This is totally addictive!

http://www.massport.com/logan/f_window.aspx?flight=165473077

Today will be busy in spurts. We’re dumping Verizon FiOS in favor of Comcast so the install will be happening sometime between 8am and noon. We’re sort of tied to the house at that point. Later Jen’s mother and step father are coming over for a visit. They want to check out the new living room. After that they will be watching the kids while Jen and I go to Logan Airport to pick up Larry and Nawal who are returning from a two week trip to Hawaii. After that we hopefully will have time to take Jen’s folks out to dinner to thank them for babysitting.

Lots of things to do, but lots of down time in between… which is good because we’re exhausted after a very-short-on-sleep kinda week.

I can feel the magical mystery power of the Three Wolf Moon.

I’ve been thinking about the moon landings a lot the last couple of days. I’ve needed something to cheer me up now and then and seeing humans literally doing the impossible is usually a good way to do it.

President Kennedy challenged us to send a man to the moon and bring him back safely. We did that. What’s the next challenge? A lot of people commenting on various Apollo 11 related stories I’ve read seem to think that Mars is the next step. I agree that Mars is a step, but is it the next one?

President John F. Kennedy and I are both Irish Catholics from Massachusetts, so I feel I am qualified to make the next challenge to my fellow American citizens.

I challenge us to land a man on the moon and bring him back safely… after living on the moon for six months.

There you go NASA. Get to work.

Here is a link to a story on Apollo 11 from Boston.com. It is 40 photographs taken at different stages of the mission, from training through the return. The photos are fantastic and the story is even better.

40 years ago today Apollo 11 launched.

Let’s watch the launch together, shall we?

The lunar landing took place on July 20, 1969, but today is the anniversary of the actual lift off. Apollo 11 to me represents humanity at it’s best.

A couple of weeks ago Jen and I were casually talking about how big the sectional couch in the living room was. It’s big enough to sit 5 adults and it takes up all of one wall in our living room and half of another. It’s a really nice couch. It’s a really BIG nice couch.

We talked a little bit about maybe getting a new one. At the time it was a casual conversation. Two weeks and a trip to IKEA, Bernie and Phyl’s furniture, a couple of stops in wal-mart, and a quick visit to Bed Bath and Beyond later and we have a completely redesigned living room. The only things left are the two floor to ceiling lights, one of the end tables, my uncle’s reclining chair, my other uncle’s wall clock, and our awesome hi-def television.

At IKEA we bought a new television stand, a huge book case, four sets of DVD shelves, some nice new lights, and a side board. At Bernie and Phyl’s we bought a new couch and a table to fit behind the new couch. Wal-mart chipped in with curtains, a rug, and another light… of the lava variety, and Bed Bath and Beyond supplied a table runner for the side board… and I’m sure I’m forgetting a few things.

The TV moved from the bay windows to the opposite wall, the one the sectional completely filled. The couch and the couch table moved to the bay windows which lets us actually reach two of the windows that were previously blocked off. The recliner moved from next to the door to beside the opposite window. The DVDs surround the TV stand, and the book case takes up some of the space formerly covered by the sectional.

We’re really happy with how it looks. There might be further tweeks. Jen isn’t 100% happy with the new rug, and neither of us are all that thrilled with the table runner. We’re going to live with them for a while and see if they grow on us. Partly because we’re both so beat from working our asses off on this project, and because we want to do similar things with the kids’ rooms, our bedroom, and the office.

Here are some pictures. In my usual dork mode I took too many. First I got all the angles without using the camera flash, then I took most of the same angles with the flash. (As always, click the images to see the Flickr pages where you can click the all sizes button and then click the link called original and see the full sized images.)

I hope you like it.

I took a vacation day and even though it’s only 6:53am I am liking it.

A couple of pieces of furniture are scheduled to be delivered between 10 and 2. After that we might be driving to Connecticut.

I am sore from head to toe but I won’t complain about it. These have been a very domestically adventurous couple of days and I have enjoyed it very much.

If all goes well there will be pictures today.