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Satellite of Golf


Satellite's gone
Up to the skies
Things like that drive me
Out of my mind

I don't think Lou Reed would mind my mashing up the title of his excellent song. You see, that's exactly what happened to me Sunday. Waiting for company to show up for dinner, I turned on the TV to catch some of the Northern Trust Open golf game in which Phil Mickelson, Keegan Bradley and Bill Haas were bumping along exchanging the lead on the final holes. Mickelson had won the week previous so I was pulling for him.

The company arrived and I went to the door to greet them. 'Cause usually when you have company that's what you do. You let them in. My friend, Bernard, was sporting sunglasses and said something to the effect of coming over to see the stars. I joked that must be why he was wearing his sunglasses. Funny, no? No he was talking about stars in the sky. More specifically, the space station.

Turns out the International Space Station was scheduled to pass over my house and because it would be at 6:24pm, shortly after sunset, we'd be able to see it. Cool.

So we chatted. We watched a little golf with the sound down and when 6:20 rolled around we grabbed our drinks, our coats and retreated to the backyard. Lo and behold out of the sky in the northwest a tiny, bright dot moved into view. We followed it's trajectory and after four minutes it was gone.

Amazingly - well to me anyway - that little dot was 370 kilometres up in the sky, carried 6 astronauts and  travelled at 26,000 kilometres an hour. Damn, I didn't even think to wave.

So we trudged back into the house and sat down to dinner. I checked on the golf and Mickelson, Bradley and Haas were going into a three-man, two-hole playoff. Cool.

But dinner called, so off to the dining room we headed. The meal was wonderful and the conversation stimulating and fun.

When dessert arrived I popped up to check on the golf game in the family room. Wha? It was over. Rats. I went looking for my iPad to check on the Golf Channel app to see how things ended. Turned out Haas won.

Poor Phil. He simply wasn't in the winning orbit.


Eye on the ball, Phil, not on the satellite.
 
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Comments

Brett Minor said…
It blows my mind the things man can do. To know that the satellite was that far away and could still be seen and even more remarkable that there were people in it. I love technology.
20 February 2012 at 12:40
Nonamedufus said…
Oh that's what blew me away. That we could see that little speck travel through the evening sky. And that there were 6 guys in it! I wonder if they were watching the Northern Trust Open?
20 February 2012 at 12:57
Malisa said…
I was just commenting on another friend's blog about the first American manned space shuttle. We watched it in the auditorium of my elementary school. The big, cavernous space was packed with kids ranging in age from 7 to 12. We all sat in total silence and watched the wonder on the screen of a tiny tv. Can you imagine that these days? It is a hoot just to think about it. But we all sat there with our little eyes glued to that tiny screen. We were a frozen mass of amazement.

Next time you have spacemen flying over your house, invite us all up for a drink! We will be much more entertaining that golf.
20 February 2012 at 14:55
meleahrebeccah said…
So cool you got to see the shuttle over head!
20 February 2012 at 15:18
Nonamedufus said…
Oh, yeah. It orbits about 16 times a day but is rarely seen. The only way we were able to see it was that the sun reflected off of it, shortly after sunset. It was just a little dot. But it was way cool.
20 February 2012 at 16:22
Nonamedufus said…
I know the feeling. I'll never forget man's first steps on the moon. We were glued to the TV.

Malisa, are you talking about John Glenn? I'm old enough to remember. I was 9 on this day 50 years ago.

I'll check the NASA site for the next sighting. Your invitation will be in the mail.
20 February 2012 at 16:26
Malisa said…
I was 11 50 years ago today! Dang you, John, dang you!
20 February 2012 at 19:16
Nicky said…
Amazing how man can travel through space and yet can't manage to put the toilet seat down! :-)
20 February 2012 at 19:20
Nonamedufus said…
Age is just a number. But yours is higher than mine. lol
20 February 2012 at 21:09
Nonamedufus said…
Well those 6 guys on the space station don't have to worry about that, do they. Oh, if only I could pee in space.
20 February 2012 at 21:13
Shawn said…
Imagine not putting the toilet seat and lid down in 0 gravity!? Space poo everywhere!
21 February 2012 at 06:39
Shawn said…
Imagine not put the seat and lid down in 0 gravity?! Space poo everywhere!
21 February 2012 at 06:41
Quirky Loon said…
Well now I feel like singing Across The Universe! Jai guru de va! Ohmmmmm! Did you forget to light your lighter too? hee hee

That's cool Dufus!
21 February 2012 at 11:29
Nonamedufus said…
Quirks. who knew you were so spiritual...and a Beatles fan. I haven't smoked since my mid-40s so don't carry a lighter around. Although I've got a app for that on my iPhone. Alas, I left it in the house.
21 February 2012 at 12:31
Caspian Stephanie said…
You sound like you’re a golfer. If so, don’t miss the Mayakoba Golf Classic airing on the Golf Channel beginning tomorrow. It’s the only PGA TOUR event in sunny beautiful Mexico! http://bit.ly/xTwq6X
21 February 2012 at 16:34
Nonamedufus said…
You sound like a spammer. Are you with the PGA or the Mexican Tourism Ministry?
21 February 2012 at 18:22
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