Once again the big hand sweeps past the top of the age clock. I celebrated by snapping off yet another tooth. I figured with the stock market in the toilet I would try the old tooth fairy strategy. But it didn’t work out cause I swallowed the darn thing. Just kidding…well mostly…my teeth have always been a weak spot for me. They’ve been chomping on stuff for a long time now. Unfortunately, they are not in the best shape and lately they seem to be breaking off. So…another sojourn to the dentist with a big bag of money and I won’t look like a hillbilly anymore.
Over the past year I have kept a closer eye on the space industry since it was always an area of interest to me. It’s good to see more countries getting into the game. The Indians (think turbans not tomahawks) have sent a spacecraft to orbit the moon and so has China and Japan. I’m still intrigued by the Google Lunar X PRIZE which is a $30 million competition for the first privately funded team to send a robot to the moon, travel 500 meters and transmit video, images and data back to the Earth. There are currently 14 teams registered for the competition. I wish I had the smarts and money to join in. That would be an interesting legacy to leave. By the way, if anyone wants to buy me a cool Google T-shirt for my birthday go right ahead 🙂 (size Large please).
I had thought earlier this year that I might get more involved in some of my old space-related interests but that never panned out. Instead I’ve been getting a local chapter of Engineers Without Borders up and running. We have identified several rural farm villages in Bolivia to partner with over the next three to five years. They are close together, well…relatively speaking, and both have requested the same help. Initially we will be working on irrigation projects but it’s hard to say where it will end up. Each community is just under a hundred families or so and are located high up in the Andes mountains. We will make the first site assessment visit next summer. Continue reading
