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Showing posts from December 9, 2007

100 and Done! (Countries that is...)

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We are back! This last trip brought the total countries visited to 100! It is a crazy milestone. It is difficult, time-consuming and can be (IS) expensive. After I got back from Antarctica in 2007, I started thinking about it. After 2010 I was thinking about it more (as I moved from NY to Georgia) and in 2014 it had become a real goal. Between Angie and I we have been to 109 Countries. We are tied at 100 countries each. We have 9 countries different in our lists. For example, I have been to San Marino. She has not. She has been to Israel. I have not, yet. There has been some fun competition in this area. That's why we had to establish rules. 1.) Must be listed (as a country) with the US State Department 2.) Being in an airport doesn't count. You have to get through immigration somehow and not in a DMZ or a no-mans-land 3.) A passport stamp is not required. I have been to Canada, Paraguay, and Uruguay without getting my passport stamped. There are friendly borders in many places...
My Boss last year when I was at Pole. Like almost all folks in the program he is a good guy and a pleasure to work with. http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=printArticleBasic&articleId=9049898
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When I saw this pic this morning I had to post it. This plane is near the transantarctic mountains. You don't see many photos like this, however JATO bottles are frequently used to take off from science camp areas. I flew in the plane, but without a JATO takeoff. I asked some of my co-workers about what it is like to be in the plane during a JATO takeoff. The answer was "Loud!" Photo from: http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/4318736a12.html
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I have been building the piece of furniture I designed over the past few weeks to shelve all the living room electronics. Our sick chicken is a lot better. Warming her up, forcing her to drink and generally paying attention to her seems to have kept her alive. We haven't had one get so close to dying and come back. She still might not make it but she is a lot perkier and is eating pretty good. Tough old bird is a good saying. It is cold and damp out. I guess that is what you expect of winter. Working out side isn't bad. The lack of sunshine puts a damper on productivity though. One of the neighbors likes lawn ornaments for each holiday. The giant blow up turkey was something else.