To Googley Go...

Oh, the coolness. Google has released a new version of Google Earth that includes Google Sky. You can switch to a "sky" view that shows you the stars, the constellations, all kinds of astronomical goodies. There are "Hubble Showcases" that zoom you into details of phenomena captured by the Hubble telescope. It's wonderful.

In another life, I'd be an astronomer. I would have been one, except that my father convinced me that Girls were Useless at Math. It's not true, but he couldn't have stood the competition. English Literature was okay for Girls, but Math wasn't. This is not to say that I'm not perfectly happy to be an English prof, but I dream of the stars.

Thick Sniffle

That threatening cold? It's here, in large measure. Oh well, perhaps it's a Good Thing to get it over with before term starts.

In other news, I took the daring and revolutionary (for me) step of inviting dr to my place for dinner last night. I made a really good chicken curry that was meant to have mangoes in it, but had to have papayas because there were No Mangoes at Thrifty's. It was still very good. I also made a nice salad dressed lightly with limejuice infused Olive Oil and white balsamic vinegar and a splash of actual lime juice (or reasonable facsimile - RealLime). We drank a bottle of sparkling chardonnay, which was excellent. And had a very nice evening. I didn't feel too ashamed of my shabby little house (that's the reason that inviting anyone except someone who has known me for years and years is so revolutionary for me) and the dogs behaved well and Clio the cat deigned to appear. So it was good.

This afternoon I will take dogs to meet B & J and Lucy their puppy. Otherwise, I shall sloth vigorously, using my cold as an excuse, as if I needed one (I can always sloth with abandon).

Tomorrow afternoon I'm going to see Stardust with lidocafe and her daughter, which will be fun, I'm sure.