My Letter to Glasgow....

Dear Friends in Glasgow,

Words can hardly express how wonderful my time was in Glasgow a handful of months ago. I enjoyed seeing this wonderful city but even more importantly I loved meeting such amazing people. I enjoyed getting to chat with many of you and have enjoyed continued "chats" over Twitter etc. I love to see the excitement and passion so many of your bring to your respective fields.

I write this blog "to you" from my personal blog (as opposed to my ISSET blog) because I want you to know that this is personal to me not just business. I write this letter because I need your help. I really really really want to bring Mission Discovery to Glasgow for your students. What I LOVE about Mission Discovery is that it's inclusive not elitist like some other programs. It's the kind of program that encourages all kids to come and participate. (We do target high school and University age but have taken younger students and adults as students.) It's the kind of program that students have literally said has changed their lives. I want the youngsters of Glasgow to have an opportunity to partake in such an incredible event. (One I might mention that I sure wish existed when I was their age!) But I can't do this without your help....

If you aren't sure exactly what Mission Discovery is check out this website...
http://isset.org/mission_discovery.html
It truly is an incredibly unique event given the range of topics we cover including team building, leadership, various science, communication skills and of course space! Plus where else do you know that students can have an astronaut available for mentorship for an entire week? (Most people are happy to get to spend 1 hour listening to an astronaut and maybe get 1 question asked - attendees of Mission Discovery have access to an astronaut - and other great mentors! - for the entire program!) The program culminates with a team project where they design an experiment within given parameters which could fly into space. (And with the proper support/funding it will! Can you imagine having YOUR work sent into space?!)

I'll be honest most of the work falls to us to make it happen but the very basics I need help with right away. What are the basics? So glad you asked.... We need a place to hold Mission Discovery. Details for that....

• Ideally a University (Frankly it's a great thing for the University overall!)
• Certainly it is preferred that they donate the space but we can work on an agreement on that or some amount of payment if necessary
• Options other than a University could certainly work as well... would need to evaluate 
• We need an auditorium that could hold at least 200 students (that's the number we would target)
• Need classrooms or other space close to the auditorium that we can use for "break-out" sessions for the students to work
• We would need these spaces for a week during the summer (Monday-Friday 9-5)

Truly I can't even begin to make a Mission Discovery happen without a location (for obvious reasons!) but once I have a location I can promise you that I will work like crazy to make sure it is the most amazing Mission Discovery to date!!

Once we get a venue selected there is more you can do to help... help spread the word, sponsorship at various levels.... but for now... Please help me find a venue :)

Here's to making Mission Discovery Glasgow happen in 2013! Happy New Year everyone!!

Full circle with Cisco

On Tuesday I mentioned that I traded in my usual "work clothes" of yoga pants and a comfy top for real work clothes. (For those of you who don't know - I work for myself so many days I work at home spending all day on the computer and phone thus no reason to wear anything but comfy clothes!) 

Gillian, from 29 Studios who I became friends with on our Gobi Adventure, introduced me to a great gal named Julie who asked me to be part of a Female Business Leaders Event over Telepresence. Cisco Telepresence is a video conferencing system that is absolutely incredible. The video & call quality is so good that it's like you are in the room with the people on the other end of the call. 

I was honored to be a "guest speaker" of sorts at this event and I was humbled to be in the presence (or shall I say telepresence) of so many incredible women who have accomplished so much in their lives. It was fantastic to be able to have discussions with women in Glasgow and London about topics that are so pertinent to all of us. I think these kinds of events are key to growing as an individual in business because one should never stop learning.

Why do I say full circle with Cisco? Well when I was working as an instructor at NASA one of the things I had to train the astronauts on was the Cisco IP Softphone application which is how they could "phone home" from space! (Every time I say phone home I can't help but this of ET! ET Phone Home...) So it was especially interesting to be on one end of the triad of this Cisco Telepresence call as I have branched out into the world of business on my own!

Here's to some amazing ladies! I really hope our paths cross again in the future wether it be in person or via Telepresence.

Hmmmmm.... perhaps these ladies want to help me bring a Mission Discovery to Glasgow and they could be guest speakers at that event....

The Best of Many Worlds

I have been overwhelmingly busy lately but I have found that every so often during the day I need to take a little time for myself or else I will end up spending the whole day (and then some) working my tail off. While it's normal to work your tail off, working from home means I generally start some form of work within a half an hour of when I wake up and go all day long past normal business hours and sometimes late into the evening I still find myself working when I should be chilling out. So to combat this a bit I have been taking a break every so often to scrapbook. (Hey in some ways it's work too! It's Family Work!)

So lately I have been working on the STS-132 Mission albums. Yes I know Ken's flight was over 2 years ago and No I have not finished scrapbooking it yet! Just haven't had the time. Now that I have my own little hovel (as I like to call it) which is my pseudo-office/scrapbooking room, it's easier to get some scrapbooking done because I don't have to put everything away all the time which takes up valuable time. I get to leave it out on the table and continuously work on whatever I choose. ANyway I am digressing from my main point... Sorry!

Today I was in need of a little down time so I wander upstairs to my hovel and sat down to do a bit of scrapping. I brought my iPod with me to plug into my portable player because music just makes everything better. I was scrapping away to my favorite playlist which is titled "All Glee" and has, yep you guessed it, all the Glee songs I've bought on it (which let's be really honest - is pretty much every song ever by "Glee). So there I am happily singing along...

As I was in my groove the playlist shuffled to the "Glee" version of Lady Gag's "Edge of Glory." I burst out in a humungous smile and started dancing and singing at the top of my lungs because all of a sudden I had a merging of the best of many worlds. You see when I was fortunate enough to lead up an ISSET Astronaut Leadership Program in the Gobi Desert in June I met some absolutely AMAZING people who I know I will treasure the rest of my life.

While there a few of the gals came up with a version of Lady Gaga's song that we will all be singing the rest of our lives I think. By simply changing the word "Glory" to "Gobi" in the song it became our version of her phenomenal song and it takes us back to the incredible journey we shared together. The fact that it came on while I was scrapbooking space stuff (what one might call my first love in life - space not scrapbooking!), the fact that I love Lady Gaga and all she stands for in being yourself, the fact that it brings me such great memories of wonderful friends in a once in a lifetime place and the fact that it was being sung by "Glee" (which anyone who knows me can tell you I absolutely LOVE!!!) is why I am calling it "The Best of Many Worlds." This little few minute experience has made not just my day but my whole week I suspect.

Life is such a treasure and it's a real treat when the best of both or many worlds come together at once. What is something that you consider to be the "best of both or many worlds" for you? Whatever it is treasure it, enjoy it and keep on loving life!

"I'm on the Edge... of Gobi! And I'm hanging on a moment with you....."

Interested in more information about ISSET Adventures? Check it out at www.isset.org

chelle on Scotland Tonight

In case you wanted to check and see if I made a total fool of myself on Scottish National TV - here's a link to the interview :)

By the way - have I mentioned anyone how painful it is for me to watch myself on video?!?!

In case you missed it be sure to also check out the link to the 29 Studios Event video!!

An Out of This World Evening Event Page