Yesterday, I had an out of the world experience driving my step-mom's car complete with satellite radio. I'M SO HOOKED! I was a music fiend in a past life and apparently am easily resurrected when in the company of such an incredible collection at your fingertips. So, where to begin? Do I want XM or Sirius? Permanent system or portable? I need "a satellite radio 101" class.
On the same note as satellites and space... I wandered into Marye's gourmet pizza today for a quick bite after work. While waiting for my pizza, I watched the detailed coverage of the Atlantis space shuttle launch. Apparently this is the 121st space shuttle flight... can you believe that?! That's incredible to believe that we have been to space that many times. Watching it today felt like I was watching it back in the 60's; I was so filled with awe and inspiration. Exactly as I imagine it felt back then, except for the incredible footage they were able to view from the back of the craft during the entire launch. The most striking element I just can NOT get over is their speed. A display was in the corner showing their MPH, distance from earth, and something else. During the first 2 minutes they went from 0 to 2000 MPH... 2000 MPH in 2 minutes! The speed steadily kept climbing and climbing until around the 7 1/2 minute mark when the boosters separated and they had reached just over 6000 MPH... 6000!!!! Are you friggin' kidding me? The commentator was saying that was around 3G's. They go from 3G's to zero gravity in a split second. Can you even imagine what your body feels like accelerating like a speedball up to 6000 MPH then in 1 second going to nothing = completely nothing. What a ride!
