It was probably sometime before noon, I was in the hallway on my way to jazz band, the middle of my ninth grade school year when I heard about it. Suddenly all the TV’s in the school were broadcasting the tragic news. We all knew about the launch because it was the first time a civilian would be going into space, a third grade school teacher nonetheless. No one expected it to end so abruptly. Today marks the 20^th anniversary of the Challenger’s tragic flight. We also can’t forget Apollo I on Jan 27, 1967 and Columbia on Feb 1, 2003.

 

 

 

Here’s a couple links that I found which have most of the details(MSNBC):

 

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5380672/?GT1=7538

 

and here Jay Barbee does an excellent job on his Challenger series.

 

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3077897/

 

I was rummaging through some of my older writings and found this. I wrote a few days after his sudden death. The cartoons I borrowed from internet articles that posted around that time.

 

 

 

Real Hero, Forever

An ode to Christopher Reeve, (1952-2004)

 

 Dedicated to Dana (who is also a Hero), their children, the spinal cord injured and countless others who tragically become our everyday unsung heroes. J. Garcia

 

Born of imagination

And a set of colored pencils.

Destined to exist only,

In comics, cartoons, and film.

Every child’s marvel,

And even a few adults too;

Was of donning those blue tights,

And soaring, soaring high

To save common humanity,

From evil’s terrible blights.

 

“SNAP!”

 

Faster than a speeding bullet!

“I can’t move,

I can’t feel,

I can’t breath!”

In an instant it happened.

 

More powerful than a locomotive!

He stares adversity

Square in the eye

He smiles, and smiles!

Forever smiling, he’s confident he will walk again.

And now he walks, he walks

With angels in the sky.

 

Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound!

No cartoons, or even movie magic,

Can raise our fallen Hero now.

Now even Kryptonite

Must yield to

His honor, his will,

And determination!

 

 

 

 

 

            Here’s a bit of education and a little history, a bit boring perhaps but it’s what I got today!

 

I’ve been working with computers off and on for about 18 years now.  I’ve been aware of the power of the internet for some time now. When I started going “online” the internet was still very crude and pretty inhospitable. It was owned by the government and public access was limited at best. Modems were about 300 baud and you had to dial in to nodes called BBS’s or bulletin board systems. Graphics were defined by ANSI standards and your graphic adapter was CGA, EGA or VGA. At 300bps information dribbled onto your screen a few characters at a time instead of pages at a time like today. Eventually the internet became public. The graphics got better, it became easier to navigate and modem speeds increased, 2400, 9600, DSL, etc.  Services like Prodigy and Compuserve popped up first. Then Windows and AOL came along, the rest is history.

Over the years I’m met many people via the internet, before dating sites and chat rooms were around and after too. There were get togethers(GT’s) and most of the people I was getting to know were pretty nice average folks. Every now and then I’d find a real nut case or they found me but generally nice people. Somewhere along the line, I guess as it got popular, the social quality of the internet deteriorated a bit. I was seeing more and more people not being honest in their descriptions of themselves, hiding behind screen names to do mean or stupid things. Needless to say I quickly became a skeptic when dating and networking sites started appearing. Now before you all bombard me with comments, I’m not saying that everyone out there was dishonest or psycho. I’ve met many good, honest people too, some of which have become good friends.

The internet has become quite a powerful creature. Yes, creature…it really is a sort of living thing, constantly changing, growing and getting “smarter”. For me it’s been and incredible source of information for research, entertainment and communication. I can only think of a couple times when I’ve looked up something and not found some information on it. I’ve also met and communicated with people from around the world right from the comforts of home. I can definitely say it saved me from poking a pencil into my ear repeatedly or stapling antlers to my forehead from the boredom the times when my car has been in the shop or I’ve been sick at home. It has also helped me get very valuable information on a multitude of topics for research and work. So I guess that I should be thankful for the internet too in this new year!

’05 wasn’t quite a year to be remembered but unfortunately it will be memorable. I started the year off by rolling right out of bed while trying to get into bed at 2am New Year’s morning. I spent the next 3.5 hours moving the bed then my chair while trying to sit up so I could either reach the phone or get back in bed. Finally by 6am I made it back into bed and slept the rest of the day.  I would end up on the floor a total of four times in 2005, I had fallen maybe 7 times in the whole 16 years I’d been in a wheelchair, but I racked up a whopping 4 times in less than a year. One of which was on my way home from school late night on Valentine’s Day right after bombing a programming test. My chair fell into a crack on a dark sidewalk and sent me head over heels. It wouldn’t be the first time I went head over heels in ’05. Another was quite comical; I went over a speed bump in a dark parking lot and literally flew about 7 feet from my chair in the rain only to be found by my friend a few minutes later. Luckily I wasn’t injured in any of my falls, except maybe a slightly bruised ego! This year I also had a car accident, and of course there was Katrina and Wilma who although left very minimal physical damage to me but they left some emotional scars. I spent the better part of the last six months without much work due to not having my car. And finally, Right before Christmas I ended up having surgery on my elbow for bursitis which wasn’t very pleasant at all.

 

Don’t get me wrong; despite a few mishaps I did have a few positive and good things happen too. Ask anyone who knows me and they’ll tell you that I’m not one to complain about the negative stuff but I just had to get it out of the way!  I started ’05 by getting back to school and also sailing for the UMPT class. I also had the opportunity to strengthen a friendship with a good buddy, Mike. He probably doesn’t know it but he saved my ass a bunch of times this year. I also found a keen interest in writing, something I had often pondered over the years. Sometime around early to mid-summer I stumbled into the world of blogs. Shortly thereafter I found Kenny’s site and was inspired to set up my own. I have met some really incredible people, some of which have become good friends. I won’t even dare try to name them all for fear that I might forget someone! Thanks to the wonders of the internet I also found some old friends who I had lost touch with. Right around the time I was setting up my blog I got an email from someone who would change my whole outlook about the internet and life in general. We had trouble getting in touch for like the first month but once we did get in contact with each other, what I once thought was impossible became very real. Turned out she was a thousand miles away in another country but we made a connection that was unreal. We quickly found we had plenty of things in common and even a few that we didn’t share. We ended up spending many hours online and on the phone. Her name I’ll temporarily leave out for the sake of her privacy. (Eu encontrei a Gatinha!) Long story short, due to circumstances beyond our control we weren’t able to ever meet in person in ‘05. A while back we drifted apart, she probably thinks I gave up or forgot about her, but I haven’t. Distance can be a bitch on a relationship. She’s still in my thoughts and the coming year will find a way to bring us face to face so we can find out if what we shared over the span of a thousand miles will hold true in person.

 

In retrospect I’m thankful for all the things and people that touched my life in ’05. One way or another it shaped who I am today, hopefully it made me a better person. I’m also thankful that I have my roof over my head and food on my table as well as relatively good health.

 

Warm and prosperous wishes to all for the new year!!!