We leave for Colorado tomorrow! Hooray! I packed last night, and will be re-packing a bit tonight because of course I packed too much. At the moment my pack is about 40 pounds (food and water included) and I’d like it to be around 35. I think I can get close. I know I packed a couple things that I don’t truly need.
I really don’t understand why photos of John Kerry in a bunny suit inside a space shuttle has become a news story. Republicans are trying to make him look silly? Democrats are trying to do damage control and complaining that the photos were leaked? I don’t get it!! The facts are:
- John Kerry visited Kennedy Space Center.
- That is pretty cool, and even if it’s a campaign tactic, I appreciate that he visited NASA, unlike, say, a certain President who never came to JSC until we had an accident.
- While at KSC, Kerry and his companions, Sens. Bill Nelson and John Glenn (the latter who, of course, was the first American to orbit the earth), decided they wanted to see an orbiter up close and personal.
- In order to go inside the orbiter, you have to wear a bunny suit to prevent dirt and hair and anything else from falling anywhere it shouldn’t.
- Voila, Kerry put on a bunny suit, and had his photo taken to commemorate him getting to do something really damn cool.
What is the big deal? He looks silly, yes, but so would anyone. Is he supposed to turn down going inside the space shuttle because he might look silly? That’s dumb.
I was at work late enough last night that I missed the Astros game. Without me there, my boy, Adam Everett, hit two home runs. Maybe I should skip games more often! But that would be no fun. Anyway, I had to stay until I could get some stupid maps plotted. Do you know how frustrating it is to be able to plot points in minutes, but take hours to get Matlab to draw a freaking box around them?? With help from Gavin and Bini, I finally got it working and was able to leave at 7:00.
40 pounds??? That’s a lot of extra stuff… mine was 27, that was with granola bars, but without food, water, or the stove…
Food and water will add almost 10 pounds to your pack, so you’d be at 37. 40 is not that unreasonable.
I totally agree on the John Kerry picture. He got to see the inside of the shuttle, and you have to wear a bunny suit to do that. I’d wear a bunny suit out in public for days in exchange for a chance to see the shuttle from the inside.
I think this all goes back to the perception that science isn’t “cool”. Although, I don’t think that term can really be applied, even loosely, to Kerry, Bush, or any politician that’s run for president recently (maybe ever). So, I don’t know what he’s worried about.
SARAH!!! I can’t believe that you wrote that John Glenn, Jr. was the first American in space!!! I know that you know better! It’s Al Shepard, Jr., of course; JG was the THIRD American in space, the first American to ORBIT the Earth.
I agree wrt John Kerry; they could dress me up in a real bunny suit so long as I could go in the space shuttle.
its carter in the camera phone!!
Cari, you need to read more carefully. Sarah wrote that John Glenn was the “first American to orbit the earth” which is absolutely true.