That's One Small Step for Man, One Giant Leap for Monster Dad

 

I've already written about the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission in Apollo 11: T-Plus Fifty Years. But today is THE day. It's July 20, 2019--the 50th anniversary of the day when man first walked on the moon! It's certainly something that's worth revisiting.

Not too surprisingly, Google has put up a special Google Doodle to mark the occasion. There appear to have been a couple different Google home page images put up in honor of the anniversary, but today's Doodle--which is actually a four-and-a-half minute animated piece about the first lunar landing--is one of my favorite ones ever. It's a wonderful reflection on the mission that's narrated by none other than Apollo 11 crew member and command module pilot Michael Collins! The video is actually available on YouTube, so I'll share it here for anyone that wants to watch it (I recommend doing so!). Hopefully this video will be around for a long time.

The funny thing is that I wasn't even born when the lunar module touched down and Neil Armstrong climbed down the ladder, stepped on the surface and declared "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." But it's such a monumental moment in our history that I almost feel I WAS there. I was born exactly two months after that first excursion on the moon. I guess you could say that technically I WAS around when it happened--except for the fact that I was INSIDE of my mother at the time and not yet "fully cooked", as it were. It does make me wonder if my fetus-self heard any of the news coverage among all the sounds one would hear inside of a womb? Who knows? I'd like to think so. Even if I couldn't understand those sounds it would be nice to think that, in addition to all of my nutrients, some small portion of the excitement and wonder that my mother must have been feeling at that moment might have traveled down the umbilical cord and became a part of me.

I was born into a world where man had walked on the surface of the moon. That's kind of an amazing thing to think about. Of course it was also the beginning of a short window of time where quite a few men would walk on the moon. It got to the point where it almost became routine. Eventually that window of time closed, the Apollo missions ceased and the moon once again became a forbidding and faraway place that was hard to imagine being able to visit (despite the fact that we had ALREADY gotten there!).

I think the reason we WERE able to do it fifty years ago (and potentially COULDN'T do it today) had a lot to do with a particular set of circumstances and the fact that they occurred at just the right time. I think we've all heard how it's said that we all carry around a LOT more computing power in the smart phones we keep in our pockets than the roomfuls of computers that put man into space and on the moon. But there's no doubt that technology was indeed improving on a daily basis, even fifty years ago. Transistors and computers had finally gotten to a point where it was actually realistic to think about going into space. But, why would we want to? Well, that's the other part of the equation. It's called the Cold War. The Cold War was actually started (in some ways) by technology. The atomic bombs that ended World War II also ushered in a new age of technological advances and the Cold War between the U.S. and Russia. The Cold War, and the desire by both parties to outdo their opposition in all things military and technological, led to many more technological breakthroughs. I'm sure it probably sped up many scientific advances that might have taken much longer to develop if they didn't have an angle that could potentially be seen as a benefit to one side of the Cold War over the other. If it weren't for that "unfriendly competition" would we have ever (or at least by July 20, 1969) reached the moon? It's certainly debatable.

Not too long after the end of the Apollo program and missions to the moon the Space Shuttle program took center stage. Despite ideas that I'm sure were in the backs of some (many?) people's minds, the Space Shuttle was never destined to become a jetliner to the moon or other planets. The moon kind of became a "been there, done that" sort of thing. I'm not trying to take anything away from the importance and impressiveness of what was accomplished. It's just that once John F. Kennedy's 1961 vision and mission ("I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the Earth") was accomplished there simply wasn't a real need to go there anymore--or to continue to spend the kind of money it would take to keep going there.

I certainly have no idea what the future holds as far as human space travel. Will we eventually get back to the moon? Will man someday walk on the surface of Mars? Will commercial space travel really become something truly viable? Will there actually be a market for such a thing? Who knows what will happen in this post-moon exploration, post-Space Shuttle world we find ourselves in? Not being a very scientific person I really can't answer any of those questions. I don't think I could even if I WAS a very scientific person. But what I can say is this; today we are celebrating the 50th anniversary of an extraordinary accomplishment by NASA, by the United States of America and by humanity itself. Half a century has passed since then, but time has not diminished the fact that something that had been seemingly impossible just a few years earlier was made possible. It's definitely a day to celebrate, regardless of what is happening today and what tomorrow may of may not bring.

Apollo 11: T-Plus Fifty Years

It was fifty years ago today (July 16, 1969) that Apollo 11 lifted off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The real big anniversary that everyone's waiting for is July 20th, which is the date that the lunar module, with Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin aboard, landed on the moon. I have to say that this is an anniversary which has really been eagerly awaited by many people and has been covered heavily by mass media--and it actually makes me very happy. I'm glad to see that it really DOES seem to be a big deal to at least a chunk of the U.S. population and is getting the attention I feel it deserves.

It's STILL really kind of hard to comprehend just what was accomplished a half-century ago. While I'm no conspiracy theorist, I can actually understand where some of the rationale for people claiming the moon landing was faked. It was just such an incredible example of technology, smarts and willpower (among many other factors). To think that we were actually able to engineer a project that culminated with men walking on the moon! And it was done so often for a few years after that it almost became routine. Then it just stopped. And suddenly the idea of going to the moon seems like a pipe dream of fantasy now despite all the advances in technology AND the fact that it's already been done!

I think the other amazing thing about the moon landing (and possibly even more fuel for the doubters) is the fact that they were able to pull it off with a mere five months left of 1969. Why? Well because that also means there were only five months left of the 1960s. John F. Kennedy had set a goal in 1961: "before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth." They couldn't have cut it much closer! I mean, one can only imagine all the factors, delays and setbacks that go into a project as huge as this. Even with tons of money from the government and a fervent desire to fulfill Kennedy's vision it would have been so simple to say "Well, we're pretty danged close, but...just to be safe we're going to set a new date for early in 1970. How does that sound?" It would still have been a monumental accomplishment, but it WOULDN'T have taken place in the 60s--which would have been a huge disappointment in many ways.

It's probably worth mentioning here that I wasn't actually born until after the moon landing. Technically I WAS around, as my mom was pregnant with me when it happened. But I didn't make my first appearance in the world (kind of like Armstrong jumping off the ladder onto the surface of the moon--well, maybe not) until two months later. Because of that fact I don't have first-hand memories or a real personal connection to the lunar landing that folks a few years older than me would have. But it's still certainly something that I can appreciate for what it was and is. It's an important moment in science and history that is still worth celebrating fifty years later and making a big deal out of.

And how is the world celebrating this anniversary? Well, in many ways it seems like it is THE event of 2019. I can't even begin to list all of the ways and places that it is being commemorated (how about the image of Apollo 11 projected onto the Washington Monument in Washington, DC?).

This humble blog post will be lost in a sea of more impressive and important retrospectives, accounts, stories and reflections of what happened in July of 1969. But, while this will probably seem extremely random (and possibly like a joke after all I've already written about how important I feel the anniversary is), I do want to highlight three of my favorite examples I've seen of fun and interesting ways to note the anniversary. They're all commercial product tie-ins and could probably be considered more like attempts to cash in on the excitement surrounding the anniversary than any sort of serious commemorations. But for whatever reason I really liked each of these when I randomly saw them in stores:

MOON PIES

This was probably the first commercial tie-in to the moon landing anniversary that I saw in person. A few months ago I was walking through our local grocery store and I saw a display of Moon Pies. But something about it caught my eye. It was a large display that wasn't in an area where you'd normally find snack cakes like Moon Pies and Hostess or Drake's products. It was in the middle of the floor at the end of an aisle and the large display mentioned the fiftieth anniversary of the moon landing. Do Moon Pies have anything to do with NASA or the moon landing? Not that I'm aware. But the simple fact that they have the word "Moon" in their name makes them a perfect product to put the 50th anniversary designation on! Plus there's the nostalgic factor that Moon Pies are an old-timey snack food that was actually around in 1969 (and even much earlier than that)!

I just checked the website for Moon Pies and saw that they are in fact making a bigger deal out of the tie-in than simply putting 50th anniversary displays in grocery stores. Apparently they have actually teamed with NASA to put a lot of interesting information about the Apollo 11 mission on the site.

And now I see in the Wikipedia page for Moon Pies that they apparently ARE connected to the mission in some small way. I guess you really DO learn something new every day!
 

OREOS

Another thing I spotted in the grocery store was a "Limited Edition" variety of Oreo cookies called "Marshmallow Moon" for the 50th anniversary of the moon landing. I've written before about both Halloween Oreos and the fact that there seems to be a mind-boggling number of new and different types and varieties of Oreos these days (going well beyond the early attempts to make something new out of Oreos with variants like Vanilla Oreos and "Double Stuf" Oreos). I still see new (and sometimes odd) varieties of Oreos popping up all the time and have been meaning to write a follow up to The Overwhelming Onslaught of Oreos for a few years. So I wasn't too surprised to see yet another new Limited Edition Oreo appear about a month ago. But I WAS surprised to see that it was yet another tie-in to the lunar landing anniversary. I still haven't actually bought or tried any of these "Marshmallow Moon" Oreos myself, but I do approve of this new variety! And, heck, the package even glows in the dark!

BUDWEISER DISCOVERY RESERVE

This one seems to be even more remotely related to the actual moon landing than the first two. But despite not REALLY seeming to have any real connection to the anniversary beyond trying to cash in on it (and apparently using an "archival recipe" from the same time period),  this "Limited Edition" version of Bud comes in those little throwback stubby bottles that I remember grown ups drinking from when I was a kid. And as I've mentioned many times before, if you want me to be interested in a product all you have to do is put it in some retro packaging. 1975 Narragansett Beer cans? I'll buy 'em! Throwback Pepsi and Mountain Dew cans? I'll but 'em! Old-school Doritos packaging? I'll buy it!

So, despite this one seeming to be a reach as far as having a legitimate connection to the moon landing, other than simply being "brewed to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Apollo moon landing", thanks to the little bottles I'm in!

I'd like to finish up with one more thought on the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission and another possible reason why it still reverberates with the world. One of the more serious and impressive commemorations has been the coverage that CBS has been giving the anniversary. In addition to stories on CBS News, 60 Minutes and their websites, this morning they actually livestreamed the original TV footage of the launch of Apollo 11, just as it was seen in 1969 (including the commercials!).

Unfortunately I didn't realize this was happening until about fifteen minutes before the 9:32 launch time. I tuned in in time to see Walter Cronkite interviewing Arthur C. Clarke and to watch the launch. It was a pretty cool thing to see, but since my computer is so ancient (not 50 years old, but ancient by modern technology standards) I can't watch more than a minute or two of a livestream without it getting all bogged down and choppy and my laptop overheating. So I had to put it on my iPhone. Suddenly I remembered how they always say that the little smart phones we carry with us every day to post to social media, play video games and navigate our cars actually has more computing power than all the equipment NASA had in 1969 when they sent the first man to the moon. Well, here's the lasting image I hope you take away from this post. It's me watching the 1969 launch of Apollo 11 ("livestreamed" by CBS at the exact moment of the original liftoff) on, yes, my smart phone. How far we've come (for better or worse) in fifty years. What will the next fifty bring?

Happy Fourth of July! (aka Sparklers on the Fourth Part 4)

Today is July 4th. It's also called the Fourth of July. It's a holiday that has always held a special place in my heart--not only for its historical significance, but also because of all the great memories I have from Fourth of July celebrations of the past (especially from when I was a kid). This post is mainly meant to put out some past pieces I've written that have been related to the holiday, but there are also a few thoughts that I'd like to add too.

I've only written directly about this holiday three times before, and the posts have always had "Sparklers on the Fourth" as part of their titles. Hence the "aka" title of this one. The first two were way back in 2011 when I wrote about a memory I had from a Fourth of July celebration from my youth. That one was simply called "Sparklers on the Fourth of July!". After researching and writing that one I realized that my childhood memories were actually faulty and not quite historically accurate. It was a good lesson to learn and I was able to kind of make a new connection between my distant memories and reality. As a result I wrote "Sparklers on the Fourth: Upon Further Review" to kind of admit my mistake and set the record straight. The holiday didn't really make another appearance here until last year when I wrote what I suppose was the third installment of the "series", "Sparklers on the Fourth of July: The Next Generation". That one was written as a part of my attempt to get back into actively writing after a long stretch of inactivity. It was also a way to kind of get back to the roots of what I intended Monster Dad to be when it started--something akin to a "Mommy Blog" where I would write about the experience of being a stay-at-home dad trying to instill some of my love of old monster movies and such in the kids. While there have indeed been numerous such posts, I do tend to write more about MY own childhood memories and stuff like that. In that blog I was finally able to share news about The Little Monsters enjoying sparklers on the Fourth of July--just as I did as a kid way back when.

While the main point of this post was to put out the above list of previous July 4th blogs, I would also like to write a little more about the holiday and about today itself. I mentioned having many fond memories of past Fourth of July celebrations. But to be honest I don't really have a LOT of individual memories of those childhood celebrations. Instead it seems a bit more accurate to say that I have a kind of general feeling of what it was like to commemorate the 4th when I was a kid--and that general feeling is very good. I Recently wrote a similar account of my feelings about and memories of Memorial Day. Memorial Day was always special to me as a kid too. But, while it was a great time to have a three-day weekend as the weather was getting summer-like and we were nearing the end of the school year, there still WAS school that had to be attended for another few weeks. The Fourth of July occurs pretty close to the beginning of summer vacation (from school). So it really kind of felt like a huge celebration to welcome the true arrival of summer and all the wonderful and exciting possibilities that came with it. It was so close to the end of the school year that there was still a relatively long time before going back to school in September. Plenty of summer fun to be had! I think that has something to do with that "general overall feeling" about July 4th for me rather than a list of concrete memories.

I believe that The Little Monsters are big fans of July 4th, but am not really sure if it carries the same sentimental weight for them that it does for me. Perhaps that's something that develops later in life when childhood and all the magic associated with it starts to fade into the past. We (or at least I) tend to look back on those seemingly less complicated and simpler times and pine for "the good old days".

But every year the Fourth of July still rolls around, and we are given another chance to enjoy the holiday and create new memories. I think I'll finish this post with the most up to date information I can offer--what we're doing THIS Fourth of July. On Tuesday, the 2nd of July, we went into Boston to check out the Boston Harbor fireworks show (which we didn't realize also includes a boat parade on the harbor!). The photo at the top of this post is from that show. I believe this has been going on for many years, but it was our first time attending it. The Boston Pops orchestra puts on a VERY well-known concert on the Boston Esplanade every July 4th that concludes with a huge fireworks show over the Charles River. We've NEVER attended this show (as the crowds are gigantic and pretty daunting). But a couple years ago The Wife and I did attend the slightly less heavily attended rehearsal concert that they put on the night before the big show. It includes all of the concert elements of the show on the 4th, minus the fireworks. We went again last night. And today we are at The In-Laws' to celebrate the Fourth with family. We went to a very old-fashioned parade at a small town nearby, had hamburgers and BBQ chicken for lunch and dinner, and now are finishing up the holiday by watching the actual Boston Pops show live on TV, having a fire in the back yard, eating s'mores and letting the Little Monsters run around with, yes, Sparklers on the Fourth of July! Here's a few pics from the day...

Sparklers on the Fourth of July!

Where's Monster Dad? (aka: 2019 State of the Blog Address)

Okay, so this kind of feels more like a social media post or update than a real blog post, but I just felt like I needed to put this out there--even if it's not the standard kind of fare I would prefer to be writing and posting.

Anyway, I seem to keep intending to write more often and more consistently. And then the posts just seem to grind to a halt. About a year ago I really thought I was committing myself to write more. And the second half of 2018 was indeed the most "successful" era of Monster Dad in about five or six years. 2019 started off the right way. I was still putting out a couple posts per month (not the four or so I'd LIKE to be putting out there, but still kinda-sorta okay). And the ideas and intention are still there. I think about writing nearly every day. Old ideas keep bubbling up from the past and new ones still pop into my head on a regular basis. I just don't seem to be able to find the time to sit down and make them real.

A big part of the reason for this is the same old story about how I'm "suffering" from the success of my YouTube channel (gschultz9) where I mostly review military rations. It's a VERY different format than what is featured on this blog, but the simple fact that there are a lot more viewers and subscribers on that channel, there is a lot more opportunity to interact with the subscribers and, well, that channel actually generates a little bit of income by making a modest amount of money via the ads that run on the videos causes that "creative outlet" to demand more of my time and energy.

I get caught up with all that's involved with keeping the YouTube channel current and relevant. Next thing I know I look at Monster Dad and realize that a WHOLE MONTH has passed since my last post! Despite the amount of time, energy and work that goes into filming, editing, posting and tracking the performance of a new video on the YouTube channel, I actually seem to find it easier to do all of that than it is to simply sit down at the keyboard and pound out a new blog post. Last year I mentioned that I was going to try to put out more content here by (even if only occasionally) posting quick and short posts that would look more like social media posts than full blog posts. There's nothing saying I CAN'T do that (a lot of others do, and it's certainly the flavor of the day in this short-attention-span-theater world we're living in). But when it got right down to it, I simply couldn't seem to get myself to throw quick and short posts up here (stuff like a photo I saw online with just a caption or something to that effect). I'm certainly not a professional writer, but whether it shows or not I've always put a lot of thought into my posts here. I always want to tell a story while hopefully being coherent and making some sense. That leads to some lengthy posts that I could certainly get away with making a LOT shorter and possibly still getting the point across, but it's just not my style. And in the end this IS my blog, right?

In addition to the envious "problem" of having to deal with a somewhat successful YouTube channel I'm also still having to deal with some other "life stuff" that also ends up taking precedence over blog writing. I don't want to bore the reader with all the details of all of this "life stuff", but a lot of it has to do with my continuing search for a new job after my extended time spent raising our Little Monsters for the past number of years. It's actually something that I think might be worth writing about itself--even if some aspects of it are kind of on the depressing side.

Obviously I'm writing this because this continuing difficulty I'm finding in getting more posts out there is bothering me. But I do want to ensure anyone who might happen to be a faithful reader (a pretty endangered species here as I've lost most of my Google cache over the past five or six years due to my lack of regular writing) that I'm STILL here and I STILL have a lot of ideas for posts that (I feel) are good and worth writing. And, yes, I'm STILL planning on writing more often...eventually. If you've stuck around this long, please continue to be patient with me. I truly do see myself as a regular blog writer (even if being a blog writer isn't as much of a "thing" as it used to be when I started doing this). I'm realizing that even just writing this little update feels like a positive thing. It still feels good to write and post something. I want to have that feeling with more worthy posts on a more regular basis. We shall see what the second half of 2019 brings to the Monster Dad world...