First of all, mad props to Sarah, for finding this from one of her favorite editorialists:

...You can bet your big snakeskin Texas cowboy boots he [the President] wants this "big ol' Mars thingy" to be some sort of, you know, legacy...Look. NASA is wonderful. Space exploration is magnificent and essential and we learn enormous amounts about ourselves in the process. The Spirit rover on Mars right now? Breathtaking. Astounding new technologies are developed during major NASA missions, ideas that trickle down into the cultural mainstream and make life, if not easier, then at least more interesting, or lighter, or thinner, or edible at temperatures down to minus 450 degrees with a battery pack that lasts 127 hours and a new infrared extrasensory ink that can be read by blind comatose monkeys. Space is good.

Anyway, it made me laugh, even if it wasn't quite pro-NASA.

As for the announcement yesterday, I'm hoping for the best. But my unbridled optimism left me after only a few months into life working for the space program. Things get canceled. Grand visions don't always work. The space station becomes a $20 billion boondoggle. But I'd love to see people living in on the Moon or Mars. NASA shouldn't be a scientific research agency, if we were, we could do it all with robots. We're an exploration and discovery agency, and that requires people pushing the frontiers. It makes me wonder once again if I'll be around to see people land on the moon. It makes me think about putting my backup plan into action for the 4 (or probably more) years that NASA will be out of the business of manned spaceflight, between the end of the shuttle program and the start of lunar missions.

I leave for Philadelphia this afternoon. My Dad actually cancelled his ill-timed ice fishing trip because it was too cold in Canada (and that says a lot for the man who routinely braves frostbite), so now I'll see everyone! Well, except for Grandma K., who has migrated to Florida. The plan for the weekend is still kind of ill-formed. On Friday, I'm going to be talking to kids at John & Michael's elementary school. I'll visit Aunt Mary, Uncle Dean, et al. I'll visit Aunt Julie's new horse. There's been enough mention of a day trip to a local mountain, that I'm bringing my ski boots with me.

Speaking of which, it stinks to pack in the winter. I had to upgrade to a larger suitcase just fit enough sweaters for the weekend! Unbelievable.