Wasting valuable caffeine by spilling mocha on your clothes is the perfect way to start the week.

(and now I smell of peppermint mocha…)

We’ve got an asteroid orbiting our sun, passing our planets closely enough to be a little unsettling. Last night it was visible in the sky, tonight it will be even closer.

Hermes is fast approaching Earth, and on Nov. 4th it will pass by our planet 18 times farther away than the moon. Already the asteroid is about as bright as a 13th magnitude star — an easy target for 8-inch telescopes equipped with CCD cameras. Where should you point your ‘scope? Consult the JPL Ephemeris for details.

Hermes approaches Earth’s orbit twice every 777 days. Usually our planet is far away when the orbit crossing happens, but in 1937, 1942, 1954, 1974 and 1986, Hermes came harrowingly close to Earth itself. We know about most of these encounters only because Lowell Observatory astronomer Brian Skiff re-discovered Hermes… on Oct. 15, 2003.

Hermes asteroid at RedNova.

Simulate the Hermes asteroid Orbit

Providing I can remember this time, I’d like to look for it tonight, but unfortunately, the forecast isn’t promising.

It’s been a long week that’s flown by.

Before work, I’m in the office with a friend developing a Java Struts application to get us both up to speed with that.

The work day finds me preparing to take on some ASP.NET and VB.NET for some client work, while trying to clean up some previous projects in other technologies.

Evenings, I’m preparing for the next day and taking time to relax when it’s too much.

Kelly is in Ohio with her chorus sweeping the Buckeye Invitational (congrats!)

Last night, I laid low and surfed some Internet and TV. I did leave the house to go pick up a .NET book I reserved. It looks like it’ll help me get my bearings with the 1.1 .NET Framework. I also stopped by REI to pick up a CamelPak CamelBak Lobo so I could stay hydrated on the weekend rides, only to find out once I got home that they’ll be on sale next week. If that’s the case, then I’ll keep it sales tagged and trade up for a better model if it too is cheaper.

This morning I got out for some biking (without the CamelPak) before this St. Louis summer destroyed me.

Tonight I’ll be at the Moonlight Ramble ride downtown.

But right now, I nap.

I get out of bed earlier on the weekends than I do on weekdays.

This morning, Will graciously picked up my bike and me at 7am for a drive into Illinois for some cycling. That means the alarm had to be set for 6am so I could get up, find some food and bike clothes, and stabilize my balance on foot before attempting to pedal many miles.

On a work day, I crawl out of bed between 7 and 9, which is not to say that I don’t put a whole day’s worth of work in, I just start it later. That’s unlike some people I know who get up ungodly early.

Crazy peoples.

We have two cats, Dexter and Muka, but what I really want is one of these tea cup poodles. They would definitely be easier to maintain; poodles don’t shed, these tiny versions would consume only a small amount of food and water, and you could teach them to use a litter box. Or take them to work in your pocket and sit them in a coffee mug during the day. I wonder what their bark sounds like.

What does the future of pets hold between special breeding and genetic manipulation? It seems like smaller is a good way to go for space and maintenence concerns – it might be fun to have a tea cup cow.