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Costa Rica – Day 1 – Houston to San Jose

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Sonia and I knew a few other people that had been to Costa Rica and had a wonderful time. Lots of beautiful birds, interesting scenery, a good time, and easy to get around. When our friends, Linus and Shirley, and us were looking for options to go on our next trip, we eventually came around to Costa Rica. We first looked at a Eco Hotel in Arenal to stay at for a week. But I wasn’t sure we wanted to spend an entire week in the same spot. Linus and Shirley had used a travel service before called Exoticca, they had a trip that started out in San Jose, then a few days in Arenal, then the beach city of Jaco, and finally returning to San Jose. It checked all the boxes for me.

Our trip started early on Saturday, September 26, 2028. We made no special arrangements to meet up with Linus and Shirley, but we ended up meeting just past the airport security. A great way to begin the trip. We got some breakfast in IAH on the way to our gate, excited for what lay ahead.

It is about a 3 and a half hour flight from Houston to San Jose, Costa Rica. On the way Sonia watched a movie “Best of the Best”. It is about this dance team and a lot of college drama. It was a continuation of the story of “Never Have I Ever”. I ended up catching pieces of it, and it looks to be a fantastic movie. I look forward to eventually watching the whole thing. I spent the time on the plane reading. And I noticed that they had two of the SpaceX Starship movies available on the flight. “Critical Path” and “Test Like You Fly”. I know United Airlines will be installing SpaceX’s Starlink on all their flights. I wonder if having these videos available to passengers is part of the arrangement. The Starship Flight test 14 was schedule for Monday (2 days from our flight). I do not think that people can comprehend at this point how transformative having a fully reusable orbital vehicle will be. It is hard to imagine the world that comes after. I am glad to see all the effort that SpaceX is doing in sharing the path to get there.

Here is our first view of Costa Rica from the airport.

There are 3 things that you will keep running across on your visit to Costa Rica. Sloths are depicted everywhere. Sloths are the mascot (perhaps unofficial) of Costa Rica. They are depicted everywhere. Here is a resting sloth (apparently doing Yoga) that we saw before even getting to immigration.

The second thing that you will see a lot in Costa Rica is American brands. We asked our driver that picked us up at the airport “Could you recommend a place to eat lunch”. “Yes! I can recommend you the best place to eat. The best food in all of Costa Rica”. We were excited. And completely unprepared for what he said. “Denny’s”. And there were American brands everywhere. Burger King, Taco Bell, McDonalds, and even the hotel we were staying at was a Holiday Inn.

But at least you know you will get a good quality room at a Holiday Inn,

Complete with a nice courtyard with a pool and a hot tub.

Right next to the hotel was a Casino. A Denny’s can’t be the first place we eat in Costa Rica (but it would not have been the first time I went to another country and at an American brand. The first place I ate on my first trip to Tokyo was a Sizzlers. And I had one of the best steaks with a wasabi/soy sauce that was just out of this world, not to have been replicated…)

They were not quick with giving us menus or food at the casino. I think they were hoping/expecting us to do some gambling. But I have no interest in that. The math just does not work out. And while the casinos try their best to make YOU feel like you are the especially lucky one, I know that is not the case. I keep remember the time that I went to Singo Bingo with our friends Mike and Marry. The host of that was very upfront. “How many of you think you are going to win tonight?” Of course everyone raises their hands. “Okay, make a friend so that when you go home without winning, you will have someone to console you.”

We did eventually get some food.

Afterwards, we were excited to start seeing the place. But it was raining by this time. It would rain for a bit everyday on our trip. But most of the day was dry. Lucky we had ponchos and umbrellas. (You can see another American brand in this photo: Gold’s Gym)

And even “closer” to home is the Duke’s Texan Style BBQ. We didn’t eat there, but could see it across the freeway from where we were walking.

We ended up walking an extended block. We were using “dead reconning” at first for navigation. “If you keep turning right, eventually you will come back to where you started.”

We ended up stopping at a BYD dealership and checking out the cars. Looking forward to these being an option in the US. (Though unless they have full unsupervised self driving that is as good or better than Tesla, I really have no interest in a different car.)

We tried a couple of times to get an Uber from the BYD car dealership. But wasn’t able to get one. That was the only time we had trouble getting an Uber. Also, seems that Uber is illegal for drivers. OK for passengers, but drivers could be fined. We also attempted to find a place to play Pickleball. But I called and no one answered. It would have been an Uber trip away too. But time to turn on Google maps and figure the best way back. We came across a park and checked it out.

We ended up turning in to our respective rooms relatively early. I feel like it was 7ish. Sonia and I were able to login to the TV using our NetFlix account (just scan the QR code and able to authenticate on your phone’s Netflix app) and watched Kissing Booth. A film about a boy and a girl who were born on the same day. They end up become best friends. And they have a number of rules to help make the relationship work. One of them is that they won’t date each other siblings. Of course the guy has a really good looking brother that the girl likes. And you can imagine where it goes. It was a nice movie though.

But afterwards feeling a bit hungry. Sonia and I go to the Dennys for a snack. It is still raining but the Dennys is attached to the hotel.

Then time to turn in to go to sleep.

From One Blue Sphere

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In a cosmos void and lifeless vast, Where stars gleamed cold, and shadows cast, Lay empty realms, a silent space, Without a pulse, a breath, a trace.

But from one blue and teeming sphere, Emerged a race, that conquered fear. With dreams as vast as skies above, Humanity soared on wings of love.

They took the seeds of life they knew, And ‘cross the void, those seeds they threw. To barren worlds and empty moons, To silent nights and endless noons.

With tech and touch, they wove a dance, Gave planets chance, a second glance. Where once was stillness, now there thrived, New forms of life, awake, alive.

Oceans bloomed and forests grew, Skies turned pink, then orange, then blue. Creatures stirred in seas and land, All shaped by humanity’s hand.

And thus, the once dead universe, Heard songs, and tales, a poet’s verse. For every corner, nook and cranny, Echoed with life, from Mercury to uncanny galaxies.

A testament to the human will, That cannot sit, that cannot still. In a lifeless void, cold and vast, Humanity ensured life would last.

Going to work in Mission Control at NASA!!

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In February, I start a job at NASA’s Johnson Space Center eventually working in mission control supporting the International Space Station (ISS).

I think you all know that space exploration and the vision of humanity going into the rest of the solar system and beyond excites me. You have surely seen the monthly North Houston Space Society meetings that I help put on. Or maybe you participated in my Countdown to the Moon project. Or maybe you saw one of the many of my space related posts.

Now, I am no longer just talking, posting, and dreaming, but actually taking steps to do something professionally space related.

This is a complete career change for me.

For the past 25 years, I have worked in the computer industry. I started out at Neosoft doing tech support for dialup internet customers, worked at T1 Design creating internet applications for Compaq, at HP working on their online store and sales planning applications, and the last 7 years at Anaplan in various roles, including as a manager.

The job I will be doing at NASA is an entry level job which most people get right out of college. I figure it is a great place to start for something completely new and different. It involves 1 to 2 years of training and testing, and then I will be working on the SPARTAN team in mission control responsible for station power and the external thermal control systems.

Over the course of the next few years, I will be developing a much deeper and real-world view of space operations. My absolute dream would be to work on the Artemis program and to be in mission control the next time we have people walking on the moon.

I look forward to sharing my journey with you.

I hope that by taking this small step, that it might be a giant leap in helping to encourage you and others to pursue any dreams that you want to do.

Reflections on Countdown to the Moon a year ago – 1794 – Lisa

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1794 – Lisa

Lisa was taking tennis lessons a year ago. Several things I learned from this interview.

  1. In Germany it is common to say “press our thumbs” instead of “cross our fingers” when hoping something would happen.
  2. Having a goal of every visitor that goes to Space Center Houston know that we are planning to send people back to the moon would be a good thing
  3. People need to understand “Why now?” “What triggers us to go?”

Reflections on Countdown to the Moon a year ago – 1795 – Opal

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1795 – Opal

Opal also worked at the mall. Different kiosk, but she did know Syed. She thinks it would be cool if we could actually accomplish this goal. And she seemed to find it more interesting.

It is amazing how many people are out there willing to help a stranger with his project. I’m very grateful to everyone that has participated.

And I look forward to some day being able to talk to people at kiosks at a mall, without a mask, and without concern for a pandemic. How much has changed in the past year!

Reflections on Countdown to the Moon a year ago – 1796 – Syed

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1796 – Syed

Who to interview? I had started trying to interview people at the mall. Going up to random shoppers felt odd. But there were people working a kiosks that were trying to get people’s attention. Syed was one of them. I think his was glasses.

Syed would prefer to go some place different. “We have already been to the moon. We should invest those resources into something else.” I started to probe his position and he became a little defensive “I’m not a fan of astronomy. If you go into the nitty gritty, then there might be some advantage but my point of view is that we should do something else.” And that is a valid point of view.

One thing I try not to do on these interviews is to make people feel defensive, embarrassed or questioned. My number one objective with these interviews is to try to make people feel understood or at least have them feel that they are trying to be understood.

Reflections on Countdown to the Moon a year ago – 1797 – Cornell and Jamal

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1797 – Cornell and Jamal

Cornell and Jamal were in the neighborhood doing door to door marketing. They made a few interesting comments “We actually made it to the moon” (reference to the Apollo deniers I think). “Why did we stop going?” “cost” “I didn’t know that America had a problem with cost.”

It seems we have unlimited money for weapons, for jails, for police, for military, for stadiums, and the like. But it seems that we are limited when it comes to education, exploration, and science. Though we do spend a lot of money on these things.

But we in the US value conflict and winning. We do not necessarily value science, exploration, and discovery. Name some explorers. ok… Now name some rich people. Name some powerful people. Ok now try to name some smart people. Why are they smart.

I feel that no one will have trouble naming rich and powerful people. But will be challenged to name a scientist.