OM's Tips on How To Survive a JSC Open House

....Seeing as how I'm going to the JSC Open House in a few days, I
probably should repost my revised guide on how to survive an OH,
especially one in Houstopolis: From my own 'blog at
http://www.io.com/~o_m/omworld

---------------------------------

* First, grab these three documents from JSC's website. I've linked to
them here just because I'm a nice guy:

Official JSCOH Propaganda Flyer (3.54 MB PDF)
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/johnson/..._OH5flyer1.pdf

Exhibits & Events List (1.14 MB PDF)
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/johnson/...H_exhibits.pdf

Official JSC Visitors' Brochure (2.92mb PDF)
http://visitors.jsc.nasa.gov/business/visitors.PDF

Also, if you're needing directions once you get to Houstopolis, I
suggest also checking out these two links:

Directions to JSC
http://visitors.jsc.nasa.gov/maps/jscmap.htm

Clear Lake Area Map
http://visitors.jsc.nasa.gov/maps/clmap.htm

* Plan your visit out in advance. Figure out which exhibits to visit
first, then figure out the shortest path from one exhibit to the next.
Then toss all that out and figure out how to get from one exhibit to
the next by going from building to building and staying in the shade
and/or the AC. Trust me, the little extra walking is much better than
winding up with heat stroke like the three or four old bluehaired
ladies from up north who *thought* they were tough enough to withstand
Texas heat & humidity just because they have no problems with
snowstorms and blizzards. Trust me, kids, they're two different
hurdles altogether.

* Get there at least an hour early. Why? Because parking goes *FAST*
at this event, and believe me if/when it gets hot/humid/both, you'll
want that car nearby when you're ready to leave. Especially if you're
from a part of the country that doesn't understand just how crippling
Houstopolis humidity can be when the temperatures are hotter than 90°
and there aren't any clouds.

* Leave *all* big carry bags at home. Security is tighter than ever,
and the more bags the guards have to search, the longer the lines are
going to be, and the less you'll get to see.

* A note on videotape cameras: If it's cloudy, rainy, muggy and the
humidity is above 100% - this is Houstopolis, supersaturated air is
not only physics-defying possible, it's probable, kids - then make
sure you wait until your tape cameras have achieved room temperature
*before* you try running them. Especially if it's a Sony TR-series.
They're way too sensitive to high humidity, and they won't operate
until they dry out and/or warm up a little. Most of the time people
keep their cameras in the hotel rooms, and they always crank the AC up
high because they *can*, and those cameras get cold and *stay* that
way because they're usually inside of protective, insulated cases.

* One surefire way of getting a humidified camera dried out in no time
is this one exhibit over at Space Center Disney. This is over in the
kiddie section, and is this ducted fan that keeps a beach ball
suspended in the air. Ignore the brats, open the camera tape caddy up,
and set it on the fan duct. The camera should achieve room temperature
in about 3 minutes, and will be dry in about another two. Your dryness
may vary.

* Take plenty of media and batteries with you. At least three one-hour
taps at a bare minimum, and enough batteries to last you at least
twice that many hours because like most people you're not going to
shut the camera off in between shots to conserve battery power. If
you're taking a digital 35mm camera, take enough CF cards - or
whatever your camera uses - to take at least 500 pictures at high JPG
quality, and enough batteries to support this. You *will* be using
flash quite a bit, so keep that in mind and make sure your batteries
are charged before you get there.

* One advanced tip I'll relate to you digital camera buffs: If you
don't have 10 or 15 CF cards to take with you, grab an old notebook
with a CF adapter in the PCMCIA port, and use that to dump the discs
once you've filled about half of them up. If you've got kids, let them
carry the damn thing, and impress upon them they're being charged with
an important historical mission. They'll immediately treat the
notebook like it was the most important thing this side of their teddy
bear, and you won't have to worry much about their dropping it. I also
recommend just in case that this be an *old* notebook with a 12GB HD
or thereabouts, something that's no big loss if something goes wrong.
You're just using it for storage, nothing else.

Of course, I have *two* of these, so maybe I'm a bit more confident
with this than you are...

* Don't forget your battery charger! Forgetting the charger is like
forgetting to turn the car engine off. Rest assured you will need at
least one charge during the day. I suggest doing this either during
lunch, or if you catch one of the lectures and can find a seat near
enough to an electrical outlet to plug into without some dip****
tripping over it in the dark. IIRC, there's only two in the big press
hall where John Young used to give all those great "down home Texan"
lectures, and neither are near the front row where you want to be for
these things.

* If you want/need to each lunch, but don't want to lose your great
parking space - that is, if you followed my second piece of advice,
you git - then I recommend eating at the JSC Cafeteria. The food's
about as good as you'd expect from a government site cafeteria - read:
edible, but somewhat bland at times - but it's head and shoulders
above the NewMcWormburger excuse for fast food they sell at Space
Center Disney. And besides, you get to eat off the same NASA Logo
cafeteria trays that have been in use since the cafeteria was built in
the 60's. Which means you could be using the same tray that one of the
Astronauts used at one time. No. Really. In fact, the breakfast is
better than the lunch, so consider eating early.

* One word of warning: Don't try to hork any of those trays. JSC
security *will* bust your ass and take you down to the Webster County
Jail. We saw this happen at the '00 JSCOH, and those two kids didn't
look too happy about it...

* Don't be greedy with the freebies! There's usually freebies at each
exhibit, ranging from crude foam Shuttle models to erasers to posters
to propaganda to these nice water bottles that Lockmart provided one
year that I still have one on the shelf. However, they're *not* in
great quantity, so if you have to have one, take only *one*, please.
Let's make sure the kids who we *want* to buy into The Dream have
access to all the gimmes and doo-dads that will help inspire them to
support NASA and Manned Space, if not actually work for the
advancement of said.

* Don't hog the Astronaut signing the autographs! There'll be at least
one scheduled throughout

* Don't miss seeing Al Bean's A12 Corvette! This is probably one of
the best preserved '69 Corvettes on the face of the Earth, and worth
seeing and meeting the guy who owns and maintains it. It's the only
one of the three known to still exist, and really is a must-see.

Note: Once you see this beauty, check out the A12 episode of From The
Earth To The Moon, and you'll see where they goofed on duplicating
this 'Vette.

* Do not ask for samples from any of the exhibits! They won't tell
you, but those manning the exhibit booths get annoyed after the
10,000th geek asking if they can have a piece of Shuttle Tile, or a
slice of that vacuformed balsa compound they use for prototyping. If
it's offered, fine, but don't count on it.

* How to make an exhibitor feel great: When/If they ask you why you're
wasting your time on his/her exhibit rather than crawling through the
mockups over in Building 9, make it clear that you're more interested
in what they've got to say, especially because what they do is just as
important as all those big inflatable playtoys. It also helps if you
*mean* this, but rest assured they'll appreciate the fact that they're
appreciated.

* Feel free to kick any NASA PAO goon in the privates and tell them
that 'Daffy' and 'Marvin' were better names than 'Spirit' and/or
'Opportunity'! No, don't do that, really. But it's the thought that
counts, natch.

* One other suggestion: if you've got the time, drive down to
Galveston and check out the Lone Star Flight Museum. They'll be
hosting the 15th Annual Ron Carter Spirit of Flight Airshow that same
weekend, and in addition to seeing up close some of the finest
military aircraft ever flown, you'll also get the opportunity to meet
Paul Tibbits. Yes, that's right, the commander of Enola Gay. My time
schedule may not permit me to make it down there, but don't let that
stop *you*, eh?

OM

--

"No ******* ever won a war by dying for | http://www.io.com/~o_m
his country. He won it by making the other | Sergeant-At-Arms
poor dumb ******* die for his country." | Human O-Ring Society

- General George S. Patton, Jr

On Wed, 20 Apr 2005 05:39:41 -0500, OM
om@our_blessed_lady_mary_of_the_holy_NASA_researc h_facility.org
wrote:

...Seeing as how I'm going to the JSC Open House in a few days, I
probably should repost my revised guide on how to survive an OH,
especially one in Houstopolis: From my own 'blog at
http://www.io.com/~o_m/omworld

....Frap! Kids, does anyone have a link to the building layout of JSC?
I can't find any of my '01 maps, and I also can't find any online
since the great reorg of all the NASA websites.

Thanks!

OM

--

"No ******* ever won a war by dying for | http://www.io.com/~o_m
his country. He won it by making the other | Sergeant-At-Arms
poor dumb ******* die for his country." | Human O-Ring Society

- General George S. Patton, Jr

OM wrote:
On Wed, 20 Apr 2005 05:39:41 -0500, OM
om@our_blessed_lady_mary_of_the_holy_NASA_researc h_facility.org
wrote:


...Seeing as how I'm going to the JSC Open House in a few days, I
probably should repost my revised guide on how to survive an OH,
especially one in Houstopolis: From my own 'blog at
http://www.io.com/~o_m/omworld


...Frap! Kids, does anyone have a link to the building layout of JSC?
I can't find any of my '01 maps, and I also can't find any online
since the great reorg of all the NASA websites.

Thanks!

OM


OM, googling "JSC building map" came up with:

http://www.draper.com/contact/direct...sc_parking.pdf

which shows both parking and building numbers. Hope that helps.

--
Reed Snellenberger
GPG KeyID: 5A978843
rsnellenberger-at-houston.rr.com

OM. I've saved this as a text file and will certainly download the PDF's
for later reading. I've been to Space Center Disney at KSC and JSC, but
never been to an Open House.

Thanks,
Jeff
--
Remove icky phrase from email address to get a valid address.

On Wed, 20 Apr 2005 12:52:30 GMT, Reed Snellenberger
wrote:

OM, googling "JSC building map" came up with:

http://www.draper.com/contact/direct...sc_parking.pdf

which shows both parking and building numbers. Hope that helps.

....When I revised the guide, that link didn't work. Now it just brings
up a blank page. Anyone else having problems reading this PDF?

OM

--

"No ******* ever won a war by dying for | http://www.io.com/~o_m
his country. He won it by making the other | Sergeant-At-Arms
poor dumb ******* die for his country." | Human O-Ring Society

- General George S. Patton, Jr

On Wed, 20 Apr 2005 08:11:45 -0500, OM wrote
(in article ):

On Wed, 20 Apr 2005 12:52:30 GMT, Reed Snellenberger
wrote:

OM, googling "JSC building map" came up with:

http://www.draper.com/contact/direct...sc_parking.pdf

which shows both parking and building numbers. Hope that helps.

...When I revised the guide, that link didn't work. Now it just brings
up a blank page. Anyone else having problems reading this PDF?

OM


It works for me. Check your version of Acrobat Reader.

--
Herb Schaltegger, GPG Key ID: BBF6FC1C
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." - Benjamin Franklin, 1759
http://www.individual-i.com/

On Wed, 20 Apr 2005 08:11:45 -0500, OM wrote:

On Wed, 20 Apr 2005 12:52:30 GMT, Reed Snellenberger

OM, googling "JSC building map" came up with:

http://www.draper.com/contact/direct...sc_parking.pdf

...When I revised the guide, that link didn't work. Now it just brings up
a blank page. Anyone else having problems reading this PDF?

Your pdf-fu is insufficient
Here is a .png...

http://www.nekomimi.us/scratchingpost/jsc_parking.png

OM

--
Chuck Stewart
"Anime-style catgirls: Threat? Menace? Or just studying algebra?"

OM wrote:

...When I revised the guide, that link didn't work. Now it just brings
up a blank page. Anyone else having problems reading this PDF?



Came up fine for me...of course my computer isn't being monitored by
Homeland Security, the way that some other people who would give away
the location of secret government rocket installations is no doubt being
monitored. :-)

Pat

On Wed, 20 Apr 2005 12:32:07 -0500, Pat Flannery wrote
(in article ):



OM wrote:

...When I revised the guide, that link didn't work. Now it just brings
up a blank page. Anyone else having problems reading this PDF?



Came up fine for me...of course my computer isn't being monitored by
Homeland Security, the way that some other people who would give away
the location of secret government rocket installations is no doubt being
monitored. :-)

Pat

No, Pat, yours is being monitoried by OTHER governmental people for
OTHER reasons. Remember, it's not paranoia if they really are out to
get you . . . ;-)

--
Herb Schaltegger, GPG Key ID: BBF6FC1C
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." - Benjamin Franklin, 1759
http://www.individual-i.com/

OM wrote:
It's the only one of the three known to still exist,
and really is a must-see.

I *think* I know what you meant, Bob, but I wouldn't call this
"camera-ready copy" if you plan on more formal publication....

There are 3 known to exist, and 1/3 of that population will be at the
open house...is that right?

And as a trivia bonus, how many NASA employees had the same model, but
forgot to preserve them?

/dps