Day 4868

It was a dreary, rainy day. It never rained hard, but there was a constant drizzle for most of the day. It was too wet to take Dawn on a sunrise walk this morning, but we did take her down into the park to poop and pee when we woke up this morning. She still doesn't like to do her business in the yard.

After we dried off, we had a nice weekend breakfast and then I got ready to go mall walking. It might have been raining outside, but it was still dry at the mall. Mall walking provides me with my weekly glimpse at the state of the world. Judging from what I see every week, I don't think we are in good shape. Maybe I'm being too harsh though. People are still having families. I saw lots of young Moms and Dads with little children today. At least the walkers are still making an effort to stay active and healthy. I see people of all ages, from the very young to the very old. 

It's hard to generalize, but I do notice things. Women generally dress much better than men. It doesn't matter if the men are young or very old, they all seem to look like they pulled their clothes out of a pile of dirty laundry. Young people seem to love to wear torn and ripped denim. I never understood this trend at all. People are actually paying more for artificially distressed clothing that looks like it is almost worn out. The young and the old seem to like mall walking. You don't see many middle aged people walking. Young couples usually seem happy, while old couples are usually arguing about something. There are a lot more old gay men than I would have suspected. Quite a few walkers still wear masks. Why? Finally, little children are quite loud. They all seem to love to run and yell.

Overall, the walkers seem to be a wholesome lot. The stores themselves, not so much. A lot of the clothes on display seem purposefully ugly. The shoes are the worst. Who wears these clunky, awkward looking things? The more expensive the clothes are, the smaller the sizes on display. I think you'd need to be a size 0 to even be allowed inside some of the upscale little European boutiques. Most of the mannequins in the windows look like android robots with no faces. Only Neiman Marcus still uses realistic mannequins these days. The mannequins in Victoria's Secret windows are fat. Seems odd to me, but maybe they know their audience. The odd thing about fashion is that there is nothing new under the sun. Today's latest styles are all recycled from earlier eras. Judging from what I see in the windows, I could pull something from thirty years ago out of my closet and still be in style.

I like to listen to Stephen Dubner's Freakonomics Radio while I'm driving home. I always learn something from this show. I also like to listen to Guy Raz's How I Build This and the TED Radio Hour, but these shows seem to be on Saturday now and I only hear bits and pieces when I'm returning from grocery shopping.

Dawn didn't get her Sunday outing walk today, but we still took her for ice cream cones. She is such a weird dog in the car. She's always super excited when she gets to go somewhere, but immediately starts acting scared when the car starts moving. She would be a terrible dog to take a road trip with. Ice cream calms her down though. We eat our cones in a parking lot near the ice cream store and on the way home Sawn seems almost normal.

I started preparing for my trip this afternoon. I didn't get a lot done, but my manilla folder full of vital information is finished. I make one of these for every trip, just in case my phone or computer breaks. I have no faith in my memory. I need to have my NASA badging instructions, airline and hotel reservations, rental car contracts, and travel maps on paper as well. Hopefully, I'll be able to finish packing tomorrow.

Wyatt is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 4628

I'm feeling a little more organized now. I'm almost packed and am starting my blog post early this evening in hopes of getting some sleep tonight. I'm really terrible about travel planning. I procrastinate. I can never decide what to take. And I always end up forgetting something important. I've finally learned to always take a raincoat and spare batteries, but there's always something that gets overlooked. In the past I've forgotten toothpaste, cables to recharge my phone, and insect repellant. You'd think this would be a piece of cake by now. I've been to Titusville many times before. It always seems like a totally new experience though. I enjoy attending rocket launches. I just hate to travel.

Packing aside, it was just a normal Friday. Dawn got a nice sunrise walk. I picked up a prescription at the pharmacy, And I took my long walk in the park. The weather was warmer today, but it was too much trouble to go to the gym. There is little evidence that we had a record rainfall last week. The ground was so dry that it immediately sucked all the water up. When the ground is wet, some of the meadows in the park stay waterlogged for weeks after a big rain. This time was different. The ground is already dry again.

So far, my Airbnb experience has been good. My hosts have been very responsive and have answered all my questions. I can't say the same for hotels I've stayed in. I've arrived at destinations where they totally lost my reservation and I was left wondering if I had a place to stay for the night. There have even been mixups at the Astronomers Lodge, which is one of my favorite places. We'll see what happens this time. I hope I like staying at an Airbnb. If it works out, I may do this again.

The weather still looks iffy for the launch. Of course the weather is always iffy in Florida. You've got to take an afternoon shower in stride. I've driven from Titusville to the space center in heavy rain only to have the skies clear and the launch take place right on schedule. Let's just hope that everything works out. Somehow it usually does. I'd really hate to make this long trip for nothing.

There's a Space X launch tomorrow night, but I'm not sure if my Artemis credentials will get me in. The launch is so late that the Press Site might be closed. I guess I'll find out when I get there. The Artemis-1 launch is so different than others I've attended that I really don't know what to expect. It's pretty safe to expect crowds. I've been warned about large crowds again and again in NASA messages. They tell me now that to avoid traffic delays I should be at the Press Site by 2 AM on Monday morning. The launch doesn't take place until 6:33 AM. The Space X launch tomorrow night takes place somewhere between 10:30 PM and midnight. Am I ever going to get any sleep? 

I probably won't get a lot of sleep tonight since my flight leaves very early in the morning. I have a feeling that I'm getting too old for this, but I'll give it my best shot. Hopefully, I'll get a burst of energy. There are a lot of interesting launches in the future and I"d hate to think that I'll miss them because I'm home taking naps with Dawn. Don't get me wrong. I love taking naps, but long naps don't make much of a story. There are still stories I need to write.

Cammy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 4480

Dawn got a bath this afternoon. It wasn't a big event, but it will have to do. Today was a slow day. All our dogs have hated getting a bath. They seem to love getting dirty though. Dawn loves to roll in the grass in the back yard. The grass is pretty thin in places, so she is mostly rolling in the dirt. Of course as soon as she's back in the house, she likes to roll on the bed. If you have a dirty dog, you also have a dirty house.

Dawn always feels better after a bath. She just doesn't like the whole process. We always take her to one of those self bathe places. I'm glad that someone came up with this idea since it works a lot better than trying to take your dog in the shower. At least it was a nice warm day. The whole ordeal was over quickly and now we have a clean dog again for a few days.

I printed out all my reservations, maps, and directions for my trip this morning. I always do this when I travel and carry around a yellow manilla envelope with all this information wherever I go. Everything in the envelope is readily available online, but I like having things on paper. 

When I drive I'll often take a road atlas with me. Even though the atlas is out of date, it still makes more sense to me than Google Maps.  I'm about as old school as you can yet, but I do try. I've finally realized that the app on my phone is much more convenient that a paper airline ticket.

It was such a nice day that Dawn got two walks. I continued walking after Janet and Dawn returned home this afternoon, but I didn't make it very far. My feet really bothered me today and by the time I'd walked two miles I realized that it was time to head for home. None of this makes a lot of sense to me. Yesterday I walked much further with relatively little foot pain. Today was terrible.

It's time to get the lawn mower running again. It's an electric mower and I usually have to replace the batteries every couple of years. I kept the battery inside this winter, so hopefully it will take a charge. We'll see. The large batteries are kind of expensive, but I still like the electric mower better than the old gas powered mowers I used to use. I just wish this mower was self propelled. I'm tired of pushing the heavy thing up and down our hilly front yard.

I'm supposed to pick up my press credentials at the Starfish Room in the Cocoa Beach Hilton. I looked up the hotel online and it doesn't have a Starfish room. This kind of stuff drives me crazy. Every time I go to Florida I'm always thinking "What if I get down there and they're not even having a launch?" I have no faith in anything these days. I usually call to double check everything, which probably annoys the people who put all their information on a website just to avoid people like me.

I've taken this week's trash out to the curb and am halfheartedly thinking about going out for breakfast tomorrow morning. I'll probably just stay home and have another bowl of shredded wheat, but I should resume my Friday morning restaurant breakfasts one of these days. It's been a while, but I know I used to enjoy them.

Smiley is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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