Back at It

Image Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls
ON THE MORROW: In the image below, an Orbital Sciences Corporation Antares rocket is seen on launch Pad-0A at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility. The photo was taken on Monday, Jan. 6. The rocket's set to launch tomorrow morning, at 10:32 a.m. Seattle time.

It was supposed to launch today (the 7th), but the frigid weather resulted in it being put off until tomorrow.

 

The Antares will launch a Cygnus spacecraft on a cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station. The Orbital-1 mission is Orbital Sciences' first contracted cargo delivery flight to the space station for NASA. Among the cargo aboard Cygnus set to launch to the space station are science experiments, crew provisions, spare parts and other hardware.

Today we watched a fair amount of NASA TV, including coverage of Cygnus rolling out to the launch pad.

BOW WOW: The kids spent some time with "Time for Kids" this afternoon, reading a couple of short issues, each a 2013-in review theme. One was about the year's 'coolest inventions.' I asked the kids which one interested them most, and they both pointed to a product that lets people chat with their pets from remote locations. It's funny, because our family has talked about that before - how it would be nice to be able to phone home and yell at the dogs to stop barking or remind them not to pee on the floor. Of course, the maker of iCPOOCH ("interactive care for dogs") has a friendlier chat in mind, with owners calling because they miss their dogs so much, and the bonus of being able to 'give' them a biscuit. We found an informational video about it on YouTube:

http://youtu.be/skD7zSAnGBQ

It's a neat idea, but I have to admit, I picture dogs pawing at the device featuring their owner's face and voice, and quickly breaking their human's expensive electronics. ... I was curious how much an iCPOOCH retails for, but in poking around their Web site, it looks like the units aren't on the market yet. It looks like they plan on having a Kickstarter campaign. Heck, maybe the teen inventor will show up on "Shark Tank" soon. :)

POLITICALLY-MINDED:  I wanted to make spaghetti for dinner tonight, but Christian avoids gluten, so that's a no go, unless we could find some gluten free pasta for him at the local grocer. I spied a box of Barilla gluten free spaghetti and grabbed it, but CJ basically shamed me into putting it back, loudly reminding me (and everyone else in the aisle) that the chairman of Barilla is "not LGBT friendly," as evidenced by his widely reported remarks last September.   Fortunately, there was also a box of Ronzoni gluten-free spaghetti on the shelf. It came home with us (and tasted pretty good, might I add).

In other political news, CJ spent about 90 minutes today watching one BrainPOP video after another, all of them having something to do with politics. Of course, that meant I spent 90 plus minutes talking about everything from ancient Rome's governance to the socialist just sworn in on the Seattle City Council. 

FUNNY FACE: Yesterday Annabelle discovered that my phone had both a) a way to take a "selfie" and b) a fun photo editing/graphics software program. This was the result. ...

SEND IN THE CLOWNS: If you read regularly, you have already read plenty about our adventures over at Rick's new house, trying to get it habitable. To that end, yesterday we went to a local salvage store, Second Use, to peruse their appliances. All of their fridges were thrashed, but look at this gem we found hanging from their high ceiling!

A glass, clown-faced, ceiling light cover. How wonderfully awful! It had to be ours. Well, Rick's. ;)  We took it right over to his place and installed it in the dining area, lucky guy! (That's what he gets for giving me his keys.) 

                                   

THOUGHT BUBBLES: If you live in North America, chances are you've been hearing about the cold snap hitting the middle and eastern parts of Canada and the northern U.S. Most of the stories are definitely about the unpleasant aspects of the weather (frigid cold, impossible commutes, loss of utilities and such). However, I read a story today about a mother and her son who decided to go out and play in the cold, with a bottle of bubbles. The photos from their fun are remarkable. Check them out here:
http://distractify.com/culture/arts/frozen-bubbles-in-wintertime/