Wednesday Hodge Podge

It's Wednesday hodgepodge time again.  Go see Joyce and link up....but first read mine.

1. July 20th marks the anniversary of the first time man stood on the moon. Flash forward 42 years to July 8, 2011 which marked the start of the final Space Shuttle mission. Should we continue to explore space? Should nations devote more or fewer of their resources to exploring space? Would you want to go into space if the opportunity arose?
Yes, we should definitely continue to explore space.  However, we are talking about more than exploring space, we are talking about manned space flight which resulted in many scientific discoveries and products that have benefitted all of us.  NASA calls them Spinoffs and among the discoveries are memory foam, freeze-dried food, firefighting equipment, Dustbusters, cochlear implants, improved radial tires, and over 1600 more.  You can visit http://www.sti.nasa.gov/tto/ to see more. 

The other major problem with not having manned space flight are the national security issues we will face.  I think anyone who reads my blog knows that I am definitely in favor of useing more resources for space.  People downplay the importance of the United States remaining in and staying ahead of the Space Industry but they don't realize what is at stake.  Would I want to go into space?  I have contemplated that question for many years.  I don't think I do.  I am perfectly content to watch from the ground with pride. 

There is nothing like feeling and hearing the rumble and watching one of these babies launch in person!

I do however know of a certain little boy that wants to be an astronaut when he grows up.  Here Prince and Princess are standing with Chris Ferguson, who is the Commander of the last space shuttle flight that launched on July 8th.  He was great with the kids and talked to Prince about being an astronaut.  This was taken at Kennedy Space Center's Family Day last year.
2. What are three things in your freezer?
Waffles, Ice Cream, Frozen veggies

3. If you could see any band/artist perform live tonite who would it be? It has to be someone living...no Beatles, Elvis, etc.
I think it would be Matt Maher or Casting Crowns.  They seem to be who I listen to most on my i-pod these days, although this was really a hard decision for me to make because there are so many musicians that I just love.

4. Ice-cubed or crushed? Or are you one of those people who don't like ice?
I really like crushed ice, but will take it either way.  My favorite ice?  Sonic.  They have great ice.

5. The owner of a small restaurant outside of Pittsburgh recently announced he was banning children under six, saying they regularly disrupted other customer's meals. You can read the story in more detail here but isn't this a perfect topic to discuss in our Wednesday Hodgepodge? Have at it friends...what are your thoughts?
We used to have a restaurant in our area that strongly discourage you to bring children to the point that they would charge much more for children that adults.  I understand that it is frustrating to go into a restaurant and want a relaxing dining experience and have children screaming and carrying on, but don't punish those of us who make our children behave and have taught them how to eat with good manners.

6. What was your first car? How did it come to be yours?
It was a 1979 Buick Regal.  My parents bought the car new and then my aunt bought it from them.  My cousin drove it and when I was 14, my dad bought it back from my aunt.  That became my car.  I loved that car and drove it all of 2 or 3 weeks before I had my first accident (not my fault) and it was totalled.  I had a bad habit of being in the wrong place at the wrong time and had 3 car accidents within 2 years, none of which were my fault.

7. If I had a nickle for every time I _________________ I'd be rich.
If I had a nickle for every time I asked my children to pick up their toys/dirty clothes/insert any item here, I'd be rich.  I feel like a broken record and I'm so old and irrelevant these days that my kids don't even get that reference.
8. Insert your own random thought here.
I am finally feeling like I am recovering from birthday overload.  We partied and partied and partied some more.  I want to try to post pictures of the cakes I made but I haven't figured out yet how to photoshop out the Prince and Princess' names.  We had a bowling party and it was a great celebration.