If the Incredible Hulk and the Thing from the Fantastic Four got into a fight, who do you think would win? Mr. Duggins said his friend who worked for Marvel Comics would describe attending cocktail parties full of conversations that began along those lines. That was how Duggins transitioned to describing the conversations engineers were getting into at the 2005 NASA meeting at Disney’s Contemporary Resort Motel when they were asked to create a new kind of space ship. They were told that it could have wings, it could have tanks, it could have anything – just throw what you have against a wall and see what sticks – so they were coming up with all kinds of scenarios. But in every scenario imagined Batman beats Superman. Just saying.

Pat Duggins, NPR space expert and newly hired something or other with Alabama Public Radio, gave a lecture on campus today based on his book Beyond the Final Countdown: NASA and the End of the Space Shuttle Program. I am curious if this is the same lecture he gave on CSpan’s Booknotes. I watch that show –that’s where I discovered Simon Singh and AJ Jacobs – but I haven’t seen Mr. Duggins there. I have heard him on NPR. His lecture today was a bit meandering and his powerpoint presentation minimal and slapdash, but I think his actual book will be really good. I think he must have liked the subject so much he hopped around a lot in his talk, but he probably couldn’t do that when writing a book. He has a great voice and is very personable, so it was pleasant just listening to him talk.

My favorite story from the presentation was centered around Challenger. He opened with asking us to share our first memories of NASA and the space program. From the memories shared, I think I was the youngest person in the room by about twenty years. Cosmos would be my first “real space” encounter, but my first actual memory of the space program is the Challenger explosion. _{Well, unless you count the MTV commercials with Buzz Aldrin.} So I was particularly interested when he got to that portion of his presentation. He said in the 1980’s the news programs didn’t really cover the space program. When Coke and Pepsi sent up zero-gravity dispensers it was on the news, but other than that the space program was mostly ignored, which I guess is why I don’t have many memories of it. Reporters didn’t cover the space shuttle’s flights because it would be like covering an airport – they took off, they landed, back to you Jim. So he wasn’t covering Challenger when it exploded; he was in the production room with another story when he noticed people scurrying about and asked what happened. Upon hearing the shuttle exploded he grabbed his tape recorder and a company car and sped to Cape Canaveral barking on a CB radio to arrange press passes be waiting for him when he arrived. While waiting outside the security office to pick up his badge he noticed a school bus and a group of 3rd graders with hangdog expressions, so his first interview regarding the Challenger was with those kids recounting their experience watching the shuttle explode. He kept the tapes and 20 years later when he began writing this book he tracked down some of the children, now in their 30’s, to get their reflections on the shuttle program. I found it interesting that for the kids the scariest part of the Challenger explosion experience occurred when they returned home later that night. The bus ride was three hours and no one had cell phones back then, so by 6pm their parents had watched the shuttle explode over and over on television without knowing for sure if their children were okay. What if they’d been hit by some debris?!?! When the kids disembarked they were grabbed in a mad scramble by frightened parents.

He also told a great story about the invention of WD40 . He showed a street sign in Cocoa Beach called “I Dream of Jeannie Lane” and said astronauts really did hang out at Bernard’s Surf as mentioned on the show. And because I was in the audience he mentioned Steve Jobs.

I didn’t realize that when the Shuttle program shuts down it will spell the end for Cape Canaveral. Duggins thinks Huntsville, AL will pick up the torch. As a Florida native, I’m saddened by this.

	The Man of the Hour Reddheaded brought over her graduation robes and Toaster brought her own, so we had a mini graduation ceremony. Everyone in the house hummed Pomp & Circumstance while poor Raven was forced to march through the living room. When we were helping him get ready he said something about not knowing what to do - I got to say "I do this for a living" in a serious voice before I started giggling. It was a lot of fun for me because I really do do this for a living. :)
	I didn't expect a ruddy Spanish Inquisition So I'm trying to get various angles of the cake in order for people to truly appreciate it's brilliance, but after a while It just seems like "And this is the cake coming around the side of the kitchen, hiding behind a tree..."
	Take it from the top! The lighting is funny on this one, but this is a top down view of the cake.
	Side view of the Cake Look what a great job he did shaping the leg muscles!! The fingers and toes impressed me, too. The body itself is made from marzipan with yellow sugar crystals for the hair. The towel is homemade whipped cream (not Cool Huip). Monkeys also made hte table top from melted and reshaped chocolate chip cookies. The cake itself is Black Forest - done as three layers with whipped cream between them It was fantastic.

We also made a coupon, which I may post. I have a few pictures of Toaster presenting Raven with a diploma WHICH HE LEFT AT MY HOUSE so no matter what he may tell you, he's not really graduated and legit until he picks it up...

Our college just put on Richard III. As one of my former College Success students was in the play, we made sure to make it out one night to see it.

I would have normally wanted to see it anyway as I try to support all the college shows, I'm a fan of plays in general, and I always love it when the college performs Shakespeare, but I had hesitations this week. It was a busy week and on top of that I was feeling very run down. Considering Richard III is so serious and dark, had she not have been in the play I would have begged off and skipped this one. I'm so glad I didn't!

The play was good!!! I was surprised I liked it as much as I did because it’s really complicated, not very funny, and mostly historical. I confess, I'm more of a fan of his comedies. But even if I had hated the play, I was in awe of how they handled the set and the costumes. The set was minimalist and transformable, so between scenes the actors would pick up the gray rectangular pieces and arrange them into chairs, beds, castle walls, tables, or whatever was needed. They advertised it as being set in the future, and I was very curious as to how they would accomplish that. It was brilliant. It was a hologram put on by the Holographic Museum of London! They even had recognition of fake companies that funded the production. To add to the effect, they put up screens on either side of the little theatre where they broadcast pictures, biographies, and summaries of what was happening during the cut scenes (they cut a lot of scenes for time purposes) while a computerized voice did narration. During the actual acting they had funky electronic music playing that occasionally sounded like FTL news feeds and static, which gave it a cool BSG communications between ships sort of feel. Sometimes the music was a little too loud, but most of the time it created a weird effect of actually feeling like you were in the year 2083 (or whatever) watching a holographic presentation by their equivalent of the History channel. Actually, have you ever played the computer game Alchemy? The music was kind of like that – offsetting, but not unpleasant. The screens sometimes showed modern day scenes of war and flickered creepily (in an apocalyptic sort of way). Whenever they turned on or turned off the hologram (show start, intermission, show end) they had flickering lights and an almost TARDIS sound. I think at one point they said to keep your arms and legs inside during transmission. They also took advantage of the screens during Richard and Richmond's dream scene - the "haunting" took place via a video they played of all those murdered by Richard. The video was rather disturbing with they way they lit it and edited it. It would have given me nightmares, too.

In addition to the amazing set, the costumes were brilliant. The Fine Arts department always does amazing costumes. I think he used to be a professional out in Hollywood or something and just retired to the area. Another benefit of living near beautiful beaches, I suppose. Draws cool people in their retirement. Anyway, costumes... The soldiers looked like they were wearing SG1 uniforms and they carried guns!!! That was awesome. The main characters were all in black or grey or dark color suits and dresses unless they were clergy. Clergy wore bright white. Richard III had a cyborg arm with green glowing cables. It helped with the "futuristic" feel, as well. I thought of Neophyte a lot during the play! I wish I had pictures of the costumes to share; they really were impressive.

The acting was very good, especially Michelle (she was one of the best!!). There were a few that were hard to hear or seemed to go in and out of character, but for the most part I was really pleased. Monkeys talked about Clint's performance as Richard for days afterwards.

They did not mess with Shakespeare's words, other than editing out portions. So the beauty and word skill was there. And, thankfully, there were a few funny lines to lift your mood in an otherwise sober and bloody story. I bought a copy of Richard III Shakespeare No Fear to better understand what I saw.

Oh, and a wonderful accident of the night - magnet5 and his friend happened to be attending that night, so we got to sit with them! Perfect!

So much is happening I haven’t had time to write much about it! This is a loooooooooooong post going back over the last eleven days. I could go back more, but ran out of time...

Class – I had to switch to audit. I got sick one weekend and that combined with RCIA responsibilities put me behind in one of the assignments, so I opted out. Up to that week we had been doing one or two chapters every two weeks, but it just so happened we had three chapters (Decision Logic, Case Logic, and Loop Logic) all at once, which was enough on its own. This assignment period we just have one chapter (Arrays) and is going pretty well, so it sort of proves it is all in the timing.

Work – has been kind of fun lately. Wednesday I got to volunteer with check in at the Career Fair. I love that because you don’t actually talk to anyone for more than five minutes before you are done with that person and on to meeting the next person, so I get to say basically the same thing over and over again and my stupid jokes are new each time I tell them to a new person. I’m not sure why, but I get a real rush from this kind of task. I think it’s all the smiling. Every time a new face appears in front of you, it’s a new opportunity to smile really big and give directions. Plus, the people looking for jobs are usually excited and nervous, so when you say “that’s a lovely dress” or “you look very professional, today” and wish them good luck, you can actually see the sense of relief and hope in their eyes. Even better, they had companies of all ilk represented, including Krispee Kreme. Krispee Kreme brought donuts. OMG.

Thursday night we went to see Richard III (in 3D) at the campus. One of my former students was in it, so I wanted to go to support her. She did an outstanding job in her three roles. The set was pretty amazing, too. I’m hoping to do a short individual post about the play sometime soon. I also went to the Thursday night yoga class since I missed Tuesday’s class. Between yoga and the play, Monkeys, Raven, and I had a picnic on the campus for dinner. It made for a very long day – I was on campus from 7:30 am to about 10:30 pm – but it was a beautiful day full of friends and fun.

Wednesday night I went to the last of the Mission masses at church. Part of the mass was adoration and benediction, so the church was full of the lovely scent of incense. It was also my first confession. That was hard! I had spent the last two weeks or more praying and searching my memories to prepare my confession. I don’t know what was harder – pulling up memories, some long buried, of things for which I was ashamed or confessing them out loud. I am hoping to write a reflection on this. I wrote two very long emails about it to my friend Janey, so I’ve made a dent in doing a reflection at least. Wednesday was another late night, I got home around 8:30 and set to work making sandwiches for Thursday’s picnic lunch and getting stuff ready since I knew Thursday was going to be an even later night.

Tuesday was St. Patrick’s day! Erin go Bragh! RCIA was cancelled due to Mission week at the church. Instead we were told to go to our first confession and to attend any day of the Mission services. So in a rare case of good timing, it meant Toaster and I were available for our traditional McGuires dinner with Redd!headed and friends! We bundled up in our green and met up around 6pm. McGuires has this down to a science at this point, so despite the HUGE crowds, we got in fairly rapidly and the food was downright quick to arrive. I have pictures! I will be posting them! I will take bribes to remove them! Waiting to get in is part of the fun because many people are in totally outrageous outfits (dying their beards green, leprechauns sitting on people’s shoulders, giant hats, glitter, etc.), and everyone is cheerful so there’s a feeling of happiness and excitement that you can actually breathe in. Wakes were consumed. Giggling was giggled. Usual stuff. Of course, some of us headed over to the Krispee Kreme afterwards for more giggling and photographs. Tradition is tradition, afterall! I think we still ended up home around 10:30, so we did pretty good timewise even if we totally blew it scalewise the next morning.

Monday we were supposed to go see the play, but something happened. I think one of us got sick. I don’t actually remember much about Monday, except possibly trying to do some cleaning since we have company coming in on Friday.

Sunday was another Scrutinies mass for those of us in RCIA. Toaster came over afterwards to help me prepare for my confession. I did a kind of practice run where she looked over my notes and answered questions about what I should expect and when to cross myself, when to sit, etc. We had lunch and spent the rest of the day sitting around watching Big Bang Theory, Castle, and Dollhouse since she wasn’t able to come over on Saturday night and missed seeing them.

Saturday I ran errands during the daytime instead of my normal visiting the parents activities (since my mom was out of town). Then there was the frantic vacuuming and stashing of stuff in preparation for the Saturday Gathering. In addition to our normal activities, Raven brought over his massage table and Redd and I got massages! Yay! I want another!!

Friday Monkeys and I had dinner at Tammy and Shawn’s house. They were super nice and made a veggie burger for me. They also made sweet potato fries and I have been craving more for a week now. We played Frag and I may have won, I don’t remember. I’d forgotten that I actually like that game, which is rare for me as it is a shoot-em-up game instead of a word puzzle game (my preference).

Thursday was a panicked evening of taking a quiz and attempting to finish out my homework. Everything went wrong. For the first time ever we had short answer questions on a quiz and neither of us knew we had to use html in answers if we wanted formatting. The quiz wasn’t really on the new chapters; four of the questions were homework questions from last week’s assignment, which I had at work so I had to write the algorithms from scratch instead of it being a simple cut and paste. I never finished the homework assignment. Up to this week Monkeys and I had been doing a good job sharing the textbook, but that failed us this week. The days I had complete access to it I was sick and the rest of the week never seemed to work out. It’s more important he gets it, so I switched to audit and just submitted what I had managed to finish.

I don’t remember Wednesday!

Tuesday was yoga and RCIA. In RCIA we had a role playing class in preparation for our upcoming first confession. Our priest and one of our instructors acted out a good and a bad confession. The bad confession was hysterical and so over the top it was more comedic than helpful, but it lightened my mood. Father was twirling in his chair talking on his cell phone about surfing, saying “no, I’m not busy” while motioning Susan to sit in the chair as she came in. That alone made me giggle, but it’s unlikely the priest would behave that way, so really it was up to Susan to be the example of what we shouldn’t do. She was awesome. She pretty much said that she was great, didn’t have anything to confess really, she was only there because she had to be, and when he asked her about suggestions for penance she suggested he skip that part. Also, in the middle of it, one of the other instructors called her on her cell phone, so she stopped to answer it. So funny. We also discussed the concepts of confession and reconciliation in great detail, got some awesome handouts to help with reflection, and discussed why the Catholic church has it as a sacrament. I had been praying and reading about saints for a week before that class and didn’t have much on my list of things to confess, but after that class it was like everything came back to me – even back to elementary school days.

Monday I was sick. I even called in sick from work, which I almost never do. I spent the day on the couch being miserable.

Sunday was an amazing day. At mass that morning we had the Rite of Sending where Catechumens (unbaptized) and Candidates (baptized) were called to the front of the church with their sponsors and had a special blessing conferred upon us since we were heading over to the cathedral for the Rite of Election. Toaster and I went back to my house after mass for pancakes (yes, Monkeys made Nanerpus for each of us) then we had to rush back to the church to caravan to Pensacola. After the Rite of Election, where thankfully we only had to stand in place not go to the front of the church, they had a reception for us. I tried to thank everyone I saw working the tables, because it’s awfully nice of them to give up a Sunday afternoon to feed a hundred strangers. Oddly enough, it just so happens one of my best friends from high school came up twice in the form of her father and a family friend. When I was making my way to our section of the cathedral, I passed someone who called my name and gave me a hug – Lisa’s dad. When I introduced him to Toaster, it turned out he worked with her father many years ago! Small world. Later at the reception I was standing in line behind a women who looked really familiar to me, so I asked if she was a teacher (thinking I had had a practicum with her at some point). After many suggestions of places we could have met, it turned out she had thrown Lisa a Bridesmaid Brunch, so I had been to her house for that back in the 1990’s. It had been a lovely brunch and a beautiful house, so it should not surprise me too much that I remembered her face from just the one meeting. I flash back to that day frequently when I’m thinking of happy moments in my life. When I got home I emailed Lisa to let her know that she was there in spirit for my Rite of Election – I knew she would have been there in person had she been local, so I thought she’d like the message. She happened to be online, so we talked for probably an hour.

Sorry again for the length. Probably this post is more of a diary for me than interesting reading for others.

I wish I had more time because I haven't had a chance yet to post about the Act4Murder show we saw last Thursday. Tickmosis's birthday is tomorrow, so as part of her birthday a group of us went to a dinner murder show. magnet5 and my best friend from high school have been in these shows before, and I have always wanted to go see one. Unfortunately, Magnet wasn't in this particular show, but he did attend with us which was awesome because our table got flirted with an awful lot, and I'm sure their knowing him had an impact on that attention.

It was at the Bombay Masala, so we were treated to an Indian food buffet. (Which is heaven for me, Raven.) I'm not saying that was the best part of the night because it was Tick's birthday and there was a play going on, but OMG I LOVE INDIAN FOOD.

The show was hysterical. Don Kashane (pronounce it like you are saying "thank you" in German) was throwing a benefit and somehow three competing divas all showed up to perform, each thinking they were to be the only artist. There was also a grumpy piano player who may or may not play piano and someone who at first seemed like a stalker, but blossomed into something completely different and wonderful. I don't want to give any more plot details just in case someone else sees the show, but I will brag that our table solved the mystery and won a bunch of cool prizes (coffee cups, coffee, chocolates). The table that came up with the worst solution won a DVD set of mysteries to watch before coming to another show in the hopes they would pick up some skills for next time. My favorite scene from the play I cannot repeat, but my other favorite moments are 1) all the terrible terrible piano jokes that Don Kashane threw out (after every joke he's say "Don Kashane!") and 2) the rewritten "I am beautiful" song that the younger diva sang. The three divas were wonderful. "Royal Payne" looked a lot like Brittany Spears and had the squeaky spoiled voice down pat. "Marion Haste" sang country songs and had the best jeans I have ever seen. "Augusta Wind" reminded me a lot of Celine Dion but was very New Age in a hysterical over-the-top sort of way. Magnet said she performed with Dean Martin as a back up singer and dancer!! I can believe it; she was striking! (Beautiful, poised, etc.)

Turns out the piano player (Stan Back) was played by one of the reporters from the Beachcomber who knew Toaster's band Ave. He's interviewed them on several occasions.

Oh, and there was yummy Indian food. DId I mention that?

Tonight there will be yummy Black Forrest cake, since Tick didn't really get a cake at the show. They did sing a dirge of a birthday song to her, which was very funny. All and all, a wonderful night. Now, I have to run and finish getting things set up for tonight. CAKE!

We had expected to be in Wisconsin in October, so I did not think I would get to the college production of Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None. With Artemis getting so sick, however, we are housebound for the most part as we would never expect anyone else to give her the IV treatments or feedings. Therefore, we ended up at the play after all! It was in the smaller theatre and the set was so big they only had one of the three sets of seating out, so the play sold out before I could get tickets for everyone. As it stood, Monkeys and I had to go on a Wednesday night instead of our usual Friday night because of the limited seating. That turned out to rather nice as we went out for dinner and saw the play as a date. I even wore a super fancy dress and did my hair up a bit.

I ought to talk some about the play… While I enjoyed everyone, I was particularly impressed with the butler (Mr. Rogers) and the prudish lady (Emily Brent)'s performances. The set was fantastic! Apparently I love Art Deco now. I was especially impressed with two things. One, they did a hallway even though nothing actually took place there, it just added to the feel of the play. Two, to give the illusion of a courtyard, they created giant windows with French doors leading out to what must have been a narrow area with some chairs, a wall that they peered over looking for boats off stage, and a sort of green screen. It was all open air cutouts, but it really looked like windows and they projected a moon or other lights to imply the time of day. The lighting people did an amazing job with their lightning flashes, power outages, faux candles, all perfectly timed. I loved the costumes, too. I think they should put their costumes on display somewhere as they always do an amazing job with those. The accents seemed to come and go, which was amusing. One gentlemen was Scottish, Irish, British, German, and from Boston all within the span of ten minutes.

Before the play, we toured the pastels exhibit and chatted with a lovely gentleman manning the door there. It was both sweet and sad, because he kept referring to his wife. He was an engineer, but she was an artist, so they would attend a lot of artistic functions. They lived in Paris for a while due to his work, she spoke French and they loved to go to exhibit openings for their evening activities. When they were living in New York, she took art lessons at some faux marble school, and while she was in class he would spend the day at the NYC art museums. Thanks to her influence, he spent a lot of time talking to artists, and as an engineer he was always fascinated with why they used the techniques they used. Now that she is gone, I think he holds on to a connection with her by attending our college exhibit openings to talk to those artists, and he volunteers his time at the exhibits desk. The volunteers go through some sort of training on the artwork in case patrons have questions. Probably their main job is pointing out the bathrooms. He spoke to us for a long time, so I think he was lonely. It was beautiful listening to him devote as much time to bragging about his wife's artwork as he spent talking about the pastels currently hanging on the walls. It was so touching that as we were walking to the theatre Monkeys and I were mock-arguing over how we would be like that. I was insisting he would take up making Celtic knot work graphic art and start travelling to Celtic festivals and telling people about his redheaded wife who loved the festivals. He claimed I would be roaming about MacWorld and talking about how much he loved Apple computers. The only thing we agreed on was that neither of us wanted to be the one left behind.

( in which MLR might come across is mean, but darn it - it was funny )

So, in all, best Date Night ever.

So I held off posting about magnet5's production of Merry Wives of Windsor until l had time to do it justice and now that I have a free moment it appears I do not have adequate words. It was fantastic. (And imagine that word spoken with the enthusiasm of the ninth Doctor). First of all, Magnet was amazing. I'd never seen him in a play before – the closest thing would be a live-action game called Dark Confrontation back in 1993. His accent added to the portrayal – made it more like real Shakespeare. I was so captivated by his performance that I forgot to look for his sister’s spaniel in his interpretation. I'm trying to think back, maybe in some of the head movements/positions. Anyway – it was beyond cool. I know it took many long hours and hard work but I hope they will do another one. Maybe Much Ado About Nothing – if I had to pick a favorite comedy that would be it. Then again, I’ve only read/seen about seven of his plays. Unless you count the Reduced Shakespeare Theatre, of course!

( more dithering about the play! )

Instead of bemoaning the fact we don't live in Atlanta and how in Atlanta you can't swing a dead cat without bumping into something cool to do (like 8 billion little theatres and an unending choice of musical shows plus organizations to join) we decided to go out and DO something around here. Our drum teacher invited us to hear his group play. Ritzy neighborhood full of swank, that was interesting to see. I'm shocked they let us in.

Toaster and John and I went and it got me somewhat philosophical. Or what passes for philsophical for me. Toaster commented on how some of the instrumentals didn't have melodies. I thought about how we are struggling so hard (or I am at least) to learn how to play melodies on our instruments and here's this band that could play any melody in the world but their just doing some chord progression thing. This I linked to Picasso and his crazy cubism which he did despite the fact he could draw completely realistic pictures - whereas I can barely get stick figures proportioned. So is there this artistic cycle where you start out by making random sounds and spots then become adept at melodies and images then go beyond that to what can seem like random sounds and spots again?

Anyway, the night air was perfect, the lake and pavillion picturesque, and anytime I can sit under a tree and listen to music is heaven. I don't think there is anything I enjoy more than live music. They did mostly jazz and older songs (Just the Thought of You, Ain't Misbehaving, Summertime) and they were fantastic. Nicest of all, it brought up happy memories of going to Jeet's shows - didn't realize how much I missed that. I kept staring at our teacher waiting for him to do the Ringo head bop for me that Jeet always used to do. He didn't, but he looked really happy. And after the show he came down and hugged us. And we were really happy. And I'm still really happy.

Cookin' was a lot of fun! I didn't really know what to expect. I don't want to give anything away because it was nice being surprised but I do want to rave about it so I'm in a quandry. In addition to the amazing drumming they did something like juggling (I want a frizbee now) and they interacted with the audience A LOT (those were my favorite parts). I am really looking forward to drum lessons on Thursday!!! Maybe I can use something from the show.

Stolen from Supergoober





You are outgoing Willow. You have really come into your stride and are one with your surroundings. Everyone thinks you are super-cool, but you're a bit worried that they'll figure out you're pretty normal. But you have such potential and a great attitude that you simply don't know your worth.



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