A fun day in the city

We had a very fun day today. Lisa and I took Kevin to the Adler Planetarium and Shedd Aquarium. We last visited both sites four or five years ago and there have been a number of changes at each site.

We arrived around 10:30 a.m. and parked in the lot next to the planetarium which we visited first.

To commemorate the 40th anniversary of the launching of Apollo 11, Adler had an exhibit containing a number of items donated by astronaut Jim Lovell (of Apollo 13 fame). The actual Gemini XII space capsule was also on exhibit (on loan from the Smithsonian Institution).

We saw a multimedia presentation called Cosmic Collisions and a presentation about all the stars present in the night sky. [I finally learned why the North Star is always in the north!]

After lunch at the planetarium, we walked over to the Shedd Aquarium. We probably should have visited this first as there was a huge line to get into the facility. It took us over a half-hour to get admitted. They have remodeled the area containing the beluga whales and added an exhibit containing species from the Philippines.

I think every Chicagoan who owns a baby stroller was at the Shedd Aquarium today! Every exhibit seemed to be deep in strollers. Patience was required and, towards the end of the day, I was getting tired.

We got caught in Friday night rush hour traffic and did not arrive home until a little before 7:00 p.m.

Despite the ending, it was a fun day and I know Kevin really enjoyed it. I think we will go back next week and visit the Field Museum which is located at the same museum campus.

Spring is here…kinda!

We had a couple of warm days recently so I brought the deck furniture out. Also gave me an opportunity to use the new laptop and the wireless network today. It was fun to be mobile! Just wish that it stayed warm. It’s now in the fifties with rain forecast for tomorrow.

Maybe this weekend…………

Baseball in heaven

This old story has floated around cyberspace for years:

Two old men had been best friends for years and they both live to their early nineties. When one of them suddenly falls deathly ill, his friend comes to visit him on his deathbed and they reminisce about their long friendship. When the dying man's friend asks, "Listen, when you die, do me a favor. I want to know if there's baseball in heaven."

The dying man said, "We've been friends for years. This I'll do for you."

Shortly afterwards he dies.

A couple days later, his surviving friend is sleeping when he hears his friend's voice. The voice says, "I've got some good news and some bad news. The good news is that there's baseball in heaven."

"What's the bad news?"

"You're pitching on Wednesday."

Mt. Redoubt volcano video

Very cool time lapse video:

Redoubt Eruption March 27 2009 from Bretwood Higman on Vimeo.

Funny “news” video from The Onion! - NSFW