Today we took Everett bowling for the first time. We weren’t sure if it was appropriate to take a three year old bowling but our concerns were relieved as soon as we arrived at the bowling alley: we were one of about 20 lanes of families bowling with children at noon on a Wednesday. Everett was a little hesitant at first but then got into it and started working on his technique. He started by walking up to the line and pushing the ball, then got some help from Mom and Dad (and the bumpers), and eventually graduated to throwing it by standing upright and rotating his torso like a lot of the other kids.

Judging from the nap he took after we got home, we learned that it is possible to tire him out. All you have to do is ask him to carry bowling balls around for two hours.

In the 1990s Chris worked for Lockheed Martin for five years on a series of projects that may or may not exist (sorry, these projects won’t be declassified until 2018 at the earliest). The only non-classified program he worked on was to modernize the space launch facilities at Cape Canaveral and Vandenberg Air Force Base. Basically, both of these launch facilities were still using antiquated systems that required close to a month to turn around between launches. Some of the computer systems in use were from the 1960s mainly because they still worked, and because it was so costly to develop and certify replacements. These computer systems were something Chris hadn’t thought about in a long time until he saw the ones in use at the bowling alley.

The similarities are remarkable. Seemingly all you need to do is relabel the buttons for space launch.