Space Junk

So a few days ago, Friday I think, I caught a program on the Science Channel about probes or something to that effect. I don’t quite remember all of it. I was half awake, flipping through channels and I saw it was about space. Then they had Pete Conrad from Apollo 12 talking and I stopped flipping (hey he's cool) and watched some it. I don’t remember if it was that program or the next, but they started talking about Voyager 1 and 2 and about how they were still heading out of the solar system, having done their job over 30 years ago, taking pictures of Jupiter and Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. I think it missed Pluto, but I could be wrong. Anyway, they mentioned that they had this disc on board, what looked like a gold-plated record, and how it contained a bunch of information about humans, in the odd chance some alien would be interested in it. I mean it’s space junk floating, but hey, if something like that came towards Earth, we’d probably either check it out or blow it up, but that’s kind of beside the point.
                But I’m sitting there, half awake, thinking, a record. Come on. I know it was built over 30 years ago and it’s kind of a time capsule. That in itself is cool, but it’s highly doubtful any of our future generations are ever going to see it. Besides, if the Internet has its way, in 10 generations now, Wikipedia will still be going strong and they can read how stupid we were. But I digress…
                They filled a record-type thing with images, songs, whales singing (preclude to Star Trek 4), and sent it on its merry way to take some pictures of our outer planets and basically let it drift/float out of the solar system. I looked online (not on Wiki) and it’s still sending back its whereabouts to its creators. But I’m thinking to myself, who the heck would really care about what our planet was doing in the 70s. You know, the end of love and peace, the mind trippin’ drugs, but in the back of ny mind, what happens if in 50 years, some alien race finds that, and comes looking for us, thinking we’re going to be groovy and we’re not. Look at how much time has changed our lives in the last 30 years. The Internet, the Space Shuttle, the International Space Station, the Punk Scene, wireless communications, our cell phones, our home computers,  even Facebook. A culture that was hell bent on being heard is broadcasting through the airwaves. (Although a bunch of us are still deaf as to what’s going on in the world, but I digressed again…)
                I guess what I’m saying is that it kind of scares me in a way to know our history up to the 70s is floating around space, half haphazardly waiting for an alien species to pick it up and make a visit, if they can figure out how to use the damn record. But then, maybe that’s a blessing…

Hitting the Yard Sales

Ah, well yesterday, my bro got me up to hit some yard sales. As we usually walk, we like to leave early. The only one we did yesterday, we no sooner walked about a mile, got there, and starting looking around, when tires squealed and heard that infamous metal crashing. Yeah, a car accident. Everyone was ok, and we left about an hour later. I found a few shirts, a sweater, swim trunks for the nephews, and some shorts for Mom.
Today we hit a few more. The first one I found the coolest toys ever made...

Yes, the Fisher Price house. It came with a few people, chairs, tables, a dog. All for 3 bucks. Extremely cheap and my youngest nephew loves these toys. They're not to babyish, yet big enough for little hands.








When we got back, Mom took us to a few miles away. The first one was the typical junk. Yeah, one man's trash, is another's treasure. But, uh, not this stuff. The next one was better. We found Dad a tape he had been looking for and I found 6 Dear America books. Mmmk, bye. Reading time!
Later...

The First Blog

Ok, this is a clarification blog. I'm gonna attempt to clear up a few things before I start blogging.
1) I've only dabbled in writing before this. I've always loved writing and getting ideas out there. My qualifications begin and will probably end with the writing classes I took for two terms in high school. Oh, I learned from those. Like how to get back into school before anyone sees that Dunkin' Donuts cup of coffee and how to cheat in Trivial Pursuit (hey in all honesty, that game is designed for folks over 50, not high school seniors. Yeah and the walks around Highland Park. Haha, dead squirrel.
2) I may sound a little hick-ish. I tend to write better than I speak which is probably a good thing considering I came from an area, where there was a "general store", yeah the Point Store. The closest town, well, no comment. I moved to a bona fide city (I don't know if it's still truly a city, but it somehow gets to keep the status.) I proved that old saying, "You can take the girl outta the country, but not the country outta the girl."
3) I am not Catholic, nor have I ever been. (I did go to Sunday Mass with my sister, who was doing a college paper on religions. When she refused to let me take Communion, I grew bored.) My screen name that I have used since around 2001, is from The Big Cat, Andres Galarraga. There have been plenty of people I have looked up to since I was a lass, but he truly stood out. He's beaten cancer twice, played baseball for years, and I've really admired that he took a year off for cancer treatment and came back stronger than ever.
4) If there's any question, I'm a Braves fan. I doubt I'll write very much about 'em, unless they end up being dumb. We'll see...
5) I have no set musical limitations on what music I listen to. I jam everything from Brooks & Dunn, 3 Oh! 3, Mariah Carey, Jerry Reed, Roxette, Big & Rich. You name something, I've prolly heard it.
6) I'm an avid reader. Like music, my tastes are eccentric. Little House, biographies, Fudge books,. I loved the Forrest Gump books and if you've seen the movie (if you haven't, are you under a rock?), READ the books. They are hilarious and so well written. Well in Gump's standpoint. I learned more history in those books than in 4 years of classes.
7) Likewise with TV. There aren't many current TV shows on I watch but give me my Dukes, Roseanne, The Nanny, Star Trek (Original and Next), and Little House and I'm content. Oh, and Major Dad, I watched last winter on Hulu. I'm really getting into this season's Celebrity Apprentice.
8) Movies are basically comedies, some dramas. I'll watch others, but I like that feel good movie on at night. Romy & Michelle, Mission to Mars, the Problem Childs, the Road to movies, Fancy Pants.
9) Actors and Actresses, hmm. There's a few I'd watch them do any movie/TV. Gary Sinise, Tom Hanks, Gerald McRaney (he'll always be Major Dad to me), Bob Hope, Lucille Ball, Melissa Gilbert, Anne Hathaway.
10) I'm a space freak. Hands down. I've even read transcripts from the Apollo missions. (Ever get really bored, read Apollo 12. Funny, funny stuff said. It's all online! If Apollo 13 is a drama, then Apollo 12 is a comedy.) I've read lots of books, even fudged my way through the technical wording of James Lovell's Lost Moon!

Well that it's for now. Whoever decides to read this, will at least get a good idea of who I am and where I'm coming from.