Not much to say. I mean, I’ve had plenty to say, but nothing I remembered when I was near a computer. Work is going well, and I’m starting to get into sims. It’s fun. It’s evil. Almost too evil. Put in a case the sim before last that my mentor couldn’t remember anyone ever doing before. I gave the controller a false fire followed by a false fire. On their final sims, we’ll occasionally give them a false fire followed by a real fire, and sure enough, when I put in the second false fire, the controller took it and ran, hook, line, and sinker. There were literally two big yellow messages on the board (the display in front of the control room) that said the fire was false, but the controller never even saw them. He saw the word "FIRE" and was off… Went down that path for about 10 minutes until the Flight Director finally said to him "hey, ECLSS, what are those messages there on the board below the fire message?" I felt bad for him… but he screwed up.
I’m not mean without purpose, though. I set out to really stress the two controllers I’m responsible for, and see how they did. I think it was a very valuable lesson… it said, hey, you’re not ready, yet… it also said, hey, stop anticipating the failures in sims…
Speaking of teaching, got to teach some high schoolers in a design competition last weekend. It was fun, in that I got to pretty much run the session, and teach some interesting stuff to some kids… But the kids get so caught up in their competitions that after the session, even though I stayed around for about four hours extra, I was only asked about three questions. The kids would rather trust to their own ideas and run with it… well, good luck to them, I guess. That’s what they’re there for. Got the international finals of that competition coming up in July… I’ll probably go back for that.
And speaking of the near future… my calendar has suddenly been filled up with vacations. Going to denver this weekend to help someone move. Going to new york with deedee in april for a conference. Going on a cruise in early May. Going to a wedding in late May. Going to theme parks with friends in June (probably). And I’d like to take a trip up to Seattle, maybe in August. I’ll be amazed if I have any vacation left by Christmas. 
Oh, and my boss screwed up my paperwork and my promotion has been delayed 6 months. This annoys me greatly and on many levels, but is not really worth dwelling on since there is absolutely nothing I can do.
Anyway, it’s 8am, and I think I’m headed home. Been working since 10pm yesterday, and on one hour sleep.
Quote of the Day:
(shuttle "ECLSS" to ISS ECLSS, as the shuttle crew entered ISS for the first time)
"ECLSS, EECOM on Ops: My CO2 generators are on station now."