There are only a few launches remaining before the end of the shuttle program, so it was time to make the effort, take the risk of traveling without knowing for sure if it would go, and hope for the best. We got the best. Thanks to Jeremy’s friend, we got a front row seat out on the causeway. Thanks to the timing, we got a night time launch that was so close to sunrise that it also featured a visible flyover of the International Space Station, and the sun shining on the shuttle and its plume once it was high enough. Sunrise on the vapor trail was a nice touch too as we made our way slowly back to Titusville in the traffic after the launch.

Here’s the launch video from our little camera. I didn’t expect to record much of the launch with this–mostly I wanted to record the looks on the kids faces–but I think it captures the whole vibe pretty well.

My kids were pretty puzzled by my apparent need to play “Countdown” over and over on the rental car’s cd player, but I think after the launch they understood a little better.

Here’s the official NASA video, which does not feature my kids at all.

On the other hand, I’ve also been carrying around in my head this bit of snarky comment first made to me by a coworker at my first real job. “Experience is what you get when you don’t get what you want.” Other than as a joke, I don’t think that line of thinking has served me as well as, say, this Rush lyric, which is also carried around in my head constantly.

I’m not giving in to security under pressure
I’m not missing out on the promise of adventure
I’m not giving up on implausible dreams
Experience to extremes, experience to extremes.

I met a fantastic trumpet player named Frank on the beach in Negril.  He just goes up and down the beach all day with his horn, hustling tips from tourists and sitting in whereever there is music.  His horn was barely held together — some of the spit valves were sealed shut, so he had to repeatedly remove a valve to empty out the condensation.  The braces were cracked, so he had the thing taped together in places.  The finish was corroded a bit from hanging out at the beach all day, but no matter though.  Somehow he managed to keep the sand out of the thing and free of dents, probably because he almost always has it in his hands.  It’s like an extension of him.  When he played it, his tone was rich and confident and clear, and the horn sounded amazing.

Frank called me up to sit in with the band on Sunday night at Alfred’s Ocean Palace, and we played some Bob Marley.  Yeah, mon.  The band was great, I had a blast, and it must have been a spectacle for the gang to see yours truly making some music with guys that had dreads to the floor.  I have had that “reggae shuffle” stuck in my head now for four days.  Kinda enjoying it actually.

I’ve been having fun in Dublin for the past few days. Here’s a photo I took of the sidewalk in Temple Bar this evening. It’s an obvious statement, but sometimes it’s nice to see a truth printed out right there in front of you where you might least expect it.

This didn’t come out as well as I’d hoped, but there is a thick layer of rosin on this fiddle, which had just been set down while the fiddler went for another pint after playing the hell out of it.

Here’s the view out my hotel window of the beautiful and historic Christ Church Cathedral.