This morning I decided to work from home, and, in this case, blog from home, which allows me the opportunity to dress in jeans and a t-shirt (definitely beyond “business casual”!). Today I’m in a short-sleeved lavendar tee that says “I Need My Space” with the NASA emblem below the words. From that play on words my mind drifted to Virgin Galactic’s tagline, “Space is Virgin territory” and from there I asked myself, “What’s a nice girl like you doing in a Space like this?”

I have definitely been bitten by the Space bug. I believe that my training at the Kennedy Space Center moved me from passionate to  passionately and wildly interested in Space, our universe, black holes, solar flares—all sorts of things that occupied very little space in my head in years gone by.

When I was 9 years old I came home from school very upset. When my mother asked what was bothering me, I complained, “You never take me anywhere!”

With a puzzled expression, Mom said, “Barby (I ditched the “y”, the “i” and the “ie” in favor of Barbara many years ago!), how can you say we don’t take you anywhere? That’s just not true. We’ve taken you to Florida several times, California, New York, Canada, New England, Wisconsin, and we’re going on a cruise to the Caribbean in December!”

“So…” my swift and challenging reply, “All my friends go to Starved Rock and you’ve never taken me there!” Gotcha! I made my point, jutting out my bottom lip, smirking, with hands haughtily on my hips!

Starved Rock State Park is approximately 95 miles west-southwest of Chicago, along the Illinois River. It was (is???) a popular getaway for Chicagoans. I have photos of my parents, brother, and sister at Starved Rock on a wintery day making a big snowman. But, do I get to go there? Hey, no fair! You guys went before I was born!

I must have hit a nerve because within a few weeks our family headed to Starved Rock with my sister, age 14 at the time, whining “Do I have to go?????” I didn’t let her disdain dampen my anticipation. We were going to STARVED ROCK where I was sure my every dream of the perfect vacation would be fulfilled! Actually, I remember very little of the two nights we spent there other than it felt like a very, very long time and my family has never allowed me to forget my pleading, “Can we go home yet?” Obviously, “fitting in” with my classmates meant more to me than knowing I had seen the Statue of Liberty, the Henry Ford Museum at Greenfield Village in Michigan, eaten freshly caught trout in Wisconsin, ridden the Teacup Ride at Disneyland, or attempted numerous times to dig my way to China on various Florida beaches! Please, please understand my point—Starved Rock State Park is a wonderful destination and it only helped me to begin to realize how fortunate my life experiences had been–even at the tender age of 9!

By the time I graduated high school I added two Caribbean cruises, many more trips to Florida, New York, California, Hawaii Canada, two visits to Israel, and a journey to Europe. My father, an importer of screws, nuts, and bolts, traveled all over the world and he loved to take our family to all sorts of exotic locales. Whether I suffered from entitlement or ignorance, it took me years to treasure the experiences I had. When I was 11 we were in Paris, staying at the Ritz, and I was very whiny and jet-lagged. For some reason, my room was down the hall from my parents, rather than our usual “adjoining rooms” (don’t you love it when I talk “travel!”) and, one day, upon leaving their room, I knocked on every door that separated them from me. To this day, I still remember the sounds of “Oui?”, “uno momento,” “Si?” as I brattily weaved my way down the hall. So, if you were staying at Hotel Ritz in November, 1959, and when you opened your door, nobody was there, I confess it was me—I promise I haven’t ever done that again and have deleted that adolescent behavior from my repetorie! 

Fast forward to 15 years ago, I had a life crisis that forced me to examine where I was, what was important to me, and how I wanted to proceed on this journey of living. I looked over my resume to see if there was some common thread in my varied career paths: graduate of Northwestern University, travel, school teacher, travel, hospital administrator, travel, real estate sales, and travel….hmmm, anything standing out to you? 

From an amazing childhood and adolescence filled with traveling to faraway places, I continued this passion as an adult. I loved discovering destinations new to me as well as spending time at some familiar favorites—I cruised countless times, beached it, city stayed, toured, flew, railed, and drove. All I had to do was remove the “a” from avocation!

I’m often asked what my favorite destination is and I reply that my #1 is usually the last place I’ve been. In all honesty, I have several favorites and my current #1 is Africa–East Africa and Southern Africa; India; the Galapagos; and Italy (including Sardinia!). Closely following those destinations would be China, Thailand, Bali, Tokyo, London, Crete, Bora Bora, and St. Petersburg. I could go on and on—in fact, I have!

Did you notice that I didn’t list Space as my favorite? That is only because I haven’t been there YET! I definitely want to experience Space, and, perhaps, my helping you travel to Space will assuage my impatience to explore our universe!

I will always remember December 5, 2006. “Thank you for joining us on this conference call. This is Carolyn Wincer speaking. As you know, I am the Director of Astronaut Sales for Virgin Galactic. With me today at the International Luxury Travel Market here in Cannes is Matthew Upchurch, CEO of Virtuoso. “I will now read the names of the 47 travel consultants who will train to become “Accredited Space Agents, the first and only travel consultants in North America allowed to reserve seats aboard Virgin Galactic’s suborbital flights!”

Then I heard a lot of static and echoes on top of echoes. I was part of a big event, the beginning of a new era of consumer space travel eagerly awaiting to hear my name and I’m listening to the Morse code meets a yodeling contest in the Austrian Alps! “….John…” More crackling sounds… “Vic…” Will they read my name, have they read my name? Quickly, I sent an email to Cannes, “I CAN’T HEAR!!!” yes, in all caps! “I just received an email saying there’s a prob[crackle] with the [cracke]ection. I [crackle] call [crackle]ack!”

“Okay, I’m back. Can you hear me now?” That’s how this new phase of my career began and, yes, I was selected to be a pioneer of selling vacations to our newest destination, Space. I was on a conference call announcing a cutting edge journey into space and on Earth we couldn’t get a clear connection!

As soon as our names were read and praises given by some of the “Who’s Who in Travel”, the call ended and the flood of email instructions began. “Please read the following… study this…absorb that…” How was I going to digest all this information? Finally, a life-saving email, “Please reserve February 1 and 2, 2007, for our first formal training session to be held at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.”

You know, it’s hard to get my arms around this—I’ll be selling space journeys; I’m being asked to go to one of NASA’s locales to train? Is this for real or is this just hype to get us excited? Let me describe what the 2 days of training were like and you decide.

January 30, 2007 1:14 PM: Okay, I’m within 24 hours of the flight to Orlando, let me log in and print my boarding pass—I wonder if space journeys will require boarding passes? Well, definitely not the first several! Virgin Galactic has ordered 5 spacecrafts (actually, they are space planes according to Alex Tai, COO of Virgin Galactic, but space ships sounds so much sexier!) that will seat 6 astronauts and 2 pilots.

January 31, 2007 7:20 PM: Room service will suffice tonight—I arrived a couple of hours ago at the Okay Resort (name changed to avoid libel—it was difficult to find a wonderful property that would house all 47 of us AND be close to the Kennedy Space Center); I unpacked, and started reviewing the mass of literature we’ve been given. A good night’s sleep was in order so lights were out by 11:00 PM.

February 1, 2007 8:11 AM: Out the door and looking spiffy, I’m off for my first day of training and my 15 minutes of fame on The Today Show. The show has sent reporter Mike Leonard and a crew to join our training, video parts of it and run the segment on my favorite morning show—true statement, I am not brown-nosing! I start most days with the Today Show or the Daily Show reruns—same news, different spin!

As I board the bus that will take us to Day 1 of Training at NASA, I tell myself, “I bet this will all be playtime—so unnecessary! I could be back at home doing something valuable!”

I looked across the aisle at a guy fiddling with a big video camera, “Hi, I’m Barbara King and you’re…?” “Mike Leonard,” he replied. “Oh, you live in Winnetka! I taught first grade in Winnetka and my mother lives in Winnetka!” I scrounged to the bottom of my handbag and pulled out “The Ride of Our Lives: Roadside Lessons of an American family”, the recent book Mike wrote. “Would you autograph this for me, please?” “Hmm, Mike Leonard is really here! Maybe this training is for real—maybe this is not just some sci-fi dream?

We entered the Kennedy Space Center’s Welcome Center where we had to go through Security. “Cell phone, out, folks, and please turn them on. No scissors, sharp objects, firearms…the list is on the wall.” Passing through the line, a guard challenged me to press the number 5 on my phone. Ahh, my first test as an ASA??? No, they asked each person to press a number on their phone—just protocol!

Our first session began promptly at 9:30 AM. Carolyn Wincer billed this time as “Morning Tea with Carolyn”. I love working with so many Brits! They are so civilized! After a few pleasantries, we were divided into 2 groups; mine was Mach 3.3, the speed at which Spaceship 2 will travel into space after being horizontally launched from its mother ship, White Knight 2. Entering another room, I was handed a silver 3-ring binder stuffed with pages to read, study, and absorb. Is there a written test at the end? I wondered.

The morning sped by: lectures dotted with videos and Q&A. We gathered together at noon to lunch with the other group, G4, named for the force of gravity experienced as you speed home from space. The G4 group had toured the Astronaut Hall of Fame while we sat in a classroom taking copious notes—not fair! “Not to fear, my dear,” Carolyn sat down next to me, “You do the playtime tomorrow whilst the G4 Group hits the books!” Does she read minds? I better be careful what I think around her!

More learning followed lunch and there were so many terms for me to learn—Mach 3.3, G force, Gz, Gx, informed consent, feathered wing technology, micro-gravity, and Ansari X Prize.

Space exploration had stagnated in recent years. Motivated by competition with the USSR and a challenge issued by President Kennedy at his inaugural to get a man on the moon within the decade the US was eager to pour money and time into conquering space in the 60’s and early 70’s. Tragic accidents, budget cuts, and re-aligned priorities have brought us to an era of mostly unmanned space flights and robotic landings.

The X Prize was an award of $10,000,000 offered by a group formed by Dr. Peter Diamondis for the first private sector group that could build and send a vehicle into space and back safely within a two week period. While reading Charles Lindburg’s The Spirit of St. Louis, Diamondis learned that one of the chief motivators for Lindburg was the offer of $25,000 for the first person to successfully fly across the Atlantic. Perhaps, thought Diamondis, this method would work in this century!

In 2004, Burt Rutan of Scaled Composites won the coveted X Prize. With financial backing from Paul Allen of Microsoft fame, Rutan designed and built environmentally friendly Spaceship 1, a new and ultimately successful vehicle for repeated use to go to space and return.

Oops—I’m showing off my new-found knowledge, aren’t I? Back to my log of events:The night of February 1st, Virgin Galactic threw a Splash Down party to celebrate our first day of training. We were treated to a buffet dinner and great conversations! The home to bed to dream about space hotels and destination weddings in space!

February 2, 2007 9:43 PM: “This certifies that Barbara S. King has successfully completed the training course to become an official Accredited Space Agent,” announced Tai and Upchurch followed by handshakes, hugs, my official ASA pin, photo ops, and a certificate signed by Sir Richard Branson!

We had just dined at the Apollo/Saturn V Center—I mean, in the Center, not some dining room tucked off to the side—we dined in the main hall underneath a huge Saturn V Rocket. At the ending of Day 2 of our training, we were instructed to return to our hotel, don some “party” clothes, and return to the main NASA building, and then taken to an undisclosed location. The Kennedy Space Center is vast and huge, especially at night when it is closed to the public. The NASA bus first took us on a tour of the entire complex of buildings and launch sites that comprised the famed Center. “We are now approaching the Apollo/Saturn V Building,” George, our driver announced. “Please prepare to disembark.” What an evening I had and what an amazing few days! The morning of Day 2, Group Mach 3.3 played at being astronauts—centrifuge simulators for some, Rover rides for others, and a moon walk for me!

“Excuse me,” I said as I politely but firmly regained my place in line in front of an eager 5^th grader. We were waiting in line to experience a “Walk on the Moon” at the Astronaut Hall of Fame and there was no way I’d let anyone in front of me! I’ve been bitten by the Space Bug. I can feel it, I can see it, I can taste it, and I WANT IT! I am discovering that this is real, that we are on the frontier of a whole new era and I am very proud to be one of the pioneers!

March 7,2007 8:50 AM “It’s on, Michael! It’s on!” I was screaming to husband and also talking to my friend Kathy. The Today Show was airing the segment they had taped of our ASA training. By March 7, I knew I wouldn’t have 15 minutes of fame because I wasn’t interviewed; I wasn’t prodded; I wasn’t probed. But, maybe, just maybe, I’ll be in the background—kind of 15 minutes of fame divided by 47? And, lo and behold, there I was on TV, on the bus to Day 1 of training, chatting away to my seatmate! Oh the places I’ve been and oh the places I’ll go!

PS. Since I’ve returned home NASA and Virgin Galactic have announced they will jointly explore hybrid rocket motors and other items that would benefit both enterprises and all of us. After all, when we will go to space and look out at the Blue Marble, an affectionate name for Earth coined from a famous photo, we will see we are not countries or continents—we are one people, brothers and sisters who have been vested with the loving care of this planet we call home.

My sister-in-law, Sandy, called this morning. We chatted about the fun stuff of life: her alma mater, Ohio State, being in the Final Four; the Ohio State-Xavier game (pitting her university against Michael’s alma mater); my 15 seconds of fame on the Today Show a couple of weeks ago; Virgin Galactic’s head of Astronaut Sales, Carolyn Wincer, coming to KC tomorrow; and Krista and David’s Re-Commitment Ceremony. 

When Krista, our niece and Sandy’s daughter, and David were engaged, Krista found out she’d be deployed to Iraq. The lovebirds met in the Reserves and were planning their wedding when the news came. Not wanting to be apart, they decided to marry in a private ceremony and have a formal “Re-Commitment” when Krista returned from her tour of duty.

The big day is April 14th and, as Krista’s website reminds us we have 20 days until the celebration! (http://www.theknot.com/ourwedding/kristaenglert&davidenglert)

When Krista was in Iraq, I kept my friends posted on her activities, often copying her poignant emails to everyone. Whenever I heard about a soldier dying or being wounded, I froze, “Please God, no—not Krista!” Thankfully, Krista made it back home, Purple Heart and Bronze Star in hand; and, hence, a wedding in 20 days!

Krista, a nurse, focused on community health and women’s rights while she was in Iraq. She is bright, pretty, intelligent, and a gifted writer and speaker. One day Lauren, my daughter, and I sat glued to our computers when Krista was interviewed “live” on an East coast radio show. I was so proud of her, the way she articulated her views, described the warm friendships she formed with many Iraqis, the tragedy of her Iraqi friend being assassinated, and Krista’s humvee being hit by an IED.

So, we are so blessed to share in the joy of this union of two brave American soldiers (David had already completed a tour of duty in Afghanistan when they met). 

And I am so angry, full of sadness and rage—Krista found out two weeks ago that she is being re-deployed to Iraq in early summer. Last time she was based in Mosul, not exactly a walk in the park. Today, however, Mosul is a lot safer than many other parts of Iraq! Krista doesn’t know where she’ll be based (and I’m not sure she could tell us if she did know—Army rules, you know!) and David plans to volunteer to go to Iraq with Krista. Now, these two beautiful, vibrant young people will be headed to the dangerous morass we call Iraq.

Krista is committed to focusing on the celebration that will occur in 20 days and I will honor her wishes and concentrate on the good, the hope, the love David and Krista share. Privately, in my heart, my mind, and probably on this blog, I rage at this war. The latest “surge” requested by Bush is what is taking Krista back to Iraq so soon (“at all” is what I really mean!). There used to be a rule that a reservist had to be home a year before being asked to return to duty in Iraq, but what’s a guy to do? Our prez needs some fresh bodies over there and, after all, he’s the “Decider” isn’t he? 

Dictionary.com says ESSENTIAL means absolutely necessary, indispensable. I usually like this word—breathing is “essential”—short, sweet and true; however, the “Essential” Home Theater (sorry, NYT, I adore you but I found this phrase in your magazine today—must be your lucky day!). What is “essential” about a home theater? Perhaps, the NYT writer was trying some “tongue-in-cheek” humor (tongue-in-cheek, another catchy phrase originated in 1845, fyi). Perhaps, one of the fortunate beings who own an “essential” home theater would donate a like amount to the poverty and AIDS ridden children in Africa. That, I think, would be ESSENTIAL!

Dust bunnies—what’s the origin of that phrase? I know what they are  and this morning I “swiffered” many of them to a new home in the trash can—but why dust “bunnies”–bunnies are cute, as in Easter and flop-eared, but dust bunnies—help me out, here! Ah, I just used another pop cliche, didn’t I?

 Today’s New York Times Travel Magazine had an article dubbed “The Talk”, featuring three words: grass-roots, ur-, and tradical. I like “grass-roots”–it fits with the whole “local is better, more energy efficient, free from the craziness that dominates the world” movement. I like grass-roots—Queen King allows it to stay in her vernacular.

Next is “ur-”—some confusion there, I think. NYT claims it is a prefix that means original or prototypical…Points up the obsesssion in travel with finding the ultimate…” Ultimate, that I understand, for example “uber–”, kind of “super” on steroids. So the ur-baguette referred to in the article about France suggests (to moi) “uber” or epitome.

 Tradical will not be discussed because I don’t like the word, too trendy, and, besides, this is my blog. I can write what I want (she offers maturely!). So, there you have it, Barbara’s thoughts on words today. Your turn, Stephen Colbert!

What’s Space exploration done for us lately—say, in the past 40++ years? Let’s jump beyond the usual answer of Tang (I could live my whole life without ever drinking Tang!): How about satellites used for live TV broadcasts anywhere in the world; Telecommunications ;beds (Tempurpedic, etc); smoke detectors; cordless tools such as drills, vacuums, hedge trimmers; digital imaging now commonly used in CATscans and MRIs; helped us detect words in the Dead Sea Scrolls (through technology used by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory); we can safely disarm landmines; mapping and hopefully containing forest fires; ear thermometers (bye bye mercury thermometers!); scratch resistant lenses (I keep forgetting that resistant doesn’t mean immune!); better golf balls. Anyway, you get the idea!

We are all intertwined; our countries; our peoples; flora; fauna; the wild and the tame; planets; stars; galaxies; the ever expanding universe. May we strive to grow this unity of energies and always keep the Higher Purpose in mind.

Check out www.goodburgerny.com and find out about the newest and best entry in burger restuarants in New York. We ate at the 54th and Lex location (near the Benjamin–which is one of the most comfortable hotels I’ve experienced in NYC). How fun it is to happen upon an “in” place to dine!

My friend Charlie noticed I hadn’t blogged for awhile and I told him that I was too busy doing “stuff” (working, catching up at work after being in NYC, planning for the visit of Carolyn Wincer, Head of Astronaut Sales for Virgin Galactic, on Monday 3/27, oh, and did I mention working?). I assured Charlie that I was eager to get back to the blog, that I had lots of great ideas of what I wanted to write about.

I came home from work (that word keeps coming up, doesn’t it?), sat down at the computer, and FROZE! Okay, Barbara, where did all those good ideas go? Remember, the insight on life you had a couple of nights ago? How about those clever comments you had while taking the subway to the bball games in NYC? That incisive polital and social commentary?

Does that ever happen to you? I seem to have great thoughts during the night and wake up with only a vague, if any, recollection of what rolled through my brain while my body tried to sleep. Other times, while you and I are having a conversation, you’ll say something that triggers some amazing observation to race through my brain. When I open my mouth to share the pearls of wisdom, nothing comes out! That racing thought is probaly somewhere in outer space, eager to leave my cluttered brain.

In the past several months I’ve had the realization that the world is changing much faster than I am. I walked through some clothing stores recently and couldn’t figure out why the racks were full of “young people’s stuff” aka things I wouldn’t (and couldn’t) wear. Who, I wondered, buys these things? Where did all the good stuff, the familiar stuff, go? When did stores change how they merchandise?

I love Antrhopologie—it’s colorful, edgy, funky, and a wonderful mish-mosh of things that seemingly don’t belong together and yet complement each other perfectly. Ceramic knobs are scattered across teeny, tiny little sweaters and both are for sale! Pricy t-shirts are piled next to scads of notecards, both on a painted tin tray—again, all begging to come home with me. What is dawning in my over-stuffed and cobwebbed brain, is that type of merchandising is more the norm than the exception! Locally, there’s Feng, Style & Grace, Standard Style—to name a few “mixed bag” or “buy the dress and the armoire it’s displayed in” stores. They’re fun and I love their creative energy but they challenge me to “independently” create an outfit, to pretend I’m secure enough to know what my “style” is!

 I’m getting old, I guess. I’ll be 59 soon and I don’t think of that as old (although I’ve come to accept that my true definition of old is anything that is 30 years older than I am).  I am acutely aware that while we boomers may be an important influence on culture, we are no longer setting the trends…and maybe that’s okay! Maybe, I’m more interested today in the quality of my life and less on the quantity. The world may moving in a very different direction and today I’m comfortable ambling along my own path.

So, I guess that’s my inspiring input for today. The topic is either “I like who I am and I am content on my journey” or “She’s older than dirt–let’s humor her.” Do me a favor, don’t tell me which subject you picked!

Not much else to report! I’ve heard people say that all the trends hit the coasts first and then trickle down to the Midwest. I’ve just experienced a trend that I hope stays on this East coast. Apparently, in keeping with moving daylight savings time earlier, New York has moved April Fools’ Day up a couple of weeks, too. That is the only logical explanation for the icy, snowy, rainy, cold, windy, sleety day we had Friday, the frigid blast on Saturday, and the contest today of wind versus sun—wind won—no contest really!

Continuing with this logic, if Friday was April 1 in the new and improved   calendar, then my birthday, April 9th, is really the former March 24th! So, it’s my duty to inform you that this coming Saturday will be National Let’s Eat White Cake with White Icing Day. It’s been a long tradition that I eat white cake with white icing (preferably baked by Hen House bakeries) on my birthday. Thanks to the new abbreviated March as mandated by New York, we get to eat white cake in 6 more days. Are you with me on this? For those of you a little slow on math, let’s review: If the 16th day of the 3rd month of this year, oh let’s call it, say, 2007, has been changed to the first day of the fourth month, same year (makes the math easier, don’t you think?), then today, what used to be the 18th day of the 3rd month, is really the 3rd day of the fourth month of 2007 (remember, we agreed to keep the year the same), then the 9th day of the fourth month will be the former 24th day of the third month of the year 2007. The importance of this date change should be immediately noted by all Hen House bakeries as the annual April 9th raid of white cakes with white icing will take place earlier than originally planned. Okay, students, did we all get the correct answer??? Are we ready to eat cake in 6 days and counting? (For those of you who dot your I’s and cross your T’s, please note that today is really 3/18/07 even though the date on the blog is 3/19/07–the time is set to Greenwich Mean Time on my blog even though it’s EDT here, and CDT at home—what’s a woman to do???)

 Amazing what happens to one’s brain when frozen in New York…and YES THE RAMS WON! GO RAMS!

We just arrived in NYC to watch our son’s high school basketball team compete in a tournament. This is Josh’s last basketball competition because he graduates in May and will be off to U. of Arizona (I think I already told you this when we went to Baltimore for the “next to the last” tournament!—ah, how I love drama!).

18 teams from around the US will compete and while we may not win, I promise to cheer mightily. I also promise when not cheering or working on my laptop, I will be soaking up every morsel of energy, food, culture, shopping, theater, subway rides, etc. I can! I love New York. There is an erengy here I’ve not found in any other city. I also enjoy London, a bit more restrained energy, and Tokyo, more frenetic energy, and Shanghai, funky energy like the Hong Kong of old. Oops, there I go travel talking again!

 We’re staying at the Benjamin at 50th and Lexington. First impression is A+–an executive suites type of hotel, it is intimate, well cared for, and the rooms have all the amenities one could want–the requisite robes, pillow menu toiletries, flat screen TVs (we were upgraded to a 1 bedroom suite!!!), Bose wave radios, equipped kitchenette, broadband Internet access, friendly staff, and a selection of yummy cheese, crackers and fruit. Enough blogging, time to nibble on the good eats!