June 20, 2006

Being the closest one from home, I was the first one to arrive in Albuquerque on the 18th. Ching Man, Joe, Ryan, and Sam arrived about 20 minutes after me. Caitlin was next, and Amy "was found" after retrieving her luggage. We ate at a Mexican place at the airport, and waited for Jonathan, who missed his first flight. The three boys congregated on one side of the waiting area, and, being the real cool and social people we are, Amy, Caitlin, Ching Man, and I decided to sit at the other end. We didn't particularly want to sit with them. In about another half an hour though, we convened, and Jonathon, the 5'4" Lanier County Bank member, arrived with his escort, whom I thought was his mother.

We headed over to the Fenton Hill Observatory for a mini tour. The van ride there was much fun. Amy and I looked for tumbleweed, and I learned what a silo is. The landscape was beautiful, too.

After the tour at Fenton Hill, we settled into our accommodations at the Hilltop House Best Western. Amy and I are roommates, and our room on the 3rd floor, away from everyone else's, has been the party room thus far. (N.B. Partying = playing cards and eating snacks)

Jonathan and Caitlin's accents are rubbing off on me quite quickly. Amy and I are both speaking with a twang, unconsciously. I really hope I can keep the accent when I get back to San Francisco. Cowboys and country music is too cool.

On the 19th (yesterday), we visited the Bradbury Science Museum and listened to John Rhoades' LANL orientation after getting our badges and eating breakfast back at the hotel. Then, we listened to two lectures given by John and Don (whose names rhyme). We went on a shopping spree at Smith's for dinner, and drove up to Fenton Hill to set up three telescopes. It was too cloudy to look through the telescopes, but we lay down and pointed out stars and constellations. Joe claimed to have seen millions of stars, but I could only see thousands. Maybe I need my new glasses.

So yes, so far, I've been having fun. Everyone is friendly and cool. On the first night, Amy, Jonathon, Ryan, and I stayed up late and attempted to play Frisbee with a dark blue disc in the dimly lit parking lot across the street from the hotel. Yesterday, we stayed up real early and talked about politics, religion, accents, "ve-Hicles," college, and other fun stuff. But I'm checkin' out now. We're going to the Central Avenue Grill for dinner. Hafta.

 

                                                                                  

 

 

June 21, 2006

We woke up at noon yesterday, June 20. Breakfast was at China Moon, a Chinese buffet that served tough meat. I ended up only eating a plateful of yummy fruit. Meg Warren and I talked about our choral backgrounds, and we all met Patrick. Then, we drove to the Canon School for Frank's presentation on naked eye astronomy and Patrick's talk on directions of the Earth and the moon. It was interesting. I learned some cool stuff.

We ate at the Central Avenue Grill (as I said earlier). It was funky because it was casual and fancy simultaneously. I ordered an entrée of mashed potatoes and meatloaf. It was quite scrumptious.

We walked over to the Bradbury Museum for Geoff Reeves lecture on space weather. Then, we went up to Fenton Hill and tracked down 532 Herculina, my new favorite asteroid. Much fun was had, especially because we returned to the hotel after dawn.

 

 

June 24, 2006

On the 21st, Amy and I woke up early to go to Smith's, the grocery store. We bought necessities such as lotion, water, and chap stick. Then, we decided to go to Bob's Bodacious Barbecue for breakfast. I couldn't even finish half of my half rack of pork ribs.

We headed back to the Canon school for Frank's lecture on the Heliocentric Cosmology. Then, John O. taught us how to do linear interpolation. We found the coordinates of the 532 Herculina through the known coordinates of two relatively close stars. It was fun math.

We went roller-blading at Don's Church, and ate salad and pizza there. Then, we hung out at the playground in the back. Swinging was fun, especially in the dark. Others wrestled.

We had another observing session. The 532 Herculina was tracked once again.

 

 

June 28, 2006

Thursday, the 22nd, we went to El Parasol for take-out, which we devoured at the park. Actually, everyone else devoured theirs. I ate my fruit and salad slowly as most of the others threw around Amy's Frisbee. Then, Scott got the van and drove us to his school, where we watched his gecko eat. It began to rain, and the raindrops turned into golf ball-sized hail as we went to The Black Hole, an extremely cool store. I definitely got hit on the head as we all ran in. I cannot stress how painful it was and how idiotic I felt afterward. I ended up being cold and buying nothing. I had left my wallet in the car among the rainy rush.

So after that bit of fun, we went back to the Canon School for Frank's lecture on Heliocentric Cosmology. We did some more linear interpolation with John O. Again, much math fun was had. Our calculated radius for the asteroid's orbit was close enough to the actual radius. That made me giddy.

Dinner was at a Thai restaurant. My fried rice came out to be the wrong color, but tasted good nonetheless.

We headed to the Bradbury Museum for another lecture on Neutrino Astronomy. It was given by Todd Haines, who went to UC Irvine. Yeah, California is definitely cool, despite what fellow Earthwatch participants might say.

We went back to the Canon school for some CCD tutorial.

Friday, the 23rd, we went on a hike to the Jemez Mountains. I was really irritated for no reason, for some reason. But I pulled through and managed to win the smallest fossil award and the most…well…cylindrical fossils award. Climbing Soda Dam was dangerously fun for me, too.

We went to a cowboy restaurant/bar for lunch, and I got to take some pictures. There are two consecutive pictures with Jon in two extremely different positions, so that "blinking" is possible. We plan to use them on our presentation at Bradbury on Friday. Anyhow, the fish was extremely good… maybe the best I've ever had.

The evening was free time. We went back to the Black Hole store, and Amy, Caitlin, and I bought a load of military patches. I can't wait to use mine. The airforce patches are beyond awesome.

 

 

July 1, 2006 

On Saturday, we did some more math with the asteroid, 532 Herculina. Frank gave us a lecture on Starlight and atoms, which I thought was extremely intriguing. I decided that I like his presentations/talks the most, especially because he makes funky sound effects sometimes. You have to listen and look out for them though. They help me focus. Really.

After the presentation, we went to Don's house for a social. As we were waiting for the food, we ate some snacks. Joe and I also tried to blow digeridoos. I was better, only because I play the flute and sing. I think that's the reason why I could roll my tongue longer than he can. When the food was ready, we ate the extremely yummy BBQ food while playing the alphabet game. Then we sat on the grass and played charades. Much fun was had.

We went back to the hotel, and life was good.

On Sunday, the 25th, Joe and I woke up early to go to Church, my church…the Mormon Church. I was slightly disappointed in the quality of the speeches and the rate of the speaking, a pet peeve of my mine.