Cloudy night

For once, I am bummed about an overcast sky, as it totally blocked my view of last night's eclipse. I usually love dreary days, it figures that one of the 10 overcast nights of the whole year in Vegas happened last night. Oh well. Here is a really cool picture I found of the eclipse, with the "broad triangle" formed by the moon, the star Regulus (from the constellation Leo) and Saturn. Saturn is to the left of the moon and Regulus is above it. This photo was found here and was taken by Joseph Woodward in Grayslake, Illinois.

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Eclipse tonight!

Total Lunar Eclipse Offers Treat for Skywatchers

From CNN.com: The last total lunar eclipse until 2010 occurs Wednesday night, with cameo appearances by Saturn and the bright star Regulus on either side of the veiled full moon.

Skywatchers viewing through a telescope will have the added treat of seeing Saturn's handsome rings.

Weather permitting, the total eclipse can be seen from North and South America. People in Europe and Africa will be able to see it high in the sky before dawn on Thursday.

As the moonlight dims -- it won't go totally dark -- Saturn and Regulus will pop out and sandwich the moon. Regulus is the brightest star in the constellation Leo.

Jack Horkheimer, host of the PBS show "Star Gazer," called the event "the moon, the lord of the rings and heart of the lion eclipse."

Wednesday's event will be the last total lunar eclipse until December 20, 2010.

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The last lunar total lunar eclipse was on the night of August 27. I was determined to see it (and slept on the couch so as not to wake my husband) and got up in the middle of the night to go outside and watch. It was very cool, I took lots of pictures and have posted them in an album on the left side of the blog, called 8/27/07 Eclipse. It is just so amazing to me, that what we see during an eclipse is the Earth's shadow passing over the moon!

I love astronomy, what's out there beyond our planet's atmosphere just fascinates me. Let me rephrase that, I love the observation part of astronomy...the astrophysics part I can take or leave. I was lucky enough to attend the St. Paul's School Advanced Studies Program in the summer of 1996 where I "majored" in astronomy and had access to their observatory and numerous different telescopes. It was a very cool experience, Jupiter was out that summer and there were days when through the Dobsonian telescope I could see all 4 of its moons! I also could see Saturn's rings and Comet Hale-Bopp, remember that one? Living in Las Vegas, the town that never sleeps and never gets dark, I haven't been able to do much stargazing over the past few years. One of the many reasons I am looking forward to moving back to New England is that I will have pitch black nights within easy driving distance so that I can enjoy things like the annual Perseid Meteor Shower.

So tune in tonight, the eclipse starts at 10 pm on the east coast and at 7 pm on the west coast. Those of us on the west coast will miss the beginning because it is just before the moon rises.

Quote of the Day

I love a good quote. You could say that I collect them, I have a book in which I write any quote that I stumble upon and want to remember. It is almost full and has been an ongoing project for over 10 years now. It's great to go back and look through them all, to see the changes in ink and slight changes in my handwriting and try to remember what was going on in my life that made a particular quote significant to me. I will probably post lots of Quotes of the Day here, today's is courtesy of the Real Simple Daily Thought email:

"If you think you're too small to have an impact, try going to sleep with a mosquito in the room."

-Anita Roddick (the late activist and founder of The Body Shop)

In this historically close primary season (at least on the Democratic side), people should not underestimate just how much their one vote matters. In the democracy that we all live in, where the government (at least in theory) is "of the people, by the people and for the people," all of us citizens matter and it is our duty to participate in the process. I always irks me when I read that average voter turnout in the United States is only about ONE HALF of people eligible to vote. There are a whole host of reasons that people choose not to vote, but I am of the mind that if you don't vote, you can't complain. Democratic voter turnout in the primaries has been incredibly high, especially when compared with Republican turnout, and I take this to mean that the Democrats are much more inspired this time around, with two very solid candidates and a hunger for, yes I am going to use that buzzword, CHANGE! What an exciting time.

He is the Big Winner!

Five lucky TrueBlue members will receive:

Complimentary registration for the Boston Marathon on April 21, 2008 (valued at $200)

Roundtrip flight to Boston, MA

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My husband entered this contest and got a call today that he is one of the five winners!! We are so excited. He just ran his first marathon on 12/2/07, the Las Vegas marathon, and finished well within his goal of 4 hours. If I remember correctly, he finished in 3h 52m. We lived in Boston for several years before moving to Vegas, so Boston is really our hometown marathon. It is extremely hard to get in, qualifying times are very fast, he said today he'd have to knock about 40 minutes off his Vegas finishing time in order to qualify for Boston based on his time alone. There are exceptions, for instance some charities offer registrations for individuals who agree to raise money for them, but for amateur runners, having an official registration for this marathon is difficult to achieve. It is a very competitive marathon and thought of as one of the elite races of the year, I believe. I am just so thrilled for my husband. He is in great shape right now, but was burning out a bit on his current fitness regimen and this is just the boost he needs to get focused and be working towards something tangible. I plan on going to Boston with him so I can be on the sidelines cheering him on. Marathon Monday is practically a Boston holiday, in fact it usually falls on Patriots Day, a MA state holiday, so a lot of people have it off from work. The Red Sox usually have a home game the same day, an early game starting at 11 am, so it is a festive day to be in the city. Not to mention the fact that it is often during the first few nice days of the year weather-wise and everyone wants to be outside getting some sunlight and fresh air. Just one more thing to for us to look forward to, I will keep everyone posted with the details.

I Wanna Live Forever

My friend Rich over at Slice of Life posted an amazing recap of a 20 mile mountain run he did recently in the mountains of North Carolina. I encourage you all to go over and read his post. It was very inspiring and as I commented, it makes it seem like there are amazing experiences to be had by all if we can only step a bit outside of our comfort zones and push ourselves beyond our preconceived limits.

It made me think of an article I read in Men's Health magazine a couple of years ago, called The Men Who Live Forever by Christoper McDougall: "In the hills of Mexico, a tribe of Indians carries an ancient secret: a diet and fitness regimen that has allowed them to outrun death and disease. We set out to discover how the rest of us can catch up." This article really struck a chord in me, ironically at a time when I wasn't living a very healthy lifestyle and was so stressed out I had started grinding my teeth in my sleep. I have always been awed by endurance athletes such as professional cyclists, Ironman triathletes and ultramarathon runners. It is amazing to me to see just what the human body can do when it is properly trained and well nourished. Of course there is a mental aspect as well, a mind over matter way of thinking that these athletes need to propel them beyond the physical limits that they, or others, may have set. Please take the time and read the article. If you do, I'd love to hear your thoughts on it.

My husband and I caught a marathon of The Biggest Loser over the holidays and I was so moved by it, it is one of my new favorites. To see these formally obese people embracing healthy eating and exercise, seeing the remarkable progress that they make over a very short time and not only that but continuing to lose long after the show is over makes me believe that if everyone was just properly educated, and believed that they deserve to be healthy and happy, that the obesity epidemic in this country would be solved. The contestants on the show become so empowered when they realize that a healthy body is achievable and they can do it if they put their minds to it, to see that lightbulb go on, it just makes me happy. And hopeful.

I am in a very healthy place right now, eating well, exercising regularly and doing my best to keep things in perspective and limit the stressors in my life. It feels great to be taking care of myself and makes me wonder how I have ever fallen off the healthy living track in the past. It makes me want to do more, to treat my body with even more respect and set some lofty physical goals for myself and find out just how far I can go, if I put my mind to it.

Comment by Trogog: Lady can go far! Walk up mountains, find cavemans! Red Rocks cavemans!

Obama/Clinton debate on 1/31/08

I watched the Democratic debate last night and I was very pleased with both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama’s “performances.” It was the first debate where it was just the two of them, as John Edwards dropped out of the race earlier this week, and it was a total pleasure to watch. They both showed up strong, gave detailed, solid answers and actually debated in a civil and productive manner that highlighted their policy differences, but didn’t degenerate into a tense, squabbling argumentative back and forth. It was clear that they have an enormous amount of respect for each other and both just want to make a difference in the lives of ordinary citizens and bring healing to a nation that has endured an atrocious abuse of power and seen a marked loss in respect throughout the world over the past 8 years.

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I am an Obama supporter and have been since the very beginning, but I’ve always liked and had a lot of respect for Hillary. I read her book Living History in 2006 and it did a great job of showing how passionate she is, how hard she works and how much she cares and wants to do whatever she can to improve the lives of not only American citizens, but everyone around the world. I’d recently started to feel really negative about her and her campaign though, as I thought she was resorting to stretching the truth and intentionally twisting Obama’s words and his record and it really soured me towards her. Not to mention how inappropriate I felt it was for former President Clinton to be the one throwing the most mud. I felt like she was doing this out of desperation and that a lot of voters could see right through it, hence Obama’s landslide win in SC last weekend. She forced Obama to act defensive and the focus went from what our country needs and how to move forward and beat the Republicans, to nitpicking over words and actions of the past. I’m not saying that the past isn’t important, but the tone had become incredibly contentious and it certainly didn’t help her.

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I think Barack Obama has the ability to transcend party lines and bring people together to compromise and focus on fixing the country and the mess made during the past 8 years. After the Iowa caucuses, I latched on to the phrase (I'm not sure who said it) that Obama has the ability to “expand the Democratic voting base” by inspiring young people to get involved, appealing to Independents and even Republicans and making all of us believe that great change is possible. Unfortunately, I don’t believe that Hillary can do the same, as there are even Democrats who are saying that they would refuse to vote for her. Here is a great link to a Time Magazine article written in November called Obama’s Red State Appeal that talks about how he does appeal to non-Democrats. His book, The Audacity of Hope, is wonderful is just so aptly titled, for it really has started to feel like the government is so damaged and out of touch with who they’re working for and what their role is, that who are we to hope for any change? One of my favorite quotes is the Chinese proverb “Those who say it can not be done should not interrupt those doing it” and Senator Obama is one who wants to try to do it and more power to him I say.

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When it comes down to it, I will be thrilled to support whomever wins the Democratic nomination. I believe that it is imperative that a Democrat be elected the next President of the United States, so that our government can get back to business working for the people and our reputation throughout the world can be restored. Not to mention the fact that it is likely that within the next 8 years, there will be some openings on the Supreme Court. It scares me to think what the next 50 years could look like if the current (precarious) balance of liberal and conservative thought on the Court is gone and we are left with only a conservative, often religion-fueled interpretation of the Constitution which goes against what half of this country believes.

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The last question of the debate last night, posed to both candidates, was if they’d consider what a lot of Democrats, including myself, consider the “dream ticket” of Clinton/Obama or Obama/Clinton. Talk putting forward the best possible combination the Democratic Party has to offer, not to mention the historical implications of having a woman AND an African-American as the top two leaders of the country. Though they both played the “let’s not get ahead of ourselves” game, I was thrilled with their non-answers which seemed to imply that they’d both consider the possibility. I could see Obama going for the VP position easier than Hillary, but you never know. If they really want to do what’s best for the country, I’d like to think that they’d each swallow their pride and take the position that would enable them to make the biggest difference. Hopefully it won’t just be a dream.

Comment by The Man:

Here, here. Despite preferring Obama overall, I sort of want Hilary to win Super Tuesday in resounding fashion so the clamor of "Obama for VP" can start in earnest. That would be a GREAT ticket, not to mention set up Obama very nicely for a future presidential run.

Either of them as president is infinitely preferable to the sad parade of religiously deluded, bigoted windbags the GOP has offered up. Charisma-wise, Mitt Romney makes John Kerry seem like Muhammad Ali.