the blog and pony show

4th of july!!

2009-07-04T20:46:00.001+01:00

living free and living life. god bless the USA.
happy independence day fellow americans + american lovers

the great outdoors

2009-06-28T16:13:00.004+01:00

lots of critters out here at the lake...

I was mountain biking the other day, and one part of the trail was loaded with snails, and then yesterday we were out on the porch and found all these baby grasshoppers all crowding together on some plants. pretttyyyy coooolllll....

Lake update

2009-06-16T01:41:00.003+01:00

so i've been trying to get a live picture of this from the lake, but they are sneaky, and i keep only spotting them when i am out without my camera.

what am i speaking of? the ultimate symbol of a redneck.

i found this photo online, and apparently in the 2 years that i have been gone, these "truck testicles" have hit the market and are making a statement on redneck truck-sters all over the great states.

who wants some good ol' american freedom?

-liz

JDS Housewarming

2009-06-15T13:51:00.001+01:00

Lucy had a great time.

-Scott (the drunken grill-master)

I made it, guys

2009-06-12T03:27:00.003+01:00

Well, huh, I'm a Finn, guys.

well, someone's a star

2009-06-11T01:48:00.001+01:00

take a look at the second image here.

love your neighbor

2009-06-08T14:41:00.001+01:00

i'm moving to germany in august, ja!
european dream, take 2
--liz

You know him. You love him.

2009-06-03T23:55:00.003+01:00

Let's all pay homage, it's his day today.

happy b-day capo di tutti capi!!

2009-06-03T17:52:00.004+01:00

Love Theme from the Godfather - The Godfather, soundtrack
all the best for my big friend federico pedrini a.k.a. the godfather

the day of the godfather!

2009-06-03T17:20:00.002+01:00

i found an asian boy band who wanted to send their wishes for your big day... with some pretty fun animations!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGVUo8CeObY

happy birthday fede

farm-land-scape

2009-06-03T04:56:00.007+01:00

i've been meaning to send this to dries..... but now it goes on the blog.

on my roadtrip out to lincoln, nebraska, my sister and i drove through loads of farmland. this terrain was hillier than kansas (which is a state notorious for being flat), so it was a farming method that i was not familiar with. it's like the terraced farming i've seen in the far east, but i've never seen it used in the us. and it's far less dramatic here... but anyways, it reminded me of a conversation i had with dries about landscaping (specifically his office work) and terracing the land rather than making new/dramatic/changed landscapes. so here are some pics showing it off...

-liz

the dusty trail

2009-06-02T23:12:00.002+01:00

1658.92 miles

conceived today

begins tomorrow

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4w9EksAo5hY

love,

jtk

welcome to oz

2009-06-02T18:41:00.008+01:00

hi friends!
so i thought i'd kick off my bit over here by introducing you to where i am.... far far away, in another dimension.......

after a month of traveling all over the us-of-a for weddings, graduations, baby births, half marathons, sisters, dentists, cousins, friends, etc, i have settled down with my parents where i will stay for the next 2 months. and i won't be leaving much. i have included a google earth image, and as you can see, i live on a lake (which if you squint, you can see the push pin--near the upper left corner). and around the lake? nothing.

living on the lake is interesting. the midwest makes up quite a demographic of american subcultures. living on a lake takes handfuls of each of these types that are normally segregated, and smushes them all together so you get the super-rich high class family-'this is only one of my houses' next to the redneck-'all i need is my truck, my woman, and a rod + reel' next to the bible-belt-'god has created this beautiful nature and he has blessed us by sharing it' next to the cat lady, and so on. my parents are always evolving, currently i would describe them as the former-yuppies-but-trying-to-pull-off-the-former-hippie type.

now it would be so selfish to keep all these goodies at the lake to myself, so i'm contributing a weekly post offering samples of this lovely life. good ol' hometown america. enjoy this first taste where you see my daily hangout--the swimming + boat dock, and just one bit of the lovely decor around here: my mother personifying a tree.

i will be posting pretty much anything that makes me laugh, and that i wish you guys could see.... i'm bringing it.

muchas besos,
liz

T minus 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Liftoff!

2009-06-02T14:35:00.003+01:00

T minus zero , the holddown explosive bolts and the T-O umbilical explosive bolts are blown by command from the on-board computers and the SRBs ignite. The Pony is now committed to launch. The mission elapsed time is reset to zero and the mission event timer starts. The Pony lifts off the pad and clears the tower at about T plus 7 seconds. Mission control is handed over to JSC after the tower is cleared.