Pictures

The majority of my photos are now up on flickr, you can get to them here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/22826465@N04/sets/

I don't have any of my new panos there and won't until i get them all perdied up.

Signs of a South Pole Winter Over

I got to thinking today, man no where else in the world (I imagine) would what i just said make any sense.

This morning Weeks pops in my office and asks if I've seen the weather today. I could hear the wind terrorizing the station so i assume a miserable day and guess probably -80's. Well when i bring up the weather page i was quite shocked. It was only -27F with a windchill of -59F and a 16kt wind. That's pretty windy but those are summer temps. So i go outside wearing jeans, t-shirt, hoody, and my crocs (with no socks of course) and just stood out on the observation deck. I then said what in most circles would make no sense, god this feels good. I stood out there for a few minutes basking in the warmth seriously contemplating taking the hoody off because it was too warm with it on ;}.

Imagine coming inside after a 100F summer day and standing in front of your open freezer door, or maybe an air conditioner blowing straight in your face. That's how it felt being out there only the complete polar opposite ;}.

You couldn't really see anything because it was soo incredibly cloudy there was no light from above (hence the warmth), but dang it felt good. I wonder how New Zealand's summer is going to feel when I leave here :}

Now you have to keep in mind that not even two weeks ago it was -87F with a windchill of -130F when i was doing snow stakes. The weather down here is almost as topsy turvy as Colorado's. I still remember when a summer outdoor concert at fiddlers in June was cancelled due to a snow storm...

Oh how I am beginning to hate pool. I lost again tonight 3-0, this time I did not throw the cue I just hit the 8-ball in on my first shot cause I was ticked off and just didn't want to play anymore. I just have lost the touch. I don't see the shots anymore. 3 weeks ago I was on fire; I saw every shot and made most of them, now I am lucky to make anything. It makes no sense to me. I don't recall ever just forgetting how to do something like this. I practiced and practiced until I was getting quite good. And now I have a very hard time finishing a game when I'm practicing by myself. I'm thinking it's just a bunch of pent up anger/aggression from how bad I've been playing, being annoyed that my body seems to be falling apart since I've come down here, and the fact that I have a very hard time lately trying to get to sleep. It's actually becoming a large issue down here many folks just can't sleep anymore. This is such a big issue that Denver has become aware of it and has some things in the works to try and combat this problem. Personally I'm trying to get a workout routine going again. I know I will feel much better if i can get back into shape, both mentally and physically. So tonight after such a horrendous game of pool (exponentially worse than the last game I whined about) I hit the gym and completely kicked my own butt. It's impressive how out of shape I am, but i will hopefully get it back by the time i leave here. It's very hard to get back into things after so long away, but i'm sicking of hearing myself comment on well 6 years ago i was (insert lame comment about the past). I finally came to the realization that i was that guy, that guy i hate who sits around doing nothing dwelling on the old days rather than getting off his tush and doing something about the present. Well no more. I may not get back the body I had six years ago, but i'm sure going to try.

Off to watch BSG, i just completed the second and final season of Green Wing today ( a brit comedy that EVERYONE needs to try and find and watch) i will be forcing everyone i know to watch it when i return :}

Stupid crappy Pool!!

So last week i beat cully 3-0, granted he scratched on the 8-ball in game two then got ticked off and hit the 8 ball in directly when given ball in hand ( a bit shocking at the time). I understand however how cully felt after the lastest round of pool tonight. I lost 0-3 to Francis tonight, threw my cue twice (i have a bit of a temper), which was better than me snapping the cue in half i think, and on the third game i had already given up and was just trying to hit the balls off the table...

My excuses are, well i woke up 30 minutes prior to playing, umm my "breakfast" was digesting, and ok fine i just sucked it up tonight. Pool is a funny game. It is much like golf where it is is a huge mind job. If you miss a couple of shots you really think you should have made, or just missed so dramatically that you are questioning the laws of physics it really takes a toll. You start missing more because you are thinking about the last shot(s), worried about the next shot, then you start doubting you can even make any shot which makes things even worse. It's a very large snowball effect. And to top things off I'm very grumpy in the mornings so the losses weren't sitting very well with me. I haven't played this bad in months, it was embarrassing.

For some reason i have a huge issue with side pocket shots, i miss 90% of the shots i take at them. And tonight was no exception, i missed 3 side pocket shots in a row, not feeling too good at that point. Then i had ball in hand the 9 ball sitting maybe 4 inches away from the side pocket. I said "i just need to sink this easy side pocket to gain some confidence back". I miss the shot, you CAN'T miss that shot, and then my cue went a flying... Still pretty ticked off. I know i suck at pool but this was just ridiculous. In my defense at least i don't umm "rearrange" the book shelves like my buddy Marc does when he get's upset :}

Ugg

Oh and i have recently found out that my girlfriend was trained by jedi knight monk warriors in the art of Connect Four. You know the simple child's game we all played, well she is a master. I could not beat her once... I swear she was floating with her legs crossed while we were playing, with a slight glow in her hands every time she played a piece.

Oh i finally got a night shot of the station. I've been playing around with a big fancy camera that the station has, a canon 1D i think it is. Giant bugger, i still can't get any shots of the dang sky, the other night it was just incredibly beautiful out. To see the milky Way and all the surrounding stars is just surreal. The sky feels like it is in touching distance. I'm going to work with some of the camera-ey folks here and see what i am doing wrong while trying to take night sky photos.

Anywho here is the only picture i took that is remotely post-able. There aren't many stars in the photo since it was a full moon. That dang thing over powers the rest of the beautiful sky.

Meh

Not much to report on really. We started a pool tournament that's going to last 10 weeks I think. Last week I played Weeks and won 2 out of 3 games. We have 2 divisions in which we will play every person in our division once and we will play one person from the other division once. After we have gone through these games we will be ranked and being the championship matches. We play 3 games each match, regardless of the initial wins: meaning if i win the first two games i still have to play the third game. We will be ranked first on number of matches won, then by number of games won. I almost beat Weeks 3-0, the final game i had a full table cut shot with the 8 ball sitting on the rail. I hit the ball nearly perfectly. I didn't have enough speed on the 8 ball and it sat hanging over the pocket, which Weeks then easily pocketed. Grrr

Next week I play Cully, really not sure how that's going to turn out he's pretty good.

That is all I have to say about that.