The PIT crew (as we call ourselves) had an impromptu meeting the other day. We occasionally do so, and we discuss whatever we wish. The atmosphere is always laid back and casual, lots of joking and teasing.

Our boss got a bit philosophical on us this time. He mentioned that running the tests was getting a bit routine: Bring up the system, run the test, shutdown, process the data and then do it again.

Last Friday was our boss' birthday and we came up with our own way of celebrating. We bought about 600 balloons and filled his entire office. Then we covered his windows with 'Happy Birthday' signs, so he wouldn't see the balloons until he opened his door and they all came tumbling out. There are now balloons all over the place and even creeping into the rest of the building. The best part was how truly appreciative he was of our gesture.

Interesting week so far. Some guys from Lockheed Martin in Denver came down to do some troubleshooting on the PTL, the Payload Testbed Lab. This is our rack of computers we use to simulate the spacecraft, and run our tests. They also brought out the OPUS rack. The Odyssey/Phoenix UHF System, is another rack of computers that simulates the Odyssey spacecraft's telecom system. We will now be able to run a test, uplink that data to OPUS and then transmit that data to the Ground Data System. This is just like Surface Operations. Of course, no data will actually be sent through the air via radio waves, it's all done using cables. Transmitting data over the air could be hazardous to our health.