flugtag und mondschlag
G: On Friday Rich and Izolda
came over with some salad and I made some food too and we all had
dinner together and hung out all evening. I can't remember much else
about that, though.
On Saturday John, Lori and I went to Red Bull
Flugtag at Baltimore's
inner harbor. It was very crowded - we found a place with a good view
at first but we had to stand, and it was very loud there and the sun
was in our eyes, so we decided to make our way to Federation Hill to
watch from there. We were much farther away but they had jumbo screens
that were okay for seeing what was going on. And you could see the
crafts fall into the water from there. It was a bit cold but we enjoyed
ourselves. Victims of Coicumstance, a three-man (three-stooge?) team,
broke a U.S. record for distance— 81 feet! Dorian showed up and when it
ended we met up with his friend Nicole and her brother Mike. We walked
around quite a lot looking for a place to eat and decided to head to
Chipotles, but there was a fast food Asian place next door that we ate
at instead. It wasn't bad.
We dropped Lori off in Catonsville at Laura's sister's place so they
could go to a Halloween party. We went in to say hi and spent most of
the time getting frantic loving kisses from their French bulldog,
Mario. He was a sweet, cute, insane doggy that apparently has bad
flatulence and barfs a lot too, gets petulant if you ignore him, and is
of a breed that must be brought into this world via cesarean section
because their heads are too big to fit through the normal way. It was
great to meet him.
John and I went from there to Jessica K's birthday party. She had a
MOON BOUNCE and that was more fun than you'd imagine. A great workout,
too. John and I did flips! Jessica had a lovely spread of small foods -
bite sized bits of veggies and cookies and stuff, and tons of cake. One
huge cake did not even get cut. She had kiddie themed party (featuring
puppies) - hence the moon bounce and cutesy decorations, party favors,
pinatas, and paper sippy cups and such. We saw lots of friends there
and I played several games. I also made some chocolate truffle-tinis
which were a hit (an easy recipe is equal parts regular and white
chocolate liquor, and vodka. Add a bit of Kahlua if you like, too.
Shake over ice and strain into glasses). John napped while I played
games into the wee hours. I had a great time.
On Sunday I attended a tie dying party at the Looneys held by Josh. I
did two t-shirts, a pair of pants for Lori, and six chair cushions for
my dining set. It was fun and John and Alison were excellent hosts. I
had to dye and run to go to Skip and Lindsay's party for their daughter
Lily. Chris had come into town and he went with us. We spend just a few
hours there but saw a few folks we don't see that often so that was
nice. We had to leave the party early to get to our movie shoot. John,
Chris and I are actors in a movie being made by local artist Mike
McMullin. We just do it for fun, no compensation. We had a long scene,
with lots of other people, and it was shot in the New Deal. We were
there late into the night (circa 3:00 AM). I think it will be a pretty
good movie.
On Monday night John, Lori and I went up to Baltimore to hang out with
my friend Al who was in town— and it was his birthday. We took him to a
restaurant recommended by Rich and Izolda -
The Brewer's Art. The food was
good and we had a lot of fun.
space fight center
J: Old National Space Policy's
primary goal: "Enhance knowledge of the Earth, the solar system and the
Universe."
New goal: "Further U.S. national security, homeland security, and
foreign policy objectives."
Compare and contrast. Our NASA, a leader in space exploration, is
morphing into Homeland Security. (Or maybe Outland Security?) I'm
guessing many government agencies are changing their policy statements,
to retain funding and assimilate into the great Homeland Security
Collective.
I like the old NASA goals; they seemed to encourage going "where no man
has gone before." The new message seems to say "Resistance is futile."
Sorry, I'm about to mix metaphors, but I just have to say this:
Help us, Obi-Wan Kenobi. You're our only hope. (Now, somebody out there
has to play the part of Obi-Wan, please. Shut down the tractor beam so
we can escape this Death Star.)
:-j
