This blog has been in hibernation mode due to me working on my side Projects, but alas, my time is freeing up again! So now that things are back to normal, I want to share my excitement over the past 3 weeks regarding Space and Science in my life!
NASA Logo
NASA Tweetup – Sun Earth Day 2011
On Feb 28th, I got an email saying I had been selected to attend a NASA Tweetup for Sun Earth Day 2011 at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. For those that don’t yet know, a tweetup is a gathering of people that regularly communicate or who share some common interest on Twitter. A NASA Tweetup is NASA’s way of using this communication channel to provide outreach and education in hopes that attendees will do further outreach about the great things going on at NASA.
I’ve always made a conscious effort to make Space and Science a part of my family’s daily life. We watch shuttle launches and landings on TV, go outside at night to see the ISS fly over and do little science experiments here and there just for fun. But being selected to attend this Tweetup really pushed me over the edge. I feel so much more connected to Space and Science and NASA than I ever did, which surprises me because I’ve always had a great bond with them. I didn’t think it could get any better without actually working for NASA. Well I was wrong. This feeling is unprecedented, and I haven’t even attended the Tweetup yet!
Hello Telescope
Orion Starblast 6
Adding to the adrenaline is the fact that I bought our first telescope. It’s Orion’s StarBlast6. It will be arriving in a couple days and I can’t wait to see the look on my kids’ faces when they get a hold of this telescope. I started off with a $99 telescope and ended up spending over $300 on this one. The only thing my wife should be surprised about is that I kept it under $500.
In addition, I spent last night setting up a small model of the Solar System with my 5 year old, Mia, and 2 year old, Noah. They don’t know it yet, but I’m secretly preparing them to be candidates for our first manned flight to Mars in 30 years.
Funny story: I was talking about Mars to Noah and said, “Hey maybe one day we can both go there.” He looked at me and said “Let’s ask mommy first.” In case you all were wondering, I did ask and mommy said, unequivocally, no. Let’s just call that conversation a work in progress.
Venus
Moving forward to next week, I get to do my first Science Project with Mia. It’s the floating egg and salt water experiment. She asks about it everyday and I’m super excited to see her go through the Scientific Process. It’s a life skill whose usefulness goes way beyond Science in the classroom.
You know, she’s such a great kid. Thursdays are her library days. Instead of the usual stuff, she brings me Space books to read to her. Think about that for a minute. When given a chance, she is choosing to educate herself about Space. That makes me unbelievably proud. Last week she got us a book about Venus. Did you know that Venus is 900 degrees and a day is longer than a year on Venus! These books lead to awesome bedtimes where we sit and read together or make up stories based on these books.
Hoping
The past few weeks have been great.
I can’t wait to attend NASA’s Sun Earth Day Tweetup this Saturday.
I can’t wait for Mia to find our good friend Venus in the night sky with our new telescope.
I can’t wait to see Mia present her first Science Project.
I hope this feeling never ends.
