Stark-Vegas

Well, this will be the last post in a while, unless Kristen decides to post some...
It was a long long drive down here. We left about 10pm on Wednesday night, and drove for the next 19 or 20 hours or so to Georgetown, KY where Ford lives. Had some awesome home made pizza and went to sleep pretty quickly. Got up at 5 the next morning and left at 6. Ford and Amanda gave us some great muffins and granola to help feed us. Appreciate that! Rolled into Starkville about 4pm or so. Pretty hot. The approach from the East on 82 has changed a lot, it goes to the north of town instead of right by North Farm. Anywho, drove right to the Mylroies to get the key for the apartment. No one was there, so we drove to the apartment and unpacked. First impressions of the place were pretty bad. Kind of dark and hot (AC hadn't been on) and drab. The walls are a kind of light brown color. The bathroom and kitchen were dimly lit. But, as soon as we started bringing in our stuff it started to look better. So far, we have the kitchen and bathroom all set up, and most of the bedroom. The dining/living room is still full of our stuff and some extra furniture the Mylroie's left us. Same for the other bedroom. We've been donig all sorts of things since we got here... Walked around town looking for the Humane society, stopped in at the Johnson's shop. They invited us to lunch that day and barbecue on Monday (last night). Both Kristen and I are overwhelmed with how friendly they are. Kristen says they're the friendliest people she's ever met. Wandered over to the bike shop, it's even messier than before. Lots of nice bikes, just random other crap all over the place. Mike said he'd hire me when I get back from field camp, so maybe I'll be able to clean it up a bit. Ran into John Luthe on campus. He couldn't believe I was back here again. Proof that Starkville is a "black hole" to him. We've been busy with all sorts of things. Cleaning the house, unpacking, going to Wal Mart for a few things and food, that sort of thing. Yesterday, we pretty much just lay low since everything was closed and it was raining. Took a walk at Southfarm though, still nice out there, though it's changed a bit. Lots of sports stuff near the entrance, and a huge horse place out at the southern end. Access to skunk hill is also a bit different. The rain did hold off enough for me to varnish the table the mom's got us. It looks quite nice. Don't really have a spot to put it at the moment, but we have a place once we get the extra furniture out...
To my suprise, Kristen thinks it's quite pretty down here. She loves the big happy trees and the friendly people. I'm so glad. I'm sure she'll do alright while I'm away, especially if we get a dog. We're still looking for one, but haven't had a chance to go to the shelter, since it's been closed so far.
For now, we only have Miss Bette's cell phone, and we only have a car charger. So the batteries are pretty much dead all the time. We'll probably be getting a real phone today or tomorrow though, so I'll try to let you know when we get one, if I have a chance before I leave. For now though, you can can try 207-592-2778. Kristen should be getting a P.O. box today at orientation, so we should have a mailing address soon as well. I'll have her let you know... or maybe we can give our info to her mom, and you can get it from her? If that's what we do, her mom's number is 207-465-9578. Ok, I need to go get some stuff done. Hope everyone is doing well. Talk to you all in a month or so...

Goodbye for now, Maine... I'll miss you. 

"I'm sailing away..." (Mari Cha IV, Start of the Rolex Transatlantic Challenge)

Goodbye Maine...

Well, we're leaving tomorrow night after Kristen's test. I sure am going to miss Maine. After spending the last 7 years (on and off) up here, I've really grown to like it. The winters are way too long, and the tourists get annoying, but I've become quite attached. And some important things have happened to me here. I guess it's home now. I've never lived in one place for as long a stretch. I think I somewhat understand now what it's like to have grown up somewhere. I'm still glad I moved around all over the place growing up, but I'm glad I've sort of got a feeling for what "settled" feels like. I'd like to come back here eventually. But hey, the old wanderlust kicks in and we're off to Misssissippi...
Spent yesterday doing lots of things. Shipped some packages to the Mylroie's since I don't know the address of our apartment. Cost $150 for 5 boxes... a lot cheaper than making an extra trip in the car anyway. Went down to Boothbay in the pouring rain. Closed my account at the bank, went to the bakery to get some souveniers (donuts) and got 3 for free. Consistently tipping has paid off there... Then went to Kristen's grandparent's house to pick up their dogs (a beagle/cocker spaniel, and an old greyhound) to take them back to Belgrade. Stopped by Ocean Point. Sat on the rocks where Eliza and I spent many late nights, had a good cry... tried to tell her I'd be back again...
Drove back to Oakland, stupid greyhound kept trying to jump in the front seat. Very frustrating, but trying to control him kept me from dwelling on sad things, so that's good I guess.
Today, have to finish all the packing. Hopefully the rain holds off so I can do it without getting all the stuff and me wet. Probably taking some excess stuff over to Kristen's dad's house too. And picking up the mom's lawnmower from the repair shop. Last week I mowed the lawn, but broke the pull cord. Fortunately I'd already finished the front yard. I got abuse about being a brute, but c'mon, it's a 40 year old lawnmower... the cord had to break sometime soon. Hmph.
Anywho, I should probably get to work. I probably won't be writing again for a while. I will be too busy the next few days, and I don't know when I'll have access to a computer once we get to Mississippi. Oh yeah, and I'll only be there a few days before I have to hop on a bus to Pennsylvania to go off to field camp. Lots and lots of driving this summer. Maybe I can convince Kristen to keep you all up to date. She's going to be taking summer courses and working though, so she might not have time for it either. Either way, once I'm back in July, I'll pick up where I left off. Until then, take care everyone. Especially you.

third: the moon... (all of it, elevation data as well, so 3D) What a cool program... There's also Mars (with elevation data) and other planets (without). I also came across a low-res "DeathStar" add on... :-D 

second: the world at night... 

Playing with worldwind... I mean packing like crazy... and found some new layers. First, topography and bathymetry... 

MSU with some noteworthy places. Jarnigan Street (yellow line) is where our apartment is. They Mylroie's (my advisor) live in Sherwood Forest. Some other special places as well. As usual, the aerial photo from WorldWind, extra graphics with MS Paint. Woohoo... 

MSU aerial photo. The next photo shows some important places on campus... 

Some stuff up for grabs, see pics below...
Chota neoprene booties: size 13, new last summer, only used them for walking in the mud to retrieve kayaks, rinsed and soaked thoroughly after each use
Kokatat Long Sleeve spray top: pretty old now, but good as new. Non breathable, so uncomfortable in Maine summers (which is about the only time I paddle)
Kokatat Short Sleeve Spray top: 2 years old or so, only used it when I did roll practice, quite nice and comfy if you're gonna get wet.
Specialized Windproof jersey: bought when I was in Germany, the front is windproof, too small for me...
Some various clothes you might like: quicksilver short sleeve button up shirt, Yeti Cycles long sleeve shirt (circa 1996 or so), Kavu throwshirt (lightweight canvas long sleeve shirt thing)...
I might want the kayak stuff back eventually, but I don't see myself using it anytime soon. The only thing I used much at all was the booties.  

Stuff up for grabs: Jersey 

Stuff up for grabs: spray top 

Stuff up for grabs: shorty spray top 

Stuff up for grabs: Booties 

A couple funny pictures

A couple funny pics of a catamaran pitch-poling...
http://www.wetasschronicles.com/UpsideDownCat1.JPG
http://www.wetasschronicles.com/UpsideDownCat.JPG
From http://www.wetasschronicles.com

Grades...

Well, I did a bit better on grades than I thought I would... I thought I'd get a B- at best in that nutrition class, but I did alright...
CHF 351 - Human Sexuality: A
ERS 417 - Geophysics: A
ERS 532 - Advanced Sedimentology: A-
FSN 101 - Intro Food/Nutrition: B+
So, I had a 3.74 GPA this semester, bringing me to a 3.56 overall. The field course should be pass/fail since it'll be transfer credit I think (from another school), so it should remain the same. Pretty cool.

Trillium. Finally spring time around here... on the walk back from the lake (Messalonskee Lake). 

Tired of sitting around the house today, so I dragged out the moms' canoe. Makes me appreciate kayaks even more... silly-sit-in-the-back-and-zig-zag-all-over canoes... Nice to be on the water though... 

VOR 70 Telefonica-Movistar. Current 24 hour record holder for monohull, 530 miles... (from SailingAnarchy)... vroom. 

Saddleback

So, yesterday Kristen and I took the Appalachian Trail up Saddleback mountain. It's about 9 miles east of Rangeley, Maine. A bit cool day it was, around 45 in the valley, and 40 or below up top. Starts off pretty steep, then gradual uphill for 2 miles to Piazza Rock Lean-to. There's a cool privy there (see pictures) and it's a nice shelter. After that, some steep uphill to Ethel Pond, then fairly gradual uphill past a few more ponds. Quite a bit of snow in the woods still, partly frozen. Made things slow going, especially on the way back because the snow had softened up some and I kept punching through up to my knees. Anyway, about a mile of steep uphill after the third pond. Took a break just below treeline to have some sandwiches and apples. Once we got above treeline the snow was gone but the wind was howling. Strong enough to blow us sideways as we were walking along. Made it to the summit about 1:20, took a few pictures, and hurried down. It was cold up there! The camera batteries died right after our summit shot, so i didn't get any pictures after that. Going down was rather hard on both of our knees for some reason. Guess we're not used to that sort of hiking after a long winter. I think it took longer going down than it did to go up... Anywho, back to the car around 4:30 or so. It was about 11.4 miles altogether, and we averaged about 2 miles/hour. Suprisingly, we were both more worn out than after hiking Katahdin. Not sure why. We went to bed before 10 and were probably asleep before 10:15. We were tired. Today both our legs are pretty tight and sore. Glad we got out and did that.
Originally we were planning on doing a long hike, like the 100-mile wilderness, but we decided we didn't have time for that. Then we decided we'd just do an overnight. We wound up just doing that day hike and that's fine with me. I was worn out, and it would have been a long cold night if we'd stayed out.
Well, in the middle of some packing right now. Check out the pictures in their usual spot under "My Pictures" or HERE.

Kristen above treeline. Correction: The link is "My Pictures"... 

Kristen and I on the summit of Saddleback. A bit windy and cold. Like I've said before, we don't take good pictures... More photos under "My Photos" link. 

Kristen's bike. Saddle from her regular bike (it's comfy.) and saddle position a bit weird, but it's what is comfortable for her. I'm proud to say it's running without flaw. 

My bike. Now with my old Thomson post (which did actually fit, a 30.4 was too small) and cross tires (Hutchinson CrossComp 1.3")... 

The Suby as it was meant to be... with racks and stickers. 

?

Well, things are really coming together down in Mississippi. We've got the apartment all set up, and it sounds like it's going to be pretty much fully furnished by the time we get there, thanks to the Mylroies and the former tennant. In addition to the table we'll be taking down, there's already the following in the apartment: two beds (at least one is a double), two dressers, table, desk, fridge, toaster oven, couch, recliner, two window AC's, and a TV. All that will save us a lot of money and time searching garage sales. Most of it is coming from departing grad students the Mylroies know. I called them on the phone the other night. First time I'd actually spoken on the phone with Dr. Mylroie (since 8 or 9 years ago anyway), and he was just as nice and friendly as I remembered. I'm excited. The apartment is also very clean aparently. Haven't seen any pictures yet, but the Mylroies say it's a decent place, and I trust them. Haven't figured out what I'm going to do for a grad project yet, but Dr. Mylroie said not to worry about it - we'll figure something out. I'm stoked.
Went for a pretty long ride (for me) yesterday with Kristen. Rode to Colby College, did 3 laps of their cross country course (running/skiing XC course), rode to see Kristen's mom at work, and rode home. First time Kristen had taken her new bike off road. She did quite well. She didn't have her glasses on, so she wasn' t going so fast through the trees, but she can sure climb. She could probably drop me on the hills if she tried. It's still a bit soggy in spots, and she loved getting muddy. A few times she got caught in a muddy rut and said "uh oh" in a little kid voice. It was cute. About 2 hours all together, which is longer than I've ridden for in a while. More than half of it was road riding, but that's still time in the saddle - which is good. I'm hoping to get back seriously into it, maybe even race again (though that's a ways off).
Oh yeah, we won't be going down to Mississippi until after Kristen's national EMT test thingy. Since we got the apartment all set up, we figure it makes more sense to skip the whole apartment search trip. Should save us several hundred dollars in gas money, not to mention wear on the car. Whatever we can't fit in the car on the trip down, we will have shipped. Cheaper than driving I hope.
Kristen's all done with her EMT class and work at Colby. Her grade in the EMT class was a 95. she's so smart. She's probably going to have to study a lot for the national registry EMT class thingy, but I'm sure she'll ace that as well.
We'll probably be going hiking/backpacking tomorrow and the next day. Not sure where. Kristen wants to do Katahdin again (and so would I), but I doubt it's open yet. I was thinking we could take the AT (Appalachian Trail) north from Rangeley and over Saddleback to Poplar Ridge shelter. That's about 11 miles. Spend the night there and come back the next day. The weather is supposed to be nice. I think it's about 6 miles up to Saddleback, so if we didn't feel like the overnight, we could just turn around and come back. Hopefully it'll be breezy (it is today) and free of bugs. I remember crossing Saddleback on my thru-hike, and getting stalled by a moose. Stupid thing just wouldn't get out of my way...
Well, I'm going to go clear some junk out of the back of my car. Hope everyone is doing well.

And here's the other one. That's a lot of snow eh? 

spring vs. winter. Remember that pic of the dog and all that snow? Here's the same shot about a month ago... 

The Brunton, damped compass and inclinometer...  

Sweet.

Well, got an email from Joan Mylroie (Dr. Mylroie's wife), saying one of their grad students was moving away, and was offering her apartment for the summer. It all sounded pretty good, so Kristen and I discussed it, and we're going to take it. Don't know what will happen after July (the grad student's lease is over then) though. Not sure if it's already rented after her time is up or what. But I figure if we like it, great. If not, it'll give us a lot more time to find a better place. The rent is only $270/month, and it's close to campus. On Jarnigan Street, which is between the Cotton District and that big cemetary on University Drive. In addition, we won't have to pay connection fees ($160) for the power, and it comes with some furniture. So, before we've even been down to Mississippi, we already have a place to live! The Mylroies have also gathered some furniture for us as well. Man I love southern hospitality. :) Still scheduled to go down there after Kristen's test (on the 10th), to move stuff in and check the place out. Get reacquainted with campus and Starkville as well...
Got the roofrack onto the Subaru. Suprisingly, I had to shorten it up a bit. The curved windows make for less room to mount the towers. It works though, and I was still able to put the old cargo basket (circa 1988) on there too. Might chop the ends of the bars off, since they stick out 13" on both sides. Going to have to get used to dodging them again...
Speaking of the Subaru, I have an annoying problem. There is oil leaking from the area that the timing belt and all that stuff is on the front of the engine. It's not much of a leak (though it seems to be getting a bit worse), but the oil gets sprayed back onto the oil pan, and from there it splashes onto the exhaust. So when I stop, there's a bit of smoke that comes up through the hood vents. Makes it look like a fire-breathing dragon, and it's rather annoying. Anyone know what to do about that? I tried to make a splash guard out of plastic so the oil wouldn't make it back to the exhaust, but the only thing I had to attach it to was a couple holes on the exhaust heat shields. It flapped around, and the zip ties melted. So I need a solution. I could probably rig up something better if I could get that far under the car. I'll eventually get the problem fixed, but I can't afford that sort of thing right now. When I had the sending unit (for the gas guage) fixed I asked the mechanic, and he said it was nothing to really worry about, so we'll see. I plan on taking the car in for work after I'm done with all this moving stuff...

Cinco de Mayo

¿Podría usted por favor decirme qué Cinco de Mayo es todo alrededor? Me he preguntado siempre. A propósito, tengo gusto del alimento mexicano. Y tengo gusto de la corona. Yum.

DONE!!!

Hooray, I'm done! No more class, no more finals. I'm through with UMaine. Mostly. Still have to deal with them to get my diploma after field camp. And I have to work for Dr. Koons tomorrow, but otherwise, that's it. Not sure about grades yet, but I'll post those when I know.
Going down to Boothbay tonight, to get my rack and some other stuff in storage at the kayak shop. Should be a nice evening in Boothbay. Talked to Jeff on the phone today, and I heard a rumor that Travis may buy the buisness. That would be cool. Since I know Jeff has wanted to move on for a while now, and Travis will probably do well with it, if he doesn't smoke away all his profits that is...
The Moms (that's how I refer to Kristen's mom and her partner) bought a nice table for Kristen and I. It's 3 x 5 feet and nice simple wood. The legs come off, so I can probably put it on the roof of the car to take it down. They're also getting me a Brunton Pocket Transit (fancy compass/inclinometer geology tool) as a graduation present. Pretty sweet. They've been so generous and helpful.
Speaking of graduation, I'm not going through the ceremony. Don't see the point really, since no one I know will be there. I don't particularly want to sit around that long anyway. Mom and dad, if you'd like to get me a graduation present (and I don't expect you to, since you gave me money to help with the car and all that...), and that's a big if, I really need a raincoat. My raincoat, which I bought in Mississippi years ago, isn't waterproof anymore, and the one I bought on the AT doesn't fit anymore. I'll probably just get something cheapo at Walmart or West Marine. Just in case you were wondering for a present, that's something I really need. But I don't expect anything. Just to make that clear.
Anywho, going to search for apartments now.
Oh, if you make a comment, please leave a name so I know who it's from. Thanks.

Bamboo bike again. Looks awesome, but I'd never ride it... maybe make a beach cruiser out of it, but not a mountain bike... 

Bamboo bike, frame detail...