Wandering through E-Space

I am not hear to complain about the media's fascination with the "Super Moon"-I think I've tweeting and posted to Facebook enough about that-instead, I'm hear to put my money where my mouth is (is that the right saying?) and to tell you to go check out the moon tomorrow night! :) Saturday, September 6th has been designated International Observe the Moon Night! InOMN is the brainchild of several "Moon Units" (the Lunar Science Institute, the Lunar and Planetary Institute, and the Astronomical Society of the Pacific to name a few).  The idea is to generate interest in observing and studying the moon. How to participate?  It's easy!  Just go out on the night of the 6th and look up! :)  You can also join an event, OR create one for the public for yourself!  (unfortunately the only event close enough to Cleveland is Hiram College.  Perhaps next year we can suggest to the folks at Observatory Park to create an event of their own!) ;)  (update: alth...

In the wee hours on Saturday, May 24th, a new meteor shower, the Camelopardalids will make it's presence known! (Image courtesy of Sky and Telescope) This will be the first known time that Earth will pass through the debris left behind by Comet LINEAR. (I say known because there is very little evidence of that the "Cams" have made an appearance before).   The best part is experts believe that we will be plowing through a relatively dense field of debris, with the potential of the Cams becoming a meteor storm!   The peak of this shower is predicted to be around 3am, EST.  If you are in Northeast Ohio and are looking for a place to view meteors, Observatory Park in Geauga County will be open all night long for stargazers!  Camelopardalis is a very faint constellation.  Chris Mentrek, Astronomy Naturalist at Observatory Park suggests looking just to the right of the Big Dipper and just below Polaris, the North Star.  Even more good new...

Yes, I am still around! ;) Tomorrow is Free Comic Book Day!!! To see if there is a participating store near you, check out their store locator . In addition to grabbing some free comics, I'm also on the hunt for a few older ones.  I recently started reading the Farscape comics-set at the end of The PeaceKeeper Wars, these comics follow the story line of the cancelled season 5, and are considered canon by the Jim Henson Company!  There were 24 issues over a 2 year run, and the first 16 were compiled into 7 paperback volumes.  Unfortunately it doesn't appear that the last 8 were ever made into single volumes-so I am on a search for issues 17-24. (I own the first volume containing the first 4 issues, and the library has the next 6 ). I'm really enjoying the comics-they remain true to the tv show, and are written by Rockne S. O'Bannon.  :) I'm also on the hunt for some trading card supplies-I need more 4-card protector sheets for my promo cards! :)  I also pu...

  It's here!!  It's here!!!!   The 50th Anniversary of my most favorite television program on Earth!  Happy 50th Doctor Who!!! I've been watching Doctor Who since I've been a tiny little thing.  My first episode was The Time Warrior.   Since I was so young, I didn't remember much of the story until almost two decades later when I finally got my hands on a VHS copy. (Yes you youngin's, BEFORE dvd/blu-ray players!) ;) The thing I remembered most from the episode was when the Third Doctor first met Sarah Jane. She had just walked into the room she was sharing with the Doctor and Prof. Rubish and tried to pull off pretending to be her Aunt Lavinia. (of course the Doctor saw right through that!) ;)  Doctor Who was a family affair in our household.  Our local PBS station in Minneapolis, KTCA (now TPT, I think...) aired Doctor Who on Friday and Saturday nights-although they did try a little bit of everything, it seemed. Friday and Saturday wer...

Thursday I was sitting at work, when my coworker Nora, herself a Whovian, came up to me and asked me if I knew about the Art Bites tour at the Cleveland Museum of Art (Art Bites are 30 minute gallery tours during the lunch hour) This week's topic? Wibbly-Wobbly, Timey-Wimey! Celebrate the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who by taking a tour of galleries of places that the Doctor and his companions visited. Well, duh!  Of course I was in!  Fellow Whovian Elanor joined us, too!  The woman giving the tour was obviously a big Whovian herself (well, of course she was-she came up with the idea for this Art Bite. ;) ).  The stories represented were The Romans, The Wedding of River Song, A Good Man Goes to War, The Girl in the Fireplace (the museum has the most beautiful rug on display-hard to believe it's from Louis XV's dining room!), and Vincent and the Doctor. It was a really awesome tour that went by really fast (and reminded me that I really should take advantage of the ...

Three days until the 50th Anniversary!!!!  Fun fact-Three was my first Doctor!  The first episode I remember watching as a child was The Time Warrior with Jon Pertwee and Elisabeth Sladen's first appearance as Sarah Jane Smith. They say your first companion is always your favorite-not sure how true it is, but in my case, it certainly is!!!!  She was like the older sister I never had. Speaking of favorite companions, the folks at BBC America's Anglophenia blog have come up with top favorite lists to celebrate the 50th Anniversary.  Check out their companion list! 10 Favorite Companions ...obviously, I totally agree with No. 1 on their list. ;)   I also have to agree with No. 2-I love Donna Noble-I felt as though she was the Sarah Jane Smith of the "New Who" era. :) I pretty much agree with the entire list- (yes, even though Rose is on the list-I had no problem with her during her tenure with 9-I just felt that with 10 she got to whiny and needed....

4 days until the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who!!!!!  Here is a great post from BBC America's Anglophenia blog filled with all sorts of video clips and information about the 50th anniversary, including the pre-show before The Day of the Doctor !!! :-D Countdown to the Day of the Doctor Enjoy!!! #SaveTheDay

The 50th Anniversary of Doctor Who is only a week away!!!!! I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am! I've been watching the show since I was 2 and a half-years old! There is so much I could say, but for now, I'll let these videos do the talking. :-D Trailer for The Day of the Doctor I see some serious 'sonic' envy happening in this trailer-do you? LOL. Prequel Mini-sode, Night of the Doctor Just a link to it, for those who don't want to be completely spoiled. ;) Doctor Who Children in Need special, the Day of the Doctor: Preview for the Doctor Who biopic, An Adventure in Space and Time Are you as excited as I am?!?!?!?!?!?!?! :-D

It's October!!! HALLOWEEN!!! Here's hoping the weather holds out for my godson's first hayride tomorrow night. :) If you're in the mood for something spooky, then check out this list of Cleveland's most haunted places! (Special thanks to  http://blog.rightturn.com for the graphic! ) Happy Haunting!

Vader's Little Princess by Jeffrey Brown My rating: 4 of 5 stars I found this book on display in the graphic novels section of our library’s CPL leisure collection. Although I had basically given up reading any Star Wars alternate universe books long ago, I still have a soft spot for comics and this was just too cute to pass up. I mean seriously-the cover has Darth Vader having a tea party with a tiny Princess Leia and her stuffed Ewok. I couldn’t help but giggle. I soon found out that this is a sequel of sorts to another book, Darth Vader and Son. Although I haven’t read the first one yet, I really don’t think you need to, unless you’re really anal about it… If you are looking for a ‘what might have been’ type comic, then move on. This is by no means that-and it’s not supposed to be. It’s a humorous, fun little read. I mean, do you really think someone as big and mean as Darth Vader would take time out of his very busy day of taking over the universe to have a tea p...

So once again I've been thinking about what to do w/this blog.  I keep saying I'm going to update and post more, but I never get around to it... One thing I finally did was update my sidebar...sort of.  I got rid of a few sites that no longer update or are completely defunct (yes, there are a couple that are still listed...I'll eventually delete those. And boo! Yahoo Avatars no longer exist)  I moved a few things around (not sure why there is such a large gap between my twitter feed and my get glue stickers...)  I may eventually move more things around, but that will come later.  And even though The Peacekeeper Wars aired several years ago, I'm keeping the banner up because I love Farscape! (same goes for the Doctor Who banner announcing it's return to America on SciFi-even though SciFi is now SyFy and Doctor Who is now exclusively on BBCA, it's still history...) ;) One of the main reasons why I haven't "upgraded" my blog template is simply b...

Been a while since I posted a review, so here's one!! :-) Windhaven by Lisa Tuttle My rating: 4 of 5 stars Decided to read one of GMMR's earlier novels-and was not disappointed! Since I am terrible at writing reviews, I'll just make this simple-I enjoyed reading about Maris and the flyers, the landsmen, and the singers. Windhaven is a collection of previously published short stories following the life of Maris, the daughter of a fisherman who becomes a flyer. Because a flyer's wings are inherited, Maris must challenge this tradition, and leads the way to changing the law so that a person is given wings based on merit, rather than heritage. Of course, young Maris is quite naive and doesn't fully understand the implications of challenging and changing the status quo, and we see her face and deal with the consequences as her story goes on. For those who are only familiar with GMMR's A Song of Ice and Fire saga, this story (co-authored with Lisa Tuttle) is no...

Last night I was working on a craft project, waiting for the paint to dry when I decided I’d run outside and take a picture of the Harvest Moon.   I went out to my back porch, saw the moon and the clouds heading my way, then ran back in to collect my Pentax camera, tripod, and my telephoto lens, figuring I had enough time to get at least a couple of shots before the clouds took over.     I took off my 55mm lens and attached the telephoto lens when I realized something was really wrong: Normally when you attached a lens, you turn it about 90 degrees before it locks into place…I had already turned it about 270 and it had not locked into place…    Crap. I tried to remove the lens and my worst fears were realized: the lens had jammed.    @#$%$!!! I tried wiggling the lens, but to no avail.   The little button you press to release the lens was stuck as well-I could move it about 90 degrees and it would pop back up, but no matter ho...

Just checking in!  Honestly, I really do want to post more.  Now if I can just find the time. ;) I've got so much to talk about-a weekend trip to Minnesota, the Doctor Who Fan Orchestra, Italian Band, my adventures with my new camera, work, life in general.   The last two weekends have been really busy for me.  First there was the Feast of the Assumption, then I did a quick weekend trip to Minnesota... Yeah, I know-Ohio to Minnesota-not really 'quick weekend trip' material, but it had been so long since I had been back, anything was better than nothing! ;)   This weekend is the St. Rocco's Festival, and next weekend is our Tippit Reunion.  Hmmm...not much sleep is in my forecast! LOL.  It's a good thing I got my DWFO submission in for The Impossible Astronaut Suite.   It's not due until the 7th of September, but if I hadn't finished it before the Feast, I doubt I would have been able to contribute to this one! Well, that's about ...

OMG!!!!  A co-worker of mine told me about this blog-I haven't been following Dollar Store Crafts  for very long, but I love them!  Check out this awesome contest they are holding!!!! Craft Challenge: The $5 Challenge (sponsored by Dollar Tree) : That's right DSC readers, it's time for another challenge, with another $100 gift card prize generously provided by Dollar Tree !  This month, rather than picking a specific theme, we're doing something a little different: The Five Dollar Challenge! Start crafting now, and come back to enter on July 1st. USB Desk Lamp by Rebecca Made It Dollar store crafting is not only about creativity, it's about big ideas on a small budget.  You might be surprised at just how far $5 can get you! Take, for example, this USB desk lamp by Rebecca Made It .  Can you identify all of the dollar store parts she used? (Of course, we always encourage the use of stash items, so you don't need to count on-hand items in your ...

 Wow-due to the unprecedented interest in the Impossible Astronaut Suite, they have to limit the number of applicants to the first 600!!!  Better hurry! ;)

I know, I know-I should be posting about the Venus Transit (which was AWESOME by the way!) I would like to include pictures, so I just have to decide which ones I would like to share here. :) Until then, I would like to share with you the Doctor Who Fan Orchestra's fourth collaboration, "Dalek Suite!"  I would have to say this was the most fun to work on so far. I'm really excited about our next piece, "The Impossible Astronaut Suite". TIAS will include bits from "I Am the Doctor" (the DWFO's first collaboration). I really enjoyed "I Am the Doctor" and have often said the only thing I regret about joining the DWFO is missing out on the first piece! ;)

Happy June!  As usual, I've been pretty busy!!  But I want to try to make more of an effort to post here-as I've neglected this blog (well, all my blogs) quite a bit. Here are a couple of updates in my life. I've played around with the telephoto lens that belonged to my dad-I've been taking pictures of the moon throughout it's current cycle.  I need to learn to focus it a bit better, but it's still pretty cool.   Too bad it's been cloudy the past two nights...  Speaking of astronomical events-the transit of Venus is this Tuesday! At first, I wasn't as excited as I should be-after all, it's not going to occur again for over 100 years.  However, I didn't have any eclipse glasses or arc welder's glass, so I wouldn't be able to see it with my own eyes.  Then I went to storage and brought home a box of some of my dad's camera equipment.  As I was going through the box, I discovered a piece of no. 14 arc welder's glass!!!  Not only ...

Yes!  I'm still here!  Man, I haven't posted since January!  Yikes!  Well, alot has happened.  Sports-wise, in football the Pack went 15-1, but lost in the first round of the playoffs. (boo.)  That's ok-they did pretty well in the draft-I can't wait to see what happens in the fall!  Baseball...eh...wah.  As of this moment, we are 8-23.  Gah!  I can only hope we will get better.  I refuse to be a fair-weather fan, and will stand behind my team-WIN TWINS!!!! Hmmm...let's see, what else has been going on?  Lots of stuff-a week from Sunday I will become a godmother again!!  :)  Stormy is sooooo cute!!! He's such a sweetheart.  Perspeh and Paul are very lucky parents! My sister finally has a new house-woo!!! Also, I have a new camera!!!  I decided I'd finally get a DSLR.   It's a Pentax K2000.  An older model, entry-level DSLR, but it's in great condition-already took some fantastic pictu...