“You’re crazy!” is the typical response we get when we tell people we’re not bringing our boots to Peru.  We’re heading to the Andes and the Amazon basin for about a month long expedition and we’re officially leaving our heavyweight boots at home in favor of Vibram Five Fingers(VFF).

I’ve had my VFF for almost a year now.  Have you seen these things??  They are prob the ugliest shoe on the planet but I love them!  They give you traction and protection so you can run around  ‘barefoot’, the natural way your foot is meant to be used.  I never knew what I’ve been missing out on all those years of running!  We’re hiking every day to prep for our trek and I’ve been loving every bit of it.  Stream crossings, dirt, grass, rocks, mud… we’ve been putting them through the ringer.  You know it’s good when you get back from a run and want to turn around and go right back out again.

Not sure if it’s just the ugly or the popularity, but they are definitely attention getters.  We get lots of funny looks and people stop, point, and say, “Look!  It’s those shoes!”  It wasn’t love at first step since they take time to get used to, but now I can’t imagine being on a trail without them.

Go barefoot! Well, almost.

As I was flipping through the Hubble telescope gallery, I nearly fell out of my chair when I saw that IMAX and NASA teamed up together to film the final repair mission back in May ’09.. and all in 3D!

I was completely in shock when I read in Scott’s American Cinematographer magazine how much effort went into the development of the movie from start to finish.  In a short period of time, the IMAX team trained the astronauts how to use the camera in the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory, a 6.2 million gallon pool where the astronauts train for life in space.

Since just a single load of film could be taken up to space, they were only able to capture 8 minutes of actual spacewalk footage (which equals over a mile of film).  Once fixed into position, the camera had no way to pan or tilt and all functions were operated via laptop.  The film stock was specifically made for the production and the undeveloped negative weighed more than 50 pounds per roll in custom made cans.  They also had to create a vacuum and pressurized system to keep the film from curling inside the container and to allow it to enter and re-enter the atmosphere properly.  The footage had to be deemed a “national treasure’ by NASA to allow cinematographer James Neihouse to hand carry the film back to California on a commercial flight without having to put it through the x-ray scanner.

So much can go wrong up there in space.  Astronaut Mike Massimino had to rip off a handrail after attempting to remove a bolt that wouldn’t budge.  In the movie he describes that working on Hubble is like “doing brain surgery with oven mitts on”.  Also, they say the most vulnerable part of the spacesuit are the gloves since they could slice open easily with one wrong move.  Can you imagine??

So the only place it seemed to be showing near me was at the California Science Center in LA.  Narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio, the movie is only 45 minutes long… and yes, you really do feel like you are right there changing Hubble’s batteries along with the crew.  For about $10 you can get this life-like astronaut’s perspective of Earth from space, here’s your ticket:  HUBBLE 3D

The final servicing mission included the installation of the New Wide Field Camera 3 and a Cosmic Origins Spectrograph allowing detailed imagery using UV and infrared spectrums of light.  So now we can see deep into the universe better than ever…

Saturn with Aurora

Omega Swan Nebula

Cat’s Eye Nebula (dying star)

Supernova Remnant

Helix Nebula & Galaxy NGC 1512

Butterfly emerges from stellar demise in planetary nebula NGC 6302

UFO – no really, they have no idea what this is… photo taken on January 29, 2010.  Looks like they call it a “comet-like asteroid”.

Spiral Galaxies NGC 2207 & IC 2163

Jupiter and moon IO

Eagle Nebula

Deepest view of universe – galaxies galore

The universe is just filled with intergalactic art.

My parents are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary this June!  I can’t wait, we’re having a fun fancy party complete with dinner and dancing.  My mom sent me a big box full of family photos for a slide show I’m making of their past 50 years together.  I’m crazy about vintage photos and I’ve been like a kid in a candy store flipping through them all.  Although the 70′s and 80′s were fun in polyester and jelly shoes, the class and polish of the 50′s and 60′s make me want to pour some bubbly and watch a rat pack flick.

The first photo is prob my fav of all (very Sartorialist, no?).  My parents are all dressed up headed for their honeymoon right after the wedding.  I’m obsessed with their suitcases, and look….. my mom is holding gloves….. I need a good excuse to wear gloves like hers!  The second two photos are from around 1959 when they were dating in Alabama.  The last is another shot from after the wedding, getting in the car to drive off into the night.

There’s so many more good ones I’ll post as soon as I sort them out…