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Monday, February 04, 2008

Collection of Small Events part 1

Current Mood:
CC is listening to: Concerto For Violin And Orchestra In E Major, Adagio--Isaac Stern (Bach: Violin Concertos, Double Concerto, Concerto For Violin And Oboe)

Sorry I haven't blogged in a while. It's not that nothing's happened, it's just that they were mostly little events :-). But don't worry, enough small events have happened for me to write a blog entry about them :-).

First small event: long weekend vacation ideas

I told Steve that I wanted us to take a long weekend trip somewhere we haven't been to yet. There are so many travel deals out there and I wanted to take advantage of them. It was kind of tough to make a decision because most of the places I wanted to go to are REALLY cold this time of year :-). I did come up with two destinations, though: Philadelphia, PA and Mackinac Island, MI.

Mackinac (pronounced MACK-in-awe) Island will have to wait until summer before we can go. It's just way too cold over there right now. Why Mackinac Island? Well I've always wanted to stay in a Bed & Breakfast and Mackinac Island is a place where you don't just stay at a B&B, it's a B&B Victorian community. Mackinac Island has banned motorized vehicles there for over a century. People get around by either walking, biking, or horse-drawn carriages. Have you ever seen the movie Somewhere in Time? It was filmed on Mackinac Island. I figure it would be a great place to have a slow, relaxing, unhurried vacation :-).
The second place I decided, which is where we'll probably go for a long weekend next month, is Philadelphia, PA. There's a lot of history in Philadelphia, but the thing that I REALLY want to see is the Mütter Museum. You've probably heard of it: the medical museum at the College of Physicians at Philadelphia founded to educate future doctors about anatomy and human medical anomalies. The museum features 20,000 medical anomalies and curiosities, historic medical instruments and anatomical pathologies. Think Ripley's Believe it or Not, only focused on the human body and from an entirely scientific perspective. Based on the stuff I've read I'll either love it or run to the nearest bathroom to throw up. There's only one way to find out :-).

The thing that made it really easy for me to convince Steve to want to go to Philadelphia next month was that the Franklin Institute will be having this exhibit:

I'm not a Star Wars fan myself, but even I think it'll be cool to go to the exhibit. It'll feature:
Star Wars Artifacts. Luke's original landspeeder from Episode IV is on public exhibit alongside scale models of X- and Y-wing starfighters and TIE fighters. Visitors will also see an original Yoda puppet from the classic trilogy and Darth Vader's actual helmet from Episode III.
Building Communities and Augmented Reality. Visitors build a spaceport, moisture farm community and walled Jawa town. Placing cards on a table - the physical landscape - a computer superimposes a building on a site in virtual reality and real time.
Real World Starships. Visitors will see actual vehicles and prototypes researchers and engineers in our own world have developed.
Real World Robots. Today's task-oriented robots and humanoid robots like QRIO are on display in the exhibit. Visitors will get to see a floor-vacuuming Roomba that can sense its surroundings and plug itself in to recharge, as well as early ancestors such as the Johns Hopkins Beast, developed in the 1960s.
Take a ride in the Millennium Falcon. Experience a full-size cockpit replica of Episode IV's Millennium Falcon! Visitors watch a multimedia presentation featuring imagery from the Hubble space telescope that explores what we know about our own galaxy in a breathtaking journey to the edge of the Universe. Featuring a proprietary sound system from Bose Corporation, the recreated cockpit debuts the technologies of 3Space™ audio systems, providing visitors with a realistic three-dimensional audio experience.

Okay looking at the blog entry now it looks like I had a lot more to say about the small events than I first thought :-). I'll stop here for now and pick up the list again later :-).

Labels: Travel

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