Rovers Up and Down

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Exciting stuff still happening on Mars: Spirit is approaching the Columbia Hills, and is just a few Sols (days) from reaching — and climbing! — those formerly far-off alien slopes. Salt in the soil has provided further evidence of Martian water.

Opportunity is about to take a plunge, descending into steep Endurance Crater to examine the richly layered soil and bedrock for more clues to Mars’ wet geologic history. The danger is that the crater walls will prove too steep for Opportunity to climb back out. A worthy risk, however: it’s not like the sandy expanse of Meridiani Planum was offering much more eye candy as compared to the Gusev Crater site.

I had been slacking off a bit on animating Mars Wiggles because the scenery was getting monotonous, but it looks like coming days and weeks will have many more visual treats to offer from the Martian surface. Those rovers just keep going, and going, and going…

Reagan Squared

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Reagan Airport signThe joke goes that that now that Reagan has passed away, the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport can now be renamed to Ronald Reagan Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.

Even before Reagan’s death, we had the airport, the Ronald Reagan Building, an aircraft carrier named USS Ronald Reagan, and Mount Clay renamed to Mount Reagan. Now there’s wind of a Penta-Reagan-gon and a $10 Reagan Bill.

What’s next? Rename the Metro’s Red Line to “the Reagan Line?” Turn R Street into Reagan Street? Why not change Washington, DC, into Washington, DR, the District of Reagan? Or name one of the 50 states to “Reagan?” We can rename West Virginia to Reagania, so it finally gets out of VA’s shadow; or maybe Rhode Island can be renamed Rhode Reagan, since it’s not really an island anyway?

And why did our WWII veterans get a four-fighter-jet salute, while Reagan’s funeral got twenty-one?

By all means, respect the man and his presidency, and commemorate him with a fitting laying-to-rest, but I think this is overkill.

Watch the Reagan Procession

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(Note: This blog entry is for Wednesday’s procession, on the casket’s arrival in DC. To hear my story about visiting the Capitol to pay my respects early Friday morning, read “Make Me A Little History,” a few entries down.)

The Reagan Casket procession is in progress at this moment, and will be going down Constitution Avenue on its way to the lying-in-state at the Capitol. There’s a DC traffic cam at 3rd St NW and Constitution Ave, so you can view it live here and watch the procession pass by some time in the next hour or so.

Update, 6:33pm: It’s passing through. Wow, that’s a big, long procession.

Update, 7:34pm: Well, the coffin is in the Capitol, and I’m watching the ceremony on C-Span from the office. Never mind my plans to make it down there and get photos.

All we need now is online Casket-Tracking updated every minute, so you can keep track of the motion of the body with live GPS coordinates.

More seriously, Airbag writes Jelly Beans.

Catching Up With The Folks

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I’ve just returned from National Airport, where I saw my mom and brother off, finishing a quick three-day visit to the District. I haven’t seen my family since Christmas, so it was a good opportunity to take a few days off from work and spend time with them, catching up and sharing notes.

Sunday, the day of arrival, was quite active, with much ethnic flavor. We visited the Philippine Festival on Pennsylvania Avenue, ate galantina and halo-halo, then viewed the DC skyline from atop the Old Post Office Tower. That night, dinner — yet more Filipino food — with the family of a decades-past alumnus of my alma mater.

Monday was spent “doing the tourist thing,” as I call it. Amy and I took my younger brother Raymond out to the National Mall to see some sights: the Capitol, Air and Space, and Natural History. The intention was to keep going and view the WWII and Lincoln Memorials, but we were just… too… tired.

Tuesday was set aside for full-on consumerist indulgence, as we joined my aunt for a day-long shopping spree at Potomac Mills. I came away with new shoes, shirts, fitness accessories, and scented candles.

All in all, a fun and fruitful three days. Amy, my beloved significant other, came down from NJ and finally got to meet my mom; that went quite well, with gifts exchanged and positive feedback from all sides. My brother, a track athlete back home, was quite impressed at how conducive the DC area is to runners and running.

I also found out from my brother, much to my surprise, that I’m about to become an uncle. Next month. Um, yeah. That was sudden.

Anyway, by this time, they should be in the air, on their way to Chicago for a few days with my elder brother, Francis. I was really glad for this visit. Things are changing so quickly; I suppose my own progressing age is made evident by my perception of the rate at which everyone is growing up and aging. Before I know it, I’ll be a doddering old coot yelling at the young’uns to turn down that stupid music.

Reagan

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I was in Whole Foods, holding a bag of frozen pizza and Harry Potter DVDs while Amy looked at orchids, when I decided to check CNN via WAP on my mobile. Quite a surprise. Reagan dead at 93.

Washington Post with headline of Reagan's deathI idolized Ronald Reagan in the 1980s. It was nothing to do with politics, of course; I was a little boy in the Philippines, knowing nothing about Republicans or Soviets or Libyans or Walls or Contras or what a “Gipper” was. No, I was seven years old, and I watched Superman II, and saw that scene in the White House, where the president, that tragic, noble character, kneels before Zod. “Wow, the president knows Superman!” I thought to myself, unable to distinguish E.G. Marshall from Ronald Reagan. Ah, from then on, the title “President of the United States,” carried with it the dreamy flavor of prestige and power and Superman.

You have to understand, of course, that this was the time of the Marcos dictatorship. “Elections” were an unknown thing. I, unaware of such concepts as death or democracy, thought Reagan would last forever, the happy crinkled president of that land across the sea, of freeways and bay bridges and Toys ‘R Us and Saturday morning cartoons. It was only later, in 1986, when the ousted Ferdinand Marcos was spirited away by US helicopters and Cory Aquino took the throne, that I realized a few things: Reagan and Marcos were friends, presidents are not always necessarily the good guys, and presidencies are not forever.

George Bush Sr. ascended the throne in 1988, and it just wasn’t quite the same anymore. I still don’t know anything about politics, but I do know that Reagan, for me, symbolized that happy innocent time of Superman-worshipping childhood, and his death will leave something of a gap in me forever.

General Tso’s Broccoli

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Kudos to China Cafe on Connecticut Ave NW (near Dupont Circle) for finally adding broccoli to General Tso’s Chicken, the Friday lunch special. General Tso’s Chicken is really hard to eat all by itself, what with the dough and sauce and all, so the broccoli was a welcome additional viand.

In other news, it turns out that General Tso’s Chicken, Sesame Chicken, and Orange Chicken are all the same thing, with the exception of sesame seeds and orange sauce in the latter two. And what they call “lo mein” around these parts is what I grew up calling “pansit canton.”

And what’s up with Chinese restaurants serving cheeseburgers and sushi?

Bowman

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If you enjoyed Scorched Earth and Worms, but crave a more medieval flavor of competitive projectile motion, you’ll love Bowman. Drag mouse to pull string back and adjust bow angle. Twang.

“What are you shooting, Dave?”

Big Brother is Watching You

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A-ha. So my brother Raymond has a Livejournal. (He’s brother 3/4, I’m 2/4.) I want to freak him out now by suddenly expanding his readership, so go leave some comments.

Right now the whole family is in San Francisco. Except for me; Mom’s frequent flier miles wouldn’t cover Memorial Day weekend and I had to rearrange my furniture anyway. Next week, Mom and Raymond will be coming over to DC to see the sights. Should be fun.