Headline news brought me out of my thesis-induced retirement today....
I was down in class when it happened and I'm sure the video doesn't do it justice. But the idea of it can make emotion rise deep in your gut. Imagine for a minute, growing up with a model spaceship. Your parents and grandparents talk about the great moments when astronauts landed in space. The last and greatest frontier, where all mankind raced to be - Americans landed on the moon. It was a symbol of American accomplishment, an inspiration as a child that anything could be done.
The toy spaceship was the integral part of my imagination. Together we soared over the confines of the house, landing for exploration on faraway places. I later got a LEGO space shuttle with an arm for launching satellites and run training flights from a 747. My brother had the fall away launch pad with detachable rockets. Our obsession with the space shuttle was entwined with our ability to dream about the future. Nobody could tell me it didn't exist in space because nobody I knew had been there before. We lined up on the couch upside down and pretended to launch off into the great unknown. My parents drove us by the big launch site as kids and while I don't remember much, I remember excitement. The space shuttles were exciting, inspiring, powerful and unique.
The pictures and video are awesome. There is no more epic way to go out than to be flown around the mall before retirement at Dulles. While I'm excited to see what's next, the passing of this era leaves me nostalgic. When I help teach my kids history and we reach the space shuttles, I don't know what words will do it justice. My kids will never understand.
Showing posts with label thesis. Show all posts
Showing posts with label thesis. Show all posts
17 April 2012
27 July 2011
Bi-weekly Update
The past couple of weeks have once again been an absolute whirlwind. Starting my thesis has turned out to be the single greatest writing endeavour of my life and I think I started it none too soon. Besides trying to write about 1,000 words per day, I’ve also been trying to get amendments in for my protocol and other items around. Combine this with the state fair coming into play and there has been a lot of busy rushing going on.
The vegetables are growing well, with the best cantaloupe plants I’ve ever had. We trained the pumpkins to climb this year and the strength in their trailers is amazing! I’ve included a picture of the trainer a few weeks ago which has not totally filled out with leaves and blooms. I’m not sure how well the vines will hold the pumpkins on, but it’s a fun thing to try anyways. Those little wispies that come out from the vine have been reaching out and pulling the vine along every day, strengthening its position on the cage and providing a lot of entertainment for me.
4-H camp was this past week and over all, I think we’re pretty lucky. With all the heat and enough rain to canoe without damming up the creek, it’s really amazing that we were able to run all of our sessions without being cancelled out by rain except by night. Each day was blazingly hot with stifling humidity (heat indexes well over 100), but we made it through and only lost 1 dehydration patient over the week who had to go home to recover from losing too much fluid. On a funny note, we created a video to instruct campers about the 2 biggest problems we had at camp this year and I will plan on getting that posted as soon as I can get ahold of a copy of it.
I’ve got a bunch of different articles open on my browser, so hang tight and I’ll get them all out this week, but with the state fair and my position as a judge, a volunteer, an employee, a researcher, a sibling and a husband – it’s going to be a fast-paced next couple of weeks. Hang in there with me and stay cool and shady from all the hot weather.
The vegetables are growing well, with the best cantaloupe plants I’ve ever had. We trained the pumpkins to climb this year and the strength in their trailers is amazing! I’ve included a picture of the trainer a few weeks ago which has not totally filled out with leaves and blooms. I’m not sure how well the vines will hold the pumpkins on, but it’s a fun thing to try anyways. Those little wispies that come out from the vine have been reaching out and pulling the vine along every day, strengthening its position on the cage and providing a lot of entertainment for me.4-H camp was this past week and over all, I think we’re pretty lucky. With all the heat and enough rain to canoe without damming up the creek, it’s really amazing that we were able to run all of our sessions without being cancelled out by rain except by night. Each day was blazingly hot with stifling humidity (heat indexes well over 100), but we made it through and only lost 1 dehydration patient over the week who had to go home to recover from losing too much fluid. On a funny note, we created a video to instruct campers about the 2 biggest problems we had at camp this year and I will plan on getting that posted as soon as I can get ahold of a copy of it.
I’ve got a bunch of different articles open on my browser, so hang tight and I’ll get them all out this week, but with the state fair and my position as a judge, a volunteer, an employee, a researcher, a sibling and a husband – it’s going to be a fast-paced next couple of weeks. Hang in there with me and stay cool and shady from all the hot weather.
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