It wasn't all R&R for the birthday. The first half of the day Christian and I loaded the truck for a dump run and worked on siding/painting the house. Good times. ;) This afternoon, or attention turned inside and we did some furniture re-arranging to match the house's post-addition layout. Time well spent.
We had a fabulous dinner at one of our favorite places - Laredo's, a Tex Mex restaurant where we could enjoy great food while watching Monday Night Football and the National League Championship Series.
I got presents galore, including a pile o' geeky gifts from Christian. A new Star Wars umbrella, some Star Trek cookie cutters (can't wait to try those!). I got some spacey stuff too, including a cool Apollo-Soyuz pin from the former USSR, a 1965 Seattle PI with the front page about Ed White's spacewalk and a pretty glass plate with an Apollo mission theme. Lucky me!
CAPTIVATING: Our Number One event this weekend was watching Fearless Felix Baumgartner ride in a capsule lifted aloft by an enormous, helium-filled balloon to the 127,000 foot-plus mark.
I had set my alarm for 5 a.m., which was the targeted lift off time. However, it was delayed a couple of hours, which meant (mercifully) we got a bit more sleep.
Finally, the winds calmed enough to make the mission a go, and it took about two hours to ascend to that height from the launch site in Roswell, NM.
While the balloon trip, alone, was amazing and record breaking, what he did next was astounding. Felix jumped out of the damn thing.
Photo courtesy of & © Red Bull Media House
He proceeded to scream down earthward, tumbling out of control for a scary-long time before somehow finally managing to stabilize. His way down was a LOT quicker than his way up, that's for sure!It was SUCH a relief to see him land safely.
Photo courtesy of & © Red Bull Media House
During free fall he broke the sound barrier. Felix did not, however, break the record for the longest free fall. That record is still held by 84-year old Joe Kittinger, who was Felix's capcom for Sunday's jump.This video (courtesy of & © Red Bull Media House) gives you an idea of what went down, but it's nowhere near as exciting as it was watching it live.
Happy Birthday, K.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the play by play on the 24 mile high "jump". Thrilling. Imagine jumping from that high. Would it be easier than from 100 ft? Something for MPA to discuss, perhaps.