Space Station and Shuttle Fly-By!

"Houston…we have separation." The Space Shuttle Discovery seperated from the International Space Station last night (12/19) and I was there. Well, sort of. We were approximately 253 miles below it as the pair soared overhead!
The station and shuttle were a few hundred yards apart as Connor, Mary and I caught up with them while standing at the foot of St. Paul's Church on Lakeshore Drive. I trained the camera sky-ward and snapped a few time-exposure photos.

Mary was the first to verify, as she peeked through binoculars, she could see two points of light. One for the Space Station and one for Discovery! And we could see it with the naked eye too! Just enough distance between them to notice.

It was over in about three minutes and we were a little chilly so I had them pose for a shot in front of the church -- with the lights of a car streaking behind them.

When we got home, we noticed that I got lucky with one of the time exposures. One shot has the pair zipping past the Pleiades Star Cluster! You might have to click on it to see the stars. (I uploaded a smaller version.) The next pic was an 8-second exposure. Zoom in and see the fainter grey line on top - Discovery!

Also! If you noticed, here is the first published photo of Connor wearing glasses! He's borrowing his Mother's here while his are being made in time for the New Year.

A Month Passes By... so let's have a Parade!

Good heavens! No posts for a month? How can that be?

Well let's see… In the past month, I've completed my "2006 Video Scrapbook" about the amazing year in sports here in Detroit. Wings/Pistons finishing first in their leagues, Tigers to the World Series, WNBA Shock win their title, UofM number 2 in the nation. Lions? Well, *ahem* we won't talk about them.

Anyway, this is a two-disk DVD that's just awesome. I've been joking, $29.95 shipped!

Last week, Mary and I went on a Date to see "Irving Berlin's White Christmas" at the Fox Theatre. My little girl was beautiful! The show is very good. I miss the Rockettes, but this was good too.

Then we spent Thanksgiving here at Compuware! The royal treatment, by the way... They stopped traffic and everything so that I could get the kids, my sister Mary Jo and (most importantly) my Mother in to see her first Thanksgiving Day Parade! Her first? How can that be? She replied, "When raising five kids, I was always cooking! Did you think the turkey just magically appeared every Thanksgiving?"

Good point.

Anyway, it was a blast! And the 4th floor viewpoint was perfect: Eye-to-eye with the balloons!

After that we raced across town to a fab dinner at my other sister, Sandy's.

-- Tim

Mary Rides at the Hunt Club!

Okay, in between Tigers games… We had a little Daddy/Daughter time. Saturdays at the Hunt Club are $5 pony rides! So Mary and I spent a couple hours hanging out with the horses.

Mary did her homework too. We read a book the night before and learned how to approach a horse, how to offer him food. Very cool. Mary brought some carrots and an apple with her and after her ride we went and said hello to all the horses.

Mary even got to help out when one of the horses, "Missy" came back to the barn, one of her owners asked if Mary wanted to help brush the horse and just help out. She was very excited and now wants a horse of her own. I'll be looking for that second job soon.

THE TIGERS WIN THE PENNANT! THE TIGERS WIN THE PENNANT!

WOOOOOOOOOOO!!! THE TIGERS ARE IN THE WORLD SERIES!!!

Marie and I spent a chilly night, Friday, cheering Kenny Rogers and the rest of the Tigers to victory, and then Mary Jo and Terry saw the clincher on Saturday. Marie was at a theatre function, which was delayed due to everyone there wanting to watch the game! And we couldn't get a sitter, so when Magglio Ordonez hit the big homer, I was at home and scooped Connor up in the air, and then picked up Mary too as the Tigers won the Pennant!

Phone calls came in from all over, it was pretty fun. We're all really excited, and now wondering which game(s) we'll get to go to! Hee hee...

Watching the Tigers from Hamilton!

Woooooooooo! The Tigers Won!

Live from Hamilton... Happy Thanksgiving... Who knew the pilgrims landed in Canada a month earlier than in the U.S.?

This is just a quick post to show the family about blogging.

P.S. In case you haven't heard, Connor, Mary Jo, Rick and I saw game three of the American League Division Series! (See the pic at the left) What a game!! And then Rick and Ann had the pleasure of witnessing the Tigers eliminate the Yankees!!! Woooo! On to Oakland!

GO TIGERS!!!

P.P.S. The pix below are of cousins Katie and Liam. I'm temporarily hosting them for them.

Trying to keep up with the Tigers - During the Day!

A day game! I zip downstairs to watch the first pitch in the Compuware Wellness Center, then grab my gym bag and run a mile on the treadmill during the first few innings to watch on the TVs. 1-0 Tigers! Cheers echo through the room when something fun happens – no sounds of the TV, you have to have a radio to pick up the signal, just the regular workout music.

We’ve got the game-cast thing working from MLB.com, even the new 3D version, which was failing. Johnny Damon hits a 3-run homer. No! But we come right back with a run in each of the next three innings! Marie’s been listening and watching, she called a few times, once just to say "Yeah, Zumaya struck out Jeter!"

It would be, check the score, write a paragraph of the specification for work, flip back over and check the score. Or keep typing and then someone from the area would speak a quick update, and we'd flip back to the game-cast.

Then at about 4:00, there were at least 15 people standing in the Wellness center to watch the final inning. Jones gives up a single, but then just attacks the rest of the batters, getting to 0-2 on each, I think. And the pop-out from Damon to end the game and tie the series! WOO! Huge cheers! Very cool.

When I got to my desk there was a message from my team lead, playfully asking how well I was getting along with the spec I was (supposed to be) writing. She knew full-well we'd be watching somewhere!

Game Three is at home and we'll be there!

UGHHH! Okay, shake it off Tigers! Playoffs Start Tues

Oh my goodness... Well, I'm a few hours removed from the final Tigers game of the REGULAR season. I brought Connor with me and we had a blast. We were almost in tears of joy as the Tigers broke out to a 6-0 lead. I said to Connor, "wer'e going to see history here today!" (The Tigers needed one win to be the division winners. The Royals - the WORST team in baseball - had won the first two games of the three game series. And looked done. )

It was so exciting! We bought Standing-Room-Only tickets and were offered seats in the 17th row, right behind the dugout. The Tigers were scoring big runs, two-out hits, it was great! But the Royals didn't comply.

They came back and took the lead, we tied it, and even had the bases loaded in the 11th, but could not score. Talk about a complete roller coaster ride. I was sitting there thinking, "I can't keep going through this..." Then the Royals capped the come-back and won in the 12th.

We were there, ready to watch a celebration on the field and, well, all the air came out. One of our starting pitchers, Kenny Rogers, came in in relief and couldn't get the win... We really just couldn't believe it. We were 14-1 agaist the Royals this year, and they SWEPT us in the final three games of the season?!?

Connor and I had a blast, but I think we're both emotionally drained. I know I am. We have to remember that we are still in the playoffs! We start, in New York, on Tuesday. (Instead of hosting the A's.) It's still VERY exciting. Tomorrow is the TIGERS RALLY at Comerica Park, and my Team Lead at work already said, "You have to go!" Cool.

So, root for the Tigers as we start our first post season in 19 years! GO TIGERS!!!

We're IN! Tigers Make the Playoffs!

For the first time in 19 years the Detroit Tigers are in the Playoffs!

While driving home from the closing of St. Agustine Church, a very sad day for all, we got some good news. The Tigers had beaten the Kansas City Royals and have clinched a spot in the Post Season! I honked the horn as they announced it. There wasn’t really much other information other than that. Channels were fading in and out, football games were on. But it was official!

I explained to the rest in the car the whole concept of the Wild Card and who plays who. Before we left for Canada, I put in a tape to (hopefully) record the end of both games over the weekend. The paper said that Saturday was supposed to be on TV-20 and Sunday on Fox Sports. It turned out to be exactly the opposite, but that turned out to be a really good thing!

After the game, the post game Celebration was carried on Fox, the channel I thought was supposed to have the game. So, I caught on tape the ½ hour, live broadcast of the guys bursting with excitement and popping champagne all over.

This morning I violated the rule of "No TV in the Mornings". I sat Connor down and said, this is something that you have to view. I was very stern, getting him to think he was about to be forced to learn something. Instead, it was of our Tigers popping champagne! (And good champagne too, I noticed the Dom Perignon label. They squirted the Korbel, and were each given a bottle of Dom for drinking.)

Maggs was completely soaked already during an interview when they dumped the whole Gatorade cooler on him; Brandon had a bottle dumped and left upside-down in the back collar of his jersey; Verlander and Grilli were chomping on cigars; Todd Jones and the skipper, Jim Leyland, and Mike Ilitch fighting back tears trying to speak; Kaline and Horton were there too. It’s so cool to see a baseball celebration, and then see "Detroit" written across their chests!

Leyland even gave a thank you to Alan Trammell and the boys for setting this all up. Very classy. They have the day off on Monday, to recoup, and then back to Comerica for the final six regular season games!I’m already trying to figure out Thursday’s day game, I have a ticket. Do I go for an extended lunch? Or if this could be a clincher, I might want to be there later rather than earlier. Hmmm... Decisions!

A Tiger Fan's Diary

Okay, forgive the slight fork in the road here, but it's all Tiger Baseball at the moment. Check in here to find out how a true Tiger fan is reacting...

On Monday, 9/19 POST SEASON TIGER TICKETS were available for sale. This is the first time since 1987 anything like this has happened. Back in 1984, I was in college and had the proverbial "barely two nickels to rub together". But when the ad came out to buy Playoffs and World Series tickets, I quickly wrote out checks for hundreds of dollars. Where the money came from, I'm not sure. But I got to every game!

As of the 19th, I am official allowing myself to get excited. The Tigers TV commentator Rod Allen said to "just relax", we're almost a lock to play in the post season. Whoa...

My mood has gone up and down depending on the Tigers' fortunes. We took two of three from the dreaded Chicago White Sox and every other night, I was either high in the clouds or grumbling and just wanting to go to bed, and the mood spills over to the next day too.

Yesterday was another one where I wanted to kick something. We lost a 3-0 lead and the game to Baltimore. But if there is such a good thing as a "good time to lose" that was it. Both Minnesota and Chicago, the two teams chasing us, lost. The Detroit Free Press' Sports Headline reads "THANKS, BOSOX!" Darn right! So, I'm not feeling too badly.

And we've reconfigured the Magic Numbers. To make the playoffs, the number is FOUR. (Any combination of Tiger wins plus Chicago losses that add to four, and we're playing in the playoffs!) And the number to win the division (and potentially avoid the Yankees, although we scared of no one!) is NINE. (Any combo of Tiger wins and Minnesota losses.)

For any Tiger player reading (there will be a story about Craig Monroe soon), don't worry about the standings. Just win your games! I'LL watch the scoreboard!

-- Tim

GO TIGERS!

Golfing in Gaylord

The Grosse Pointe Theatre "Invitational" Golf Outing was the 10th through the 12th. A great time was had by all as this motley crew of eight friends from Michigan's Best Community Theatre (small plug) trekked up north to the Gaylord area to the Otsego golf courses. Tony Amato held on through Tuesday's fine mist to win this year's prize.

As usual, a lot of drink and red meat was consumed. Also, a ceremonial first drink was held in honor of friend Jef Fisk who was unable to attend this year's festivities.

Labor Day Tiger Baseball!

A few weeks ago, we offered to dog-sit for good friends of the family, the Selvaggios. We're not really accustomed to dog-sitting and only took on the job because he's a well-trained and small dog. It was a fun 10 days. And Connor was the one most up to the task. He fed the dog most nights, and took him for walks. He really took charge.

Well, once they returned (in addition to giving us a beautiful gift basket, which they didn't need to do!) Tony gave Connor four tickets to the Labor Day Tigers game! Excellent!!! Daddy was more excited, I think. I asked Connor who he was planning on taking to the game. This kind of startled him, and I panicked for a sec, then he responded, "I'll take you, Daddy, on one condition…" Yessss? "That you buy me a hot dog and frozen lemonaide at the game!"

Not a problem. Anyone else? "Mommy and I guess Mary too. But if she's mean to me, I might not take her…"

Sounds like a normal reply for a nine year-old with a seven year-old sister.

The game was GREAT! Wonderful seats, perfect weather, a Magglio homerun, Robertson pitched a gem, and the Tigers won 6-2! We had all the hot dogs and lemonades that we could eat. A great time was had by all. Thanks Tony and Theresa Selvaggio!

Whoa, there's someone walking outside my window…

Members of the Flying Wallendas performed outside of the building this afternoon for a commercial for McDonalds' new coffee campaign. Eighty feet above Monroe Ave, the brother and sister team of Nik and Lijana Wallenda each started at one end of the 5/8ths-inch wide rope and met at the middle for a coffee.

We believe it was a "simulated" coffee, who needs extra caffeine while sitting on a wire 80 feet above the ground. The girl even dropped to do "the splits" in order to sit on the wire. After a few moments for a coffee break, then Nik stepped over Lijana and they both made their way to the opposite ends.

We've seen a lot of activities and things down here, but this was definitely the oddest. The fun thing was, we went up two floors to get an eye-level view of the show. You could hear the cheering from the crowd from inside the building!

See the Photos link at the right for more pix from the event. Also, the newspapers had a story on why she paused so long before coming off the rope. The crains were too tight? Naw, I don't think so, those of us there noticed that Nik's rope (that they use to haul the balance pole up and down) had fallen and she had no where to put the pole. I think that's the real story... Either way, she was stranded for quite a while up there!

Breaking News: Sorry Pluto! Only 8 Planets

Doh! Well, if you read the blog from last week, it appeared that we were going to have Twelve planets, including the gaining-in-popularity "2003 UB313". Well, today, as reported on the front page of the Detroit Free Press, just the opposite has occurred! According to the International Astronomical Union (IAU), the definition of the word "planet" now excludes those additional orbiting bodies. AND it also demotes loveable Pluto from the list! (If you can call a huge rock in space "loveable".)

The current answer to the question "How many planets are in the Solar System?" is now "Eight".

Zillions of text books need to be re-written.

Plastic Model maker companies are thrilled at the chance to sell completely new versions of the Solar System Model.

The famous (or not-so-famous) mnemonic "My Very Excellent Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas" now needs to be changed to "My Very Excellent Mother Just Served Us Nothing!"

Yes, cute little Pluto is no longer a planet. I'm a little bummed that it's now demoted to "a mere dwarf planet". No matter how lovable, now it will never return our calls.

(See the Space Weather link at the right for SpaceWeather, or check www.freep.com)

The Windmills, Sancho!

Part Deux:

We took a trip down Hwy 21 (along the Ontario coast of Lake Huron) in search of Don Quixote's Windmills. Several new huge windmills are dotting the fields along the coastline. Many people have argued against having these giants in the area. "They're an eye-sore!" Well, we found them just the opposite. We were curiously attracted to them. I wanted to see one up close, and attack it! Okay, "La Mancha" wasn't playing on the car stereo…but that would've been appropriate.

We turned on a side-road past Kincardine and pulled off onto the shoulder. The blades of this monster were swooping almost directly over-head. The top of the blade reaches over 100 meters high! That's more yardage than the Lions gain in a game… The box where the "fan" connects is big enough for someone to stand inside, walk around and work comfortably. (Am I getting across the impression that these are big?)

The sound was impressive too. You had to get up pretty close, but there was a definite "swooshing" sound as each blade went by.

Anyway, we then knocked on the door of the near-by nuclear facility. Okay, not really. Before we got anywhere close, we were greeted by an armed guard wearing a bullet-proof vest telling us to back away. We chatted for a minute and then backed away when she started getting an itchy trigger finger.

The rest of the trip was spent at the family Farm, visiting with Uncle Joe and Auntie Beth and a friend of theirs. It was relaxing, except for the discovery by the kids of a cat's skull. (No, not the Catskills, an actual skull.) There was some discussion of this being from a family pet, which spurred comments like, "Alas, poor Sam, I knew him Horatio!" They figured it might be from a dinosaur, but more likely the designation was "feline-domesticus". Liam found an old golf ball and I assured him it was from the same age - "Titleist-asaurus".

KONG! \'kong\ n fr : the deep resonant sound esp. of a bell

We had a wonderful whirl-wind weekend in Southern Ontario this past weekend. Our first stop was in "The Hamptons". Okay, not the Hamptons that Sinatra hung out in… But "South Hampton". A lovely little beach community on the shores of Lake Huron.

The Sis-in-Law and family was there with their good friends, the Teals. We shamefully finagled an invitation from them to join them for a day or so every time they rent the cottage. It was a lot of fun. Look for a new game to hit the shelves soon called "Gocce". Like Bocce Ball but with a twist. Jeff Teal and I won a gocce championship, coming from behind to beat Steve Lloyd and a handful of random children. (Although Mitchell Teal, eight-ish years old, won the MVP.)

We spent time swimming out to the big rocks in Lake Huron, rocks that have been given names such as "Potato" or "Anvil". I had the pleasure of naming one myself, just past Anvil rock. I named it "Ankle" rock, not because it looked like an ankle, but because I bashed my ankle into it. You could hear "kongggg!" echoing through the water.

The evening's entertainment turned to a vicious Scrabble game that lasted into the wee hours. It was "full-contact" Scrabble. My rock-bitten ankle was no match for what was to occur. The Bride had several children on her team and was about to take the lead on a triple-word score when the word "Kong" was vetoed by Steve and Mary Teal. There were many protests, including "Listen to the sound made when I smack your head!" But in the end it was stricken from the board. (And actually isn't in my dictionary.)

I was later appalled when my word "IYII", also on a triple word score, was disallowed. Iyii, of course, is a popular expression, like oy-vay. (Well, there were some drinks flowing, and at the end of the game you're always left with a boat-load of extra vowels.) There's more to tell, but that'll be in a different posting!

Stay tuned for Part Two of the weekend story…

Twelve Planets in the Solar System?!

If you checked out one of the links to the right on my blog page, you might've noticed the article about the International Astronomical Union's up-coming meeting to decide on the definition of the word "Planet"! Good heavens.

From SpaceWeather.com: "A planet is a celestial body that (a) has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round) shape, and (b) is in orbit around a star, and is neither a star nor a satellite of a planet."
On August 24th, astronomers gathered at the IAU General Assembly in Prague will vote on the proposal, yea or nay. If it passes, the Solar System will have twelve planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Ceres, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto and Charon (a double planet) and 2003 UB313.


Is it just me or is "2003 UB313" not the catchy-est of names?

-- Tim

A Great Round

Last Thursday, I played one of my best rounds of golf ever. I started the round with three pars (two with realistic birdie attempts even), then two sixes… (Shh!) On one hole, I chipped the ball a foot from the pin for a par; I ended up with five pars. My buddy Clarke Scholes added up the scores as we were about to tee off on the ninth hole.

"You're at a 35, shoot a par and you break forty!" Was telling me that the "Kiss of Death"? Maybe not. I hit a nice tee-shot and then a five-wood that landed on the green.

Once again, Clarke my "buddy" (now "buddy" is in quotes) told me not to pussy-foot around… "Make it close." But then he added, "But remember it's down-hill!" I nearly dropped the putter at that point.

It was then that my mind checked in to one of those transendental states. I started hearing voices of golfers-past giving advice: "Of all the birdie putts that are left short, 100% of them don't go in." Yeah, whoa… Deep.

And then another voice: "Former groundskeeper, about to become…the Masters Champion…" I shook my head and returned to the moment.

I looked at the small ridge I had to putt over, putting for birdie, for a Tim-Record 38. I saw the 20 foot putt in front of me, curving to the left, how it would roll downhill. I was determined not to let it fly past the hole... So, I tapped it about five feet. UGH. "Well, now you've done it!" Second try, for the 39: UGH! It rimmed the cup. A three-putt on the final hole? Well, I didn’t break 40, but I shot it exactly.

On the plus-side, it was a great round for me. This marks the first time that I've shot less than my age. Now that ovbiously means that I'm getting better! Or perhaps that just means I'm getting older…

The One Ring

Okay, quick story...

I haven't been telling people 'cause I'm embarrassed. A couple weeks ago, on a weekend vacation with the Montgomerys, I lost my wedding ring to the bottom of Lake Charlevoix. *Gulp* I was just sick about it. It came off while we were swimming. It was just awful. The boat floated away and I couldn't leave the spot. We figured it was at least 30 feet deep...

Marie (The Bride) said with the current price of gold, we wouldn't be buying one in the near future. Well, I couldn't stand it. It just didn't feel right, not wearing one. So, I told her, I can't stand it, I'm going to Pat Scott's (family freinds and local jeweler) to check out rings. Well, she told me they were closed Monday and not to worry about it... Mom jumped when I told her too. "Well, Marie should be there to buy it for you..."

Last Wednesday night I found out why. Marie gave me a wallet for the B-Day. There's a tradition of putting a penny in a new wallet for luck, donchaknow. Well, I open the bag with the wallet -- which I'd already seen, actually -- I told her I'd like something to open on my B-Day. It was either Mary or Connor who said to search for the penny.

I started looking in the folds and pockets, couldn't find it. Connor took it and gave it a shake, and Marie and Mom both yelled out, "NO!", and nearly jumped across the table. I thought that was rather odd, but didn't think more of it. Then there was one section I had missed.

Inside, was a ring! But not just any ring. Dad's ring! I'm getting choked up right now thinking of it. Mom told Marie that I should have Dad's wedding ring, and not to buy another one. It's been re-sized down so Mom could wear it, but she said to take it to Pat's and have it sized up again.

And there it is, written right inside, "JMO Loves JHR 5-20-50".

ISN'T THAT COOL!?!!??! Mom is the best!

Okay, so, it wasn't a quick story...

-- Tim

Testing one...two...

Okay, this is my first posting on this blog page thingy. Perhaps at lunch I'll add more. There will be loads of humorous and exciting writing here... Umm hmm. You betcha.

-- Tim

P.S. That's the author with some silver hardware he found lying in a trashbin somewhere. After dusting it off, it appears to be very nice.

P.P.S. Hey, it's my birthday. I can be silly today.