Speechless

CAPE CANAVERAL, FL -- I honestly don't even know what to say. The launch was incredible and I'll write more about it later. For now, here are some of my pictures.

Trip 2: Florida!

ORLANDO, FL -- Above is a pretty good shot I got of downtown Orlando on approach into MCO a few hours ago, at about 8,000 feet. Tomorrow is the STS-124 launch at 5:02PM ET. I'll be sure to upload a picture or two tomorrow night - it's going to be incredible.

As a side note, I would highly recommend staying at a Renaissance Hotel. They're owned by Marriott, so you know there is a minimum quality standard, but beyond that this hotel I'm in is just perfect for the price. It's also a green hotel, so all the lights are florescent, and there are some other energy saving methods employed as well. Everything is clean and there is a good amount of space - in short, I give it 4 stars.

That's all for now! Tune in to CNN or otherwise tomorrow!

Florida trip set!

CHICAGO, IL -- And just in time. I'll be in Orlando tomorrow, Friday May 30th. Saturday NASA is predicting an 80% chance of favorable weather for STS-124 launch. In real time, the countdown clock is at: 2 days, 0 hours, 33 minutes, 15 seconds. The actual countdown clock is set to -20 hours, 30 minutes, 15 seconds and counting. The reason for the differences is explained at this site: http://www.nasa.gov/returntoflight/launch/countdown101.html.

Sunday morning I'll be in Orlando, and then I'm driving up to Daytona Beach where I'll be until Tuesday June 3rd when I fly back to Chicago.

Will be updating with pictures and more from Florida!

Another picture...

CHICAGO, IL -- Okay, so I feel compelled to share another picture. This one is of the Phoenix during the parachute stage of landing. Remember, this is not Earth, where humans are living in orbit (in the International Space Station or on the Space Shuttle or a Russian craft or otherwise), never mind the hundreds (if not thousands) of satellites in orbit, and the millions of cameras we're able to point to the sky from any corner of our planet. No... this is Mars, 420 million miles away (that's 15 minutes at the speed of light) from any human. Mars has a grand total of two satellites in orbit, and two rovers on the ground (before Phoenix). And yet, with one satellite relaying Phoenix's signal back to mission control, the controllers managed to tilt the other satellite to a 63 degree angle and capture this image. Indeed, this is the first image of any craft landing anywhere other than on Earth, and it is spectacular to say the least.

One last other space-related update: STS-124 nonstop from Cape Canaveral to the ISS is still scheduled for an on-time lift-off at 5:02:03 PM ET on Saturday May 31st, coming up soon!

Welcome back to Mars!

CHICAGO, IL -- Two days ago NASA successfully landed the Phoenix on the surface of Mars in the northern arctic circle. With a historic failure rate of over 50%, congratulations to NASA and the University of Arizona, who beat the odds and used a combination of a heat shield (friction), parachutes, and thrusters to slow the craft from a whopping 12,500 mph to zero in only 7 minutes. What makes it all the more impressive is that the entire entry, descent, and landing happened without the control of any human, since the signals coming from Mars takes 15 minutes to get back to Earth. Since landing, both solar panels successfully unfolded giving Phoenix 100% power, and one of the on-board cameras began shooting pictures of the landscape (including the one above). Later today or tomorrow NASA expects Phoenix to begin using its crane to dig for ice (which is believed to be just under the surface). Check out more at: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/phoenix/main/

Summer Planning v3.0

Chicago, IL -- Here is my new and updated schedule, from start to end of this summer.

May 14th: Last Final finished
May 16-19th: Las Vegas, NV
May 19-27th: Chicago, IL and Madison, WI
May 27-June 3rd: Road trip to Cape Canaveral, FL*
June 3-11th: Chicago, IL and Madison, WI
June 11-July 17th: Boston, MA*
July 17-18th: Chicago, IL
July 18-19th: Winnipeg, Manitoba
July 19-26th: Great Bear Lake, Northwest Territories
July 26-27th: Winnipeg, Manitoba
July 27-August 2nd: Chicago, IL and Madison, WI
August 2-15th: San Francisco, CA*
August 15-16th: Chicago, IL
August 16-29th: Nitzana, Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and wherever else I venture off to in Israel
August 29-September 1st: Chicago, IL and Madison, WI
September 2nd: Class begins in Madison, WI

* - Flight not yet booked and/or not yet planned

Israel Confirmed!

MADISON, WI -- About an hour ago I got my final approval and confirmation email for my Israel trip. I'm in San Francisco until August 15th and need to be in Tel Aviv by the 17th, so now it's time to figure out how I can manage to make the airfare work with my schedule. In any case, I'm in Israel August 17th until the 21st working, and I'm going to extend my trip until at least the 24th, and maybe a few days after that as well. Let me know if you'll be in Israel at the same time so that I know and if enough people are around, I'll be sure to extend my stay a few days more. This is going to be one hell of a summer...

TRIP 1: $UCCE$$!

CHICAGO, IL -- It's been a couple of days now since I got back from Las Vegas, and what a trip! Saturday we ate breakfast at the Paris Casino & Resort, then took a trip to the top of the Eiffel Tower. The tower is an exact 1/2 scale replica of the real tower in Paris... it's still pretty high up, and it offers impressive views up and down the strip in all directions, including the one above looking south towards Planet Hollywood, the MGM Grand, Tropicana, Mandalay Bay, Luxor, Excalibur, New York-New York, and Monte Carlo. After that we walked to the Bellagio, Caesar's Palace, the Venetian, and the Mirage. We had lunch at the Carnegie Deli at the Mirage, which was insane. They have a policy of not serving any less than 1 pound of meat on a sandwich, and that's only a minimum. We couldn't even see the bread, it was more like an enormous plate of meat. After that we hit the casino floor - I made some quality money playing video poker, blackjack, and especially on roulette. They have these new roulette machines (like video poker) where you play for yourself (not at a table). Utilizing that I was able to take advantage of the math much better, turning about $100 into about $230 for a pretty good evening. That night we saw LOVE, the Beatles-themed Cirque du Soleil production that's attracted quite a lot of attention (http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/CirqueDuSoleil/en/showstickets/love/intro/intro.htm). The show was fantastic; it was one of the best I have ever seen combining elements of music with sight. The theater was built specifically for this show, with two mini-speakers in each headrest and several sets of projected video and images on screens, walls, and the stage. If you're ever in Vegas, LOVE is a must-see.

Sunday we spent the day at the south end of the Strip, venturing from the Tropicana to the MGM Grand, to New York-New York, Excalibur, Mandalay Bay, the Hard Rock, and Hooters. I won all of the bets I made at the Sports Book: one on the Pittsburgh Penguins to win their NHL Eastern Conference Finals game against Philadelphia, which they did 6-0, and two on the Cubs to win their day-game against Pittsburgh, which they also won. I also made some small bets on the Badgers to win the BCS Championship (they're at 30-1 odds) and on the Iowa Hawkeyes to do the same (they're at 100-1). I pitched in with some other people in a much larger bet on the Cubs to win the World Series (9-2). If any of those three teams win, I'll have to take another trip to Vegas to claim the winnings! After the Sports Book, we headed to the Manhattan Express Roller coaster at New York-New York (http://www.nynyhotelcasino.com/entertainment/entertainment_therollercoaster.aspx). One of the best roller coasters in the world, it is one that I vividly remember not wanting to go on during my only other trip to Vegas (some 7+ years ago), and given my love for thrill rides that developed between then and now, it was the only roller coaster I've ever regretted not going on. Well, that's no longer true - I couldn't convince anybody else to do it, but I bought the picture of myself for proof! After that exhilarating experience, we headed to the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, which was surprisingly small. As such, it was very manageable, which is a nice change from the other mega-casinos on the Strip. In addition to the artifacts that line the interior, I totally kicked ass at the blackjack table. In 45 minutes, I turned $40 into $235. Not too shabby! In the entire time I maybe lost 4-5 hands total - I got very lucky but also played all the right moves, and it's more fun when there is that element of skill involved. Of course, later that evening at the Hooters Casino (yes, there is a Hooters Casino in Vegas: http://www.hchvegas.com/flash.cfm) I blew about $100 of those winnings getting incredibly unlucky playing blackjack, but I still came out significantly ahead on the day. Our dealer, Eddie, was a great guy - despite completely kicking our asses, he made us feel good doing so, teaching us such rules as the "Michael Jackson rule" (never hit on over 11) and the "Mother-in-law rule" (when you have 12-14 and the dealer a 6 showing... you want to hit her but you can't). We ended the day by winning a poker set playing slots. Totally random, but it's actually a very nice poker set.

And then Monday we left. Overall, the trip was phenomenal and I can't wait to go back. Best of all, perhaps, were the free drinks. We discovered that you can sit and play the 25 cent video poker games for a good hour with only a dollar or two in the machine (since if you know how to play your odds are practically even), and the girls bring you drink after drink of whatever you want for FREE! On the weekend, on top of the nearly $400 I made in winnings, I probably consumed near $200 in Corona completely for free! What a deal!?! In sum, if you're 21, go to Vegas - it's a sure hit.

Since I got home I've been working hard on planning the rest of my summer. I signed my contracts and am waiting on the exact flights for my Boston and San Francisco trips June 11-July 17 and August 2-15. I also started some more specific planning for my upcoming road trip to see STS-124. NASA did confirm launch for May 31st, but to save money (and time) we're going to shorten the trip and drive more each day. Instead of leaving this Sunday or Monday, instead I'll be leaving either Tuesday or Wednesday (for the same launch day on Saturday). I'll be driving out to Tulsa, OK, then down to New Orleans, LA, and finally east to Cape Canaveral, FL. Today I got my luggage tags and specific packing list for our fishing trip to Great Bear Lake, which is exciting. Finally, I made more progress on submitting my contracts and applications for my late-summer trip to Israel. The trip, from August 15-24th, is now about 85% odds going to happen (up from 60-70% a couple of posts ago), and I should know for sure within the next couple of days.

So that's the summary! Tomorrow I'm up to Madison to continue wrapping things up there. I'll give an update when I have one, but for now I'm back and forth between Chicago and Madison. Trip one, Las Vegas, was a success!

Taking Vegas for Millions...

LAS VEGAS, NV -- Well, that's the goal anyway! But hey I've been here for about a day now and I'm only down $8... not too shabby. And more importantly I'm having a great time. Flying in this city seems so fake. Literally situated in the middle of NOWHERE, it's amazing to think that about 100 years ago somebody decided that this was the spot in the middle of the desert to build, and to see it now, "what a dream." Las Vegas is the largest US city founded in the 20th century, and it's pretty clear when you see it. Currently there are some 30 buildings under construction over 400 feet tall. Each of these casinos and resorts are literally "mega" facilities; it's really hard to comprehend without seeing it for yourself, and it's something I'd recommend to everyone to check out at least once. I'm staying at the Tropicana, and at our intersection on the Strip is also the MGM Grand, New York-New York, and Excalibur; this intersection has more hotel rooms than any other in the entire world.

Last night for dinner we ate at the Top of the World, literally a revolving restaurant at the top of the Stratosphere, the tallest structure west of Chicago in the entire world at 1,149 feet tall (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stratosphere_Las_Vegas). The photo is the view we had a couple of times at dinner. And pictures hardly do it justice.

That's all for now - back to making my money...

I'm a Senior!

(picture: Malibu, CA from 2006)

CHICAGO, IL -- Okay, so I've been a senior by credits for well over a year now, but as of a few hours ago, I'm officially a senior no matter how you slice it. What's more, only one more semester till I graduate - crazy! Where did college go?

Well, here's to summer! School's out and I sure plan on making the most of what's going to be a whole lot of traveling, and time well spent with friends and family. Here's the new summer schedule as of now (and it's still pretty much subject to change at any moment until tickets are actually booked)...

Summer v3.0:

May 14th - School's out for SUMMER!

May 16th-19th - Las Vegas, NV

May 19th-26th - Chicago, IL and Madison, WI

May 26th-June 4th - Louisville, KY; Nashville, TN; Atlanta, GA; Cape Canaveral, FL

June 4th-11th - Chicago, IL and Madison, WI

June 11th-July 17th - Harvard, Cambridge, MA

July 18th - Winnipeg, Manitoba

July 19th-26th - Great Bear Lake, Northwest Territories

July 26th - Winnipeg, Manitoba

July 27th-August 2nd - Chicago, IL and Madison, WI

August 2nd-15th - Stanford, Palo Alto, CA

August 15th-24th - Israel

August 24th-September - Chicago, IL and Madison, WI

So there you have it! A few dates have changed, such as my flying out to Boston a day earlier. Most obvious is that I've added a trip to ISRAEL! The trip is for Birthright Israel alumni from North America to work at a week-long summer camp for children from Sderot, the town in southern Israel only 1 mile from the Gaza Strip that is constantly under Kassam rocket attack.

There's really only about 2-3 weeks all summer I'll be home, and the biggest chunk of that is after this weekend in Vegas. Also, besides the Israel trip, which is not booked and still I would put it only at about a 60-70% chance of happening (not bad odds, but not anything I'm willing to say is set either), the dates of that road trip are still up in the air for a few reasons. As of right now, STS-124, the space shuttle launch I'm going to see, is still scheduled for 5:01:50PM ET on May 31st, but it is still by no means set. I'm checking it pretty much every day to see if they change it, and the longer time goes by, the better the odds that they don't delay it (except for weather). So, as I've said before, in the next week leading up to when I would have to leave, hotels and whatnot will be booked and the dates will become a little more concrete.

Also, a total side note, but I've made the decision that I'm going to space. I know, sounds impossible, right? Wrong! Virgin Galactic, the team that sponsored SpaceShipOne (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Ship_One), which won the $10 million Ansari X Prize in 2004 for becoming the first private group to send a human into space twice within 10 days and safely return, is currently accepting bookings for flights on SpaceShipTwo (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpaceShipTwo). Currently, it costs $200,000 to book your flight, but as more are booked (they have something like 200 flights already booked, pretty impressive), the price will drop to $175,000, then $150,000, etc. until it settles at $20,000. Don't get me wrong, 20 grand is a LOT of money, but on the other hand, this is SPACE! How amazing would that be? I'm going to start saving my pennies right now and maybe by summer 2015 I can go...

That's all for now - my next post should be from the bright lights of Vegas this weekend!

One More Week!

The title says it all, and how exciting! The last month has really flown by, and a day already post-Cinco de Mayo, I have only one more week until my last final and the official start of summer! In my last post I had thought that my summer would begin on May 14th, but as that last final has been changed into a take-home final, my summer will instead begin a full 24 hours earlier on May 13th, one week from today.

Otherwise, Summer Plans v2.0 looks pretty similar to v1.0... the Vegas trip has been booked since before my last update, and remains the same.

My next trip, to see the Space Shuttle Launch, remains scheduled the same, which is really good news. In fact, the Shuttle rolled out from the Vehicle Assembly Building (the 4th-largest building in the world by volume) to Launch Pad 39A, where it is still scheduled to launch on May 31st at 5:01:50PM ET. Today the astronauts arrived at the Kennedy Space Center to begin a full 3-day rehearsal for the launch later this month. http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.html

My dates for the Boston trip also remain the same and if they change, will only change by 1 or 2 days from the June 12th beginning of the trip. My ticket is not booked yet but should be within the next couple of weeks. July 17th will definitely be the day I return to Chicago, because...

...the next trip to Winnipeg and Great Bear Lake has already been booked, and the first flight (of the several that it takes to actually get to Great Bear Lake Lodge) leaves Chicago on the morning of July 18th. Needless to say, I'll need to get home in order to quickly switch out my clothes and things from one suitcase to the next, as some things I'll be taking with me on both trips, and others, such as the fishing gear, will be on the Canada trip only. The morning of the 27th of July we return back to Chicago, and from that morning until August 2nd will be my longest stay at home for the summer. And by at home, I mean between Chicago and Madison, as I'll need to clean out almost everything from my place there, given that our lease ends in the middle of August and we are not staying where we currently are.

The August 2-15th trip to Stanford in the Bay Area has not yet been booked, but should be booked at the same time as the Harvard/Boston trip within the next few weeks, and the dates should stay the same on that one too.

And there's a whole summer for you! I'll end up splitting the rest of my summer time between Madison and Chicago, moving things from our place now to our new one in Madison, and spending time with family and friends in Chicago too. Though, who knows, maybe I'll end up taking another trip anyway!