Not to be a bigger douche but when I worked at NASA I managed to attend a dinner where he was at. I spoke with him for maybe 2 minutes. He struck me as shy for a man of his position and I was probably a babbling fanboi. A group of us had our picture taken with him - I am completely blocked out by the guy in front of me. Story of my life

I was 17 when he walked on the moon. I had come of age dreaming of space and the hopes of expanding our world to include worlds yet unknown. Since that day I have given up the thought that Earthlings will ever set foot on another body again. Not because we can't but because we lack the desire. Perhaps one day The Chinese will plant their flag too but I don't get the sense that this is the sort of national goal it was for the US during the 60s. I think Mr. Armstrong was an exceedingly lucky man, born at the exact moment and falling into the exact path that lead him to the moon and he will not be followed by successive generations. THere couldn't have been a better choice to represent us in this effort.

Meh, big deal. FOr my birthday my kids "borrowed" 25 bucks from me & bought a "World's Best Dad" coffee mug for me. So, same same.

I live about 6 blocks from Surly's plant & have been there a few times. I am not a fan of their "hop-forward" stuff. If I wanted to eat a pine cone I'd have lunch with Euell Gibbons. But I do love Widmer Brothers Blond Citra Ale - which is very hoppy but the citra hops imparts a nice citrus tang instead of turpentine. I have been fooling with a recipe for it for the last year & can not quite get the nice mellow quality they created. But the beer is very drinkable so even the "failed" experiments are worth the trouble.

Wil - I have been working on a hefe using citra hops. When it works they impart a very nice orange/citrus flavor but the fermenting time/temp is a bit tricky to get just right. I never had any luck getting the clove flavor so I decided to go in a different direction.

HEY WIL? I hear you won some award thingy because you can read aloud, your 4th grade teacher must be sooooo proud! seriously though congrats on the award to you and that Scaliz fella that writes stuff for you to read.

ARG! In wading through the archives I find he not only mentions you but also "Tabletop" Had I seen that I would have figured out you were aware of him by the way he cartooned about you. *SIGH* I hate being old, I'm always the last to learn about the cool stuff!~

"John Kovalic (who created it) and I have become friends." You lucky bastard. I'd kill to have your friends.

Hey Wil, I had some extra time to play around the net today & discovered a web comic I think you might enjoy as it is aimed at our crowd. Its called "Dork Towers" & the second one I saw was a gag on gaming http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2012/05/dork-tower-monday-86/

As unhappy with myself as I was as a teen I can't imagine how difficult it would be to have to deal with all those photographs. The attention would have been really painful I think. How the hell do you get through that?

Saw an awesome story this weekend about a professional photographer who started taking decent pictures of pound dogs. They showed the dreadful ones the shelters put up next to the beautiful ones the pro did. She really brought the personality and appearance out. There was a 100% increase in placements with the professional pictures. She is now working to train others in how to photograph dogs at other shelters. I would think there were one or 2 competent photogs in the LA area who would be willing to work this sort of magic for the shelters there is someone just asked them to do it.