National Flute Convention

YEAH!! Finally another blog post. I feel a lot comfortable typing my blog post on my own computer, plus I have access to my pictures. I have had internet this past week, but on another person's computer.

So, this post will be a recount of the quick trip down to Charlotte, NC for the National Flute Convention. It really was a quick trip. We headed out on Friday morning after a quick trip to the Pentagon and were back on Sunday afternoon. That Friday evening, we actually tried to find a darker spot in the city to watch the ISS pass overhead and see if there were any meteor showers that were going to show. We did see the ISS, but no meteors. :-( Saturday morning was an early morning after a late night. After getting dressed up in my business attire, you never know who you are going to meet, I headed out to the Charlotte Convention Center in downtown Charlotte. What a great city!! Once arriving, I went and registered as a one day individual and started studying the huge book that they gave me of all the events and music programs that were to be performed.

First on the agenda, listening to an old instructor of mine from camp. I met Claudia 10 years ago and we have stayed in contact throughout the years. I would encourage everyone to listen to a CD called ZAWA! Great CD and great performers. Unfortunately, Claudia had to go back to Colorado so we could not catch up for very long. The next event of the day was to explore the different exhibits that filled up a huge room downstairs. Powell Flutes, Haynes Flutes, Carolyn Nussbaum Company, and many other great music companies were there. I got to look and play on some very shiny and pricey flutes. ;-) My favorite! After wandering around for a while, it was time to head back upstairs to hear Cady Coleman speak.

While in Baltimore, I was thrilled when Col. Coleman told me she would be going to the convention. There were a lot of questions I wanted to ask in Baltimore, but knew that the chances of a 3rd flute player being in the crowd was slim. She spoke about her time on the ISS and the different people she was able to "play" with. She had a lesson from James Galway and played a tribute with Ian Anderson to Russian Cosmonaut Yuri Gargarin. She also spoke about the differences in playing on the ISS and when she got back to Earth. It was wonderful because again, it was space geek meet music geek for me! :-) After she spoke, she went down to the Powell booth, she plays a Powell flute, and signed things and took pictures. Two highlights were her remembering me from Baltimore, no, I do not stalk astronauts, chatting with her for a few minutes, her signing my own flute case, AND getting to play on the headjoint she took with her to the ISS. How cool is that last highlight?!?!?! Okay, that was more than two. . . Oops! ;-)

On the way back on Sunday, we stopped off and were able to meet my best friend who was driving back to AR from NC. We had not seen each other all summer, so it was a wonderful way to end an already great weekend. With that, I will close this post with a few pictures from that weekend. Hopefully, it will not take me so long next time to post. Hope everyone is doing well!

My flute with the headjoint that FLEW in SPACE!!!

Cady Coleman

Downtown Charlotte

Meeting Astronauts

While, some of my fellow space tweeps were down at KSC for the Juno launch, I had the wonderful opportunity to head up to Johns Hopkins University to hear some of the crew of STS-134 and Expedition 26/27 speak. WHAT AN AMAZING EXPERIENCE!! So, here goes a rundown of the evening.

My wonderful father took off work early so that I would not have to go by myself. We left the DC area around 3ish and were up there around 4:15. After making a few turnarounds on the JHU campus, we eventually found the building where the presentation was going to be held. We got there about 2 hours early, but I did not care and it actually gave us time to explore their astronomy building. We also got there plenty early to scope out the good seats and sit down. They had the entire left side of the auditorium marked off for NASA people and then the first three rows of the middle section marked off. I got nosy and started looking to see who had a reserved seat. I see none other than a seat reserved for Cady Coleman!! Now, for those of you who know me you have probably heard me speak of her. She took a few different instruments into space, namely flute instruments, and also played a space-earth duet with Ian Anderson. (I play flute, for those of you who did not know this.) Side note-- I am getting all smiley just thinking about the evening! :-) It was an amazing evening! Back to it. . .

The auditorium started to feel up and then, a lady came and ripped off Cady Coleman's reserved sign. :-( I got super sad at this point, but knew there could still be a chance of seeing her because she was at the DC event earlier in the day. They had also not taken off her guest reserved seats that they had just put up since we had been there. About 10 minutes before the presentation began, this lady walks down to the front of the room with two people. Another lady points to the Cady Coleman guests seats and tells them that is where the people would be seating. Now, I hate to admit this but it took me a moment to realize that it was. . . CADY COLEMAN!!! I started hitting my dad and was like OMG there she is!! Yes, I acted like a 5 year old in a candy store. I was just over the moon, no pun intended. Hehe! ;-)

The presentation itself was AMAZING!! Mark Kelly was an amazing speaker and seeing/hearing all the other astronauts speak was amazing!! They also showed an amazing video at the end before they took questions from the audience. At the end, we all made our way up to a reception. We stopped one of the professor's and asked if they would be out speaking to people and he said they were supposed to be. When we walked back out to the rotunda, we noticed different crowds gathering. I got so excited knowing that I was more than likely fixing to meet these astronauts. The first astronaut was Mark Kelly. He was incredibly friendly and more than willing to chit chat for just a moment. What an amazing person! I totally forgot to bring something with me to sign and he ended up just signing a piece of paper that we had printed out about the event. I did not even care at that moment. Next, was finding Cady Coleman. She was also incredibly nice and friendly!! I introduced myself and told her I played flute as well. We briefly talked and I asked if she was going to the National Flute Convention next weekend and she said she was. I hope to get time to ask questions and my fingers are crossed. By this time they were ushering the astronauts out, but I did manage to get Paolo Nespoli to sign my paper and pose for a picture.

Mark Kelly

Cady Coleman

Paolo Nespoli

Even though I was not at the Juno NASA Tweetup, I must admit this is going to be very hard to top. I had an amazing and once in a lifetime evening! Every time I think about what all I got to do and the people I got to meet, a huge smile comes on my face. :-) So, to end this post here are some pictures from the evening. Enjoy!! :-) 

Greetings from Virginia

You read correctly, I have finally made it to Virginia. I started the trek this way last Friday after taking my last University of Arkansas test and an exit interview with my boss from the past summer. I arrived late afternoon on Saturday. It was slow moving in and I have not quite finished putting up everything, but all the clothes are put away and you can at least see most of the floor. The drive up was not too bad, just really long! I made it to Knoxville the first evening and then got up early and headed out the next morning. After finally getting here we unpacked the way too filled car and headed out to my favorite Alexandria pub, Pat Troy's. Yummy!!

I have not done much in the way of getting out to see things. I honestly have not even made it into DC yet. Surprising, huh? It is a funny feeling knowing that for now, I am up here until something job wise happens. I do not think it has hit me yet that I am not going to go back to AR in a few days. Ask me in a few weeks how I feel. I am truly loving being here though. Sunday night, on the way to dinner, we passed the mall on the outskirts of DC and I was like, "No big, I live here now." I could have gone down to the mall anytime this week, but I have just stayed around the house. Tomorrow night, the STS-134 crew will be giving a presentation in Baltimore and we are planning on going. Friday, dad is giving a lecture up at Mount Vernon and I am going to go watch him and then head to VA Beach for the weekend. I would definitely not be able to do all this stuff back in OK/AR. The opportunities are just endless.

Workouts: I have restarted my jogging program. Started on Monday and will do the second day as soon as I get back to the house here in a bit. Yesterday, I took the bike out and rode while Dad ran. Should have made sure the seat was risen high enough and that back tire was full enough because my rear end is sore today. TMI? Oh well. ;-) I would love to find a YMCA around here to get back into weights. Side note: should have gone jogging/walking earlier. It is starting to ran heavier. Boo! :-/ I guess that means no concert on the Capitol steps tonight either.

Alright, out for now. Not the most engaging post, but a post none the less. More details next week when I actually will be doing stuff. Pray that the ran stops or it will be in the morning before I get a jog/walk in.

S.