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.

We rented a tiller from Home Depot, and after some trial and error got the whole plot turned over.
    

Sunday started off with building a fence to keep out our friendly neighborhood munchers.

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.

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!

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!!

Having 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.

My 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.

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.

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.

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.

Today I found myself able to use WiFi to make a call over an hour long, completely free, with my iPhone. I’d downloaded the Vonage Mobile app while in Greece in an attempt to make a call without using international minutes, but alas, could not set it up without sending/receiving a call in the first place.

Over the holidays I’ve been in a low AT&T network area, but with wifi. That low network signal drops to no network signal when in the basement where I was working. I checked the Vonage app (now properly set up and with the initial $1.00 credit they gave me) for rates on US calls and found: $0.00 to land lines, $0.00 to mobiles. Interesting.

I made a 25 minute 800- call with no change in my balance (it gave me a low balance warning at the end of my call, but I see it is still at $1.00). I then talked for an hour to a US-mobile number, which reduced my balance to… $1.00.

Not sure if this is in error or if it’s a gift from Vonage to make up for the silliness of needing a separate account for the iPhone and/or an additional charge for softphones, but it worked for me. I’ll be interested to hear if it works for anyone else.

Most of the time this won’t matter for me anyway. I rarely use the voice aspect of my iPhone, wish that I could get it with a data plan only, and have so many rollover minutes that they are now expiring from 12 months ago. Still- for anyone whose minutes are running short and who would like to give free wifi a try while it lasts, check out Vonage Mobile.

cheap ball chair, originally uploaded by katatak.

I’ve been looking for a replacement chair for working at my computer. J’s got a great one (AK Octane), but it doesn’t seem to be available anymore (nor, according to many message boards, is their ‘new model’ that seems never to have come out).
I’d been intrigued by all the exercise ball chairs that many people swear by, but was concerned that 1. it would be too short (my desk is a little high and I don’t currently use a keyboard tray) and 2. I’d get tired of it like I did the kneel-chair I still have in storage.
I already had an exercise ball, so started looking around and came up with this setup. It’s the base of my papasan chair that, though I love it, I don’t use very often and is starting to fall apart. Although it’s somewhat worn, the bottom is a perfect fit for the ball and it comes to nearly the right height. I’ll need to pump the ball up just a little more to make it a tad higher, and/or I’m considering some casters to make it more useful for the office.
So far it’s treating me well and is helping out the pain I’ve had in my hip for the last few days. But if I change my mind, at least I’m not out the $70 (the price that the ball-chairs on Amazon were listed).

• 1 Memory Card Reader that I’ve been missing for 5 years. I thought it got lost in the move. I thought maybe I’d left it at my last job. Nope– right there in a box, waiting for me to find it tonight.
• 1 voice recorder (iRock VM150- apparently the company is offline, but I found a review here) that I’ve been missing for approx 5 years. I remember taking it to San Francisco where I recorded the sound of the cable cars and their bells as well as to a Flaming Lips concert- New Years 2003 in Chicago. Unfortunately that audio wasn’t still on there, but seems I did use the MP3 player function for 1 song: This one, which was a major player on our San Francisco 2003 soundtrack.
• 1 Graduation card. Signed, sealed, addressed to a friend who was a year behind me in school. High School. So apparently I’ve had that sitting around for… yes, 10.5 years now. How did that ever get into a box here in my house halfway across the country?? It’s even in a new box, so I apparently transferred it there at some point.
• 1 credit card from a bank I’ve never heard of. The bank likely does not exist anymore and the expiration date on the card was… 1999. It had a credit limit of $500, which wouldn’t get me very far these days. So apparently I have heard of the bank enough to apply and receive a credit card from them. When I was a freshman in college.

There’s loads of other great stuff in there, I’m sure, but for now I must rest. It is a school-night, after all.

¹ “You never know!” is a phrase which I will always attribute to my dad. Fortunately it goes through my head every time I try to ‘find a place’ for something I don’t really need, so I think of him often

So to recap: Like many movies, I wanted to read the book before seeing the musical. The book was good– I enjoy knowing the full background to stories. But in this case, I think I enjoyed the musical even more. It’s been quite a while since I’d seen a musical- I forgot how much I love them! The sets were wonderful- I did snap a couple of pictures before the show started. It was funny as several of us who had read the book remembered things differently- the changes between the book and the musical. We knew the differences were there, but couldn’t always agree as to what the differences were, exactly. Becky remembered someone being red, I thought another character was blue, and none of us could recall exactly how the shoes were depicted in the book. Not surprisingly, being limited in length and a musical to boot, the ending of the theatrical version was more preferable than that in the book, but then I’ve always been a fan of fantasy.

Also since then… a new car and the first of the long end-of-year holidays! Less than a month now until we’re off to Aberdeen for Christmas!

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