To Infinity and Beyond

When I was growing up I wanted to be an astronaut. I even wrote my “What I Want to be When I Grow Up” paper in 7th grade on becoming an astronaut. Last month for Book Club we read Packing for Mars, by Mary Roach (same author as Stiff). It’s a funny and informative book about astronauts, zero gravity, exploration, and all things space. It had some great insight into the everyday life of an astronaut. Here are a few interesting things I learned.  

• On average, an astronaut gains 2.5 inches in height after just one week in space. Our spines are all squished together down here, but up there in zero gravity your spine column can chill out and relax. Wow, 2.5 inches! That would make me a whopping 5’ 3”. Well, if I ever get that call from America’s Next Top Model, I’ll just tell Tyra I need a few weeks in space first.
• Even astronauts get motion sickness sometimes. This made me feel somewhat better about myself, as I have always hated the fact that I am prone to motion sickness. But alas, even the pros get sick at times. 
• Being an astronaut is not as glamorous as it seems. Things like showering, using the bathroom, and changing your clothes are not so easy in zero gravity. In fact, it’s kind of gross up there. As I was reading, I thought to myself, “Wait a second…the whole thing sounds a lot like camping.” And as you all know, I love NOT camping.  

This book shed a whole new light on space travel, and made me quite glad that I took another path in life. Don’t get me wrong—astronauts still get to do amazingly cool things, but it’s not all glitz and glamour. After reading this book, I am even more glad that my 7th grade teacher wrote, “I always thought you’d make a great teacher” on the top of my paper. It saved me from a life of camping…in space.

Will and Kate

This makes me very happy.

A friend of mine at work just came back from London with her very own copy of this paper doll book. I saw it and almost died! They are the cutest thing and I must buy them. Once again, why don’t we have royalty in America? And how old is too old to want paper dolls?

Bob

We live near a mountain preserve, so consequently, we have lots of desert critters that come down and visit our yard/neighborhood. So far we’ve had visits from bunny rabbits, snakes, roadrunners, javelinas, and bobcats. The bobcat is by far the coolest and scariest! They are beautiful cats, but they can also jump over walls and climb like crazy. I’ve seen a few walking around our neighborhood, just hanging out, but I had no idea they could do this…

That is one tall cactus, and that is one brave bobcat! Apparently he was being chased by a mountain lion and climbed the cactus to get away. Pretty impressive! I didn’t take these shots, but I thought they were fantastic, so I had to share. You can read the news story and link to the slideshow here. That’s Bobcat: 1 Mountain Lion: 0

April Fool

All week long the weatherman kept telling me that we were going to have record breaking heat today, April 1st. They said it would be 97 degrees—possibly even reaching 100. Which is crazy (and makes Al Gore very happy) because it’s typically 75 or 80 this time of year. I woke up today hoping that it was a great big April Fool’s joke, but alas, it’s crazy hot outside. Nearing surface of the sun temperatures.

Not funny Mr. Sun. Okay, ha ha, we get your joke, now just say, “April Fools!” and turn the temperature back down to 75. Thank you very much.