Wandering through E-Space

D.W.Q.M.: Ian: "Where's your spirit of adventure, hm?" the First Doctor: "It died a slow and painful death when those bats came out of the rafters." Happy Halloween, everybody!!! I'm sorry I haven't updeated on a regular basis-not even my front porch. I've either been too busy, too sick, or just plain too lazy. ;) So, since I've been lazy, but still want to put my blog in the spirit of Halloween, I decided to post this picture of our pumpkins from 2003: Happy Halloween! (this was from last year's Halloween front porch. ) I'm excited-tonight I'm heading over to Foofy and Perseph's to help hand out candy. I'm heading over there early so I can help decorate their yard. I've got fresh batteries for my camera ( I am so sorry, Perseph! ) so I can take pictures of our Edward Gorey-themed pumpkins!! I'm sooo excited-it's always fun at the PF's!!! ;) (didn't you know? There house is the place to be on Halloween!) ...

D.W.Q.M.: Captain Mike Yates: "Do you know -- yesterday I saw a fox in Piccadilly?" Sarah Jane Smith: "And nightingales in Berkeley Square?" The other night I was talking with my sister on the phone when she noticed Boo had left her bike out by the road again. She decided to go out and bring in up the garage herself. Since she was on her cordless, I went out with her-we were still chatting aimlessly as she walked towards the bike, but then she started to sound distracted, and said, 'hang on a sec', then began to mumble a bit, then all of the suddened, said, 'Uff! I just freaked myself out.' and sounded like she was tripping over something. She regained her composure as the garage door started to close, and then said to me, 'You know, I'm not worried about thugs in this neighborhood. I'm worried about bears.' Me: "Bears?!" Al: "Bears." Apparently not too long ago, a neighbor of hers, who lives just three houses dow...

D.W.Q.M.: the Third Doctor: "You're mad... paranoid!" the Master: "Who isn't? The only difference is that I'm just a little more honest than the rest." This post is dedicated to Perseph , cause I know she loves the Happy Bunny. ;) you are the cute but psycho happy bunny. You adorable, but a little out there. It's alright, you might not have it all, but there are worse which happy bunny are you? brought to you by Quizilla

D.W.Q.M.: Duke Juliano: "There's this man in Florence claims that by arranging ground glasses in a certain order, it's possible to see the moon and stars as large as your hand." Marco: "Is that a good thing?" (from the Fourth Doctor story, the Masque of Mandragora.) The month isn't over yet. LOL. ;) Today's astronomy post is brought to you by Sky and Telescope , and my astronomy calendar. ;) The Moon and Planets October 7th: the crescent moon is below Venus, ver low in the southwest at dusk. October 16th: (starting October 16th) Mars will be closer to the Earth (and brighter in the sky) than it will be until 2018. Note: This should not be confused with the Mars Hoax . Mars will NOT be as big as the moon-this is just the closest it's going to be to Earth for a few years. :) [see October 29th] October 17th: Full Moon. Partial eclipse of the Moon peaks at 8:03am EDT-best seen west of a line from Toronto to Miami. October 18th: Moon near Mars after...

D.W.Q.M.: "...how I love the autumn; the leaves, the colours..." -Romana 2 Hmm...hopefully the picture will eventually show up. ;) You Are a Silly Hat Cute, funny, and a little dorky. What Part of Fall Are You? Have I mentioned that this is the beginning of my favorite time of year? ;)

D.W.Q.M.: Ian: "Where's your spirit of adventure, hm?" the First Doctor: "It died a slow and painful death when those bats came out of the rafters." I love this time of year. October marks the beginning of my favorite four months of the year. I love the colors of the leaves, the coolness in the air (which is missing at the moment. ;) ), the smell of burning wood, pumpkin spice. Ahhh... Halloween is coming!! Already I have a ton of ideas that I need to share with Perseph about decorating her house and yard for Halloween (some of which I have shared with her in a series of brief emails as they pop into my head. LOL) According to her neighbors, Perseph's is the place to be on Halloween. :) I can't forget my own place, too. I've been really slacking-6 years ago, I would have been ready for Halloween by now. I don't even have my Halloween boxes unpacked yet! I do have my wreath up, and I finished putting in all the window lights. When I was testing ...

Well, I haven't been posting the last couple of weeks because I just haven't been up to it (for reasons I won't delve into right now) But go figure, the day I decide to post, dreamingheart seems to be down. LOL. ;) I'll just save this and the next post and try to publish when it's back up. :-D I need to update my sidebar...there's a couple of new blogs that I've been reading that are absolutely hysterical. Scary, but hysterical. ;) Both written by librarians-and here I thought life at our library was crazy!!! ;) Toodles!

D.W.Q.M.: Cornish: "Control to capsule: do you have visual contact?" the Third Doctor: "Do you mean 'Can I see it'?" 'Go to bed, Ro!' I bet that's what most of you are saying if you see the time this was posted. ;) I know, I should get some sleep, especially since I nodded off during the Daily Show, but I just got a second wind, and am feeling a bit nerdy. So I'm sitting hear after midnight, thinking about auroras, and wondering if I'd get the chance to see any tonight. Going back to the feeling nerdy part, I decided to write a bit about the likelyhood of us seeing auroral displays. The Space Environment Center has a handy page which gives some aurora viewing tips. Let's get technical... Of course, location is a big part-and knowing your magnetic latitude helps. They have a chart with different cities, but unfortunately Cleveland is not listed, so I used their map to 'guestimate' our mag. lat: ~51.0. Minneapolis is 55.1. Othe...

D.W.Q.M.: Duke Juliano: "There's this man in Florence claims that by arranging ground glasses in a certain order, it's possible to see the moon and stars as large as your hand." Marco: "Is that a good thing?" (from the Fourth Doctor story, the Masque of Mandragora. ) Today's astronomy post is brought to you by Sky and Telescope Sunspots, solar flares and auroras Ahhh, what an interesting couple of weeks the sun has had! Seven major X-class flares within the last few days. Region 808 will cross the center of the sun tomorrow, and, if it holds together, will reach the western limb around the 21st. I believe there is still a mid-latitude aurora watch in effect, so be on the look out for the Norhtern Lights, especially if 808 continues to produce solar flares and CMEs. Check out this article for all the excitement, and the dangers, that a solar flare can produce. There's a really nice picture at the end of the article of an aurora display that was cap...

D.W.Q.M.: "You know, I am so constantly outwitting the opposition, I tend to forget the delight and satisfaction of the arts... the gentle art of fisticuffs." -the First Doctor Football is starting this weekend (regular season)- Yay!!!! Go Packers!!! The Doctor: "Abernathy, where the heck did he come from?" Romana (nonchalantly) : "The Twins' dugout." The Doctor *shaking his head* : "Sheesh." Ahh, a victory-a small victory, but a victory nonetheless. ;) The Indians beat the Twins, 7-5. Boo!!! Hey, I got the Wendy's trivia question during the 7th inning: Which were the only 2 Twins to hit a grand slam during the World Series? A: Dan Gladden and Kent Hrbek-both from the 1987 World Series. ahh, what a great year. ;) LOL :-D Hockey starts next month! Yay! Go, Wild!!! Today Adam, Jerm, Jerm's dad, Mr. D and I tried out a different disc golf course-Rosco Park in Medina. It was fun, but took longer than Sims. That's ok-I can use the exe...

D.W.Q.M.: Duke Juliano: "There's this man in Florence claims that by arranging ground glasses in a certain order, it's possible to see the moon and stars as large as your hand." Marco: "Is that a good thing?" (from the Fourth Doctor story, the Masque of Mandragora. ) No September night sky post yet. Ro seems to have misplaced her copy of Sky and Telescope Okay, enough of me talking in the third person. ;) Hopefully I'll have a September night sky post soon, so, until then... Tuesday night, after discgolfing with Adam and Jerm at Sims Park, we decided to check out the sunset along the shores of Lake Erie, 'cause it looked cool. *heehee* I have to watch my language here-don't want the guys to sound feminine. ;) They weren't, believe me, they weren't. Although Adam did decide to joke around and with a high pitch voice, said, 'oooh! the sunset, how pur-ty!' and skipped along the ground-but that was only after I said, 'ooh! Let...

D.W.Q.M.: "The ceremonial gift merely symbolizes friendship. We have no need for symbols, you and I." -K'anpo, from the 3rd Doctor story, Planet of the Spiders 'Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell rock...I'm talking to Au-n-ntie!' -Boo, today on the phone. :) It's hard not to love that! :-D I called my sister today to see how she was doing and it turns out she already got the packages I sent the kids on Monday! Woo! They all loved the books, and Boo especially loved the new clothes (she starts kindergarten next week-I don't believe it!) Al said she got pictures of them with their new books, including Mellon, holding hers up with the 'so big' expression and a huge smile on her face. Oooh! I can't wait to see 'em!!!! Yesterday they went to the Minnesota State Fair and had a great time-they got a new wagon. (the kids and mom seem very excited about this new wagon) I was going to ask the kiddies if they had tried Norweigan on a stick, b...

D.W.Q.M.: "It takes all sorts to make a galaxy." -the Fourth Doctor Ah, yes, we are coming to the end of the August blog challenge, so I thought I'd talk a little bit about a couple of things that are really important that make me happy. :) The first, of course, is my family. :) Of course, now that I want to write about them I have complete writer's block. LOL. Seriously, though-I have alot of happy memories of my family-weddings, reunions, graduations, picnics, the holidays, Sunday dinners. How many have played a family reunion volleyball game, with, like, 20 people on each side? (ok, maybe only 15) At one reunion back in 1990, I remember we played guys against girls. One of my second cousins was serving-she served the ball, and her husband, who had casually walked onto the court, just stuck his arm out in mid-stride and the ball bounced off of it with such force we all had to run for cover. Family volleyball games are cool, 'cause even the smallest kiddies get ...

D.W.Q.M.: "Well, you see, Mr Scarman, I have the advantage of being slightly ahead of you. Sometimes behind you, but normally ahead of you." -the Fourth Doctor Three cheers to Perseph , who won Settler's on taco night! Yay, taco night! This past taco night we watched the first episode of Farscape that I saw. It brought back a fond memory. My friend Jeff needed a place to stay while visiting, so I offered him my apartment. He accepted, but about a week before he came over, he asked if we could watch this show called Farscape (apparently it was starting it's second season that week) He said, 'you gotta love Farscape .' I said, sure, okay. Well, the Wenesday before he came, I noticed that USA was going to be airing a two part story from the show. I decided to watch it to see what I had agreed to. By the end of the first episode, I was like, 'wow, this is pretty frellin' cool.' By the end of the second, I was like, 'I want more! I want more!!!...

D.W.Q.M.: "It's so peaceful, like Earth after a thunderstorm." -Tegan Jovanka Happiness is...the middle of August and the temp's less than 70 degrees. Bliss. Ahh, I can let my hair down. Yesterday it was sunny and cool-and I loved it! So did Perseph! ;) Today it was cloudy, and we had some lake-effect rain (much needed rain, I think) but the temp is still cool, and it's not muggy-perfect for a lunch break walk! (Since she's back at KSL, Shar and I are determined to start walking during lunch on a regular basis again!) Before I forget-I'd like to thank Andy and Adam for showing up for the evening procession the last day of the Feast! Since they arrived after we had lined up, I didn't see them. During the evening procession, since we are playing constantly, the only people I am aware of are those who are right next to me. "Thanks, you two!!" :-D (special thank you to Perseph, too-who let me know they were there) :) Happiness from Saturday: Di...

D.W.Q.M.: "There's no point in being grown up if you can't be childish sometimes." -the Fourth Doctor *hee* You are the Fourth Doctor: A walking Bohemian conundrum with a brooding personal magnetism and a first-rate intellect concealed somewhere beneath your charmingly goofy exterior. You are perhaps the most terribly clever of all the Doctors, though your occasional bouts of childishness get you in trouble. You never go looking for a fight, but when someone messes with you... good heavens, are they ever sorry they did. Which Incarnation of the Doctor Are You? brought to you by Quizilla

D.W.Q.M.: "You know, I am so constantly outwitting the opposition, I tend to forget the delight and satisfaction of the arts... the gentle art of fisticuffs." -the First Doctor Tuesday Jerm and Adam introduced me to disc golf. Even though my arm was quite sore, and I was so much over par that I lost count, I still had a great time! Adam's been doing this for several years ago, so he is the expert. Jerm just started last week, but he's looking pretty good out there. :) We went to play again this evening, and although I still sucked, I was able to keep track of my score this time around. :) Both Adam and Jerm say they can see that I'm improving, so that made me happy!! :) We play again this Saturday-I hope to improve even more! ;) It's going to be a slow process, but well worth it. :) Also-we made Adam happy-he's really excited that we like disc golf. He was afraid that he'd take us, and we'd be like, yeah, this is cool,we should do it ah...

D.W.Q.M.: Sarah Jane Smith: "Boot cupboard? But it's enormous!" the Fourth Doctor: "Oh, I've seen bigger boot cupboards." First, apologies to those who read my blog who got my email on the subject-this entry will pretty much repeat it. Maybe a couple more comments-feel free to voice your opinion on the new dorms! Case has finished building the new dorms. 7 new dorms-buildings 1-4 for the upper classmen, buildings 5-7 for the second years. Today Shar(also a case alum), Brian, and I took a tour of the new dorms... OMG. Where to begin? The common room: A working fireplace. Working fireplace! , big flat plasma screen tv. Comfy chairs, a kitchenette with a fridge, microwave, and full oven/stove. The stove is one of those flattop ranges...WOW. My sister was willing to sacrifice an awesome fridge just for one of those stoves... Starbucks (open 7 days a week-7am to midnight), a convience store... Fancy staircases (as we were walking down, Shar said, 'it's t...

D.W.Q.M.: Barbara: "What's that awful noise?" the First Doctor: "I beg your pardon... 'Awful noise'? A good way to talk about my singing!" Barbara: "No, Doctor, not that awful noise -- the other one!" Surviving the Feast! :) Yup, I survived, and had a good time! I have to admit, though-I was quite worried. The first night of the Feast, Friday, was extremely hot and muggy-add to that the 3 hours of sleep I got the night before, I was very crabby by the time the evening was done. Since it was very cloudy, we didn't see any meteors, either. :( Although I was bummed, Perseph knew exactly how to cheer me up-a late night trip to the IHOP for dessert! ;) And, despite the fact that we didn't see anything, it was cool to hang out on the farm with Perseph, Foofy, Jerm and Mike(who came up from Dayton for the Feast) Although, the past three astronomical events that we have tried to see have been spoiled by clouds and haze (comet, planetary alignm...

D.W.Q.M.: Cornish: "Control to capsule: do you have visual contact?" the Third Doctor: "Do you mean 'Can I see it'?" Keep your fingers crossed for a break in the clouds tonight!! The Perseids are coming, the Perseids are coming! ;)