Category: writing ideas

Tuesay, First Launch Day at WSMR

Today was a great success for the SystemsGo program as they met and/ or exceeded three T times with three rockets off the rails. The action started off well with a T time of 8:30 a.m. for Alamo Heights Heights School. They began the day with their smaller rocket built for extra height. It left the rail well, had a beautiful flight and reached a total height of 10086′. At this point the paper phenolic cover around the fuel grain burned off causing the body tube to melt through developing a hole with a side burn after which it rolled over and returned to the range in a ballistic fall. Reports from WSMR have it plugged into the range 970′ from the launch site in lawn dart fashion. This was not totally unexpected since a recovery system was not part of the vehicle.

The 11:00 a.m. T time for Union Grove’s launch meant that SystemsGo had to load the vehicle on the rail, fill and be ready to fire within two and a half hours. This was met and exceeded as their rocket left the rail at 10:59. The rocket had a great lift off but not far into the flight, the engine case blew apart dumping the motor and fuel grain. Preliminary reports are that the nozzle came off causing engine explosion. Their nose cone and shoot deployed, but the shoot did not open. Their max height was 600′.  This was actually the first time that Union Grove High School has left the rail in what is now their third attempt at WSMR. This is a great triumph for them. They are now their school’s first flight at WSMR.  Great job, Union Grove students.

Alamo Heights had a second rocket launch today with a T time of 2:00 p.m. SystemsGo did great work and exceeded this sending them off the rail at 1:48. This rocket only made 180′ after clearing the rail. The same paper phenolic fuel grain cover caused a hole to melt through the rocket at which point it began tumbling end over end back to the range.

Congratulations to both schools, at having achieved getting a rocket off the rail at WSMR. Post Flight Analysis on all these vehicles should prove to be enlightening and educational.

Tomorrow’s schedule is tentative because at this point the scheduled schools’ rockets are not pad ready. They are all going out to the range at 5:00 a.m. to complete work on them and hopefully keep the tight schedule for the day. The following is the schedule at this time:

Wednesday launch order:

  • 8:30 a.m. Anahuac
  • 11:00 a.m. Booker T. Washington (1)
  • 2:00 p.m. Booker T. Washington (2)

Event details will continue to be available here. I will provide more information each morning as to how the schedule and other event details will progress for that day and how launches went for the schools testing that day. Pictures are not allowed on the range, but some pictures of teams getting ready to leave for the range with their vehicles might be available. If anything is available I will post it for your viewing pleasure.

www.systemsgo.org as always is the place for more information on this program. You may also email them at info@systemsgo.org .Take the time to get your school involved, the future of your students will be greatly benefited.

The picture was provided by parent, Lori Davis of the Union Grove High School Rocket team after their launch here at WSMR.

Sunday Rockets Headed to White Sands-Day 1-Report and Monday Early Information

The SystemsGo team rolled out of Fredericksburg at just before 9:00 a.m. this morning to head out to White Sands Missile Range (WSMR) in New Mexico and arrived at Alamogordo around 5:30 this evening. Travel went well, and two schools, Alamo Heights and Booker T. Washington met us there.

Tomorrow is an informational and set up day. SystemsGo personnel and only student and teacher participants from the schools head out at 6:00 a.m. for T-1 briefing  and afterwards setup at West Center 50 launch site.

Event details will continue to be available here. I will provide more information each morning as to how the schedule and other event details will progress for that day and how launches went for the schools testing the previous day. Pictures are not allowed on the range, but some pictures of teams getting ready to leave for the range with their vehicles might be available. If anything is available I will post it for your viewing pleasure.

www.systemsgo.org as always is the place for more information on this program. You may also email them at info@systemsgo.org .Take the time to get your school involved, the future of your students will be greatly benefited.

Team photo includes from left to right, Ginger Burow, Scott Netherland, Randy Kuhlmann, Steve Burow, Brian Heffner, Gene Garrett, Andrew Matthes ,Rebecca Hyatt, and Josh Hampton. Not available for this picture, Chelsea Burow.

2 More Days- Here’s What’s Happening for WSMR

The SystemsGo team and schools leave for New Mexico to launch rockets at White Sands Missile Range (WSMR) on Sunday, June 26. That is two days from today. The list and schedules have been finalized and packing is underway.

The schedule will proceed as follows:

  • Sunday will be their travel day to Alamogordo, NM to the hotel.
  • Monday morning will be T-1 briefing
  • Monday afternoon they will travel to West Center 50 Range and do site set up and rocket prep
  • Tuesday launch order: Union Grove, Alamo Heights (1), Alamo Heights(2)
  • Wednesday launch order: Anahuac, Booker T. Washington (1), Booker T. Washington (2)
  • Thursday launch order: Fredericksburg, Make up #1, Make up #2
  • Friday will be travel back home for each group.
  • If for any reason tests run late on Tuesday and Fredericksburg is delayed then they will shift to first on Wednesday and subsequent launches will shift as needed.

The final list of schools participating in this year’s WSMR tests is:

  • Alamo Heights High School
  • Anahuac High School
  • Booker T. Washington High School
  • Fredericksburg High School
  • Union Grove High School

Parents be sure your child and yourselves if you are already on the approved list with SystemsGo, and attending, has proper identification with them. State driver’s license, federal pass port, or state id card are required for access to the base. Also be sure they have medical insurance information with them in case of an emergency.

Please be advised that WSMR is an Army base and does not allow spectators in to view these launches. Only the students, personnel, and parents who have been previously approved through SystmsGo and added to the list may enter the base with the group. Please do not drive to White Sands and attempt to enter on your own, or expect to do so with the group, because you will be turned away.

Event details will continue to be available here. I will provide information as made available to me from team members on site as to how launches have gone for those schools testing on that particular day. Pictures are not allowed on the range, but some pictures of teams getting ready to leave for the range with their vehicles might be available. If anything is available and passed on, I will post it for your viewing pleasure.

www.systemsgo.org as always is the place for more information on this program. You may also email them at info@systemsgo.org .Take the time to get your school involved, the future of your students will be greatly benefited.

Day 328-The Sun Rises (Villanelle)

The waves glisten as the crash upon the sand;
The beach shimmers in the early morning;
The sun rises with colors so grand.

Seagulls dance along the strand,
In the water’s edge they are playing;
The waves glisten as the crash upon the sand.

The surf, still cold upon my hand,
Against my skin is crashing;
The sun rises with colors so grand.

Pinks, golds, purples, oranges and blues reflect across the water and the land;
In the sky, higher and higher the sun is gliding;
The waves glisten as they crash upon the sand.

Darkness gives in to dawn at nature’s command,
As clouds take on a gold lining;
The sun rises with colors so grand.

Wonder and beauty surround me as on the beach I stand,
Captivated and watching,
The waves glisten as they crash upon the sand;
The sun rises with colors so grand.

GB

So this is my April’s Fool on myself, because this poem is about the beach. It takes place there, where I am not but would like to be. And now the irony, is that is where my son is enjoying a weekend with buddies at a State Skills USA competition.

Day 322-Easter Season (Limerick)

Easter Season is so near,
With bunnies, eggs and cheer.
But what of the cross;
The tomb can’t go lost,
Or Easter’s message, won’t be dear!

Day 321-When I Look Upon the Sacred Cross

Each year as Easter rolls around, I find myself once again in awe of our Lord and Savior and the sacrifices He made for each of us. He created us beautiful and perfect in His sight, but we chose to turn our backs on him and follow in the path of sin. He spent centuries trying to bring us back by showing His power and wrath with floods, famine, plagues and destruction of the worst of us, but never all of us. He spared any that showed Him reverence and faithfulness at all. He continued to love us and when He realized that we were a foolish lot and these things only scared us back to Him for a little while, He chose another route.

He didn’t want to destroy us, but saw that through sin we were destroying ourselves. He took pity on us. He was and is GOD! He could have destroyed us and started over. He could have reached into our hearts and minds and changed them Himself, making us follow Him. He didn’t do that! He wanted a relationship with us. He wanted us to come to Him. He wanted to save as many of us as possible. He wanted us to want Him and love Him. He didn’t want puppets, he wanted children that came to Him in love and served Him in love.

There for He gave us grace.

Long ago He had established that the wages of sin was death. This was a death that would forever separate us from Him, and condemn us to an eternity of pain and suffering. He didn’t want to lose us all to this fate.

So once again He extended a hand to us in saving grace, the hand of Christ His only son. He sent him in the flesh, human like us, and able to feel and know our every pain and temptation. But yet fully divine and perfect and totally undeserving of the suffering He endures for us.

God could have done it any other way, but instead He chose to come to earth and become all that we were, except that He was sinless, in order to save us from all that we are even to this day, which is a sinful and totally undeserving people. He bled and died, was whipped, scourged, beaten and crucified that we might have everlasting life and have it abundantly. He died and rose again, conquering the grave so that our deaths might be a doorway to eternal life with him instead of eternal damnation.

He did all this out of love and a wanting and willingness to have a relationship with us. We did nothing to deserve this outpouring of love yet he freely gave it. We still do not deserve his love, grace and forgiveness, yet we have it and he continues to give it.

How sad it is that it took such drastic measures for us to realize that He wants us to turn our back on sin and follow him.

He didn’t have to die; He chose to do it for us. He chose to take our sins upon him. He could have just as easily destroyed us. Instead, He was able to “destroy the temple of God, and to build it in three days,” (Matthew 26:61) hoping that we might finally realize who He is and all we mean to Him.

When I look upon the sacred cross,
My heart is broken in my chest,
My lungs are still, my breath a loss,
My soul to Him my one bequest.

He gave Himself for me his all,
That I might live instead of die.
My tears a flood begin to fall,
His pain, my grief and so I cry.

He owes me nothing, He is my God
My sins and burdens, He freely takes.
My life He spares with just a nod,
But with shame my soul still rakes.

Upon that cross He hung for all,
A sinful undeserving lot.
It took His life for us on our knees to fall,
And find the love that sin forgot.

As I look upon that sacred cross,
And see the pain He bore for me,
So that from Him I’d not be lost,
My eyes are open, I finally see.

His hand in grace He now extends,
With faith in Him I do believe
In God whose love has shown no ends
So His service I will never leave.

Day 314-The Written Page

I live my life through ink and quill;
Each thing that happens a story still.
Sometimes events are very sad,
While others make me very mad.

Some have lessons in them to learn;
While others in my soul still burn.
Still others are very happy;
But sometimes words for them get sappy.

My life lies on the written page,
For others to read and gauge.
But for me it’s just how I deal;
And get past each notch in life’s spinning wheel.

Day 275-The In and Out of An Idea

Some days ideas just jump into my head,
But then they look around at all the clutter,
Get scared and jump back out again.

Often I catch them before they get away,
But then they just dangle there
Like a fish on a hook waiting to be reeled back in.

The problem is no time, no room, and
No clear thought process that lasts
Long enough bring them to fruition.

If they get away then often I see them,
Peeping in the window reminding me they tried this once already,
And they still don’t see an opening large enough for them to fit.

So I think on them, trying to figure how to make them work.
Often this annoys them, and instead of seeing my solutions,
They disappear taking half my work with me.

This they seem to do just to punish me
For not paying closer attention and making them room
When they first arrived on the scene.

Why do good ideas always come at bad times;
When you have no access to pen and paper,
And then they expect your full attention and memory?

For example, in the shower;
Even if you were to have a pen and paper,
Just try writing in the shower, it will melt and you will never remember it all.

Day 212-Christmas Gifts-A Reflection on the True Gift of Christmas

10But the angel said to them, “Be not afraid; for I bring you good news of great joy which will come to all people; 11for to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12And this will be a sign for you: you will find a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.” 13And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of heavenly hosts praising God and saying, 14“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom He is well pleased.”    Luke 2:10-14

Imagine the scene that day on the hills around Bethlehem as shepherds stood by as the skies filled with angels proclaiming the Savior’s birth, and praising the Lord. What fear, awe, wonder, joy, love, and eventual peace must have filled their souls as the words of the angel touched their ears and crept with slow realization into the hearts? The sheer wonder and beauty of the scene would have been enough to bring them to tears, and than this sight was coupled with the magnificent news of their Savior’s birth.

Next, imagine how they must have felt when they realized the honor they had been given by their Lord, when He chose them to be first to know.

We speak often of the gifts given to the Christ child by the three wisemen, but what of the gift bestowed on these lowly, poor shepherds, and then also on the wisemen. Upon them, was bestowed the gift of first knowledge of His birth.

The gift of a Savior had just been given to the world, and the Lord chose these lowly shepherds to give the gift of first knowledge of His birth. What an honor and privilege they were given, first knowledge, and then first to see the new baby. Wow!

The Lord also gave the gift of the star to the wisemen, so that they could be the next to see and know. Even though they came much later than the shepherds, they were no doubt any less important because the Lord literally lead them to His son.

First shepherds, then kings each in their own way given news of a Savior and bid to come and see. With these gifts came a responsibility though, because from there they were charged with going forth and proclaiming all that had happened. They were to go forth and tell the good news. Shepherds and kings alike were to take their gift of knowledge of the Christ child and share it with all around them; with the exception of Herod of course.

We are much like these lowly shepherds and stately kings. Some of us are poor, some of us are well off, or even rich, but we all have a common God-given gift. We too have the gift of the knowledge of a Savior born to us, died for our sins, and raised to new life for our redemption.

We also have the same responsibility to share our gift with everyone around us. Just like God chose the shepherds that very first Christmas to share the gift of a new Savior, we are called this Christmas and every day to share the old, old story, with all those who may or may not have heard of the Savior.

So as we share Christmas gifts this season, don’t forget to share the most important Christmas gift that the Lord gave to each of us, so that we too might give it to others. After all, with out the gift of Christ, there would be no Christmas. Therefore, go forth and give Christ as your most precious Christmas gift to people around you this year!

Day 187-Focus Challenge 2-Writing Scenario to Story Premise

Fiction Writing Exercises for Stimulating Creativity Writing #365daynovel

From a simple scenarios form the basis for a story. Your job is to come up with three story premises for the scenario. Be creative and try to avoid the most obvious premises.

Chosen scenario:

  • A man and a woman are sitting across from each other at a small table in a dimly lit restaurant.

Premise 1:

A young, attractive couple sits together in the same dimly lit restaurant night after night. She has long auburn hair and bright green eyes, he had crystal blue eyes and thick dark brown hair. They are the picture of health and beauty. They are always deeply engaged in conversation. Just simple things that seem so very day-to-day, yet they exude excitement and wonder as they talk. They seem to never notice anyone around them, they are totally in a world all their own.

Young lovers, most would assume, happy and engaged in each other’s interests.
They talk only to each other, and look only at each other. The locals are used to them. no one ever talks to them or approaches them. They are allowed to carry on alone, uninterrupted, and almost unnoticed. Rarely is anyone ever seated close to them, so they continue in their own way. It is best this way.

Then strangers come in. Some don’t give them more than a passing glance. Some notice that something is different about this striking couple, others are attracted to them wanting to engage them in conversation. Their excitement for life seems to bubble over needing to be shared. It is like an energy that flows from them in quiet waves that invigorate the senses of anyone close by. They draw others in without even a glance or word to them directly. They have a unexplainable attraction to those who don’t know.

Locals watch, pitying those that fall under their spell. Those that join them at their table appear to have a wonderful evening with them, but when the restaurant closes, this beautiful couple is the last to leave, and somehow they always leave alone. Their new friends, what of them? The rumors  among the townsfolk speak of untold horrors, and these new friends are never seen again.

Premise 2:

A young couple in their teens sits together in a dimly lit restaurant trying to blend into the atmosphere of romantic lovers. The environment around them is strained as they practically will themselves to appear as completely enthralled young lovers, hoping that no one will notice them from anyone else in the place.

They hide in the darkest booth in the far back of the restaurant, praying that creature that killed their parents won’t look for them here. They don’t know what it is or where it came from, only that it is after something that their parents knew and now it seeks them since it did  not find what it was looking for in their house or glean the information from their parents.

They are hunted by the  police as well because they neighbors reported the murders and only saw them running from the house. They have no money, no car, and no  place to go, and it is only a matter of time before they are found. Somehow they must escape the creature and the  police until they can figure out the truth about what has happened and find the only person they can trust to help, and old friend of their father’s. But even this man is shrouded in mystery and they must walk in shadows until they can be sure if he will be their salvation, or more of their doom.

Premise 3:

An innocent couple is tucked away in the far corner of a romantic restaurant enjoying their meal, talking of an upcoming vacation when an explosion rocks the neighborhood sending the high-rise hotel next door crashing into the restaurant. They manage to flee the bay window table they are in, just as the building dissolves around them and they are trapped beneath the rubble. A section of the building remains where they are all trapped, but many are injured and the structure that is left won’t last long. Now they are in a race against time to get help and to find a way out, helping as many others as they can.

Roger is an EMT and Miranda a nurse, and they must use all their skills to survive, even as warning on Roger’s radio warn of another impending attack in more buildings in their area.

Ok, this was my writing exercise for the #365daynovell course I joined yesterday. This is day 2 of my challenge. Let me know what you think of my story premises from this exercise. The exercise was supplied by Writing Forward.

365daynovel.com/gigijb