I cried a few minutes after I saw the spacecraft reentering the Earth’s atmosphere.
They weren’t tears of joy nor tears of relief after waiting three years for the samples to return to Earth. They weren’t tears from excitement nor fear.
On September 8, 2004, I sat in a hot auditorium at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, surrounded by my co-workers and their families. My parents, new boyfriend, and his mom sat on either side of me. They packed us shoulder to shoulder and hip to hip. The audience squirmed and murmured to each other over the announcer.
Excitement hung in the stale air. …
There is a generation, one that is quickly disappearing, that witnessed more changes than any humans in history. We need to appreciate all they lived through. Here’s a eulogy to one of them.
Grandma
My Grandma was born June 12, 1919 in Miles City, Montana. She was a granddaughter, daughter, cousin, friend, Wife, Mom, Grandma, and a Great Grandma. She lived 89 years…she did good.
The year Grandma was born there was a Boston molasses disaster, the 18th Amendment to the U.S. …
A funny thing happened at a family get together a few weeks ago. A cousin told me about his DoorDashing, Instacart, and UberEats driving experience and I thought I’d try it.
I’ve been staying at home (not working), caring for my mother-in-law on hospice and my daughter. Like all kids around the world, my daughter had been staying at home distance learning and we needed an adult at home to watch her.
When I say not working, I mean not bringing in income, because I was working my butt off. Stay at home mom or dad is no joke. It’s much harder than driving to work doing the eight to five. I was also implementing a lifelong dream of mine to be a writer. I’ve brought in a wee little bit…
One quickly disappearing generation witnessed more changes than any humans in history. We need to appreciate them before they’re gone.
Treasure hidden in plain sight
If you know someone born in the early 1900s, then you have a treasure to talk to. My Grandma was born June 12, 1919, in Miles City, Montana. She was a granddaughter, daughter, cousin, friend, wife, Mom, Grandma, and a Great Grandma. She lived for 89 years. That’s quite an accomplishment.
The year she was born there was a Boston molasses disaster, the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution made alcohol illegal, they held the World War I Paris Peace…
I did everything they told me to. I went to college, graduated, got a great job, worked hard, was reliable, got excellent reviews, got a master’s degree, and gained excellent experience.
I worked for NASA for 23 years until they laid me off in their last mass layoff. We went from 24 projects down to 5 by the time I left in 2012. From there I worked on a temporary grant at Caltech. After that, I worked through some temporary positions, until doctors put my mother-in-law on hospice.
I’m stupid happy to see this small return to normalcy.
Full disclosure — I didn’t take nor eat one, but I was happy, nonetheless. This teeny one-inch square of return to normalcy gave me an instant boost of hope.
Personally, I don’t see the pandemic ending anytime soon. Especially with news of emerging variants around the world and the devastation it’s causing.
Our household continues to treat expeditions like we did during peak pandemic times.
That is, we take precautions, wear masks, wash our hands with soap and water or hand sanitizer before, during, and after doing anything.
We live with a 95-year-old who hasn’t had the vaccine and we can’t take the chance of giving Covid-19 to her. She won’t get the…
How I went from being a non-user to a twitter fan after watching social media inspire change, protests, and war.
If you don’t ‘get’ Twitter, I submit a perspective from a reformed middle-aged person who signed up on day one and said, “What the heck is this?”
In my defense, there were probably a handful of tweets, none of which I could find. I didn’t know how to search for friends let alone make one. So, I quit and moved on.
That was the day Twitter was introduced to the public on July 15, 2006.
Years later, twitter murmurings moved me to create a new account in 2010 to see what all the hubbub was about. …
Tired of having to remove your Ring Doorbell to re-charge it? Here’s an easy solution.
If you’re like my family and you have a Ring doorbell, then you’re probably tired of removing your Ring doorbell to re-charge it.
My husband solved this with an easy DIY (do it yourself) project. He bought a solar panel and connected it to the ring doorbell. For various reasons he didn’t hang it near the roof, so he just set it on the ground in an inconspicuous location where it gets sun and won’t get stepped on. It only took a few minutes to do.
Save yourself enormous hassle and don’t take home pretty red leaves from parks. Especially if you live in North America (they grow everywhere).
A father and daughter (I won’t name names - because I don’t know them.) collected ‘pretty red leaves’ to take home. A fellow park attendee spotted them on their way out.
Poison Oak, Ivy, and Sumac grow as vines, shrubs, and trees. A sticky oil called urushiol covers the leaves and if the oil gets on your skin, it causes an itchy blistering rash on most people. It’s awful. 85% of the population is allergic to this family of plants.
Urushiol oil is in all parts of the plant including leaves, stems, and roots. …
So, one day I snuck away to a friend’s beach house to finish writing my book. I got hung up on the title and a friend helped me out.
So, one day I snuck away to a friend’s beach house (disclaimer: it’s a mile from the beach, which is 32 miles less than my house to the nearest beach). The beach house is close enough that you still get the beach weather and a hint of beach air- that cool wispy salt encrusted oxygen that invigorates my soul.
I scrubbed out 5 days to finish one of my books without interruptions. At the beach house, I could escape kid, husband, mother-in-law, pets, chores, and the endless To Dooz list.
My friend, the beach house owner, joined me for a…
