2012/02/01

LA FIESTA DE LOS 70 AÑOS

Hasta que alguien inventó el cumpleaños del número redondo, festejar 70...! ¡Y estuvo genial! ¡Sí, señor!! Es casi, casi la Fiesta de la Nostalgia.

Y de pronto nos invitaron a una, justamente cuando hacía mucho tiempo que no teníamos una salida formal y había que ir bien empeluchados.

La modista arregló vestidos, ensanchó trajes y pantalones.

Llegado el día, nos fuimos al encuentro de los compañeros de una generación pujante y vital!

Llegamos, saludamos a Juan el festejado y cuando sirvieron, desde unos fuentones con mechero los platos calientes que se comían de pié, comenzaron los problemas.

Raviolitos y ñoquis al verdeo.

Mollejitas fritas con salsa cuatro quesos.

Camarones en salsa provenzal.

Todo bien servido a los 200 comensales que, apretaditos y de pie durante la recepción, sosteníamos un plato caliente con una mano, el tenedor con la otra, el vaso de whisky con la otra, saludábamos a un amigo con la otra y un leve pero persistente temblequeo de párkinson en todas las manos a la vez...

El desparramo de salsas fue inevitable...

Me mancharon el traje 3 veces, una con salsa roja, la otra con aroma a ajillo y otra con una crema espesa.

Y, por fin pasamos al salón principal.

La conversación en la mesa se fue poniendo linda…. Todas las frases comenzaban con:

"¿Te acuerdas de...? ¿Tú estabas el día que...?",

"El que no está bien es...",

"¿Sabes quien tuvo otro nieto...?",

"Viste quién se murió…?".

Cuando alguien trataba de recordar quién fue el que hizo tal o cual cosa en los años 60, aparecían los… "¿eeeehhhh?", "¿Cómo era?..."

"¿Cómo se llamaba?..."

Y las conversaciones fueron más o menos así…

- ¿Y ustedes ya tienen nietos? preguntó un invitado al que se le movía la dentadura postiza.

- Si, una - le decía la mujer.

- ¿Dos nietas ya?

- No, una sola.

- ¿Dos varones?

- ¡¡UNA, UNA NIETAAAA....!

- ¿Neneta? Qué lindo nombre! Disculpa que no te escucho bien. Están poniendo la música muy alta.

- Acá tengo una foto de mis nietecitas - le dijo mi mujer a otro invitado..

- Ni te molestes - contestó - sin los lentes no veo nada.

La fiesta estaba bien buena, el discjockey pasaba de "Zapatos Rotos" a "Yo en mi casa y ella en el bar" y de "La Lambada" a "La Felicidad".

De la pista me hacía señas un calvito que oficiaba de locomotora para que saliéramos a bailar con el trencito.

Dos veces me tenté y dos veces me senté. Dos veces me paré y dos veces mi mujer me pegó un pellizcón en zonas de compromiso, me aplicó el plan taco aguja y me gritó en secreto al oído:

- ¡¡Espera a los lentos, si bailamos esto se nos descose todo!! ¿Por qué no vas a fumar un cigarro afuera con Carlitos y Oscar? Ahí viene el mozo ¿Te pido algo?

- Sí, pídeme un trago largo con Milanta y un par de Aspirinas batidas con bastante hielo. Estoy que devuelvo todo lo que comí. Ya vengo.

- Mi amor - me dijo mi mujer cuando me paré- llévate el celular por las dudas y llévate también este papel con el número de la mesa anotadito que después te la pasas buscando por todo el salón.

El baño estaba de lo más concurrido: flojos de vejiga y prostáticos agrandados, nos encontrábamos a cada rato en los orinales.

Eso sí que estaba divertido!!

Desde adentro, el tipo del parlante avisaba que había aparecido una señora llamada Rosita y no encontraba la mesa y que estaba junto al tipo que pasaba la música. Que fueran a retirarla allí.

Fue una fiesta inolvidable, a las 11 nos tomaron la presión a todos y un enfermero atendía sin costo a los que se sofocaban bailando. El cardiólogo hacia bajar la presión de los más graves con pastillas sublinguales. Por suerte no fue necesario utilizar el aparato para electrocardiogramas ni tampoco el DEA (Desfribrilador Externo Automático)

Para tranquilidad de todos avisaron que una ambulancia hacía guardia pasiva en la puerta del salón. Junto con los souvenirs, en un detalle realmente novedoso, (Juan es muy detallista) a los que queríamos seguir tomando cerveza nos iban entregando pañales desechables.

¡Formidable invento esto de los cumpleaños de 70!

¡Y que se pongan de moda justo ahora, que todavía estamos hecho unos potros!

(...Si vas a reenviar esto como mail, ponle la letra grande, pues la mayoría de tus amigos no ve un carajo….)

Homenaje a las damas de nuestro mundo

[Shannon Lucid]

Cuando caminamos en nuestras montañas, escoltando a nuestras compañeras de senderismo y las vemos luchando con decisión y fortaleza, nos damos cuenta que  dondequiera que vayan lograrán lo que se propongan. En un homenaje a ellas, nuestras queridas compañeras, presento hoy una pagina de la NASA en la que dan cuenta del pase a retiro de una luchadora con muchos records.

Legendary Astronaut Shannon Lucid Retires From NASA

HOUSTON -- Shannon Lucid, a member of NASA's first astronaut class to include women, has retired after more than three decades of service to the agency.
A veteran of five spaceflights, Lucid logged more than 223 days in space, and from August 1991 to June 2007, held the record for the most days in orbit by any woman in the world. Lucid is the only American woman to serve aboard the Russian Mir space station. She lived and worked there for more than 188 days, the longest stay of any American on that vehicle. Her time on Mir also set the single flight endurance record by a woman until Suni Williams broke it in 2006.
"Shannon is an extraordinary woman and scientist. She paved the way for so many of us," said Peggy Whitson, chief of NASA's Astronaut Office at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. "She was a model astronaut for long-duration missions, and whether she was flying hundreds of miles up in space or serving as Capcom [capsule communicator] during the overnight hours for our space shuttle and space station crews, she always brought a smile to our faces. Like so many others, I always will look up to her."
Lucid, who holds a doctorate in biochemistry, was selected by NASA in 1978. She joined five other women as the agency's first female astronauts. Her first three shuttle missions deployed satellites. STS-51G in 1985 deployed and retrieved the SPARTAN satellite; STS-34 in 1989 deployed the Galileo spacecraft to explore Jupiter; and STS-43 in 1991 deployed the fifth Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS-E). Her fourth shuttle mission, STS-58 in 1993, focused on medical experiments and engineering tests.
Lucid traveled aboard Atlantis on STS-76 in March 1996 to the Russian Mir space station. She performed numerous life science and physical science experiments during the course of her stay. She returned from the station aboard Atlantis on STS-79 in September 1996.
In 2002, Lucid served as NASA's chief scientist at the agency's headquarters in Washington. She returned to Johnson in the fall of 2003 and resumed technical assignments in the Astronaut Office. She served as a Capcom in the Mission Control Center for numerous space shuttle and space station crews, representing the flight crew office and providing a friendly voice for dozens of friends and colleagues in space.


SHANNON W. LUCID (Ph.D.)
nasa astronaut

PERSONAL DATA: Born January 14, 1943, in Shanghai, China, but considers Bethany, Oklahoma, to be her hometown. Married to Michael F. Lucid of Indianapolis, Indiana. They have two daughters and one son, five granddaughters and one grandson. Shannon enjoys flying, camping, hiking, and reading. Her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Joseph O. Wells, are deceased.

EDUCATION: Graduated from Bethany High School, Bethany, Oklahoma, in 1960; received a bachelor of science degree in chemistry from the University of Oklahoma in 1963, and master of science and doctor of philosophy degrees in biochemistry from the University of Oklahoma in 1970 and 1973, respectively.

AWARDS: Dr. Lucid is the recipient of numerous awards.

EXPERIENCE: Dr. Lucid’s experience includes a variety of academic assignments, such as teaching assistant at the University of Oklahoma’s Department of Chemistry from 1963 to 1964; senior laboratory technician at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation from 1964 to 1966; chemist at Kerr-McGee, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, 1966 to 1968; graduate assistant at the University of Oklahoma Health Science Center’s Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from 1969 to 1973; and research associate with the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, from 1974 until her selection to the astronaut candidate training program.

Dr. Lucid is a commercial, instrument, and multi-engine rated pilot.

NASA EXPERIENCE: Selected by NASA in January 1978, Dr. Lucid became an astronaut in August 1979. She is qualified for assignment as a mission specialist on Space Shuttle flight crews. Some of her technical assignments have included: the Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory (SAIL); the Flight Software Laboratory, in Downey, California, working with the rendezvous and proximity operations group; Astronaut Office interface at Kennedy Space Center, Florida, participating in payload testing, Shuttle testing, and launch countdowns; spacecraft communicator (CAPCOM) in the JSC Mission Control Center during numerous Space Shuttle missions; Chief of Mission Support; Chief of Astronaut Appearances. A veteran of five space flights, Dr. Lucid has logged 5,354 hours (223 days) in space. She served as a mission specialist on STS-51G (June 17-24, 1985), STS-34 (October 18-23, 1989), STS-43 (August 2-11, 1991), STS-58 (October 18 to November 1, 1993), and as a Board Engineer 2 on Russia’s Space Station Mir (launching March 22, 1996 aboard STS-76 and returning September 26, 1996 aboard STS-79). Dr. Lucid was the first woman to hold an international record for the most flight hours in orbit by any non-Russian, and until June 2007 she also held the record for the most flight hours in orbit by any woman in the world. From February 2002 until September 2003, Dr. Lucid served as NASA’s Chief Scientist stationed at NASA Headquarters, Washington D.C., with responsibility for developing and communicating the agency’s science and research objectives to the outside world. Dr. Lucid has resumed duties at the Johnson Space Center, Houston.

SPACE FLIGHT EXPERIENCE: STS-51G Discovery (June 17-24, 1985) was a 7-day mission during which crew deployed communications satellites for Mexico (Morelos), the Arab League (Arabsat), and the United States (AT&T Telstar). They used the Remote Manipulator System (RMS) to deploy and later retrieve the SPARTAN satellite, which performed 17 hours of x-ray astronomy experiments while separated from the Space Shuttle. In addition, the crew activated the Automated Directional Solidification Furnace (ADSF), six Getaway Specials, and participated in biomedical experiments. The mission was accomplished in 112 orbits of the Earth, traveling 2.5 million miles in 169 hours and 39 minutes. Landing was at Edwards Air Force Base (EAFB), California.

STS-34 Atlantis (October 18-23, 1989) was a 5-day mission during which the deployed the Galileo spacecraft on its journey to explore Jupiter, operated the Shuttle Solar Backscatter Ultraviolet Instrument (SSBUV) to map atmospheric ozone, and performed numerous secondary experiments involving radiation measurements, polymer morphology, lightning research, microgravity effects on plants, and a student experiment on ice crystal growth in space. The mission was accomplished in 79 orbits of the Earth, traveling 1.8 million miles in 119 hours and 41 minutes. Landing was at Edwards Air Force Base, California.

STS-43 Atlantis (August 2-11, 1991) was a nine-day mission during which the crew deployed the fifth Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS-E). The crew also conducted 32 physical, material, and life science experiments, mostly relating to the Extended Duration Orbiter and Space Station Freedom. The mission was accomplished in 142 orbits of the Earth, traveling 3.7 million miles in 213 hours, 21 minutes, 25 seconds. STS-43 Atlantis was the eighth Space Shuttle to land at KSC).

STS-58 Columbia (October 18 to November 1, 1993). This record duration fourteen-day mission was recognized by NASA management as the most successful and efficient Spacelab flight flown by NASA. The STS-58 crew performed neurovestibular, cardiovascular, cardiopulmonary, metabolic, and musculoskeletal medical experiments on themselves and 48 rats, expanding our knowledge of human and animal physiology both on earth and in space flight. In addition, they performed 16 engineering tests aboard the Orbiter Columbia and 20 Extended Duration Orbiter Medical Project experiments. The mission was accomplished in 225 orbits of the Earth, traveling 5.8 million miles in 336 hours, 13 minutes, 01 seconds. Landing was at Edwards Air Force Base, California. In completing this flight Dr. Lucid logged 838 hours, 54 minutes in space .

Dr. Lucid currently holds the United States single mission space flight endurance record on the Russian Space Station Mir. Following a year of training in Star City, Russia, her journey started with liftoff at Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on March 22, 1996 aboard STS-76 Atlantis. Following docking, she transferred to the Mir Space Station. Assigned as a Board Engineer 2, she performed numerous life science and physical science experiments during the course of her stay aboard Mir. Her return journey to KSC was made aboard STS-79 Atlantis on September 26, 1996. In completing this mission Dr. Lucid traveled 75.2 million miles in 188 days, 04 hours, 00 minutes, 14 seconds.

Currículo destacado el de esta Dama. Tres hijos, seis nietos, una carrera mas que envidiable. Records mundiales. Trabajos extremadamente peligrosos. Profesora por muchos años. Piloto. Astronauta. Cada uno en lo suyo. Cada vida es importante, y valiosa, y puede servir de ejemplo a quienes comienzan, y puede servir de reto a los conformistas, a quienes a la segunda hoja abandonan el libro.

Con todo el respeto que se merecen la Dra. Lucid y nuestras compañeras de montaña y de vida.