This week has been a little crazy. You notice, I am not at work right now, as I am writing this post around noon even though it’s Friday. I also just got up about half an hour ago (sweet!).
We had a launch last night. This is my second and last launch this summer, because the next one doesn’t happen until late August, after I’m out of here. But last night’s launch was really a lot of fun. I went into work about 7.50am like normal for a Thursday, so I could get my Thursday 8 hrs in, because the launch tonight would take care of another 8hrs so I wouldn’t have to worry about Friday. About 5pm I went on a 7.5mi run down to the beach, then to home to pick up my super-awesome STARS shirt to wear, then to the grocery store to get milk, then back to work. As a note, I do not recommend running two miles with half a gallon of milk (tiring on the arms). The run was really nice, but it was very hot and there are SO MANY HILLS here. Like, think Pennsylvania, but worse. Apparently El Segundo is famous for their hills… haha. Anyway, I got back to work about 6.45 and did some job-related stuff (logged in computers for the analysts, worked a little bit on my project, that sort of thing). Oh, and ate, because I was starving. Then I found something online that already does almost exactly what my project is supposed to do. Oh well. The rest of the night was great. We had about 5 hours before the actual launch to be doing pretty much nothing. Josh started teaching me AutoCAD, so now I can draw some things. I may start having projects to do with this, though that would be scary, since I can’t really draw 
But it was fun 
The actual launch was possibly the coolest thing I’ve ever experienced. Since it was out of Vandenburg Air Force Base, it was only 4 hours north of us, so we would probably be able to see it from one of the courtyards outside. We stayed in the STARS room until the launch (so we could see all the fire and such from liftoff, which is soooooooo cool), and then ran outside to find the rocket. And there it was. Huge red and white bright thing moving crazy fast across the sky. Just looking at it, to me, was very powerful. I have only seen satellites in the sky before, never rockets… We got to see the flare when it releases its boosters as well. The whole experience was just so awesome. When we went back inside, we had live feed from on board the rocket, and we got to see the satellite it put into orbit fall away, open up, and go into orbit.
Stuff like this makes me love this job.
Wednesday we went down to Manhattan Beach again, just for a couple hours. We laid out, played some frisbee, and got Cold Stone (so good!). I even got to talk to Jacob for a couple of minutes, but then he went to play frisbee so it wasn’t too long…
Tuesday, we also went to Manhattan Beach, but I don’t know what we did there. Probably laid out and played frisbee, haha. Oh, we went to Mama D’s Italian Restaurant. It was supposed to be really good. It was okay, and expensive. And the atmosphere wasn’t the greatest (much too loud and tables super close together). But eh, it’s food, and it was all right.
Today with my day off (because of last night) I am going to the beach, laying out for several hours and working on my tan, probably playing in the ocean a little bit too. I think I might meet up with Josh and some of his friends at a beach down a mile from where I’ll be. And I will write postcards and get those sent off (sorry it’s taking me so long guys!). And do some laundry Hehe. So, I’m off! This looks like it’ll be a good weekend.
Sweetness!!!!