The silence. Normally lots of chatter on NASA TV during a landing. Silence. There was nothing coming from Columbia (voice or data), so there was nothing being said in Mission Control. Man. Made me think of how important the silences are to certain Jazz musicians. How they define the notes around them. The silence in this place defined the reality around them. Gone.

I huddled under a blanket on a leathery couch in my dorm lounge in the middle of the night on April 12, 1981. I wasn't going to miss the first Shuttle launch, the launch of Columbia. Lots of delays that night, if I do recall, but I hung tough and was there. Now Columbia is gone. I go on.
11:45:04 PM    comment []  Google It!  

"Spaceflight Now correspondent Stephen Clark was watching from Larue, Texas as the shuttle flew overhead this morning.

"We were outside and my Dad said "there it is!" in one piece. Then a tiny, tiny piece came off and I was somewhat perplexed. That wasn't supposed to happen. Then bigger pieces rained away from the main piece. It looked very similar to the video we saw of the Russian space station Mir reentering. Later, there was one loud boom and accompanied by smaller booms. Normally we hear two distinct sonic booms when shuttles pass over during entries."

11:01:14 AM    comment []  Google It!  

My first move was to Scripting News, where there are lots of pointers to the news. Horrible. The timeline on Spaceflight Now, as Dave says, is "chilling".
10:29:34 AM    comment []  Google It!  

I'll help you, at an hourly rate, to publish your thoughts and ideas via a Weblog integrated into your existing website. Weblogging is the easy updating of news, links, pictures, on your website by you. From anywhere you are connected to the Internet. From your computer. From anyone else's computer. Reading and Updating via the Internet. By you, because you have the thoughts and ideas. Because you take the pictures. You should be able to publish those on your website. And you can with a weblog.

How's that for a pitch? I can help you with this. Use the Comment[] link below or email me at VO@TheNewJazzThing.com.
7:57:04 AM    comment []  Google It!  

Lot's on the to-do list this weekend, some of the ?lights: the dry cleaning mound must go, Arizona Tile for something and tile guy here maybe starting (joy), a water value will be fixed by someone else, find some shower pics...uninstalled...not that exciting, the courtyard needs some picking up as construction debris continues to grow like mold there, CostCo. Fun will most definitely be had at a Chinese New Year dinner at Pekin Cafe in North Park and a Casino Night Fund Raiser for Casey's Place. Things are Rollin' on (or over me).

And then there's the other list.

Made some updates to the San Carlos Little League (http://SanCarlosLittleLeague.com) site, updating the home page, adding some news (cool Comfort Station pic, huh), and updating the calendar last night. Lots of fun putting that stuff together. This morning trying to get our on-line registration and off-line registration in one place for emailing, etc. and starting to encounter the Rocks in today's headline. We thought the On-line Registration service we used at http://Active.com would allow for upload of off-line...nope. The service has been pretty functional so far for registering, collecting, paying, downloading data, emailing...but all for just the on-line registrants...we've got as many off-line folks that we want to communicate with too. It's not going to happen that way. There's another thing you can buy called Active Roster Management, but I'm not seeing a whole lot of benefit in that (never know). I think Excel may just have to work for now. Not the best of news to greet the morning, but hey. So we'll try and get ons and offs onto a spreadsheet and go from there.

And there are other ideas to expand on in this realm, for now I'll quote myself from an email to Paul the Pres the other night.

"I have some ideas for promoting the site by having kids write baseball stories, either theirs from experience each week or something they totally make up, the next great baseball story. I was thinking of asking any teachers at Hearst, to start, if they'd be interested in encouraging it as part of any writing assignments the kids might have. Use the messsage board on the SCLL site as the place they post the story (I was actually thinking of writing one for Miles as a starter). Read the best stories on the radio each Thursday night. Start something."

He seemed to like the idea, that idealistic, giving, visionary he is, so we'll see where it goes. I laid something else on him the other night too, not sure of the response to it. Maybe I'll lay it out here too, while I've got the email open. Uh Oh...losing focus...registration spreadsheet...ok...bye...

[Later...] Something else to unload before losing focus all together...hehe...is the interviews on Thursday. I have usually been excited to put them up right away after the show, but I wasn't happy with my end of the conversations with Sandra and Terri Lyne. They were both great on their ends, but I just wasn't making the right tie-ins with what I was trying to get at...not enough prep time again...and I just never felt comfortable with the subject...and tieing the two approaches together. I dunno. I guess I do know it didn't feel right. That was those two.

But the David Mosby and Neal Wauchope thing was cool. Maybe a little disjointed, but lots of fun. And I can stop thinking about getting more info on that Neal character. Blowing into town, blowing on a Hammond B3, and putting all those Essential San Diego talent together on disc. Right on! Getting that interview up and on-line will be essential as will be figuring out how we're going to work together again! Right On, Right On! In the meantime, check out some samples (or hear all the MP3 samples from my cool little Big Mo Band MP3 playlist...then you can stay here and read some more!!).
7:49:25 AM    comment []  Google It!