Night Space Shuttle Launch

I got to see a night launch! The Space Shuttle Discovery launched at 11:59 PM on Mission STS-128. The shuttle will use Leonardo, a multi-purpose logistics module to carry experiment racks to the International Space Station. I drove up to Cocoa Beach to see the launch at about 11:30. This time I remembered to bring my cameras and I had my telephoto lens. I wish I had thought to take a video with my smaller camera while I was taking photos with my SLR. All of the beaches on the way to Coco Beach were packed with cars. When the space shuttle launched it lit up the entire sky before I could see the actual shuttle and then there was a huge fireball heading up into the sky and you could feel the rumbling. Someone said that this was the last scheduled night launch before the shuttles are retired. Once it got up pretty high I could see the smoke trailing behind it. My pictures don't really do it justice (the first picture is not mine). I would love to go to the space center to watch a launch in the future.

Brevard Museum of History & Natural Science

Devin and I went to the Brevard Museum of History and Natural Science. It was pretty much what we expected, not all that spectacular, but I like supporting local museums anyway. They did have a niffty shell collection and an interesting movie about digging up a grave site of early homo sapians. One of my favorite things was the pieces of sunken treasure and the treasure chest. There was also a butterfly garden and some walking trails which were nice.
After the museum we went to the Dinosaur Store which was actually way cooler than the museum. They had all sorts of impressive fossils like foot long trilobites, a saber tooth tiger skull, and fossil brittle stars. They had enough fossils (which you could purchase for thousands of dollars) for their own museum. There were also really pretty crystal formations like giant amethyst geodes and meteorites.
Then we headed to the beach for a little bit before meeting Devin's parents and Kim and Tim for dinner at Olive Garden. Yet another awesome day.

Orlando Science Center

Devin took me to the Orlando Science Center today. We played in the Science Park going into a wind tunnel, and playing with exhibits that demonstrate light, sound waves, electricity, and magnetism. There was a very pretty fiber optic peacock, a harp with lasers instead of strings, and a Jacob's ladder. We also walked though Grossology which was their special exhibit all about the less pleasant body functions. Then we watched Wild Ocean on a giant dome screen. We also got to see NatureWorks which had fish, turtles, alligators, and other animals and DinoDigs featuring lots of dinosaur egg fossils. After the museum closed we ate dinner at Subway and then went hunting for letterboxes in the Orlando area. We went looking for three different ones and none of them were there.

Rental Car

So I got a rental car from Enterprise while mine is at the body shop getting fixed. I'm very happy about my car actually getting fixed, especially since the police never filed a report. This is the first time the bumper won't be broken pretty much since I bought the car. It's a pewter colored Chevy Malibu and it smells funny. And it's an automatic which I dislike very much. I can't wait to have my car back. The one nice thing it does have is air conditioning...

Camping Trip

Devin spontaneously decided that we should go camping Wednesday so after I got home from work we drove down to Sebastian Inlet. Grant (Devin's puppy) came with us. The campsite had a fite pit, light, flush toilets, and showers so we weren't roughing it too much. After setting up camp we went letterboxing which turned into an hour and a half of trudging through brush (the trails were not well kept, or kept at all) with HUGE banana spiders and we still didn't find the letterbox. On the way back to camp we picked up some shrimp to go fishing with. We made hotdogs/soydogs for dinner with really yummy s'mores for dessert. When it got dark we watched the shooting stars from the Perseid meteor shower. We couldn't sleep because a large number of no-see-ums made their way into our tent and kept biting us. Eventually we covered ourselves with bug spray and got some sleep.

We were up early in the morning and watched the sunrise and did some more fishing. Devin cought a catfish and stingray while we were there. I was generally more busy eating marshmallows or watching stars. After most the shrimp were gone we went exploring in the Ganoe (like a canoe but with a flat back so you can put a motor on). Grant wasn't too sure about getting ina boat but once he got used to it he was very comfy. We found a peaceful mangrove cove, spotted some stingrays, and saw lots of birds and fish. When we got back to our tent it was time to pack up so we put everything away and headed home. On the way we stopped for icecream and at home we all took a nap.

R.I.P Gavin

Gavin, my snake that Megan and I got in college that my dad was taking care of, passed away today. Here is a picture of him when he was cute and little. Hopefully he died of old age.

On a happier note, I got the job at Gymboree!

Fishing, car accident, and interview

Today started off really well. I went surf fishing with Devin and Ryan early, early in the morning. The sunrise was very pretty and some clouds in the distance made it so the sun wasn't glaring directly in our eyes. Ryan caught a blue fish (one fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish) and Devin caught a catfish. I had a couple of bites but no fish; however, I did make an awesome sandcastle. We all went swimming and did some body surfing. I brought my surfboard but the waves weren't big enough for surfing. There have been barely any waves for the last couple of weeks.


Later I had my third interview with Gymboree for a position as a music teacher. The interview went well but on the way there a car hit me in the parking lot. No injuries so don't worry, but there is about $1,500 worth of damage to the front of my car. I was approaching a corner and stopped because I saw the other car looking like it was going to cut the corner short on his turn which he did and drove directly into my car head on. This was about 7 minutes before I was supposed to be at my interview. He was on the way to the hospital because his wife is having their first baby (it's a girl) and he was not paying attention to driving. See my lovely diagram depicting the accident. Right now it seems like his insurance company will cover the damages so keep your fingers crossed for me. All in all, a pretty stressful day.

Gibson was adopted!

So this poor little puppy has been through a lot. He was a neglect case so when we got him he was very malnourished. He went from 16 lbs to 23 lbs in the time we had him. He then got kennel cough and was coughing up phlem. Then he got really sick and stopped eating and all he did was sleep so the foster organization had to take him back. He got a little better and so we got him back but then he got sicker again so we took him to the vet and it turned out he had coccidia. I was carrying him around in a big bag because he has sever separation anxiety and whines/pees/poops whenever we leave the room. After all this he is finally healthy (mostly), is better potty trained, and he knows how to sit and lay down (with food). At his new home he will have a big sister who is a 4 year old rottweiler. His new mom sent me pictures and he looks very happy. Yay!