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Showing posts from December 7, 2008

Wyoming and Idaho

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We are back from a quick vacation. I managed to score three (actually several more) bucket list items in 4 days. 1.) Long Snowmobile Trip. 2.) Yellowstone Park and 3.) Wyoming. I reached my 50th State --Wyoming! And we took a 90 mile snowmobile trip in Yellowstone National Park. We went to the "Craters of the Moon--National Monument and Preserve" in Idaho and also stopped at Idaho National Laboratory (INL) where I got to see (with my own eyes) the very cool nuclear powered twin turbojet engine. It was a successful experiment in the 1950s and 1960s. https://whatisnuclear.com/safety-minutes/htre-3-meltdown.html Of course, I had my Radiacode scintillation detector with me and yes, the apparatus is "Hot". The screenshot of the readings from my three walk-arounds the artifact. I swear you could smell the radiation. There was a very un-natural burnt smell something reminiscent of burned bakelite. Although, I am quite certain the emitted radition was not the source...
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Winter is here. It has been cold, windy and the days have been microscopically short. It is hard to be optimistic with shortening days, cold and holiday season pressure. It is what I do though. It has been said the difference between achievers and non-achievers is that the non-achievers see a setback as a permanent condition and the achiever has a much more optimistic outlook and believes the setback is temporary. I believe that fact to be true. If you were a wild animal and you had to choose between being an optimist and a pessimist which would you choose to increase your chances of survival? I turned in all the paperwork to become a Distinguished Toastmaster today. This is the highest level of achievement in the organization (well it used to be). Hopefully I can get up in the air this weekend. My last lesson was tough. I had a lot of wind shear and a nasty crosswind. It was bumpy and variable winds. I need to know how to fly in bad weather too. It helps understand why you don...