There are many once in a lifetime events that are of our own doing - first steps, first child, first house. Then there are the once in a lifetime events that are of a historical nature, be they good or bad, that we get to experience just because of the time period we happen to live in - first moon walk, 9/11, first African American president.

Blogs are personal diaries of sorts and so I wanted to use this post to mark two such events that happened in the same week.

The first is signified by the photo above - the Venus eclipse of the sun that occurred yesterday, June 5, 2012, between about 3 and 7 p.m. PDT. I was traveling back from Los Angeles and really thought I wouldn't get to see it for myself. Besides, I didn't have the proper safety glasses to be gazing at the sun. I was waiting at my gate at LAX to see a gentleman setting up a telescope by the windows. He was sweating quite a bit since the sun was streaming in from that side. He then excitedly told everyone he had the eclipse in view if anyone wanted to see it. Talk about luck. The Venus eclipse, he said, happens in pairs and then doesn't happen again for another 113 years. The first part of the pair happened eight years ago.