alexei!

I got something really awesome in the mail today. :)

oh and ps if you check the wikipedia entry about him, you will see that alexei leonov is the cutest little old man EVER :)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexei_Leonov

epic train nerdiness

ok, so as many of you know, i love train travel. to me, it is one of the best ways to travel, period. for the next month or so, Amtrak has added a really neat dome car to the Adirondack, the train which travels between montreal and nyc. it stops in plattsburgh, so today gammer and I stopped by the station, conveniently at the exact time the train was due in. ;) this is the dome car, with some spiffy advertising. I am absolutely DETERMINED to take a trip in this car within the next month. it's a necessity! :)

oh sheldon...

I love the big bang theory. but most especially jim parsons. he's magical. :) there's not a whole lot else to say. :)

skeeter

he loves this ball. it's his favorite toy in the whole world. sometimes he carries it around, through the house and outside, and even if he sits down he keeps hanging on to his ball. if you can get it from him, he'll chase you across the lawn and leap into the pond after you throw it for him. he's super cute and sweet. :)

evening in alaska

last may, my parents and I went on our second trip to Alaska. we're pretty besotted with the 49th state; our first trip there was in may 2008 and after we got home that time I don't think there was much doubt we'd be returning! this time, we had a balcony on our ship (this trip was part cruise, part land tour) and were able to see some amazing sights, right from our cabin. this is a painting from one of those moments, as we sailed south from Haines, en route to Juneau.

If I had a hammer

have you heard the cool story about the apollo 12 tv camera? on earth, when A12 commander pete conrad and LM pilot alan bean were practicing their procedures, they used a block of wood as a stand-in for the camera. up on the bright, sparkling, atmosphere-less moon, bean had the job of setting up the camera. after taking the lens cap off, he inadvertently pointed the camera in the direction of the sun for a mere moment. unfortunately, that moment was enough to pretty much fry the innards of the lens, resulting in the camera being almost entirely useless. at the time, however, neither the crew nor the ground staff knew what the problem was. so the funny part was when bean, trying to get the damn camera to work, hit it with his geology hammer. he still has the hammer and the camera is still on the moon. :)

someday we'll vacation here

europa. lovely, lovely europa. it's amazing. it has hidden secrets! the colors here are, if i am honest, a bit off. but I think it's a far superior (and better shaped) effort compared to jupiter. :)

p.s. in case you are wondering, here's what the REAL europa looks like!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/solarsystem/moons/europa_(moon)