Passion - it has a number of definitions:

We all have a number of passions, right?

Four years ago today a childhood passion was reignited after living for a couple weeks with some people I did not know and had never met but with whom I shared the same passion - spaceflight. The STS-133 NASA Tweetup for the final flight of Space Shuttle Discovery brought us together for over 115 days. Bonding with people who have the same child-like wonder and excitement was truly a life-changing event.

Since seeing a crumbled piece of Skylab on TV at the Miss Universe pageant I have wanted to fly in space and work in the space industry. Thanks to the incredible people I have met and professors who have taught and helped me in the past four years, I now have that opportunity.

I have accepted an internship opportunity at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. Yes, THAT Houston, but it is definitely NOT a problem.

The internship is ISS Avionics and Software Assurance Analyst and it runs from 26 January 2015 until 15 May 2015. I'm sure that sixteen weeks will fly by in no time.

It is an exciting and, to be honest, scary situation. Basically putting a stable, awesome, and well-paying job of fourteen years on hold, and leaving behind absolutely incredible teammates and bosses, for intern pay and the unknown. Also leaving my friends and family and the only place I've every lived.

Some may think it to be a foolish move. This time and place in my life affords me the chance to be a little unconventional.

I’ll probably be the oldest intern in the group, but we’ll teach each other, and just like my friends from STS-133, I’m sure we all have the same passion - spaceflight.

Don’t be afraid to follow your passion! As the old proverb goes, do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life.

Who knows, maybe I’ll be the oldest in another elite group of trainees in the near future.

See you soon Houston!

So much for writing more here. It's been almost a year since the last post however I've been busy with school and obtaining my private pilot certificate.

The light at the end of the tunnel is my undergraduate degree in computer science. Just like this image that I took of the first Space Shuttle launch I saw in person in 2010. That launch occurred in the year that kicked off this amazing journey back to finishing my degree and beyond. I never thought I would be in the process of preparing for a Masters or Ph.D.

If all goes well I'll obtain my Bachelors degree in December of this year (2014). I'm taking some refresher courses in calculus and physics in the fall semester. These classes will get me back up to speed for my pursuit of an advanced degree.

My current plan is the masters program in Astronautical Engineering at the University of Southern California. Check out the class list! http://astronautics.usc.edu/academics/degree_programs/ms/ - some amazing things to learn!

Go big or go home, right?

I hope you all have a great summer and I'll see you in orbit ;)

Flux.

Since I don't return to class for another 10 days or so I've been looking into putting some time into updating the website for the clothing line I started with my dude QB from The Websters.

Currently the Music Integrated Clothing (MIC) website runs on Drupal 6.0 with Ubercart. The system runs just fine but the site needs a freshening up and I figured I would update the underlying infrastructure while I'm have time.

Thanks to NASA once again I got to experience a once-in-a-lifetime event: Space Shuttle Endevour's final flight en route to the California Science Center (http://www.californiasciencecenter.org/).

She landed at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center on Edwards Air Force Base near Lancaster and Palmdale California (note: Palmdale is the site where all of the space shuttle orbiters were assembled).

I'll have a much longer write-up soon, but wanted to get something up.

Thanks again to all the great #spacetweeps with which I had the pleasure of experiencing this event.

In my quest to see all of the NASA facilities, I am honored to receive a special tour of the NASA Glenn Research Center near Cleveland Ohio as a result of being selected for NASA Tweetup in celebration of John Glenn's 50th Anniversary of orbiting the Earth.