so bored...

39 minutes past "the weekend", no didn't get the work done I wanted to do until Monday, and now instead of doing it, I'm doing this.

So yesterday was Groundhog Day, remember that movie where Bill Murray gets stuck in a day, living it over and over again? I guess that's how I'm feeling at the moment, living everyday just like the day before, being bored. 20 19 days before one exam, X days before the next one, having to go to work and study in between, and not much else. Gee, now I remember that my last exam will be on April 2, and that when that day is over and done with, I'll get about 3 and half weeks of holidays.

Groundhog day. I've always thought it fell on February 1st, but I was wrong. This year's Chinese New Year was on February 1st. My birthday was on February 1st. 7 people died on February 1st.

I speculate...

I read about the impact that happened during take-off. About their inability to perform a spacewalk to the other side of the shuttle to see, much less fix the damage. About how ground control calculated the damage to be minimal, dismissing it as nothing to worry about. Not that anyone at the moment can say surely the impact caused the explosion. I wonder, what could they have really done if the damage wasn't that minimal, if they had realized in orbit "This thing can't make it back to earth in one piece"? It would have been really cool if they could send another shuttle up there to dock with and rescue the passengers of the drifted ship. Is that something that have been doable? Not so much a what-if question that is related to the accident 2 days ago, but a what-if question, what if a space shuttle ends up in space and they realize they can't make it back? A question asked too late maybe, considering the shuttle fleet is grounded at the moment, and who knows what catastrophes-waiting-to-happen (like with the Concordes) they're going to found.

Well, yes, what if? do they have the capability of sending another one up there in so quickly? Do they have the capability of tracking two shuttles at the same time? Could two shuttles dock? What is the minimal amount of crew needed to operate this rescue ship, considering it will have to take extra people back? It would have been really cool if NASA managed to pull something like that off, cool for its PR department, the ratings-hungry-media that will be reporting all about it and for anyone interested in the space program.

If only someone could groundhog-day the whole thing.