Funky hair, Cancelation of Constellation and Nail polish…the weekly politics of the Renshaw Household.

(I had to post this one becuase of Erin's frowny face).

Well mom’s last comment on the phone was we better take a family snapshot with my brother and his wife or she was going to flog me. We’re not much of picture people but here it is. Granted Ike is missing (he was sleeping) though I don’t think this is probably one that will be hung above the mantle.

Max and Jodi ported out of Galveston last week for a five-day cruise to Cozumel. They were married in September and took a belated honeymoon and had a wonderful time. After a horrible northern winter, a 36 hours drive to get here due to a snowstorm, and two tickets they were ready to ship off.

Jodi and Max both decided to get their hair braided on the beach at Cozumel, Jodi looked so cute, Max on the other hand, well I’m just glad he made it home without getting beat up. It was great to see them again.

Last week was a tough week with the announcement of the federal budget. Being under democratic leadership we expected Project Constellation (Its the manned space flight program to replace the aging shuttles) would take a hit, but no one thought they would cancel it. Constellation is the program that will, or now I should say was to, replace the shuttle come September. The Space Shuttles are approaching 30 years old, pretty impressive that they operate as well as they do for their age. There are a lot of questions in the space community of what the coming months will bring. Constellation is already a functioning program, 12BILLION dollar have been poured into its development and will cost millions to shut it down.

With that announcement, this area could lose upwards of 5,000 jobs (just in the space industry). Jared works for United Space Alliance and there is a possibility they could close their doors. We can’t imagine the economic ripple that will send though this community. We are expecting the housing market to become flooded and our area to take a hard hit. I am still trying to figure out how cutting thousands of technical, well-paying jobs helps stimulate the economy.

In the conference there we lots of buzz words of “new architecture”, “innovation”, and “new avenues”. And NASA is actually getting an increase in their budget. But the concern is not a possible change in direction, its there is no plan, no common goal, no big picture. No idea what will be funded and where the research will go or if it will coordinate with other areas of research. And it raises the question if starting over will cost any less.

NASA is seen as lethargic and methodical money eating monster and it raises the question if private industry could do it faster and cheaper. Probably, but as Jared says there are three areas to space flight….1.price, 2. time, 3. safety…..Pick two.

However time will tell and this to shall pass. So if you are in the market for a rocket scientist, this may be the time to pick one up.

And to finish up our week Eliza decided to paint her nails. We keep the nail polish up high. I walked into the bathroom to find a wooden desk chain stacked on top of a laundry basket with three pillows on top of the chair and a child covered in hot pink polish…it was one of those days that mom needed a nice…long….run.