I don't want to wait
For our lives to be over
I want to know right now
What will it be
I don't want to wait
For our lives to be over
Will it be yes or will it be
Sorry~~~Paula Cole; I Don't Want To Wait
Codex~~~Lip-service
Codex---Christa McDonald; James Sheldon(NLS)
Monday 30 May 2011, had a very nice weather-day. It was sunny and very very warm; an excellent way to observe Kenmore, New York's annual MEMORIAL DAY PARADE. All the 'regulars' were there; both in terms of units participating, as well as the observers watching!! After the Parade, many of the Kenwood Road residence migrated over to the Kaczynskis for an afternoon cook-out. Along the way, I found myself a new---right-hand-man. I needed the garage cleaned out in a bad way; I mean bad. When we were done with our 'fill', with Nicholas 'up' to doing it, I decided to take advantage of the enthusiasm and together, we both migrated to our garage, and started the task. He, for the most part, did the dirty work, while I provided direction. Where I could, while still scooter-bound, I tried to help. He, all-in-all, did a very good job and i think he was appreciative of the compensation arrangement. Here is the one thing that was 'blowing' my mind about the inside of the garage---aside from the fact that since I am scooter bound and therefore there exists a huge void in the ability to get things done around our household---while it hasn't been really cleaned in two years, I have no idea how the back of the INSIDE of the garage had, by osmosis---become lined with a dirt, mulch, laced-with-bones accumulation. This ran across the whole backside of the inside of the garage, and part of the west-side of the garage. I mean, I did not want to push a 'hot' button issue, but if this was Andrew's attempt at composting---sorry---not INSIDE my garage.
Tuesday 31 May 2011, was another beautiful day weather-wise; sunny, and warm but not as imposing a sun, as on Monday. I tackled some errands early-on and found myself, with camera-in-hand, watching some trains, both freight-trains, and the AMTRAK Maple Leaf Ltd. going by at one of my favorite observation locations. Of course, I was able to secure a couple of pictures along the way. In the evening, spent some time paying respects at the wake of a long-time friend of my mother-in-law. His name is Reginald Keroack and he had, over the last 11 years become a fixture; a part-and-parcel of the family fabric. In the process, we all became more aware of each other's extended families. As wakes usually become, this one was no exception; a family reunion unfolded. And this was good because it would help make Wednesday an easier day to accept.
Wednesday 1 June 2011, was the Funeral Mass, and interment services, for Reggie. He had become a recent convert to Catholicism. The interment service was conducted with a flag-draped coffin, a military honor-guard, and had TAPS played. It was sunny; 77 degrees, and there was a refreshing breeze in the air. After the services, we were all invited to attend a Keroack family luncheon @ Michael's Banquet Facility in Hamburg, NY.
CODEX~~~I have to find somebody that will trim my beautiful Rose Bush; it needs a definite trimming.
When the luncheon was over, I headed home. Everything was fine. I later tried to arrange some details with Andrew.
CODEX: Titan IIIE-Centaur. Brought in Nicholas from the bullpen.
Thursday 2 June 2011, put in a full day at ECBOE. I had to make up some of the time that I had to forgo, due to the funeral. It was kind of cool because Joel had actually asked me to introduce and walk through the signature re-posting computer procedure to Chris, one of the new interns. It made me feel good that Joel thought I had developed enough ECBOE computer-related skill-sets to 'walk' somebody else through an edit function.
Friday 3 June 2011, was a day loaded with activity and as the afternoon progressed, some shrinking time-lines.
I had a morning meeting with Christa McDonald, a very knowledgeable para-legal with NLS. I am trying to make happen a very very delicate blending of my SSSI with my part-time income. There are guidelines whereby, after a certain period of time, if the P/T income exceeds guidelines, the SSDI can be stopped. THE SSA is sponsoring a program called BOND which allows this blending to exist. Herein lays an example of governmental bureaucratic nonsense, and why I am trying to get legal leverage to overcome this. The SSDI recipient can't INITIATE action to participate in the program. The recipient is invited~~~by a lottery. Come on!! Get real!! The Disabilities-supervising attorney James Sheldon joined in the meeting. Gave me some in-confidence advise to follow-up with.
Codex---NY senior CS
Of course, I could not possibly have this day pass without recognizing astronaut, Ed White. For Ed White, two wrongs, ultimately made it---all wrong for him.
Jun 3, 1965: An American walks in space
One hundred and 20 miles above the earth, Major Edward H. White II opens the hatch of the Gemini 4 and steps out of the capsule, becoming the first American astronaut to walk in space. Attached to the craft by a 25-foot tether and controlling his movements with a hand-held oxygen jet-propulsion gun, White remained outside the capsule for just over 20 minutes. As a space walker, White was to be the first to walk in space but he had been preceded by Soviet cosmonaut Aleksei A. Leonov, who on March 18, 1965, was the first man ever to walk in space.
Keep in mind, this is 1965. And as proclaimed by President John F. Kennedy, in a speech in 1961, we were to get a man on the Moon---by the end of the decade. The reality of this objective was that at this point in the race for the Moon, the Soviets~~~were cleaning-our-clock.
The "space race" between the Soviet Union and the United States might have been on, but our first attempts at catching up, ended in spectacular explosions. On 12 April 1961, Soviet cosmonaut, Yuri Gagarin was launched into orbit around the Earth on Vostok 1. The Soviet Union achieved yet another first when it launched not only the first woman, but also the first civilian, in space-- Valentina Tereshkova, on 16 June 1963, in Vostok 6. Launching a woman was reportedly Korolyov's idea, and it was accomplished purely for propaganda value. Admittedly, it was working!!! Those whom were paying attention, felt another arrow in their heart. Tereshkova was one of a small corps of female cosmonauts who were amateur parachutists, but Tereshkova was the only one to fly. During this time, the Americans announced their ambitious plans for the Project Gemini flight schedule. These plans included major advancements in spacecraft capabilities, including a two-person spacecraft, the ability to change orbits, the capacity to perform an extravehicular activity (EVA), and the goal of docking with another spacecraft. And this TELEGRAPHING of our ambitions was our Achilles Heel. The Soviets continued to use this to keep their propaganda machine, and associated space accomplishments, in high gear. Invariably, the 'firsts' continue to stack against us. On 12 October 1964, the Chief Designer delivered another Soviet space-first when Voskhod 1 launched the first multi-person spacecraft, with three cosmonauts in a modified Vostok spacecraft. With all of the aforementioned, the USA had as yet to launch their first two-manned Gemini Capsule. While it will launch on the top of the USAF Titan-II rocket, this Gemini 3, will launch on March 23, 1965,and do a typically American method-of-operation, a modest---3-orbit space flight.
Pivotal to all of space-exploration is that, at some point, the astronaut/cosmonaut is going to have to venture out of his spacecraft. As we boldly proclaimed our objectives of the Gemini Program, the one objective that was much ANTICIPATED, as if to say; "Go Where No Man Has Gone Before", was our intent to have an astronaut "walk-in-space". Specifically, while being tethered to an umbilical-cord, Astronaut Ed White on June 3, 1965, would float out of the hatch of his Gemini 4 capsule, into the void of space.
This was to be THE FIRST-EVER "SPACEWALK"---or Extravehicular Activity (EVA). This
endeavor was much anticipated because, among other things, it would put America into overdrive with efforts to get neck-and-neck with the Soviets, in the race for that orb, 286,000 miles away.
On 18 March, 1965, the Soviets---pulled off yet another FIRST. And this one DID STEAL OUR THUNDER. This did take the collective-winds right out of our sails. Everybody, from NASA, and President Johnson, to the average American felt the figurative 'blow'. The press was discussing this for weeks. With the escalation of the Viet-Nam War bringing home some real-life reality-checks, this 'race', in particular, was getting called into question.
On this day, Alexei Leonov, born Alexey Arkhipovich Leonov on May 30, 1934; one of the first group of Soviet cosmonauts, became the first human to conduct a SPACEWALK(EVA). This historic spacewalk took place during the Voskhod 2 mission. He was outside the spacecraft for a little more than 12 minutes.
At the end of the spacewalk, his spacesuit had inflated in the vacuum of space and he could not re-enter the airlock. He was able to open a valve and bleed off some pressure. Eventually, he was able to force his way back into the space capsule.
Implemented at the height of the space race, NASA's Gemini program was the least famous of the three U.S.-manned space programs conducted during the 1960s. However, as an extension of Project Mercury, which put the first American in space in 1961, Gemini laid the groundwork for the more dramatic Apollo lunar missions, which began in 1968. The Gemini space flights were the first to involve multiple crews, and the extended duration of the missions provided valuable information about the biological effects of longer-term space travel. When the Gemini program ended in 1966, U.S. astronauts had also perfected rendezvous and docking maneuvers with other orbiting vehicles, a skill that would be essential during the three-stage Apollo moon missions.
Ultimately, even with the very modest start-up, The Gemini/Titan Program would be the unheralded stepping-stone. By-and-large history's forgotten legacy, this two-year segment of our space-exploration actually had us breaking away from the Soviets by leaps-and-bounds, yielding to the Apollo/Saturn Program, and a now unobstructed path to the moon.
But Ed White would not be a part of any of this glory. He was 'wronged' twice. The second time would cost him, his life. On January 27, 1967 tragedy struck on the launch pad during a pre-flight test for Apollo I, scheduled to be the first Apollo manned mission. It would have been launched on February 21, 1967, but Astronauts Virgil Grissom, Edward White, and Roger Chaffee lost their lives when a fire swept through the Command Module (CM). An astronaut, probably Chaffee, announced almost casually over the intercom: "Fire, I smell fire." Two seconds later, Astronaut White's voice was more insistent: "Fire in the cockpit." Before spacecraft technicians could reach it, the command module ruptured. Flame and thick black clouds of smoke billowed out, filling the room. Now a new danger arose. Many feared that the fire might set off the launch escape system atop Apollo. This, in turn, could ignite the entire service structure. Instinct told the men to get out while they could. Many did so, but others tried to rescue the astronauts.
The intense heat and dense smoke drove one after another back, but finally they succeeded. Unfortunately, it was too late. The astronauts were dead. Firemen arrived within three minutes of the hatch opening, doctors soon thereafter. A medical board determined that the astronauts died of carbon monoxide asphyxia, with thermal burns as contributing causes. The board could not say how much of the burns came after the three had died. Fire had destroyed 70% of Grissom's spacesuit, 20% of White's and 15% of Chaffee's.
Astronaut Edward H. White, Know This; Never Forgotten.
In the evening, of Friday, the family and I attended the...Students Of The David DeMarie Dance Studios Presents---THAT'S DANCIN', Recital. Of interest in particular is our 6-year-old grand-daughter Brooke Lyn Miller's first ever dance-recital. She was part of an ensemble that did a tap-dance routine called BEAUTIFUL BABY. Brooke demonstrated a confidence and precision skill-set throughout the performance of her TAP-DANCE selection.
From a personal standpoint, there were three performances that impacted myself. There were one duet and two solo performances, and they were of the modern-ballet genre. there was ONE MOMENT MORE, which was performed by twins Kalene & Kristen F. and DREAMER which was performed by Kristen F. The performance that brought me to my knees was WITH OR WITHOUT YOU performed by Toula B. And I was free to have a catharsis because I was all by myself in the handicap staging area. It was as if Toula was doing a command-performance just for me. Using a Military Dress Green top-coat as a motif, she would intermittently put on---and then remove---this coat as she moved gracefully, classically, and with a very feminine presence, across the floor depicting the turbulence of young-love in today's volunteer military. With our Country involved in so many places around the world, today's military service people are called on to deploy repeatedly. So over, and over again, this young lady has a service-beau who is with her---and often, without her. Toula's performance was riveting, and compelling. I felt---every heartbreak; every separation, each time that jacket was removed. Between the WITH OR WITHOUT YOU background music(it was only the music; no lyric were said), and the military theme, I was impacted on SO MANY LEVELS. It cut me to my very core. And I am not ashamed to admit it. When Nicole & Brian came up with Brooke Lyn, to say goodbye because Brooke was starting to fade-out, Nicole side-barred me with..."besides Brooke's---I know which one got to you!!" My Nicole!! I love her!!
--{-@
Hickok
The Promise
NB: For those of you whom may live, or have lived in the Buffalo and NORTHTOWNS area, there are three streets that run off of Niagara Falls Boulevard just North of the I 290 which are named to honor the three Apollo astronauts who perished on that fateful day in January of 1967. They are Gus Grissom Drive, Edward White Drive, and Roger Chaffee Drive---in Amherst NY.
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