He’s Kind of A Big Deal

Last night Stephen and I had the privilege of attending the Silver Snoopy Presentation Ceremony. If you’ve never heard of the Silver Snoopy, there are two reasonable explanations for that. 1. You don’t live in an area that is saturated with NASA related things. 2. You aren’t cool enough to know someone who has received this award. I’m guessing #2. Before last night, I was also a person that fell into that category. Thankfully, my coolness factor has risen quite significantly after last night. If you are patient, I will enlighten you, and you can also be just a little cooler.

This is the Silver Snoopy:

He’s a pin, not a pen. That’s a tough thing to understand when you’re listening. They are homonyms, you know. So don’t be confused. A pin. This pin has been in space. Naturally. I think Snoopy would look sort of silly with his space suit if he hadn’t just been in space. So my friend, Wes, was awarded the Silver Snoopy. The photo above is actually taken from collectspace.com because I wasn’t allowed to touch Wes’s award. Just kidding. I was. Only in the box though. That’s okay Wes, after all of those astronauts had touched it, you don’t want my civilian hands messing it up.

I knew I’d be attending this ceremony yesterday and I wanted to be educated. So I did what any responsible researcher does, I looked it up on Wikipedia. The Silver Snoopy “is a special honor awarded to NASA employees and contractors for outstanding achievements related to human flight safety or mission success.” That’s big time. Wes is big time. Ladies, this man is single. Here is a conversation with my boss about Wes:

Chelsea – Hey I have to leave at 3 today. A friend of ours is receiving an award from NASA and we were invited to the ceremony.

BossMan – What is he, like a rocket scientist?

Chelsea – Yes.

BossMan – Sweet.

So Stephen told me that Wes may or may not actually be a rocket scientist. All I know is that his job description has the word “reentry” in it. I know that’s related to a rocket, and I’m pretty sure science has something to do with it. So to me, he’s a rocket scientist. Wes, one day you’ll need to explain it to me. Just pretend I’m a 5 year old… you know, so that I will then know how to explain it to children I meet…

Anyways, all joking aside, it was a great accomplishment. Less than 1% of employees receive this honor. And our friend, The Big W-D, did it! I’m sure that my random provisions of lasagna and chicken kabobs have something to do with his success. So in a way, I’m honored to be an extended recipient of this award.

Crap, I had said all joking aside and there I went, making a dumb joke. Sorry Wes. You’re awesome. We’re so proud of you. The only reason we didn’t walk on stage with you to help you accept your award is because we are all certain that one day you’ll realize how many IQ points higher you are and you’ll end our friendship and curse the day that you let your average friends in the one and only Silver Snoopy picture with you. Plus we were sort of scared of the astronauts. But we are still proud of you! And we’re proud of us too. We must be sort of smart if we are able to be friends with a rocket scientist and you allow us to hang out with all of your other rocket scientist friends. I tried my hardest not to mention the words pedicure, Chelsea Handler, or dog vomit. I know astronauts don’t like to discuss those things. 

Hope we didn’t let you down.

A big round of applause for our friend Wes!