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  1. Crash-A-Rama!!

    July 5, 2010 by Kelly

    How in the world have I lived in Florida my ENTIRE life and not seen this event. It happens twice a year – in Summer (normally June from what I heard) and the day after Thanksgiving.

    They call Crash-A-Rama ‘The Redneck Rodeo’ for a reason… as many different types of rednecks out there that you can imagine.

    It costs $20 to get into the awesome Orlando Speedway to see this event and let me say, through the rain (which I’ll get to in a bit) this place seemed like it was sold out. Soooo many people!

    The races start around 7:30PM but we got there to tailgate  around 4:30PM (yep, we were ready to start the action!) We had a couple of beers while waiting for the gate to open so we could buy tickets. The line was HUGE!!! I couldn’t believe how many people where there to literally see cars and busses crash! Amazing.

    We got in, got some food (mmmm BBQ!) and grabbed out seats (thanks Jacobus for picking out awesome seats!) All of a sudden this bus is out doing figure eights and we see people in the bus. THEN they announced that we could get in line to ride the bus. Why yes I would like to ride a bus painted black with weird writing all over it. (See the video for the exciting bus tour!)

    This whole thing was so exciting! There were crashes, rednecks (don’t worry, I’m not being mean. It’s called a “redneck rodeo” and trust me, the four of us were getting called out for NOT being rednecks.), fire, explosions, an old cop car going around the track, a truck painted with the word “NObama” on it. Everything.

    We made it until about 9:00 when the sky opened up and the rain started. They kept the races going.. until the lightening came out. We waited in the car for a bit and then once we saw the fireworks going off, we headed back out and sat some more. The rain got harder and it seemed as though it was never going to end. So we didn’t get to see the bus races or the trailer races, but that just means something to look forward to next time.

    Apparently there is an even bigger event held the day after Thanksgiving and I know 4 people that will be there for sure! I can not WAIT for November!!

    We have a mental list of what to bring next time. We brought beer, but we were under packed – need a tent for shade, a grill, more beer, ice, food, ponchos, bigger umbrellas, and apparently in November we’ll need blankets.

    I’ve got my bag packed, and now I bet you do too!


  2. Splashing The Day Away

    June 24, 2010 by Kelly

    SeaWorld did it again.

    They invited Twitter people to take part in a #splashup at their water park – Aquatica.

    Everyone that RSVP’d got the royal treatment. Before we even walked into Orlando’s newest water park, we were given an awesome pen, the coolest mister ever and sunscreen.

    My favorite thing that I was handed… THIS! (It truly doesn’t take much to make me happy..)

    It’s a 2gig USB drive that included facts on some of SeaWorld’s new projects, such as the After 2PM pass. What the pass is: you pay for a day in the park and for 2, yes TWO, dollars more you can upgrade your ticket is you can get in every day for the rest of the year after 2PM. No blackout dates and all the fun that you want. Less than $50 can get you 6 months of water play! YES PLEASE!

    Aquatica has over 30 slides and the ones that I was able to do were amazing! We put our stuff down and headed straight for Omaka Rocka, the newest ride. I don’t think I’ve ever been on a ride where there is water pouring DOWN on me. I was turned and tossed on my float and passed from wall to wall. It was sooo crazy! I loved it. It was probably my favorite ride of the ones we were able to do.

    Next was Dolphin Plunge. Where you, the rider, go flying THROUGH the Commerson’s dolphin play area. It was fun and it’s cool to watch others go through the tube and see the Commerson’s dolphins playing.

    We then took on the lazy river and the NOT-so lazy river. The not-so lazy river is called Roa’s Rapids. It is about 4 times faster than a normal lazy river. It was quite a good work out and you have to be ready to yell “SORRY!” as you fly by someone after running into them. Oops!

    I’m pretty we may have had the MOST fun in Walkabout Waters. I’m also pretty sure it’s for kids. But heck, we dumped water on people (don’t worry, no one was hurt.. everyone is there for the same reason!), rode a slide, climbed some rope contraption thing, got pushed around by kids and had LOTS of water dumped on us.

    There are a couple of slides I still want to take on. Maybe next time.

    Oh and SeaWorld treated us to their Banana Beach Cook-Out, which is an all you can eat special at the water park. And a couple of animals. Yay! Thanks SeaWorld!!

    PS – Shamu, if you’re reading this.. I’d really like an updated shirt since mine is vintage now…seriously. Honestly vintage. “I Follow @RealShamu” being on my shirt totally dates me to over a year ago.


  3. Mission: Accomplished

    May 16, 2010 by Kelly

    It’s Sunday, May 16, which means Atlantis embarked on it’s ‘last’ flight two days ago. I was there to share the experience with 149 other Twitter users that had the amazing opportunity to be there first hand to witness such an awesome thing.

    However, we weren’t just there for the launch. We got a VIP tour of the entire NASA complex.. as they said, everything they could have shown us, they did.

    Also, any guest speakers they could brought in to talk to us, they did. Seriously.. a Close Out Crew member! One that had JUST help get the astronauts of Atlantis get situated and ready for flight. We watched him be apart of the crew on NASA tv and then about an hour later, he was in our tent telling us all about it: his final words to the astronauts before closing the hatch (“God Speed.”) and that it’s not always fun, as he was part of the crew that get Columbia ready for flight.. right before that horrible launch.

    We got to spend a lot of time hanging around the countdown clock and Launch Pad. (I’m sorry for whatever you were doing on Thursday and Friday!)

    Thursday’s speakers:

    Bobby Braun – NASA Chief Technologist
    Janice Voss – Astronaut
    Stephanie Stilson – Orbiter Processing Director
    Jon Cowart, NASA engineer
    Ron Woods – NASA spacesuit designer

    Thursday included a full VIP tour, with the added bonus of going to Launch Pad 39-A. Being there while the RSS – Rotating Service Structure – pulled away from Atlantis. What a freaking experience. Amazing!

    Friday’s speakers:

    Lori Garver, NASA Deputy Administrator
    Lt. Col. Patrick Barrett, Weather Officer
    Dave Wolf, Astronaut
    Chris Meinert, Closeout crew (for STS-132, how crazy!!)
    Madi Sengupta, Robotics Instructor (for STS-132..see totally mind blowing)
    Bobby Braun, Chief Technologist, came back for more questions

    The speakers came randomly throughout the day. Then everyone went out by the road to wave the Atlantis STS-132 crew off!! What a great experience!

    Once 2:10 came around we all went out to get our spots for the launch.. what an amazing view we ALL had. Felt the Earth shake. Got yelled at by a gator (honestly, it was SUPER loud and scary.)

    I have posted the rest of the pictures on flickr, so go and enjoy them! See NASA up close!

    Day one pictures Day two pictures


  4. Mission: Still in Progress

    May 14, 2010 by Kelly

    Currently listening to Lori Garver, Deputy Administrator, talk about her job and the her two loves, Space and Politics. Gave us the information that David Letterman is here on property for the launch – he’s not Conan, but thankfully he’s not Leno as well!

    Before Garver came in to speak for a few minutes, we took our group photo out by the countdown clock! :)

    STS-132 Launch Tweetup (201005140001HQ)

    Here’s the photo next to the launch pad 39-A last night: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nasahqphoto/4605256176/sizes/l/

    I was there… see! :)

    Today doesn’t have quite the same structure on speakers today.. we just got the chance to wave the astronauts off in the Astrovan. We are some of the last people that they will see! How crazy is that. My mind has been blown.

    Chief Meteorologist Lt. Col. Patrick Barrett is telling us about why the shuttle may NOT go off: low clouds, lightening, etc. Atlantis needs to be able to return to the pad if need be and the weather has to be clear.

    I can’t wait to get some of my pictures up today and tomorrow. There is over 14 gigs of pictures and videos to go through, so bear with me. I want to get them up soon so I can share them.

    Here is a photo for the RSS pulling away from Atlantis yesterday to hold you and me over.


  5. Mission: NASATweetup

    May 13, 2010 by Kelly

    I’m sitting in the NASATweetup tent as I type this. Everyone is all like up in my business (shout out to Brian Feldman) – no actually, everyone in the tent is giddy and ready to hear what the speakers have to say.

    Agendas have been passed out. NASA camera crews are getting set up and starting to live stream.

    There are cameras in everyone’s hands and Twitter may just implode with all of the #nasatweetup tweeting. Seriously.

    Jeff and I may have gotten a bit lost coming out to the Press site. Passed the VAB. I’m not making any promises, but I’m pretty sure the Astrovan may or may not have passed us a couple of times. We went down the wrong road a few times and BAM! There it was. I think. It was a fancy windstream bus.

    Right now, we are listening/watching a NASA video, waiting on the important people to show. Wait, there they are. Handshakes are happening at the day. That means they are important, right?

    Well, it’s about time to get started, I’m going to be taking pictures and trying to update here and Twitter for the next couple of days.

    Yay!!

    Tweets:
    10:30 AM – Robert Braun (NASA headquarters chief technologist) tells us why he’s here today. #nasatweetup http://twitpic.com/1nfkac

    11:10 AM – Astronaut Janet Voss talking about L -1 Day, family day. And also receiving ‘email’ on a mission. #nasatweetup http://twitpic.com/1nfqdd

    11:30 AM – Stephanie Stilson explaining a ‘Flow’ Director’s job.. flow = getting shuttle from landing back to flying. #nasatw http://twitpic.com/1nfvx3

    11:50 AM – Showing that science isn’t magic – Jon Cowart (@Rocky_Sci) and @JenVargas #nasatweetup http://twitpic.com/1ng120