Yuppies in the Outfield 8:26 AM

Yuppies in the Outfield
Originally uploaded by Mark Ordoñez.

Spring is here and it is already 80 degrees Fahrenheit!
Summer should be scorchin'!

Are you ready to jump? 9:56 PM

Jump!
Originally uploaded by Mark Ordoñez.

More of Boracay 2007: http://www.flickr.com/photos/markordonez/sets/72157594578195417/

Look Up - The Apophis, part 3 3:05 PM

April 12, 2029.

The night sky was clear at the lookout point in Cimarron Hills, Colorado and Peter Jenkins made sure that he had the best spot for him and his girlfriend. On the way up Heather Lieberman was busy finding a radio station with romantic music. The bend on the hillside prevented good reception. Heather settled on a news broadcast in the meantime.

The reporter's voice blended with wisps of white noise with every turn.

"...impact this time around has been ruled out but the the possibility of the asteroid passing through the gravitational keyhole is still relatively high. With this, the scientific community is still not ruling out an impact on 2036. On other news, celebrity entrepreneur and now astronaut Michael Lee Sanders is scheduled to hold a press conference at midnight prior to the deflection mission launch in Florida. The mission code named 'Omega Priori' is the brain child of State Secretary for Space Research Jacques Devreux, former..."

"Just turn it off Heather." Peter blurted in irritation. He always felt she had a long time crush on pretty boy Sanders. He pushed down on the accelerator.

"Would you cool it off?" Heather sighed as she switched off the radio. "Don't you want to hear about Mike? He is your best friend."

"Was." Peter pointed out. "And I heard enough about him

Silence broke into the car. Heather knew what was up and she decided to just let it pass. She opened a window to let the night breeze in.

"It's so nice out. I'm glad we went out Peter." Heather held Peter's hand on the steering wheel as she looked at him.

Peter did not respond.

"Your mom called today. She said you did not call on your sister's birthday like you promised. She's worried something happened to you and..."

"I'm okay, alright." Peter said sternly. "I don't want you or my mom worrying too much about me."

Peter steered the car into his favorite spot on the lookout. He turned off the engine and gazed up out the windshield.

"I know you're jealous of Mike. I know you think I like him." Heather said suddenly. "There's nothing between..."

"You got it all wrong Heather." Peter cut her off. "You it got all wrong."

Heather looked concerned as she saw Peter's face sadden.

"I spoke to Mike this morning. He wanted to greet us on our 2 year anniversary." Peter looked down as he spoke. "He also wanted to say goodbye."

"Goodbye?" Distress could be heard from Heather's voice.

"He said that with the load of the spacecraft, the fuel will not be enough for a re-entry. He knew about this for sometime now and was asked not to tell anyone."

"What?" Heather was now crying.

"I asked him.. begged him to walk way. He said it was too late. It has always been his dream to become a hero. I was angry. I did not know what to do. I pleaded for him to come home. His mind was set."

"Does his parents know?" Heather's voice broke.

"He asked me not to tell them." Peter paused. "Heather, before the call ended, he did tip me on something. He said it was his present to us on our anniversary. On the asteroid's first pass, he said it will be carrying a number of small meteorites."

Peter got out of the car. Heather followed.

"What time is it?" Peter asked.

Heather looked at her watch. "11:36."

Peter smiled under the tears and pointed to the sky. "Look up."

Heather sobbed and held on Peter as spears of fire blazed into the night.

To be continued.

Red Lights - The Apophis, part 2 12:41 AM

March 4, 2007.

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

The computer on the east corner office of the Arizona State University Highland Observatory has been bellowing the same sound for about 20 minutes now. Down the other side of the building on the reception desk, Johnny Polanski was frantically dialing the home of the District Dean for Inner Space Research. He got through. After three rings, a recorded message played.

"You have reached the Devreux residence, we are curre..."

Johnny skipped the recording and went ahead to leave a message.

"Professor, It's Johnny. I need to talk to you as soon as you possible sir. I think we made a mistake in our earlier calculation. I had Lomax verify the trajectory. The NLDL program is now projecting a 1 in 4500 chance of impact. I don't know what to do next sir. Please call.

Johnny stayed on the line and stared into the dark corridor leading back to the corner office. Two minutes passed and the line dropped as it reached the end of tape.

To be continued.

It Came From The Sky - The Apophis, part 1 5:57 PM

April 13, 2036.

The dawn breaks into another beautiful day in sunny San Francisco. Heather Lieberman makes her way home driving her 2 year old SUV. She was still wearing her ER overalls coming out of her last operation of the night shift. "And so it ends today.", Heather murmured under her breath as she waited on a stoplight to change in an empty intersection a few blocks away from home. There was an eerie silence as she peered along the street into one of the houses that was boarded up. The street lights went out. Together with them, the stoplight lost power as well. "I guess that means 'go' for me then."

Heather was one of the last people in the city . A number of them were still in the hospital in Durham East and most of them were patients. They were those who wished to be left behind. Heather braked in front of a fallen sign post . It was lying in front of her driveway. She contemplated on moving it but tiredness struck and decided against it. Instead, Heather switched off the car engine and sat quietly for a few seconds. She slowly glanced at the time on the dashboard as the seconds on it flickered brightly. 6:43 am. A little over 4 hours before impact. There was a short beep that came out of her mobile phone after that. 'No network coverage', her mobile phone read. And now she was truly cutoff from the rest of the world.

Darkness came.

Heather got off the car and looked up. What she thought at first was that a dark cloud was covering early light. But blood immediately left her face with the realization of the truth. It was the asteroid right on schedule blocking the sun on its wake.

To be continued.