Picture of the Day for 5/26/2013. Last full day of Spacefest. Never did get to help out an astronaut, but I was asked to assist Curt Newport who was one of the special guests. That ended up being a fabulous assignment since I wouldn't have gotten to know him or his story otherwise. He specializes in deep sea salvage and led the expedition that recovered the Liberty Bell 7 from the ocean floor.
Gus Grisson was America's 2nd astronaut in space. After splashdown, his Mercury capsule, the Liberty Bell 7, sank after the hatch blew off prematurely which caused the craft to take on water. It was fascinating hearing Newport talk about the process of finding the capsule and the preparations that went into hoisting it from a depth of over 16,000 feet (more than 3,000 feet deeper than the wreck of the Titanic). NASA un-crated an original Mercury capsule (never flown) that was in storage so Newport could determine the best way to design and affix specially-made hooks to the Liberty Bell 7. According to Newport, it was more a matter of finesse than brute cable strength since the capsule was surprisingly light- weighing less than 2,000 pounds.
In addition to the Liberty Bell 7, he's also worked on the recovery of the space shuttle Challenger, TWA flight 800, and the Titanic. Pretty impressive career.
I'm pictured with him in the first photo below. In the second one, Kate Doolan is interviewing him for a follow-up to a book she co-authored. Kate deserves a blog entry all to herself since she has a larger-than-life personality. She's from Australia and a hoot. She's been a fun addition to Spacefest.
Picture of the Day for 5/25/2019. Today I helped ring up the art sales for the various artists who were selling/exhibiting their wares. This turned out to be a far more interesting job than I anticipated. The day just flew by and I had a lot of fun. It was pretty interesting to see what people purchased and, nosy woman that I am, how much they spent. For the past three years teen-aged students from a private school in Switzerland have attended Spacefest. This year, a lot of the students were from Russia. It was fascinating seeing Russian teenagers buying VERY expensive artwork. Even more interesting is how they will manage to transport the artwork on an airplane since the pieces they bought were quite large and shipping is only available stateside. Glad it's not my problem!
Picture of the Day for 5/24/2013. Today was the first full day of Spacefest V. This 3-day event features an astronaut autograph show, scientific speakers, and an art show. Normally, I get to help out an astronaut, but there were so many volunteers requesting to work with an astronaut that I ended up at a table in front of the "big room" collecting the $10 admission fee to hear the speakers.
The "big" attraction this year at Spacefest is Brian Cox who is a rockstar in the scientific community- both literally and figuratively. He actually was a rock star before going on to become a scientist. I was speaking with him about music vs. physics and he said that while music has its charms, physics is a lot more fun. Spoken like a true particle physicist.
Cox is figuratively a rock star because of his fame (having appeared in many TV shows) and the fact he's sooooo pretty. Trust me, this fact that was not lost on the female attendees. I have to admit I swooned over him myself.
What I observed about Cox over the course of the event (as you can see, I'm writing this overview several days later) is the fact he is a genuinely nice and unassuming fellow. He was willing to chat with anyone who approached him and he seemed to be excited to meet the Apollo astronauts who were in attendance.
Cox is also brilliant. I ended up going out to dinner with a few space buddies along with Fred Haise (lunar module pilot for Apollo 13- and yes, I'm totally name-dropping here) who attended Cox's big talk right before meeting us for dinner. I asked Haise how the talk went. Haise said it all went over his head which I thought was amazing given the fact Haise is as smart as they come.
Anyway, circling back to my stint at the admission table. It turned out to be a great place to be since Cox and the other headliner, Carolyn Porco (a big-name planetary scientist), showed up early to scope out the speaker hall set-up. I believe I was one of the first people to lay eyes on him at Spacefest. Take that all you Brian Cox groupies! Of course I took the opportunity to snag a picture with Cox and Porco. I got a kick out of the composition of this photo. We take up just a small fraction of the space in the photo. The wall behind us seems to be the star of the picture.
Picture of the Day for 5/23/2013. Spacefest V opened with the usual VIP reception with the astronauts. I always get a kick out of Dick Gordon, command module pilot for the Apollo 12 mission. He's in his 80s, but I've never seen anyone with such a youthful, exuberant zest for life. And he's still VERY much a ladies man. I was getting a kick out his wild outfit (mismatched plaid jacket and shirt along with poison-green sneakers) so I wanted to get a picture taken with him.
When I told my friend Al (who knows all the astronauts well and manages the astronaut autograph show for Spacefest), that I had snagged a picture with Dick Gordon, he asked where Dick's hands were when the photo was taken. I indicated that Dick had been very circumspect. Al thought that was unacceptable. He called Dick back over and told him I wanted a photo taken with his hand on my behind. Dick was happy to comply. As you can see from the picture below, I couldn't stop giggling.
I posted the photo on Facebook with the following caption, "Here I am with Dick Gordon, command module pilot for Apollo 12. Guess where his hand is and why I've got a goofy grin on my face." My favorite comment on this post was the reference to him making contact with the lunar surface. So clever! Wish I had thought of that.
The next day I printed out a couple of the pictures. I inscribed one with the following message, "Nice hands! Thanks for the thrill. XOXO Michelle Merrill."
Al delivered my autographed photo to Dick who returned the favor by with the following sentiment, "Nice butt. Thanks for the thrill! XO Dick." I think this will turn out to be the highlight of my whole experience at Spacefest this weekend!
Picture of the Day for 4/22/2013. I've been wanting to take a bus tour of the aircraft boneyard located on the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, AZ for a couple of years now. It's very interesting (and rather haunting) to see acres and acres of decommissioned aircraft. Half of the bonyard is devoted to planes that are in the process of being dismantled and used for parts. The other half is devoted to planes that are still intact and might be called back into active military service.
The boneyard is located next to the Pima Air & Space Museum. I spent most of my time there in the World War ll hangar which houses Bungay Buckaroo- the B-24 bomber which led the entire 8th Air Force on D-Day.
I also learned a bit of D-Day trivia about how the allied planes were painted with black and white strips on their fuselages and undersides to make them easily identifiable to friendly forces.
Picture of the Day for 5/21/2013. See where all those big trucks are and that debris is? That's the former site of my alma mater- Olympus High School. It was recently demolished. I wish I had remembered to take the opportunity to tour it one last time before it was torn down. I read on Facebook how a lot of people visited the demolition site to grab a brick as a souvenir, but when I drove past today, I could clearly see I was too late for that as well.
Picture of the Day for 5/20/2013. Last month in Las Vegas a miracle occurred. I found and purchased a swimsuit that fit well, was flattering, and I actually liked. Female readers of my blog understand that this doesn't "just" happen. This is a once-in-a-lifetime gift from the swimsuit gods. Not to be taken lightly. And trust me, I thought I treated this event with the proper gratitude and reverence, but apparently the swimsuit gods must not have felt properly propitiated since less than a week later some Delta baggage handlers searched (i.e., clumsily rifled) through my suitcase and lost (i.e., stole) my swimsuit. Damn.
I'm leaving for Tucson shortly where I'll be staying at a resort that has beautiful swimming pools. I only had a quick hour to shop for a new swimsuit which is why I ended up with this rather dowdy grandma-appropriate swimsuit. It's sole virtue is that it fits perfectly. Sigh.
Picture of the Day for 5/19/2013. I met some friends for lunch and ordered fruit. Instead of fries or potato chips. On purpose. You're probably wondering where the real Michelle is and who is this imposter hijacking her blog.
Picture of the Day for 5/18/2013. The public library is where you go to learns things- like the fact that May is "Eat Dessert First Month." Yay for dessert! Of course, I have operated on the "eat dessert first" principle my whole life.
Picture of the Day for 5/17/2013. My brother-in-law Will has been kind enough to fetch food (and Diet Coke) for us as Robynne and I have been working very long hours to prepare the tongue twister book for publication. He said we should just refer to him as the company caterer. He's a great caterer! Anyone who supplies me with Diet Coke is high in my estimation.
Picture of the Day for 5/16/2013. Take a look at the authors listed on this book cover. That's right- I'm one of them! This is the tongue twister book I've been blogging about for the past month. I've spent every day at Robynne's this past week where we've spent hours and hours carefully reviewing every single one of the tongue twisters. We've ended up revising a lot of the tongue twisters and the process has been so collaborative that Robynne told me to go ahead and add my name as an author on the cover. Cool! Never in a million billion years did I think I would be listed as a co-author of a speech therapy manual of all things.
Picture of the Day for 5/15/2013. I love trains. I have ever since I was a little girl. My mother told me how excited I would get at the sight of one. I especially love the brightly-colored boxcars on this train passing by me in Centerville, Utah. I don't think I've ever seen such a perky-looking train before. Awesome!
Picture of the Day for 5/14/2012. I discovered a NASA TV app for my iPhone. My nerdy space-loving heart leaped for joy. This means I can watch NASA TV live anytime I want- which is a lot.
Picture of the Day for 5/13/2013. I received some mail from AARP and didn't think anything of it because I assumed it was for my dad since I still receive mail for* him. Upon closer inspection I was stunned to see the invitation to join AARP was for me! What a blow that was. Surely I can't be old enough! I certainly don't feel old enough despite what my chronological age might I indicate.
*I accidentally typed "from" instead of "for" initially. That would be a trick to receive mail from my dad since he be dead! I'd love nothing more than to receive a letter from him from the other side. I miss him terribly and I'd love to know what he's up to. A psychic friend of mine said my dad was my cheerleader on the other side. I like that thought.
Picture of the Day for 5/12/2013. In honor of my mother on Mother's Day, I wore the ruby ring I inherited from her. I love wearing the ring. It's a lovely memento and it makes me feel close to her, something that sadly seems harder to do as time passes. It's hard to believe she's been gone for nearly four years now.
Picture of the Day for 5/11/2013. Hmm...I must have been channeling another language from a distant planet when I composed this email. The subject sounds interesting. Just wish I knew what it meant!
(Don't worry- I wasn't stroking out and writing gibberish. Obviously I did the equivalent of butt dialing on a cell phone. I must have butt written this email.)
Picture of the Day for 5/10/2013. The sky was pink tonight!
Picture of the Day for 5/9/2013. I'm friends with my great-niece Hayley on Facebook and she frequently sends me instant messages with the most interesting questions- a lot of them testing my knowledge of arcane Lord of the Rings trivia. I'm mostly able to keep up with those questions.
My favorite inquiry was her request for me to explain World War I- in a nutshell. I'm afraid I let her down on that one as I'm a little rusty on that topic.
Picture of the Day for 5/8/2013. My nephew Rob received his mission call today! This has been 19 years in the making. Of course, you might say that about any young man serving an LDS mission since they typically go at the age of 19, but my perspective is a little bit different. Rob was born somewhat prematurely and landed in the NICU with a collapsed lung. Needless to say, everyone was concerned and I recall my mother, in typical worst-case scenario fashion, was completely convinced Rob was not going to survive. I, on the other hand, knew without a shadow of a doubt he would be fine since I had a vision (yes- an honest-to-goodness vision) of him on the day 19 years in the future when he would be giving his missionary farewell speech in church. Rob has grown up to look exactly like the young man I saw in my vision- handsome and tall with very dark hair. It's hard to believe this milestone in his life has finally arrived.
My parents were noticeably absent from my vision so I always suspected they would not be around to see their grandson go on a mission. Sadly, that turned out to be the case, but I suspect they are cheering him on from the other side.
This is the first full-time missionary we've had in the family since my father and brother-in-law served their missions 70 and 40 years ago respectively. Consequently, everything associated with this has been a novel experience. Being able to watch Rob open up his "mission call" letter in front of friends and family at tonight's hastily assembled party was so much fun.
Here's the mission call packet- just waiting to be opened.
Here's Rob holding the soon-to-be opened mission call packet.
While we were waiting for everyone to arrive, Rob's mother Robynne wrote down everyone's guesses about where Rob would be going. Since Rob is named after his grandfather Robert Merrill, a lot of us were hoping he'd serve in Texas just like his grandfather did.
Rob's friend Brandon won a "fabulous" prize for making the closest guess (Boise, ID).
All of Rob's siblings were in attendance, either in person, or in Rachel's case, by Skype. Here's Lisa with Rachel on the laptop.
Here is a picture and a video of Robbie opening up his letter. I love the smile he gets on his face when he reads that he's going to the Farmington, New Mexico mission. He is scheduled to report for his mission on August 14.
The Farmington, New Mexico mission covers a large portion of the Four Corners area of Utah, Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico.
Farmington, New Mexico was not on anyone's radar, but once we had some time to think about it, the reaction was "of course." It's the perfect mission for laid-back Rob. He will most likely be working with the Native Americans from the area which he will enjoy and his mission president is a former engineer. I'm sure he'll be a great mentor to Rob who is a future engineer.
After the big reveal, everyone stayed to chat and eat dessert. Here's Rob hanging out with two of his buddies who are leaving soon to serve on their missions as well.
What a great day! I am so unbelievably proud and excited.
Picture of the Day for 5/7/2013. There was a thunder/lightening storm tonight accompanied by quite the deluge. Just like taking a picture of the moon is nigh on impossible. I find it extremely difficult to capture a rainstorm. The pictures below were my attempts. What is interesting is the difference a tap on the iPhone screen makes. Tapping the screen focuses the camera and will make the lighting go from dark to light or light to dark. The first picture makes it seem like the skies were quite threatening while in fact the second picture more accurately depicts the view from my front porch. I kind of like the threatening picture better. It's more dramatic.
Picture of the Day for 5/6/2013. Whenever I go to the gym (which is pretty much every day), I drop my purse off in locker #56 before heading upstairs to the elliptical machines. This is unvarying. I'm sure locker #36 is fine. There's probably nothing wrong with lockers 41-50. They just aren't for me. And I'm sure there's nothing wrong with being fixated on one locker to the exclusion of all others. Nope, no OCD here. Move along, there's nothing to see.
Picture of the Day for 5/5/2013. I love this picture of Joey the Beagle sitting at the kitchen table with my brother-in-law David. I don't think Joey realizes he is a dog.
