Thank you, Tim, Enigma, Cita, and ps (I've forgotten your name...!).
I haven't had time to drop by here for quite some time because my work got really busy in the spring, and hasn't really let up yet. There's just a small break for a week or two before we get busy again.
We'd just be really happy if the Pirates beat a Chicago team once in a while! Or any other team, for that matter! Doesn't look like we'll see .500 this year either.
I still see Carpenters "pings" as I drive around the country...last week, we were on vacation in Myrtle Beach, and there was this van with "A. Carpenter" on its side. On the way, we passed a sign for some dentist. At the bottom was a red heart with "Close To You" in white letters inside it.
A trip through the Myrtle Beach phone book reveals that Karen is living in this seaside resort in plain sight, Heck, it worked for Radovan Karadzic, didn't it? I was going to call her and ask her to please call Tim...I'd have paid real money to see the look on his face when he looked at the messages on his caller ID...but hey, it's the beach, and I never got around to it. Never mind that I don't have his phone number anyway...it's the thought that counts.
From a journalistic viewpoint, it would have been interesting to ask Karen if she had any observations on sharing a famous name.
But I was on vacation, the first time since 2005, and it proved to be an insurmountable task.
The water was warm, and the order of the day went like this:
(1) Stay in the water until you prune up.
(2) Sit in the beach chair in the surf until you get hot.
(3) Repeat steps one and two as often as necessary.
Journalism can wait...and besides, I still have Karen's phone number.
Space is going on quite well without me. In early October, NASA will send the final repair mission to the Hubble Space Telescope. They have released an excellent animation which depicts the work that will be done this trip onto YouTube. The link is here:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=63zUtmhHgSEThere is a slight chance that I may get the Thompson Twins' "Lay Your Hands On Me" played as a wakeup song! I posted on NASAWatch that if you begin playing the song after 25 seconds of the video have passed, you'll get goosebumps by the end of the song and video.
Turns out that someone intimately connected with the mission read the blog and posted as well, so the idea's been planted and, well, stay tuned!
I've been riding the bike to work when I can, and I'm planning on attending Homer Hickam's Rocket Boys festival with my brother-in-law this year. My wife even bought me a new T-shirt from Space Coast Harley-Davidson to wear. Check their site out...they have a really cool home page!
Well, it's time for a shower, but once again I'd like to thank all of you for remembering my birthday.