Hurry Up and Wait!!!!!

"Leaving on a jet plane, don't know when I'll be back again."

Today, I am traveling to Hawaii to both attend and present at a conference.  Whoopie!  Although my plane does not leave till 11 AM, I will by there by 7:30 because my ride has to be to work by 8:00 and she is dropping me off on her way to work.  I splurged and used some miles to upgrade to first class......LOL.  I like the space for long, long trips.

I am looking forward to it.  I've already looked at the schedule and it has several things I am interested in attending.  Yeah!  I love going to technology conferences because I get some very up to date information and I always take something back with me to use in the classroom.

The schedule is on mobile devices.  I"m still trying to download one onto my iPad but my service at home can by iffy so I'll do it at the airport if all else fails.

I'll be staying at a lovely older hotel close to the beach. I plan to hit the beach after the conference but after the first three days, I'm free to swim, find local food, go shopping (yes I shop for things like tea) and just have a good time.

I will be posting pictures from a submarine trip around Thursday or so, along with lovely pictures of the zoo, the aquarium, the beach, and other nice touristy and not so touristy things. 

I hope to continue posting daily but some of the posts may not happen till later in the day but we'll see.

Drone, Drones, Drones and more Drones.

When you hear the word drone, what do you think of.  I think of a professor I had in college who droned on and on and on and tried to put people to sleep with just his monotonic voice.  I also think of the drone of my fathers bagpipes when he was learning to play.  He locked him self in the bathroom but the sounds of the choking cat (the bagpipes) still slipped through under the door. 

Thursday, I had the pleasure of watching a 6 rotor helicopter drone in action at the rocket range!  It was way cool and was amazing.  Two young men were checking it out because they were getting it ready to take pictures of a bridge

and had moved the camera up to the top so it could go under the bridge.  The picture on the right shows the drone. The orange part on top is from a 3D printer.
The camera is the little knob on the front of the drone.  That camera can be moved around the drone as needed, depending on what type of job it is doing.

They flew it for us using a manual joy stick.  They explained they had some automatic piloting features but for landing and take off, they prefer to control it manually because of sudden gusts of wind.  They have it programmed to use GPS signals to hover in one place or they can give it a specific path to fly if they desire.  This is a drone designed to complete data collecting for various companies and the state. 

I had a really good time watching the drone. They indicated this particular model cost several thousand dollars but you get get simpler ones.  I think Make magazine put out an issue on drones you could do yourself. 

If you are wondering why I'm talking about the rocket range, the geophysical institute (more on it tomorrow) and drones, its because I am a geek and love scientific things.  To me, it is paradise getting to take tours of things like this, going off to view a 3D printer in action.  For my sister, she is ecstatic when she gets to go shopping at large shopping centers, or little whole in the wall auction places where she can find bargains. 

Enjoy your day.  Next week I"ll be reporting from Hawaii with some cool things I have fun stumbling across and learn. 

You Launch Rockets When?

Entrance

 When you think of rocket launches, do you picture a set up like you might see on the Apollo 13 movie, where this huge rocket is launched from a huge launch pad!  Well that would be right for sending a rocket into space but this place specializes in sending rockets into the atmosphere for research

Yesterday, I had a  tour of the Poker Flats Rocket Launching Range.  It is run by the University of Alaska and is about 30 miles east of Fairbanks.  out the Steese Highway, past the gold mines, the ski places and the lodge.  I almost missed the entrance to the facility.  It is kind of unassuming with only a rocket posted next the the entrance.

Rocket Launcher

It is the down season for this facility so repairs are happening and there is a skeletal crew.   This place is jumping in the winter when
most of the rocket launching occurs.  Yes, you heard that right!, launches occur in winter at night.  The facility was originally built to do scientific research on the auroras.  Now they launch several rockets per year for worldwide scientific research.

It was fascinating to see the launch pad with rocket cradles like in the picture to the right.  Since launches take place in the middle of winter with
temps in the -30 to -50 C range, they pack the rocket in Styrofoam until it launches. 

It was cool to hear that they move the garage to cover the rocket and not the other way round.  The garage moves, not the rocket.  I would never have even considered that.

rocket launcher garage

Finally is the "Bunker" that was build so if a rocket fell on it, everyone would survive .  The bunker has all the monitors, etc to collect data from the 5 to 6 min flight.  The guide told us that they sometimes are in that building for anywhere from 8 hours to 3 weeks depending on the launch window and conditions.  They have the umbilical room with all the computers connected by wires from the launch site.

I gather it can get kind of tense there so they have "Fred's place"  A small place with games, pool table, etc for people to hang out and work out some stress.  The guide told us that one time during a 3 week launch window, things got a rather tense and they had to put tape down on the floor giving everyone their own "space".  If a person was going to leave their space, they had to raise their hands and notify others.


The bottom line on the launches is simply if the conditions are not exactly right, they do not launch.  When they do launch, all paths go north and they go pick up all their trash, well not all but all they can find.  They  offer rewards for missing pieces found by civilians.

Tomorrow, I'll share a bit about the best part of the whole tour, or at least for the young and young at heart who were on the tour.....LOL

Volcanoes, Earthquakes, and Satelites Oh MY!

Yesterday, I took advantage of a 2 hour tour offered by the local Geophysical Institute up on Campus.  It was awesome.  One of the first facts I learned is that the state of Alaska has the most earthquakes, most active volcanoes and the longest coastline of anywhere in the United States, perhaps even in the world!  That is mindboggling.

The tour started in with the Volcano observatory where we saw this really neat presentation on how they monitor volcanic activity.  The guide started the presentation with the KLM flight back in 1989 that ran into the cloud of volcanic ash from Mt. Redoubt.  We heard the recording, saw a simulation and he took time to explain how the jet engine worked in regard to the ash.

The next stop was at in the Earthquake lab where we learned that 82% of all earthquakes of 4.0 or higher in the United States are found in Alaska.  If you look at earthquakes of 6.0 or higher, then Alaska has  90 percent of those.  I found the whole presentation quite interesting and really enjoyed it.


The third stop was with the satellite people who monitor a satellite whose path is pole to pole and goes around the earth 14 times per day.  The guide was telling us they created some software that helps countries decide where to send the rescuers after an earthquake.

The example he used was of the recent earthquake in Nepal.  The software can help the government of Nepal tell where the hardest hit areas are because many of those areas are quite remote which can hinder rescue. 

In fact, all three sections use computers to help analyze data gathered by satellites and by ground monitors so they get a more accurate picture of what is happening.

The final part of the tour was when we saw the supercomputers and other computing facilities where all the data is analyzed.  It was soo cool to see all of it.  This afternoon, I am off to check out Poker Flats which is where the university launches their rockets.  I plan to take lots of pictures and I'll write more about some of the great things I learned during the tour later.

Note: I am going to be spending next week in the beautiful state of Hawaii both working and relaxing.  I'll do a couple touristy things, go swimming, enjoy the beach all after I attend a conference.

Alaskan Chic

In the last week or so I have received several invites to join fashion blogging groups.  I appreciate the invitations but I don't think I am a good candidate for such groups.

Most of the year I live in boots, jeans, flannel shirts and long johns under shirts. In the spring and fall, my jeans are the regular ones but in the colder parts of the year, I wear lined jeans.

The jeans I buy are lined with flannel or polar fleece from the same folks who make work clothing for people who work outside in construction,  excavation, road work or any other outdoors job.

If its too cold I usually add some heavy duty overalls to the outfit with a very large heavy duty coat. Only way to stay warm when its -40 or -50 outside.  On the other hand if its late spring or summer, I am usually in either cargo pants and a flannel shirt or t-shirt or  the shortest shorts and skinniest tank top I can find with sandals.  

After all, summer is fleeting and I love feeling the sun on my skin.  Some days I feel like a cat who curls up in the sunlight on the bed and just purrs, enjoying it.

You don't see a lot of fashionable outfits unless you work for a  real business that has a dress code, otherwise most people wear what I wear.  Even brides have been known to wear overalls for their outdoor weddings in the fall.  I can tell you about the best rainboots for the mud, where to get the overalls that will keep you warm in the coldest of weather but don't expect me to know about the latest heels or fashions from New York City.  They don't work up here.

Alaskan Baseball

When someone mentions baseball, you think of a diamond with the bases, outfield, infield, pitchers, etc.  I've seen baseball on the tele when my father watched it and I've seen one game in person.  I saw the padres one time in Tucson , AZ when I was about 12 or 13.  It was cool and much more exciting in person than on the tele.

When I was out in the bush one time, I was invited to join in a game of baseball.  I said why not but couldn't figure out how they were going to manage it when the ground was covered in snow.  There was no patch of ground big enough to house a baseball diamond, not even the helicopter landing pad!


The kids took me to the gym.  One team lined up at one end, while the other team was spread out over the court behind the center line.  The pitcher stood next to the batter and threw the ball straight up in front of the batter. 

The person at bat hit the ball, dropped the bat and ran across the court.  At the same time, anyone on the other side of the court might try to run home but didn't have to if they didn't want to.  If someone catches the ball and tags a person out, then the groups change sides unless the person hit by the ball is able to grab the ball and tag someone else. Then they would change sides again.

There was one time where the group up to bat changed 3 times in one go.  The kids had to tell me where I should stand.  Honestly, it is as confusing as it sounds. The kids called it Eskimo basketball which used a bat and a very soft ball.  I would just run when they told me to, stay put when told to and never actually got up to bat because the game ended before that point.

I think it developed when schools first came to Alaska and they had to adopt outdoor baseball to the confines of the basketball court in the gyms.  Although I have played it several times, I am still totally confused as to the rules and scoring.

If you ever get invited to play, go ahead because you will have lots of fun, laugh a lot and never get bored.

Sunday afternoon joys

Yesterday, I decided to do something totally selfish and decadent .  I realize that decadent for everyone is different.  For me, decadent can mean so many different things.  It can mean staying up as late as I want and sleeping in as late as I want.  It could be laying on a rabbit skin rung, curled up under a window with the light streaming in.

But yesterday, it involved finally going in to see the latest Avengers movie followed by dinner at a nice Korean restaurant.  I enjoy watching movies but due to being about 2 hours by air from the closest movie theater, I don't usually get a chance to go.

When I bought my tickets for the matinee, I got sticker shock!!!!!!  They charged $9.50 for a single ticket!!!!!  For that much I could have waited till the DVD came out but on the other hand,  I would have missed out on the whole surround sound experience if I had not gone.  Did I like it?  Yes I did except for some of the fight scenes where the editing was so quick you couldn't see who was doing what.  Other than that, I loved it.

After a lovely dinner at a Korean restaurant, I popped over to the ice cream place for a double scoop of ice cream.  I had one scoop of pipeline swirl and one scoop of S'mores which lasted me through a lazy drive over Rosie Creek Road to Cripple Creek Road, past Bluegrass, Dulcimer, and Violin before intersecting the highway.  A right turn and  a mile later, I was home.

The weather was  awesome and the ice cream as usual was totally decadent.  I don't usually treat myself to a nice afternoon like this.  I should have stayed home and done some work but you know what?  I do not feel the least bit guilty about putting things off to today.

Always remember, take time for yourself!  Its important!