Solar_Sail_Baby

After working for a few years in the unmanned small airplane industry. In November of 2004 I was hired by Able engineering which was to be bought by ATK corporation. I was put to work on some great projects right away. After completing a few of the projects in a timely manner I was ask to join the Solar Sail team. The team consisted of some fine well-minded engineers and some very talented fellow technicians. The team interaction was a bit turbulent from time to time and the heat was on to finish this project to get this thing shipped out to Sandusky Ohio to NASA Plumbrook's giant vacuum chamber. We hit several snags along the way and the team was forced to pull together even more and dig a wormhole in time. We tore our way through the sail and time. We got the sail support equipment dialed in and in the shipping containers so they would make it on the truck in time to be shipped to Sandusky.
The project sailed ahead of us to Ohio where we met with the driver and unloaded the equipment for testing. Now comes the fun and we began the integration of the larger team effort. NASA’s team worked side by side with us and we put the equipment for testing the Solar Sail together and we were set up to test well under the allotted time to begin the official testing.
I left Ohio to return to California, while the official testing took place. It was a success and a smaller group returned to Sandusky to pack up the Sail for its return to California. The night before was a celebration to say the least. I had a few too many celebratory hoists of ale. Not feeling the greatest, I was a bit behind schedule and pulled in around 9:00 am only to find that the equipment was almost completely packed up. What ended up happening was the Solar Sail was packed and in the crates ready to ship and the driver was a day late.
My plan was to drive around with my friend Gabriel one of the coolest technicians I ever had the pleasure of working with. Gabe’s fatigue from working for over a month in Ohio set in so I was to be on my own. I decided to stick to my plan of driving to Niagara Falls and I did. Seeing that with my own eyes was overwhelming. The falls weren’t the only thing with mist.
I really only had one more destination in mind and that was the World Trade Center. I made it there the next day. On May 30 2005 that same day I drove into Philadelphia and had a philly cheese steak (yummy). I drove around looking for a hotel and could not find anything under $100 dollars for a room. So I drove out of town headed toward Gettysburg looking for a room for my target $$’s 70 dollars. I only needed a shower because I had been staying in the rental car. As I exited into a place called Adamstown Pa. I noticed a microbrewery called Stoudt’s. I check into my room and decided to forgo the shower and have a fresh cold beer first.
I sat down behind the bar looking for a cold beer and got one, and a warm smile to go along with it. Mary Beth was behind the bar pouring drinks and cleaning up to get out of the bar and go home. We really could not stop talking, and she even forgot to pour the owner Ed Stoudt’s beer a few times. After talking for a couple hours I asked her maybe a bit more then half jokingly if she wanted to make out, and she said maybe later. I only blushed a bit.
Well the next day was Memorial Day and I asked her what she was doing after she closed the bar, and she said nothing, and decided to grab her wingman Crystal and go out with me to a karaoke place up the street. Well let’s just say we fell in love very fast.
On Memorial Day I was going to drive to Gettysburg, however she invited me to go to her Grandma, and Gramp-uncle's house, which is another story for another time. I was only hesitating because she seemed a bit nervous. I just knew I was not ready to say goodbye just yet so I said yes. Little did I know I was to meet some of her aunts uncles and yes even her DAD. Maybe she told me they would ALL be there or not I don’t recall.
I felt literally right at home as if I have known her family all my life. I fell in love with her family, as they seemed just like my own. Well we stayed together for the next day and a half and I had to drive all the way back to Cincinnati, Ohio to fly back to California. This was the hardest drive I ever had to do. I was too heartbroken to be tired. I made it back to Ohio with about three hours to spare. Mary Beth was the ONLY thing on my mind. I got back home and immediately began looking for work in Pa. I also had some interviews set for Mary Beth in California. She planned to fly into Ca on the 4th of July. I continued to look for a job. We were torn between two coasts of the US and we decided that we would rather have a little money, work the same hours, and be happy together in Pa.
I gave three weeks notice at ATK Space Systems. During that time I was in the process of saying good-bye and getting well wishes from some of the greatest folks I ever had the pleasure of working with. Sam Robinson of ATK Space Systems informed me we had a company in Elkton, Maryland. I proceeded to send Resumes through the proper channels in Elkton. Well I waited and still didn’t have an interview or positive response.
Well my time of three weeks came and went. The 4th of July came, and Mary Beth landed in Santa Barbara. We drove to the beach, and I asked her to marry me. To my delight she said yes. We watched the fireworks that night. We spent a few more days in Santa Barbara. I worked my last day at ATK Space Systems. We spent a little more time with my family, and we began the drive across the country. We took the northern route across interstate 80. We detoured in Chicago and stayed a couple days with my cousin Victor, and his wife. We got on the road and trekked the last 13 hours across the rest of the country to Pa.
We ended up staying with her mom. I had pursued a few employment opportunities, but after a week and a half; ATK Elkton the rocket motor division called me in for an interview. I was rehired by ATK in under a month, and it was worked out as a transfer. I have been so blessed by this group of folks out here in Maryland. The group of combined talent here is a great learning environment.
While we were in the process of planning our wedding for September 10, 2005.
We were under a tight budget so we were getting wedding invitations from Wal-Mart. Then Mary Beth says to me I think we need to go down this aisle also. The aisle had various women products, which included the pregnancy test, EPT, "the error proof test." Well we went home she took both tests in the kit, this was the digital read out test. After both test showed "pregnant," she scheduled a doctor's appointment. I of course being a Carreño needed to know how the tester worked so I proceeded to open up the tester, I now know the basic function of the electronics of the EPT device.
A few ultra sounds later and a number of doctor visits later the baby was getting big inside the womb, 90th percentile. On April 2nd, my Step dad James' birthday, Mary Beth’s water broke at about 8:30 am. We went to the hospital at about 1:30. Many hours of labor later and medications to help the baby along the doctor recommended a C-section.
April 3 after a few minutes of surgery at 1:07 pm our son was born. I was able to cut the cord, which is hard to do even for someone very good with scissors mainly because I had this magnifying layer of tears in my eyes. After a few minutes in the recovery room we gave him his name. Gabriel Asher Carreño, he is the first Grandson in our immediate family, and an eternal blessing.
Gabriel means the Honor of God and Asher means Blessed or happy.