Christmas 2003

It’s December already and the whole family has Christmas on the brain. Like last year, Lee Anne had set the alarm clock for 4:30 AM and braved the “Day After Thanksgiving Sale” at Super Wal-Mart, and I, being the loving, supportive husband that I am, offered to stay home with the children as they lay nestled all snug in their beds. Yes, I admit that I had participated in this adventure last year, after which I decided that being surrounded by an endless sea of flying female elbows was not my idea of a relaxing vacation. Every aisle was completely filled with bumper to bumper shopping carts along with wild eyed people having only one thing on their mind – getting their loot before someone else did. You see, I was in the market for a computer and all I wanted to do was read the side of the computer box; you know, the label with all the specs like RAM, hard disk space, CD writer, etc. As I moved in that direction I was suddenly screened out by two women, arms out and crouching like basketball players trying to get a rebound. I don’t think Michael Jordon could have made it through that screen.

To bring you up to date, Lee Anne is doing an incredible job educating our children in the home, Rebekah will be 7 next month and can already read and write, Benjamin (5) enjoys Lego’s, his hamster “Nutty”, riding his bike without the training wheels and anything that flies (hopefully not the hamster), and Stephen (9 months) has two teeth and moves faster than a Tennessee tornado. The Johnson tree has been decorated, the stockings are hanging on the stair case and the children are dropping subtle hints, on second thought, they are boldly proclaiming every item their little hearts desire to be laying under the tree. Ah, Christmas is in the air.

Not long ago, while driving quietly down the road with the family, Rebekah, from the back of the van asks, “Dad, you know that song that says, ‘Glo-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-ria’? Well, why does it say, ‘in Chelsea’s stable’?” After we finished laughing and telling Rebekah how cute she was, we then had an impromptu lesson in Latin explaining that the meaning of “in excel sis Deo” had nothing to do with some girl named Chelsea but has everything to do with a stable.

As I walked down stairs this morning, I was delighted to hear the Kirk Franklin Christmas CD playing “Jesus is the Reason for the Season” in that black gospel choir style. Somewhere in the middle of the song Kirk exclaims, “Santa Claus ain’t got nothin’ on this!” and you know, he’s right.

We’re constantly surrounded with little reminders, maybe a still small voice that gently reminds, “Hey, remember Christmas is my birthday.” No other birth in the history of the universe has carried such significance for mankind. God Himself coming to earth in the form of a child so that you and I might be forgiven. Truly “Santa Claus ain’t got nothin’ on this!”

Experimental Rocketry

I recently became interested in amateur rocketry when I discovered Richard Nakka’s Experimental Rocketry Web Site. After studying the site for many days, I endeavored to create my very own rocket motor, the K1000 PVC Rocket Motor to be specific.

The motor contained 5 three inch grain segments cast from a mixture of Potassium Nitrate and Sorbitol (a sugar substitute available in health food stores):


The 5 segments were stacked inside the PVC casing and the completed motor ignited using a simple ignitor manufactured from a Christmas tree light.

The successful static test firing video:


Since the PVC rocket motor is not reusable, after test firing, the motor was cut in half (click the image to see a larger version). In the photograph, the nozzle is on the left. The divergent section is visible, but the convergent section crumbled when the motor was dissected. The metal washer served as the throat of the nozzle and minimized ablation. The motor's bulkhead is on the right and was constructed of 3 layers of cardboard and coated with high temperature silicon RTV sealant:













Now all I need to do is build another motor, a rocket, a recovery system, a recovery deployment system and a launch system!

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There are a number of websites that present information in much greater detail than I could expound on in this blog, so here are some sites to definitely visit:

http://www.inverseengineering.com/
http://www.nakka-rocketry.net/
http://www.nar.org/
http://www.rocketmavericks.com/
http://www.rocketresearch.org/
http://www.rocketry.org/
http://www.space-rockets.com/
http://www.sugarshot.org/
http://www.tripoli.org/