Night Sounds

We live in Orlando, you know, the city where dreams come true. For several years, we stayed in an apartment located just two traffic lights away from Mickey Mouse's door. Every night we would hear a cacophony of fireworks explosions from Epcot, Magic Kingdom, or Downtown Disney. (Every now and then we would hear heavy walking and late night furniture rearranging from the neighbors upstairs.)

Fireworks are exceptionally loud during holidays like the eve of the 4th of July or New Year's. They usually last about 10 to 15 minutes, so they won't really keep you up. If they ever wake you up, especially the finale super-explosions, you quickly realize it's the Disney fireworks giving all those breathtaken visitors the awe of their lives, and you promptly fall back asleep.

Since we moved to our new place last year, we have a different set of nighttime sounds. We now live about two blocks from Seaworld, where they also have fireworks, although not everyday, and not as loud as Disney's. And because the Orlando International Airport is just 15 minutes away, the traffic of airplanes can sometimes be heard in the stillness of the night.

But tonight, we heard a totally unusual sound. For a second it sounded like someone dropped a piece of furniture upstairs. Only thing is, there's no "upstairs" -- unless someone dropped something on our roof. It didn't quite sound like thunder... the weather was clear all day.

"What the heck was that?"

So, we paused the show we were watching and we stepped outside, looking around for whatever may have caused that thunderous explosion.

A neighbor was taking a stroll. She saw me walk out to our driveway and look up at the clear blue sky.

"You heard the sound of the shuttle," she called out, smiling.

"That was the space shuttle?"

"Yes, the sonic boom of the space shuttle."

"Oh, wow! That's right! They're landing tonight! Thanks!" It was a huge "aha" moment for me!

So, there it was, our first sonic boom experience in all the years we lived in Orlando. Next time we hear a thunderous sound like someone dropped a piece of furniture "upstairs," we'll know to suspect it was another space shuttle announcing its arrival.

A news article said the Endeavor caused a "twin zonic boom" as it came in to land at the Kennedy Space Center. For more about the Space Shuttle Endeavor and its mission, and some tidbits about the International Space Station that's now 70% complete and gearing towards human expeditions to the moon:

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.html

Blogger Beta and Feedburner Funk

Sometimes procrastination saves the day. Case in point: I had been considering moving to another blog server because Blogger didn’t have the “tags” capability. I felt I needed a way to sort my entries by topic since my blog has been racking up posts, but Blogger’s interface didn’t allow it. I knew I had to migrate, but I kept putting it off like an appointment for a root canal. Though I knew I’d have to do it eventually.

Just as I was cracking my knuckles ready to deal with yet another learning curve switching to Wordpress or some other blog venue, Blogger announces an upgrade version that allows “labels” for each journal entry. “Tag”... “Label”... same diff. So, I rested my knuckles and waited for the version release. They rolled it out yesterday. And I must say I’m pretty happy with the new features and ease-of-use. Labeling was a snap!

Unfortunately, this morning, the Feedburner feed managing my blog gave me (and all the feed subscribers to Learn-Something-New, obviously) a funky surprise.

Apparently, when I labeled my journal entries in Blogger (of course, I had to label all the entries, all the way back to March, or else the labeling concept wouldn’t make much sense), Feedburner got messed up. Today, it sent out a notification that Learn-Something-New has a new entry, but instead of the actual latest entry that I wrote yesterday, it broadcasted the posts I wrote back in August.

Anyway, I’m done tweaking the labels, so this post should appear in tomorrow’s Feedburner broadcast as the latest entry. Things will iron out eventually. Well, they better!

Meanwhile, I’ll stay on with Blogger… I still have to experiment on the new mess-with-your-layout feature. I wonder what exciting glitch will come my way this time around.

P.S. Thank you, Blogger, for your new features. I’m sure a lot of bloggers like me appreciate all the hard work you’ve put in. Kudos to your tech team!

Are you ready for the future?

Less than four months to go to Year 2007. 2 0 0 7! I still remember how... in a previous life... we scrambled to ensure that the world as we know it wouldn't end at the turn of the Millennium. The Y2K project we called it. That's history and we're fast drifting past Space Odyssey territory. But where are the flying cars? The shuttles to the Moonbase? The androids?

Just when I imagine I'd have bought the farm when all of these futuristic ideas become part of the human way of life, I come across this video:



If these guys work real fast, I might still get to see flying cars after all.

Notepad Log Files

Gosh, took me more than five years to discover that the handy Notepad was designed to be a journal. And I quote from a mailing list I subscribe to (Thanks, Jon Lewis):

Open a blank Notepad file.
Write .LOG (in uppercase) in the first line of the file, followed by Enter.
Save the file and close it.
Double-click the file to open it and notice that Notepad appends the current date and time to the end of the file and places the cursor on the line after.
Type your notes and then save and close the file.
Each time you open the file, Notepad repeats the process, appending the time and date to the end of the file and placing the cursor below it.

Here's a site that gave it as a Tip of the Day in... uhm... April 2001: WUGNET.com

And here's the word from Microsoft in 2004:
How to Use Notepad to Create a Log File.
(Of course, it also applies to XP.)

VHS to DVD

The date on the label says "Jan 26-28 1996." It's a VHS tape of our trek up Mt. Pulag, back when I was an avid backpacker/trekker.

Ten years. That long. Once-in-a-lifetime memories held together in a strip of decade-old magnetic tape. How long do these things last? The tape, I mean. A friend gave me this time capsule a few months after we got back from the trek, and I've seen it only twice -- the day I received it and about four years ago. I'm surprised it's still working. I'm surprised I still have a working VHS player.

Memories are supposed to last forever. But they don't do they? I can't even remember with whom I climbed that time. I can't remember what I wore, what we ate. All I remember is I have sounds and images of a very important climb in this strip of decade-old magnetic tape. How long so these things last anyway?

So, I did myself a favor. I watched the tape again and tried to remember everything (I still can't remember the names of some of the guys I trusted with my life up that mountain!). It's stunning to realize that since that climb, two of my fellow-climbers had died. Some have migrated to other parts of the world. A few have gotten married... to each other.

I knew that if I wanted to keep these memories with me, I would have to watch the tape every so often. Some of these friends will be hard to find now, and a number will most likely continue to exist for me only in this roll. Maybe in one of my viewing sessions everyone's names will come back to me.

So, before I lose everything as this VHS tape deteriorates, this VHS player fades into oblivion, and this aging mind slips into retirement, I copied the tape onto a DVD to preserve the stories, the smiles and laughter, and the unforgettable faces of friends who trekked with me through some of the most exciting days of my life.

How long do these DVDs last anyway?

Here's what I gathered from the old reliable Internet:

Pressed DVD (movies) - 50-300 years
DVD-R - 20-250 years
DVD-RW - 25-100 years
Magnetic tape - 10-100 years
Archival Microfilm - 300+ years

Fine print: Computer storage media and equipment become obsolete in 20-30 years.

Finer print: all of these lifespan estimates are based on highest quality materials and manufacturer standards. Poor materials, equipment, and storage conditions reduce lifespans considerably. Some experts recommend archive backup on at least three different media, and constant upgrades as new technologies emerge.

Finest print: nothing lasts forever.