Missed me?

I know, I haven't changed a bit, have I? Thanks!

Well we'll take things one at a time now... :-) Yeah, it has been a while, and no I don't have a good reason. Things have been a bit, I don't know what, different lately. My sister, brother-in-law, and all the little kids left July 01 for their summer vacation. I was left with the two older boys. They were left with grocery money and the understanding I had with my sister was that we would all pool the money (me the money I normally contribute to groceries) and go shopping. We'd have a menu for the week and actually cook food. Instead both of the boys say they want nothing to do with this and I'm stuck just on my own. Now I know that buying food on my own is expensive (I'm tired of people saying that!)--that is why I was upset. I believed that we would all be chipping in and thus there would be many real meals (I actually like eating real meals if you can believe that) not just a couple now and then. *sigh* But fine, my sister Laurie doesn't care what they do with the money so I've just been buying my own groceries and cooking my own food.

I was thinking of taking some pictures of the kitchen earlier though. :-) I've been cleaning all of my dishes, using the dishwasher. However one of the boys, uh, wasn't. It reminds me a bit of the mess that I left the first summer I stayed home alone. :-) Oh well, I refuse to be a maid to the boys. I clean up all my stuff and ignore whatever they do (be it clothes, dishes, or whatnot). Anyway, enough of that--everything is working out fairly well not. I'm alive with food in me so I'm not complaining anymore.


Okay, back to life. Well since I've last updated the Monkey King exhibit has closed its doors. :( Yes, my last day working on the exhibit was Saturday, July 02. Though that day we were short in the Space exhibit as well and as the other Monkey King supvervisor Kristen was supervising there (we took the place of a regular supervisor on vacation) we switched back and forth so I wasn't just sitting out front of Monkey King reading all day.

Yeah, I really can't complain about the reading I get to do with my job. Have I told you about that Mark? Minimum I read at least two hours a day--and if I'm lucky it is somewhere between three and four! :-) Yeah, life is great. When I'm at tickets or inside and nobody is around I can pull out a book! Of course as soon as I see people I put the book down and start talking to them. I especially enjoy talking to the kids.

For example I point out the lunar scoop that Alan Sheppard used to scoop up dust when he was on the moon as part of the Apollo 14 mission. We also have a camera used for pictures in the Apollo 17 lunar and command modules. Then I get them to guess why the clothes from the space shuttle have coverings for all pockets (zero-, or technically micro-, gravity is the answer). Finally at the moon rock display (yes we have an actual moon rock you can view) I illustrate with the kids how Apollo astronauts had to pick up samples. See those space suits weren't as well designed as those today--Apollo astronauts suits didn't have a joint at the waist. I drop my keys and ask the kids to pick them up, which is quite easy. Then I tell them that they're pretending to be Apollo astronauts, so they can't bend easily at their waist. Some realize right away that they have to bend their knees (which the astronauts did) but others take quite a while to figure it out. I also found out from another worker that Buzz Aldrin was upset that he wasn't going to land on the moon first, so he refused to take any pictures of Armstrong on the moon and so reportedly the following picture of Aldrin is the only still picture of Neil Armstrong on the moon (note the reflection).

Now unfortunately no photography is allowed in the exhibit, so I can't give you a photo-tour like I did with Monkey King. But hopefully soon I'll have read everything inside and be able to give you a full "radio-like" virtual tour (i.e. sans pictures) I can give you some awesome facts right now though. The Saturn V rockets (the largest ever launched) were sixty feet taller than the Statue of Liberty (taller than a thirty story building), and weighed (fully loaded) as much as a Navy destroyer. Furthermore the fireball they produced upon launch was 3,000 feet wide and could be seen for 150 miles. About ten feet of the rocket are visually reconstructed in the exhibit, and it is amazing to point to the diagram and indicate to kids how little they're actually seeing. Oh yeah, the Apollo computers? They had .02 megs of RAM--my watch computer is more powerful!

Inside the exhibit are (oh yeah, all this has been about the Space: A Journey to Our Future exhibit that I'm now working post-Monkey King ;-)) three scales--one to show weight on Earth (1 g), one for the moon (about 1/6 g), and one for Mars (about 1/3 g). Women who don't like their earth weight seem to strangely enjoy the Mars and moon scales. You can also look up at one point and see a full-size replica of Sputnik, pretty small by modern standards, but it did so much!

So did I mention the moon rock? Yeah, it is really cool (except that for some reason they're convinced it is between, and please don't laugh, 3.3 and 3.5 billion years old *sigh*) and there are only about 1,400 of them on earth. You can't touch it, but you can touch a lunar meteorite from Libya (discovered 1998) that scientists say is made up of the same stuff and thus must have come from the moon in the past. Oh yeah, and one of the staff is with the rock at all times--NASA takes its security very seriously--nothing is going anywhere they don't want it to. Obviously I can't get into any particulars, but everything is quite safe.

Several other artifacts are quite interesting including an Apollo fuel cell, a lunar rover tire, tiles from Columbia (removed after flight in 1981, not from the 2003 crash), and a few other things I can't recall at the moment. :-) It was fascinating to read that the space shuttle tiles are derived from common sand and baked in the world's largest microwave before being fused in a giant oven. The black tiles on the underside of the shuttle protect it from temperatures up to 2,300 degrees!! Kids get wide-eyed when I remind them that water boils at 212 degrees and paper burns at 451 degrees. By comparison the white tiles on the top of the shuttle only get up to 1,200 degrees.

Oh, as a minor sidenote I should probably mention that I'm enjoying a very delicious snack of a bagel smothered with cream cheese. Why in the heck didn't I eat cream cheese as a kid? It is delicious!!! Eh, whatever, back to space.

Between the moon rock and the Mars area are two cool displays (as well as extensive signage): one about various satellites (all Lockheed Martin birds--they're a major exhibit sponsor) and deep space probes (like the Voyager missions). Once you get to the end area there are several touch screen computers where you can design a spacecraft for travel to various locations (the Moon, Mars, Jupiter, Alpha Centauri), decide what to pack for the trip to Mars, and assemble a Mars Base Camp--then you can go inside what part of a Mars Base camp could look like, "reconstructed."

But before these computers you'll see an infrared camera hooked up to a widescreen television. It is so much fun to look at yourself on the screen and see what areas are hot, and which cool. I can leave heat handprints on my shirt or even on the top of my head. And kids with sandals can remove them and see heat remants of their footprints on the floor as they walk. It is great to watch the kids having fun. Right next to the camera are the spacebikes.

Now these, well here is how the website describes them: " Take a spin on a centrifuge that you power like a bicycle." Now you don't actually power them with your pedaling, but astronauts could some day. There are three seats which you lay back in, and then a set of bicycle pedals for each seat. Astronauts lose strength in their muscles the whole time they're in "micro-gravity) and so they must exercise extensively (hence the bicycle pedals). However they also lose bone mass because of calcium leaching out of their bones (due to the lack of gravity) and the idea is that the cetrifuge spinning would help to replicate gravity as astronauts exercised for at least an hour per day. The kids love the experience and *grumble* never get dizzy! (Some aspects of youth are wasted on the youth) A number of adults also ride, and I've only had a couple ask for it to end early.

Well I think that is enough about the museum, now more about the rest of life. There are a few of you (I know exactly who you are) that have e-mailed me and not recieved a response (or sent a PM on Section 77). Right now (for no good reason really) I've just been retreating some what (part of the reason I didn't force myself to blog)--partly because at times I don't want to answer some questions or admit that I've put of answering some too long. I'll be getting on those soon.

The local library is awesome, right Mark? :-) They have a summer reading program--one for kids, one for teens, and one for adults. The kids get guaranteed prizes--but I might as well. For each book an adult reads between June 1st and August 31st they're entitled to fill out one raffle ticket. I figure that with as many books as I read (especially with all my time in at work) I'm bound have a good chance! Finally a lottery where I naturally increase the odds by enjoying life!

Speaking of books I'm really looking forward to this Saturday. Both Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble are advertising that all Harry Potter books ordered before Monday will arive on Saturday or (according to Amazon, I don't remembe if BN made the same surety) they're free! I ordered my copy a while back from BN (using my small AAA discount) so I'd better be counted there as well.

Well though this is a record making length post for me (and I'm sure I could think of more to type) I'm somewhat burned out by typing right now. :-) Oh, and I'd like to do a spot of reading before I sleep. Technically I'm currently in the middle of six different books. *sigh* No, that is a good thing! I just wish I could keep track of more at once!!

Well this last item I had planned to open with, but I'll close with it instead. Thanks to Billy for bringing this to my attention. Now I did make sure to check this out before I post it, ;-). I used my favourite site, Truth or Fiction, and they verified (as did another such site) that it is indeed correct--except that the comments were widely reported in the media. These are the comments by the judge in the case of the convicted "shoe bomber" terrorist Richard Reid:

Ruling by Judge William Young

U.S. District Court Judge William Young made the following statement in sentencing "shoe bomber" Richard Reid to prison. It is noteworthy, and deserves to be remembered far longer than he predicts. I commend it to you and to anyone you might wish to forward it to.

January 30, 2003 United States vs. Reid. Judge Young: Mr. Richard C. Reid, hearken now to the sentence the Court imposes upon you.

On counts 1, 5 and 6 the Court sentences you to life in prison in the custody of the United States Attorney General.

On counts 2, 3, 4 and 7, the Court sentences you to 20 years in prison on each count, the sentence on each count to run consecutive with the other. That's 80 years.

On count 8 the Court sentences you to the mandatory 30 years consecutive to the 80 years just imposed. The Court imposes upon you each of the eight counts a fine of $250,000 for the aggregate fine of $2 million.

The Court accepts the government's recommendation with respect to restitution and orders restitution in the amount of $298.17 to Andre Bousquet and $5,784 to American Airlines.

The Court imposes upon you the $800 special assessment.

The Court imposes upon you five years supervised release simply because the law requires it. But the life sentences are real life sentences so I need go no further.

This is the sentence that is provided for by our statues. It is a fair and just sentence. It is a righteous sentence. Let me explain this to you.

We are not afraid of any of your terrorist co-conspirators, Mr. Reid. We are Americans. We have been through the fire before. There is all too much war talk here. And I say that to everyone with the utmost respect.

Here in this court, where we deal with individuals as individuals, and care for individuals as individuals, as human beings we reach out for justice, you are not an enemy combatant. You are a terrorist. You are not a soldier in any war. You are a terrorist. To give you that reference, to call you a soldier gives you far too much stature. Whether it is the officers of government who do it or your attorney who does it, or that happens to be your view, you are a terrorist.

And we do not negotiate with terrorists. We do not treat with terrorists. We do not sign documents with terrorists. We hunt them down one by one and bring them to justice.

So war talk is way out of line in this court. You are a big fellow. But you are not that big. You're no warrior. I know warriors. You are a terrorist. A species of criminal guilty of multiple attempted murders.

In a very real sense Trooper Santigo had it right when you first were taken off that plane and into custody and you wondered where the press and where the TV crews were and he said you're no big deal. You're no big deal.

What your counsel, what your able counsel and what the equally able United States attorneys have grappled with and what I have as honestly as I know how tried to grapple with, is why you did something so horrific. What was it that led you here to this courtroom today? I have listened respectfully to what you have to say. And I ask you to search your heart and ask yourself what sort of unfathomable hate led you to do what you are guilty and admit you are guilty of doing. And I have an answer for you. It may not satisfy you. But as I search this entire record it comes as close to understanding as I know.

It seems to me you hate the one thing that is most precious. You hate our freedom. Our individual freedom. Our individual freedom to live as we choose, to come and go as we choose, to believe or not believe as we individually choose.

Here, in this society, the very winds carry freedom. They carry it everywhere from sea to shining sea. It is because we prize individual freedom so much that you are here in this beautiful courtroom. So that everyone can see, truly see that justice is administered fairly, individually, and discretely.

It is for freedom's sake that your lawyers are striving so vigorously on your behalf and have filed appeals, will go on in their, their representation of you before other judges. We are about it. Because we all know that the way we treat you, Mr. Reid, is the measure of our own liberties. Make no mistake though. It is yet true that we will bear any burden, pay any price, to preserve our freedoms.

Look around this courtroom. Mark it well. The world is not going to long remember what you or I say here. Day after tomorrow it will be forgotten. But this, however, will long endure. Here in this courtroom and courtrooms all across America, the American people will gather to see that justice,individual justice, justice, not war, individual justice is in fact being done.

The very President of the United States through his officers will have to come into courtrooms and lay out evidence on which specific matters can be judged, and juries of citizens will gather to sit and judge that evidence democratically, to mold and shape and refine our sense of justice.

See that flag, Mr. Reid? That's the flag of the United States of America. That flag will fly there long after this is all forgotten. That flag stands for freedom. You know it always will.

Custody Mr. Officer. Stand him down.

So much better than all those other internet rumours because it is actually true, and it so well reflects what America should be all about! By the way, I should also like to take this opportunity to remember all those who died in London--I hope it will strengthen our resolve in the War on Terror (and more importantly open up the doors for more to be saved in England and wherever they've heard about this).

So long, farewell, and thanks for the fish. I hope to update soon.

Oh yeah, and if you haven't done so already please check out the Superheroes and Villians story. It is being cooperatively written by myself and a group of friends (overseen by Jeremiah)--I think you might enjoy it!

Oh, this is an addendum added after I read Jeremiah's last Private Message at Section 77. It is quite quiet without all the little kids running about. Things are a bit messy because the boys don't pick anything up (but I've also not been picking the papers up, they're laying around unred because I don't have time in the morning to get them before I leave). Tonight I did what I've done a couple other times--not wanting to spend all my time at home I took off for the library after dinner and spent several hours just sitting and reading. It is nice to be around people, even if I don't know them or talk to them I'm at least just not sitting in an empty, or nearly empty house reading, I'm somewhere where others are.

~Matt