GSA etc...

Sorry it's been a while since I've written anything on here. I've been busy.
First off, got a computer for myself. A nice HP laptop. However, after having it a week, the hard-drive broke. Don't know what happened, but they sent me a new one for free. However, they sent me a 40GB one instead of an 80GB one. But, that should be resolved soon. The week I had it, I downloaded/installed a few programs I've been meaning to for years (I can't install anything on the school computer). Looking forward to having my own computer again...
GSA went well, mostly. Left here Friday afternoon, and made it partway through Virginia that night. I drove the entire 8 or 9 hours. Got up in the morning, and since neither of the girls are morning people, I started driving again. Made it about an hour before I got my first speeding ticket ever. Don't lecture me on it. I was coasting down a long hill in the mountains and hit 80 right at the bottom of it, where a trooper in a Camaro was hidden amongst some trees. Damn. The limit was 65. I was only going slightly faster than what little other cars were on the road, so mostly bad luck I guess. Out of state vehicle maybe helped too. Regardless, that was it for me for driving on the way up...
Got to Philly Saturday evening, checked into our hotel, etc. Athena and I had to present at 8 the next morning. Before we could do that though, we had to sign in. So Sunday morning was quite frantic trying to find out way around a huge convention center, then finding out spot, and putting up our posters with velcro that wouldn't adhere to the poster. We got everything set up in time though, and the poster session went well enough. I was feeling pretty bad about mine, since at this point, I don't really have any numerical data to present, just a bunch of maps and observations. Got to see several people I knew, from UMaine, field camp, the Bahamas, etc. It was really quite neat. One guy from Canada and I talked quite a bit since he'd done some work with sea caves and was frustrated by the lack of information about them. A good contact to have made I think, since he owns a consulting firm up in Ontario.
The rest of the conference was pretty laid back. Tons and tons of talks about all sorts of geology to go to. Some of it really boring, some of it fascinating. Athena and I also had to work a little bit. Because MSU didn't cover our registration fee, we put in 10 hours of work to cover it. All we had to do was sit in a session and run the computer. Pretty boring, especially if you got stuck in a session you weren't interested in.
There was also an exhibition area where all sorts of geology dork vendors and agencies like the USGS showed off their stuff. Also a nice big bookstore with all sorts of geology goodies. Quite a bit of free geology schwag too...
On Tuesday, I got to meet up with a good friend of mine from field camp. A girl from Chicago named Katie, who went to school in Delaware and was there (45 minutes away) for the weekend. Wandered around aimlessly catching up on things and whatnot. Really awesome to see her again... Also met a girl from Bowdoin who played rugby with Kristen's sister Erica. Small world...
Anywho, drove all the way back in one shot, 17 hours or so. I drove 7 hours at some point, and the final 3 or 4 into Starkville. Total zombie mode. Probably not too safe, but we made it without incident...
Since I've gotten back I've been super busy trying to catch up on all the stuff I missed. Had a chance to work on the MTB and got it running after that super-nasty ride with Fordo. Seem to have worn through my brake pads (disc) though, and have some more on order. What the hell, I thought discs were supposed to be the shiznit for muddy stuff. I guess Mississippi mud is exceptional. Only time I've had a chance to ride, I took out the road bike (now in SS mode) and pretended it was a cross bike. Turns out skinny slick tires don't give too much traction, but the biggest drawback was being over-geared. Had some fun though.
Speaking of 'cross, I was looking around on eBay, and came across a really neat one. Having never used eBay before, I accidentally bid on it, and aparently now I'm winning it. With 1 and 1/2 days to go. Hmm... may have another bike in the stable. Awesome, but unintentional and it'll make things tight. Oh well, live and learn.
So that's that. I'm super busy.
I've got a picture of me in front of my poster, but that was on the hard drive that failed. I'll have to see if I have it elsewhere...

GSA

Well, I'll be off to Philadelphia shortly and I should be up there until Thursday sometime. The poster turned out ok, but it's definitely lacking in quantitative data. Oh well, it's a work in progress.
I'll be pretty out of touch I think, but I might have email access at the hotel... we'll see. Talk to everyone later.

Pretty...

I'm in love.
http://www.jamisbikes.com/usa/bikes/07_bikes/supernova.html

Visit with Ford and Amanda...

Pouring down rain yesterday. Got 4 or 5" out of one storm...
Went for a ride as planned, even though Ford was gonna wuss out. I figure we haven't ridden together in years, so we shouldn't skip this chance. Amanda stayed at the apartment and studied.
Went to the research park and it was horribly wet and muddy. Still pretty fun I thought, though my shifting gunked up in no time and even my fancy disc brakes crapped out. I don't know what happened, but my rear brake was just gone. I think the cable might have slipped. Ford let me lead the whole time. We didn't push it too hard but he was right on my tail the whole time. Didn't rip my legs off but he probalby could have...
Went home, cleaned up, picked Kristen up, went out to a Mexican restaurant, had some dessert, talked for a bit and went to bed. They took off at 2am this morning. Hope they made it back ok. It was nice to visit. Here's a couple pictures. Didn't take as many as I was planning (these are the only two) since it was too cold to stop and mess around with a camera.
Headline News: "Breakout at Zoo - Pythons get loose!"

Muddy bikes, wet car...
Later on, I took zephyr out to do her thing. She got all wet, which she doesn't like. She curled up into a little ball on the couch, which I thought was really cute. You be the judge...

Monday...

Ford and Amanda are going to be stopping by Stark-Vegas on Monday. They're on their way home from Louisiana, though I have no idea what they were doing there. Anywho, we plan on riding the research park while Amanda runs it. However, looks like we're going to get 1-2" of rain on Monday, so it's going to be a messy ride for sure! Should make it interesting. I hope he doesn't rip my legs off.
We'll probably go out to eat or something too, then they're off at 3 in the morning or something. Should be a good but brief visit. Expect to see plenty of pictures of mud-caked Waterstrats.

Oh yeah, next weekend and most of that week, I'll be driving up to Philadelphia for the annual GSA (Geological Society of America) meeting. It's pretty much the biggest sorta meeting you can go to for geologists. I am going to be presenting some of my research on sea caves, and I'm a bit nervous about that. Haven't finished my poster yet either. Not to mention that I don't have any actual data at this point, just a shit-load of cave maps. Guess I'll just wing it...
Should be cool to see some geology folks from UMaine and elsewhere though. It's a pretty informal meeting from what I've heard.

Southfarm at night.

Some pictures from last night at Southfarm...

Pretty sky before it got dark. It was actually chilly, about 57 when I left.

Time exposure when it first got dark. Held the camera on my saddle. Hard to keep it still enough...

Time exposure with the light on.

Left the lights on at this corral. Time exposure.

Looking back towards campus. Lights were on at the Recplex, kind of looked neat...

Happy Birthday Teal.

You olde bastard. Cheers.

St. Francis Grotto, Mt. Alvernia, Cat Island, Bahamas.

I'm posting this here because Mylroie needs to see it but it won't fit in an attachment...
Edit: I just realized I forgot to add a that one large skylight above our main survey station. I'll add it.

If you're curious... this cave is unique because it is a flank margin cave, which usually form pretty close to sea level. However, this one is near the top of the highest point in the Bahamas, at around 55m. So this implies that sea level got that high or something else is going on. But, there's no evidence anywhere else to support a sea level 180' above the present. During the last interglacial (~10-15000 years ago) the sea level was about 6m higher than present... So it's a bit of an anomaly!

More fun with the camera...

Went for another ride today, sorta went all over the place, a little Southfarm, practiced some 'cross, Research Park, North Farm, and home on the Pipeline. Found something of interest out on Northfarm. See below:

Is that what I think it is?

A closer look...

A whole field of it, hidden behind some cornfields in a far corner of North Farm.
What do you think?

Practicing a little 'cross, with a trials move at the end. Trials on an XC bike is akward.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlLKyFjWSbA

Another shot of the bike.

Want some Shoes?

Anyone need a pair of cycling shoes?
I've got some top-end Shimano mtb shoes that I bought from ReCycled Cycles (just slightly used then) when I lived with Teal. They're size 47 and never fit me very well. I dealt with the agony of them for several years before I got my current Sidi's (which are fabulous). I wore them yesterday because I forgot the Sidi's at school. They're a lot stiffer than the Sidi's and I love the design. The lower part of the uppers (the blue part) is plastic, so they're very durable. Standard two straps + ratchet buckle securing. Toe studs, rubber sole. They were Shimano's top-of-the-line mountain shoe at the time. I wish they fit me. I wear 48 in Sidi, and these are 47 and just too small. So if any of you wear 47's, they're yours.
Here's a pic. I love this camera.

Riding at Southfarm...

Got my camera back... trying some things out.

Rollin'...
Let me know if this works for you. You may need to go to YouTube and download whatever sorta player it requires...
Rolling along:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LiOiEM9Q0dg
Driveby:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtzadMFJlhQ
Woops, my foot came unclipped and messed this up:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHc29bqExkI
Quality goes down when you upload it onto YouTube, but it's still pretty cool. :) More to come.

One of those rare times...

...that I wish I had a cell phone.
Kristen spent fall break with a friend in Philadelphia and was coming back last night. She was supposed to be flying into GTR (15 minutes away) at 8:30. I got to the airport at the right time, and everyone got off the plane, then the flight attendant, then the pilots. Hmm. No Kristen. Asked a guy at the rental car place and he said it was the last flight for the night. Went over to the airline desk to see what they could tell me. Her flight got delayed big time out of Philly, so she missed her connection in Atlanta. The next flight out of there would come in to GTR at 3:20pm the next day, which wouldn't do. He also told me she might be flying into Birmingham at midnight. Not sure what to do, I went home to see if she'd called and let me know what she was up to. Sure enough, there was a message, but she didn't say where she was headed. Luckily, Jerrold (the friend she'd gone to see) was online, and happened to be on the phone with her. So I had her call me and let me know what to do. She said she'd by flying into Birmingham at midnight (11:00 starkville time). So I hit the road by about 9:30. Got to the airport there before midnight (my time), so she'd been waiting about an hour.
BUT, it turns out, there were also two people from Starkville she knew on that same flight (Jamie, a geology grad student; and Bob, her former French Prof). They both were going to be driving home from Birmingham. However, she didn't know that until she'd gotten on the plane in Atlanta, by which time I was already on my way...
Anyway, got home about 2:45am this morning. I'm pretty worn out and Kristen is even more so. Sitting in a plane for 5 hours at a gate while they try to figure out what's wrong with the plane is a bit stessful. So Kristen had a good time, and I'm glad to have her back in town.

Things

Well, fall break hasn't turned out to be much of a break. Kinda like any normal weekend, minus the classes. But I guess it's been good to catch up on things a bit. I've got to go into work this afternoon, but maybe not for long. It'd be nice to go for a nice long ride. Tried to yesterday, but just felt like crappy. So instead, I sat in the shade of a big oak tree and watched the puffy clouds go by... and thought about life. I'm going to try to be less of a grump. And I'm going to try to be better at everything I do. I've sort of slumped into just doing whatever it takes to get by, and that's not good enough. I'm not doing my best. I need to work on that...
The camera should be coming back soon. It was supposedly shipped on the 27th or 28th, so I should have it soon. I sure hope so.
Caught a tiny little snapping turtle the other day. I'll keep him for a little while then let him go. Sure is a cool looking turtle though. His shell is about 1.5" long, but he's got all the menacing features of a full grown one. Spiky shell, long tail, ugly face. Cute little buggar.
I've decided I'm going to quit spending so much money on bikes and save up for a computer. It's not that I'm always buying things for my bikes that I just want. I tend to just get stuff when I need it, which happens to be quite a lot. There sure are a lot of things I want in terms of bikes... oh man. But yeah, I figure I ought to save up and get a laptop. Once I'm done here I'll be computerless. So we'll see how that goes...