"The best and the whitest" ~ Love, NASA

For the past nine months to a year, I've been avidly following space-related news and happenings around the world... a shared interest between myself and my husband. As a pair of Gen-Xers with two children who will end up being the ones inheriting the catastrophic results of climate-change our government continues to deny, how can we not be interested in the efforts to understand and learn how to navigate and possibly exist in space?

So from NASA to SpaceX to 3-D printed housing for Mars, I've "oohed" over the gorgeous photos of the Milky Way and our solar system, and snarked about Bezos' ultimate power trip. I love watching live broadcasts of spacewalks at ISS, and the educational efforts of NASA TV encouraging us all to "do science".

Late last month (July 2019), three astronauts -- from Russia, the United States and Italy -- were lifted into space and flown to the International Space Station to begin their stint on the ISS. They lifted off from at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. I spun through these photos of the formal send-off and launch of the Soyuz MS-13 spacecraft, and was struck -- really horrifically taken-aback, honestly -- by the sheer number of white men dominating the ceremonial or real positions of authority.

Image source: Spaceflightnow.com

Image source: Spaceflightnow.com

Where are the women? Where are the people of color? 
Wow, NASA. I mean, really.

I understand the send-off took place in Kazakhstan, right next door to Russia, and presumably Russians might dominate as attendees. Maybe this wasn't the right lift-off to scrutinize, and I'll definitely be paying attention to the photos of the next lift-off from the United States. But as NASA was sending astronaut Andrew Morgan up to the ISS, I have to assume they were duly represented. And I couldn't find a single person who even appears to be in a position of power in that whole string of photos that wasn't a white male.

NASA talks a good game about diversity here on their career page. I guess it's just positions of leadership that are so closely guarded by white men.

If you look at NASA's "No FEAR Act" filing for the overall agency, it becomes clear that, except for "reprisal" (33 filings for 2 18), filings related to "race" and "sex" are the highest reported categories (each at 27 filings for 2018). The next closest category of complaints filed were around "age" (18 for 2018).  And the year-over-year comparison shows the issue is only getting worse, which I'm inferring to mean the more women and people of color they bring in, the more painful the issues become with the "old guard". It looks like if you dare report an issue about race or sex, you can definitely expect a reprisal. Sweet.

It's looking like the agency that is supposed to rocket us into the 22nd century is still sitting back in the 20th century.

I will keep monitoring this issue, and will post updates if I learn my impressions were incorrect.

Ireland feels strangely like home (a book)

Late last year, I went to Ireland for the first time. I was lucky enough to spend eight days there, touring a handful of counties with family. (My sister and I are married to brothers -- long story -- so it was me and my sister, and our husbands, who are also brothers.) Starting in Dublin for a couple days, we took a driving tour and spent a couple days in counties Roscommon, Galway and Kerry (Killarney) before heading back to Dublin to fly home.

Dublin

Our first night in Dublin we took a really early morning walkabout,
suffering from jet lag as we were. We passed by this creepy old church
on our way up the hill to Killiney Hill Park, which boasted of
the best sunrise views.

Killiney Hill Park did not disappoint, with beautiful views
overlooking parts of Dublin

On the other side of the jut were some seriously moody clouds

Then, we hopped in the car and took off for Roscommon County,
and I saw surprisingly little of the countryside...
Ireland really likes to wall off its highways and roads, as shown here,
presumably so the citizens don't have to see ugly cars
tearing through their beautiful pastoral views. :) 

 Roscommon 

We arrived at the Kilronan Castle.
I'll admit it, I totally geeked out and took all the touristy-type
pictures. I even realized I'm a tiny bit of a foodie underneath
it all. I just had to have access to afternoon tea every day.

Please?

Here's a few photos taken during a walk around the grounds
of Kilronan Castle, when I wasn't inside ordering
afternoon tea and chortling over it like a
crazy person.

This was an old entrance into the castle from
the Ha Ha (there are what looked like
horse stalls to the right). I assume this is where
the carriages pulled up and dropped off guests.

Secret passageway?!

Everywhere in Ireland you find roads and walkways
bordered by these walls. Most are extremely old, as
illustrated by this tree's roots burrowing into it.

Afternoon tea at Kilronan Castle.

While the scones were always my favorite part
of afternoon tea, the artistry of all the different
components always induced me to eat.way.too.much.
Every time.

Downstairs bar in Kilronan Castle (a few others
trickled in over the night, but we mostly had it
to ourselves)

This was my first chance to visit Ireland, though my sister and I grew up on stories of our mixed Ireland and Scotland ancestry. Nonetheless, my sister and I were both really taken aback at how comfortable we felt in Ireland, how much we felt like we "fit right in". Of course, the Irish are very welcoming and friendly, without a doubt, so even my mixed husband felt comfortable (which is often not the case in America, from which we hail). But mannerisms, vocal tones and volumes, driving style... such things I wouldn't have expected to be passed along through DNA, half a world away. According to our husbands, though, my sister and I don't fall far from the Irish tree... which was the source of a lot of teasing as we hurtled nilly-willow through the country on those narrow, walled-in roads.

Galway 

In Galway, we stayed at the comparatively modern
G hotel. The cupcakes looked a lot yummier
than they were, but that's probably what I get for
trying to eat every sugary thing I stumbled across.

It was Halloween, and the afternoon tea I ordered
at the G hotel reflected how seriously the Irish
take this important holiday. 

It broke my heart walking away from
this spooky display half-eaten, even with four people.
But doing anything else would have had
serious consequences. (Like, the plane wouldn't
have been able to take off...)

Exploring "old town" in Galway... This tiny corner
pub was my absolute favorite. I took a picture
so I would always remember.

It was a little cramped :) 

Cliffs of Moher

We spent one of our days in Galway driving over to and exploring the Cliffs of Moher. My sister and husband are not fans of heights, so it was fun to be able to turn the teasing elsewhere for one day. Below are a few photos from the trip to the Cliffs.

It was like driving in another century

According to Google, this was Dunguaire Castle that we
happened to drive past. We pulled over for a quick exploration,
but it was closed up. (Probably due to obnoxious tourists.)

When there was a hill to climb, you can expect some
seriously intense switchbacks. 

We pulled over to enjoy the view halfway up this hill, and my
husband played his new Irish whistle for the cows. 

And finally, once we were at the actual Cliffs I was too busy to take many photos...

The Cliffs were magnificent.

My husband and sister couldn't stay far enough from
the edge as we climbed up to the clifftop.
Eventually, we came across this sign and they
just couldn't contain themselves any longer.

Once the wall between us and the edge of the cliff ended and I wanted to keep going, I had a ugly rebellion on my hands. Being dragged away from "certain death", I was gifted with the chance to drive us back to Galway, like candy dangled in front of a baby to distract them. "Driving while in Ireland" should be classified in some subcategory of thrill-seeking sports. Any one of the following things could be intimidating to a driver, but throw them all together and I'm surprised I could pry my aching hands off the steering wheel when I finally pulled into the hotel parking lot that night:

Cows grazing on the narrow strips
between the switchback road heading
up the hill... Think about their cute,
bovine eyes and don't take your eyes
off that road!

1. Crazy high speed limits on a strange route
2. Driving on the wrong side of the road with road signs you don't recognize (American, remember?)
3. Narrow roads enforced by ancient walls on both sides of the road, with ancient trees growing out of them and encroaching into the road
4. Switchbacks (with cows)

It was a thrill I'll always remember. And even better, we had comprehensive insurance coverage on our rental car. Regardless, any missing paint from said encroaching tree branches are totally not my fault. Ancient trees should know better, they've seen humanity at its worst.

Kerry 

We only had one night in Kerry, but we toured the beautiful town of Killarney before we had to hop in the car for a long drive back toward Dublin.

We walked to this glade not far from our hotel (before afternoon tea)

Walking through certain parts of Killarney was a transportive experience.

And of course, even though it makes me feel
bloated, I had to have at least one delicious Guinness. 

Tipperary (unofficial stop)

On the long drive back toward Dublin, we stopped for some coffee and expected adventure at Tipperary. 

As we walked the streets of Tipperary in search
caffeine, we stumbled across Cahir Castle.

Cahir Castle has an interesting history

Maybe 15 minutes later, as we finally located our caffeine fix,
the sky abruptly clouded over

Thirty seconds later, double rainbow wow aside,
it was looking rather ominous... 

As we started walking back toward our car, the sky with the funny double rainbow suddenly opened up and began pouring down the fattest raindrops I've ever experienced. As someone who's lived in Los Angeles and Seattle, I thought I knew rain like no-ones business. Turns out Seattle rain is a joke. We were instantly drenched all the way through, freezing, so we gripped our coffees tight and ran. We drove the rest of the way to the Dublin airport steaming slightly as we slowly dried out under the care of our rental car's heating vents, on blast. Brrrrrrr!

Ireland wins. In so many ways.

things around the new neighborhood (north seattle)

I know I am nowhere near as convincing as Amazon when it comes to the nicer things in life for a Seattlite, but we just signed a couple year lease at our new place and I thought I'd share a couple reasons why:

Richmond Beach Park has beautiful trails and beach
access... but barely a close second to Lincoln Park

There are lots of close parks and walking paths
to chose from

There are so many interesting trees and plants
growing in the neighborhood -- I like to snap
pictures while out for a walk 

A school in the neighborhood has this tree whose
branches are obscenely burdened by thousands of
itsy-bitsy tiny apples. 

Found this guy outside the window of our
workroom one Fall morning.

when you're the only girl in the house

I've always been impressed with the genius mechanical capabilities of my husband and my son. Replace Bimkey's alternator? No problem. Throw together impromptu karaoke night in the living room? Sha-bam!

Img source: found here.

Which is why I'm so confused with their apparent incomprehension of how the toilet paper roll mechanism works.

The void didn't really hit me until my daughter moved out of the house, leaving me the only breasted human being apparently capable of toilet paper roll manipulation.

Oy.

another reason to love patrick rothfuss, author

When obvious is awesomeness.

Because it deserves its own post. Found here.

best tv show theme song this year

I'm one of those people who select their music based on the emotions, or memories it evokes in me; either of a decade (hi, 80's and early Jazz), or a favorite TV show.  The latest song I've added into my song rotation of obsession is this intro theme song from the newly debuted show, Outlander, on Starz. It perfectly evokes the feelings of... well, the show, yes, but so many more intangibles. It's a good thing, despite my inability to articulate it.



You can tell I loved Enya when I was a kid, can't you?
 

quick catch up for the last 8 months

A lot has changed since I last posted. I'll try to summarize.

We weren't able to settle things to our liking at the old
house, so we moved to a bigger place in North Seattle,
where I can actually have an office. This picture shows
my niece covering our front walkway with roses as
a housewarming gift. But it's Seattle, so even though it
was June, it rained 4 hours later and -poof- it was gone. :( 

There's a big sun-room that used to be a front porch, which
John filled with plants. I got a grape vine that's grown the length
of the sun-room, and then some, in just the first few months.

There's a large covered back porch, something we've missed
so much since we left our house in Reseda, CA.

There's a big old man Willow tree right smack in the middle
of the private back yard. 

My new manager role has required a lot more travel than
I'm used to -- flights to the East Coast have been required
every other month since April. Little discovery: FL not
my favorite state ever.

We have a new addition to our family. Looks like a rat,
yet named after an angel -- the one and only angel --
Castiel (from Supernatural). 

Despite being one of the cutest things you've ever seen, he
exploded on the scene bearing fart-bombs (running into
the room, farting and dashing back out) and herpes (he's a
shelter baby). 

Lucifurr was NOT AMUSED.

*Little note: I'm totally downplaying the chaos and mayhem.

Our little girl has grown up and decided to move out on her own,
At 38 years old, my nest is half empty. 'Nuff said.

However, we all try to "keep it real" and not take life too seriously.

Cuz. Yeah.