Thursday, May 20, 2004

Three cheers. Another forum I'm on has a thread going about remarkable experiences. Here's what I posted:

This is the first thing that came to mind as a "remarkable experience". It was just something I was lucky enough to witness.

I was working at Kennedy Space Center -- must've been about 1992 -- and had seen my share of shuttle (and rocket) launches. Landings, however, had always been done out in California at Edwards Air Force Base. They had built a landing strip at KSC, but had yet to use it, except for landing the special airliner that carries the shuttle back from California.

On a day when the shuttle was scheduled to land in Edwards, I was at work as usual. Word started spreading around the building that, due to a weather pattern approaching California, they were going to land the shuttle, that day, right outside our building!

Everyone filed out at the appropriate time, and waiting in the parking lot that was pretty much right across the street from the landing strip. The funny thing was, no one knew which way to look. We knew it would be coming from the west, but also that it would have to circle a few times to lose speed. So eyes were pointed in every direction.

Finally, someone spotted it, directly overhead, so high up that you could barely see it. Everyone cheered, for the first time of three. We watched it begin to bank into its turn.

Two minutes or so later, the double sonic boom hit us -- BOOM! BOOM! Car alarms went off, and everyone cheered again. It pulled a descending curve over our parking lot, and we could begin to see details on the shuttle itself, as its jet fighter escorts pulled up alongside.

But to everyone's dismay, just before it was to do its final, unimaginably steep descent towards the landing strip, it disappeared behind a cloud bank. We were going to miss the landing! It was hard to tell just how thick the clouds were, and where they stopped. Finally, just as the shuttle was leveling off from its descent, it burst MAJESTICALLY out of its cloud bank, almost directly towards us, and everyone went nuts cheering, one more time! Not that the astronauts could possibly hear us; it was just an unbridled outburst of joy amongst a bunch of space geeks. Finally it dipped below the trees across the road and made its landing. We all went back to work with big stupid grins on our faces.
Speaking of voting, we've both decided that if Fantasia gets voted off American Idol, we're never watching the show again.

Singapore Idol starts soon. I'm all aquiver. No, really, I think it will be a hoot, in a train-wreck sort of way.

Wednesday, May 19, 2004

Stolen Elections? Alrighty, in case you've been keeping up with the comments, the person I referred to who wrote the Vanity Fair Article about hacking the vote was Michael Shnayerson. But, the person doing the research on this frightening phenomena is Bev Harris. If you want more information go to http://www.blackboxvoting.com/
pretty frightening stuff. BE VERY SKEPTICAL IF YOUR ARE VOTING ON A DIRECT RECORDING ELECTRONIC (D.R.E.) VOTING SYSTEM THIS ELECTION!!!! These are what were used in Georgia during the past election by the way. Really makes you wonder.

Monday, May 17, 2004

We're not as shallow as we may appear to be based on our blogs.
I read the last post and thought, "Wow, you look at the state of the world, and what a sad time it is to be an American (and perhaps particularly an American living abroad), and we're posting what we want to buy when we move". That seems wrong, but honestly, do you guys really need our opinions about the pathetic state of the world? I doubt it. Still, it's a sad time to be an American, or even a human.

Sunday, May 16, 2004

Things we can't wait to buy, own, or otherwise acquire once we move:
  • Washer and DRYER.
  • Big refrigerator.
  • Car.
  • Dog.
  • NEW CLOTHES.
  • Comfy computer chair.
  • Comfy matress.
  • High quality sheets and comforter.
  • MORE CLOTHES.
  • Coffee maker.
  • Cookbooks.
  • Kitchen appliances.
  • Art.
  • Magazine subscriptions.
  • TIVO or its equivalent.
  • All our stuff from Atlanta.