The weekend, David Trek.

I had a pretty good time with Norman and Gwen on Friday. We had dinner with Norman's folks and watched The Kingdom. On Saturday, Gwen and I went to the reunion. While I was away, Peter V (my pet spider) died. I had a pretty good time at the reunion, taking lots of pictures. On Sunday, I did laundry and watched Sleepy Hollow. And now, "David Trek":

Personal log, 210907.27--Things were uneventful at Upsilon Andromedae c. We only found four moons to visit, myself visiting the first one we found, UAcPS1. Last night, we arrived at Mu Arae c, a gas giant smaller than Jupiter nearly 50 light years from Earth. The planet is one of the hottest extrasolar planet we've encountered thus far, due in large part to its proximity to its star, Mu Arae.

Sky Captain and the week after my birthday.

This week has been okay. I watched my DVD copy of Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. The special effects are amazing, and the interactions between Joe (Jude Law) and Polly (Gwen Paltrow) are hilarious. I worked a couple of days at Larry's with Pat. We didn't get as many hours as we would have liked, but a few hours of paid work is better than none. Later today, I am getting together with Gwen and Norman to spend the evening at Norman's folks. On Saturday, Gwen and I are heading to a reunion in Northern Iowa.

My birthday weekend.

Yesterday, I spent time with Harry and Liz. Their dogs were with us, and we ran some errands after lunch at Hector's (a local Mexican food restaurant). Afterwards, we went to their place. Harry and I tried "Overlord II" in split screen mode, but it wasn't that great. Harry started a new game of "Overlord II" in single-player mode, and it was much cooler. Later, we went to the mall and had dinner in the food court. We walked around a little, then they took me home.

Speaking of home, above this paragraph is a picture of a spider I found floating in my toilet Friday morning. Lucky for the spider, I spotted him before "doing any business," so the water was clean enough for me to remove him. To get an idea of how big this spider is, note the lip balm box (about three inches long) on top of the scoop the spider is trapped under. Later that day, I let him loose outside.

Today is my birthday. I got together with Cosmo, Wanda, Diana, and Gwen. We went to this pizza buffet/arcade place in town for lunch. After eating, we played minigolf and skee-ball. Back at the townhouse, we had cake and ice cream, then I opened some cards. We talked for awhile, then everyone left. Most of the evening, I have been doing laundry. I got some calls from Clark and Timmy, both wishing me a happy birthday.

Busy week, David Trek.

Well, I got in a couple of days of work at Larry's. The gal I used to carpool with (Pat) was there as well. I had recommended her to Larry, and he interviewed her a few weeks ago. I have also been busy doing some cleaning around the townhouse. Today, I'm getting together with Harry and Liz to celebrate my birthday. And now, "David Trek":

Personal log, 210907.18--We have kept busy this past week at Fomalhaut b. We found half a dozen good-sized moons, and I paid a visit to the one we designated as FbPS2. We also harvested material for our food/object replication systems from the dust ring around the planet. Yesterday, we completed our close-orbit shuttle scans of the planet. Tomorrow evening, we leave for our next destination.

David Trek, the weekend.

Personal log, 210907.13--Last night, we arrived at Fomalhaut b, a planet similar to Jupiter and about 25 light years from Earth. There is a ring of dust and rocks around the planet, but we should still be able to get some decent scans. Hopefully, we will find some moons to visit. At the very least, we plan to harvest some of the dust to replenish our food/object replication systems.

This past weekend, I went with Gwen and Diana to a friend's wedding in central Iowa. I took lots of pictures, including this one of a wind turbine I saw near the road:

David Trek.

Personal log, 210907.10--We have detected over a dozen moons at Epsilon Eridani b. A few days ago, I went with a team to one of the larger ones, a moon we designated as EEbPS2 (Epsilon Eridani b Planetary Satellite 2). The other senior officers each led teams to seven other moons. There were some close orbit shuttle missions as well this week. In a few days, we leave for the 2nd of the eight extrasolar planets selected for this mission.

The Fourth, David Trek.

I had a great time with Harry and Liz on Friday and Saturday. Harry's folks' had a Independence Day party at their home on Friday night. There was grilled burgers and hot dogs to eat, and we lit some fireworks afterwards. On Saturday, I got together with Harry and Liz again and ate dinner at their home. We lit off fireworks, including these mortars (in the pic above) Harry managed to light simultaneously.


Here's a pic of the spider I caught in the kitchen and again in my room (mentioned in my last entry):




And now, "David Trek":

Personal log, 210907.05--We have completed our work at Pluto and have left the Sol System. A short while ago, we arrived at Epsilon Eridani b and have assumed a standard orbit. The planet looks a lot like Jupiter, but is roughly 50% bigger.

David Trek, spider sightings.

Personal log, 210907.02--The past few days at Pluto have been busy. I visited the surface myself on Monday. Yesterday, I led a team to Charon, Pluto's largest moon. The other senior officers have all lead teams to Pluto, and a few have lead teams to Charon as well. Since Pluto has two smaller moons as well (Nix and Hydra), we will send one team to each of those moons. Hopefully, the crew will have time to catch their breath before making preparations to leave the Sol System in a few days.

Meanwhile, I have been seeing spiders a lot this past week. Earlier this week, I caught a fly for Peter V to eat. Sadly, this fly was hardy enough to avoid getting caught in Peter's web and died before my spider could make a meal of him. While working on my laptop Monday night, I saw a small spider descending from a silk line attached to the ceiling to a spot next to me. On Wednesday morning, I spotted a gray jumping spider with black specks crawling on the kitchen walls. I caught him in the scoop I use to catch stuff for Peter, but I didn't cover the top of it well enough. The jumping spider escaped in my bathroom, but I think I re-caught it this morning in my room after seeing it on my wall. I saw a similar jumping spider outside the townhouse last night. This morning, I also spotted a tiny reddish-orange spider crawling around on the floor of my bathroom.