25 of My Most Random Thoughts from Facebook

Once you’ve been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it’s because I want to know more about you.

(To do this, go to “notes” under tabs on your profile page, paste these instructions in the body of the note, type your 25 random things, tag 25 people (in the right hand corner of the app) then click publish.)

Chris with Mickey Ears1.  I am married to a computer geek that grew up in Alabama, Indiana, and Wyoming. He attended the University of Alabama and then moved to Jackson, Miss where we met while he worked at WorldCom. Currently he works for PricewaterhouseCoopers and travels all over the U.S. on a weekly basis.

2.   I have a passion for Dixon Ticonderoga pencils. I even use them to demonstrate how to teach effectively at Space Camp. Most days I carry my pencil behind my ear. You know if I am having a bad day, I have two pencils. Hoot says that it is a double pencil day and staff should stay away from the office.

Boo Radley3.   My Jack Russell/Dachshund mix is truly a hot dog. He was stolen by a lady who lived near him. He was badly neglected and malnourished. The lady turned him into a rescue kennel where Chris and I adopted him. Now he lives like a king and reigns over 5014 Willow Creek Drive.

4.  We have a rabbit that was rescued as well. Most couples who don’t have children don’t have rabbits as pets. One Christmas my family rounded up seventeen domestic rabbits that had been released on the side of the road.

5.  I am wordy. I can’t just say yes or no, true or false. It has to be a detailed answer. Sometimes I am so wordy that I forget what I am saying and drift to a different topic! Simply look at my writing for proof of this handicap.

6.  I am who I am today because of the experience in my life. My parents made a huge effort to make sure we saw life outside of Carroll County Mississippi. They took us on trips, talked to us about life, and allowed us to grow up making mistakes on our own. I loved them for loving me when I needed love and kicking my butt when I was being stubborn!

Yankee Stadium (2008)7.  I love baseball! Most people I know think it is a boring sport. You catch the ball, you throw the ball, and you hit the ball. Simple! But it is more about strategy, timing and lawn care. This fall Chris and I drove to New York the second to last weekend of the season to go Yankee Stadium! It was the best day!!! A-Rod hit a grand slam and Derek Jeter tied Lou Gehrig’s record for most hits in Yankee Stadium.

8.  I have worked at six different camps since I was sixteen. There hasn’t been a summer since I was fifteen that I didn’t spend at least a month at a camp. I love the camp environment. Camp of the Rising Son in French Camp, Mississippi will always have a special place in my heart for being my first camp job! Thank you Chief Margie!

Barrels at Jack Daniels9.  I like visiting Lynchburg, Tennessee and the Jack Daniel’s Distillery. It is a pleasant drive from Huntsville. The tour is outstanding. I am fascinated that millions and millions of gallons of whiskey sit on the tops of the hills in a mostly dry county, and that not much has changed in the community since Jack started making his whiskey. There isn’t a McDonald’s or Dairy Queen in the town. It warms my heart to know there are still things made the way they originally were.

10.  I have a blog ( http://graphitefree.com ). The name is originated from the absence of a pencil being used in electronic writing.  Most of my blog entries are fed to Facebook. I am not going to post this randomness on my blog. It can be for FB only.

11.  I love my job at Aviation Challenge. It is the coolest camp in the world. We teach aviation principles in a military style camp environment. I never served in the armed forces but always looked up to the men and women who serve. Working with kids in this environment is so much fun and patriotic!

Huntsville Stars (Fall 2008)12.  I collected baseball cards since I was a little girl. I love holding a little piece of baseball lore in my hand. The front side of a baseball card has an attractive man on it and the backside has facts and stats on it. Wow, can there be anything better. Each year for Christmas I give my niece and nephews a complete set from that year. When they get older they will have every year from their birth year until then.

13.  My husband and I give traditional anniversary gifts each year. Paper, cotton, leather, fruits, and so on have been the gifts so far. On our second anniversary I gave him a full size bale of cotton. It sits in our front room currently. We are not looking forward to moving because of its size and weight. I wrote an article about it for Cotton Farming magazine about the big gift.

14.  I grew up on a farm and my husband grew up in a sub-division. I had pigs, chickens, cows, goats, and dogs. He had a sister. One day I will convince him to buy a little farm so we can have lots of livestock!

In-N-Out, Las Vegas NV15.  I have a jar of M&Ms on my desk at work. Everyone who works with me comes in to eat candy from the jar. When I went to Vegas last fall with Snapper she wanted to visit the M&M store on the Strip. I didn’t care; I wanted to visit In-N-Out burger! Best burger chain in the world!!!

16.  I have had the honor of hanging out with both Apollo and shuttle astronauts. This includes meeting four moon walkers. Whether it is a book signing or socializing at Otter’s I have been lucky to meet so many. Heck, Story Musgrave thinks I have a great name, but it most likely has to do with where my name tag was placed on my dress.

17.  My first trip to Space Camp was in the spring of 1990. My latest trip as a camper was just last February with my nephew Rhett. We attended Parent Child. It was so much fun! I learned so much stuff from both trips to camp!

Bible and My Pencil18.  My favorite chapter in the Bible is Psalms 51. It is just cool to think that all our transgressions and sins can be washed clean. I have lots of favorite verses, but I come back to that one passage more often than any other.

19.  I don’t cry at sappy chick flicks. However, I cry during sports movies. Miracle, The Rookie, Rudy, and For the Love of the Game are just a few of my favorites. I cry during the Olympics also. I love sports!!!

20.  My favorite American hero is Ronald Reagan. He was an amazing president and leader. He didn’t compromise his principles just to be popular in the eyes of the American people. He helped to return our nation to economic stability and bring down the Iron Curtain.

21.   For my tenth birthday I got a Mickey Mouse phone. I still have the phone. It is so cool! Mickey Mouse was my childhood hero. When I was only one I got a stuffed Mickey doll for Christmas. Slept with that doll most every night until I was married. I replaced a mouse with Chris, I think I got the short end of the stick!

Aviation Challenge at Sunset22.  The mission for Aviation Challenge is to provide a realistic military aviation experience instilling pride, professionalism, and leadership in today’s youth for tomorrow’s future.

23.  My call sign at camp is Red Bull. I love my call sign. Growing up I never had a nick name but really wanted one. Some kids tried calling other names, but nothing stuck. Red Bull is for the energy drink, but not because I drink a lot of it. I got the call sign after a counselor graduation where I gave out and pinned their Space Camp wings on them. Red Bull gives you wings was a logical connection to me, the red head!

24.  The other day I went to a seminar at the Von Braun Center. I sat beside a lady that smelled like musty newspapers. She fell asleep during one of the presentations. I would not have noticed but she was snoring, rather loudly. To top it all off she spent most of the day inside my personal bubble. Nice lady… I have personal boundary issues.

25.  I like prime numbers. That is numbers that are only devisable by 1 and itself. There are only twenty-five prime numbers between one and one-hundred and they are as follows: 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29, 31, 37, 41, 43, 47, 53, 59, 61, 67, 71, 73, 79, 83, 89, and 97.


							
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Addiction

I am an addict. There I said it and I have come clean. I know what you may be thinking. But it isn’t what you think. But I am an addict. My first addiction was simple, nothing to worry my parents. Since then things have only grown more and more out of my grasp. From something as small as a VHS tape to as large as a house or as deadly as an F-16 to as whimsical as a cartoon. This is the story of my addiction.

Addiction is defined by Webster & Oliver as, compulsive need for and use of a habit-forming substance such as knowledge; characterized by tolerance and by well-defined physiological symptoms upon withdrawal or in this case expansion; broadly: persistent compulsive use of a substance known by the user or in the case of Ruth as enlightenment.

I am addicted to knowledge and understanding. I have always been this way. I find a topic, devour it and move to the next topic. My first addiction was the movie Princess Bride… wow I love that movie. From the first time I watched the adventures of Buttercup and Wesley until I memorized the dialog it was a constant in my daily existence, similar to milk in an infant’s life. From this I moved on to NASA, golf, baseball stats or pop music. No matter what the topic was I would research it, learn it, master it and move on to the next addiction.

I find myself fixating on one topic. Just the word fixate is attractive to me. Look at the synonyms to fixate, to preoccupy, to consume, or grip. Each of these words is true to my addiction of information. Find topic, consume topic, find a new topic, consume and repeat.

When I started work at Aviation Challenge, a realistic military aviation experience, I couldn’t tell you the difference between the F-14 Tomcat and the F-16 Fighting Falcon. Most women couldn’t tell the difference in these two aircraft. Why should I? Late one night I was researching the development of the F-16 or Lightweight Fighter on the internet when I ran across Col. John Boyd. This led me to the annihilation of other topics. I obsessed over addictive topics such as Boyd developing the Energy-Maneuverability Theory with Thomas Christie and then his war strategy known as OODA loop.

Look at my infatuation over pencils. Is it normal for a grown woman to shout in a dark movie theater, “LOOK A DIXON TICONDEROGA” when one is shown on the silver screen? This addiction started tame at first. One fall after leaving the classroom I missed shopping for school supplies. I missed my pencils. I purchased a dozen of the world’s best pencil. Yes, I had in my hand twelve of Joseph Dixon’s pride and joy. Twelve sharp wooden objects lead to the research and development of my version of “The Presentation that Everybody LIKES,” the “best of it’s kind.”

I have consumed everything from a seminary level textbook on theology to the difference between Tennessee sippin’ whiskey and Kentucky bourbon, from Pixar movies like Wall-E to details of the Space Shuttle. I obsess over them all. I know these are strange pairings, but if it is fascinating I will study it. If it is obscure I will learn every detail about it. And if it is enjoyable, I will over indulge myself in the topic. This startling fact has led me to the conclusion that I am addicted. If the first step is admitting you have a problem, now what is the next step… starting a blog about it?

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Training the Newbies

I thought about making a life rule about writing about work. It would have gone something like this, “Thou shalt not write about the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in the past, present, or future tense.” However, I did not make the rule and I feel compelled to write about my favorite season of the year. No, it isn’t spring or summer. My favorite season is training season followed by Be Ready season.

I have the best job in the world. I work at Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama. That is the big umbrella name, but in reality I work as the Program Manager of Aviation Challenge from about March to September. Aviation Challenge is a realistic military aviation experience. If Space Camp trains future astronauts, we train the future Mavericks and Gooses. In October I shift gears to staff recruitment and training until AC rolls back around in the spring. Before Thanksgiving I get to travel to fun places like Embry Riddle Prescott, Troy University and many points in between.

Along the recruiting trail we get to meet the future staff on their college campus or in their home towns. We spend time in hotel rooms and in cars driving down long highways in Arizona… look there is a cactus! The recruitment team has an important job to excite hopeful candidates to leave school for a semester for Huntsville, Al and Space Camp. Some candidates put off starting their careers or entering grad school. To me the choice seems like a no brainer. But it can be daunting at times.

On January 7th of this year we accepted over fifty new staff into our camp family. I have the good fortune of teaching and organizing a lot of training. Ok, I don’t teach as much as the counselor staff members that are selected as mentors, but I do get to educate the masses on the importance of a quality pencil. It is long hours and can be stressful, but along the way I get to hang out with some of the greatest people. The simple enjoyment of being a teacher can be my greatest experience during this time of year.

The mentors are the best of the best, the Top Guns of the counselor corps. They guide the new staff each day through all their activities, tests, and teach backs. I only have to worry about keeping them straight on which room to meet Kerby in for the Art of Debriefing. They only have to worry about making cookies and other snacks for their teams on test days. Joseph’s oatmeal raisin cookies are amazing and Jason’s chocolate cookies with the caramel centers are slap your co-worker good. Nothing is slap my momma good. She would shoot me.

We have learned about all the major milestones of the early space program, most all anyone ever needs to know about the space shuttle program, how to be a team leader/counselor, and all the logistics behind working at Space Camp. The new staff will be rock solid before they take their first teams. The mentors, trainers and staff have given their very best this year. I am so proud to be a part of this training team.

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Year In Review

Every news station, radio station, sports show, magazine or newspaper has a special year in review episode or issue. This will be my year in review blog. So just in case you missed the highlights of my life this year, you can catch up and relive the excitement. That is an over dramatization but I am home on New Years Eve, there is comedy in that somewhere.

2008 is a year where I visited ten states, hung out with astronauts, trained more than a hundred camp counselors, recruited counselors, watched a Yankees game, celebrated my fruit and flowers anniversary with my hubby, and much more. There were good times and bad times, but for the most it was good times. It was a great year for Aviation Challenge and learning new things. Here are my top ten moments of 2008!!!

10. Be Ready Camp Part 3:
For those who do not know what Be Ready Camp is really like, please join me next September for your training and bear with me right now. Be Ready Camp is one of my proudest accomplishments. My dream since I was a teenager is to start my own camp. I didn’t dream of creating a preparedness camp, but BRC is the closest thing I have done to achieving my dream. BRC was not my brain child and I can not take credit for its greatness, but I was there when it all started. I can take credit for nurturing something that was conceived by Rusty Russell, Director of Huntsville-Madison County EMA, guarded by James Mullins, better know as Bow Tie of GFBCI, energized by Chris Johnson of GTAC at the USSRC, and hosted at Space Camp. I learned more about leadership and managing people during BRC than any other activity I do. To make the deal even sweeter, BRC is a lot of fun!!!!

Barbeque Hill at Jack Daniels9. Trips to Lynchburg, Tennessee: Jack Daniel’s Distillery is a fascinating place to me. They produce millions of gallons of whiskey in this town with a published population of 361. It is still just as simple and real as it was many years ago. I believe that it is a company with integrity and direction, but isn’t too large to forget the people at their door step. I love visiting the hollow and love taking first time visitors. My favorite trip this year was with Tank and Divot. Coming in a close second would be when I visited with my friend Veronique. It is a fun place where I will visit often again in 2009.

8. The Stowaway: In August Chris traveled to Walt Disney World for training. He makes a trip like this each year. Former camp staff member, Kim Dickerson was working at the Polynesian. With a little encouragement from Kim, I snuck into my husband’s suit case for the trip. While he learned how to be a better consultant, I wandered around the many theme parks with my tour guide Chef Kim! I had fun and even got lost at Epcot!

7. PathroFinder: Stop scratching your head and read about Space Camp training last winter. PathroFinder is the word I used to describe a shortened training schedule where we only taught Pathfinder and AstroTrek curriculum. We trained and trained some more last spring. We worked our tails off producing a great team of counselors. We trained 107 staff as counselors between the first of January and the first week of March. Marcia Lindstrom gave us the direction to freshen up training and introduce core values and service standards. I loved working with the mentors and other staff. Most of all, I had a ton of fun. I worked long hours and kept up a demanding pace. However, all I remember is the fun I had at work training and off site making new friends.

6. Winning Space Bowl: In Feburary of 2008 I attended Parent/Child Space Camp with my nephew Rhett where my team crushed our opponents in a space trivia competition known as Space Bowl. The competition is set up very similar to the classic game show Jeopardy. Being a space geek and being heavily involved with training I knew almost every answer (I mean question). The disadvantage for my team was, we never had control of the board when my turn came around. I only answered questions with small values to them. We did well, but one parent thought he was being smart and chose a 1000 point question. I was on easy street, the answer was THERMOSTABILIZED! No other team member but me knew that it was common for food onboard the ISS. We didn’t look back. We were on a roll. I didn’t cheat or give an answer unless my team needed me to do so. It was an epic victory for me and space geeks everywhere!!!

5. The Year of the Challenge Coin: It all started with an idea a few years back that, if Aviation Challenge was a realistic military aviation experience it need a challenge coin. After the 50th Anniversary of American space exploration we received coins as a thank you. The coins where given out at the black tie event marking the opening of the Davidson Center for Space Exploration. I had a renewed motivation to create an AC challenge coin. In May of 2008, I received the first shipment of AC coins. Brennan Scott used the coins to sweet talk Blue Angel pilots for one of their coins. He made out like a bandit! The year came to a close when I received a Dixon Ticonderoga coin for Christmas. I am so proud of the coin, one of my proudest moments as an AC manager!

Snapper and me at Hoover Dam 4. Prescott and the Best Dang Sandwich Ever: In 2007, Snapper and I visited Arizona for recruiting. At that time, I had a sprained ankle and we had to travel back and forth from Phoenix. We visited Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and the Prescott Brewing Company. In 2008, Snapper and I revisited Prescott and our first stop was PBC to enjoy the best dang sandwich ever! It is a club sandwich with the twist of being on focaccia bread with chipotle sauce. It is so good. I enjoy traveling for recruitment, but my favorite trip is to Arizona with Snapper. It is more than the food and more than just the scenery. Snapper and I will eat great food, sit around talking and find really intersting places to visit. Sometimes she will let me talk politics. This year’s trip we even made our way to Las Vegas to super size the trip. We visited with Safety and Eco, but that is another story for another day!

3. Safety Made it Home: Summer of 2004 I met Joshua Whitfield or Safety as a camper at Aviation Challenge. He visited camp a few summers after our first meeting. The next summer Safety enlisted in the United States Army. He would eventually be stationed in Iraq. Many Sunday afternoons while he was in Iraq he would call to talk about camp. I could tell he loved and missed being around during the summers. The day after Easter of 2008, I received word that Safety had been injured in a gun fight in the streets of Bagdad. I was worried I wouldn’t see Safety again. During his time recovering, he called me a few times and I nominated him to be in the Space Camp Hall of Fame. He would be voted into the HOF and visit during the summer. The week of the HOF event he visited camp, relived old times and made new friendships. The three weeks he visited camp was most likely the best three weeks of the summer. Safety is currently still healing from his injuries but he is planning to work as a counselor this summer, a promise he made each time we talked while on his deployment in Iraq. I am so happy he made it home, and when I say home, I mean Aviation Challenge.

2. Yankee Stadium Trip: The last baseball game held at Yankee Stadium was September 30th, 2008. Chris and I attended the September 13th game. We drove up on Saturday after BRC graduation and back to Alabama on Monday morning. You may think this would be rushed, but it was perfect. It was a day game in which Derek Jeter tied a Lou Gehrig record, A-Rod hit a grand-slam, and we enjoyed the perfect stadium dog. It was so much fun. Spending time in New York was a great break from our routine day to day life. I still think it is sad that there will be a new Yankee Stadium next year, but I am happy that I got to enjoy a baseball game in the House that Ruth Built.

Blackberry Farms1. Weekend at Blackberry Farms: It was the greatest trip that will be remembered for the wedding that never was. A fictitious wedding was my cover story to lead Chris to Blackberry Farms just outside the Great Smokey Mountains National Park. Chris and I have given traditional anniversary gifts each year. The fourth anniversary gift is fruit or flowers. So my twist on this strange gift idea was to go to Blackberry Farms which is more than just a bed and breakfast, it is a camp for grown ups. We were able to get away from the world and enjoy nature and really good food. It was a wonderful surprise even for me, who planned it for many months!

All in all, it was a wonderful year with many wonderful memories! I am looking forward to 2009 and making more memories. Best wishes to all, Happy New Year!

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Going Commando

Stop! I am not referring to what you think I am referring to. I have started to use this term to refer to sending emails, posting blogs, or writing letters without letting others proof my work. I must admit, I like using this term in this way. Because, knowing that someone else has looked over my writing is reassuring. Just like…

Let’s begin by defining the term for those who are not familiar with this unique piece of phraseology. “Going commando” is defined by Wikipedia as the practice of not wearing underwear under one’s outer clothing. I could take this in many different directions that would lead me to the gutter. Please, this is not my intent.

Everyone has gone commando at some point in their life. Whether it is while attending a party as a Sweet Potato Queen or just in a hospital gown, you have experienced going commando. I would like you to consider the comfort in knowing you are well covered. Think of it this way, remember your mother packing extra undies when you would go off to camp… just incase. It is comforting knowing that if something would go awry you would be covered. Or your mom asking if you had on clean Fruit of the Looms before going out, just in case you were in an automobile accident.

I refer to posting a blog without editing as “going commando” because of the comfort level. If you know me, you know I can’t spell. Let’s imagine I posted a blog without editing it and Dr. Sarcone of the English Department at Delta State finds my blog and grades it. I would be horrified. So to me there is no greater fear than to be caught with a horrendous blog post, with crazy grammar or obvious spelling errors.

So, I want to introduce and thank my army of editors… three to be exact! They have helped me write and have laughed at my mistakes. But it is wonderful to have friends that can help a poor learning impaired kid like me.

Chief Editor and husband, Chris Key, he is a consultant for PricewaterhouseCoopers in their Advisory practice; he is just a computer geek, not an accountant. He has been helping with job resumes, grant proposals, letters, and blog postings since we began dating in 2001. He can decode Ruth better than any other human. However he sometimes makes me sound smarter than I truly am.

Editor and Yankee Girl, Charity Nehls Stewart, she works in HR at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center. She has been editing and inspiring me since Alumni Andi. Charity will be the first to point me in the right direction if I am uncertain of what to write about. I can not only use her as a spell check, but can bounce ideas off of her. Big thanks!

Chief speller and aquatics goddess, Wendi Scott, she works with me at Aviation Challenge. She does the majority of my OTSS (on the spot spelling) in the rail car at AC. She helps out all the poor spellers in the office. Heck, everyone needs a Wendi around their office or home. She is really good at the really long words like, floccinaucinihilipilification. Check me this is a real word and I spelled it correctly!

So I hope I didn’t shock you with the title or the new meaning for a somewhat naughty phrase. But think of your comfort level in a hospital gown and your comfort level when you are in your favorite pajamas. Now can you see where I can make this comparison? I can’t spell worth spit! Having an editor handy is better than packing extra undies.

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It’s a Wonderful Life

We all know the Frank Capra movie where George Bailey is convinced by Clarence Odbody that his life is a wonderful life. George Bailey, played by Jimmy Stewart, is the leader of his community, wise business man, and compassionate executive who saves his community from a ruthless and corrupt slumlord. But George stands for plenty more than just the good business values. He puts aside all his dreams and wishes to live a life of service. Isn’t that the meaning of life?

In Rick Warren’s book, Purpose Driven Life, the point is, “it’s not about me.” That is the sum of George Bailey’s life. It wasn’t about him, but it took Clarence to show him how valuable his life was. George had lived in a constant state of doing that he couldn’t reflect on the world around him. Maybe that is why the entire world is foggy today? No black or white, it is all just gray. We keep running in our hamster wheel and don’t ever stop to think. What is life about?

I heard a great line during the summer of 2001 while I worked at Twin Lakes. All we need in life is “bologna and love.” This means that as long as we have food in our belly the only other need in our life is love. Love moves us, shows us the way, allows us to give to others and even saves us from our darkness. For George Bailey he had bologna and love, but until Clarence pointed out the importance of his life and the affect it had on his community he felt empty. Until Clarence he was only focused on the bologna.

We should all remind the people around us how truly wonderful they are to us. We all touch the people around us. We all change the paths of others. True, some of the people in our lives can keep Bedford Falls from becoming Pottersville. But its not always about the remarkable, it is about the everyday consistence of putting the buggy back. Since I heard the phrase “put the buggy back” to describe integrity, I yell at the TV screen when I see Potter conceal Uncle Billy’s mistake. “Give the MONEY back” I yell.

This Christmas Eve, I wish the very best. I encourage you to put the buggy back everyday in every endeavor of life. I hope everyone knows love of some kind. But most of all, I hope we see that Christmas is about the most wonderful life lived centuries ago. And if we believe in His love, we don’t have to worry about bologna!

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Mobile Gift Transportation Unit

Presents in MGTUThe Mobile Gift Transportation Unit, or TU for short, is used in the transport of Christmas presents from the GAB (Gift Assembly Building) to points in Mississippi and Alabama. The MGTU is designed as a light weight, reusable unit similar to Santa’s bag. It is commonly known that Santa uses magic in his nap sack. The MGTU does not utilize magic in the transport of gifts to the proper recipients. Each gift is carefully wrapped by the OCRH (Obsessive, Compulsive Red Head) at the gift wrap station within the GAB. An identification marker is placed on each package. The MGTU will be loaded into the payload bay of the TEV (Travel/Excursion Vehicle), 4Runner class, to be deployed at pre-assigned Christmas trees near you.

Our Traditions

Chris and I have enjoyed being the road runners for many Christmases. The traditions of our home on Willow Creek Drive are different than most. Rather than wrapping our gifts and placing them under a tree, our gifts are carefully placed on a half wall that separates our living room and kitchen table. We haven’t spent a Christmas in our home. I don’t think I would change our quirky traditions, even though some would argue that we don’t have traditions.

All traditions are a set custom or practice, something that is common from one generation to the next, or something done year after year, suo Chris and I have traditions. This is our fifth year. Below are a few things we have done each year. I think some of these qualify as traditions.

Brown Paper Packages: Each year we have most of our packages wrapped in brown packing paper. I love The Sound of Music. The movie is a tradition itself. I watch it every holiday season. I remember watching at my grandmother’s house each year… I definitely think this is a tradition!

Stockings: Chris would like this tradition to use a different type of stocking. He may be disappointed, but our Christmas stockings are cute and they are ours. I remember the first year of our marriage, I reminded Chris multiple times about our Christmas stockings and he still forgot about getting stuff, got to love him.

Visiting Family: My father’s birthday is Christmas Eve. So visiting both sets of parents is a little difficult but we manage. It ends up being a zigzag across the southern states. Chris gets to hunt at my parent’s and I get to drink at his parent’s.

Traveling Down the Natchez Trace: Chris and I travel each year south from Cherokee, Al, to Winona, MS by way of the Natchez Trace Parkway. Most years I get stopped by a Park Ranger for speeding. I am trying not to make this a yearly tradition.

So I will keep the MGTU and my tradition of travel. I love the somewhat eccentric lifestyle of my husband and the way I am an oddball myself. The moral of the story is the only way to change this tradition of travel would be to have kids. Therefore, I love our traditions and non-traditions, because I don’t want a kid. Boo and George are all I want to take care of… other than my husband.

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2 and 3 of 249

In the winter of 2006 my friend Charity and I created a MySpace page for our mythical character Alumni Andi. The purpose of Alumni Andi was to drum up support for Space Camp’s 25th Anniversary. We were both alumni of Space Camp programs, we both loved the idea of getting our hands dirty around work, and we both enjoyed every moment of our project.

At the time Charity was working in scheduling and I was the manager of Aviation Challenge. We had just completed our greatest triumph with Be Ready Camp and Be Ready Day! I was struggling through my second year of marriage and she was still enjoying the life of a somewhat single chick. I can’t remember how we came up with Alumni Andi other than it was some random idea that came out of my eccentric brain. We had our purpose, our goal.

Demo 25th Anniversary Flag I remember Andi’s first words like I just wrote them, or like I just read them, a few minutes ago on MySpace. It was a very fun time. It was my first blog. Please, let me reminisce.

“What do you get when you put a red-headed step child and a planning and logistics person together (who are both alumni)? Well, with a little bit of Space Camp magic mixed with AC lake water, you get Alumni Andi. Andi is the brain child of US, the players to be named later.”

Jump forward past two classes of inductees, an injured camper in Iraq, a marriage, and reaching the 500,000th camper to today. It was a special day. I woke up thinking it would be an average Friday and the highlight would be my consultant hubby coming home from Newark. But it wasn’t that way at all. Today Andi received a nod of thanks and I remember how great it was back in the winter of ’06. It was great to work with my “appendage.” Two and Three are Andi’s flags. I don’t consider my flag as my flag. It belongs to Andi.

Yes, I did look lustfully at the flags that were shoved in Kelley and Holley’s office corner; the flags that were too damaged to give to VIPs. Yes, when I presented my favorite astronaut with his 25th anniversary flag, I was jealous. But today standing up with Andi – Charity, Mike, and Geoff, I was more honored than I could ever be.

I love my job, I love my purpose, and I love my place in this world. Being Andi taught me two things: Anyone can be influential, even a mythical character; and I love to write.

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Life Rules 1-5

Remember Vizzini’s classic blunders? This man was wise… wiser than the Man in Black gave him credit for being.

“The most famous is never get involved in a land war in Asia, but only slightly less well-known is this: never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Ha ha ha…” {Thunk}

There are rules in everything. I am a rule oriented person. I must have clearly defined rules to play Dirty Santa. Ask Marcia or my mother-in-law, I must have rules and I am very loyal to the rules and my compadres. I would take a bullet for either.

Look… We have a motto at Aviation Challenge, “To provide a realistic military aviation experience instilling pride, professionalism, and leadership in today’s youth for tomorrow’s future.” At Space Camp we have our core values, “Integrity, excellence, commitment to team, optimism, and service.” And I have my life rules!

Remember, these are not in order of importance!

  1. Never use a portable bathroom – Origin of the rule… long ago in a land far, far away… Honestly, it was the Kilmichael, Mississippi ball park when I was in fifth grade. Do we really want to relive that moment? I agree. Only once since then have I considered using a portable restroom, and that moment of weakness was at the U.S. Women’s Open at Old Waverly in West Point, Mississippi. I remember thinking they smell like a pine forest.
  2. Always drive your own vehicle – As a young child my mother was driving me 45 miles to my pediatrician, but I was cranky. She allowed our family friend to drive our Oldsmobile so my mother could hold me. My crankiness only grew more intense. I only settled down when my mom was driving. This trend continued through high school and college. Now, I am uncomfortable if someone else, even my husband, is driving my vehicle or if someone isn’t driving their own POV.
  3. Only watch one television show during a season – Television is an indulgence. I can waste more time watching television or dinking with Facebook than I can with any other task during my entire life. So why would I allow myself to watch more than one television show during a season. Currently, I am watching Heroes. I would like to also watch CSI. I spend too much of my time between episodes thinking about the plot. If I watched both shows I would waste more time during a week analyzing the what if’s or the why not’s? I loved the “Miniature Killer!”
  4. Never purchase merchandise from a store playing Christmas music in early November – Why? Is it necessary for retailers to play Christmas music in stores before Thanksgiving? Or, why does a Christmas decoration go up even before pumpkins are carved? Or, why does Santa arrive at malls before Butterball turkeys are stocked in mass quantities in supermarkets? Answer, market share! It is so frustrating that Christmas is more lucrative in the American market place than any other holiday, but we can’t call it Christmas. We are forced to celebrate a holiday. Wait, I am a self proclaimed scrooge.
  5. Always follow the Ten Commandments – This one is very self explanatory, Moses was tight with the creator! Remember the following: do not have any other gods before God; do not make idols; do not take the Lord’s name in vain; remember the Sabbath day & keep it Holy (just like Chick-fil-A does); honor your father and your mother; do not murder (like O.J. Simpson); do not commit adultery (like Bill Clinton); do not steal; do not bear false witness; and do not covet your neighbor’s house, his wife, or any thing else he owns. Simple, huh?

Consideration is underway for rule six; under no circumstances shall Ruth ever eat waffles. No final determination has been made yet on the addition of this rule. However, I hope you will find your own life rules. Live by them, embrace them, and never cheat at poker.

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Traditions and Symbols

I am now home from a long stay at my family’s farm in Mississippi where I celebrated my favorite holiday, Thanksgiving. I find great delight in the tradition of over indulging in turkey, cornbread dressing, and football. My mother prepares a traditional menu of turkey and dressing for the late afternoon meal. Then off to the couch to watch football or to a tree stand for deer hunting.

I have only spent one Thanksgiving away from the farm in my whole life. In 1994, I traveled with Aunt Wanda and Gran to visit my Aunt Phyllis in Indianapolis, Indiana. It was a wonderful trip, but wasn’t the same as being with my mom and dad around their table. Loving Thanksgiving in Mississippi so much that prior to my marriage, I negotiated a deal to be in Winona during Thanksgiving and Birmingham at Chris’ family during Christmas. I am certain I ended up with the better end of this deal!

With Thanksgiving in Winona and Christmas spent in Birmingham with the Keys, my husband and I don’t have many holiday traditions of our own. Every year I spend countless hours wrapping gifts in brown paper and tying them with string. Just like the Sound of Music song “Favorite Things” states. We also exchange Christmas stockings wherever we find ourselves on Christmas morning. But sadly, we have not decorated a Christmas tree in our home.

This will mark the fifth Christmas as a married couple and each year our home on Willow Creek Drive has been without a tree. Most years we haven’t decorated the outside of our home. Other than the brown paper packages and Christmas stockings hung by the fire/gas logs, our home is without traditional signs of Christmas. Most often I justify this as we don’t have the time to decorate a tree or we won’t be in our home on Christmas Eve, so what is the point?

I am tired of the over commercialization of Christmas. Main Street America was flooded with images of Santa Claus in the 1930’s to help sell Coca-Cola. We all know our favorite television commercial that helps motivate us to buy Hershey Kisses, Budweiser beer, Gap clothing, or McDonald’s hamburgers. Every retailer tries to get an edge on the market by decorating or playing Christmas music earlier each year.

Honestly, I am a self proclaimed scrooge! But not this year!!! I declare this year will be different. Different is definitely were I am going this Christmas.

I am not going to put up a Christmas tree! I am starting a new tradition this year. I am going to find a feed trough to decorate and place my brown packages in before Christmas. You are most likely scratching your head at this moment. You probably think I am nuts. But wasn’t the greatest gift in the world presented in a manger? Didn’t Mary and Joseph place little baby Jesus in a feed trough? I think a feed trough would be a better symbol of what Christmas truly means than an evergreen tree with lights and tinsel on it.

So tomorrow I am going to look for feeding trough to start my new Christmas tradition!

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Introduction to Graphite Free

Welcome to my blog, Graphite Free! I have thought about creating a blog for many months. But always thought it would be true vanity to post my writings online for the world. I came to the conclusion that the world wouldn’t be reading my post. I am sure there will only be three people to read my blog.

Why a blog?

Spell check is the simple answer. I love to write and I enjoy compiling information in my journal. But years from now, after my death someone will read my journal and come to the conclusion that Delta State University should take away my 1999 Bachelors of Science in Education because of my poor spelling and sentence structure. With a blog, I can have someone proof my writing.

Why Graphite Free for the title?

Everyone who knows me knows how I love to use Dixon Ticonderoga’s world famous #2 pencils. Graphite is the main component of a pencil core. This blog is most definitely free from pencil markings. My love of pencils is why I selected an image of a Dixon Ticonderoga on my journal as my profile picture.

What will I write about?

There will not be a running theme on Graphite Free, but I will write about many, many topics. I am sure I will cover two of the three subjects you can’t talk to campers about at Space Camp. The three things you absolutely positively can’t talk about are religion, politics, and sexuality. Religion and politics are my two most favorite things to talk about. So I am sure those topics will be highlighted often. I will leave sexuality for my friend Anderson to write about.

Things to remember…

I invite all to read, comment, or correct my spelling. I will cover a variety of topics and useless information. I will tell stories, rant about the political scene in American, or share jokes. This will not be one of those blogs consisting only of family anecdotes. I promise never to talk about underwear in the context of explaining how hot a summer is. If I bore you, simply stop reading.

And yes, there will be inside jokes. So read often.

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