The dreaded office move out

Alright y'all! I did it! I finished going through stuff at UNO and packing up my office. I did end up leaving a lot of books, CDs, lots of scores, and a TON of sheet music. I tried to keep what was extra meaningful and/or useful to me. Still, I ended up keeping a ton of stuff. I can't imagine myself leaving it all behind. Things such as scores signed by Robert Shaw, works I have sung at various points in my life that have made an impact on me, music my professors wrote, pieces that are my favorites, and music from Bulgarian conductors and workshops. As for the books I'm leaving behind, most of them are ones I have not used and don't feel I'll ever use, even if they hold some sentimental value. I tried, I REALLY tried to leave more behind, but for now this was all I could do. 
I got half of the boxes into my apartment yesterday, but I stopped because my parking spot was a block away and the rest of the boxes are HEAVY! 

                

The smiley balloon is an old one, but wow, it lasted 10 yrs! One of my dearest friends in the world, Sara, sent it to me when I moved to New Orleans. We had worked together at USC and she was proud of me for getting the job. It's been smiling at me every morning :-) One side is extremely faded from the sun, but the side facing this way is still somewhat yellow.

The snowball below was my reward for finishing my office, LOL :-) The flavor is red velvet!
                    
So, how do I feel now that I've cleaned out most of my office? 
I feel FANTASTIC! It feels lighter and is one step closer to my new life as a seminarian. I am slightly worried about whether or not I should take ALL of the books with me, but I have a couple of months to figure that out...
One thing that cleaning out the office did for me is make me think examine my books and want to to-re-read a few. Maybe I'll have some opportunities coming up when I am in recovery from surgery in mid-June so that will be nice!
Something else that occurred to me at UNO when cleaning out the office was the excitement that I felt when I first moved there ten years ago and the fresh, fun feelings that come with decorating a new space. I feel that way about my new tiny apartment. It's also a new chance to be clutter free and I'm hoping to abide by that - at least when it's not exam and paper-writing time and when stuff will NEED to be all over the place!

An afternoon walk

Yesterday afternoon, I went for a walk around the University of New Orleans campus. It was SUCH a gorgeous day, albeit too warm (85 and felt like 89) for this time of year. I needed to clear my head a bit. I have a super giant trip coming up after Easter and while I'm very excited about it, I'm also a bit nervous. It's to a place where Americans aren't welcomed often and in this time of "Trump talk", volatile angers, and pent up frustrations from some Americans manifesting themselves in negative ways, it's even more nerve-wracking to know I'm going to stick out even more than usual. I've become extremely strong though so I should hopefully be fine. Life is SO SHORT. I wish humans were better to each other in general.

                   

Between now and that trip, I have two festivals, three more days of classes, and a whole joyful mess of solemn Holy Week services. I LOVE Holy Week, but having classes makes it so much harder. I miss the times when we had spring break at the university so I could devote my whole self to the services and to a different sense of being. Even more, I cannot wait until I devote myself fully to liturgical endeavors. I need to prep for my trip too, get some lectures down, put together some music to take with me to give away, and ponder life in general.

Anyway, in spite of the hellish pollen that's coating every particle of every particle, it was a nice calming walk and beautiful too. I need to schedule more time to do that. I would also like to get out to the lakefront more often and to my favorite haunts in City Park!!!

                

The UNO campus was virtually destroyed in hurricane Katrina and hadn't really been too lush before that, but it's grown in the ten years I've been here into a very pretty space with pockets of flowery beauty, trees, and even some of those lush areas! Currently, they are re-doing the lily pond and I'm hoping the ducks will like the finished product and stick around!

NOLA Fog, February 1, 2016

Some lovely fog this morning on Frenchmen Street. 
I tried to catch some, but I MIST....
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
#OldestJokeEver #StillHilarious  :-)
I walked across the street to Washington Square and snapped a few photos. Then, on my drive to UNO, I decided to go a few more blocks up to Lake Pontchartrain and back through the main entrance of campus. They're just iPhone photos (and copied from my own FB post so LOW quality), but enjoy!

NASA Social #StateOfNASA at John C. Stennis Space Center

I was VERY fortunate to be selected to attend the NASA Social event for the #StateOfNASA address given on Monday, February 2, 2015! 

Here is a bit more about the event. I chose the John C. Stennis Space Center because it's close to me than any other AND I have been remiss in not visiting it these past years I've lived in New Orleans! It was about time! 

"If it goes to space, it goes through Mississippi!"
"If it has engines, it goes through Mississippi"
~ Charles F. Bolden, Administrator of NASA

Here's an article The University of New Orleans put out and I am SO excited and happy that they didn't alter my quotes. I truly feel this way about STEM / STEAM education and space exploration!

The day was AMAZING! I got to meet the movers and shakers at the John C. Stennis Space Center, have behind-the-scenes tours, ask questions about the programs and work done there, watch a live broadcast of the national #StateOfNASA address with other media, and be one of the voices of Stennis during this day. It was such an incredible honor and I absolutely LOVE and admire the important work being done there. There were only three of us so I truly felt like I had a significant voice that day! We also got to go out to the engine testing stands - the GIGANTIC B-stand and both A stands. The Stennis Center, grounds, fee area, and buffer zones are absolutely massive. NOAA offices, various research buildings, and universities also share the grounds. 

After that, we spend some time inside the Aerojet Rocketdyne building and got to see engines being put together in various stages. 

There was even a room where 1.6 billion dollars worth of finished engines were being stored under giant white tarps (being pumped with dry air). SO COOL!!! I am planning to take a group of UNO Physics students up to visit Stennis! I'm including the link to my twitter transcript for that day in this blog post because it's too long to paste the text, shared articles, and photos! Here's the LINK Do check it out if you have time!

I was tweeting under myself @Conductor222 and The Solar System @The_SolarSystem 

Though it's rather lengthy, I'm thrilled that I was able to get so much information out about what I was experiencing, what we learned about Stennis' role, and fun times during the day. I was able to do it with two twitter accounts. Most of my Solar System followers are scientists, photographers, educators, big space fans, folks who work on NASA missions, some NASA missions themselves, and even accounts such as ESA's Rosetta and the CSA. I'm pretty proud of the fact that the account has a solid science, space, and STEM reach. I also learned a TON by preparing a few info. tweets beforehand from articles I had read about the work that has been done at Stennis!

I hope you enjoy reading about it!

https://twitter.com/search?f=realtime&q=%23StateOfNASA%20OR%20%23NASASocial%20OR%20%23NASAStennis%20OR%20%23Stennis%20from%3AThe_SolarSystem%20OR%20from%3AConductor222%20since%3A2015-02-02%20until%3A2015-02-03&src=typd

Innsbruck

Innsbruck, Austria - a gorgeous city surrounded by snow-capped Alps, the capital of the state of Tyrol, a superb cultural center! The Inn river flowing throughout the center of the city provides the most awesome breezes and scenes in addition to relaxing settings. I LOVE IT!


Innsbruck was inhabited by the time of the early Stone Age and populated continuously since pre-Roman times. It's on the earliest and easiest route through the Alps which today is known as the Brenner Pass. It's pretty safe to assume that the Brenner Pass is one of the most breathtaking scenic train rides on our planet! In fact, I'd venture to say that it's pretty dang hard to take a bad picture here. You'd have to really work at it! :-)

Emperor Maximilian the 1st lived in Innsbruck in the end of the1400's. I'm not a history buff, AT ALL, but I like that because he surrounded himself with scholars and artists and therefore the city has become a lasting cultural center filled with art, architecture, and musical tradition! There is an Alten musick (early music) series, a Promenadenkonzerte (main palace square and promenade concert) series, a Tanzsommer festival, an organ master concert series, several festivals (including a New Orleans Festival that begins tonight!) and so much more! Schloss Ambras (castle Ambras) was built by Ferdinand II the archduke of Austria and that is where the early music series is held.

To the right is the beautiful and somewhat curious Goldenes Dachl (Golden Roof). Built in 1500 by Maximilian I, it's decorated with 2657 fire-gilded copper-plated tiles. Now, it's a landmark where people get married!


Aside from the historical notes, a cool thing about Innsbruck is the lovely Inn river itself! The color is unusual and I have not seen any rivers or lakes this color except for here (see below).

What I've learned is that the color is due to glacial flouring (or rock flouring). That is when fine, fiiiiiiiiiiine particles of rocks are coming from glacial erosion and the grinding of bedrock. These particulates get into the water and end up being suspended, unable to settle into sedimentary layers right away. Sometimes, the water appears cloudy (glacial milk) and sometimes it's very clear, but turquoise, blue-green, or light green! ROCKS ARE COOL!  Another interesting tidbit our tour guide mentioned (few weeks ago) is that there are different flowers on either bank of the Inn river due to the northern and southern Alps differing in material. To the north, they are composed of limestone and to the south, they are mostly granite based.

Here is a link to my Facebook album of Innsbruck pictures - so far!
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10100341925929517.1073741827.2613080&type=1&l=e1f0b32cfe

I am teaching for the UNO - University of New Orleans Innsbruck Program, a stellar program in its 39th year with tons of class offerings, students from several universities, and a reputation for excellence! We partner with UGA in the program and faculty are from both UNO, UGA, and can be from other universities as well! It is one of our several fantastic opportunities for students and faculty to explore the world!