NASA: Mission Inspiration

lego moon landing

In a few days, the last American space shuttle will be launched.  An era will come to an end. But according to the NASA PR machine in USA Today, it ain’t over yet. The United States needs to cede its low-earth orbit missions, such as the space shuttle, to the private sector so it can free up resources to explore deep space, [NASA’s administrator and a former astronaut Charles F.] Bolden said. President Obama has directed NASA to work toward sending manned spacecraft to an asteroid and to Mars. Translation: American astronauts will rely on the Russians to get back...
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Someone save my life tonight: Basic CERT Training

Firefighting

I was introduced to Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) training program originally at the mandatory safety overview for the Downtown LA high rise I was working at.  Essentially, they’ll teach you to be a trained individual to help your neighbors out in case of emergency where the first responders would not get to you right away.  If you want to do more, later on you can take more classes and join the volunteer force. The basic 24-hour course was being offered in our building about a month from then.  Since I was one of the only two people in the...
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A Matter of Faith

Shepherd Book's quote

When I talk about belief, why do you always assume I’m talking about God? – Shepherd Book, Serenity. That there was a quote that launched a thousand thoughts over this Memorial Day weekend. It started on Thursday night when I watched Serenity with some friends.  As a Browncoat—fan of Joss Whedon’s Firefly series and the subsequent movie–I’ve watched this movie several times. At the core of it was about faith, not in a religious way, but a belief in something so strong that one is willing to live by it and die for it. A kind of faith I’ve always...
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Remembering Prom

It’s prom. Everywhere. TV. Movies. Tis the season! While many people have horror stories from their proms, I was fortunate enough to not have all the drama or the aftermath. e.g. “My prom date never called me again” or “That was so romantic then he dumped me” etc. I actually had a great time and no consequences. Ah. The magic of going to prom with your best guy friend. (Well, he did come out later. So technically, my best gay.) I didn’t expect to go to prom. At all. After all, my two years of American high school life went without...
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And the Third One came

My friend Gregg (@fstop23) died last week after a battle with cancer. Since his diagnosis in October, he had put up a great fight. But cancer, being a cheating, murderous mother fucker that it is, got the upper hand mid-March. His death completed the “it comes in three” circle for me personally.  (Remember 2 former coworkers from earlier this year?) Folks have been writing wonderful things about Gregg and how his life and death impact them. I wrote about three drafts of this tribute/story about Gregg now and I couldn’t publish any of them.  His death reminded me of my...
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Taking a Leap

On March 31, my 6 years stint at the LA Non Profit came to an end.  Things were changing at the office and the brunt of it fell on me, the only person in the office to get such brunt. But then God/Universe/Karma/Fate/Circumstances opened a door for me to walk out on.  After all of the signs through my MP3 player and other means, I wasn’t going to ignore this opportunity. I seriously have followed the lyrics of Defying Gravity.  I have closed my eyes and leaped. Friends were coming to my rescue with new job leads and opportunities, and...
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