2 weeks to go, why

Two weeks from now we will be on the road on our way to New Mexico.  I’m sure it will be quite the adventure in many ways. 

All week I have been reading the stories about NASA deliberating about whether to fix the gouge in the tiles on the space shuttle or not.  Why is there a debate?  Why would they not rather be safe than sorry?  This morning I read they decided to NOT fix it.  I really don’t understand this at all.

This morning I also read that the RESCUERS got killed trying to rescue the miners that have been sealed in for 10 or 11 days.  Wow.  Is it possible that the trapped miners are actually alive?  Unless they had a water source I would think they would die from dehydration if they didn’t die immediately in the collapse or shortly there after from lack of oxygen.  It sounds like there will be no more sending in rescuers.  Unless they can somehow verify that someone is alive down there, it is crazy to risk other people’s lives.  Remind me never to become a miner.

So the Dirt Dog showed up yesterday.  I immediately threw it on the charger to get it ready for a test run.  First I ran it in the garage for a little bit and then took it out to the lanai.  I was worried about the Dirt Dog falling into the pool so I wanted to do a test of it’s “cliff sensors”  They appeared to work as advertised.  They few times the robot came to edge of the pool it instantly backed away from the water hazard.  I still may use the IR virtual walls out there just as a precaution.

I let the Dirt Dog finish up in the garage after my pool test.  When the battery ran out I dumped the dirt bin and was surprised how much it picked up, especially sand.  Today I expect my Scooba’s to arrive, I can hardly wait to let one of those loose.

The weekend looks to be standard fare, lots of outside work in high temperatures with high humidity.

For the first time in about a year I am actually checking out the hurricane center with Hurricane Dean marching west.  As of now, it doesn’t look to be a threat to our area, but if 2005 taught me anything about hurricanes it is to not trust the forecasters.