A

The spider that tried to eat me...

Love this tree!

Leah (sp?) Kim's dog...

Paul Went WHERE!??!?!?

OK, So I went WAAY West. As some of you knew, Kim Binsted asked me to go to Hawaii to work on her new town home. I of course said yes, and, well here I am!

Because it is impossible to tell this story in words, I am starting to use my camera phone to take pictures of things here. As I often do with these things, I will take a crapload at fist, and then I may slow down. I may not. We will see...

Wow, A palm branch just fell in front of me...

This is cool...

NEVER BOOK WITH EXPEDIA! NEVER! Never fly "Jet Airways" either.

I just had a most horrid experience. I had to change a flight for a friend.

There was a mistake made in booking. (I still contend it's the websites fault.) and a flight was 24 hours late. So, she followed their instructions and e-mailed them. Time passes, no reply.

Then, the next day, she calls them, Spends four hours in various stages of being on hold or being cut off. Then she asks me to help. I call, spend 20 minutes on hold, get cut off. Call back. Then guess what?

I SPEND THREE AND A HALF HOURS ON HOLD!!!

I am not joking, three and a half hours. And during that wait time, (I know because I checked early in the time, looking to just cancel the ticket I was so pissed off at these people.) guess what?

Yup THE FARE WENT UP! Over $90!

And to make matters even worse, Jet Airways (An Indian company) doesn't charge the usual $100 change fee, no, they charge $200! (I think change fee's are unconscionable, but I'm not an airline.)

So, now they were telling me that it was going to cost over $320 more with extra taxes, fees, etc.

Needless to say I was NOT happy, I complain, there were ”outdoor” voices used. (On both sides of the phone. This is funny, because I was just complimented on my ability to curtail my temper!) Now I am told that that is just the way it is. I refuse to accept that, especially since between the two of us, we had spent something around 8 hours on hold!

I demand to speak to the higher level. (There is always a higher level...) I am told the best that could happen is this manager would contact “Customer Service” and they would get a hold of me in 24-48 hours. It was also suggested several times in these conversations that I contact Jet Airways. I tell the manager to have customer service contact me and we hang up.

Then I call Jet Airways. Their US number is closed, BUT there is an Indian number. I call them.

(Funny note, Turns out they both go to the same place,. So, why would they close the number, because the call center was open?)

Basically I hear three human recorded messages, (Three different people reading the exact same script) and they are all saying that because of the very cheap fare and low grade of ticket that Expedia.ca booked, Only Expedia can fix it.

I realize this is a .25 a minute waste of time, so I wait until the next day to call the other number and see what I can do.

And I get a manager who repeats the same message, but he tells me to call back on Monday, and he'll check. I call back on Monday and he is working a different shift. I call back during his shift, and he's not available. And he's not available, And he's on a different shift again.

Forget it.

I call Expedia on Tuesday. Another 60 minutes before I get to someone who can actually do something about it, and what do they do? Say “Well, Sorry, we are having a lot of calls, and this is our busy time, and you really should have looked.”

Right, that's great customer service. First off, if it's their busy season, HIRE MORE PEOPLE! And perhaps I should have looked, but their website was so convoluted for a trip of this complexity, that mistakes can occur. I agree to pay the change fare, if they will pay the fare difference, because obviously that was their fault that we had to wait so unacceptably long for them. Knowing that he had us nailed down, (Because we really had no choice, $1400 is too much to throw away.) he just says “No, You have to pay it all. That's just the way it is.”

Nice customer service.

So, I end up paying it all.

And I will never fly with JetAirways again, Nor will I ever book a flight with Expedia again, and I can not tell you how strongly I suggest you never do either.

I would have been much cheaper to book it with the Travel agent, (the one I like so much.) and she would have solved this problem. And I never would have to waste what amounts to two working days on the problem.

Oops and Privacy.

As some of you might know, there was some kind of special book release this last weekend. For some unknown reason a great number of people were excited about it. I guess I need to try to find out who this "Harry Potter" is, and why he is so important. (I know, I know, unnecessary use of a search term...) The publishers were apparently trying to keep it all very secret. - And someone decided that they wanted to share. This was a bad thing for many reasons, but very bad for them because apparently they shared a bit too much.

Now, in this case that's probably a good thing, because these people did wrong, BUT it makes you think about others kinds of traces and fingerprints you might be leaving.

Just something to think about. I'll let you draw whatever conclusion you want.

Sorry, It's been too long...

Long story short, There has been some real shit here, and I really can't write about it yet, but I might soon.

In the mean time, my FMARS travel agent recently asked me what it was like. Someone else (Mel) who saw my answer really liked it and said that I should post it here. So, This was my answer. (She is really good, BTW, and if you are thinking you need someone, she's worth a call.

Maria Spiers
Accent Travel/American Express
512-338-2835
800-444-5634
512-338-2813-Fax
www.accent-travel.com )

Amazing. The 24Hr daylight was wild, I have video of things you would not believe ("Snow Devils" hovering over the road, Adiabatic winds moving snow almost organically, And then there is the hab.) They [the inuk] are a whole different people with a very no nonsense way of looking at things. Either you survive or you don't, and that is a real worry there. A special kind of art and a beauty that only exists there, and is difficult to describe. A people used to having nothing, and using every scrap of it. A hard people used to real hardships, and yet, they are still a happy people willing to extend a hand in friendship or in aid...
Of course, I was there to work, and work I did. not having a darkness, We would sometimes work very late, forgetting the time, only to wake up early the next morning to do it again.

We got a great deal done, and had a great time doing it...

[Of course there is much more to it, But I'll save that for later. Ask me in person if you really want to know.]

In the footsteps of another friend, Here are a couple things I read recently that I thought were interesting.

http://www.space.com/spacewatch/070720_ns_eclipse.html
Just before the Mars Society conference? Coincidence? I think not...

Perhaps one of the more insidious degradations of our privacy from an unsuspected source.


And just plain funny, Even if it's not supposed to be a secured system, Who is taking care of this crap?

I'm trying out for this, We'll see how it goes...

Hopefully more later.

A quick correction!

In the blog entry entitled Just another 'Paul Adventure'
I wrote "Gary's place. Gary is cool, and has three separate beds made for us, and after taking turns in the shower, we each retire to our beds."

I should point out that It's also Nancy's place (Since they are married), and Nancy is every bit as cool as Gary, and Nancy washed the sheets to help make the beds among other things, so Nancy deserves lots of Cool Credit points too!

First few days on the way home.

Just so you all know, I've been spending the last few days at a very dear friends house.
Apparently the flight hurt my back more than I realized, and I've spent the last few days simply resting.

Oh, I did send some pictures up to Facebook. They can be found here.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=15113&l=1f36c&id=672130095
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=15356&l=8d886&id=672130095
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=20914&l=90fb0&id=672130095

I'll go back and edit some of the previous posts with pictures. Also, apparently some of the blog postings I sent up didn't make it. I blame this purely on me. I will go back over them and repost the ones that didn't make it...

Take care all.

Going “Home”

(Tenacious D - “Wonder Boy”)
But I don't know where Home is anymore. I feel completely displaced in time and space now. I have absolutely no idea at all what time it is, (My watch tells me it's about 2000 on Friday, but it doesn't feel like it. In fact, it doesn't feel like anything.) I have only some vague idea where I am. (I could no doubt turn on my GPS and discover that I am in seat 12B on a Canadair CRJ 700 at XxX coordinates, but what the hell does that really mean? And who really cares? Certainly not me.)
(Rage - “Wake up”)
And I really don't care. The only thing I care is I can't shake this near crushing depression over the fact that I have just abandoned my friends.
I know that's not the case. First off, They are in James more than capable hands. (He is a far better hands on Engineer than I am. He has a real no nonsense, no bull-shit approach, and he actually checks the numbers, and if he can't do it, he will say so, and then immediately try to learn how.
He is way better at this than I am, and will no doubt serve the crew much better than I could. He also gets along with them (and most people) so much better than I do. Then as a bonus, he is certainly a better cook than I am.) secondly, I know I have done the best job I could under the circumstances, but I can't shake this nagging belief that I could have done so much more or better. (I am practically screaming over what I could have done with the right parts. I wasted so much time because I didn't have the right parts here, well, there. Shit, I had to rebuild the waste system no less than four times simply because I didn't have $10 worth of parts that I had asked for, but was not allowed to bring. That cost me a full day alone. (Aerosmith - “Dream on”) I spent three times as much time on the fresh water system because I was nickel and dimeing the $5.00 PEX rings! Don't even get me started on the satellite installation. At least I saved the Mars Society about $6000 on that deal. F&&&!!) there were so many things that I had the tools and knowledge/skill for that I simply didn't have the time or simple parts for. I truly feel that I wasted an entire week, nearly half of my entire trip.(Trance Halloween theme.) What could I have done for them in that time with the right parts? A boatload. I could have finished the stairs, I could have finished the waste shed, I could have finished the shower room, Simon's room, all of the shelving, done a better urinal, built a segregating toilet, caulked the roof leaks, built the network, finish the water melter, frack!, the list just goes on and on... (A crappy techno remix of Beethoven's 5th. Screw it. Next! Bobby McFarren - “Don't worry, Be Happy” mislabeled as Mob Marley)
It's really hard not to be pissed at the people who made these very unwise decisions, who wasted all of this time and therefore money. Who stripped all of our contingency parts, most of which we needed. Who complained bitterly at our every dollar spent. This is what you call penny wise and pound foolish. Then they erected so many roadblocks that we didn't even get the few parts that we did order until it was too late for me. (Most of them showed up on the plane that took me out... )
(Dave Mathews Band - “Satellite” - I hate this one too. Next, System of a down - “Chop Suey”)
I know I tried hard, didn't sleep much spent little time on my personal wants, (Like this blog - My one shot at recognition and glory over this - Gone. I guess the work was more important...)
Side note, I just stopped for a few minutes to tape the first sunset I've seen in a while. It was pretty, but shooting through an aircraft port is not the highest quality thing to do...

So, even with all of that - I still feel like shit. I did everything I could with what I had as best as I knew how, and it wasn't enough... I know I am leaving in them in the best hands possible, but I feel like I could have left him in such a better position.
I guess we'll find out. I hope they aren't too upset at me. I know they'll never say so to my face, but I want to know what they really think. Maybe I don't...
I should note that as I write this I'm near to exhausted, and my back is killing me. I guess 0600 to 2345 on airplanes is just too much. I am tired, and extremely upset. Perhaps that is who is talking.
I am looking forward to a summer of finishing the Hanksville project and writing, and if all goes well, a big parachute jump...
Time will tell...

I have readers?

Thank you to those who told me you were reading! I really appreciate it!

“Were gonna tell them to make a list, then chill. No, list – Chill...”

At least that's what James hopes will happen on the Crew's first day. “We need a day off, but with the crew coming in on Tuesday I don't see that happening.” he had said moments before.
I doubt it will happen, but we have our hopes. As you no doubt guess, my day started with the alarm at 0710 to go get the weather data and check the genset before the morning sked. Usually I set my alarm for 0710, (But am woken up at 0630 or earlier when James' defective alarm clock wakes me up early, We destroyed that clock today. Well, removed the batteries...) take 10 minutes to drag my sorry carcass out of bed, (When it usually only takes me between five and ten seconds) run out with the Kestrel in hand, tie it to a guy wire, pee, fill the genset, come back, shiver for a few minutes, let the temperature stabilize, read the unit, run inside turn on the radio and report the weather and tell Polar Shelf that we somehow, through no fault of our own, managed to survive for another day, look around, and decide what to do next. Usually.

This morning I was getting my socks on as slow as ever, trying to understand why one didn't fit correctly, when I heard the genset sputter and surge for a second. Bang, I am awake, seeing the world with crystal clarity. Realize that the sock that doesn't fit is really a glove, grab the correct sock right beside it, not surprisingly it fits, and I throw the rest of my clothes on, and all ahead full tilt boogie down the ladder, somehow not dying on that dangerous thing and remembering to grab the Kestrel. Out the hatch I go, Begging for the genset to run for another two minutes. I again somehow manage to tie the Kestrel off and get the genset out of the shelter in time. Since these Gensets are diesel, for all but one fueling, (The afternoon fueling where we down the unit to check the oil.) we fill these things hot, and this morning is no exception. Off comes the fuel cap and in goes the fuel while the little power plant nearly sputters its last. When it's surging is nearing continuous, the fuel finally makes its way through the fuel filter and to the injector pump and the engine catches and resumes it's usual purr of power. It's actually kind of a pleasing sound out of this little 3k unit. I fill the generator, slide it back into it's warm enclosure, and stretch. Usually they don't take this much fuel and I had to switch gerry cans in the middle. Then I remembered that it was filled early as James was showing Jason, our new Inuit guide and helper how to fuel all of the equipment on the station.

Remembering the sked, I book it back in, stopping to grab and read the Kestrel and in I go, run back upstairs I turn on the radio right as my 0729 alarm goes off. I pause to take a breath and I hear it. “Miean Ice Cap, Miean Ice Cap, Resolute Two Six, How are things out there?”
And it starts, Our morning check in, our "Sked".
“Devon Crater, Devon Crater, two Six, Good morning.”
“Two Six, Good Morning Barry, Our Skies are clear, unlimited visibility, Winds are about 1.7 knots from 170, temperature is -13C dry bulb, 34% humidity” What came next was mostly unreadable, but I could pick out a request to repeat it, verifying clear skies. I repeat the message a little louder, Still no intelligible reply, hearing a mention of a sat phone call. I promise to call as soon as I hear the end of the sked and clear the radio net. After every one has finished their reports, I give Barry a call on their Iridium (Which, by the way, is crap here. The antique MSAT works better, when it works.) and relay my message, starting with, “Ahh, Such are the vagarities of HF...”

0740. Well that was fun. I forgot to pee as my bladder reminds me vigorously and back down the ladder I trod. Oh well, It's not like I'm going back to sleep this morning. Usually I can stagger through this half asleep and get another hour in, but not after that little surge. Besides, I have to work on the MSAT, the shower, the water heater, the drain plumbing, help with electrical, I'm going to try to get some pictures prepped for the 4800 baud link (Whoo hoo... Squidwert again...) and whatever else this day may bring...

What did it bring? Well, a couple of hours working with the MSAT, including about fifteen minutes with a tech who was spending as much time talking to his kids as me, and his final word? Try it outside or it is bad. Fun. Then, what else, more fun with the Internet. This basically entails babysitting a connect to get a few bits of e-mail in and out. This was followed with some work on strengthening the stand that the water heater sits on, (I have a great picture of me sitting on the shelf. It ought to be strong enough now for the 120 pound water heater and water.) and plumbing the water heater in. This took some time as I was distracted by several projects (Including answering Robert's e-mail and working with the MSAT tech.) and helping James. Finally the water heater is plumbed in and secured to the bulkhead with “Plumbers tape” steel strapping screwed to the 2x4 header. That should never break. James reworked all of, and rehung four of the stateroom lights, he expects to finish tomorrow and get several of the junction box's installed. Afterwards He and Jason re-assembled the jigsaw puzzle that is the loft deck.

Late lunch, then Jason and I removed the shower and built a small set of stands to raise it about eight inches. It is currently perfectly level and finally drains correctly! This will help keep the shower floor from freezing (A dangerous condition) and give us a place to rework the waste plumbing. Right now the individual pipes just drop out wherever. We are combining them all into one gray water drain and one “Yellow Water” drain. This should make freeze and ice mitigation significantly easier. It may also have the unintended side-effect of producing a heated shower floor. Since James hadn't gotten to the junction boxes in the Prep room yet, I just temped together the drain plumbing so that we could have dinner. After dinner, Jason cleaned the water tank, so we can again use it for potable water, and I fiddled with the MSAT again. I believe that we will be able to use it, but it will require some programming on their side. I probably won't be able to find out until Monday. Since James has had a head-ache since he finished working on the lights (Probably the very hard working angle,) he went to bed early. Jason went about cleaning the ice off of the doors and fueling all of the equipment, I am working on blogs and my first report from here. And, Well, I guess then I will go to bed.

Tomorrow, I expect to finish all of the plumbing that I have parts for and God willing, get the newly arrived snow melter incorporated into the system, James will have finished all of the stateroom lights and all of the junction boxes that he can get to and has parts for, Jason will do some clean up and continuing to be our helper and getting as much water in that tank as possible. He, by the way, makes a great helper, and often has tools and parts in my hands right as I reach for them without even asking once he realizes what I am doing. I am going to turn him loose on some storage projects tomorrow and see how well he does on his own. Barring a flash of wisdom and luck, tomorrow will be another, but hopefully our last 2400 baud day.

Good Night! Sleep well. Some of what I just wrote will get dropped into my first official report, See if you can tell were that is... ;)
If you actually read this far, please let me know, because I'm not sure any one actually is... Reading this far that is. Well, Just plain reading any of it.

Another Blue day on White Mars

As I write this starting in the early evening I am in the pits of depression. I don't know why exactly. Perhaps it was the fact that I figured out of to operate my alarm asleep and woke up an hour later than I wanted to, perhaps it is that my jaw feels like it is dislocated and hurts to the point that it is tough to chew, perhaps it is that we still don't have a working Internet connect, perhaps it is because we are faced with having to return tomorrow until we can get a guide, perhaps it is because we are feeling frustrated about all the extra work we are doing for lack of parts (That we ordered, but others decided we didn't need. It makes me feel useless. An Engineer is only as good as his parts and tools.), perhaps it is just loneliness - I felt like I got shit on yesterday evening...

I don't know, and really don't care anymore, I got work to do... What now? Well, Usual morning, Check weather (James got it this morning.) check genset, get water, start the morning work. The work I did late last night still looked good, then we started screwing around with the MSAT connect again. We are quickly coming to the conclusion that this will never work. Three different ISPs and none of them seem interested in helping beyond that. Screw them, I have Len looking into what it will take to build an ISP from in one of my NOCs.

So back to plumbing I go. We are almost completely out of parts, and I am basically wasting time, but it will give us a little functionality for when the crew shows up. I just really hate doing temporary work. At least James seems to be getting into it. He found a couple really funny things, like a sub-main wired (as a 240 volt only panel, that was showing signs of overheating, as a primary panel, wired in such a way that if one circuit fails, as many as four could be taken down. Nice...) A fun side note, I basically picked the playlist from the day. There seemed to be a bunch of techno in it, but basically it was one of my my usual “who the hell knows what he's playing next” playlists. This has helped my mood dramatically.

We sent our Inuit guides/helpers/ new found friends Steve and James out on a final patrol and hunt, as Sam, one of the guides that came with mat had said that there was caribou south and east of us. James and continued to work. By the time they got back, (With some spectacular pictures of a running polar bear foot print and a video of a young male polar bear they had been chasing, It was too small too shoot and waste one of the hamlet's bear tags on. I'll post pictures and the video once we get real bandwidth.) James had pretty much done as much as he could with the parts he had, and I was making as much progress as I could with the parts I had, so that after dinner (Well, really just before bed.) I was finally in a decent mood, and the upstairs sink worked (Cold water only.) and the shower worked from the valve, both camp shower hot and cold water! So, as we went to bed, I took the first shower this season. (Turns out that's more of a testing process than an honor...)

There are several points to note in this process.
1. Make sure you get the ice off the shower floor first. It is slippery. It is also very cold on wet feet. Especially the slushy parts. You do however quickly get used to it, or perhaps that's just the numbness and frostbite setting in.
2. Make certain that there is water flowing (near full speed) before lighting the camp shower. This thing gets hot enough to make steam! Steam that makes pressure. (note, high pressure steam + low pressure plumbing = Rockets + fun, until someone gets scalded, then it gets hilarious, unless you're the one that got scalded...) It actually made enough to blow one of the hoses off and spew steaming water all over. I, luckily was not in the way. Opening the hot water valve will reduce this pressure. 3. It is handy to use spewing steamy water to help break up the 1 inch (in places) of ice on the shower floor.

It's 0130, I need a nap...

Step one, Put a hole in the box

I decided to write this throughout the day, so it will look even funnier than usual.

So I got up way late. Well, not completely. I was up long enough to check the weather and make the morning sked. (As they spell it,) Then went promptly back to sleep. I got to bed very late last night. There was a rather troubling telephone conversation last night. I won't say that thoughts of murder entered my mind, but it was close. There was also an hour of last second shopping list information on an Iridium phone that wouldn't work more than a few minutes at a whack. Very annoying, very frustrating, and by the time I got done, It was all I could do not to scream. So, I sat, ate a chocolate pop-tart(tm) (Which apparently our guides hadn't seen before.) and bull shitted about cold weather operations. I talked about how it's like in the Colorado Rockies, (They had never heard about trees exploding in the real cold.) they talked about operations in the Arctic. (Steven has actually done operations in -60C!) I took a picture of the sunrise at 0200! Needless to say, I got up late. There were a few calls trying to get our net connect operational, and talking to Robert, (As expected, he was given bad data... We are cool now.) I gave Aziz and Melissa our last second shopping lists, and all we can do is wait and do the prep work for the parts arrival. Len said that there was no word on the “Perfect Vision” satellite finder.

I am tired of screwing around with the pisser line, and James had the brilliant but overkill thought of using the 90000 BTU salamander heater on it. I used a box as a tent. This contained the heat and directed some up into the line going into the insulated section under the Hab. I had to laugh, because my instructions to me started with, “Step one, put a hole in the box...” Some of you may know where this came from, if not, you're really not missing anything. That solved the problem in short order.

It was warm but way ice foggy, so I climbed the tower to place the flags and place the HF antenna in a better location. What we have now in the current task list is;
a crapload of electrical stuff to do, and nothing to do it with
MSAT issue
align sat dish
finish genset doors
fresh water system
raise shower pan
waste water system
work out LP system
stairs
bring fuel drums over to shed
fix seized drum fuel pump
set up data storage unit
and as a personal task for me, I need to organize my shit. I will also need to get Melissa's self inflatable pad inflating. It takes two or three days here.

So, What I've decided to do to is knock some of those items off the list. Since there's not a hell of a lot we can do to the sat dish, and Robert is pushing comm to a higher priority, James is working on the MSAT issue. That leaves me to work on something with our two helpers. Since the fog thing is disturbing me concerning generator survivability, I decide to finish the genset shelter. Which I do, in what I originally thought was going to be a masterpiece of Carpentry skill. Instead – Well, Ed would not be impressed. But at least it'll keep the heat in and the snow out... I guess that counts.

James got the MSAT connect to work, but only using SLIP, and it is very service limited. We were – not impressed. We got another ISP, They don't work, I mean, just WTF!

SCREW THIS I'M GOING TO BED. Oh, It was a fairly productive day. And I can't seem to stop farting, bad, like horrible bad, I wonder what I'm eating different. Oh, and I seem to have a strange fascination with my breath fog in a 60 degree hab...

Shower!

Today got an operating shower. Yes, operating is a definable term, but it will put hot water on you, and drain it away from you...

That's operating isn't it?

I'm just plain going to keep this short...

We had a very frustrating day dealing with the electrical weirdness and the satellite connect. We just plain decided, after some consultation with the tech that originally installed it for Azis, that we could not do it with the tools that we had available. F! Then I went to climb the tower to reset the PCSP HF radio, (You should look Polar Shelf up, these guys are as cool as it comes...) and it had gotten too windy, and I'm just plain really pissed off. I don't do failure very well, so, after a very late lunch I started running the main trunk line for both the hot and cold PEX lines. This was after our two Inuit guides/helpers must have no doubt thought I was completely insane, because I went through a kind of manic stage and had them cut all of the copper piping out. Then went ripping through the hab like a madman, because I couldn't find the precious few PEX rings I'd brought with me. I was feeling pretty driven, because I thought the rest of the guys wanted a shower pretty bad. I know I was feeling kind of scrungy, not very a manly scrungy, just kind of nasty scrungy, and James (Who spent most of the day either working on determining just how jacked up the electrical was. (I think it was so bad that he was considering quiting and just running extension cords everywhere.) or in the thankless job of determining what our parts/tool inventory is.) had made a comment to the effect that we was feeling a bit gnarly also, and not in a good way. After all of the above, I finally got to settle into a good quick work rhythm and after what seemed like way to long (Probably because of the PEX ring search) we have the main trunk run. And it looks really good. It will look much better after I get it all hung. (I like having my stuff is well hung.) Then finally, I get all of the cold water pieces connected, borrowing one of the angle stops to get it done. (This whole gig is about resource management. Trying to get as much done as possible with what we have here, knowing what is left to do and what will be coming...) And I look around triumphantly. This is a victory. A small victory, but still a victory. “WE HAVE A WORKING SHOWER!” I proudly announce. No one wanted to take a shower...

Oh well - I went to bed.

Another normal day in Paradise

Well, This was a jacked up day. Note to self, Diesel engines don't run so good on Jet A. (Basically Kerosene) I woke up at what I thought was 0655 because we weren't sure whether our normal “sked” (radio call in) was at 0700 or 0730. It was 0730, so, I decided to run out and fill the genset, just in case. I go out there and start to fill the genset with what I thought was Diesel in a Jet A drum. (Most of the barrels out here are mislabeled.) It felt like diesel. (Remember, I can't smell.) It didn't occur to me that there might possibly be Jet A out here. There was. And I, not realizing this, go inside for my sked, all happy that I took care of the genset. James is just barely dragging out of bed and informs me that it is barely past 0600. I forgot that my cell phone is still on eastern time. Crap. Since I got to bed at some insane hour, I grab the radio turn it on and go back to bed. The now reset alarm wakes me and I do the sked. Several hours later the genset starts running badly. That's when we realize that the fuel was wrong. We strip the tank off and dump the fuel, replace it with known good diesel, and after a brief muscle assisted fight, (It wouldn't start in the cold without me also pulling on the starter cord to assist the electric starter.) the genset is purring away again. The rest of the day goes that way. I spend the next four hours or so trying to get the Netkaster satellite Internet working, and I am convinced that either a piece of equipment has failed, or it plain wont work here. I am uncertain whether James' sat finder is working, and without one, it will be near to impossible to do this. We are concerned because. As James put it, “I think I let the smoke out of it.”, whereupon he immediately thrust it under my nose, where the smell was so strong that even I could smell it. An quick pop the cover off inspection didn't show anything burned, so we continued to use it. We are going to try to contact the Netkaster people. I also give the plumbing the once over. This is sad. I am – appalled at what kind of crap some people will put in or on the walls and call it good. I guess that's job security. We fiddled with the MSAT some more, James got the modem talking to his computer. While that was going on however, Well, I must have been exhausted, because somehow I managed to fall asleep, sitting up, on the edge of my pelican case. I must have needed a nap bad. After I got up (Somehow from my bunk) I went through the plumbing systems, dropping parts wherever I went where they were supposed to go and started to develop a minor parts list. We (Of course or you would have heard about it by now.) made the evening sked, (2007-04-23-1845, Clear - light haze, unlimited, 9.1knt/from the North, -13.1C, 42%) and a late dinner. We get tired of fiddling with the 'net connects and decide to watch “The Good Shepard”. It looked like a good movie, even though it started slow. I started falling asleep (Writing the first ¾ of this) in the first 15 minutes, and the others quickly followed suit. Wow, what a bunch of party animals we are... whoo hooo... (in my best Squidwert(sp?) bored voice.)

That's OK, there's always tomorrow. We can watch it then.

Well, Here we are...

It's kind of tough to believe it, but my sore foot and back tell me that it must be true...

We're on Devon, in FMARS, to stay. Well, for me until May 10th, For James August!
I go through stages. Sometimes it's just another day, doing another job under some harsh/limiting conditions. Other times I just stop and just enjoy the moment, reveling in the thought that I'm here, Mostly I'm just tired. There is so much that could be done, and the real purpose for our visit has been back-ordered. Well, sort of. The real purpose of our trip was to ensure the runway was acceptable for flight operations. It is. We will maintain it in that condition. We are also a remote weather station to report the weather when the crew needs to come in. We have that nailed. Then we were to make sure that the generators were operable. Considering the condition they were in, it was a GREAT idea that we took them to Resolute to work on them, James is cleaning up the wiring, That should keep someone from dieing. (That's usually a good thing...) I'm bringing up the satellite Internet connect, and if you can read this then either I succeeded or I completely failed and I'm back in Resolute. As I write this on the 22nd, I expect I'll get it, but we are concerned about hardware failures or needing a different sat finder. As soon as I get a real connect up, I'll start sending up some of the several hundred pictures we have. We have our two Inuit guides/helpers (Steven and James, Yes that will cause some confusion. We will have to work that out.) helping by shuttling the rest of the gear over and starting to melt the snow. They will also take care of keeping the kero heaters fueled. Steven is one of the local Rangers. You should look them up. These guys are responsible for the “Sovereignty” missions locally. Among other things that means that they go out in the harshest conditions just to show a Canadian face. Talk about hard core! James is 17, and Aziz's “Grandchild number two”.

There is a different Magic here than MDRS. This place – Well, I can't define it yet. When I figure it out, I'll let you know. There is so much more to say here, but there is an equal amount of work, so I'll stop now, but will post daily once we get an operating connect.

This is going to be a great trip. It would be even better if only we had all of our parts here.

[Posted by Emily - Paul's web connect still leaves a lot to be desired and he can't access webpages]

Everything is more fun when you say "Surrounded by Snow"

Ok, Guess where I am?

Go ahead, guess...

Really.

Ok, I'm on a Twin Otter at about 3500 feet flying back from FMARS! We are on the way back after spending the day inspecting FMARS and delivering cargo and returning waste. What fun...

After the earlier post, you probably want the story. OK, What happened was this;

We called in at 0715 and were told that all was well and that we should show up at 0830 to see our load off. We were there at 0830 (James drove the Dodge, I screamed along on the SkiDoo, Clipped 80 kpH at several points during the trip, and caught air a couple times. I had forgotten how much I loved these things! Great fun!) and waved goodbye to our first load of cargo and the scout flight. They told us to be back here at 1100 for our flight. We got the call that our flight was delayed and we waited until 1230. While we were waiting, we decided to help Aziz with one of his projects. Then things got interesting...

It seems that one of the people in the Mars Society has been spreading false rumors about me. Robert, the MS president actually called me and made me give my word, “On my Honor” that I wouldn't do it. That pissed me off beyond measure. It is just another childish game, and hardly even worth dealing with, but I am happy to see that they burned all of their credibility forever on that obvious lie...

But then we got the call, and Norman (out Inuit guide and helper) showed up and off we went like a heard of screaming turtles to the airport where we waited for them to load our personal survival gear and to clamp a couple ends on the cable we were going to use for our Netcaster Internet connection (Free Plug!). After an hour of farting around, we finally scramble into the mighty bird.

Let me tell you The Twin Otter is a incredible piece of machinery. Especially in the hands of someone who really knows what they are doing. We were up in no time, and had a smooth uneventful flight (You want “Uneventful” and “Flight” used in the same sentence typically. Especially when you or someone you care about is on that flight...) and a glass like landing on the ridge between FMARS and HMP. We quickly jumped out and started to help unload the burdened beast, but quickly we had to stop while the pilots unlashed our snowmobile. We took a few seconds to look around going “Oh My God!”, then back to work. We are being pushed by weather that is starting to look very bad. We quickly loaded our first sled load and James and I blasted over to FMARS, the snowmobile a bit sluggish under the heavy load. I weaved my way around the edge of the hill, looking for a smooth path that kept us off of the really steep sections of the hill. A quick burst of throttle, and we climbed up to the top of the last steep hill and we were on the Ridge that belongs to FMARS.

Welcome To FMARS!

I ride right up to the front hatch and quickly unload. I set up the camera and arrogantly stride up to the front hatch, undog it and pull.

WTF???

It doesn't move.

“Did you undog it?” James helpfully asks.

“Of course” I reply, pretty certain that I did it right, but just in case I fiddle and pull some more. Nothing.

We look at each other with a sinking feeling in our stomachs. We scurry around to the aft hatch and a little more carefully undog it and pull hard.

Still nothing. Run to the side sample hatch, Undog it.

Oh shit.... So much for our triumphant entry...

And the hatches are frozen. I look for a prybar, and settle on a piece of 8' inch and a half angle iron. I go to both the aft and sample locks, nothing. This damn thing is frozen shut. We look at each other contemplating sawing the floor open when one of us had the great idea to take the 90000BTU salamander heater and use the exhaust from that to thaw the hatch. Brilliant!

Except that the generator, the Honda generator that we brought wouldn't start. FRELL!

I ask James to finish unloading the sled and run back and get Norman and our survival gear. He reminds me that survival gear now also consists of the other Kero heaters and fuel. Off he goes while I see if I can get the old gas genset running. While I look, I realize that we have starting fluid with us. Ahh, our good old friend Ether! Open up the intake & air filter, a quick spray, and soon the satisfying purr of the little genset fill the air... (Oh, For you who don't know, genset = Generator Set, a military expression referring to the engine and generator components together, or what people who don't know call a generator.) I fill the salamander and jockey it into position. This is not an easy task for one person, made even tougher by the fact that we forgot any extension cords, so I have to put the heater and it's 8 inch cord right beside the genset. Soon I do, soon we have heat on the door, and just about the time that James and Norman return, I realize that this is near to useless. We all pitch in and soon there is a tent covering the front hatch, and hopefully it will thaw soon.

In the mean time we send Norman back to shuttle all of the equipment back to the hab while James and I look for alternate methods in. One of the boxes contained my shattered tool tub (yes, tools are missing) with my framing hammer in it. Using the claw as a prybar, I try to work the hatches open until finally, the Sample lock hatch opens up. I climb in and am able to kick the forward hatch open, followed a bit later by the aft hath.

FMARS is ours again!

We do a quick tour looking for nastiness or potential immediate stink hazards. Not finding any, we light a couple of the large kerosene heaters to, along with the heat from the really big one, start warm the place up.

Long story short, We went there, found some critical issued (The gensets had to come home to be fixed...) and some minor setbacks, but over all it seems that we can lick this,

More on this tomorrow, because it's now 0145, and I've been working my ass off since 0710....

Door's that way, Let's go.

Got the call, Off to Devon we go. We have one supply flight down, the next one is us, We leave in 10 minutes! We are excited, packed for a couple days, and waiting for our guide.

I'll send pictures when I get a net connect here or there.

So, Door's that way. Andiamo!

Just another 'Paul Adventure'

-->

What the hell...

Just WTF...

This has been – Interesting, A time of great failure followed by stunning success.

OK, You probably want to know what the hell I'm talking about. Well as I start to wrote this I'm at 39000 on the way from Denver to Washington to well, Eventually Devon Island and FMARS. From there I'll spend two weeks at FMARS doing the best we can with what we have in the harshest conditions imaginable. In other words Same as usual...

So, Whats made this day so strange? Well, it started last week.

I finally got the Hanksville tower up and tensioned. That should have gone fine, but I had a TBM (Transient Blonde Moment) and cut the top lever (the torque arm if you're paying attention) guy lines a bit short, well about 25 feet short, well exactly the same as the third level... (Note to self, when doing mission critical math or cutting have someone else check your work.) That sucked, and I ended up having to haul four cables all the way to the top, all at once, clipped to my harness. Talk about the ultimate dyno move, for 115 feet. It was near my full load capacity, and every step brought another four feet of cable weight I had to carry. Then I had to unload them, one at a time, without dropping any of the important parts. (Another note to self. Do NOT drop a guy line onto another guy line of a tower you are working on if you even pretend to be motion sick or are skittish at heights. Good thing I'm not.) Replace as many of the short ones as I could (four) all by my self, (because I needed Casey and Don to handle the bottoms of the cables.) all the while paying a crane some insane hourly to watch my silly ass play monkey.

Fun.

Let's not do that again. Ever.

So, As I digress I'm on this plane. And, Oh, I forgot (not really) I also had to get a geotechnical survey and analysis done on the Texas Hill site, So, I had Melissa Battler (MSC president and good friend) in to do that. (I'd rather pay someone I know, who I know will do a great job for reasons other than purely financial than just some dude off the street who could just care less.) SO, Here I am, Entertaining Melissa (Read, working our buts off) Preparing for this trip, Helping the guys who came in from UND with a real pressurized surface suit, helping with the current crew, doing my usual duties with the Mars Society, planning the last second details of this trip, and doing my real day job, you know, silly things like putting up a toer and getting one ready to take down and shipped up here...

Just the usual, but with that many, at least one item slipped. Well, You may have noticed that I didn't mention sleep. There was very little of that. In fact, as I started writing this, I am working on literally 2 hours sleep, with an hour and a half the night before, and four the night before that! (uuuummmmaaaahhh What was I saying? What were you saying? Were we talking? Who are you?)

So, Melisa was originally scheduled to leave Saturday so that she could be with her family for Easter. What ended up happening was that, because the very raw engineer assistant for the foundation engineer wanted something more that Melissa normally has to give, she decided to stay over on Saturday and re-dig one of the holes and get even bigger samples. Because of this she ended up staying on until Monday.

This is only slightly weird because I had put in my passport app right as we got the tickets, about six weeks before the trip. The website was claiming four week turn around. They lied, it was more like eight. I wasn't going to get my passport in time. SO, I had to go to Denver to get it, the day before I was to leave. This means that I was going to take Melissa to Grand Junction (If I fly some one in, I do it right.) then keep on driving down to Denver so that I an make my passport appointment (Funny considering that she is flying to Denver, but I still digress...) And as usual, the typical Paul adventures. Wake up an hour earlier than I need, get Casey ready, pack, and

EERRRP, Helm, all stop.

“Paul, Can you come over to the Community center, we need to have a quick meeting to make sure everything is alright with the project before you go.” (My loose paraphrase.) “Uh, OK” Delay.

Bob, The annoying but slightly knowledgeable neighbor comes over, with questions, issues, and general bitches about the project. More delay.

Don has family emergency, needs to leave for a few days. Yet more delay.

Telephone – Mom Insurance. Telephone – James order, Telephone - Customer something meaningless – Good bye, IM - Crew, “We need something (Like water) Can you help us?”, Ridiculous delay.

“DAMNIT PEOPLE, Can't you just leave me alone!” Finally I just throw all of my shit in the Aerostar and full tilt boogie to the airport, via the gas station. (Aerostar likes gas for 2+ hour trips.) and the Pay at the Pump's not working, and the guy inside's new and doesn't know to turn the pump on for me, so I have to go inside, and then he doesn't know how to run the CC machine. Painfuly frustrating delay.

Long story short (I know, Too late) while blazing up to the airport at 95 Mph (The governor speed.) I do the math and decide that we aren't going to make it and start calling the airline. They tell me that for another hundred bucks, I can get her on a flight from Grand Junction in the afternoon the next day, (Screwing her for helping her mom do food prep for the FMARS mission. Did I mention that Melissa is also the FMARS commander, so getting her to help is a real favor!), or I can take her to Denver, and get her on a morning flight for $360...

I am not amused, especially knowing that she is going from GJT to DEN then to Toronto. WTF! No, Just F! After a bit of whining, being frustrated, and general heartburn, I realize that I am no where near the serenity that I so desired. So I stop while on hold with the reservations supervisor, and start to focus on Serenity. (Let it wash over you , none of this matters, reach out, grab it, hug it, make it your own, absorb it and let it pass...) The supervisor starts to tell me how I am just going to have to deal with the situation, and I am preparing to give them the $360 when she tells me that her plane is going to be delayed to the point that she will miss her connection and I get to take her to Denver, and deliver her to the airport at 1000, no charge...

Nice. Sometimes you win.

After a quick stop at the Green River junk yard, I grab the remaining parts for my wipers, (My wipers have been mostly bad for a year, and very bad, like the motor is gone, for a month.) and we blaze with the idea in our heads that we can make Hanging lake before dark. With the prospect of a nice adventure on our minds, and some great Ben and Jerry's (I now love “Half Baked”more than any other...) in our bellies, and a song in our hearts, (OK, it was more like jams from Mel's laptop with her and Casey picking the playlist...) we press on, marveling at the storm that is surrounding us and looking for adventure!

ROAD TRIP!

It was a little scary as we drove nicking the storm, because I only got the parts. I didn't get to install them. And with the drops splattering the windshield, visibility diminished, but never enough to make me stop. After a while it subsides and we are no longer worried, but the idea of getting to Hanging Lake before it gets dark are slowly fading. (Pun intended, Sorry.) We decide that no matter what, we are going to see a waterfall tonight, and will hike up to the lake even after dark.

It was a blast. The hike was hard, but not hugely so, and I was hampered by my sick gut, but we all had a great time. The waterfall was spectacular even by LED headlamp. Taking pictures was tough, but worth it. On the way down, Casey notices a flash, and I think nothing of it, because I could see an airplane's strobe flaring in the clouds. Then we could hear the thunder. “Oh Shit” we all say nearly simultaneously. Down we go, scrambling down the dangerous trail as fast as we can, afraid what might happen if it starts raining and the small stream turns into a storm filled river. Half way down it starts hailing/sleeting . More fun...

“Mel” I call, soaked from the knees down, hair wet, and starting to get cold, “This was really kind of stupid, but I'm really glad we did it.”

And we ran down the trail.

Once we get to the bottom, we change some clothes and continue on to Vail where I stop in the Lionshead parking garage to show off some art work I helped with some 16 years ago (“Clip man “ in case you are wondering.) and we still continue, even though we still don't have wipers, and the passes have the chain laws in effect. This means that the snow/ice is so bad that they won't let commercial vehicles on the pass without chains mounted. It means the roads are a real mess, downright slippery/scary. It means that you are about to have a slow, scary trip. It was hairy, but we make it to our final destination. Gary's place. Gary is cool, and has three separate beds made for us, and after taking turns in the shower, we each retire to our beds. I take the last shower and finally fall into my trundle bed at 0430. we get up at 0600 to get Mel to the airport in time, me dragging ass like sandpaper.

I think I'll stop for now, and continue the rest later. I'm having a real tough time keeping my eyes open, actually nodding as I type....

On the Italian Passion

Italians love with a passion that they can't write just a song, It takes an opera...
They hate with a fire that makes the Sun look weak and the world is afraid.
And they can switch as fast as they can say it.
They can hate for so long that it takes generations.
and they can forgive on a whim and forget it forever...
Whatever they feel, they feel with their entire soul, completely, without reservation, without moderation.
And they love...

Paul G Graham, On the Italian Passion

Atlanta trip

Hi all – I spent the weekend in Atlanta. 4Fontiers (www.4frontierscorp.com) was having their division lead meeting. Since I am their building trades and surface suit division lead, I went. (Just a quick lesson, Mars surface suits are NOT space suits. They have completely different operational requirements, In fact, the only thing they share is their ability to operate in a vacuum! ) It is amazing what happens when you get 21 people that smart, focused and dedicated working on a single project. We certainly reached that critical mass, and the ideas just flowed, We all got along great, and even when we disagreed, sometimes even vehemently. (OK, that was mostly me) We were still able to keep out mind on the target and goal of designing the first permanent Martian settlement. Having that many like minded people around produced a synergy that was just extraordinary, and new ideas seemed to just flow from the woodwork! Since I'm under an NDA, I can't say much, but, we ended up with a ten year plan to produce a operational settlement that includes bunk space, life support, food production and water recycling for about 40, all at a price roughly quarter of what NASA wants for a single first mission! This includes real lab facilities, manufacturing plants, fuel production, repair facilities global communications and a large selection of surface rovers. It feels like Macmurdo meets Polar Shelf. The numbers are real, the plan is workable, and mostly it is current tech, and the bits that aren't are either easily developed or a reasonable extrapolation of existing technologies. We could do this, starting now! It is, well, exciting. All of the public details can be found at the website above.

Cool.

While I was there, I got drafted to help with surface transport, alternative power and communications.

Did I mention that I actually get paid for this!? Even cooler. Did I mention that I got two of my best friends involved in this? (They really would be an asset to the team.) Coolest. I know that I won't be able to go, but it is still so cool to plan the way to the future. I just hope history remembers the people like me who gave all without even expecting a return. Of all of the people who were helping, I only expect 5 would actually be in the crew candidate list. I do so so wish them success!

Then, as if this fantastic burst of focused creativity wasn't enough, we came to an even better idea, a way of cutting the construction time in half! Literally it was an idea that had been bouncing around for a while, but for various reasons mostly wrapped around it's unconventionality, it was not perused. But in the victory party, with just the last five of us who had laid out the construction schedule, Scott, our construction project manager, was able to convince Joe and the rest of us to take another look at it, and we were all excited. It is an idea that I had known about, and have always liked, but wasn't quite sure how it would work here. All of us, worked on the idea a bit, ran some numbers, and suddenly realized that we just might have something here. It was cool. I am not sure if I can talk about it, but I'll check, and if you contact me, and if I can, I'll tell you.

I'm currently at 22000 feet, in a little Beech 190 while I'm writing this, and an alarm went off. It's kind of funny, because I had thought about that for a second before I decided to take a nap, wondering what I'd do if the alarm went off. Well I took a nap, and as I thought, the alarm woke me up. Funny. I wasn't afraid at all. It looks like it was the autopilot failing, but what it turned out to be was a an over-speed warning because the VSI was sticking. Interesting... The co-pilot claimed that the plane didn't have an autopilot.

Oh, While I was on the Atlanta Denver leg, I discovered that I like the music of

Sara Tavares,

Tegan and Sara “Walking with a ghost” and another from a different album = “ If it was you” Song = “Hearing noises”

and MWard “Chinese translation”

Enjoy.

Oh, BTW, the thing with the new girl is looking very good. I just need to get into this long distance relationship thing. It is a lot tougher than I thought, but she is worth it. And, as expected, I once again got my heart shredded by the other one. I just wish that I could just wipe her from my memory forever. I am concerned that it may effect my other work. Oh, and my hand is healing.

Well, It looks like my ride is here. (I'm waiting at the terminal now.) so I'm off until my next thrilling adventure, or at least boring rant...