Related Posts:STS-133 NASA Tweetup13 days until the NASA tweetupVideo of this morning’s winter solstice lunar eclipseSeagull Century 2010The year of adventure continues
Posts tagged: Mom
Thanks, Mom and Dad, for introducing me to space
October 27, 2010, 5:22 pm View CommentsI owe a lot of my interest in science and space exploration to my parents. Growing up, my Dad took me on field trips to explore planets and stars through telescopes in the dead of winter. My first up-close look at the Moon knocked my socks off. We put down blankets in the backyard and counted meteors during showers. My parents bought subscriptions for me to kids’ science and space magazines, and I once got to spend a summer at the the Maryland Science Center’s planetarium in Baltimore.
A few years ago, when Mars and the Earth were closer to each other than they’d ever be in our lifetimes, my dad and I gazed at the Martian polar ice caps through his telescope. It was stunning.
Just this past May, I was lucky enough to road trip down to Florida with my sister and father to watch my first-ever space shuttle launch, the launch of Space Shuttle Atlantis, STS-132. Right now, I’m beside myself with excitement for the NASA Tweetup this weekend.
I’m so thankful that my parents introduced me to space at a young age. Just a few minutes ago, I got this email from my dad:
The date for the next launch draws near and I’m excited even tho I’m not going! So I thought you might like to see this pic of your space shuttle toy that I found cleaning up today. Still in great working condition!
0:-)
I totally remember this toy. It was one of my favorites. Right now, I kind of want to go home and play with it.
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Seagull Century 2010
October 11, 2010, 6:54 pm View Comments
I did it! After months of (barely) training and worrying too much, I made it across the finish line and completed my first metric Seagull Century on Saturday. That’s 100 kilometers, or 62 miles. It’s been six or seven years since I’ve done it and, shockingly, I think I logged my best time yet, coming in just a few minutes over five hours.
Congrats to my parents, who both also finished the metric century, and beat my time, too!
The weather couldn’t have been better this past Saturday. It was a clear, warm day, with no serious headwinds until the last 20 kilometers.
Along the way, I used Cyclemeter on my iPhone to track my progress and post updates to Twitter. It’s an ridiculously cool app. It tracked my position via GPS and gave me regular updates about my speed, time, and distance through my headphones. Plus, any time someone replied to me on Twitter or Facebook, it read the message to me via friendly robotic voice. I was sure my battery wouldn’t make it the whole way through the century, but I was happily surprised to discover I still had a few percent of battery life after I crossed the finish line. I’m not sure if that’s a testament to the improved battery in the iPhone 4, some code magic in Cyclemeter, or a combination of the two, but I was really impressed.
More than once, I got hilarious tweet fed to my headphones from people that cracked me up on my bike, undoubtedly making me seem like some kind of nut to anyone cycling around me at the time.
At the risk of sounding completely sappy, the real-time notes of encouragement really helped motivate me. I was surprised so many of you were awake that early on a Saturday, and completely humbled by your sweetness.
Crossing that finish line felt great. I had a nice cool-down walk around Salisbury University, my alma mater, and barely recognized some parts of campus. That place has grown a lot in the past eight years.
After cleaning up and sleeping hard after dinner, I was surprised at how refreshed and energetic I felt Sunday morning.
I’m feeling really motivated today. Who knows, if i can keep up this kind of mental momentum, maybe I can get myself into shape for the full 100-mile century next year.
In the meantime, here are some photos and videos from Seagull Century 2010!
