I found this entertaining today...

British newspapers went crazy Wednesday morning about an image from Mars that appears to show a humanoid figure descending a shallow hillside.
The "alien" is actually a blurry detail in a huge panoramic photograph snapped on the edge of Mars' Gusev crater by NASA's Spirit rover in early November, and posted on NASA's Web site on Jan. 2.
Naturally, it took the Photoshop skills of dedicated bloggers to find the "humanoid."
"NASA scientists have been puzzled by the peculiarly life-like image," declared the Times of London, despite the apparent fact that no one from NASA has had any comment.
The skeptical Web site BadAstronomy.com, however, scoffed, "Puhlllleeeeze. A man? It's a tiny rock only a few inches high. It's only a few feet from the rover!"
Other British papers saw the humo(u)r in the story, with the Sun theorizing that it was Detective Gene Hunt, the drunken, sexist policeman from the BBC time-traveling crime series "Life on Mars."
"It's Usama bin Laden!" declared one Times of London commenter. "All this time we thought he was in Pakistan."

I thought life on Mars had been proven years ago... with this image from Spirit.

My daughter has found the place she wants to live when she is a bit older and able to afford it. I have to admit, it looks pretty nice, even if a bit cramped, and at $400 a month, seems quite affordable. OK.. this is a bit ridiculous.. this is a horse trailer! Space for two-three horses in the back, living quarters in the front, and then you just need a big truck to pull it around. I remember as a boy thinking Winnebago's were so cool.. you could drive around the country and have all the conveniences of home right there with you. This was before the reality of employment, schools, return on investment, personal space, gas costs and other issues were present in my life. Still it was nice daydreaming about traveling around, seeing the sights. I guess no harm in my daughter doing the same with her horse. :-)

I have been thinking about changes to my commute. Sometimes I listen to the Jazz station, sometimes NPR, or other times I leave it on my daughter's station from her drive to school. But I need more variety than this. A pleasant phone call can help, perhaps satelite radio, maybe a new car will be the answer? But today, I passed a fellow on a unicycle peddling his way to somewhere. He had a helmet and backpack, so he was in for a serious ride, not some juggler on his way to a kid's party. As I pondered this form of transportation, I thought... 28 miles on a unicycle would not be possible for me, I just don't have the leg conditioning for that and passing slower cars at 70 mph would be a challenge. So after a little research I think I may have found the answer. Just don't ask me for a ride to work!

Happy New Year!

It's been a wonderful week of vacation, but now back to cold weather, work, laundry, grocery shopping, homework, dog walking. Reality! :-)

Just a day or so ago we were drinking Margaritas (on the rocks with salt), strolling down Duval Street, watching sunsets at Mallory Square, snorkeling with yellowfin and the odd barracuda, kayaking among the mangroves, drinking Margaritas (on the rocks with salt), shopping, dining, sleeping in, watching the sunset at Fort Zachary Taylor, drinking Margaritas (on the rocks with salt), people watching (and there were some interesting ones), dancing a conga line in the sand, watching fireworks at midnight on NYE. Oh, and did I mention Margaritas (on the rocks with salt)?

It was a happy end to a great 2007 and a wonderful celebration of the New Year's arrival!

I hope all of you had a festive New Year's celebration! Wishing you the best in 2008.