1st of 8 Mini Vacations- Florida

Me and Robby the Robot from

Forbidden Planet

Batman and Catwoman at MegaCon
Me and R2D2 replica from Star Wars of course


Magic Kingdom entrance at Disney World
Touring NASA at Launch Pad 39A Endeavour in background


I just returned from a wonderful and fun packed "Mini Vacation Getaway" in Florida. A friend and I jam packed 7 days worth of fun into our 4 day trip with 20 hour days! On Friday we visited another Robot builder in Clearwater near Tampa Bay. On Saturday morning we attended MegaCon Sci-Fi Convention. That afternoon we met up with another robot building friend who works for Disney and talked Droids. Sunday we spent 14 hours at Disney World and even got to be in the Magic Kingdom's main Street Parade! At 7:00am Monday morning we were Touring NASA Complex at Cape Canaveral. We got to see the Orbiter Atlantis up close (like standing right underneath the ship) while she was being prepared for her next mission. We walked the floor of International Space Station Complex where they preparing the scientific payloads of future missions. We were able to view the payload scheduled for the next mission in May. The Lab Module to Kibo, the Japanese contribution to the space station. We went to Launch Pad 39A to see Endeavour waiting for her Tuesday Morning lift off and the beginning of mission STS-123. After touring NASA we grabbed a bite to eat, caught 2 hours of sleep and prepared for the night-time launch of the Shuttle Endeavor which was the last night launch of the shuttles. We viewed the launch from the NASA VIP viewing area at the Banana Creek Site which is 3.2 miles from the pad, the closest place to view a launch! At 2:38am we experienced the magnificent launch of the Shuttle Endeavour, which was nothing less than spectacular! To view some additional pictures of this trip, please use the link to the United Robot Alliance, located in the right column.

Sad Saturday.....

My Wife just called me with some sad news....Her step Dad, Richard (Dick) passed away in his sleep last night. I am truely thankful that we were able to spend some time and have some good talks with him in the past couple of weeks. He was a good man...

Busy February!

February has been very busy and stressful for both of us at work and at home. Several small projects to get done and of course the ongoing Robot and Droid projects. (see the link to United Robot Alliance) Kaye's Mom and Step-Dad came for a visit and their way to visit family in New Mexico. They stopped on the return trip home and stayed another couple of days. It was good good to see them and spend some time visiting and eating out. It's always good to have company, we don't have to try and decide what's for dinner, always a problem. Kaye's Dad came in for a visit the last week of March as well so we've lost of dinners out. I've been busy preparing to go for the 1st of 7 monthly Mini-Weekend Vacations this year running March through October. A friend and I are going to Florida to attend a Sci-Fi convention I went last year and met some cool people and Bob May. (see picture) In addition to that we are going to go to Epcot, and visit the Visitors Center at the Kennedy Space Center. We also get a once in a lifetime opportunity to get a VIP Tour of the Kennedy Space Center with trips to the Orbiter Facility, Vehicle Assembly Facility, Shuttle Landing Facility, Space Station Processing Facility and a trip out to the launch pad to see the Shuttle Endeavor sitting waiting to launch. Included with this tour is a trip out to the VIP Shuttle Launch Viewing Area at Banana Creek to watch the Launch of Endeavour Tuesday, March 11 at 2:31am. If the weather and shuttle systems all cooperate. It will be a truly amazing experience for sure and for certain. All this becasue of the Lost in Space Robot! How cool is that! Pictures to come!