Greetings from Sunny, hot California. I am pretty sure the air conditioner has been running non-stop since yesterday afternoon, despite my trying to adjust the thermostat to make it go off. We spent most of the week above 100 degrees in the afternoons. Then last night was strange because it was over a hundred, then the sun went down, and around 10pm it only decreased to 73 degrees. Then it started heating up again. (What happened was that a rainless storm front came in and the blanket of clouds held the heat in). By around 1am the temperature had risen back up to 78 degrees. But then it started to slowly lower again. It was doubly nasty, because I couldn't just bed down in front of the fan and sleep. I've had this huge work project and I've been up most of the night working on it. So I ended up using ice packs, spray bottles, portable fans--all just trying to stay cool. Nasty.

Finally morning came, and at around 6am it was 70 degrees outside. So I settled in to watch the latest Space-X resupply mission launch. The countdown went flawlessly--it was a perfect day to fly. The engines lit and off she went. Everything looked fine for about two minutes and twenty seconds, and them BOOM. I pounded the arm of the couch in frustration, as the entire vehicle exploded into hundreds of fragments. So then I went online and started commiserating and comparing notes with folks in the Space Hipsters group on Facebook, and somebody came in and asked if everybody had heard the news--that Chris Squire, one of the founding members of the rock group Yes, had passed away. Well, I've always been a huge Yes fan. Not quite so much as Rush or Pink Floyd, but not far behind.

So I think my bad news buffers are full. I can't process any more. In a way, I think I'm pretty glad I have this big work project, because it takes my mind off things. Without it, I would probably just wander around the house all day and mope.

Of course, this week was certainly eventful. The twin rulings by the Supreme Court over the healthcare and the same-sex marriage--what a way to end the week! But then earlier in the week there were more celebrity deaths: Dick van Patten (from the old sitcom Eight Is Enough, Patrick Macnee (from the old British spy series The Avengers), and then the film score composer James Horner. And as fate would have it, I was experiencing all this news by myself, because Mary had to fly back to Kentucky to take care of some things for her 96 year old Aunt, who suffered a stroke last week. I couldn't go with her because of these work projects, but we talked on the phone every night.

So VacaChick has had a heck of a week, as has her husband VacaDude.

My attack of gout has for the most part subsided. I've been drinking the sour cherry juice every day (Jes's suggestion), and it appears to be manageable. I hope I can keep it down; last week was pretty nasty.

I hope you all have a good week coming up, with good news and reasonable weather. I hope to catch you all on the broadcast next weekend!