CESSE at TJC

We went over to Dick and Carol's at lunch time today. Dick was attending a luncheon to meet the new volunteer coordinator for Heart to Heart Hospice. Carol and Ken and I were going to lunch at Potpourri House, but when we arrived there, all the parking spaces were full. Carol figured that meant the tables were full too, so we decided to go home for lunch and come back Friday. Potpourri is the restaurant chosen for Dick's 80th birthday celebration in 2015.

This afternoon we went to CESSE, the TJC planetarium. We bought day passes to see all three shows (25 mins. each) and go to the exhibit area, which right now features an earthquake exhibit. The three shows this afternoon were Cosmic Journey, Earthquake, and Black Holes. The facility is brand new, with comfortable seats and a great sound system. The shows all had spectacular visuals, but they seemed rather slow moving to us.

In between the shows we went to the exhibit area. Along the walls are portraits and brief information of a selection of astronauts and scientists. I especially liked Neil DeGrasse Tyson's vest 8-)

The earthquake part of the exhibit included some videos and interactive displays, including a simulation of the movements of the continental plates over the millennia. That exhibit is controlled by the viewer. You turn a knob to move the simulation back in time or forward in time. It was amazing to see the various configurations the plates have had over millions of years and to see the projection of the continuing plate movements over a couple more million years in the future.

Carol left after the second show to go home and prepare dinner. We stayed and walked back to the house after the third show. It's a pleasant one-mile walk, and we arrived to find some delicious food waiting for us (or in the case of the pumpkin pear bread, in the oven).

Carol went to her choir practice and Ken and I went grocery shopping on the way home. We haven't been able to find the unsweetened organic soy milk we prefer, and tonight was no exception.

Jeff called to tell his dad that he's buying a Mercedes Benz. It's a 2011 model that he is purchasing from Car Max. To get the color he wanted, he's having a car shipped from Delaware.