sailing the NorSea

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WEEK 40 2008

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Saturday 4 October 2008
Saturday - well, rain wise we had 0.06" instead of 1.0". They were off by a factor of 20X. Climate science, you gotta love it... In only mildly related news, there is an interesting animated GIF over at Anthony Watts blog, showing a time lapse polar view ice motion in the Arctic Ocean over the last 30 years. Neat stuff, with the ice being clearly forced (by winds?) against and down the east side of Greenland from the Arctic circle. Note: if you download it and watch it in the Quicktime Viewer you can single step through the frames.


I made some blueberry cornbread muffins in the morning, then my father and I ate them all, with butter and S's jam, by lunch time. Very decadent.

My sister V came by, and we cruised the antique stores in downtown Martinez for an hour or two, then had a nice dinner at an local Italian joint. She claims that we went there several years ago with an old girlfriend of mine, C, but I don't recall that.Good food though.


My father decided to bet against the Dodgers tonight. I told him about the curse on the Cubs, and all about the hundred years drought, but he insisted...

'Course I lost 25 cents on the Angels last night, so he's up and can afford to gamble recklessly. He went to bed when it got to be 3:0 Dodgers though.

Friday 3 October 2008

Friday - I got a slow start, sleeping in, then running various errands. I didn't pack much - I'll just leave the dirty laundry in the basket and do it at Dads.

Then, forty five minutes after starting, I pulled over and  took a little nap at the small lake near Gorman, I was just that beat. Traffic was moderate - more than last trip, because of cheaper gas? They are predicting rain, lots of it, up to 1 inch, in NorCal. I have my doubts, but there is some high cloud cover.

Fowl Friday pic:

finches on a seed sock
Lesser Gold Finches. We have seen up to 10 at once on the seed sock.

Thursday 2 October 2008

Thursday - another long day. The past week or so the stars have been against me. Well, the GPS constellations anyway.

In late afternoon I lose a lock good enough for a differential fix. The first couple of days I fiddled with the mapper, moved it here and there, replaced the antenna with the backup, and generally cursed and stamped about to no avail. As the week has progressed the outage has slowly come earlier and earlier, now it's about 4:00 pm, instead of 6:00. I suppose it's some sort of orbital precession thing - eventually we'll be back to normal, but right now I just make plans to have a half hour mapping hiatus in which I photo, video, inspect and write up notes. I have to do that anyway, so it's not a big deal...

Since I ended up next to a Carrows at the Hwy 101 I went there for dinner. From the window I could see the freeway - stopped dead - and just took my time with the meal. Banana cream pie for desert, then off to Ventura and finally home to Lancaster, and in bed by 11:30pm.

Tomorrow I drive up to Lancaster.

Wednesday 1 October 2008

Wednesday - miserably hot work. Another twelve hours or so. Old, busted, slow channel. At one point I saw "1964" scrawled in the concrete by someone. Which means this channel is 44 years old. Generally 'useful life' is designed to be about 30 years - this stuff is showing it's age.

There is a new bailout bill, apparently ballooned from 3 pages to hundreds, by the addition of various pork items.

I think every congressman, and senator, should be thrown out. This fix may not have been their fault - I suspect it was - but this action shows that they are not serious people. There are a few good ones in there, there have to be, but it's time to 'throw the rascals out'. 

Tuesday 30 September 2008

Tuesday - hot and sweaty today, yuck. And a long day, twelve hours in the field.

Observed at Alpacas at Windy Hill, Somis, California
Temperature
97.7°F / 36.5°C
Humidity
17%
Dew Point
46°F / 8°C
Wind
SW at 3.6 mph / 5.8 km/h

A sympathetic co-worker (Tim) said in response to my bitching: "But it's a dry heat Sarge!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

I suppose 17% can be considered dry, if one doesn't normally live in the high desert.

 Monday 29 September 2008

Monday - back to work. A long day when it starts at 4:00am and ends at 8:00 pm. Not much time to peruse the news, but it seems the bailout...failed? Stalled out?

I was able to get cash out of WaMu's ATM, and that's the important thing: lunch money.

Sunday 28 September 2008

Sunday - chores and what not. My friends boy had mowed the lawn so I didn't have do do that for a change. The cats and I say out back, chased butterflies, read Linux Format magazine, ate grass and drank coffee. In truth I should mention that these activities were in fact species specific, but I'll leave it to you, dear reader, to decide who did what.

Picture of the Week
returning to channel islands harbor at sunset
Photo Notes: Returning to Channel Islands Harbor at sunset.

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