So what am I missing?

I was boggled, reading LiveJournal this morning, to see that three of my friends had seen their first lunar eclipse last night.

I sort of assume that people--certainly adults, and certainly science fiction fans--have seen eclipses. I've spent a couple of hours on a Toronto rooftop late at night watching one, and gone out into Inwood Hill Park on a cold winter night for another.

When I was seven, my parents did the pinhole camera thing for us for a partial solar eclipse. I mentioned this to cattitude who said "Me too. Nine"--same eclipse, same area of the country. A few years back, I was part of the crowd in Bryant Park for another partial solar eclipse, conveniently at standard office lunch time; I wasn't too surprised to be the only person in my department (of seven) who went out for it, but cheerfully borrowed someone's Mylar glasses to look at the sun for a moment (yes, Mom, I know--some risks are worth it) along with doing the pinhole camera thing and looking at the odd shadows. Solar eclipses are trickier: rarer and briefer (I've never seen a full solar eclipse), and at least once I've looked forward to one, and awakened to a cloudy sky that never cleared enough to show us anything.

Along with wondering who else I need to show a lunar eclipse to, I'm wondering if there's something that half of you would be surprised that I've never seen. (Other than a large collection of television programming, that is.)

Lunar eclipses over the next several years are listed here (as well as numerous other places). There will be two total lunar eclipses in 2004, and then none until 2007.

So what am I missing?

I was boggled, reading LiveJournal this morning, to see that three of my friends had seen their first lunar eclipse last night.

I sort of assume that people--certainly adults, and certainly science fiction fans--have seen eclipses. I've spent a couple of hours on a Toronto rooftop late at night watching one, and gone out into Inwood Hill Park on a cold winter night for another.

When I was seven, my parents did the pinhole camera thing for us for a partial solar eclipse. I mentioned this to cattitude who said "Me too. Nine"--same eclipse, same area of the country. A few years back, I was part of the crowd in Bryant Park for another partial solar eclipse, conveniently at standard office lunch time; I wasn't too surprised to be the only person in my department (of seven) who went out for it, but cheerfully borrowed someone's Mylar glasses to look at the sun for a moment (yes, Mom, I know--some risks are worth it) along with doing the pinhole camera thing and looking at the odd shadows. Solar eclipses are trickier: rarer and briefer (I've never seen a full solar eclipse), and at least once I've looked forward to one, and awakened to a cloudy sky that never cleared enough to show us anything.

Along with wondering who else I need to show a lunar eclipse to, I'm wondering if there's something that half of you would be surprised that I've never seen. (Other than a large collection of television programming, that is.)

Lunar eclipses over the next several years are listed here (as well as numerous other places). There will be two total lunar eclipses in 2004, and then none until 2007.

dim sum

I love it when a plan comes together.

I sent email to some friends yesterday afternoon, and wound up with a party of nine for dim sum today. volund and catelynn's unnamed guest didn't show up, but porcinea's houseguest did, and webbob brought tnh, which was a pleasant surprise. eleanor was the first to RSVP, and the first to arrive; L (WINOLJ) showed up partway through the meal, as she often does, but we'd saved her a seat. Plenty of food and conversation--I mostly gossiped with TNH during the meal, having caught up with Webbob a bit beforehand--and several of us hung out a while afterwards at Eleanor's.

dim sum

I love it when a plan comes together.

I sent email to some friends yesterday afternoon, and wound up with a party of nine for dim sum today. volund and catelynn's unnamed guest didn't show up, but porcinea's houseguest did, and webbob brought tnh, which was a pleasant surprise. eleanor was the first to RSVP, and the first to arrive; L (WINOLJ) showed up partway through the meal, as she often does, but we'd saved her a seat. Plenty of food and conversation--I mostly gossiped with TNH during the meal, having caught up with Webbob a bit beforehand--and several of us hung out a while afterwards at Eleanor's.

Seeking sushi: Manhattan

More last-minute stuff (the previous one worked well):

Can someone recommend a sushi place, preferably near Union Square or on the West Side of Manhattan. This is for me and cattitude for tomorrow evening. Cooked food is secondary—if they have nice oshinko or gyoza, fine, if not, we're going for the raw fish—and I don't care about the sake selection. The one sushi place that came to mind as "we've tried this and both like it" is in Park Slope, and I'd rather not drag Cattitude out there when he has to work the next morning.

[I just posted a similar query to nyc_cuisine.]

Seeking sushi: Manhattan

More last-minute stuff (the previous one worked well):

Can someone recommend a sushi place, preferably near Union Square or on the West Side of Manhattan. This is for me and cattitude for tomorrow evening. Cooked food is secondary—if they have nice oshinko or gyoza, fine, if not, we're going for the raw fish—and I don't care about the sake selection. The one sushi place that came to mind as "we've tried this and both like it" is in Park Slope, and I'd rather not drag Cattitude out there when he has to work the next morning.

[I just posted a similar query to nyc_cuisine.]