#bold rock

All right, now the long version:

Humans To Mars 2017 was great but honestly made me really cynical about how and when we'll go to Mars. I think SpaceX will do it and all the other big players (NASA, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Aerojet Rocketdyne, etc.) will be far behind because no one but SpaceX is really giving it the thoughtful and concerted effort I think it requires. Everyone is on a different page with their architectures and it just doesn't seem to me like it's going to happen for them. It was interesting to hear all the ideas and there were a few great talks - Mars spacesuits, embodied AI, and the reasons we should go to Phobos were a few of my favs - but overall it was a bit of a drag.

On the bright side, my friend/crush who is way too cool for me made me another playlist and it's SO GOOD and I've been listening nonstop for almost a week now. In return, I sent him a playlist but I was super nervous he'd hate it. He knew I had delayed sending it because I wanted him to like it and he was SO nice about it and it made me really happy, and then I sent him an old video of me rapping and we've been joking and sharing music and I am just feeling bright. Crushes are fun.

Since work has been so hectic I'm behind on a bunch of things and it has me feeling down. The company owes me more than $1k (maybe closer to $2k?) but I have been too busy to get the expense voucher together to request reimbursement, so that compounds the stress. I was at work til 7 Friday and then in again for the afternoon on Saturday. Of my small office (~10 full time, plus 2 co-ops) there were 4 of us working Saturday. I'm going on vacation the week of Memorial Day and I'm planning to disconnect from email and phone calls and just enjoy being away for a week.

Yesterday was fabulous and really helped make up for the craziness of the few days preceding it. My friend wanted to go down to Shenandoah to a cider place and I suggested we also do a hike to (a) make the cider taste even better because everything tastes better after a hike, and (b) make the 3 hour drive each way worth it. We hiked Crabtree Falls and it was THE most beautiful waterfall hike I've ever done! It seemed like every few minutes there was another viewpoint of the waterfall (the highest vertical-drop cascading waterfall east of the Mississippi River) and the trail itself was beautiful and well-maintained. We only hiked about 3 miles total but it was fabulous. There's an add-on to that hike that makes it more like 13 miles and takes you to a great overlook so I'd love to eventually go back and do that full thing.

Following the hike we hit up a cidery and then a brewery and it was just a beautiful day and a fabulous way to follow up the hike. We were both gross from the hike but the cider was good (friend's preference) and the beer was greeeeeat (my preference). I hadn't had any of their beers before but I will definitely look for them in the future. Friend (idk if she'd want me to use her name on this blog so I recognize that calling her 'friend' is weird but whatever) doesn't like dark or bitter beers so we got two different flights and traded around until I had all the stouts and IPAs. She got all the light and sweet ones. The sunshine was perfect and it was just an overall beautiful and wonderful day.