from

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:PaleBlueDot.jpg

In a commencement address delivered May 11, 1996, Sagan related his thoughts on the deeper meaning of the photograph:

“Consider again that dot. That’s here, that’s home, that’s us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every “superstar,” every “supreme leader,” every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there – on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.

The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds.

Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.

The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.

It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we’ve ever known.”

More at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pale_Blue_Dot

I don’t think a lot of folks really appreciate how smart and amazing Carl Sagan really was.  I still remember how much I loved Cosmos and we would watch it all the  time in Science class.  Also, if you are looking for something interesting to listen to you can check out:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=123534818

It was part of a Radiolab story and it talks about all the work that went into putting together a record that would sent out into space to try and make contact with other planets.

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/03/water.html

You can also get a free online version of National Geographic highlighting the world’s work for clean water:

http://www.natgeofreshwater.com/

http://lifehacker.com/5488694/gadget-and-gear-deals-of-the-day

You can also just plug in lifehackers to your RSS feed reader as well.

We took Spring Break a few weeks early and got away for a bit to Key West.  Krissy updated the photo page with some pics from our trip. We just played on the beach, did some geocaching and relaxed. The kids did awesome and you can really tell the difference between traveling with them now and when they were younger. They did not want vacation to end and keep asking each week when we are going back. Highlights from Key West include Fort Zachary Taylor State Park, Hidden Key West Bike Tour, Alligators in the Everglades.

Krissy is doing some more work now back at Versus and that is going well. I am still back and forth to St Louis and we are getting ready to release another iphone app here in the next week or so (depending on approvals). We launched “easy dials it” last month and now are stepping it up with a bigger app now. You can check them out at http://www.riverturn.com/iphone/ when you have a chance (other app will be there soon). Have a good spring break!

Tuesday we got up early and starting the mad rush to the Capitol.  We scored better tickets (Purple) which ended up making it harder to get in.  Folks in other sections found their way into Purple so it slowed down the entrance into that area.  We tried to get in line but it ended up being over a mile long through a tunnel under the capitol.  There is a lot online about the Purple Gate Fiasco so I won’t rehash it here (google it).  Needless to say we waited 3 hours in line and got turned away a block from the gate at 11:20.  We hung around to see if they were going to reopen it and got word that another gate was an option.  We headed that way and then they announced they were going to reopen the Purple gate.  While this was happening a guy proposed to his girlfriend right by us.  Long story short we ended up getting in around 11:55-12:00 into the Capitol grounds.  We almost got squashed in the process but made it through.  Krissy found a way into Yellow from our area and we ended up with a great place to view the inauguration.

The speech was very moving for the folks gathered and it really felt like we were a part of something very different.  When it was over we were able to move up to the front of Yellow and hung out for awhile as people slowly started to move away.  Unfortunately words can’t describe the feelings and emotions that were part of the experience but all the hassle, waiting in line and uncertainty we faced getting in was quickly forgotten.  We left there feeling like we were part of something special.  We headed over to the Carlisle Group to hook up with Vince so we could watch the parade from there.  We met Rep Travis Childers from Mississippi along with his family and shared with them my Mississippi roots.  Great guy and his family was a lot of fun to hang out with.  From there we went home and got all ready for the Blue Ball.  I brought a tux and Krissy looked amazing in the dress she brought for the night.  We went to the ball and got to meet a lot more of the people Vince knew and worked with throughout his career in DC.

We were up late that night and Krissy flew out first thing in the morning on Wed.  She was going to get back and get the kids back from school.  They were great while we were gone and had a lot of fun playing with Aunt Shari and Brigid.  I stayed on a few days to meet with some business contacts and tried to create some more contacts for Riverturn.  I left on Thursday night back to TC to get back to the family.  All in all it was a great trip and we got to meet some amazing people.  Even in all the lines, etc everyone was very patient and just living in the moment.  We were very lucky to be able to experience all of it and can’t begin to thank Chris and Vince for all they did.  They opened their home to us and we got to share a great part of their life.  Willa is an amazing daughter and they are two great parents to her.

I was glad to get back home and made the most of it with the kids.  We have started doing some science experiements around the house and they are really getting into it.  It is really interesting to see how they react to the things we take for granted every day.  I forget that they are only 5 and just starting to understand these things so all we can do is keep encouraging them to pursue what they love.  We got lucky with the two of them and just hope we can help them enjoy being kids.

Hope everyone is doing well and we will post some photos of the inauguration shortly in the photos page.  Take care..pk

The kids have been taking more ski lessons this year and really getting into it.  Jack has really taken to it and has no fear.  Maggi is more reserved but is doing very well.  Krissy and I have visions of some ski vacations in our future.  I have been able to spend a little time on the snowboard and this snow we have been having has helped.  I may start Jack on it as well next year after he gets completely comfortable on skis.  We are splitting time between the mountains and at the Grand Traverse Resort for tennis so we are trying to be very active this winter.  It gets us out of the house and exploring a lot more of Northern Michigan.

I have been busy at work back and forth to St Louis.  That will continue for a little while longer and we are making the best of when I am in town.  The project I am on is going well and just trying to keep all my guys busy on different things.

Krissy and I are headed out to DC next week for the Inauguration and going to stay with the Frillicis.  We are really looking forward to it and I think it is going to be a lot of fun.  We got our tickets before the election so we were committed now matter who one.  Vince has been trying to get us out there for the last 12 years and we finally were able to pull it off.  The kids are going to be staying with a bunch of folks up here so they can stay in School.  From there we will be counting down to Spring Break in Key West.  It will be time for some sun by then.  I will try and post some updates after the inauguration and updates the photos pages when I can.  You can also hit Krissy and I up on Facebook when you have time.  Take care and Happy New Year.

I was way off on Spartan football this year so I have to take that last post back.  They started winning games that they normally lost and turned into a pretty good team this year.  Our fate is in our own hands this weekend at Penn State and we will see if we can pull it out.  Krissy and I went down for the Purdue game and had a lot of fun with our old friends.  I am going to try and make more games next year and I think we will take the kids for their first game then.  My hope is we can get a big tailgate of friends and families together so the kids really get into it.

Krissy and I are coming up on 11 years of marriage next week and that is pretty cool.  She has been an amazing partner and I am just lucky to have her.  We are going to celebrate by heading up to Bay Harbor for a night.  We are also going to head out to DC for the Inauguration so that will be a lot of fun.  My friend Vince Frillici has been trying to get us out there for awhile and we are going to finally take him up on it.  Should be an amazing experience and we are really excited about it.

We are going to try and stay close to home for Xmas this year but still get together with the families.  The kids will be taking more Ski lessons then so hopefully we can all take a ski trip later in the winter.  I am actually excited for the snow and I am looking forward to spending some more time on the snowboard this year.

I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving and if anyone gets up North for the winter let us know.  We would love to get together with you if you can make it and there is just as much to do in the Winter up here as in the summer.  Take care…

Kindergarten was a big deal last week and the kids are really liking it so far.  They get to ride the bus so that is pretty exciting.  They were pretty non-plussed when we took them the first day and barely realized we left.  I think it was a bigger deal for Krissy and I.  Krissy posted some photos on the Photos page so you can check it out along with some Camping pix we took.  We started with the Swim Whisperer (Jim Rupert) a few weeks back and now our kids are swimming like fish.  Jack has really taken to it and Maggi is making great strides so I can’t say enough of what Jim does.  We think we wasted all our other money on lessons compared to what Jim has done in a few lessons.  We will keep on it and just glad the kids are enjoying it.  We also have Dance (for maggi), Gymnastics and Soccer (for Jack) starting up now so it will be a busy few months.

Holcomb was able to swing by while he was up in Reed City a few weeks back. I got to hang out with him and it always good to catch up with him.  We even got a little late night Wii action in during 40 dog night.

We headed down to Grand Blanc last weekend for Dad and Ann-Marie’s 20th (Kelly and Kristin too) anniversary so we got us, The Muskgeon Kernans, The Alabama Kernans, the Brants, the Heibers and the Rinks together to celebrate.  It was great catching up and the kids had a blast with their cousins.  We don’t do it enough but we make the most of it when we do.  We have another party in Grand Blanc this weekend so we will be back down there and then home for awhile.  I am back and forth to St Louis for awhile for a project so Northwest Airlines will love me a little more.

Thanks to everyone who could make a trip this summer up to TC.  We had a blast catching up with folks and playing with the families.  Hope more people can come up and stay with us even through the winter.  Soon enough it will be time to break the snowboard out so we are up for it.

1. We tried no training wheels on Sunday.  Jack exceeded my expectations but there was no turning involved.  He could ride by himself in a straight line right away.
2. Maggi was doing well but still likes to do things on her own time.
3. Monday morning comes and Jack goes outside.  He proceeds to ride by himself to the neighbor’s house all on his own w/o training wheels.  He just jumped on and off he went.  Turned and now he doesn’t want to be bothered by training wheels or the annoying help from an overprotective parent.  I guess that’s it…wake up, decide you are riding on your own and move on.  Parents are not sure how to handle it so we take the path of least resistance.

Meanwhile Maggi has decided bikes are so 1980s.  She has taken up the skateboard and will be in the 2010 X-Games.  If I get some video this weekend I will post it but she is determined to go it alone and is currently working on her ollie to stale fish grind off the front porch.

Speaking of skateboarding…some know that I haven’t given up my hopes for getting sponsored and having my own deck but I am counting on that happening when I am 50.  Nothing would give me more pleasure than dropping in during my middle ages.  While I have no desire to be Danny Way I still break the deck out every few weeks and work on my kick flips.  I still have the scars and the wounds heal a little slower but the joy never leaves.  There is beauty and art in it as you can see here (thx Kottke).

Always remember:

I still owe some comments on the Traverse City Film Festival..I will do that soon.  There were some gems there for sure so I will submit some reviews shortly.