This is why I picked the Christmas gift I did for you!

It’s a good day to be in California!

The whale aquarium scenes were filmed at the Monterey Bay Aquarium when I was working there as a teen!

Happy birthday Gamer!

Artemis has occupied my thoughts and enchanted me for the past week. I really appreciated Auggie’s thoughts here too. They’re worth sharing.

I never thought I’d get to revel in a splashdown party after a real mission safely back to Earth from cislunar space. Yesterday, it happened. Im just over the moon about the events that have transpired this week. Amaze!
Amaze! Amaze!

I’ve waited a lifetime for this!

I’m down for any new Boards of Canada release!

“The vague reddish-yellow of the sun's corona, the star-studded surrounding sky all combine to cast a bluish glow over the moon. This cool, magnificent sphere hangs there ominously, a formidable presence without sound or motion, issuing us no invitation to invade its domain.”

“To add to the dramatic effect, we find we can see the stars again. We are in the shadow of the moon now, in darkness for the first time in three days, and the elusive stars have reappeared as if called especially for this occasion…

“It is between us and the sun, creating the most splendid lighting conditions imaginable. The sun casts a halo around it, shining on its rear surface, and the sunlight which comes cascading around its rim serves mainly to make the moon itself seem mysterious and subtle by comparison…

“To begin with, it is huge, completely filling our window. Second, it is three-dimensional. The belly of it bulges out toward us in such a pronounced fashion that I almost feel I can reach out and touch it, while its surface obviously recedes toward the edges.

In chapter 12 of his book "Carrying the Fire" Command Module Pilot Micheal Collins describes the moment beautifully.

"The moon I have known all my life, that two-dimensional, small yellow disk in the sky, has gone away somewhere, to be replaced with the most awesome sphere sphere I have ever seen…

I checked my trusty Apollo 11 final flight plan and found on page xi a short timeline diagram showing the spacecraft pass into the penumbra and then umbra of the moon a little prior to the Lunar Orbit Insertion 1 burn, before LOS with Earth.

When I heard the Artemis II crew describing the solar eclipse they experienced and later saw the photos, I felt their words were familiar, if not unearthly. So I went back to some of my Apollo references and indeed found the crew of Apollo 11 experienced the same science fiction moment.

It was pretty scary, and the week long prep sucked. But the result was good! A few polyps removed for biopsy, but they were very small, likely benign, and even if not it would just mean they’d need to do it again in a few years. As of now, don’t need it again for seven. Thanks Eddie!

Last year one of my favorite figures from F1, team owner and pundit Eddie Jordan suddenly died of colon cancer. On his podcast in his last months he begged men not to be too proud to get checked out before it’s too late like he did. For my self birthday present this week, I got myself a colonoscopy.

Wow. I watched this movie in the theater. (And again the night before Artemis II flyby day!) To me at the time Apollo seemed long buried in the past, with just a few relics and veterans around to recount the ancient tale. I’d have never guessed so much time had passed since then. Time is weird.

Happy birthday!

This is an astonishing day! I’m sitting in my living room listening to astronauts describing their view of the far side of the Moon - from farther away than any humans have ever been from Earth. All in real time. It’s like suddenly being a part of all my lifetime favorite books and movies!

Wow! Just finished dinner and now relaxing after a ski day with some TV. TV of an unprecedented kind. I’m watching live video inside a spacecraft on its way to the Moon. I never expected to see that in my lifetime. Living this far into the future isn’t always good, but this part certainly is!

The TLI burn went swimmingly! For the first time in 54 years, we’re going to the Moon!

I never imagined I get to see scenes like this happen in my lifetime.

Today, we go to the Moon.

If all goes well, tomorrow we go to the Moon. If you haven’t been giving it attention, this is the moment. This is not ordinary. This matters more than anything else going on in your life.
This is risky, seriously, and daring, and bold. Historic. And possible! We’re sending humans to the Moon.

PDX carpet!

Sounds dreadful! Get better soon!

I’m enjoying an apres ski hour in Snowbird’s Tram Club. This is the very room in which the idea of the Seven Summits was conceived by Dick Bass in 1978. Pretty cool to be chilling with friends in such a historic place in the history of mountain sports.

Whoops! Figment was my guess.

I had my best day skiing of the season so far. Lovely chalky snow to carve turns through for days! I worked it pretty hard today too. I’m going to sleep well tonight for sure.

Excellent tape job! You get a gold star for that one.