You know, I'm so used to someone saying, like, "you should watch this show or play this game" and you can hop onto YouTube or hop onto my TV and there it is and you can feel what someone is talking about, but you can't do that with virtual reality. You can only experience it, you can only experience it first-hand. So that was a pretty, like, it feels weird to say it, but that's a pretty exciting moment of my weekend. My brother started us with like a tutorial where we're just kind of like in this like sounds strange to say, but like in this virtual camper van in a way with retro computer gear and it's where you practiced picking things up and I had to pick up floppy disks and put them into the old computer, and it would create a 3D object that you could then manipulate, whether it be nerf gun or a butterfly, where if you stick your finger out in real life, the butterfly would come land on your finger. Gosh. And then we tested one where we were on board the ISS, the International Space Station, and I'm gonna tell you it's not perfect, of course. I remember the resolution, I'm totally nitpicking here, the resolution on the ISS, once you're out in space. Space didn't look super-duper sharp, if I had to be like a real stickler, but all I could think about was the possibility when I was done. If this is where we are with virtual reality now, which is an amazing experience already, a stunning experience, I can only imagine where we're going with this thing

One that really stuck out to me partially because it was a positive thing, but also cuz it happened in, you know, the U.S. and it was this big scientific discovery. I believe either, I'm pretty sure it's Missouri, but it was either Missouri or Mississippi. They found a new species of dinosaur. Not only did they find a new species, they found the juvenile skeleton of a duck-billed dinosaur and then a few meters away, they found an adult, and I believe the adult was intact, and if I'm remembering correctly, they think that there might be more nearby. So I don't know if that means they think there's a herd potentially but, you know, just that could reveal so much about their social habits, and, you know, what kind of eating habits they had and stuff like that. So it's just super cool. The other interesting piece about that is 80 years ago, there was a bone discovered from the species and it was donated to the Smithsonian, but the Smithsonian didn't bother to identify. They didn't do anything with it. So I am kind of wondering if that means the Smithsonian is going to kick up some legal trouble because they've had this bone for so long, you know, I'm sure that there will be enough specimens to, you know, say, oh, the Smithsonian's gonna get one and, you know, I'm pretty sure it's Missouri, but, you know, let's say the Natural History Museum in Missouri gets one or the University or whatever, but one of the things that I find so fascinating about this is we live in the internet age. We have all of this information at our fingertips and, you know, the kind of magic and mysticism that our ancestors lived with has dissipated, so finding something like this, it's a wonder.

I think I would do fine living in a laid-back culture, especially with like a perception of time. I think in the US we are very preoccupied with time and being somewhere on time, and I think I have a tendency to run late so quote-unquote, but for me, it's just like I get there when I need to be there and, you know, things happen in life. I get stuck at the train tracks or I get stuck behind a tractor or there's a car accident or a million other things can happen and you just can't account for every possible scenario, so you know, I — and it's not good to rush. So I think I'd be fine in a laid-back culture.

So, I did indeed know that November is Native American Heritage Month. My Mom was a tribal member of a recognized tribe here up in northern Wisconsin, actually. And because she was -- my siblings are from her first marriage, they are also recognized members of the same tribal band. Although, I only have one sibling left and Native American history has, although not taught in school very much, always been a part of my existence, I guess. So yeah, I don't know if I've learned so much about Native American Heritage Month per se. I mentioned to my brother, I said, "I think it's -- I see it's Native American heritage month." He said, "Oh, is that right?" So, you know, he says, "Oh, isn't that nice?" But yeah, being native has always been -- being part native, I'm proud to claim, has always been a part of my heritage. I'm not a member of the tribe. I'm actually too white to be a member of the tribe. My Dad's heritage is both of his parents came from Finland. So I'm actually half Finn, part German, and part native Ojibwa. So, we get together with my cousins and stuff and I says, teasingly say, "I'm the white guy in the family." And that's true, but I honor my Native American Heritage and I participate, somewhat, in my Native American Heritage as much as I can.