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My friend, TJ, just ruined my life for me. Every time in the future when I think that I am having a good day, a day where I can be proud of myself for some accomplishment, a day that will live not in infamy, a day where I can look at my surroundings and claim to be, as least for that moment, a master of the universe, I will fall short. Way short. You see, TJ is actually in freaking space. That’s right, he hopped on top of a Soyuz TMA-17 rocket yesterday and was launched on a mission to the International Space Station. He is one of about 500 people that have been in actual freaking space.

Thanks for nothing, TJ.

And godspeed.

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Apparently, it will be at least six months before we’ll be able to get together with TJ. On Dec 20, he will launch from Baikonur, Kazakstan aboard a Soyuz spacecraft for a rendezvous 2 days later at the International Space Station, where he will take part in Expeditions 22 and 23 until mid-May. No, TJ is not a lab rat, he is a bona fide astronaut. He was admitted to the astronaut corps in 1998, and the sitting astronauts dubbed this class “The Penguins”—because the number of astronauts and the relative paucity of flights made it likely that his group, like the penguins, would never get off the ground. In fact, you can see that this moniker still follows them around, as the picture from the astronaut office indicating the upcoming ISS crew suggests.

TJ has been kind enough to include us among his family and friends cadre. One benefit is that he is able to carry a souvenir up to the ISS, so as a consequence he will be modeling a Newton North HIgh School Science Department T-shirt while floating around the station. Although we are unable to make it to Kazakhstan to see the launch in person, anyone can follow the mission at http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/index.html. For family and friends, there is a private web site, for which I recently wrote the coordinator to get the URL and password. While I was at it, I asked her to send Anndy’s password as well. Here’s what I got back:

Hi Glenn and thank you for your participation. The link to TJ’s website is below. I have also sent this link to Anndy along w/his private username and password.

(Emphasis added)

I guess there’s a price to pay to being from Massachusetts.

In any event, if you want to follow the mission, you can use the web site above, or follow TJ on Twitter (@Astro_TJ). Here’s to a great launch and successful mission.

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BTW, I was reviewer #3.

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These guys get everything so exactly right, that is what makes this so scary.

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In case any of you were wondering what to get me this year.

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 http://www.flickr.com/photos/glennrosen/sets/72157622392338910/

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In the short article were five points, which I quote verbatim here.

1. Love your business more than your family. Leaving early for little Suzy’s ballet recital won’t cut it. She’ll pout and stamp her feet now, but she’ll thank you later when you can pay for college.

2. Delegate, don’t abdicate. Never hand over the reins, no matter how senior the employee.

3. I am your work god! Tell your employees: “Don’t think; obey.” You want them to do what you say, not what they think.

4. Forget teamwork. Team meetings should be quick an informational, not motivational. Group hugs don’t improve performance.

5. You’re not in business to pay your vendors. Stretch out payments from 30 days to 60 or 90 days. Your vendors are your best source of interest-free financing.

My first reaction on reading this was, I assume, the same as yours. Namely, checking the publication date to make sure that this wasn’t an April Fools issue. My second reaction was to question my training. I am the proud holder of an MBA, but I am not too big a man to admit to being more than a little baffled by this. I can’t remember this being taught in any of my business classes (although to be fair, I didn’t actually take any business classes).

But now I understand why this guy is writing books while I’m the proud holder an MBA stuck managing a small lab in a second rate town in the northeast. Oh how I regret the time I spent at baseball and soccer games with little Suzy. What an idiot I was to let people do what they were paid to do rather than do it myself. How could I hire people who were actually smarter than I am, and then go ahead and let them think for themselves? I rue the day that I hired people to work as a team. And I really am sorry about all those group hugs. Luckily, however, I work for an organization that apparently enjoys annoying vendors, so I’ve got that working for me.

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and now there’s GTCA. I don’t even know what GTCA does exactly, but I’ve ordered 10 for the lab.

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 http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/11/science/space/11conv.html

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Came across this on The Daily Show the other day, and it struck me as a remarkable reflection of how science and academia work.

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This afternoon (July 31 – you’ll see why the date is important in a minute) we got the registration renewal notice for our car in the mail. Outlined for us were 4 ways that we could renew: 1) On-line, 2) Mail, 3) Phone, or 4) In Person. We chose the online renewal, which was surprisingly easy to do. Shortly after pressing the “Submit” button, we got the following email back:

Registration Number (XXXXXX) was not able to be renewed
through the Internet. The amount you entered was
incorrect. Your correct fee is $41.00.
Please submit a new online request with this renewal fee.

This seemed odd because it clearly said on the registration form that fee was $50. Now, I would have hoped that the RMV might have had a system that recognized that $41 is less than $50, and just assumed that if we were OK with paying $50, we’d be happy, thrilled even, to pay $41. But that is another issue.

In any event, I called up the help line around 4:45 PM and got through to a person at 5:02 PM who told me that the fee is really $41 for TODAY ONLY! I inquired as to whether there was a sale going on. No, I was told, the fee goes up to $50 on August 1. I thanked her, and quickly got back on line to try to renew the registry. By this point, they had closed the renew by web option for “Maintenance”. So at 5:05 I called the telephone service and got through the registration process only to find that I had been immediately transported to August 1st in RMVland and now had to pay the full $50. Talk about jet lag…

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 ”You know, sending these folks from Nigeria some money so they can get their frozen funds out of the country sounds like a great deal. I am sorely tempted to help them out, but I have heard that sometimes these offers aren’t on the up and up. If only they could provide pictures of the money.”

 Begin forwarded message:

 > Mr. Roland Ruzman
> www.atwimakwanwoma.com
>
> I sincerely write to seek your co-operation and trust to enable me
> carry out an urgent/great business Opportunity in my Bank.
> I know of funds belonging to Mr Jayson Chatari who deals in gold and
> other minerals within the West African Sub-Region but unfortunately
> died along with his wife in the December 23rd 2003 Air Crash,via a
> Beirut-bound jet that crashed on takeoff from Benin Republic killing
> 111 on board,according to official reports.
> http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/africa/12/26/benin.crash/index.html
>
> He left in his fixed-deposit account the total sum of $3.8M USD(Three
> Million Eight Hundred Thousand Dollars).Since the management of the
> bank got the information of his death we have been expecting his
> relation/friend to come because his next of kin being his wife also
> died along with him and since his death none of his relation/friend
> has come forward for the claim of the funds totaling ($3.8M USD).
> The banking and financial law of our bank stipulate that if such fund
> remained unclaimed after a period of time,it will then be lost to the
> State as unclaimed deposit and after forfeited to Ghana Government.
>
> I seek your consent to present you as the next of kin of the deceased
> since you are a foreigner,so that the proceeds of this account being
> valued at $3.8M USD can be paid to you and we can then share it.
>
> I personally do not want this fund to be taken by the Government and I
> have resolved that 30% of the fund will be for you as foreign partner
> If you be interested,revert back to me as soon as possible to enable
> me commence my homework down here,so the funds will be paid to you.
>
> Be assured that the funds is not drug-related and I guarantee that
> this transaction will be done under legitimate and legal arrangement
> that will protect you from any breach of the law.I desire your trust.
>
> I will direct you on how to apply to Atwima Kwanwomah Bank Limited and
> effect repatriation of the fund left behind by late Jayson Chatari > before they
> get confiscated by the bank.
>
> He took picture of the funds the day he brought it to the bank and the
> anti-theft device was dismantled before the funds was brought out.
>
> Please keep confidential all matters as regards this transaction to
> avoid scandal,I dont want anybody to black-mail us after everything.
> Pls respond via my private email
> Expecting your swift response.
>
> Regards,
> Roland Ruzman.
>

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