A few months back, NASA announced preliminary dates for the remaining space shuttle missions for the outdated shuttle fleet, already overdue to be mothballed.

For as long as I can remember, I’ve had an interest and fascination with America’s space program and I’ve seen many a launch on television, but have yet to ever have the opportunity to experience it live at the Kennedy Space Center.

Well now with the end of the fleet near, I want to be down there for one of the launches. It’s a little more tricky than picking a date to be in Florida. With the great possibilty of delays due to weather, equipment, etc., you’ve got to pick a date and hope for a launch close to the scheduled date.

Here’s to getting to see one of the remaining space shuttle launches.

So it sounds like John McCain (and George W. Bush before him) used one of the most popular Hagar-era Van Halen songs – “Right Now” during public events.

Like a lot of bands, it sounds like Van Halen has no desire to be affiliated with any political candidate, and can you blame them?

Most of these songs aren’t really appropriate anyway when you listen to the lyrics beyond the chorus. Ronald Regan utilized Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the USA” which if you listen to a few versus, is anything but an upbeat song about the state of America. “Right Now,” although not as politically charged, is more about living in the moment – not the best campaign song when people are thinking about the next four years, not just right now.

Van Halen Tells McCain to Back Off “Right Now”

I’ve ridden with the Raleigh Gyros on many a Tuesday night training rides, but have never ridden with them on their longer Saturday morning routes. Well today, with not much going on on this long weekend, and the fact that they were starting the ride right around the corner at the local Food Lion plaza, it was the perfect time to ride on one of their longer routes.

Starting out in a humid and a bit foggy conditions, we rode out to Timberlake, NC and back – just over 72 miles door to door, which I realized is actually the longest I’ve ridden by about 10 miles (plenty of 100Ks under my belt).

(more…)

So the three day weekend us upon us. Thank God.

We’ve got no travel plans, but plenty going on. First thing tomorrow morning, I’m doing a 70 mile bike ride with the Raleigh Gyros, which will be a nice way the end the week (and month) after being hindered fit a week with limited outdoor riding due to lots of rain.

After that ride, with plenty of calories available, it’ll be time for lunch and a nap before we head downtown for beers at a Bulls baseball game with Amanda’s company.

We’ll probably sleep in and then do a little recovery ride. Sunday afternoon, we’ll head out to Holly Springs to our friends, Bret and Tina for a backyard barbecue.

Monday, I don’t think we have anything planned, and I’m quite happy about that.

File this one under funny and sad… cause it’s so so true.

Hug a Developer Today

It’s been really wonderful that central North Carolina (along with a lot of other areas) has been getting rain pretty steadily for the last couple days, and it looks like we’re going to get it possibly all the way through the weekend. It’s great for the state in a year where we’ve been fighting drought conditions almost throughout.

Just two days of steady rain have already perked up our lawn and plants. It’s amazing how with just some decent moisture, plants and lawns green right back up.

Now I know beggars can’t be choosers, but I’ve got two requests of the weather in the coming weeks and months:

(more…)

For those of you who ride, walk or run Durham, North Carolina’s greenway – the American Tobacco Trail, expect some detours in the coming weeks for the area around the downtown end of the trail.

It looks like the closure is all centered around the Apex Street Bridge and a new connection to the trail. I look forward to the day I receive a message about the trail about constructing one of the three bridges at the other end of the paved trail.

(more…)

So Friday I had to take Amanda to the airport before I headed into work. So no bike commute Friday.

Then this morning I was too tired and sluggish to get up early to ride in. Now looking at the forecast, Wednesday’s looking like rain.

So just like that, it could be a week or more without a bike commute. Granted, I’ve had a couple group rides in there, but I’m a creature of habit and am missing my alternate commute.

Hopefully, it’ll be back to regular routine by the end of the week.