With 5 months of research under its belt, the Mars Lander has gone peacefully into the quiet yonder.  After 9 days of silence, NASA scientists are not expecting the mechanical explorer to return to life.  The malfunction is thought to have been caused by the onset of the extreme Martian winter and a harsh dust storm.  Scientists had predicted this would happen but you can’t help but to mourn the loss of this little robot as it was the first to discover water on Mars as well as several other chemical compounds resting in the red soil so far away from us.

There is a slight chance it could be resurrected after the Spring thaw but NASA is doubting this will happen.  RIP Mars Lander robot in your lonely, icy grave millions of miles away!

Phoenix Lander never ceases to amaze me…while aimlessly surfing the net I ran across a video the robotic explorer had captured and sent back to Earth.  It’s an amazing sunrise from Mars.  What I wouldn’t give to witness that with my own eyes or even just from the moon.  Astronauts have to be among some of the luckiest human beings alive, to experience something of that magnitude.  It’s a very short clip that replays multiple times but here it is, in all her glory.  The Sun making herself known to yet another planet in our enormous solar system.

“Star light, star bright
First Star I see tonight
I wish I may, I wish I might
Have this wish, I wish tonight.”

Sweet dreams,

Lindsey

I was going through some old videos today and I came across one I made not too long after my pops passed, I love this video.  It has one of his favorite songs playing, “Soul Shine” by the Allman Brothers.  Some of the video is REALLY old but I still enjoy seeing them… so I thought I would share it with everyone.  There’s clips of our flight to the Dominican, playing on the beach, my lil’ sister and family at Christmas, Washington, Empire State Building and my Dad on his bike at the end, a true bad ass through and through. 

Miss you Daddy and wish I could’ve hung out with you more; God knows I wish I could talk to you now.

Lindsey Dawn Mick Dee – Still repping for the Mack’s!

I had the funniest little dream last night, about my pillow. I had written a poem about it and I remember laughing so hard in my dream, I woke up with the biggest grin on my face. I can only remember parts of it but here it goes…

Little pillow, how soft you are.
The other side of you is the best, so cold and fresh.
I really want to flip you over but I’m lying here fast asleep.
If I could only flip you over…

I’m so glad I have you little pillow.
If it weren’t for you, my neck would be a strain.
And my head would not like it so much either.
But that other side of you is the best, so very cold and fresh.
If I could only flip you over…

LOL, pillows are great aren’t they? I would recommend at least 300 thread count pillow cases, you can always kick the sheets and comforter off but that pillow is gonna be there ALL night long!

I’ve had one too many glasses of red wine, pillow time for me!
Good night all,
Lindsey

Dreaming with eyes wide shut

My Playlist – added some new songs today…

http://view.playlist.com/9046773003/standalone

Here it is!  The long awaited video of me and Blu mountain biking.  It’s my first ever… very amateur but worth watching.  I had alot of problems with Microsoft’s movie editing software and holding the camera while riding.  Maybe I will look into a helmet, even if it’s just to tape the camera to.  I’ve really gotta learn how to use Adobe video as well, it’s so much better than the basic Windows software.  Bill is slacking big time with Vista. 

Anywho, I’m keeping this short and sweet.  Enjoy the clip… it’s kinda funny; and let me know what you think!

Linds aka Lu

p.s. In editing you could see some of that dark part of the video- but once published it just looks like darkness.  Oopsy.. fyi, I was 6 Smirnoff’s into the night and decided to go down this big grassy hill (without the headlights on bright) into the parking lot, alot of fun!  Just watch out for the cement.

Hello general public,

I have a brilliant idea, I’m going to take my camcorder with me down some of my mountain biking trails so that everyone online can witness me busting my ass!  It will be great.  I haven’t done much video editing lately and I’m itching to do it.  I could chop up parts of the video (that way I don’t give away my location to possible stalkers), add some background music and maybe some graphics to beef it up a little.

I’m getting excited just thinking about it.  I should probably get a helmet but then my hair would look horrible.  Maybe one day I’ll think about getting one.  Anyways, check back soon to see that.  It will be a good laugh for all.

Good night,

L

One day while surfing the net, I get an email from a friend with pictures and a short description of this magnificent dining experience.  I thought, this is so photoshopped so I Googled it and came across www.dinnerinthesky.com  This has to be one of the coolest things I’ve seen in awhile.  Maybe I’m behind on the times here; this is simply amazing!  I think I’d have to have a glass of wine or three while up there but wow, what an experience that would be. 

A gorgeous view, something that very few people have experienced and fine dining.  Whatever guy takes his woman on a date here is most likely getting laid.  The table holds roughly 22 guests and 5 staff.  The crane will usually carry you a maximum of 50 meters (164 feet) up in the air not to mention your seat has a 180° rotation.  If you notice in some of the below pictures, there is even a separate platform available for a piano and other instruments.  And while this seems to be an extremely marketable idea, it seems very simple.  A crane, table, food, booze and people.  You couldn’t ask for a better time.  Just pray the crane operator isn’t on drugs or just having a bad day!

Photo’s courtesy of www.dinnerinthesky.com

After months of deliberations, the FCC has finally Ok’d the merger between the only two satellite based radio operators; Sirius and XM.  Supposedly was held up in part by Republican Deborah Tate whom refused to vote for the merge until the companies paid the U.S. Treasury $19.7 million for fines regarding radio receivers and ground based signal repeaters.  Sirius will be purchasing its only competitor for $3.3 billion dollars.  I have mixed feelings over this merge.  While I believe that monopolies are created by combining all companies within a certain market, that particular market would have to be providing a necessity to the public.  Something that we all could/should not live without.  Not something that is optional.  And as we are all aware, satellite radio is completely optional.  We still have free broadcasting from radio waves. 

However, knowing that there will be only 1 provider now does make me feel like the price will increase.  There will be more stations and even though Sirius may be taking on XM’s listeners, they will have to pay for this extra addition – not to mention they must make up for that $3.3 billion paid to XM!  I’ve heard talk of Sirius charging for just the stations you would like to listen to or you could choose to have them all for a set price.  This does not sound like a bad idea.  Between my MP3 player and the local radio stations, I probably only listen to 5 channels on Sirius now; Alt Nation, The Spa channel, Howard Stern, Shade 45 and CNN.  So I would love to be paying for just those 5 channels, maybe a few others to mix things up every once in awhile. 

The overall idea of Sirius is brilliant.  And the fact that it is uncensored is the best.  I will definitely be a subscriber for years to come but I hope that this industry continues to expand and new satellite companies will form.  How does that proper little saying go?  “Fuck the FCC!”  The have taken away our rights to the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.  That includes freedom of speech, able to speak without censorship.  Switch to Satellite and do not give them the satisfaction of taking away our freedom.  Or at least until they find a way to censor that as well…

Please visit http://www.sirius.com

If you’ve ever visited Atlanta’s own spinning restaurant and bar; Sun Dial, I am sure it will be similar to this – just on a much larger scale.  One would think, after a couple of glasses of wine this may not be the most ideal location.  It will take each floor approximately 1-3 hours to complete a full rotation.  So I don’t think a dose of Dramamine would be necessary.  Each unit ranges in price from $4-37 million dollars and I’m sure the view will make it worth every penny.  Imagine waking up over the Persian Gulf with a slightly different view each morning.  Below is a short clip demonstrating how the structure can be choreographed to create a beautiful work of art in motion.  Hopefully by 2010 I’ll have my $4 million deposit. 

Now I can sleep tight with visions of Dubai dancing through my head…

 Good night,

Lindsey

With fuel prices on the rise, it’s very apparent that there is a steady decline of those massive gas guzzlers us Americans love to haul the 2.5 kids around in.  So this is an ode to the big beasts…

In a typical day around the Metro Atlanta area, 4 out of 10 vehicles will probably be an SUV and chances are, you will find an 85 lb, just able to view over the wheel, tiny lady driving these things.  What a sight!  As these 5,000 lb vehicles are rushing by you down I-85 you can’t help but wonder or pray; that she’s not putting on make-up or chatting it up on the cell.  Not to mention these over-sized vehicles aren’t the best for the environment and eating away at your bank account as you constantly keep the hungry animal fed.

But what will be the next great fix for Americans?  We love to “go along with the pack” per say.  It seems that the next trendy vehicles will be Hybrids.  They are sold out at virtually every dealership and people are on waiting lists that extend months.  Not to mention that these cars retail value do not run cheap and they’re still reliable on gas.  We need an alternative fuel source, other than gas.  A renewable resource that we could produce at a relatively cheap price and that would be good for our environment.  Easier said than done huh?

So far there are a couple of “ok” choices.  There’s electric, ethanol, natural gas, hydrogen (extremely expensive and rare), biofuels, air engines, solar and more.  I can’t wait to see what we have on our market 20 years from now.  It will be an exciting time and maybe the price hike in gas prices will not be such a bad thing.  It will force us to come up with new ideas and challenge our minds to focus on something better for our World. 

I do not consider myself to be the “greenest” individual but I like to think that I am aware of my impact and how fragile life can be.  We must take care of our planet so that our children may enjoy it; they’re children…and so on.  It’s not just about our time.  Man kind has accomplished harrowing feats and to think that this little problem will slow us down is humorous. 

So, ode to the SUV.  RIP.

Oh yes, the below pic is a murdered out Brabus Bullit, just for giggles.  720 hp, V-12, C-Class, insanely tricked out Benz that will rocket you from 0-60 in 3.9 seconds and set you back a cool $400k.  There’s only one word for this ride – BAD.  And there goes my green talk right out the window! Until next time.

Linds