What an Endeavour!

Last Thursday, I got a phone call from my Mom. She is a big space buff, from things like this:

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To things like this:

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In case you are not familiar with either of those, the top one is the Mars Rover, which was sent to Mars to search for and characterize rocks and soils that hold clues to past evidence of water on Mars... the bottom is Quark, a Ferengi on the Starship Enterprise.

She is also a fan of the NASA image of the day site, which features images like this:

So, back to her call. She called me to tell me that the Space Shuttle Endeavour would be going over the Bay Area around 9 am on Friday. I have to admit, I did not know that, and when I looked it up online, it was supposed to go over my house around 8:30. Of course, I would be at work, so I would not be able to see it.

Bummer.

But on Friday, as I was working, I heard a shout, and I looked over to see....The Endeavour! I work in a skyscraper and we are pretty high up, so we had a nice view of the shuttle going past the Golden Gate bridge and around the bay. It took a full circle around the bay, and therefore around our building. Everyone was running from window to window trying to see it.

First of all, it was huge. I tried to get a photo with my iPhone but it doesn't show it very well, but it was pretty darn close to us, pretty close to the ground and pretty darn cool! Here are a few (bad) photos! I circled it so you can see it a little bit. Also, if you look really close at the third photo, you can see people on all of the rooftops!

Did anyone else see the Endeavour? Is anyone else a Star Trek buff? What interesting hobbies/likes do your parents have?

To My Mother

Today I was born. Okay, that's not the complete truth. Actually, I WAS born on Mother's Day. However, Mom's Day changes every year; it is the second Sunday of May, and therefore each year is different. Well this year, it is NOT my birthday. However, the day I was born WAS on Mother's Day. That year. I don't need to tell you WHICH year that was. However, here is a picture of me and my Mom. Happy Mom's Day Moogle!

In New Orleans on a Bright Day

But. This year is not the day I was born. This year Mother's Day is the day I arrive. Back home. I fly into the LA airport on the 7th at 8 pm and then fly to Sacramento and arrive at 12:20 AM. I will have arrived home. Happy Mother's Day Mom.

Note: I am writing this in advance, because once I arrive I will be tired and sore and grumpy and I will meet up with friends and not have time to get online.

Of course, now that my vacation is over, it is time to get back to work. First off: a little fun. I meet up with my friend and her family (my second parents) for Mother's Day brunch. I will be wearing my scrubby backpacker's clothing, because that is all that I own. It will probably smell a little (or a lot). But it won't matter, because these people are my family.

Next, I will go and visit with my brother, who will hopefully serve me dinner and beers as I lounge on the couch watching his Tivo (catching up with Top Chef). Then we will FINALLY go to a Giants game (I have REALLY missed the Giants) with my friend Jack from work. We used to get free tickets from our company, back in the day when we worked together (2002) and we used to always have A BLAST. It will be great to reminisce with him and watch the game, drink a few overpriced beers, have a gross (yummy!) nacho and enjoy the game.

After that, I meet up with my grandma and together we will drive up to my parents' house, which is about a 4 hour drive from San Francisco. I can't wait to go home. The area where my parents live is beautiful and it is going to just be starting summer and it is going to be great! Everything green and flowing water and blue sky. Yum.

After that, the to do list begins. Sorry, that should be The To Do List. It's THAT important. Not only is it my To Do List, which I have mentioned before, and is forever getting longer and longer, but my Dad has one for me as well, which will also be long. However, with him helping me with mine and me helping him with his, we are a force to be reckoned with.

So, getting home is a blessing. It will be great to see friends and family. But it is also a "curse". I have so much to get done (including getting a job) and so will be very busy (and maybe even a tad stressed) over the next few weeks.

To top it off, maybe you haven't heard about this, but Mr. Lovely lives Back East and I live in California. So we will each go back to our own (parent's) homes for now. But who knows what will happen later. But this is another story all together.

Another A-Z. T is for To. You can see more here.