E.T.

Suppose you wanted to visit Pluto (since it happens to be a LONG way away from Earth)
(And I know it is no longer a planet but let's just pretend you still want to see it!) - and you hop on your handy space ship (you do have one right?) and it goes 1,000 km/hour (since I only do metric in my class). You will arrive in 684.9 years.
Slightly wrinkled. Hope you packed enough food.

Now MAYBE you decide to travel on to Alpha Centauri C (the nearest star to our solar system). It is a mere 40 trillion km away (rounded off) - or 4.21 light years. Pack a LOT of food since that trip will take you 4,566,210 years.

Einstein proved (with math) that you can't travel faster than the speed of light (sorry). So I have you traveling about the speed of a fast jet.

Now E.T. MIGHT go a bit faster. Maybe. Anyway IF E.T. has figured out a way to get to Earth to visit - a big IF - WHY would he use that intelligence to then spend his time peeking in windows in Nebraska? (See news story). Just asking.
Pax aka Chris

PS Of course I have been worried ever since I read this story that my son
has made E.T. puppets and has been visiting homes playing practical jokes.
And if he's reading this - STOP IT NOW before you end up in trouble!

Memorial Day

He's a Sgt. now (this was a graduation from Boot Camp photo with wife, Heather).

I'm also the Proud Daughter of an Army Vet (just don't have any photos of Dad in
uniform).
Dad served in the Navy during WWII, losing part of a finger because he didn't
get it out of the way quick enough when the gunner closed to fire on his destroyer.
He says he shot it at the Japanese (along with dozens of other great stories
he's told the grandkids on how he lost his finger - none of which are true.
Trying to get above son LONG ago to quit sucking his finger he told him he
"sucked it off". Michael looked at him wide eyed (age 3) but refused to quit
sucking his fingers. He doesn't do that anymore though!).
After WWII, Dad came home and joined the Army Reserves. He stayed in it
until the Korean War when he was called up again. He served throughout the
Korean conflict - serving at the end in China. He's led an interesting life.
He also, in between, served during the Navy time in the Atomic Bomb trials.
He has suffered cancer as a result. (That cancer was pronounced cured some years
ago but he suffers the effects still).
Heroes...they are all heroes.
May we pause to remember all of them.

Grand Canyon Death Defying Act (Not one of mine!)

He wanted a photo of the sun rise. Right. I'm not sure why THAT spot was the
best spot. Seems like the safe ledge was just as good but who knows. We don't
get to see the photo he took. Just the ones the tourists took of the photographer.
I suspect NONE of the other tourists even SAW the sunrise that morning.

The Grandkids

I love the photos of Darcy and Jacob loving each other.
The one photo of Jeremiah standing at the gate was taken by Darcy
(age 3) who is getting pretty good (with a bit of help aiming) with
my digital camera! She loves to take pictures. And I love to have
them visit.

Prince Caspian is a Hit

I saw the movie today...and it was a hit. Very good - better
than the first one. You just know Aslan will come through (but I
won't spoil it for those who have not yet seen it.). There was
enough humor to break the tense moments and I loved the "evil king".
Reepicheep had to be my favorite (besides Aslan of course) but
then of the humans I guess I'd go with...I have no idea...I like them
all!

Working for ReadItAgainBooks Wears Me Out

I think my Owner is violating Cat Labor laws. I work a lot of overtime
lately and just look at this stack of books. I tried a sit out today but
she just moved me off her book and went on packing books. Then she had the
audacity to complain that I was shedding! I may go on strike!
Aslan

PS I have a new movie coming out soon. Go see it..

Mother's Day 2008

The Incredible Egg Drog Contest

The rules were easy - the lightest contraption that holds a raw egg in which the egg does not break when dropped from the second story of the church where we meet wins.
I also awarded a prize for most creative invention. So we had all kinds of entries this year.
I think the most creative packing material used this year was jello. A bit messy to get the egg out of to check afterwards but the egg emerged unbroken!
The lightest overall was the styrofoam cup and straws. The "Mary Poppins" look was a nice touch I thought but was pretty heavy. Diapers worked well too.
Ryan's childhood? bear served well (also very heavy) but we watched and watched as he unstuffed and unstuffed to find the egg. I was beginning to think there was really no egg in there but finally the egg was found unbroken.
Temperance and Kathleen were happy with their bubble wrapped unbroken egg.
Several tried parachutes (it was a tad windy but not too windy so they sort of
worked). Packing peanuts worked again too. Abby's was pretty - and worked well too.
I have to say Andrew's idea of a controlled drop was great BUT was fudging the rules so I had to disqualify him (awarded points for creativity). It was a simple and elegant idea but the two person control defeated the idea of "egg drop!".

Only a few eggs broke so I think the kids have this thing figured out - next time I'll have tough rules!

This past week on CSI 3 victims all had green blood and no there
were no aliens involved. When I saw the previews from the previous
week I knew that the probable cause was going to be drug related
and I turned out to be right. The producers of the show decided to
call the drug "Thiocyte" (there is no such drug) probably fearing
lawsuits but they did get the right type of drug - migraine medication.
Sumatriptan (Imitrex) is thus far the only suspected drug to cause this
effect (not yet proven to cause this but very suspect and only in
daily or above average doses).

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2007/06/08/health-green-blood.html

You can google Sumatriptan green blood and get a lot of hits now on
the growing number of cases (surgical).

It's the sulfur that swaps out with the iron in the blood that turns
the blood green. After stopping the drug the blood turns red again.

It was sort of fun to watch the show and be right about it before
the show even began but I'm also sure I'm not the only medical person
who was watching who had it figured out before they had gotten very
far into the show.

It was fun to see the Mythbusters guys show up but I wish they had
had a bigger role - bring them back!