Yay Discovery!

Today, they launched the shuttle Discovery (finally). This morning I took a few minutes to walk down along the water and try to take a few snaps of the launch pad with the shuttle set up for launch. The sun was still a little low in the sky, and was shining right next to the launch pad, so I don't think those will turn out. But I tried, darn it.

Since I was at work at launch time, I was quite relieved to hear the announcement that we could all get off the phones to watch. All 100-odd of us went outside into the field and waited for the shuttle to appear in the sky.

It didn't take long, and those of us who were new to the experience were not disappointed. Well, maybe I was still a tiny bit sad that I didn't get to watch it from home, but I was still VERY excited to see be seeing it at all.

This was also Deb's first time so we stood next to each other and watched it. It was so great. Deb's husband, the stinker, is the boss where he works so he made arrangements to be off, and walked down to the water to watch it. I'm so jealous. But my boss (that is the boss above Deb who is my direct boss) is so cool that SHE stayed inside and handled the phones while we were outside watching. Gotta love that.

We didn't stay out long though. Once it becomes nothing more than a pin prick of light in the sky, there's nothing more you're going to see unless something remarkably bad happens, and I for one, don't want to witness THOSE events. It's bad enough that they happen.

Driving in this morning, I found myself questioning all the crazy people complaining about how much business they were missing this time because of lack of interest. They are absolutely insane. Route 1 was once again packed like sardines with cars, campers, RVs, etc. I needed breakfast and stopped in at McD's. Nuts, I tell you.

And then there's all the lemmings (read: tourists) trudging right across all the traffic (read: irritated locals trying to rush to work) with their arms laden with camp chairs, umbrellas and coolers. A family crossed in front of me while I was attempting to make a U-Turn onto Route 1 before the rushing on-coming traffic could trample me mid-turn. She looked right at me as if I were out of my mind for trying to drive a motor vehicle on a road. Didn't I know that the road was put there for HER to cross whenever she wanted? By the way, I was in mid-turn WHEN SHE STEPPED INTO THE ROAD.

I like to think that when you cross moving metal with bone and tissue, the moving metal will always win. So when I am the pedestrian, I am exceedingly careful to avoid ticking off the moving metal. I guess people think they're invincible. Having walked down the road of metal vs. flesh before, I do not ever intend to experience that again. So, being the Conscientious Driver that I am, I slammed on the brakes and almost turned over my *(&^% truck. If she only knew how close she came to being dead meat AFTER I saved her from my truck.

At lunch I sat in the kitchen at work and watched a press conference from NASA. The reporters were all asking the same question: what about the thing that fell off during the launch. Every time someone asked that question, the NASA people said "We haven't had a chance to view all the footage yet. We really can't answer that question yet." And then the next reporter would ask the same question a different way. It was like they told all the reporters "Don't ask this question" and all the reporters heard "Ask this question." They're all crazy.

Not me, though. Nope, I'm perfectly sane. The voices only bother me when they sing REALLY LOUD, and the visions of the horrible demises of those who annoy me only last 20 or 30 minutes. That's perfectly normal.

Why do you ask?