112 years ago, Galveston was a beautiful and lucrative town basking in affluence and commerce. An Island in the Gulf of Mexico, Galveston's elevation was as level as the sea surrounding it. On the morning of September 8, 1900,an ominous change of weather arose. Even as the waters began to churn, the residents were drawn toward the sea by their curiosity and unfortunate ignorance. A hurricane like none other recorded before it, threw itself over the island and by midnight there was no town to speak of. The death toll was estimated over 6000. Although changes were made to the structure of the Island itself, many remnants are evident today as the relentless power of sea in which it sits continues to surge. Hurricane Ike was the last to leave its mark in 2008.

Knowing all this, we settled our little home on the very edge of the Island with a fabulous view of the Gulf of Mexico and have been enjoying warm, humid, weather with the occasional thunder and lightning storm. When there isn't a passionate chess game rivalling the storm outside, we are busy with the local attractions of Southern Texas.

Yesterday we experienced an entire day on the off shore drilling rig Ocean Star which most of us were fascinated with (the other of us enjoyed the enthusiasm of the rest!). We all took a Career Interest Profile test at the end of the tour, and discovered that:

Tim, The Realist, would be running the organization "with a practical and concrete bottom-line approach to work life!"

Naomi, The Investigative, would be "acquiring knowledge for the sake of knowledge" and end up as a petroleum geologist.

Eden, The Artistic, would be creating fancy drill bits, newly designed naval attire, and funky nautical architecture.

Eli would be second in command but giving his father a run for his money as he was a combination of Realistic and Enterprising: "realistic people see themselves as practical and mechanically inclined... Enterprising people enjoy persuading, leading, and talking."

Surprisingly, I scored as The Social type! "These people focus on the welfare of others and enjoy expressing themselves verbally!" (Who knew?).

We spent today in Houston, at NASA's Space Centre. Admittedly, I thought it would be as stimulating as off shore drilling. To my surprise, it was an incredible day in which I feel well educated and thankful that I went. Did you know that there are people who live in space - all the time - right now - while we live on earth? The International Space Station is home for 6 months at a time to rotating crews with members from the United States, Canada, Russia, the European Union, and Japan. There has been at least one American Astronaut continually in space since 2000. Rockets (used to launch the Shuttle) burn 500,000 gallons of fuel in the first 8 minutes of the launch. There have been only 12 men who have walked the surface of the moon, all of them from the United States of America between 1969 and 1972. The retirement of the Shuttle Program is not at all an end to space exploration... What Tim and I witnessed in just our life time is but a drop in the bucket to what is possible in our children's. Maybe Granny and Grumpy Smith will one day take their grandchildren to NASA to see what they will have accomplished by then.