You can't spell NASA without NASCAR

Yes, I know. It's been a long time. I will try my hardest to do better. If everyone else would follow my example and blog once in a fortnight, I'd be right in the middle of the curve. Message to blogging overachievers in the world: you're making me look bad.

Since we're on the subject of making me look bad, I have a bone to pick with NASA. I really think space exploration has skewed the achievement scale for the rest of us. NASA is like the really smart kid in algebra that ruined the grading curve. Changing the alternator in my Dodge gives me a sense of accomplishment until I think about someone driving a remote controlled car around Mars. Why do the people at NASA feel they have to inform us every single time they make another earth shattering discovery?

NASA: Hello everyone. We have just landed a satellite on an asteroid. We are now ready to commandeer the astoroid's navigational systems with the intent of using it as a remote base for determining the gaseous content of Pluto's core.

Everyone else: Yeah... we just balanced our checkbooks down here. We're feeling pretty good about that.

I wonder if life would have been easier in the Stone Age. It is no wonder they couldn't make a decent cup of coffee, they couldn't even make a decent wheel. I would imagine the best part about living in the Stone Age was making anything you wanted and calling it a new invention. "Excuse me, everyone. I'd like to unveil my latest creation. To the untrained eye this may look like a normal rock but I call it the 'paper weight'. You will thank me profusely when somebody invents paper." If Stonehenge had been built during the time of NASA I doubt it would have gained as much attention. Building an international space station versus building a pile of rocks. Hmm...

I would assume life in the Stone Age was probably a bit dull at times. It lasted thirty thousand years and, judging from the name, rocks seem to be the prime achievement. I'm sure a group of cave men were standing around the water cooler at some point reflecting on life. "You know Sog, I just don't feel like society is going anywhere. I've been staring at these rocks for twenty-five thousand years and they don't seem to have much more potential. Perhaps we should give metal a try." They must have had a bender of a party when someone finally invented bronze. Their spirits might have been dampened had they known the Bronze Age would take another two thousand years to get through. It must have been better than the Stone Age and now they could make as much cheap jewelry as they wanted. (Cue the Home Shopping Network. End Scene.)