AIDS Walk Colorado 2008

I participated again today and I had so much fun!  This is my third year walking in the fundraiser, having participated in 2004 and 2005.  I walk to honor the memory of three family members I lost to this wasteful and ravaging disease.  I offer a big THANK YOU to everyone who sponsored me this year – I surpassed my fund raising goal!  Until there’s a cure…we stand in solidarity.

Having fun yet?

I can’t believe it’s December already, which means that next time I poke my head up it’ll be 2008

I walked in the December holiday parade this past weekend! It was SO much fun and lots of people in the community came out to show their support and have a good time. To make it even more exciting, my group marched behind a local Chinese drum group that showed off amazing drumming skills and a HUGE, colorful 20′ long paper dragon! SaaaWEET!

The temp outside actually got up to 65 degrees today! The sky was beautiful at sunset.

Catching Up

Hi folks, sorry for the extended absence. I’ve been feeling more introspective than usual lately, which means a lot of fast and furious scribbling in my written journal but not much on the blog. I also managed to catch a yucky cold last week, and that has slowed down the mental progress a wee bit While I go sip on some homemade chicken soup, here’s a quick recap of what’s been going on:

• During a visit to my advisor’s office a few weeks ago, we concluded that I can graduate in December!!! Woo hoo! I’m really excited and much of my attention has been absorbed with what comes next. My future prospects seem limitless, as deciding on what to do is both liberating and daunting. Being about the business of a having a career that has meaning and purpose is important to me. This begs the question, what exactly do I want? And how do I fit that into a reasonable goal? All circumstances point towards being absolutely clear on the answer and not being afraid of going after it. I predict more entries on this subject will follow.
• In my last entry I wrote about big plans for volunteering at the local hospital, but so far nothing has happened on that front. I had an interview last week Friday with the volunteer coordinator, but wrote it into my calendar as happening THIS Friday (doh!). I didn’t realize the discrepency until last Friday when I was in an airplane cruising at about 35,000+ feet above and a couple thousand miles east of Denver. Oops. Fortunately for me, the coordinator was very understanding and has re-scheduled my interview for two weeks hence. Whew.
• I’ve broken down and decided to purchase a car. I’ve been in Colorado for a little over 4 years without one, but the time has come. My schedule is so tight nowadays that the additional 4 or 5 hours I’ll save by driving to work/school a few days a week instead of riding the bus will be wonderful. This means more time at the gym, playing the cello or doing whatever else makes me happy and sane Ahhhh, sigh of soothing relief.
• A little over a week ago I had the pleasure of visiting the Stiles African-American Heritage Center in the Four Points area of Denver. It was an amazing visit, and I am eager to return and foster a closer relationship with its founder, Ms. Grace Stiles, and her community. I also made a quick tour of the Blair-Caldwell African American Research Library just 2 blocks away and was blown away by the rich history of the Four Points area. I regret that I’ve lived in the area for so long and have not connected with the community–and now, I’m preparing to leave it! I have the wild idea of interviewing several members of the Four Points business community and making a documentary as a testament to their acheivements and as a record of my experience there.
• Another tip of the hat goes to Denver for a wonderful spot in town called the Mercury Cafe (thanks Micah!). The decor, wine and food were awesome! I highly recommend the place to anyone who is looking for an eclectic, subdued dining atmosphere.
• Due to popular demand…well, okay, just one person’s comments (smile)…I’m working on adding a book review page to this blog. I’ve had the pleasure of reading several really good books lately, many as selections from a couple of book clubs I belong to. Stay tuned for that.

That’s it for now. I’m so happy to see the sun shining bright in Colorado again, so I’m gonna go out to get some fresh air. Have a wonderful day, everyone!

A Little More Community Involvement

With all the blizzard-like conditions going ’round in the last several weeks, I got it into my head at some point that I need to spend more time involved in the community than I do at present. During the few days I was snowed in my house last month, I called down to the hospital closest to my home to see if they were in need of any local assistance such as food, water, help with paperwork, etc. You see, while most of us have the luxury of bunkering down during a storm (and, I dare say, enjoying the time away from a scheduled life for a while), those who work in urgent service industries (hospitals, energy companies, city workers, etc. ) stay hard at work to keep us warm and safe while we do. I found out that, during the most difficult bouts of weather, much of the medical staff in the hospital were stranded without food and transportation to get home, some of them sleeping at the hospital for several days. They were also in need of drivers (with trucks, vans, SUV’s) to pick up staff to come in and cover shifts and others who were willing to share their food or time.

I signed up to be an official hospital volunteer a little over a week ago. During my volunteer training the other day, the facilitator emphasized how dependent many hospitals are on volunteers, especially in emergency situations. Given that I’ll only be volunteering, at most, 3 or 4 hours of my time per week (I spend way more than that surfing the web in a day!), I felt assured that my small contribution would be useful and appreciated.

I haven’t been assigned to a department yet, but I’ll be sure to write more after I get started. This is sure to be an interesting experience!

A Distant Wind Blows

It’s a gorgeous fall day outside today–clear blue skies, bright yellow, red and green trees, temps just above freezing your bum off, and lots of strong gusts to remind us of the raging battle between the late autumn and early winter air. I just took a look out of the window (right now I’m in one of the computer labs at the Engineering Center) and in the middle of the courtyard I saw what looked like a dust cyclone! It was fun to watch the dried leaves and loose earth dance and swirl around each other. I love this time of year, I find it enchanting.

The cooling temperatures also signal the upcoming close of this semester. Four more weeks and we’re done. This semester has been a really busy one. As if I didn’t already have enough to do, last week I began to volunteer on a Lunar Surface Access Module (LSAM) project.

The module is at the top, surrounded by the gold-colored fuel tanks below. The LSAM (or lunar lander) is one many of parts that comprise NASA’s latest exploration vehicle in the Constellation program, whose goal is to move forward in the Vision for lunar and Mars exploration in this and the next decade. The other main components are the Orion crew exploration vehicle (CEV), which docks with the lander, and the Ares I and Ares V launch vehicles. The following photos are courtesy of NASA’s web pages (if you click on the images, the link will open another window and take you to a high-res photo)–

In the picture above, the LSAM is aboard the ARES V cargo vehicle, preparing for its rendezvous with the Orion CEV in orbit around the moon.

Once Orion and the lander are in synchronous orbit around the moon and the CEV is docked, the crew transfers to the lander which lands on and re-launches from the moon’s surface. In essence, the LSAM functions as a temporary surface habitat.

Several graduate students in the aerospace program are building their version of the LSAM as a pet-project and asked for student volunteers interested in learning more. I thought this would be a great way to see a bit of space life support engineering in action. When I arrived, the team members were in the middle of an emergency design change, so there wasn’t much to do besides ask questions and assemble small pieces of PVC (amazingly, I got PVC-certified 2 years ago, which basically means I know how to spread chemical solvent evenly around a joint and no longer pass out from the ungodly-awful smell of the fumes). Since I’m the newbie on the project, several things are over my head right now. For starters, there isn’t a specific design we’re working from, only a few specific dimensions, and the module is the largest I’ve seen. Also, when I left for the day, adjustments were being made to the support frame inside the airlock and only two-thirds of the main structure had been pieced together. The other third is a conceptual zygote, if you will, so I don’t know what it will look like yet. Hopefully this week’s building session will be a bit more interactive.

Colorado AIDS Walk 2006

It’s that time of year again…fundraisers, volunteerism, autumn…

For the third year in a row this weekend, I’m walking in what is probably Colorado’s largest AIDS fundraiser. The walk is 5K (and for the first time, some are running this year), and all proceeds/donations go to organizations that support the HIV/AIDS community in Colorado. Thousands participate, and there are free massages and ice cream at the end of it! Now as if THAT weren’t enough to get me involved, I also get to do some good in the community

I’ve looked forward to it each year!