The ability to forget the pains of the day and the anxieties of tomorrow, and get some sleep.

Could we have saved the crew of Columbia? In Captain Dan Burbank’s opinion, yes. In space, had we taken a close look at the wing of Columbia where the foam struck we probably would have seen a gaping hole. But how can you save people that are orbiting Earth?

Connecting up with the space station never would have worked. There wasn’t the fuel available to change the space shuttle’s trajectory. But, had they dropped the shuttle into ’sleep’ mode they would have had the energy to last about 30 days. The carbon dioxide levels would have made life very uncomfortable on the shuttle, but no one would have died. In those 30 day’s it’d be possible to rig up the space shuttle Atlantis and send it up with more oxygen. Atlantis could refresh the O2 levels, and then cart a few of the 7 member crew back to earth.

Then they could have sent up a second shuttle to bring back the remaining crew.

At Kung Fu there’s a sparring opponent who is particularly intimidating. He’s extremely talented and accurate with his strikes, but they definitely have some umph behind them.

I have mixed opinions when it comes to fighting him. It’s great for my abilities, because it very much forces me to block better, strike faster, and be aggressive… but at the same time you can pretty much expect to get a beating - And it’s very hard to play hard when you’re anticipating damage.

Last night I sparred with him and it went okay. He landed about five or six strikes that knocked me back or out of balance enough so that if it were a match he’d immediately be declared winner. But I got in one or two good strikes of my own including one sweet jab to his head which caught him off guard (though to be honest it was probably more luck than skill).

Kung Fu Roland fought him next. KF Roland is extremely fast and has great fundamentals and flexibility which tend to yield positive results in a sparring ring. I didn’t see much of the fight, but I know it ended with Roland on the receiving end of a very bloody nose. When he came out of the bathroom, nose gauzed up, his kung fu shirt was splattered with blood.

It looked really really hardcore.

So here’s to you Kung Fu Roland. I hope your nose isn’t broken and that next time you’re the one catching his kicks.