The Sad State of Literature in My World, originally uploaded by Brian Knight Photography.

I just walked into my office to find a book to read because though I
am quite tired, I sort of feel like I need to spend some quiet time
with words before giving in to sleep. Only, i could not read the
titles of any of my favourite books what with all the DVDs lined up
along the shelf. A sad statement on all of the books I have read cover
to cover this year (zero). What a difference a few years makes.

I’m sure I’ll have more thoughts on this most recent version of Primal Quest and I’m sure they’ll end up on the blog here.  In the meantime though, I need to shake these cobwebs lose, jump in the shower, and get out of the room before house keeping comes calling…

For three days in 1972, Capt. Gene Cernan lived on the moon.

‘Cause it’s next. For we came out of the cave, and we looked over the hill, and we saw fire. And we crossed the ocean, and we pioneered the West, and we took to the sky. The history of man is hung on the timeline of exploration, and this is what’s next.

- Sam Seaborn, The West Wing

This quote popped into my head tonight pretty early on during my (group) conversation with former astronaut Eugene A. Cernan (Captain, USN, Ret.). I was participating in a Discovery Channel blogger round table (thanks H!) that was set up to help promote Discovery’s new series, When We Left Earth: The NASA Missions.

A fellow blogger had asked a question about NASA’s new plans for exploring the moon and Capt. Cernan was explaining why he fully supports the Constellation/Orion program (aka. “Apollo on Steroids”). He was talking about the romance of “aviation in space” (a term he used more than once tonight) and the above quote (from my favourite WW episode of all time) rushed into my head. It was as if Cernan was channeling Sorkin, even if the opposite is more likely to be true. It did not matter though, because I could have easily stayed on the phone for hours listening to Capt. Cernan tell stories of his time in space.

The second question turned out to be mine and so, after fumbling a bit with the mute button on my phone (which you’ll be able to listen to in a day or so once they post the recorded conversation online), I was able to ask, “What do you think about when people say, ‘We can send a man to the moon, but we can’t do X.’?”

I have to admit it was a pretty open ended question and I had no expectation about how he might respond, but really I just wanted to make sure my question was passingly unique (though I’m sure this is nearly impossible as people have been asking Capt. Cernan questions about being an astronaut and walking on the moon for longer than I’ve been alive!). In any case, I didn’t take very good notes during this part and instead just sat back with a big smile on my face as I listened to him pontificate about space and technology and stuff (I’ll definitely be going back to listen to the audio of this).

At times Cernan got positively cosmic as he spoke about “the spiritual feeling of being out in the universe and looking back at home.”He described living on the moon as “my Camelot” and then spoke reverently about the Kennedy Space Center being the only place on the planet where people have left Earth for another “planet.”

From a photography geek perspective, one of the things Cernan talked about was how he wished he’d had an IMAX camera on the moon. Unfortunately the technology wasn’t quite ready and even if it had been available, they couldn’t spare the extra weight. (In case you’re wondering what sort of cameras they did bring to the moon, check out this site that describes the Hasselblad Space Camera.)

A follow up to my question went to the other participant in the call, the executive producer of When We Left Earth, Bill Howard. He was able to explain how the project came to be and how he gained access to the NASA archive vault. Footage from NASA turns out to be 100% in the public domain and so anyone can request any bit of footage for their documentary. The really special part of Howard’s show is the fact that they were given access to the original celluloid! and then using state of the art scanners upconverted the images to high-definition.

Now, I have to admit to having missed the show’s opening night. I saw an advert online and also something on the Post’s TV guide, but Sunday nights are not good TV watching nights for me and so I missed the show. Thank God for video on-demand. After the call finished I went down stairs and found a non-HD version of the show ready for watching any time I wanted. Being the patient sort I immediately called up the program, sat down on the couch, and watched. And it was great.

When We Left Earth is the story of mankind’s greatest adventure, leaving the earth and living in space. For the first time this series has digitally re-mastered the original film and audio recordings from NASA’s vault, including and all the key on-board footage filmed by the astronauts themselves. From John Glenn’s Mercury mission to orbit the earth, to Neil Armstrong’s first historic steps on the moon, to the unprecedented spacewalks required to repair the Hubble telescope, these epic stories are shown in stunning clarity and told by the astronauts and engineers who were there.

And now it is nearly 2am and I could go on and on and on about Cernan (the last man to walk on the moon – which is sort of, now that I think about it, sort like the opposite of that famous John Kerry quote about being the last man to die for a mistake) . And I could go on and on about the first episode of the show and talk about how it felt so familiar having read The Right Stuff several times and having seen The Right Stuff several times and how there, all of a sudden, instead of Ed Harris as John Glen I was watching John Glen as John Glen and Gordon Cooper as Gordon Cooper (and not Dennis Quaid). And then there was Gene Kranz (instead of Ed Harris – again). The show was packed with just really neat footage as well as new interviews with the real guys. Sure, it leaves out all the political background and only superficially puts the space race into perspective of the Cold War (I mean, it’s not like we just happened to have ICBM’s that could be turned into rockets for space men). But, I was willing to set that aside and definitely enjoyed the program. Now, if only Discovery would add the already aired shows to Verizon’s FIOS HD Video On Demand section, then I’d be really happy.

p.s. For further, far more elegant thoughts on tonight’s round table, check out HMG’s post.

The girl ringing me up says she’s not convinced, says the bad plastic has been in baby bottles for years and we’re all ok, right?

I looked at her and said, “What if we’re not?”

She paused a moment, reflecting on my question. You could see her deflate a bit, then she simply answered, “Oh. Oh yeah.”

CycleFest, originally uploaded by Brian Knight Photography.

Does the week begin on Sunday or Monday? I’ve never really be clear on the matter. I’m of the opinion that Sunday is the last day of the week, but all of my calendars seem to differ. Anyways, the point here is that since Sunday (be it the start, or end, of something – and really, while we’re at it, maybe we should further investigate our need to quantify events and place them on a time line… or, maybe not) I’ve been a little busy.

First of all, Sunday afternoon I had to take a giant nap. It was great. I love to nap, especially after spending many hours exposed to the elements. Sunday morning was an early wakeup, followed by shooting the cold and wet CycleFest 10K trail run at Wakefield, followed by the afore mentioned nap. Which was great. Post nap activities included editing photos. And editing photos. And John Adams watching. And editing still more photos.

After editing and posting photos I got sucked into watching “Babel” that Brad Pitt movie where the lives of four families end up being tragically interconnected on account of one man’s desire to hunt. Or something like that. I wouldn’t know because I ended up pausing the movie a couple times to focus on the photo editing and then I had to rewind it a couple times (have I mentioned how much I love the DVR?) too. Finally, towards 2am I was able to settle in and really start to enjoy the show. The pace was quickening, the story lines were converging and then… then I pressed a button on the remote and jumped forward to real time on the TV. And the movie was long past over and there was nothing I could do to figure out how to get back to my end point. There were maybe 15 minutes left. I was so disappointed. Anyone know how that movie ends? Feel free to leave spoilers and/or commentary in the comments.

Monday I was back at work and then I went on an odyssey to first the District where I was honked at not once, but twice by an impatient Metro Bus driver because apparently I was waiting in a no waiting zone. (And let me have a quick word with that driver… Mr. Metro Bus driver I don’t honk my horn at you when you’re taking your sweet ass time all over the city and regional highways. No, I am patient. In fact, there is one Metro bus I regularly encounter and I pretty much always let him merge over to one of the middle lanes on I-66. So get off my ass already, ok?).

But I digress… the purpose of the trip was to go to the College Park IKEA and assist Heather with the loading and delivering of her new kitchen cabinets. And so on to the pride and joy of Sweden did we travel and waiting there for us were harried, seemingly overworked/underpaid employees who had apparently forgotten that they have a pretty sweet deal* working as they do at IKEA (*based on a quick Google search for “ikea employee” and then skimming the results it seems like IKEA should be a wonderous place to work. I mean, $2 lunches? For anything on the menu?! Awesome.). Their attitude could best be described as “surly.”

Long story short, they didn’t want to fill the order with less than an hour to closing and there was no way we were going to leave without cabinetry. Guess who won? HMG did. Duh. And before too long the car was loaded, tied down, and we were enjoying a nice reward of delicious pancakes (that’s no sarcasm there btw, the pancakes were really good, and not just because we were starved – though I’m sure that helped).

I got home around 12:30 and then went to bed. Then the next morning, on Tuesday, I went to work. Then after work I drove to Burke and met my Dad for dinner (since he was in town for some meetings or something). Then after dinner I came home and worked on race photos. Until 2am. Then I went to bed. Then, the next morning (Wednesday) I went to work. Again. Then, after work, I came home and met up with my brother’s fiancée (Leah) who was in town for meetings or something. I drove her around the old neighborhood and we discovered that someone has been messing up the old house. Then we went to dinner. Then, after dinner I came home and worked on race photos.

Raise your hand if you’ve detected a pattern!

Now though, instead of staying up past 2am I am going to throw in the towel and go to bed. This has really just been a long way of saying that the CycleFest photos are almost done, but not quite, and so I am begging everyone who may be anxiously awaiting the final upload to please be patient one more night.

Thanks!

Hohner Squared, originally uploaded by Brian Knight Photography.

Senior year of high school I taught myself how to play harmonica by:
a. buying this book & tape combo (yes, really), then
b. reading the book & listening to the tape until it nearly wore out, and
c. carrying a harmonica in my pocket pretty much everyday for the next six years.

You go through a lot of harmonicas this way, but it’s totally worth it.

Sadly, two things have conspired against my harmonica playing. First thing is I got a real job where you can’t just play harmonica whenever you feel like it. No one seemed to mind when I would pull out the ol’ mouth harp while working at the Hemlock zip wire. But in cubicle computer land busting out a nice blues riff in the middle of the work day just isn’t kosher.

The second (and truly the saddest) thing that killed the harmonica playing is the mighty cellular telephone. My harmonica always went in the right front pocket of whatever pair of pants I was wearing, but now that’s where the cell phone goes and there’s really no more room another hunk of metal (plus, you have to leave room for the Big Red which predates the harmonicas by nearly six years).

Anyways, the roommate is out of town for the next couple nights and so without anyone to bother I decided to take advantage of the empty house. Out came the guitar, and harmonicas, and the song book. I belted out classic bluegrass and some Johnny & June Carter Cash songs for over an hour before calling it quits. There are really few things that relax me as much as picking at the guitar.  It was great… I’m definitely having music night again real soon.

“Young men just find it difficult to tell the difference between women who are being friendly and women who are interested in something more,” said lead researcher Coreen Farris of Indiana University’s Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences.

Duh.

Luckily guys seem to be equally clueless when things are possibly working in their advantage too…

…the study, to be detailed in the April issue of the journal Psychological Science, also found that it goes both ways for guys – they mistake females’ sexual signals as friendly ones. The researchers suggest guys have trouble noticing and interpreting the subtleties of non-verbal cues, in either direction.

So for you ladies out there, if you’re at all wondering about what it takes to get through to someone, generally the most direct/blunt way will do it (brightly lit, flashing neon signs, whacks on the head with cast iron kitchen appliances, etc.).

And because with me most things generally come around to words written by Aaron Sorkin I leave you with this awesome scene illustrating a guy (The American President) who is having trouble reading the signs…

				SHEPHERD
		As you pass through, you'll see a
		large closet on your left. And if
		you feel comfortable, hang up your
		coat, and when you come back I'll
		have fixed up a drink, we'll sit on
		the couch, and I will explain to
		you my plan.

				SYDNEY
		You have a plan? Don't make me
		wait. You're on a roll.

	SYDNEY disappears into the BATHROOM/DRESSING ROOM area.
	SHEPHERD keeps talking as he goes to the bar and makes a
	couple of drinks.

				SHEPHERD
			   (speaking up)
		Okay. You're attracted to me, but
		the idea of physical intimacy is
		uncomfortable because you only know
		me as the President. It's not always
		gonna be that way, and the reason I
		know that is because there was a
		moment last night when you were with
		me and not the President, and I know
		what a big step that was for you.
		So, Sydney, I'm in no rush. Here's
		my plan: We're gonna slow down.
		When you're comfortable, that's
		when it'll happen.

	SYDNEY comes back into the room...she's wearing one of
	SHEPHERD's dress shirts and nothing else. She walks toward
	him.

				SHEPHERD
			   (continuing)
		Perhaps I didn't properly explain
		the fundamentals of the "Slow Down"
		plan.

				SYDNEY
		You explained it great.

Being sick really blows.

The Plan…

Friday

• Attend DCist Exposed opening.
• Hang out with folks post show at Rocket Bar, basking in the awesomeness of the opening. Take photos.

Saturday

• Sleep in and continue reveling in the afterglow of an awesome opening.
• Make way downtown to shoot Idiotarod for third year in a row.

Sunday

• Fight Day Lights Savings time switch and head down to park and shoot Backyard Burn trail run.
• Hang out. Attend random birthday parties for friends of a friend.

Monday

• Back to work.

The Reality…

Friday

• Realise on way home that you might be getting sick again. Call about a doctor’s appointment for Monday.
• Attend DCist Exposed opening.
• Hang out with folks post show at Rocket Bar, basking in the awesomeness of the opening. Take photos.

Saturday

• Sleep in. Wake at a decent hour continue reveling in the afterglow of an awesome opening.
• Make way downtown to shoot Idiotarod for third year in a row. Realise that you really are still sick and go back to sleep. Sleep until 7pm. Yes, 7pm.

Sunday

• Fight Day Lights Savings time switch and head down to park and shoot Backyard Burn trail run. Give in to the sleep. Don’t wake until your phone rings at 11am.
• Convince yourself that you feel a lot better. All that sleeping must have made a difference, right? Hang out. Attend random birthday parties for friends of a friend.

Monday

• Back to work. Wake up pretty early. Realise a pattern of sick, not sick, sick, not sick… Monday morning = sick. Email work to not expect your presence.
• See doctor. Have her confirm that indeed you are sick.

To date I have:

• Watched live coverage on NASA TV of STS-122 (Atlantis) blasting off into space.
• Which inspired me to purchase and watch an all time favourite movie, Space Camp.
• Which inspired me to watch The Right Stuff.
• Which indirectly lead me to a Flickr meetup and first visit to Udvar-Hazy where I saw, among other things, the original Space Shuttle Enterprise.

And today, well, today was the space hat trick in which:

• This morning the Shuttle Atlantis safely landed at the Cape, flying a final approach that was 20x higher and 7x steeper than a commercial airliner (this has been my most favourite space shuttle fact until I learned today – thanks Heather – that until like 1997 the shuttle had to end each mission by midnight, Dec 31 or else a Y2K-like bug might strike and totally cripple the mission). Anyways, I couldn’t watch the landing live this time, but as consolation I had the official landing blog to read and could chat on the Google with someone who actually likes this stuff more than me.
• Tonight the full moon was fully eclipsed by the Earth’s shadow, and turned a shade close to blood red. Most amazingly there was not a cloud in the sky and the whole show was visible. Somehow the earlier snow storm managed to blow through leaving behind only a slight dusting on the ground. I should mention that t-shirts, shorts, and sandals is not really appropriate eclipse viewing attire when you are in the northern hemisphere and it is February and there is snow on the ground.
• Finally tonight, the United States Navy shot down a man made satellite that was hanging out in low Earth orbit! We, the US of A, did this for your safety and oh by the way, if you are a foreign nation and are worried about, you know, debris and junk check this out:

The military also timed its efforts to minimize the chances that debris would hit populated areas. But the United States is “prepared to offer assistance to governments to mitigate the consequences of any satellite debris impacts on their territory,” according to a report of Rocca’s remarks on the Web site of the Geneva office of the U.N.

See how nice we are? If for some reason “debris” (read: super secret spy satellite parts) has impacted upon your territory we will happily come by and pick it up for you.