06.17.01

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.:Day One:.

My plane ride here was interesting. The man I sat next to snored most the time, and I slept through the complimentary muffins (poppy seed too!), and our descent was pretty rough, but other than that the ride was enjoyable. I slept. I was worried at first at having to find the Earthwatch "representative", but once I got off the plane, and saw a whole group standing there waiting for me, I didn't worry too much... After what seemed like a lifetime of waiting for everyone else to fly in, we were finally able to leave the Albuquerque airport. We then walked a short distance to the New Mexico Museum of Natural History, and then went to eat at a pleasent "new mexican" food restaurant. The tamales were excellent! Our next stop was Soda Dam. The way there proved to be chocked full of a lot of conversation on "stuff." Want the story on "stuff"? No, no you don't. Once we finally made it to our hotel, I was SO TIRED! Of course, aren't I always?? Our hotel room is very nice, I was shocked and rather happy this would be my home for the next two weeks. It has a refridgerator, microwave, television, coffee maker, and iron. Oohlala. Fancy stuff. Word of the Day: Stuff

.:Day Two:.

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06.18.01

Today started with a really long wait in the Los Alamos National Laboratory Badge Office. Long wait. It was more "bonding" time. After that wonderful experience, my picture was taken and you can't see my eyes as usual, we went straight over to the Bradbury Museum. Its Los Alamos' Museum, and it was very interesting. After a discussion on the Manhattan Project, Descartes, and metaphysics, we were dismissed until 1 for lunch. David, Collin, Kala, Rachel, Steven, and I first went and cashed our $80 checks from Earthwatch. Yeah, they gave us spending money. Then we headed to the Furr's and stocked up on groceries. Hey, we have a microwave AND refridgerator, why let them go to waste?? Then we headed back to the hotel and began our feast. Seth and Brock caught up with us and we all headed over to the school for our lessons. Today we learned about telescopes, and CCD cameras and color filters. Then we attended a lecture at Bradbury about the Solar System. Todays word: Glow Sticks

06.19.01

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.:Day Three:.

Last night I slept like a baby, which was good, because early this morning was the GET testing. GET, or General Employee Training, is a 40 question test over a 15 chapter handbook about the general knowledge all LANL employees must have. We had about 4 hours to take it, and it was open book, and you had to pass 80% or higher. We all finished within an hour and did so successfully. After the test, and added badge to our necks, we went back to the hotel before the geology tour this afternoon. Brock, David, Rachel, Seth and I took the time to walk down to the China Moon Buffet. Excellent food, especially since Brock paid for mine. (Thanks Brock) Once we got back, it was time to start the geology tour. It was about 4 1/2 hours long and took us all along the Los Alamos area. It was really alot of fun. We gathered pumice, searched for fossils, and climbed all sorts of rocks and stuff. When we finally returned to the hotel, we all crashed for an hour, and then had to go to the most amusing lecture so far. 5 kiloton asteroids. enough said. Tonight we will hopefully travel to Fenton Hill Observatory and stay ALL NIGHT. Word for the day: Ghetto Fabulous.

.:Day Four:.

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06.20.01

Today we went to the lovely town of Santa Fe. It was great. I really wanted to get some indian jewelry, but it was way too expensive. So I only purchased a frozen mochachino. The town was really awesome and in the words of Seth "had GREAT energy." The planetarium experience was really cool and helped us SO much later that night with the constellations. Sitting mext to Brock proved to be an experience as he slipped in and out of insanity, (something that happens quite often with that kid.) When we got back to Santa Fe, we went straight to the Bradbury Science museum for a lovely lecture on the Mars missions. Much to our dismay, the old man was not in attendance. Next, we traveled straight on to Fenton Hill to begin our first night of true observations. When we got there, we immediately began to pick out the constellations we had learned earlier in the day at the planetarium. Then came the crowning moment of my day. We were going over the different constellations and trying to find new ones and Rachel and I were very happy to find all the ones we had learned in the day, including the Summer Triangle, Scorpius, Leo, and Virgo. Next, as I looked to the horizon, I wondered out loud whether the two close stars in the distance were the Gemini constellation, Castor and Pollux. After reviewing the constellation map we had recieved, Seth informed me I was incorrect and that Castor and Pollux should be on the east horizon line in accordance to our earlier find of the constellation Corvus in the southern area. After further looking at the constellation map, I oh so very cleverly pointed that if that were to be correct, then Mars and Scorpius would be in the opposite direction, which it clearly wasn't. By using my extenxive knowledge of the navigation of the summer sky, I argued and WON so very descively that Castor and Pollux was on the western horizon, also proving the two stars I mentioned before, were indeed the Gemini Twins. HA SETH! Seth, clearly being defeated, proclaimed my victory, and allowed for me to wallow in the glory and brag about it to all. We then split up into 4 groups of two and began to locate and observe binary stars. My partner is Kala, and we succesfully located and tried to distinguish 18 stars, from 10:50pm - 1:42am. Afterward was the wonderful hot cider break and laugh fest, as we were all insane from sleep deprivation. The hardest hit would have had to have been Brock. Once we finally piled into thevan, and made our ascent to Los Alamos, the mood and energy in the van was unbelievable. Everyone was insane. Seth had his heart set on having a party that night seeing how breakfast would be served in a measly 3 hours. After Brock refused to let him host it in their room, they all decided Rachel and I should have the honoring of sposoring the party, without our consent of course. When we heard the knock on the door, at about 4:30, we figured it was just someone telling us where the party was. However, by opening the door, we somehow agreed to host it, and everyone filed in, making themselves comfortable on our beds and chairs and raiding our refridgerator. However, the night was not a complete loss as Kala shared with us his culture and extensive love for Hawaii. It was very interesting. Finally, everyone dispersed to their own rooms, and we were able to sleep...

06.21.01

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.:Day Five:.

Today is Galen's Birthday. We were able to sleep in all the way until 2 pm, in which we all took advantage of. At that time we had to make the trek over to the school for the lecture of the afternoon. we learned from Todd Haines all about Neutrinos. Crazy things. After the talk we made a quick stop at the local conoco and bought some glow sticks in honor of Galen's birthday. We then walked to Central Avenue Grill for dinner. Here, we were able to draw on the tables which was probably not the best idea. Here, we also formally sang happy birthday to Galen and ate birthday cake Mrs. Gisler made. We presented Galen with his wonderful mouth glow sticks and told him he better use them observing that night, or else we would cry. After dinner at the grill, we walked back over to Bradbury Science Museum for Galen's presentation on Cosmology. I was actually able to stay awake during his presentation, and payed very excellent attention. Half the stuff he talked about flew right over my head, but it was still sooo interesting. Very mind blowing. From the lecture we went to Fenton Hill to observe again. However, seeing was awful and soon the storm on the horizon was very close, and Kala, Seth, Collin and I went to the dust road and watched the lightning from the distance. It was amazing. When galen arrived to Fenton Hill, he proudly showed off his glow stick. I don't think he ever got the hang of it however. He kept taking it out of his mouth to analyze it. Scientist. We were able to go home early due to the impending weather doom and sleep was good.

.:Day Six:.

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06.22.01

This morning was another sleep in morning, however, we got up at 11 to go eat at the Hill Diner. It was pretty good, I had a California Sub. Avacado, Tomato, Cheese, and Sprout on a whole wheat bun. Very good. It came with a large plate of french fries. Excellent meal. After lunch, we headed over to the school for a lecture by Don about radio astronomy. Very interesting, but I was unable to pay attention some of the time due to the religious conversation/debate with Seth. No winner. After Don's lecture, we were able to work on the webpages in which I took the time to update mine so far. But doesn't include this entry. This entry was done on Day Seven. Just for clarification. At about 4 Jim from ROTSE came to the school to give us some background information on the telescopes. The ROTSE telescopes are very large and use 4 lenses in order to capture a clearer and more accurate picture. Later that evening we would be seeing the telescopes (3 total, however, they only use 2) After the background on ROTSE, we had about an hour before our next lecture began at Bradbury. For dinner we decided to go to Tony's Pizza. As we were walking over there, we saw a stage being erected and a band warming up. After further investigation (we looked at a announcement at the pizza place0 we learned the band was named Brother, and was described as "Australian Rock with didjeridos and bagpipes." At Tony's we quickly ordered drinks and 3 large pizzas. We had roughly 30 minutes to eat and get over to Bradbury. The highlight of the dinner was when Seth, while pointing out the small chiles on the pizza, completely drenched himself with Dr. Pepper. having only a few minutes before the lecture began, seth had no choice but to quickly run back to the hotel with a large wet stain on his crotch and butt. Adding to the embarrassment, was the large number of people starting to gather for the Brother performance... The lecture for the evening was very interesting as we learned about asteroids and "Earf." Soon after the lecture, we packed everything up and went to see Brother perfrom. Let me tell you, never have i heard such a band, Rock with the bagpipe solo. Very interesting. And not only that, but the Aussies all had on kilts, and not any kind of kilts, purple leather kilts. Nice. Second highlight came when the bagpipe player winked at me when i took his picture. Ahh... Rachel and i contemplated asking for an autograph after the first set. But after seeing him so into tuning the guitar, we changed our minds. Everyone, however, had a good laugh at the Dancing penguin and his date. Some people should just not dance in public. People are cruel. At 830 we met at the van and traveled a short distance to ROTSE. After viewing the radioactive material that sat out in the open next to the telescopes, we began to wait for our turn at the control panels of ROTSE 1. When my turn (my partner was Seth) came, I was able to "drive" the telescope and take a picture of what was supposed to be Leo. Turned out to only be clouds. After ROTSE, we returned home, (Seeing was bad again, so a trip to Fenton Hill was ruled out) No parties tonight. Everyone sleeps.

06.23.01

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.:Day Seven:.

Today we spent all day at Fenton Hill. We left the hotel at 1130 and was at the hill by 1230. We made a stop at a small market to get drinks and waste some time. When we finally made it to the hill, we had a great lunch and then started our tour of Milagro. Milagro is an instrument on the Hill to detect cosmic rays. Its a large pond tyoe thing with a big pool cover on it. It has photomultiplier tubes on the bottom which is the actual tool to detect the rays. The coolest thing is we were able to walk on it. It was like a giant water bed. After Milagro, we went back to the Ops Building and messed around on the computers while we waited for some important people from IMPACT to come and visit us. After they arrived and we chatted, they left and we went back to work on our webpages. Some of us began to track some sattelites using a computer program. I sat for an hour and stared at different frequencies to determine the best band to use for the radio astronomy. I left the DAT trailer and went back to the OPs building to work some more on these entries. Dinner was hot dogs and chips. yum yum.I had a cheese dog; everything for the ultimate hot dog minus the hot dog. We then were able to roast marshmallows and make s'mores. Those were excellent. Later, Kala brought out his concoction of corn starch filler peanuts in water that made a thick paste. We convinced Brock to lets us bust open his two large glow sticks and I cut open my smaller glow sticks and added it to the thick paste. Making for a pretty unusual substance. I was covered in bits and pieces of glow stick plastic. Very cool. After seeing the seeing wasn't very good, we packed up the van and headed home. The ride home was hiliarious with a mixture of the "Elusive Tiger" and Brock and Collins on going never ending story...

.:Day Eight:.

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06.24.01

Today was our hike in Bandalier National Monument. Here, the Anasazi Indians lived on the ciff side. There are still a few ruins of their homes left, but nothing like Monte Verde. Regardless, it was still a great hike and the scenery was wonderful. I got a little winded walking up the ladders (much steeper than mine at home) but we can blame it on the altitude. After Bandalier, we went to the Gisler home for a party. It was sooo awesome because he had all these musical instruments and wonderful food. The pasta salad was to die for. While we were waiting for the meat to cook (yeah, wonderful) Seth, Brock and I talked to Galen. He is such an amazing guy. He was telling about how learning at Cambridge was so incredible (he might have said easy too....) and inspiring to him. I decided I'm naming my first boy Galen. Yeah, he is going to be smart. haha. After dinner was eaten, everyone was dealt out an instrument to begin the jam session. I got a minature harp. (because I'm an angel... riiight.) Galen had the big harp, Brock got the accordian, David and Rachel both recieved a wind instrument of some sort,Seth got a guitar of course, and Collin got a drum. After a while Brock headed over to the piano and Seth followed and they started to play amazing music. Brock's skill on the piano completely (stealing the phrase from Seth) "blows my mind". It is amazing. Seth and Brock began to play almost every Beatle song they knew and Collin and I joined for vocals. Yeah, we ruined it. Then Galen put on the very excellent movie, Contact. Man, I LOVE that movie. And after being here, I was able to better understand what the heck Jodie Foster was talking about. Made it even more enjoyable. After the movie, Galen presented us each with a Los Alamos Monitor for the day which had a wonderful write up on us. (They called us super bright kids, woohoo!) We wrapped up the night by singing "Hey Jude" and I think it was one of my happiest moments in my life. The atmosphere and "energy" (more theft from Seth) was so high and wonderful. Everyone signing and swaying and smiling and singing the Beatles. Who could ask for more? This whole Earthwatch experience has been so splendid. It has opened my eyes to things I have never even thought of. It has allowed me to meet people who think the same way I do and who believe what I believe. It has inspired to be an even bigger nerd than I already am. When I return to Mexico, I am certain I will be a new person.

06.25.01

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.:Day Nine:.

Today we started in the computer lab. We trekked over to Canyon School at about 12-1230 and worked on our webpages and presentations we will have to give on Friday. Yikes. We then breaked for lunch and went to Subway for fabulous sandwiches. They were finally open. Rachel and I decided i was time to do some laundry. So we gathered all our stuff and headed down to the laundry room. After a bunch of fun times (I had to sit on my machine... (long story)(not really)) it was time to head over to Bradbury for our lecture of the evening. BUT OUR CLOTHES WEREN'T DRY! so we laid them out on our bed, cranked up the A/C for some reason and left. The lecture was about the Scientific Method and Gamma Ray Bursts and was by Ed Fennimore. Excellent presentation. Very interesting and I took a TON of notes. Maybe I will become a GRB specialist... who knows. After the lecture and a little sage burning, Rachel and I returned to the laudry room to complete the clothes drying. After a few disputes on the REAL rules of spit/speed/speet we were shocked when THE ELECTRCITY WENT OUT! And not just in the laundry room, they whole hotel, and not just the whole hotel, the WHOLE TOWN!And not just the whole town.. but the WHOLE STATE! no, just joking. not the whole state... After about an hour, of playing spit/speed/speet by candle light, drinking Coke, and eating Orange Dreamsicles, the lights finally came back on and Seth, Collin, and Brock showed back up. They had been wandering the dark streets and found a guitar player under a tree and joined him... fun. I wrapped up the night by having a few hilarious conversations with Brock and Seth.

.:Day Ten:.

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06.26.01

I was definitely looking forward to today since we got here. And it didn't let me down at all. We started it off by traveling a long distance, about 3 hours to the Very Large Array (VLA) near Socorro, NM. This is where the the movie Contact was filmed. As we were driving up, I had my MP3 player on, and it happened upon the song "Porcelain" by Moby. Seeing the huge radio telescope array, against the dark stormy sky with that song on made the whole mood so very surreal. I was breathless for the first time of the day. At the VLA we got a really awesome tour which included climbing up inside the dish of a broken down antannae. Again, the scenery was fantastic and breath taking. After the VLA we drove some more and came to Magdalena. Here, we ate at a small diner. Then we started our ascent to Magdalena Ridge. Second time of the day I was in complete awe. The scenery was absolutely amazing and I really hope my pictures turn out. We did some hiking up there and finally made camp in the saddle. We put together the tents and did some more observing. A few of us opted to "sleep out" under the stars and saw some shooting stars. In the morning, those of us who slept out saw an amazing sunrise. I think I'm hooked on to camping and my have to make a few trips to GreenRock Adventure.

Note: Collin Whelley is a pathological liar. That's all.

06.27.01

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.:Day Eleven:.

Woke up, like aforementioned, to a beautiful sunrise and a ton of mosquito bites. The scenery again, was beautiful. We didn't get to stay long, so that was a bummer. Most of the day was spent in the van returning home, and then we slept. And ate Tony's Pizza. Tonight we plan to go to Fenton Hill. We are star crazy.