Happy New Year everyone!
Now I’ve never flown a tree but it does look like a gleeful pursuit.
I love the 2014 video better than this year’s so posting that instead
Congratulations – TAP Frank Hermes
Such great news for the San Diego Tripoli Club to have Frank Hermes as our TAP (Technical Advisory Panel).
When I was pursuing my level 3, I had to travel to Rocketry Organization of California’s launch in Lucerne to meet with my TAPs Jack and Kurt. The San Diego Club was seriously lacking TAPs. Luckily for me, my friend Hawtakshun Greg Smith was applying for his TAPness and was appointed June 2011. So I benefited tremendously from his guidance and I probably tested his resolve to be a TAP.
Frank has been an inspiring part of our rocketry community, and I’m so delighted that he decided to make his mentorship official. He has been a tremendous resource and has the most amazing rocketry projects and technological pursuits.
I would love to eventually be a TAP, however I have lots of learning ahead of me. Especially need to get some flying under my belt as it has been a long dry spell. It would be great to represent the small community of female rocketeers.
YAY – AB 467 Model Rocket Law Passed!
Thanks to the leadership of Assembly Woman Ling Ling Chang and the support of the rocketry community, California will have equal model rocketry rights with the majority of the country starting January 1st, 2016.
This legislation will modernize California’s model rocket laws, ensuring this hobby remains a positive platform for STEM education. This bill is important for the thousands of children and hobbyist across California who use model rockets as recreational and educational tools. The bill will officially become law January 1, 2016 and provides for a process to work through the State Fire Marshall’s office should regulations need to be updated in the future.
Below is a copy of the bill.
Rocket Humor
I bought a new rocket with some of my tax refund. Hope to have her built and flying next month.
Countdown to Balls 21
Monty my rocket assistant cat approves of my latest purchase. He checks out all rocket activity happening in and around my house.
I now understand Greg’s statement about his quest to spend even more money on rocket science. I’m not quite at the same spend level, as I’ll be spectating at Balls and he’ll be debuting Frenzy Massive.
Last year’s QU8K footage inspired me to get my own GoPro camera for capturing the glory and carnage of the various launches.
http://ddeville.com/derek/Qu8k.html
What a great product endorsement for both GoPro and Flip that both these cameras delivered excellent footage under such extreme conditions. The product manager side of me is thinking, bet that was not the recommended use model.
I’ve been using the Flip for about a year and am impressed with its hardiness. Awesome lil camera. Looking forward to exploring the GoPro before trekking to Black Rock.
PSA – Don’t Do This!
My friend posted this on Facebook and I laughed hysterically. Rocketing is a fun yet serious hobby, follow the safety rules for best results!
Playing at Plaster
It’s been a while since I’ve been to Plaster, and there was lots of good flying to appreciate. This weekend welcomed two fliers to Level 3, one to Level 2, two to Level 1, and one junior NAR christened. Congratulations and git yo high power on! It was especially satisfying to see G in his highly anticipated and much deserved TAP role.
I didn’t fly, instead opted to stock up on some supplies for next month’s launch (picked up a tasty CTI K740 C Star) and visit with the fellow rocketeers. Plaster has one more official launch of the season before taking a break from the heat. Good thing the Lucerne folks will be flying through the sweaty summer months.
Mike’s complex 3,00o ft President’s Challenge attempt. No word yet if he achieved success.
My favorite rocket of the day, Virus. Fantastic sparkly paint job.
Conditions were good, with a few bursts of wind. One of which totally crashed our party by uprooting the stakes and trashing G’s new canopy. It was later in the afternoon and I was pretty sun-soaked by that point, so it was my sign to pack it in and head home. I originally had thought to hang out and see the Supermoon from the gorgeous Plaster sky. Instead enjoying from my porch.
Balls 21 – September 20th – 22nd
This will be my first adventure to Balls in Black Rock Desert. I have been to that area before for Burning Man, a whole other world.
This KQED/PBS documentary shared on YouTube got me thinking about the upcoming event.
Nice to see several women rocketeers in the documentary. Girls like Math & Science too!
Looking forward to some amazing flights go right and wrong.
What to do with the Tree after Christmas
I’ve been purposely neglecting my blog as have been pre-occupied with learning electrical engineering. This was prompted by my failure with leds for a night launch rocket. So I’ve been experimenting with some techniques shared on forums and a dummy guide to electrical engineering.
Since I have no project updates to share instead I’ll amuse with this Christmas tree adventure. These two guys are funny, “the math was nothing exciting, just a little differential calculus”.
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