The mission (STS-126) whose launch we witnessed a couple of weekends ago has come to a nice, serene conclusion.

So, I’ve put the Christmas decorations up. w00t! It didn’t take too terribly long. I guess I’m not that extravagant about it all. However, I do have exterior lighting.

I’ve set it up such that, to turn on the exterior lighting, all I need to do is push a button on a remote transmitter.

I know, I know…nothing earth-shattering. Done before. However, it was my first jaunt into Christmas geekery and I think it was quite smashing. I never thought turning Christmas lights on and off would be so fun 😉

I would say I MacGuyver’d it all, but all it took was a transmitter/receiver from Home Depot. About the most MacGuyver-ing that was necessary was figuring out all of the necessary cabling. Meh.

Anyhoo, no more cold feet from the brisk outside just to turn the dang lights off. This pleases me.

So, this Thanksgiving weekend has been pretty cool, so far. On Thursday, there was consumption of too much food, of course. It was all quite yummy. I don’t think I overdid it, but it pretty much consisted of having two plates, dividing all of the sides amongst each of them and a smattering of turkey. It was fried turkey, which has a very distinct flavor. Whereas baked turkey has sort of a flat flavor all by itself (gravy, gravy, gravy), fried turkey has a lot of taste locked into it; no gravy necessary, unless you really love gravy.

Yesterday, we helped my bro move out of his old digs. We didn’t move everything out, since he wants to give some of his old stuff to Goodwill and eventually replace all of it with brand new stuff. It wasn’t so bad, though. It only took a couple of hours to do. It was a whirlwind trip to Atlanta. We left at 6:30 in the morning and got back at 7:30 in the eve.

Ruthie is up in Nashville with her folks–they decided to spend Thanksgiving in the Opryland Hotel. I’ve been there a couple of times for eats, and have flown over it a couple of times in a plane, but have never had the pleasure of staying there. It seems to me a lot like the Grand Floridian–something of that caliber hotel. Anyhoo, I’m watching the pug while she’s away, and he’s been a pretty good guest.

I’ve been playing Fallout 3 a bunch of-late. Roaming the Capital Wasteland is actually pretty awesome. It reminds me of any post-apocalyptic novel or movie I’ve experienced. Irradiated zombies of what used to be people tend to try to kick my arse, there are super mutants, mutated wild dogs, and then just “normal” people who scavenge the Wasteland. It’s a pretty great plot, so far. If you’re into RPGs, I would highly suggest it. It’s not like the first two, which were more like turn-based Diablo, but more real-time and a lot like Oblivion. One day, when I do finish it, I’ll have to get back to Gears of War 2 🙂

PC LAN today. w00t! We’re playing the classics: Half-Life, Quake, even some Battlefield 1942–crazy to think that’s a “classic” now. lol.

Anyhoo, I hope everyone is having a great weekend. Don’t have too many leftovers 😉

(belated, of course)

So, I’ve been in FL for a very long weekend. We went to see the launching of STS-126. It was absolutely phenomenal.

As the countdown was informally chanted amongst the crowd, the anticipation grew to a thunderous climax. It was one second after the completion of this countdown that a brilliant light greeted the moon-filled evening from across the cape to our viewing point on the coast at Titusville. We were 11 miles away, and the night became like sunrise for a few moments. It might’ve been my imagination, but I could swear I could feel a bit of warmth on my face as the brilliance of the lighting of the SRBs became more and more intense.

The light became an apparent fireball, which started to rise slowly into the air and accelerated the higher it got. At the very top of this fireball, I could see the shuttle, almost chased by the raging inferno beneath it.

It was absolutely the most breathtaking view I have ever seen.

(link)

Of course, the video doesn’t do it justice, but that was essentially the view from our perch on the coast. The voice you hear as it is lifting off is that of the bro.

We were going to hit up Kennedy Space Center, but doing that the day of a launch is pretty danged impossible. So, we spent most of the whole day before the evening launch in Downtown Disney. It was pretty splendid. I had the best buffalo tenders ever at House of Blues, and then played a few video games in DisneyQuest with my bro and a couple of friends. Ruthie somehow walked through all of Downtown Disney without buying a thing 🙂 I was so proud.

Saturday, we went to Universal. That was pretty spiffy. Island Adventure was a pretty cool addition to the park. We went on a couple of roller coasters there. One was called the Hulk, and was quite the treat. Very unique coaster. I’ll leave the rest as a surprise for anyone who might hit that one up in the future.

The regular Studios part of the park had a pretty cool Simpsons ride. I think it could’ve been better but, for what it was, it was pretty neato.

It was while we were at the park that we found out that Ruthie’s pug, Dee, had died. The vet had called her a few hours before that, telling Ruthie of a respiratory problem she was having. They were going to try to treat it, but things didn’t look good and they might have to put her down. Apparently, she passed a couple of hours later. She was a great dog. It’s a shame, and I will certainly miss her snorty little face.

I think I have dry socket :\ I have pain in my top hole whenever I drink cold water. It’s not really a constant pain, just when I drink cold water and it hits up there. I may have to call the dentist. D’OH!!!

There’s a new Star Wars Robot Chicken this very eve. I will probably fall asleep to that.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our veterans, those who served long ago and those who’ve just finished serving. You have done and do awesome things for this country, and there’s no way any single American could thank you enough. If it weren’t for you, we wouldn’t have the freedom of speech, to assemble and, most importantly, to disagree.

Definitely my favorite sketch in “200” 🙂

Michael Crichton (1942-2008)

I just happened to get to the polling place on a lull. No line.

Hence, it was a quick vote.

May the best man win…