NASA spotted a UFO (Unidentified Floating Object) near Space Shuttle Atlantis this morning, causing a delay of at least one day in the Shuttle’s scheduled return to Earth. There is some concern that the object originated from the Shuttle and shook loose from the cargo bay as it fired thrusters this morning.
Here it is — a real, live UFO:
That, or it’s the missing spatula from STS-121! 
(more: space junk)
I was just doing a little ego surfing through my trackbacks and stumbled across a fellow post-ACL reconstruction blogger. He’s over five months’ post-op and back to posting about other events in his life, which is an important milestone. One of his recent entries struck a chord with me. It’s about a friend of his who was paralyzed from the neck down in a car accident. We human beings are resilient, resourceful creatures, yet we are very fragile in many ways. As I commented to his entry, “Catastrophe is just an accident or bad decision away, and we all need to appreciate every day, every hour, every minute of our lives because we don’t know when the curtain call will be.” This salient fact is brought home all the more now that Justin and I are having a child.
With an 80% chance of thunderstorms and flash flooding, Justin’s weekly group 40- to 50-mile road bike ride was cancelled this morning. When no such storms materialized by 10 AM, Justin suggested a walk at a nearby park I had yet to check out (Stone Oak Park on Stone Oak Parkway.) We walked 2.07 miles in 37 minutes 55 seconds and got to check out the two cave entrances in the park. (Never fear — one cave is grated shut, so all I did was stand on the edge of the grate and peer in; the other cave entrance is larger and has trees growing in it, so I just wandered around the stonework wall that protects it.)
I’m convinced that becoming parents makes you the darling of every marketing wonk in the world. You’re suddenly willing to entertain the prospect of buying things that you never, ever would have given a second thought before… either because it’s “for the baby” or because it will “make the pregnancy more bearable.” Within a week of getting our BFP (”Big Fat Positive”, eg. a positive pregnancy test), I blew over $100 of Amazon gift certificates on Dr. Seuss and other childrens’ books I remember from my own childhood so we’d have stuff to read to sprout in utero once his/her ears are more fully developed. I’ve already splurged on a couple pairs of maternity pants — one of which is a tad tight after its first washing (bad sizing, unless I’m carrying my child in my THIGHS), the other which will fit me well in, oh, two more months? I have a Bella Band so I can wear my two pairs of normal jeans that still fit comfortably, albeit unzipped, out in public without flashing anyone. And after hearing sprout’s heartbeat but neglecting to bring an audio recorder, we’ve splurged and rented ($32/month and we only need it one month) a fetal doppler from BabyBeat.com to pick up the baby’s heartbeat and record it to our computer. {Mental Note: “babybeat.com” is probably a URL you’d need a tagline under for all advertising, else it conjures up the wrong image!}
Justin and I discovered yet another flat tire on my Ford Escape Hybrid this morning before heading to our second OB visit (11 weeks 4 days). Somehow, I am attracting all manner of debris in my hybrid — windshield rock strikes: I, punctured tires: II. Sigh. Another trip to Jordan Ford is in my immediate future, to get yet another tire patched.
Justin and I are having a baby! Our estimated due date (EDD) is April 1, 2007 — no foolin’!
We have known since the beginning of August, but chose to wait to spread the wonderful news until we were at or very near the end of the first trimester (officially September 23, but who’s counting?) With my brother on vacation this week and Grandparents’ Day falling on Sunday, September 10, that naturally became the day we shared the news with my family.
