Friends in high places

Today we came into Denver, where we'll be for the next few days.  This is a time for old friends for each of us.

We're here staying with Clare's friends Greg and Heather.  Greg and Clare worked together at AOL.  Greg moved out here not that long ago, maybe 2 years, i could be wrong.  He's gone native in a big way. Broncos fan, goes to Rockies games, built an infill development house in Denver within walking distance of downtown.    I'll get a picture on here from his rooftop garden, which is a fabulous thing to have, especially with a view of the area where there will be fireworks happening tomorrow and on the 4th.

Lily got to play today with Lukas, the boy who lived across the street from us for 4 or 5 years.  Lily and Lukas played together most days, making up games of Monopoly with 3X5 cards they'd put all over the house, turning it into a huge game board, or just bugging each other with the question "What do you want to do?"  When they got together today, is was if no days had passed.  Friends like that are rare and can last a lifetime.

I'm going to see a friend I haven't seen in over 30 years tomorrow.  Phil Plait, a.k.a. the Bad Astronomer, and I were friends from 6th grade through most of high school.  We were both going to be scientists, astronomers.  We were in the Science club and the Science Fiction club together.  He focused on his goal and I focused on girls and drinking.  He got his degree, worked on the Hubble telescope, turned a blog into a gig with Discovery, Slate, books and a TV show or two.  Make no mistake, i'm in a great place and am an extremely lucky man, but that's sort of the point.  I'm extremely lucky to not have my misspent youth keep me from the good life I have now.  Phil followed his goal and didn't have to be extremely lucky.  He did the legwork and got the rewards.  He did still go bald though, so there.  So kids, stay in school, pick a direction and focus on it, and don't be afraid to pursue your dream, or any dream, maybe you're not much of a dreamer, I don't know, stop asking me all these questions!

Anyway, we'll try to post anything interesting that happens.


In the meantime,I think I'll do something random that'll probably just irritate Clare (I know it will irritate my friend Stacy):
Here's a picture of Britney Spears: