Out with the Old

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While I wait for a conference call today, I’m trying to clean out old files from my computer. With a 40GB HD (it is over 5 years old, after all) and just over 2GB free, it needs some serious purging to keep it working nicely, even if I purpose it as a netbook.

While going through these old files, I found a folder called ‘blogthings’ that contains what, essentially, are my results to the precursors to Facebook quizzes. These are from April, June, and August of 2006, before Facebook was available to any person with an email address. (Facebook incorporated in 2004, but restricted its registration to those of certain universities, high schools, or companies until Sept 26, 2006, when anyone with an email could join.)

I’m sure these types of quiz sites still exist, but I’m also sure that the vast majority of them are now facebook apps that let you post the badge to your Wall and share your results with all your friends. I note, though, that I haven’t seen many quiz results in a while, so perhaps the fun is fading just like the fun of forwards finally fades after having your first email account for 6 months or so.

I don’t expect many of the links or images will still work, but for your enjoyment, my results:

April 3, 2006

You Should Honeymoon in Asia!


If you and your sweetie aren’t world travelers, you should be
You have a flair for the exotic – and *will* eat the mystery meat
Asia is the perfect new experience for your new life
From temples to tofu to tech toys, you’ll have trouble fitting everything in!

Suggested destinations: Hong Kong, Tokyo, Thailand, Austrailia

You Should Honeymoon in the USA!


You and your sweetie want a fun filled honeymoon
Without the hassle of food poisoning or learning a new language
The USA is perfect for you (even if you already live here)
You can kick it at a spa, go to an amusment park, or explore a new city

Suggested destinations: Disneyworld, Vegas, NYC, Napa Valley, Palm Springs

My husband & I actually honeymooned in Greece (3 years after our 2006 wedding), so we didn’t pay heed to the Asia note. We did go to the Florida Keys for our first anniversary, though, so if you count that, the second result works.

The Movie Of Your Life Is A Black Comedy


In your life, things are so twisted that you just have to laugh.
You may end up insane, but you’ll have fun on the way to the asylum.

Your best movie matches: Being John Malkovich, The Royal Tenenbaums, American Psycho

Lovely. No wonder I like weird, twisted movies.. they were my life. Recently I prefer comedies and superhero movies, though– does that mean my life is just a joke now? Guess we’ll find out when I see how much I like Inception this week (Netflix); I hear it’s pretty twisted.

You Are Not Scary


Everyone loves you. Isn’t that sweet?

What a relief!

April 16,2010
Harry Potter IQ: Apparently this one doesn’t exist on their servers anymore.

August 14, 2006
Superhero Quiz:

You are Superman
Superman
85%
Spider-Man
75%
Robin
69%
Hulk
55%
Wonder Woman
52%
Green Lantern
45%
Iron Man
45%
Supergirl
42%
Batman
40%
The Flash
30%
Catwoman
25%
You are mild-mannered, good,
strong and you love to help others.

This explains the superhero movies I like, as noted above.

I also found this comic that is still funny to me:

SimpleLife.gif

The Sprouts of Our Labor

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Having a yard of our own for the first time in years, we’ve decided to try our hands at a vegetable garden this year. The past two weekends have been wonderfully productive in preparing the garden plot and planting the first seeds (indoors and out).

What originally was a large pile of sticks and brush has been cleared out and cut back. Some of the leaves from last fall were left to compost over the area. We spread the compost over the whole area to be tilled.
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We rented a tiller from Home Depot, and after some trial and error got the whole plot turned over.
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Sunday started off with building a fence to keep out our friendly neighborhood munchers.
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And ended with the planting of tomatoes, bell peppers, jalapenos, and habaneros to sprout indoors. After they sprout and after May 15 (our official final frost date here), they’ll be relocated outside.
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This weekend included plotting out where everything will go in the garden, digging the rows and paths, and finally planting the lettuce, spinach, and peas.
Fortunately there was a little something to inspire me on Saturday morning. After only 5.5 days, we had sprouts!
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After a full 7 days, nearly all the tomato cells have sprouted. The hot peppers are quite small, but we can see them coming. Still nothing to be seen of the bell peppers. To help balance the heat/light that they’ve seen, we turned the tray around and have added a light (not a grow light, but a regular CFL) to add just a bit of warmth to the hot peppers. We want to ensure they get a good start!!

STS-131 Launch, April 5, 2010, 6:21am

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I don’t have many lifelong goals or a ‘must do before I die’ list. Upon learning that NASA‘s shuttle program would be coming to an end, though, I had decided seeing a launch would be something I’d really like to see. If it could work out. Unfortunately there were no launches scheduled for the time we knew we’d be in Florida.
Fortunately those launch dates change and get pushed back frequently. This good fortune pushed the launch of Space Shuttle Discovery on mission STS-131 right into our vacation– and what a great way to start off the week!

2010-04-05_6107Having read numerous sites on viewing, I followed the advice of one in particular on Launch Photography that had great information on locations and taking photos of the launch. With their advice, we ended up leaving the house at 2am to drive just over an hour out to Titusville. Arriving about 3 hours before launch, there were plenty of people already set up. We checked out Space View Park, but found it to be even more crowded. After (standing in line for 20-30 minutes and) using the facilities, we decided to walk South along the road and river to see where we could find a place to set up. We didn’t have to go too far: we were able to find a reasonably clear view behind a hotel just down the road. There was a tent set up and some beach chairs on the slope down to the water, but sitting on our blanket a few feet behind them we were able to see Launch Pad 39 just fine.

Other folks were coming in and setting up back in this nice grassy area as well. Everyone seemed to be leaving a comfortable 3ft or so between groups. Except the family that decided to post themselves in an ‘L’ shape to the left and behind us. Suddenly our little group of 2, laying on a blanket and looking at the stars seemed to be a group of 11, complete with 2 kids who were not dressed warm enough for a 4am Florida morning in April. They did a reasonable job of keeping the kids from infringing on our personal space, although it would have been much easier had they just set up a little away from us- there was still plenty of room available and it wasn’t clear why they had decided to surround us.

2010-04-05_6109My mom had sent me a note that she’d seen on SpaceWeather.com that the ISS would be passing over the launch pad 15 minutes before launch. It would be passing by the moon, which made it easy to find. I pointed it out to J and to the rest of ‘our’ group and, after explaining what it was in more detail than I would expect necessary when one is there to see a shuttle launch, was able to capture this photo of it passing over the launch pad. I was actually amazed when I finally got to process it on my computer because from the camera’s display, I didn’t think I had been able to capture it in the sky. It just proves one point from a photography seminar I attended: don’t delete too often based on the camera’s display; it’s not nearly as fine a resolution as you will see on your computer.  Incidentally, if you cannot see the streak in the upper left of the photo (right), click on it to go to Flickr and see the Large or Original sizes where you may get a clearer picture.

A few minutes later, dawn was lighting the sky, but not nearly as much as what was to come! It was absolutely amazing how brilliantly the launch lit up the sky: it was like watching a life-size timelapse of Sunrise.

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The shot below left has had the amber tones cut back. Those on the right above and below are more true to the actual colors seen at the launch.

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After all was over, the clouds (contrails?) left from the rocket boosters that had been jettisoned made an interesting pattern in the sky that was enhanced by the rising sun’s rays: a pink heart.
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You can check out the few other photos posted over at Flickr, I believe there may be a hidden Mickey, compliments of lens flare, on one of them.

Given a second chance to see a launch (not likely as there are only 3 left now, the next is coming up in less than a month!), I would be sure to have a filter on my camera to take some of the initial brightness down a notch. I’d also have a better idea of where in the sky everything would end up, so would set my video camera up accordingly (it’s just a little pocket camera, so I couldn’t adjust the zoom once it was started and had to pan several times and did not allow enough room where the gorillapod was attached for it to pan properly).

It may not have been a ‘must see before I die’ type of goal, but I am so glad I fulfilled it. This was one of the most amazing sights I have ever seen.