When Monday rolled around, I felt like a tub of goo. I guess it was all that eating coupled with the unsuccessful attempts at running last week that finally caught up with me. So, bright and early in the morning, I went to gym before going to the office for the regular Monday staff meeting. After the meeting, I found my desk and my schedule, and started in. I had a couple of simulation sessions planned for the end of the week, but it was possible for them to be done earlier. So, I had them switched around as I might as well get them out of the way. I pretty much spent the rest of the day reacquainting myself with the Shuttle electrical system.

On Tuesday I still felt like a tub of goo, so I went running again in the morning. After exercising I had an evaluated single systems trainer class on malfunctions in the electrical system during the on-orbit phase of flight. The situations we covered in this class were more complicated than the malfunctions seen previously. But, I managed to muddle through.

Andy was actually back in town today. NASA decided that the launch will be no earlier than next Tuesday, so the crew was released from quarantine (for one day) starting at their bedtime yesterday. That may seem like an odd time to get out of quarantine, but that was when the management meeting which decided on the new launch date was over. Of course, there is not a whole lot one can do with that freedom when one has to go to bed at 4:30 in the afternoon.

The crew needed to do some proficiency training and participate in a simulation with the mission control center. It is important for the crew and the flight controllers to keep up their skills while they are waiting for the launch. So, some of the crew flew back to Houston for the training very early this morning. The rest of the crew will return to Houston a little later. Andy was among those that came back this morning. I went to the crew quarters and picked him up at about 6:30 a.m. He is still having to sleep shift, of course, and had to be back in quarantine this afternoon. But, we at least got to spend the morning together. We got some take out food - he had "dinner" while I had "lunch."

Wednesday I had another single system trainer class. This one was on the communications systems. Surprisingly enough, it was not an evaluated class. I can not even remember the last time I have not been evaluated in one of these simulations. Mostly it was a refresher class, which was nice since we have not dealt with the communications systems in a several months. The class brought together all the bits and pieces of the classes we have had in the past. I definitely feel like I have a much better handle on the communication systems now. Later in the day I was able to have a meal with Andy in crew quarters. NASA has decided to set the launch date next for Tuesday. The crew will be in a simulation most of the day tomorrow then will return to KSC early Friday.

I did not have any make-up classes scheduled on Thursday. So, I started my day at the gym again. I am finally beginning to feel a little less goo-like. Then, I went flying. We went over to the Northwest Regional Arkansas airport and had a BBQ sandwich for lunch. When I got back, I started watching the videos from last week's classes. The first one I tackled was an introduction to biology. We are taking biology classes as part of our science training for Station payload operations. It is good for me to have these classes. I have not had any biology since eighth grade or so. I never had to take it in college. Most of the terms were vaguely familiar. . .

I had another flying day on Friday. The flying was not supposed to take all day, but it somehow did anyway. I was scheduled to go the first thing in the morning. However, we had to wait until the crew left to return to the Cape. Being just before their mission, they had priority. It was a good thing we waited, as three of the planes that they were to use had problems and had to abort before takeoff. Nothing serious was wrong with any of the planes (three different problems), but they could not be used. Some days are like that. So, it was closer to 10:00 before we were able to take off. Luckily, there was still a plane available for us to use. We went to El Paso, had a leisurely lunch, and then came back. I got just over 3 hours of flying time. That is certainly a good start on my quarter's flying quota.

I did not take much of a break this weekend. I finished up watching all the video tapes from last week. I do not know how many hours of classes on I watched on Saturday. I first finished the introduction to biology lecture. Then I watched a class on plant biology. I found this lesson interesting. It was on how plants react to light and gravity. We will definitely need to be able to grow plants when we leave the planet. Next, I watched a video on the Shuttle Orbiter Medical System, or, rather, the first aid kit on the Shuttle. And, finally, I watched the class on current biological space research. The lecture covered what research is going on, how experiments are developed, and some of the issues facing this type of science. One interesting aside from this class was information on an ecosystem that developed on the Mir space station. They had a pipe on which water had condensed. This created a humid area behind a panel near the pipe. This humid area basically formed a pond-like ecosystem. There were protozoa swimming around, slime growing, and bacteria living. It was determined that there were 40 or 50 different types of life that were happily living together behind this panel. How interesting is that? It should be noted that everything in this ecosystem was identified as something that had come up to the Mir in various experiments. Sorry, nothing extraterrestrial. . .

Sunday I flew back to Florida. As much as I did not want to, I spent time on the airplane studying. I have an evaluation on the computer systems scheduled for Wednesday.