Astronauts

I'm back in proposal mode at the office, which means that I'll be working late...which in turn means that creativity and bloggery might be in short supply. Irritable crabbiness and zombie-like shuffling might dominate my public behaviors over the next several days. On the plus side, I'm usually pretty crabby and zombie-like, so perhaps no one will notice. In any case, I apologize for not being more fun.

The only thing I'll share today is a brief explanation of why I mentioned Karen Nyberg the other day. I'm sure that all my college friends got the joke, but some others are probably scratching their heads as to why I included a link to an astronaut's biography. Don't get me wrong, I think astronauts are the bee's knees, and wouldn't mind being one myself. I wish there were a whole lot more funding for manned spaceflight programs, and I truly believe that figuring out how to send humans to other planets should be one of mankind's primary goals. But my connection with Astronaut Nyberg is simply a happy coincidence. You see, my very first girlfriend was also named Karen Nyberg.

That was back in my ultra-nerd days. She was the sister of Glenn Nyberg, who was a pretty good swimmer and a talented actor. He's the one in the lab coat narrating the film (that's me with the bricks, by the way) in this clip:



Anyway, I dated Nyberg's sister until my idiot friends convinced me I should break up with her. My ignorance of the world and how it works remains significant to this day, but back then, my cluelessness was truly staggering. Long story short: after we split, I had a long period of datelessness, and she probably still hates me to this day. When I ran across the name listed on a NASA website, I had to look at the pictures to make sure it wasn't the same girl.

Actually, having an astronaut for a girlfriend would probably suit me pretty well. However, I suspect that it wouldn't work out -- I couldn't stand to live in Houston. And an astronaut who routinely flies at Mach 20 probably wouldn't want to hang out with a guy who can't even drive 100 mph. But the real point is that I find it shameful that our country doesn't pay attention to astronauts anymore, and I'm appalled that we don't even have a working vehicle to launch people into space. We have to hitchhike with Rooskies, which is just...wrong.

Yeah, I know; Orion is in the works, and there are folks who are still thinking about how to get people to Mars. But it's not happening fast enough. If I were President, I'd spend less time worrying about regulating everything that people do while throwing tax money at failed programs and companies, etc, and would do everything I could to get us excited about exploring again. (Of course, I'd also lob some nukes at a couple of them scumbag troublemaker countries over there, just 'cause...so it's probably best that my proposal-writing job description includes no real decision-making responsibilities. Sigh.)

Anyway, here's a video from Karen Nyberg, the astronaut, explaining some of the marvelous things we've learned from space exploration. Enjoy!



That's all I have for today, other than another silly trivia challenge. Let me know if you spot the common element that binds this group together:



I'll give you a hint. It has nothing to do with names; it's more of a Kevin Bacon thing. They are the only six people in the world who have done a particular thing -- what is it?

Have fun with that, my friends, and keep dreaming about the skies. Have a great day!