A busy Sunday...

Arising at 7:00 am, I had every intention of going for a walk after breakfast at McDonald's (as there was nothing to eat in the house), but that notion quickly turned into a walk before breakfast, as it was already getting quite warm.

On the way to McD's, it turned into thoughts of abandoning the walk for somethlng less uncomfortable, such as shoveling coal in an old-style boiler room. I grabbed breakfast to go, came back, ate it, and then went looking for the Auchan store that - as it turned out - used to be on the south part of the I-610 ring road. (Later, I found that the other Auchan I knew of in town, over on the west side of Highway 8, was also gone, which is curious, as I saw numerous ads for such a hypermarché in Moscow.)

I proceeded on 610 over to the Galeria area, but miscalculated the opening time for stores there (11 am, not 10), and so got my walk in, albeit indoors. However, I didn't stay til 11, as I had no burning desire to buy anything at the Galeria. Instead, I went across the street and got a haircut from a young woman whose understanding of a Caesar cut is limited, and who worked for an organization (Sports Cuts) whose idea of "reasonable price" is equally backward. At any rate, I'm a bit lighter now, and feeling better for it.

From the tonsorial parlor, I proceeded to the Phoenicia store, where I picked up some victuals of the ethnic variety. From there, to the Whole Earth market, where I paid too much for produce and rice cakes. I then returned home for a breather before heading off to see a matineé of Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines.

I seem to recall some buzz about how great the film was, but in truth, it disappointed me. Depressed me. With its "stay tuned until next episode" finish, it reminded me of other films, notably the second installment of the Matrix story. I'm finding I do not like being fed hour-long segments of a story at intervals of every couple of years (although Matrix promises a shorter cycle, I know).

When I got home, Natalie was hard at work at her math. I made a quick dinner with stuff I'd bought on the way home from the Schwartzenegger film at the Hong Kong Market, and she's changing right now so we can catch the next show of Pirates of the Caribbean.

Note to self: You have be at Bldg. 111 tomorrow at 7 am to pick up a car pass!! Work (pretty much with no days off for the duration) starts tomorrow!

Cheers...

Anniversaries...

In this centennial year of flight, millions of people fly on airplanes daily, The cost of a flight is within the financial capabilities of many, many people.

One can argue that aviation did not make the same strides in its first 12 years as were made in space flight over the same time. By 1915, airplanes had progressed to the point where they were gaining serious acceptance as weapons of The Great War.

Twelve years after Sputnik was lofted into low Earth orbit, and thirty-four years ago today, three humans made a trip to the Moon. It began to appear that the world as described by science fiction writers in the pre-space-flight years was coming to pass. Today, we are still stuck in low-Earth orbit, except for communications satellites that must orbit at an altitude of 36,000 miles or so, from where they can help fatten the coffers of the entertainment industries.

Sommewhere along the line, however, we fell back into one of those cycles that Kipling describes in his Gods of the Copybook Headings:

...the burnt fool's bandaged finger goes wobbling back to the Fire...

In other words, we're all more interested in continuing our neverending game of bowb-your-buddy week, where everyone pursues short term goals at someone else's expense, than in any activity guided by long-term vision.

Well, maybe not all of us.

Cheers...