

2007-12-03T22:47:00.000-05:00

This has nothing to do with us, but it was just too good not to share :-) The picture above is of an actual ball pit in an apartment. The people decided to buy playground balls and a cage to contain them instead of a new couch (seriously). I am deeply jealous and want a ball pit of my own! There is only one problem: my wife.

You see, Jen was never allowed to go in the ball pit as a child. Her mom didn't want her playing in the gross germs that inevitably get all over the balls. While this makes perfect rational sense, it is hard to reconcile with my fond memories of diving, swimming, and lounging in the balls in the ginormous play areas. Given our different experiences, it is not surprising that we have differing opinions about the ball pits.

However, it is still a really cool idea and gets 100 bonus points for originality! And once they figure out how to wash the balls efficiently, I am so getting a ball pit... if Jen lets me ;-)

World Space Expo wrap-up

2007-11-27T00:19:00.000-05:00

The 2007 World Space Expo at the Kennedy Space Center was a huge success! Thousands of people came out Nov 1-4 to see unique exhibits, special guest speakers, and an incredible air show.

The education program brought in 2700 teachers and students from across Florida for a day of educational activities and presentations including:

NASA: Science on the Frontier by Jim Garvin, former NASA Chief Scientist
a ride on the new Shuttle Launch Experience simulator
Live Science demonstrations by the Educator Resource Center
NOAA's Science on a Sphere
Expo pavillions for NASA, Human Spaceflight and Commercial Space
Aerospace Career Panels showcasing the diversity of engineers, scientists, and technicians that work at KSC and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station

An additional 300 local Girl Scouts came out on Friday to see the "Pioneering Women of Aerospace", a forum where six women from different aerospace fields described their path to success. Participating in the event were:

Patty Grace Smith, Associate Administrator for the FAA's Office of Commercial Space Transportation
Kathy Sullivan, First Female Spacewalker
Eileen Collins, First Female Mission Commander at NASA
Anousheh Ansari, First Female Private Spaceflight Participant
Maj. Nicole Malachowski, First Female Pilot for the USAF Thunderbirds
Maj. Samantha Weeks, First Female Solo Pilot for the USAF Thunderbirds

Especially cool was the historic first flight of a female Shuttle Commander and the first female ISS Commander! Overall, a good week for showcasing the empowerment of women.

After putting on the education program and helping the Girl Scouts, we were pooped! Jen and Robert came out both Thursday and Friday to volunteer for the education program and made a WORLD of difference. Thanks to all of our great volunteers!!

As a 'thank you' for all of the hard work we put into the Expo, We I was treated to some VIP passes for the airshow on Saturday and Sunday. I got tickets for the airshow and let Dad and Uncle Tommie go out on Saturday. They took Tommie's grandson and had a great time! On Sunday Jen and I went with Mom, Robert, Teresa, our family friend John, and one of Mom's new co-workers, Charlie, and his wife. What a group! The aerial demonstrations were amazing and really showed the capabilities of our military. If you ever, ever, get to see an F-22 Raptor demonstration you MUST GO. It is unbelievable. Trust me, GO. In the mean time, check out our airshow pictures here.

Public Service Announcement

2007-10-22T22:09:00.001-05:00

This is a small Public Service Announcement to tell everyone about a COOL new site that helps you improve your vocabulary while also giving rice to hungry people!! FreeRice.com has a simple word matching game that has you pick the meaning of a given word. As you play, the words get slightly harder until you get one wrong. Each time you get a correct answer, 10 grains of rice are donated to the United Nations World Food Program. Advertisers at the bottom of the screen pay for the rice while you play the game!

After only 5 minutes I had several hundred grains of rice donated and was in the 30's vocab range (max is 50--Genius level!). The game was fun and a good way to brush up on forgotten words. The skill level algorithm kept me on my toes without making me feel too dumb or too smart. Overall, FreeRice.com is a much more useful tool for burning a few minutes online than watching a YouTube video or reading another bogus chain email. Give it a try! At the very least, someone will get fed.

Weekend at Home!

2007-10-16T23:46:00.000-05:00

After over a month of travel, I finally stayed at home for a few days! Jen and I enjoyed hanging out and each getting our hair cut in Viera on Friday night. Our friends Robert and Susie even joined us for dinner at Mimi's Cafe--YUM!

On Saturday we tried to go to the local driving range, but it was closed for a tournament. Instead, we hit practice balls in the back yard! It was fun to get lessons from Jen--she really knows her stuff! (Note: the club face should point to 11 o'clock. It works.)

We spent Sunday afternoon planting flowers around the back porch and doing general yard work. I got to plant a cool sea grape and dig up a bunch of ferns. The back yard has a lot more color now!!

The 'weekend' even extended to Monday night as my mom drove down to have dinner with us. It is nice to have her living so close now! I am enjoying having her nearby and look forward to having dad down soon too.

Pics and videos are online [here]. Now, back to work! The World Space Expo is coming up fast and I have 3,000 kids to teach!

Tim in the news

2007-09-18T14:37:00.000-05:00

I just got a note from Keith Cowing at NASAWatch.com letting me know that I am mentioned in this SpaceRef online article: Returning to Weightlessness. Check it out to get a good perspective on the teachers flying as a part of the Northrop Grumman Weightless Flights of Discovery.

Thanks, Keith!! See you next time!

Wired NextFest in LA

2007-09-17T15:01:00.000-05:00

What a whirlwind, wonderful weekend! Jen and I had a great time exploring the frontiers of technology at the WIRED NextFest in Los Angeles, CA. Didn't know we were going? Neither did we until earlier in the week!

Jen was in LA all last week for more safety training with the Air Force. (She really liked the class and is enjoying all of the neat stuff she is learning at all of these various training courses.) Her plans were to come back to FL Friday night. I was planning to be out and about with Zero G flying teachers all over the east coast during the week [vid link] and then going to a personal development weekend in Sarasota (part of my Landmark Wisdom course).

I have wanted to go to NextFest for the past few years, but I have always been out of the country with SGC. Since we decided not to go to India this year, I realized this was my golden opportunity to attend!! Jen looked over the NextFest website and was excited to go too. Here's what we did: I flew out of Dulles on Friday as planned, but instead of Sarasota I went to LA! Jen changed her flight plans and stayed over an extra night in LA. We rode the Metro bus to save $$ and experience more of the real culture of Los Angeles. It was a great experience! I now understand why many people in the city don't have cars.

NextFest was a GREAT showcase of all kinds of entertainment, robotics, health, home, automotive, and space technologies. My favorites were the real human heart valve grown in a lab without stem cells and the living grass roof on the model home. Check out the pictures [here] for more neat stuff we saw and did, including the cute little restaurant we found while wandering the streets of LA.

Instead of flying out of LAX with Jen on Saturday night, I took the FlyAway bus up to Van Nyus, California for yet another Zero G flight! Turns out they needed a Flight Attendant and I was available--and close! Things worked out great.

This week it's back to work for both of us here in FL. Jen's birthday is this Tuesday (call her!) and we plan to have dinner with Mom. Things should be calm... until I head out to Las Vegas for another Zero G flight on Saturday and then off to Atlanta to make up the Wisdom course weekend.

We lead a crazy, fast, unexpected, improbable, absolutely blessed, fun and exciting life! Thanks for being on the journey with us :-)