Someday I'm Goin' Up. I am.

Ever since watching Space Camp for the first time as a kid, I've been obsessed with outer space and the idea of landing on the Moon. Instead of motivating me to actually GO to Space Camp, I just watched the movie over and over and over again. Same thing with Apollo 13, which is one of my favorite movies of all time. These movies just never get old! After watching them so many times, I'm only one step away from from training to be an astronaut. Need to hook up the oxygen tanks in the Shuttle? It's the blue valve next to the yellow valve. Need to power down the command module? I'm gonna need your gimbal angles first.

After watching Apollo 13 a bunch of times recently, I wanted to know more about Jim Lovell and the whole Apollo program. I've started reading the book (a gift from Johnny!) written by Jim Lovell about his Apollo 13 mission. We also just bought a Discovery Channel series called When We Left Earth: The NASA Missions. It's hours and hours of NASA fun! It starts with the space race and the Mercury Seven astronauts and covers all the missions up through the building of the International Space Station. It moves kind of fast, but it's a really great series.

Since we can't get enough of all things space related, Johnny went to the NASA website and found that they have tons of archived videos of launches and missions. This video is awesome: Atlantis Launch: Solid Rocket Booster Camera Views. It's the view from a camera attached to the solid rocket boosters during a launch of the Space Shuttle Atlantis. If you keep watching, there is an amazing shot when the rocket separates and the shuttle flies away. It looks like a special effect from a movie. It follows the rocket as it falls back to Earth and splashes into the ocean.

Ok, yes, I'm officially a nerd. But how can you not love this stuff?!? It gives me chills when I think about leaving our planet and seeing it from above. I get teary when I watch the first man walk on the Moon. Like Tom Hanks in Apollo 13, "I look up at the moon and wonder, when will we be going back? And who will that be?"

Photos like the one above are available on the NASA website. They are public domain since we pay for the program. They are fun to browse!

The Crown Fountain

Tonight, after 4 years, someone finally saw my face on the fountain in Millennium Park! Yay! I posed for the fountain shots back in 2004. It's been so long I just figured they never used my face for whatever reason. But tonight as Johnny was heading to the bike garage, he saw me! It was actually his second trip to the garage since he forgot to change into his bike shoes before he left work. He took a different route the second time back, and as he walked by Millennium Park, he saw an eyebrow and a blue eye that looked awfully familiar. And it was me. :o) I'm so happy that it's a night shot!

Choco Leibniz

I realize I haven't written a blog post forever. I feel bad about that. So much has happened actually... We have a new President and I was THERE! Yay! Anyway, these cookies are too good and they deserve some Amber praise.


MMMM... Choco Leibniz. Buy some. You will not be disappointed. Trust me.

Get Out The Vote!

No matter what happens on November 4th, at least I feel like I did my small part. This election has been part of my life for so long now, and I believe so strongly that Obama should be our next President. If I would have let this pass without getting involved, I know I would have always regretted it. On Saturday I joined the Obama campaign in Racine, Wisconsin and helped with door to door canvassing of voters. I went with my friends Preston and Bethanne. We were each paired up with a resident of Racine and given a map of the area to canvass. At first the thought of going to door to door made me so nervous, but the more I thought about it, I realized that I was just speaking to people like myself about something that really matters to me. It was a really positive experience. The section of town we canvassed was pretty poor, and most of the people I spoke with were Obama supporters. We tried to encourage them to vote early since long lines are expected on election day. I also spoke with several undecided voters. I talked with them about the issues that really mattered to them and gave them some information on where Obama stands on the issues. Ultimately, I just encouraged them to vote because that is the most important thing.

Two weeks!!

Space Rockers!

I wonder if things will be even half this cool in the 25th century. I saw this episode of Buck Rogers in the 25th Century a few months ago and I'm still obsessed. Andromeda rocks the galaxy!

Beeda, beeda, beeda... long live rock-and-roll, Buck! - Twiki

So Much Love

Three years ago today I married the boy of my dreams. It was the most pefect and magical night of my life. For those of you who were there, you may remember the words below. These are the vows we read to each other on the beautiful night we said "I do."

Johnny,

I'm so lucky to be spending the rest of my life with someone as wonderful as you. I want everyone here to know how much I love you and how happy you make me. You have such a good heart and such a passion for life and for people, which makes every day with you new and exciting. I love seeing life through your eyes. I know that with you anything is possible, and that wonderful things lay ahead for us. Nobody could love me like you do. I know in my heart that we were meant to be together. Thank you for sharing your heart and soul with me. I am yours forever and I love you.

Cinamin,

I can't believe this day is finally here - and that I actually get to be your husband. You are the beautiful, sweet girl with the good heart that I always dreamed of. I never believed that I would actually find you, but somehow all of the crazy things that have happened in our lives brought us together. You love me in a way that I never imagined, and I love you in a way I didn't know I was capable of. As we begin our lifetime together today, I want you to know that I will spend each day trying to show you how much I love you and how much your love means to me. With all of my heart and soul, Amber, I love you and I am yours.

Palin

I've been thinking... I was a student council representative in high school, I have a bachelor of arts degree in anthropology, I have been to quite a few different countries AND I have international volunteer experience in South America and Africa... So why didn't Obama pick me as his VP running mate?! Sure, I don't have any experience meeting with world leaders, but I watch the News Hour with Jim Lehrer and I listen to NPR every day, so I know who the important peeps are and what's going on. I don't have children, but I'm a really good mom to 2 cats. I'm certainly not a Washington insider, as I have only been to Washington DC once, for two days when I was a sophomore in high school. Also, I like to think of myself as sort of a maverick. For example, most of my friends and family are Cubs fans, but I went against the majority and moved across the aisle and became a White Sox fan. I'm a regular working-class city girl. I'm pretty photogenic too! And I'm sure I could arrange a trip to Alaska so that I could see Russia.

In all seriousness, I am insulted and shocked by John McCain's choice for a running mate. Are we supposed to believe that Sarah Palin is the most qualified person in the Republican party to fill this position? I mean really. Was he putting "Country First" when he made this decision? Is Governor Palin really qualified to run this country if necessary?


I'm all for electing people outside of Washington, people that understand the problems of every day Americans, people that look pretty and give good speeches. However, a PTA hockey mom with 5 kids and a bachelor of science degree in communications-journalism from the University of Idaho doesn't really scream "Presidential" to me. And don't even get me started on the fact that her 17 year old daughter is pregnant.

I will be as proud as any woman when we finally put a qualified, strong and capable woman in the White House. Sarah Palin is not that woman. John McCain's sole purpose of choosing Sarah Palin as his running mate was to win the election. I guess you can't really blame him for that; he's in it to win, but it goes against everything he says about putting country first. If he had it his way, McCain-Palin would have been McCain-Lieberman, but the party wouldn't have allowed that. Instead McCain decided to choose an unqualified running mate because she is a woman, which was an obvious attempt to try to win over Hillary supporters, even though they could not be farther apart on the issues. I for one do not want a President who obviously has such little respect for women.

If McCain is elected and Sarah Palin becomes the first female Vice President, our country will be taking a very big step back. We need to make sure this doesn't happen. Not only is she not qualified, she has really f*cking scary views!

I know the election is not about the VP candidates, but Palin is just another huge reason why I do not want John McCain to be our next President.

Women all over the country are outraged and insulted by John McCain's choice. This website is full of letters from women speaking out against Palin:

http://womenagainstsarahpalin.blogspot.com/

It's awesome. I could read these letters for hours.