I realized something this morning. I can take just about any topic to write about here in my blog, and find a way to relate it to the following: bums, pigeons, tube tops, Romania, my building’s rooftop, and the Flying Saucer.
So here’s a challenge to you, my readers: E-mail me and suggest a topic, any topic. If I like it I’ll write a post about it and incorporate the references listed above. It has to be something I can turn into an interesting post though – not something like “mitosis” for example.
All right. Today I want to tell you about the coolest software app I’ve found in a while.
It all started Tuesday night. I decided to head to the Flying Saucer for happy hour. As I walked down the Main Street Mall I passed a bum begging for money. There was also a pigeon walking around.
It was still very warm outside Tuesday – almost 90 degrees – and I hoped there would be some cute girls in tube tops at the Saucer. But I didn’t see any. So I ended up talking to my friend Bobby, who was sitting in one of the armchairs with his laptop. “Have you ever played around with Google Earth?” he asked. Google Earth is a computer program that lets you “fly” around the earth and zoom in on satellite images. Bobby zoomed in on Mud Island and was able to find his house, and even saw his car parked out front. Then he panned over to Main Street and I could see my building’s rooftop. Then he typed in “La Paz, Bolivia” and the image zoomed out, flew over Cuba and zoomed in on La Paz. La Paz didn’t have very good satellite images though.
I was fascinated with the program and downloaded it this morning. I told it to go to 92109, the zip code of my old neighborhood, Pacific Beach, in San Diego. Then I panned to Manhattan and saw some great images of the tall buildings there. Tried to find the Empire State Building and Trump Tower but couldn’t.
Then I decided to take a trip overseas, and typed in “Romania.” Google Earth flew across the Atlantic to eastern Europe and zoomed in on a mountainous region. To the southeast was a town called “Bucuresti” which I take it was Bucharest. Also saw some other towns: Brazov, Soars, Cincu. There’s more than one city in Romania? Never knew that. Then I got homesick and typed in 72207 (Little Rock). Found the house where I grew up. There was a white car parked out front. I e-mailed my mother (who is now hooked on Google Earth too) and she told me the white car was there to visit a yard sale across the street.
I’m sitting here thinking of more places to visit with Google Earth: I bet Sedona, Arizona would be interesting. And I wonder how recent the images are? Wonder if the New Orleans images were taken before or after the hurricane.
Anyway, you can get the program at earth.google.com under the “Downloads” section. Just make sure to clear your calendar for the rest of the day – you will be addicted.