it's turned chilly today (and when i say chilly, i'm only talking about high 50's, low 60's) and the chilly weather makes me so lazy.

i could walk to the beach, but not sure i want to. i could read, but i'm not feeling very readerly today. i could do my endeavour post on my CC blog, but i'm not really feeling that either. i could watch a movie, i have two of them ready to go (one of them d you always liked, lost in translation) but i think i want to save those for later tonight. i'm working on getting a bill maher special, but it's taking forever to download.

as you can see, uptop is one photo from the shuttle launch. it was pretty cool! getting to the beach was like going to a concert...tons of people both walking and driving (we walked) and you can see how many people there are on the beach.

maybe it was because we were standing right next to the ocean and there were so many people (i was having to yell to be heard when speaking) that i don't remember that much noise from the actual lift off. just all of a sudden the whole horizon behind the oceanside condos exploded in orange hues.

my photo isn't much different than the way it actually looked (except maybe i bit more blurry) just a big orange ball. as it got further away, it became more of the white light of a moon, only moving. i even have one shot (though again, not very good) where you can see the smoke trail behind it, even in the night sky. but y'all will just have to visit the coastal commentaries site to see the rest (and no, the post isn't up yet)

one of my neighbors took photos and so i'm anxious to see how they turned out (and same said neighbor may give me a gig helping him photograph and video tape a wedding)

z crapped out on me (actually, a new game he'd be dying for arrived yesterday so he opted to play that instead) but he did watch it from our living room...YES, from our living room! because we are a few blocks from the ocean, he actually heard the "noise" (though it didn't rattle the glass) once he heard the noise and saw the orange on the horizon, he said he opened the patio door and sat in the doorway to watch it.

how cool is that?!

sadly, they will be discontinuing the shuttle program in 2010, so i doubt i will get to see many more launches. one was rescheduled from oct until after the first of the year, so i have that launch to look forward to. but i'm not sure how many are scheduled after that.

the area is taking a hit from the shuttle program leaving (mccain promised at several rallies in the area to extend the shuttle program to help leave the local economy intact...might be why my county voted red) the local economy has been devastated. it already shows in the number of houses and condos for sale, and apartments for rent.

anyhow, it was a cool night! i hung out with some neighbors, got to talk art and photography and got to see something i've never seen before.

;-)