Spaceport Awesome

Frankly I think Spaceport America is a bit cheesy for a name, but being humanity's first commercial spaceport is pure awesome. New Mexico is building it and Virgin Galactic has agreed to make it their headquarters. When my kids graduate from high school they're getting a vacation to the moon. I'm assuming that by then tickets will run for less than the inflation adjusted equivalent of $200k rather than that I'll be a millionaire.

The Love of Machines Is the Love of Creation

The piston descends, pulls the gas, the shaft spins.
The piston ascends, the gas explodes, spins the shaft.
The cylinder is a cannon that fires,
and fires upon itself.
The imagination has yet to invent itself.

© B. Jason Reardon
3/14/2007

Tranquillo

In the States I always kept a frisbee in my car. Tossing it around is one of my favorite activities. Be prepared, you know. I had never even seen one in Costa Rica. There's always a fierce wind blowing through the valley or heavy rain, and I just assumed it never caught on.

Last Sunday night at church I was walking past a guy when I heard that magical word "frisbee". I interrupted him and learned that he plays Ultimate Frisbee with a group every Monday and Thursday night from 8 to 10. They've been playing for years and have a mixed group of Gringos and Ticos. He had a frisbee in his car, and we broke it out right then and there. I had just been thinking how much I missed it.

I went last night and got rocked. I've been running intermittently and taking a dance class, but I was not prepared for the dead sprints of Ultimate. There were some very skilled people there who could throw a disk as well as anyone I've seen (and in high wind). Around 20 people showed up and rotated through teams of 7 each. Hearing people call out familiar commands in another language is a good way to learn. "¡Aqui!" (Here!) "¡Marcalo!" (Mark him!) "¡Pasala!" (Pass it!) "¡Uno cada Uno!" (Man-to-man!) It's also a good way to ruin the play out of confusion. "Tranquillo" (Gringo, take it easy instead of passing to thin air again.)

Yep, Wii

Susan from the office invites me to have dinner with her family to practice my Spanish, play with the kids, and help solve their computer problems. I always enjoy my time with them (except when their computer is showing the blue screen of death). They threw in some extra incentive yesterday by announcing that they had purchased a Wii. Swinging that controller like a bat, a tennis racket, and a golf club is ridiculously entertaining. Their ten year old son was already a pro with it after owning it for a only few days. I'll get him next time.