My step son has recently taken an interest in baseball cards.  I’ve worked hard to convince him not to consider them investments because, well, he’s nine and they are supposed to be fun.  If he wants to obsess about value when he’s older he can, but now he should like them because they are fun.

I don’t see cards for sale very often.  You can get multipack sets at Target in Methuen, but I haven’t been seeing them around anywhere else.  I’m wondering if getting the full set of Topps for about $60 is a good idea.  What’s with this whole series 1 and 2 crap?  Topps has taken so much of the fun out of the cards, it’s sad.  If you print up a gagillion of each card then you rob the investor folks of their investment, and if you make it a competition to get them all then you rob the kids who just like messing around with baseball cards of their fun.

$60 for the full set seems really cheap.  Were they more expensive than that back in the 80’s or did 60 bucks just feel like an infinite amount of money when I was 10?  I can’t remember.

Nothing going on today, other than driving the kids to their dad’s before work for the first time in more than three weeks. I enjoy doing that. It’s nice to just hang around with my favorite kids for a few extra minutes.

I might dream up something to write about later, but for now enjoy this picture of Epcot Center blowing up.

This was forwarded to me earlier and I haven’t had a chance to watch it.  I’m posting it here to save it for later.

Look me in the eye and tell me that this isn’t freakin’ awesome.

Gale Crater on Mars, as seen from Curiosity’s navigation camera.  The color pictures will come from a different set of cameras, so the images are going to get even better.

Last Friday I was all excited because we were going to get to see the kids after missing them for a whole week while they were at camp.  Then we got there, and the camp staff wrapped up all of their business for the week, and the campers sang some campfire songs, and then everyone went home… and the kids went home with their dad.

That’s it.  I don’t think there was enough time to pass more than 3-4 sentences with each of them and then it was over.  The missing continued for another five days, but it ends tonight.  Tonight is the first kids-at-our-house night since we dropped them off at camp a week and a half ago.  Finally.

My step daughter is playing in a 45’s tournament tonight.  That is so cool.

Kid night tonight!

Yesterday I posted a picture of Curiosity’s landing as seen from the MRO.  Today we post a video of Curiosity’s landing as seen from Curiosity.

I love this stuff.  I can’t wait for more.

NASA released this photo today:

Can you figure it out?

It was taken by a camera on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.  It shows Curiosity on it’s way to the Martian surface, and yes it actually is the most ass kicking photograph taken in human history.