The Green Comet

 

I knew today would be a crazy day at work, because I told everyone I would be on vacation starting next week so please get things to me as soon as possible. However, it was much worse than I imagined, because there were last-minute travel changes ("Can we change these five hotel rooms for one night to three hotel rooms for two nights?") and people wanting food delivered, but the delivery service options seem to be "now or never" so you can't schedule delivery for a later date and time. This meant faculty had to go pick food up, which did not please them, I can assure you, but I also can't change reality. Usually they just take candidates to dinner and then get reimbursed, but this time they wanted to do things at someone's house instead of going to a restaurant. I would think the candidates would prefer going to a restaurant, but what do I know? 

Tonight it was clear for the first time in weeks, and Rich had told me about a free app that tracks the green comet, so I went outside to see it. Unfortunately, the tracker said it was right where the moon was, so there was nothing to see. After dinner I talked Travalon into driving over to Governor Nelson State Park, where it is relatively dark, and then using the comet tracker I could see a green smudge in the sky. I looked through the binoculars and saw the smudge looking a little bigger. It was underwhelming, not like the beautiful comet with the long, sparkly tail I saw three summers ago, but it was indeed green. Travalon could see it with his bare eyes. When I told Rich the tracker had worked and I saw the comet, but that it just looked like a smudge, he said, "Well, it's only Level Seven." I said, "I don't even know what that means," and he said the brightest star is a Level One. Maybe I should go out now, when the moon is lower in the sky, but it's really cold out tonight, and I'm not sure how much more exciting it would be.

Famous Hat