Expidite the expidited

Image
I am headed to the passport office this AM to get a new passport. I didn't have time to do the expidited renewal after getting back from Japan. So I made an special expiditing appointment with the passport folks in Atlanta. I am glad I only have to drive into Atlanta, not fly up to NY or Washington DC. It seems I have had to do some expiditing everytime I have renewed my passport. Passports are good for 10 years. When you get a new passport it is a time to ponder where you will be and what the passport will look like in 10 years. The pic belows shows the wear on my now cancelled passport. it was a 50 page book (the extra pages version) and 46 pages are fully used. Many countries require 3 empty pages to enter their country. So, I got full use of the larger size passport. If you need more pages, you send the passport in and they will "sew-in" more pages. The thickest passport I ever saw was at the Uzbekistan-Turkmenistan border. A truck driver I saw had a Uzbekistan passpo...

Trying to Reacclimatize in Upstate NY Winter right after return from Antarctica

Today here in NY it was -12 F with a pretty good wind. It didn't feel very cold to me. The cold air as it comes into the lungs is quite familiar. The air is much more damp here and the snow is not as crisp as it would be at the same temperature in Antarctica. Even at -12 it feels damp. I do have to get some better winter clothes though. I respect the cold more than I used to. I see folks around here not preparing for the cold at all before they go out into it. I understand that the car will be warm in a few minutes and all that and it it is only a short walk between buildings. I guess the question is why suffer? Not dressing and getting cold even for brief periods is self imposed. If you get cold and you don't want to be cold something is wrong.

I wish I could summarize the last 4 months on the ice but that just won't be happening. I guess it was too big of a deal, too much to summarize. I will be trying.

I am off concentrating on some financial plans, aviation plans, and generally trying to get back to normal.

This picture is a self portrait crossing over to the ice pier. The windows on vehicles and building in Antarctica often crack from the cold and the sun heating them at the same time.

Comments

Anonymous said…
What kind of vehicle are you in? And why is the heat/vent all off?
Charles said…
Dear Mr. KC2DXZ,

With a name like that I ma not suprised you have such technical questions. Is that a Dutch name?

The vehicle is an Airpoter Van with super gumbo monnster mudder tires that are prefered in Antarctica. There is a big heater in the back. All the people in there you probably don't need a heater. You will also notice the tuning knob has been removed from the radio since there are only two radio stations at McMurdo. No commercials.

Popular posts from this blog

Expidite the expidited

Mostly in Georgia