Went to lunch with my NASA sponsor today. Before we left, she gave me a brief tour of HQ (I had to be signed in, go through security, and get a visitor's badge - wish I'd taken a picture of it), introduced me to a bunch of people I will be working with, showed me (generally; they're doing renovations) where my cubicle will be, and gave me a SWEET NASA swag-bag; it had a bunch of stuff related to the 40th anniversary of the Apollo mission. By "stuff", I mean a beautiful hardcover book, pins (the official commemorative pin and one that is a scale replica of the first footprint on the moon), a puzzle (I'm going to assemble and laminate it then put it in my cubicle), some great reading material about the history of NASA, and a really cool tin containing Moon Sycamore seeds (an astronaut on the Apollo XIV mission took a variety of seeds into space; the seeds were grown into "Moon Trees"), growing medium, and directions for growing them. All in a cool canvas bag with the 40-year logo on it! Cool free stuff is the BEST!
While I was waiting in the lobby at HQ (I got there a little early - you know me and my "hate to be late" deal), I took a better look (and more pictures) of some of the exhibits. One of them had this sculpture-looking moon on it; when I went to read the display, I saw that there was a piece of the actual moon rock retrieved on the Apollo mission on the top of it - and the display encourages people to touch it! So I petted the moon rock (I'll eventually upload a video). I actually touched real moon rock, and I haven't even officially started my fellowship yet! Imagine the awesomeness that lies ahead!
We went to a great little restaurant in Arlington; I had Cajun Seafood Kabobs (yum!) and mocha peanut butter pie for dessert. There went my diet for today, but how many times are you taken to lunch for the first time by your future "boss" (she is technically my "sponsor")?
When I got home, I found a letter from one of my student loan companies (Ford Federal) saying that they had "halted electronic debiting (of my loan payments) temporarily because we granted a deferment, forbearance, or other type of suspension of payments on your Direct Loan." I was all "why would they have done that?" (plus I needed to update my address), so I called to ask what was going on. The woman told me they had suspended my payments because I had PAID THE LOAN IN FULL - that's right, ladies and gentlemen, I have officially paid off one of my student loans!!! One down, two to go!
If I'm dreaming all of this, please be kind and don't wake me up. Because I am SO happy and loving the heck out of life right now!!!
Addendum: I started a new Cause on Facebook today. It is called Justice for Anne and Kristen; the case (and Anne) were on my heart this morning, and I just felt compelled to do it. If you are a Facebooker, please join in support of our upcoming trials - there are already 30-odd members and I just posted it this morning (people I invited to join are inviting others).
Addendum #2: I love sitting out on my patio in the evening, drinking a glass of wine and enjoying the dichotomy of the sounds of DC at night. Crickets chirping and tree frogs vocalizing interspersed with the sounds of the city - traffic on the freeway, people walking the neighborhood. It's really quite magical! The one thing I really miss is my beloved fireflies - I haven't seen one since I moved here.
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