Thoughts For Valentine’s Day.

Red Skies On Thursday. Love Potion. Musician Extraordinaire. Euro Snob. A 70-Yard Tee Shot. Four Weeks To Go.

Just after 3:30pm EST on Thursday, after a seven-month, 300 million mile trip, NASA’s Perseverance will hopefully land on Mars. Cruising at 12,000 mph, Perseverance will begin a rapid slow down after it enters Mars’ atmosphere. At a mile above the red planet, the space vehicle’s descent engines will fire, and along with a very large parachute, will guide Perseverance down to Mars’ surface. Equipped with audio and video systems, we will be able to witness the landing on the planet’s surface in real time. Live coverage and landing commentary from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California will begin at 2:15 p.m. on the NASA TV Public Channel and the agency’s website, as well as the NASA App, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitch, Daily Motion, and THETA.TV. This animation is amazing and if close to reality, Thursday will be a must-watch:

Amazing animation of Thursday’s Mars landing.

Valentine’s Day is a day to celebrate love and togetherness. The day is filled with the giving of beautiful flowers, chocolates, and fine dining to impress your loved one. Ok, I will stop before you throw up in your mouth, but Valentine’s Day really can be special. I have had a few memorable ones including a bouquet of black spray-painted roses delivered to my door and a counseling session with a young man whose heart was broken. These were not the type of Valentine’s Days I was planning on but those two were definitely memorable. No matter, the Indonesians have Valentine’s Day totally mixed up. They forbid the celebration of Valentine’s Day in some areas of Indonesia as the governing parties feel that celebrating Valentine’s Day may lead young people to have casual sex. Oh my Indonesia.

John Mayer called him “the single greatest improvisational musician I have ever played with.” He was a master of the keyboard and it does not matter if you enjoy jazz or not, listening to Chick Corea play was something special. One of my college roommates introduced me to Corea’s music and though I favored rock and roll, there was something about his sound that made me smile. Chick Corea passed away last Tuesday at the age of 79. He will be missed.

Legendary Chick Corea. RIP.

I have a love-hate relationship with baseball. While I enjoy the traditions and history of the game, as well as the skill and tactics employed by players and managers, the game drags on way too long. Major League Baseball is trying to speed up the game, especially with double-headers and extra-inning games, but this video, from many years ago, may explain the game way better than I can:

He does have a point with a few of his comments.

Golf has always been a big challenge for me and most other recreational golfers. Francesco Molinari brought reality back to all of us at the first hole at Pebble Beach, were this weekend’s PGA tournament is being held. For all golfers out there who have joined me in a frustrating time on the golf course, here is a tee shot from Molinari that most of us can unfortunately relate to….it traveled 70 yards.

Molinari won the 2018 Open at Carnoustie Golf Links in Scotland.