Morning View

Running on little sleep. Spent the day yesterday shopping for furniture in Orlando with a friend. Then, assembled furniture until about midnight. Came home and went to sleep. Woke up at ten after four this morning to take my mom in for surgery, which was an hour earlier than I needed to be up. On the bright side, I was able to see the Big Dipper on this brisk Florida morning. Oh how I've missed that signpost in the sky during the autumn months when it's been below the horizon at my latitude. I do feel very connected to nature and to history when I gaze up at something as marvelous and easily recognizable as the Big Dipper and realize that ancient people must have experienced the exact same sense of awe. I feel secure in knowing that everything is going to be fine--that in the grand scheme of the universe, the problems we face on earth are really irrelevant. A sense of peaceful calm eased over me this morning as I looked skyward and breathed a sigh of relief. Life is grand.

Speaking of stars, my mother named a star after me for my birthday. That's right: Skywayne is now officially in the heavens! Good thing, because that's probably my only chance. :-)

For other astronomy junkies, I received this link yesterday from a very special person: Photographs of Newly Discovered Planets. It's worth a look. Later today, I will post my first book review. I've been going light on the reading for some reason this year. I plan to step up my game in 2009, so don't worry. I haven't started researching the books I'd like to read yet, so if you have any suggested reading or if you are considering something that you'd like me to read first, shoot me an email or post in the comments.