MOONFEST! and the Semi-end of Procrastination

If you didn't know, today is the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing, when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin first stepped foot on our lovely moon. Significant lunar activity = lots of things to do at Ames! We had a special speaker two weeks ago, a gentlemen who has speialized in writing about the Apollo missions, and yesterday was MOONFEST! (And yes, it has to be in all caps, that's just the way it is.) 

MOONFEST is a day full of lunar activities for the young and old. The picture on the right shows just part of the crowd that showed up to Ames on Sunday; the organizers expected 8,000 people. I am not sure how many actually showed up, but there was a traffic jam all the way down Moffett Boulevard, and it backed up into Hwy 101. That never happens on a normal day. I decided to voluenteer for this event (I got a free t-shirt!) and I worked the Speaker's Tent. For part of the day, my friend Hannah and I guarded the door behind the speaker's platform from people who might ignore the 'KEEP OUT' signs and try to slip in. We also acted as direction and general information givers, as our bright blue shirt labeled us as people who know something about the event. 

For the other part of the day, I got to sit in on the speaker's talks and then pass the microphone around during the Q&A afterwards. My, but I didn't know how pushy people were about getting their questions heard and how challenging it is to coordinate mics! However, I did enjoy listing to Dr. Wooden, who I had met at lunch one day, speak about future NASA missions to the moon. She was engaging and had great videos and visuals on her powerpoint. She also has an asteroid named after her. And then, at the end of the day, an astronaut named Dr. Donald Pettit, who has a doctorate in ChemE from Oregon State, and has flow into space twice, and invented a zero-gravity coffee cup that he uses on the International Space Station. He talked about what he learned in space, about how things like iPod cords and heavy equipment behave in ways previously unimagined, and how ever since NASA invented a zero-gravity printer, they've had to constantly be doing paperwork (It is the government....) He has also been to Antarctica, studying meteor rocks, but that wasn't nearly as interesting then the ISS information. He was actually on the last mission that came down, STS-126 (STS-127 is up on the ISS now, after a month and a half of launch delays), which also installed the waste-water recycling set up that a gentleman who works in my building designed and built. I heard a talk on it a couple of weeks ago, it is very interesting how they are making drinking water. 

Today, I decided to leave Ames a bit early and just find a place off base where I could work. I would get distracted in the lab and at Sayre's, so I found a Peet's Coffee and Tea to do some work. I really wanted to find a place like the TeaCup in Seattle, but apparently all they really have is Starbucks around here. Starbucks doesn't serve great tea, but I remembered my friend Sarah said she enjoyed Peet's when she went there, so I decided to give it a try. It was surprisingly good, even though it lacked the teapot and cup service, and the friendly people of the Teacup. I got my work done that I needed to for today (abstract and poster draft) and will probably continue procrastinating on the rest of it (poster final version is due next Monday and the final paper is due in three Fridays). Thus, this is only the semi-end of my procrastination. 

Next time, I want to try this place in the picture, Le Boulanger, which sounds like they might have good French bread!!

Also, you all should google (which is a verb now, according to Dr. Reinsma) the Hubble telescope pictures, they are amazing! I used one for my poster background and placed one on my computer desktop, even going so far as to clear all my icons off so I could see all of the picture. 

And tomorrow, you all should go to Starbucks and get a free pastry!! Click here for the coupon! You should try the Chonga bagel (toasted) or the Traditional Coffee Cake, they are both delicious!