It all started in 1998, and this time-lapse video from USAToday shows you exactly how the International Space Station has been updated and added to over the years.

Enjoy!

Apparently, according to this article on CNN.com:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/space/08/08/space.kepler.discovery/index.html

The new Kepler Telescope has spotted a planet out there that’s pointed at a star (sun) and the planet’s hot side is 4000 degrees (and it glows!)   That’s a pretty amazing find since the new telescope hasn’t even started its official operation yet!

Can’t wait to see what’s discovered!

We left Fort Myers yesterday at around 1:45pm, flew to Charlotte, NC, left there about 4:40pm, and in a little under 8 hours – landed in Frankfort, Germany!

The flight was great – very smooth, and I got to see that the new Macbook Pro’s really do last 6+ hours, it outlasted me (I watched Yes Man with Jim Carrey) and did a lot of Web Marketing work.

Once we landed, around 6:30am local time (12:30pm Florida time), we caught up with my dad and step-mom, Kim, and hit the Regional Train to Bacharach on the Rhine River!

You can see what we did today by viewing our photos, and videos.

I’m taking you with us!

Yep, you’ll be able to follow us through the web with text, photos & possibly even videos as we explore Deutschland…

It’s on my goal list to take two international trips per year (Canada and Mexico don’t count per year – this time it’s to explore Bacharach, Rothenburg (Salzburg, too) and Munich.

It’s time to finally put my German to use (4 years of High School, and 2 years in College) – although this will be my first trip to Germany.

We’ve been to England in September 2007, and again, in March 2008.   In June , we had our Honeymoon that was 14 days of the Mediterranean – wow, it’s amazing!

One of the things I’ve worked on with my last few International trips is bringing as little as possible, however, being able to have everything I need with me – especially in terms of electronic gadgets…

As you see, I’ll actually be enjoying the long flight over the pond and back –

Here’s my checklist:

• iPhone – loaded with TV Shows & Movies I’ve been wanting to watch,
• Kindle2 – assure I have the latest books on my list downloaded,
• iPod Nano 2nd Generation – all new music synced,
• Canon Point-and-Shoot Digital Camera – for taking lots of photos,
• Flip MinoHD – super small, incredibly efficient, HD video camcorder (new this trip!),
• Macbook Pro – for bringing it all together – trip updates & keeping up with business.

All of this may sound like a lot, but it’s surprisingly not!

This trip I jumped on AT&T’s Wireless web site to upgrade my phone for International travel using their World Traveler service.

For $5.99/mo, I’ll have the ability to receive & make calls in most countries, and in Germany thats $.99/min.  I don’t plan on using it a lot – but it’s nice to have just in case.

The beautiful part is that you can enable and disable the service on your phone line right from their web site – and it takes effect immediately.   (They claim they’ll prorate the service as well, we’ll see!

Anyhow, follow along, I’m looking forward to hearing any suggestions you have if you’re an International Traveler, or have visited the places we’re going.

I’d also like to thank Buddy & Annabelle for their awesome suggestions for Munich & Salzburg.

This is great if you need to do some Photoshop type work, but:

• are working on computer that doesn’t have it installed, and
• don’t have the money for Photoshop.

Although there are other free tools like this, such as SnipShot, Picnik, and FotoFlexer – SumoPaint seems to be much more in-depth, and powerful.

The new version of SumoPaint released in February features:

• local open & save feature,
• new brushes and antialiasing methods,
• new filters & colorpicker,
• improved selection tools,
• faster drawing, and
• support for up to 16 megapixel images!

SumoPaint uses Adobe Flash Player 10, if you don’t have it, you can download it.

Enjoy!

What’s even better is that ShopSmart Magazine (Oct/Nov 2008 Issue – Page 70 – created by Consumer Reports) rated it the best subcompact digital camera out!

Take a moment and see some of my favorite shots I’ve taken with it:

Good stuff!