Movie & More

GO GO GODZILLA! This afternoon, after a two, tortuous week wait (ha ha), the kids finally got to see the new "Godzilla" movie. 

We like to try to see films at the Pacific Science Center theaters when possible because a) it's a little cheaper and b) part of the ticket price supports the educational program there. Win-win.

We went about 90 minutes before movie time to have a chance to explore a little. It was fairly nice (no rain, no wind, and pleasantly warm), so we actually spent most of that time outside, with PSC's water features.

Incredibly, we were the only ones in the whole plaza, so the kids made a beeline for the water wheel, which is usually busy, with a line waiting. 

They had a hard time getting it going for the first time. I coached them to climb higher, faster, and together, and lean forward. Once they got the momentum going, it wasn't hard to keep the wheel in motion. 

Annabelle was proud when she managed to get this 4,500 pound sphere of stone moving all by her lonesome.

CJ spent most of his time using an over-sized water gun to get a paddle wheel spinning.

We made our way inside, and instead of going to the main building, we headed to the lobby area downstairs, along Denny Way.  There, the kids played with levers and pulleys.

CJ had no trouble with 250 kg of weight thanks to a little help from tools.  And Annabelle noted how much easier weight was to life with the help of a multi-rope and multi-pulley rigging.

We exited through the gift shop. This shirt caught my eye. I love math humor. :)

FREEBIE:  Lunch today was on Dodgers' pitcher Josh Beckett. Well, kind of. It was actually compliments of Dominoes and my quick fingers on the keyboard.

Beckett pitched a no-hitter on Sunday the 26th, and I knew Dominoes had a "DomiNoNo" promotion, where the first 20,000 fans logging into MLB.com at the appointed time (noon our time on the first business day after the no hitter, in this case) would get a free pizza.

Monday, I logged in in time, and 'won' one of the codes. Today, we redeemed it via the Dominos' Web site. I kept waiting for a catch, but it was quick, easy, and when we went to pick up the 'hand tossed, medium pan pizza,' it was entirely free!

The kids gave it four thumbs up!

THEY DID IT!: Today, "space hackers" from Project Reboot working at the Arecibo Radio Observatory in Puerto Rico announced they "are now in command" of NASA's 35-year-old ISEE-3 spacecraft, which left for dead over a decade ago. (I first wrote about it back on .)

Next on their 'to do' list: Trying to assess the spacecraft's health and then, hopefully, get the craft to fire its engines and return it to an orbit nearer Earth. 

Read all about it here: http://spacecollege.org/isee3/we-are-now-in-command-of-the-isee-3-spacecraft.html

WEEK IN A DAY: We spent the morning knocking out another week's worth of lectures in our AstroTech: The Science and Technology behind Astronomical Discovery course. We learned lots about infrared detectors today, and how charge-coupled devices (CCDs) are made (they're vital in digital imaging via telescopes), and how semi conductors work. Super interesting stuff!

THE LONGEST SEASON: We went to the public library today to pick up a movie on hold and, of course, came home with a stack of books.  One of the stack was "The Longest Season" by Cal Ripken, Jr.  I grabbed it off the shelf because I'm a sucker for books about baseball. 

I asked the kids to read it to me as I drove us home. Before they started, I told the kids about Ripken's "iron man" record, and how he surpassed the legendary Lou Gehrig when earning that title.

I'm not gonna lie, the kids were about two pages into the book and I was rolling my eyes. Right off the bat, Ripken was telling readers how he basically reinvented the shortstop position, how he was the American League MVP his second season with the Orioles, who won a World Series that year, how durable he was, on and on.  I didn't say anything out loud, but I was thinking, "OK, Ripken, we all know how awesome you were, you don't have to tell us."

But then a funny thing happened. Ripken spent the balance of the book recounting his disastrous 1988 season, where his team lost their first 21 games and his dad was fired as manager of the Os along the way. The morale of the story - winning is easy, it's losing that you learn from. 

Good on Cal for making that point. And yes, "The Iron Man" *did* reinvent the shortstop position and no, I didn't roll my eyes while typing that. :)