Nose to the grindstone

Well, this past week has been busy at work while I try and bring to projects into their concluding phases. Though some free time has resulted, it has been mostly spent sleeping, relaxing, and enjoying freedom from work.
The Powerbook is working out fine – though moving back to OS 9.1 is a big step in the wrong direction we still can play our CD’s, surf the web, and check email. Infact, Melissa seems interested in playing with some photos so I will have to make sure that the software is available – which might mean the loss of some games. The current idea is to bring the book into work and make sure I get a backup of important files onto CD’s then start tweaking the system again.
But that is the future, stacked up right along with revamping the website with new photos, links, and layouts (would like to move away from style sheets since there is so much “browser testing” that is required.
As for the past … it has been a week since my sister left and the house is again quite. We had a blast while she was here managing to get down to the beach 4 or 5 nights in a row to watch the sunset, back roller blading in Myakka, and a star studded trip to the Kennedy Space Center.
Krishen has passed me a CD of pictures he took over the last few days, and I hope to share a few with you soon. He will likely have some great shots from the Kennedy Space Center on his site soon as he took his family on the 3 hour trip across the state this past weekend.
Myakka Park
Myakka park proved yet again to be a exciting trip. Always proving to bring out the … err … best in local Florida wildlife. Parking the car once more we headed down the road of excitement. Melissa and I were still shaking from our last trip down the paved road that stretched into the swampland, but with the knowledge of the park being “Open” and the water level down about 2 feet we pressed on. Kari on the other hand did not quite understand our hesitations and merrily rolled into the wondrous unknown. Ignorance is bliss!
By the time we reach the bird look out we were feeling a bit better and headed out to the platform that stretched out into the lake, though with the water only inches from the boardwalk we “moved quickly” 🙂 Once out there we searched, and found, my sisters view of some of the local creatures. Which for a moment seemed to be closing in on the walkway. Too many horror films had our minds wondering how we would make it back to the road as the “terrible gators” blocked our path (of course chuckling at us).
However, we soon noticed that they, though maybe interested in the new arrivals at first, they were just bathing in the sun and enjoying the friday afternoon. So once again we headed back to the road and along the path to the ‘park hut’. Once cars started populating the road we felt better.
After talking with the park workers we felt a whole lot better about the situation – knowledge is a wondrous thing:
(1) This is the worst time of year as the gators are nesting
(2) Recently a gator has been known to chase down a full grown deer in the park
(3) Tourists are dumb
(4) Gators won’t expend energy unless they (or their nests) feel threatened
(5) Gators will most likely turn and run when they hear you coming
(6) Gators like to eat roller bladers [ hmmm! ]
Though since they seemed to be joking with us, we felt much safer in returning (though it might not be till late fall 😉
KSC
Saturday saw Kari and I heading to the space center … and it never disappoints. Arriving at 9:30 we took the bus tour our to the launch pads 39A and 39B and VAB (Vehicle Assembly Building). We visited the Saturn V rocket now located inside a huge new (at least to me) facility dedicated to the Apollo fights. Though I have seem the rocket several times before, it was still an impressive sight … standing more than 400ft on end, this remains an impressive feat of human engineering.
Kari had her camera and we took all kinds of pictures as we wondered the exibits. Took in the time to watch the IMAX “Space Station 3D” picture which was one of the trips highlights, walked along the same platform Neil Armstrong walked across before his historic trip, viewed the inside of a shuttle (mockup), and could not resist spending time in the “space store”. On the way home we stopped at the “Astronaut Hall of Fame” where we took a trip to mars, attempted to land a shuttle, and walked through the memories of space missions past.
Once again, the visit to the space center was a trip worth taking. I have decided that Melissa and I will head in that direction once more on the day of the next shuttle launch. Of course making sure that we stand well back as just the sound of the shuttle launching will kill a person is they get to close ( at a distance of 1 mile the sound waves will cause the blood in your body to stop flowing ).
[ Sorry for the long post … but I needed to catch up ]

Follow