The weeks they come, and the weeks they go. Enter Week 4. Rolling Thunder: Upon entering the check-in gate to Megabites, a grounds-crew guy threw out a point and a nod as we rolled by. Plus 2 to street cred. Breakfast: Mike H mysteriously did not show up for breakfast. With the Canadian Space Agency arriving today, he must have been scrambling to get ready for his big day. Before lunch, the Academy attended a lecture hosted by Dr. David Kendall, the CSA Director of Space Sciences where he discussed the history, work, and goals of our space neighbors to the north. Following the lecture, the Director joined the students for lunch at MegaBites. After work, the "get well soon" crew mustered up a few nice cards, an X-Box 360, and a TV to bring to Robbie. The night was then wrapped up with a sushi dinner and Tom's soothing voice as he led us through a group meeting. 9 DAYS UNTIL MIDTERM

We had a nice RAP session on Tuesday night, which is an unusual night for it. I am still trying to figure out why it is called a RAP session. Regardless, Jon mentioned that Sarah and I would have some tough shoes to fill after this last week's great weekly summary. Sarah then said something like, "then we'll wear TWO pairs of shoes next week!" Had we discussed the issue beforehand, I would never have agreed to wear shoes to the next week's RAP session. MORAL OF THE DAY: Sarah has to wear 2 pairs of shoes.

Wednesday of the fourth week was kicked off in style - that is, if leaky pipes is your thing. At approximately 12:50 am, while about to get ready for bed, Heather and Sarah discovered their toilet leaking at a steady rate. As toilet water is preferably kept in the toilet versus covering the bathroom tile and soaking the carpet near the sink, these two Academyties kept their cool and track down a phone number to address this unwanted irrigation. Heather discovers a phone number entiled "NASA Lodge Front Desk After Hours Number - Emergencies Only," and we call it. One by one the phone ringing tones go by. After 30 or so seconds of ringing, a generic answering machine answers. No one is there to answer the call for assistance. Frustrated, we leave a message with little hope of answer. The only other number available is the Ames Dispatch. The embarrassment of calling our friends at the Fire Department for help with a leaky toilet is overcome by a general grumpiness (at least on my part). The phone call was made, and the very nice dispatch dude sent over a plumber asap. Our toilet was repaired by 1:45 am, with still no call from the NASA Lodge front desk. Good thing it was minor and not an episode of Snakes in a Room.
Morning dawned too soon on the sleepy Academy. Last minute packing and preparing for the work day, followed by the delectable Mega Bites breakfast experience christened the new day. With Mike H. being absent to drive with Doug to SoCal, the task of making dry ice was assigned to Sam and Sarah. We are pleased to announce none were injured in the process. (It is important to note that Mike H. was given the opportunity to drive Doug's BMW on their journey south - pretty awesome.) After lunch many of the students went to hear Stephanie Langhoff's seminar on the astronomy/earth science opportunities the Ares-V provides. The vans were then packed and we shipped out, excited for the adventures that SoCal would present us. The drive to SoCal was made more bearable with the additions of music, stories, and naps. Courtney enjoyed her first ever Frosty, and chocolate Skittles were questioned. Some marveled at the seemly inedible "food" offerings of the gas station, and we continued on.
We arrived at the Oxford Inn in Lancaster (a sprawling metropolis known for its fantastic night life) and were all impressed by our lodgings. Dinner was held at the lauded Marie Calendar's. The heat of southern California lured some Academyites to the pool. Jon and Mike H were the first two to arrive, but they were soon kicked out by a security guard who informed them the pool had just closed. Bummer. Tommy, Mikey B and Sarah then enter the scene, only to be told the tale of the valiant defended of pool law. We discovered another Academy at the hotel - Soccer Academy. That night the Glenn and Marshall Academies arrived in several waves.

The group's first real day in Southern California began with sunshine and heat being the Appetizer and Entrée of the day. This also became the group's first opportunity to interact with the Marshall and Glenn Academies. All of the Academies mixed and matched in all of the groups' cars and made our way into the Mojave Desert. The journey was relatively short and sweet…and hot. Every Academy carpool arrived at Edwards Air Force Base without a single problem…except for Sam and his van of travelling rabble-rousers, who decided to do a little "freestyle driving" (ie…getting lost).
At Edwards, the group was treated to a fantastic spattering of historic experimental aircraft. They had cockpits, and tail fins, and swept forward wings. They had dingies and doodads, they had all of these things. We saw planes made for science and planes made for speed. We saw planes made for sleuthing to catch dudes who grow weed (or for spying on other countries, whichever is, at the time, more of a threat). If I know planes like I think I do, which is not very well, I'd say the most impressive aeronautical concept brought to light during this tour was in regards to a morphing plane wing. The wing seemingly melted and molded like a microwaved marshmallow while the plane's body remained rigid like a graham cracker crust. I think it's safe to say that we're all enthusiastic about this next generation of s'more inspired planes. Towards the end of the tour at Dryden Flight Research Center, we were shown an LLRT, which was a vehicle used to mimic a lunar landing here on Earth. We were told that they were so difficult to fly that America's favorite hero, Neil Armstrong, crashed the first one. Many pictures were taken. Only the forbidden lake bed of mystery went unphotographed. The next stop of the day was to a nearby airport where SOFIA was being manufactured and modified. Before entering, Doug confronted Sarah on her choice of open toed shoes. Possibly for toe safety reasons, or possibly for style, Sarah slipped on her $6 pair of Target watershoes. Doug was later seen with a big smile on his face.
The tour of SOFIA was truly fascinating as each of the RA's was allowed to tour the inside of the plane. Apparently, the facility we were touring was the same location used to film Pirates of the Caribbean, the Terminal, and Hard Rain. After the 2 morning and afternoon tours, the group headed back to the hotel where the sunshine was enjoyed in a more pleasant of ways ... TENNIS BALL ULTIMATE FRISBEE! A good time was had by all. The evening turned out to be a colorful and fruitful adventure. Doug, Jon, and Jenni shared dinner with the Glenn and Marshall directors and staffers. This became a perfect opportunity for the RAs to get together and have one big group meal.
In regards to the most profound event of the day, while getting out of his car after coming home from dinner, Jon from the Marshall Academy slipped on what was later determined to be an abandoned banana peel in the Oxford parking lot. Banana peel - 1, Marshall kids - 0. Right after dinner, the Ames Academy decided to portray their dedication by working on their research group project.
On the brightest note of the day, the 5th and arguably most crucial member (the muscle) of Rolling Thunder, Robbie was reunited with the rest of the team that evening. In celebration, Tommy smashed Robbie's head into the ceiling. I'm not sure how reunions go in Missouri, but that was certainly a new tradition for me. MORAL OF THE DAY: The world needs more abandoned banana peels.

Friday morning the Academies piled into their vans and headed for JPL. The tour of JPL was right to the point. All 3 Academies started out at the JPL Museum where there was a history of robotic space flight and a heat sensing camera. The heat sensing camera totally stole the show. It was discovered that Papa Jon has a dangerously hot face and thermal Sarah looks like a clown.
As we continued on throughout the day, the students saw lots of presentations and speakers, which were in all seriousness, very interesting. We were even allowed a quick peek at the robotic space flight Mission Control. Our good friend the Phoenix lander was also found at this location. If only the group could acquire such a model for their group project. One of the most popular activities of the day was seeing ATHLETE. We were all pleased to see that at least one NASA warehouse contained a super powerful space robot. MENTAL IMAGE OF THE DAY: ATHLETE cornering a group of nerdy scientist to steal their lunch money / become president of the moon.
The next destination of the day was SpaceX, which providing arguably the most eye opening tours of the entire week. Whereas NASA has design, manufacture, and assembly locations spread across the country, SpaceX has found a way to do everything within one building. Within a matter of minutes, the group saw where the outer structure of the Falcon I rocket was being assembled, where the rocket nozzles were being manufactured, and where the endless amount of code was being written to drive the entire project. One of the most surprising facts of the day: the average age of the SpaceX work force was 26 years old, which as the tour guide stated was, "just like it was for the Apollo."
After experiencing free fruit snacks at Space X, the Academies and SoCal area alums convened at Jon's old Caltech apartment recreation room. The three Academies were soon joined by a medley of Jon's friends, Academy alumni, and random crashers. After brats, hamburgers, veggie burgers, and chips came intense foosball games, sweet old school arcade games, and pool. After watermelon, Dave headed out to spend some time with UCLA friends while Jon takes Tommy, Emily, Sam and Mikey B to Old Town Pasadena while everyone else heads home to the Sheraton.
A few significant highlights of the evening: The US should be more worried about the decline of American cuisine then decline of test scores - Mikey B observed some dude put salsa on his salad. It seems that button mashing is still the most effective fighting technique for Street Fighter. Sarah is probably the worst pool player on the planet - thanks to Courtney for being nice enough to play without laughing too hard. Apparently horrible rap is considered traditional Irish Pub music in Old Town Pasadena.

Saturday morning Jon's friends provided the gang with an informal tour of some of the Graduate Aeronautical Labs at Caltech. Caltech was found to be a magical place of hope and wonder, and wonderful hopefulness. Extensive radiation studies were evident, as massive tadpoles were observed. We speculate they are possibly being bred for expert fighting abilities and heightened intelligence (aka battle toads). A multitude of turtles were discovered as well. Unfortunately, we were not able to identify ages of these turtles, as we suspect their mutant ninja abilities are made evident only during the teenage years. Jon pointed out Steven Hawking's favorite sitting spot near turtle pond (where Jon has seen him), and then took us to his lab which studies hyper velocity impact. The chance to see a bunch of sweet studies and research was pretty cool. Tommy introduces a number riddle to the group - luckily we distracted him with finding the Caltech cannon that MIT students stole a few years ago. Joey and Rachel said adios and left to feed their rock climbing addiction at Echo Cliffs. After an already great weekend, Anita, Courtney, Tommy, Emily, Jon, and MikeyB sought out to make it even more memorable. Two words: Disney Land. The ride to Anaheim was filled with enthusiasm and Disney music sing -a-longs. The first success of the day, the beast van finally got the respect that it deserved by getting directed to the Oversized Vehicle parking lot. The MegaBus drove comfortably between the lines of the extra large parking space with extra room to spare on both the front and back ends. As we left the big guy, I swear I saw his front bumper shape into a big, pleasant grin. The group of 6 entered the park with big smiles and an air of childlike confidence. Mikey B's confidence was quickly dismantled when Sleeping Beauty refused to give him a kiss on the cheek. The experiences in this truly magical place varied greatly throughout the day. Among the most notable events, we crammed 6 people into one pink tea cup and became Jedi knights. Due to a technical difficulty on the Buzz Lightyear Space Blaster ride, Mikey B earned the rank of Space Captain while shooting evil aliens. SETI will certainly be informed of this prestigious accomplishment. For dinner, the group stopped at the Pizza Pit where many joined in on supporting the $52 pizza that was being sold there. We quickly realized why one pizza cost $52: it was a transforming pizza. Right before our eyes we watched it change from a glorious cheesy mound of majesty to a stale, dreary lump of dough. The R&D that went into this pizza morphing technology must have been staggering. The morphing wing engineers at Dryden would be thrilled to know that this technology already exists. After a wonderfully magical evening of watching Mickey fight gigantic dragons, a fireworks display over the Magic Castle, and watching Emily get dominated by Splash Mountain, the crew found themselves buying fudge at one of the last open stores in Disney Land. While the Disney group was Disney-ing, Sam headed to Venice Beach with his cousin and his cousin's fiance. Sam helped his cousin prepare for his upcoming trip to Georgia, and complimented him on the fabulous metaphor "crazy as a bulldog wearin' lipstick" - Shakespeare would be proud. Heather, Robbie and Jenni went to Santa Monica where they met up with the Glenn Academy. Touring 3rd Street, they saw break dancers and street performers, and then hopped in the car and drove through Beverly Hills. They saw Rodeo Drive, Sunset Boulevard, and the famous Hollywood sign. Other sweet places include Grauman's Chinese Theatre (lots of premieres are held here), Kodak theatre (where the Oscars are held at) and the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Unfortunately, the planned Dodgers game was completely sold out (what, baseball sold out?!). Jenni was found to be calm in hardcore traffic. Looks like UCLA taught her well. The group, along with Glenn Academy, some of Jay's friends and Sam began a crazy night of Karaoke. Apparently Heather is the maestra of Karaoke. MORAL OF THE DAY: It is unfair to other Disney Land guests looking to get a memorable picture on a ride when they have to sit behind Tommy.

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