Hodgepodge Wednesday

1. July 20th marks the anniversary of the first time man stood on the moon. Flash forward 42 years to July 8, 2011 which marked the start of the final Space Shuttle mission. Should we continue to explore space? Should nations devote more or fewer of their resources to exploring space? Would you want to go into space if the opportunity arose? I would never want to go into space -- I'd hate the cramped quarters, the inconveniences, and the never ending darkness outside my window.  As for whether or not space travel should continue, I don't know. There must be a huge number of factors to be considered in that decision.

2. What are three things in your freezer? Bread, ice cream, and ice packs (the kind you use when you've injured yourself -- yeah, I keep a bunch on hand for that).

3. If you could see any band/artist perform live tonight who would it be? It has to be someone living...no Beatles, Elvis, etc.  Amy Grant. Love her music -- it's been the soundtrack of my life in so many ways. And her concerts are very relaxing and always interesting and well done.

4. Ice-cubed or crushed? Or are you one of those people who don't like ice? I don't much like ice in water, but I like ice in certain other beverages -- in which I prefer it to be cubed, thank you.

5. The owner of a small restaurant outside of Pittsburgh recently announced he was banning children under six, saying they regularly disrupted other customer's meals. You can read the story in more detail here but isn't this a perfect topic to discuss in our Wednesday Hodgepodge? Have at it friends...what are your thoughts? Personally, I hate paying good money for a meal and then having the experience ruined by the family at the table next to mine -- where the 2 year-old is carrying on fit to beat the band and Mommy and Daddy are futilely trying to placate little Cletus instead of whisking him out of the restaurant for a good sit down outside. And, my personal opinion aside, the bottom line in our free country is this: privately owned businesses are free to make their own "house rules" in order to better their business. Period. It's not illegal to say "no children under 6" in a private establishment.

6. What was your first car? How did it come to be yours? It was my mother's car, and it was a 1961 Chevy Impala (which I got in 1975). I really loved it and was heartbroken when the transmission blew out.

7. If I had a nickle for every time I _________________ I'd be rich. Say the words, "Close the door -- we're not heating the great outdoors here!"

8. Insert your own random thought here. Randomly speaking, I am peeved as all get out at J.K. Rowling and all the others who had a hand in the recently released film "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows 2."  What WERE you all thinking? You completely removed all of the depth and nuance from the final showdown between good and evil and turned it into nothing more than a shallow action movie cum star vehicle for the three leads.  The wonder is that Rowling allowed it -- she crafted the books with such care, and the last was incredibly satisfying, bringing the story full circle. Thumbs way down on the movie -- and I'm disappointed in Rowling for selling out like that.

Thanks to Joyce, as always, for some great questions! You, dear reader, will find other entries at Joyce's blog  today or you may even play along and link up your own answers there.

- Catherine