Race To The Moon

You may recall my post last August '06 concerning this subject.

Japan is finally going to launch it's Moon orbiter, SELENE, this August. Finally we will find out if the United States truly did visit the Moon from 1969-1972. The SELENE project is the largest lunar mission since the U.S. Apollo program.

"It involves placing a main satellite in orbit at an altitude of about 60 miles and deploying two smaller satellites in polar orbits." - Star-Telegram

Here is a very interesting article. It says that SELENE will use the latest, high performance instruments, as well as a high-definition movie camera. Among other things, they plan to map out the lunar surface and study the temperature and core in possible preparation for a "Deep Space Harbor".

In the meantime, China will launch a lunar orbiter in a matter of days, if it hasn't already launched, with much the same agenda as Japan. Both missions are to last one year.

Not to be out done, India, Russia and the U.S. are planning a similar joint robotic lunar mission next year.

I reiterate, IF the U.S. DID go to the moon from 1969-1972 with the Apollo program, why are we now, 35 years later, in a race to get back there?

If we had the technology in 1969 to send humans through the asteroid belt and land on the Moon, why are we sending un-manned probes now? You recall the Mars Rover debacle?

I do admit that I am extremely eager for China or Japan to map and photograph the Moon's surface to see if, indeed, the Lunar Rover and American Flag are there. Of course with technology these days, someone could "photoshop" a cocker spaniel on the Moon and it would look authentic.

If I am proven wrong, I will admit such here in this forum, however, the government may intercede to "protect" our feeble minds. They don't think we can handle the truth. They are afraid to admit that, during the cold war, we had to win the Space Race to keep morale up at any cost.

Time will tell.

And That's What I Think.

More Weekend Fun

This past weekend we had some friends come up.

Friday night we just sat around and talked and caught up with each other.

Saturday I got up and made waffles for everybody, then we played a few dvd games until it was time for Lacye's soccer game.

After the game we took them to our favorite Chinese restaurant *. Then we headed to Dallas. After unsuccessfully trying to lose them, LOL, which included erratic right turns, running a red light and a faked exit from the freeway, we made it to Reunion Tower. We had drinks in the lounge, which rotates 360-degrees in an hours time. What a view!

After the tower we went over to Dave & Busters for more drinks and games. We didn't get in until 1:00AM!

Sunday, after sleeping in, we went to the Water Gardens in Ft Worth. Featured in the 1976 film "Logan's Run", the Water Gardens consist of three architecturally designed pools. This is a really nice place to bring the family.

[we got in trouble for wading]

All in all we had a good visit with our friends.

* Restaurant Review - China King Super Buffet in Mansfield has the best Chinese food in a 20 mile radius. They have traditional Chinese food on four bars, American and Mexican on two bars, a sushi bar, a fruit bar and a dessert bar. If all this food isn't enough try the Mongolian grill, which is my favorite. Choose raw meat and vegetables and give it the cook where he'll grill it for you while you wait. About $10 each with bottomless beverages.


And That's What I Think.

FC Dallas

How cool is this? Lacye had soccer practice tonight with some of the team and coaches from our local professional soccer team! I don't remember the names of the players that came, though.

There were four players and three coaches that came to teach the kids. It wasn't just Lacye's team, the clinic was for the whole league that she plays in.

It was really cool. They set up six different areas and each group got to spend about 15 minutes with each player or coach learning from the pros. I think she really learned a lot.

After the clinic they got autographs. Lacye had them sign her soccer ball. What a cool experience for her. They were also giving away free tickets to this Sundays game, but we've already got other plans. So we'll have to go another time.

I have a couple of cell phone pictures I'll try to get on here.

And That's What I Think.

More Movies

In our quest to watch movies, I have a couple of more to rate for you.

TWISTER
Although this movie came out in 1996 and I have seen it several times, sharing it with the kids made it seem new again. Helen Hunt plays a girl who loses her father to an F5 tornado and grows up to be a storm chaser. Although some people discredit this film because of some unbelievability, you have to keep in mind that it is a movie. Bill Paxton gave a poor acting performance, but is overshadowed by Hunt's acting and the special effects. Twister still holds up!


WAR OF THE WORLDS
Tom Cruise stars in this 2005 film where aliens supposedly buried tripod craft millions of years ago and decided to wait until now to take over the world. Other than the lame premise, I found this movie to be exciting and action packed. Great special effects with wholesome family bonding sub-story. War of the Worlds won 11 awards with 18 nominations.


More movies ratings to come.

And That's What I Think.

Dad Would Be Proud

This past weekend we didn't get to cross anything off of the Kalma-tivities list.

Friday we were met with more Spring storms. In addition to the rain, there was heavy wind, golf ball size hail and 5 tornadoes touched down! We were fortunate, at our house, not to have gotten the hail or tornadoes.

After the tornado threat had passed, the kids were full of questions. We finally asked them if they wanted to watch a movie about tornadoes. So we all snuggled together and watched Twister with Helen Hunt.

Saturday it was windy all day and cooler. The temperature made it up to about 53 but the wind chill made it feel like it was in the lower 40's. Lacye had her soccer game while we froze. She did really well, as always.

When we got home around 3 PM, I headed straight for the kitchen to brew a pot of coffee. I've always known older people, like my dad, who drink coffee throughout the day. I consider coffee a morning drink only. Either I'm getting old or . . . . I think I'm just getting old! LOL

Sunday I had a couple of things in mind for us to do, but we opted to do some Spring cleaning around the house and then do a little shopping.

Oh well, more fun is just around the corner.

And That's What I Think.

The Penguin Has Landed !

This past weekend I had a friend over and we switched my computer operating system from Windows to Linux.

What does this mean, you ask?
No more system errors, no more computer crashes. No more forced, automatic, useless updates. No more authentication, no more making Bill Gates rich. Best of all - no more viruses, adware or spyware!

Linux is the widest used OS in the world. It's an open source operating system based on Unix.

I'll admit that I was hesitant to switch and continually found reason to postpone the switch, but when Windows forced me to update and then started crashing (this computer is only 4 months old), I was sold!

All the software is free. You are welcome to make changes to most of it if you have the know how. Everything is shared to help others. They have just about everything you'll need that you are used to with windows. I haven't found anything that I could do before that I can't do now.

I honestly think my headaches regarding computers is gone.

I want to give a special shout out to my friend, Lena, who opened my eyes to the evil empire of Microsoft and to my friend, James (a.k.a. Linux guy), for helping me switch over.

I encourage you to tell your friends and make the switch. Windows is a security blanket that everyone thinks they need. The truth is that you can do everything on your computer without doling out the big bucks for upgrades and letting Microsoft collect your personal data. (Bet you didn't know about that!)

Windows ~ Just Say NO!

And That's What I Think.

Movie Updates

We typically don't see movies at the theater. This is unfortunate for me because I have always loved movies. I find nothing more enjoyable than focusing on a story played out before me on a 30 ft by 70 ft screen.

We've stopped going to the theater within the last couple of years because we've found it impossible to enjoy the movie when you're surrounded by inconsiderate, rude people. Oddly, it's not just the teenagers that are inconsiderate of others. We've found them to be our age as well as our parents age. Then you have the little kids that should know better but don't because their parents let them run like wild animals (this is likely to happen anywhere in public).

As a society we've forgotten our fellow man and focus purely on ourselves. It's the downfall of American values. However, this is a different subject.

MEET THE ROBINSONS
This past weekend we actually went out to the theater and caught Meet The Robinsons during the matinée. Lucky for us there were very few people in the theater and we had no distractions. In 1953, Disney made a Stereographic 3-D animated cartoon called "Working For Peanuts" with Donald Duck and Chip and Dale which they shelfed until now. It was like watching a movie through a View-Master. I enjoyed it.
Meet The Robinsons was also in 3-D and was pretty good. It deals with orphans and being adopted. Throw in some time travel and a villain and you've got the makings of a fun family movie.


Recently we've been trying to catch up on movies that we wanted to see at the theater, but waited to get them on DVD and still never sat down to watch them.

Walk The Line
Walk The Line is a movie about Johnny Cash. I found this to be an enjoyable movie even though it had a lot of music. I learned a lot about Johnny that I didn't know before. For example, June Carter was not his first wife and he toured with Buddy Holly and Elvis. I'm not 100% sure how well this movie followed his life, but I thought it was good.


The Terminal
When we first saw the trailer for this Tom Hanks movie, we were intrigued. How is it that a person can be stuck in an airport terminal? Come to find out, he's Russian and lost his citizenship while in the air and therefore cannot be admitted into the U.S. He ends up living in the terminal for 9 months! Not exactly believable, but he finds love and follows his dream. I enjoyed this movie quite a bit.


Zoom
Although I like Tim Allen and think he is very funny, Zoom was horrible. It could be called a remake of Sky High with Kurt Russell except that it came out about the same time. So I'll tell you what they are both about. They gather a bunch of kids that have extraordinary powers and train them to use those powers. In Zoom they are rushing to become a team to defeat Zoom's (Tim Allen) brother Concussion who decimated the world before he was banished to another dimension. Zoom hasn't used his powers in 30 years but when his brother returns, he and his team come together to bring Concussion back to the good side. The small difference with Sky High is that they are all students whose parents are super heroes and a villain comes to the school. The group comes together and defeats the villain. If you haven't seen either of these movies, I recommend Sky High as worth the time.


And That's What I Think.

Snow Bunnies

Who would have thought that we'd see snow . . . . in Texas . . . . in April?!?

So this past weekend we went down to East Texas to visit my mom for Easter. The "big" plan was to have some friends over and eat and dye eggs and let the kids hunt them. Little did we know that it was to snow! Can you believe it? A few days before, the temperature was 80, then 31 and snow.

This snow was fluffy, with big flakes. Not what we usually see in Texas. The couple of times that we may get a dusting, it's of the wet variety with little flakes and packs well, and also melts fast. This snow would have been a real treat, had it occurred three months ago.

Needless to say, our friends did come over, the kids did dye eggs and we did eat a great meal (thanks, mom!) We ended up hiding the eggs in the living room and everyone stayed warm.

After that we made strawberry daiquiris and polished off a bottle of wine while playing various games (Mad Grab, Phase 10 and Jenga). We finally called it a night when the kids started passing out from playing so hard.

And That's The Update.

100th Post !

This is my 100th post. It has been a long road, but together we made it. I want to thank you, my constant readers, for following me on my journey through blogging. I feel as if I have grown as a writer over the past fourteen months.

Blogging for me has been somewhat therapeutic. I have been able to get things off of my chest, regardless of the subject matter. I always follow my post with "That's What I Think" or something of that nature just in case a reader misinterprets what they have read as gospel rather than opinion.

Although I encourage alternate views on my blog, I seldom get comments. That's alright, I see the counter going up and know that, silent reader, you are with me.

Follow me into the future as we strive for 200!

And That's What I Know.

Happy Easter, Y'all

Just a reminder, Sanjaya made it another week! This campaign to keep him in might get him all the way to be your next American Idol.

Sanjaya Holiday Greeting

And That's What I Think.

Out Of The Gate, Down In Flames

Yesterday was Opening Day for the Texas Rangers and the Los Angeles Angels. To no one's surprise, though, Texas lost 4 - 1. Hopefully our new coach can pull this team together and we can win enough games to be a contender for the division title this year. The Angels have been good for the past couple of years and the Seattle Mariners are still rebuilding. We were #1 at the All-Star break last year, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we'll come out on top.

In my fantasy baseball league, which coincides with real baseball, I won yesterday and am the division leader in the West. Yea, me. Like the Rangers, though, it's only the first game and we've got a long way to go. As long as we beat the Mariners, all will be right with the world!

And That's What I Think.

Musical Overload

We started out the weekend by watching Happy Feet on Friday night. It won the Oscar for "Best Animated Feature Film" along with 8 other awards. I have to tell you, ten minutes into this film, I almost bailed. The singing was a bit much for me. I stuck it out and when Mumble left his colony and ventured out, he found a different species of penguin. This is where the show became humorous. Over all, I guess it was an OK movie.

Saturday we took the kids to Disney On Ice. Jenny has been wanting to do this for a couple of years and we finally made it happen. I didn't realize it until the night before that it was Princess Wishes. I was concerned that my son wouldn't like it. However, they both had a good time. Mickey, Minnie, Goofy and Tinker Bell all helped introduce the seven princess stories that unfolded before us. The ice skating was very good and the costumes were nicely done. This was a much better show than I had anticipated.

Due to all the bad weather we had last week, the soccer game was canceled because of field conditions.

Saturday night Jenny and I finally got to see Peter Jackson's King Kong (2005)! This was a long movie that could have easily cut out the first 30 minutes. They went in depth why and how they were going to Skull Island. Neither of the previous two films with the same title and story line dragged out the whys and hows. Once they reached the island, the action picked up and the rest of the movie flew by. The CGI and special effects were fantastic. Peter Jackson really told the story good. My son came into the room and watch the final 30 minutes of it. When King Kong was brought to New York, I asked Jenny if she had seen either of the two previous versions, to which she said she hadn't. As King Kong was being pelted by the airplanes and was dying, my son just started bawling. How sweet! Both of our kids are animal lovers and just can't understand why people hurt animals.

I really enjoyed this movie but won't watch it again any time soon as we have lots of other movies we've bought but haven't watched.

And That's What I Think.