New photos from the office

Check a few posts down. I took a few more photos of the DC-8 and the ER-2 as well as our new arrival, the WB-57.

Cataratas, Colibries, Y Mariposas! Ah, mi!

Took a little trip up to Volcan Poas the other day. Of course it was clear and beautiful the day before but while I was there it was cloudy and beautiful. I didn't get to see the crater or the lake but I did get to see some very nice flowers. I also got a nice, 30 minute hike away from the other tourists, which was nice. Other than the volcanic aspect it was really like a hike in the Appalachians during Spring. Really, as nice as the higher elevations of Costa Rica are, they are very similar to the Appalachians. I'll appreciate them even more the next time I go visit.

La Paz was fairly interesting. An American gent bought the land and made a little tourist stop to showcase the butterflies (mariposas), the frogs (ranas), the hummingbirds (colibries), and the orchids (orqideas) of Costa Rica. A little too organized for my taste but the guide was nice and there were some stunning flowers.

The waterfalls (cataratas) were pretty amazing. There were lots of steps. Lots.

All in all not a bad day, except for the family from California...

Mmmmm coffee.....

This morning I went on a little tour of a local coffee plantation. The place was setup mainly to show off the process of growing, harvesting, processing, roasting, and packaging coffee so it wasn't quite like a visit to a real plantation but it was educational enough.

Interesting tidbit: Most of the caffeine extracted from coffee to make decaffeinated pseudo-coffee is sold to places like Coca-Cola and RedBull. So if you're a fan of that sort of thing and not of coffee at least pay your respects the next time someone offers you a cup of joe.

Hotel Melia Cariari

The hotel I'm shacking up in is very nice. Most of it is open to the elements, though here in San Jose, at 3000ft the temperature rarely gets above 85 and it dips into the 60s at night. All in all it is very pleasant. Mornings are clear and warm, then the rains move in around noon and last through the afternoon. Night drops at six and the skies begin to clear. By eight the moon and starts will be out in force.

A few snaps:

Working in Paradise

Sadly enough NASA and UAH won't just pay for a nice vacation in Costa Rica for me. No, they insist on getting some work done while we are here. The nerve of some people.

A typical work day here begins at about 3:00 am. Exactly. We generally get through around 3:00 or 4:00 pm. Everything in between is a blur as flight plans change constantly, instruments act up, computers crash, and things proceed as barely controlled chaos. Once we leave the airport there's still an hour or so of email and wrap-up to be done back at the hotel too. So all in all it amounts to about a 14-15 hour day.

Here's a few photos from work life here (keep checking back as I'll add more to the same gallery in the next few days):

First Impression

A group of us went whitewater rafting today on the Rio Pacuare. Check out the company's website for some pictures: http://www.riostropicales.com/english.htm It was fantastico! Think the Ocoee only in a rain forest and without all the development.

One thing that was striking was how similar some of the terrain was to North Carolina. Seriously, mountainous with forest and poor people and buses full of tourists driving through to catch the sights and enjoy nature. The same only separated by a thousand or so miles and with different vegetation.

Unfortunately I woke up late and didn't have time to pack the camera. This REALLY sucks because I could have had some very cool shots. Oh well.

Work begins (for me) tomorrow. I might even get to meet El Presidente de Costa Rica.

hasta...

The worst thing about airports...

Is not the screaming kids or the people with burnt out nostrils who are unable to detect their own stink, be it from bodily odor or the perfumers of Paris and New York. No, the worst part of airports is CNN. The endless loops of inane stories about gator wrestlers, Lindsay Lohan, terrorists with cheese blocks, and National Enquirer's stock price. Over, and over, and over, and over again.

It is truly a horror that tests one's sanity. It makes me wish that I could simply blink out into another world as travelers can in one of Ursula K. LeGuin's latest books. Find it, read it, and dream of what airports could be.

Only two more hours until boarding...

Off to Costa Rica

Hasta Luego!

I'm off to Costa Rica in support of the RTMMand then for some R&R. Pictures and comments to follow.

And yeah, the coffee had better be good...

Spring AT 2007

Well the annual Appalachian Trail hike is over. It was one for the ages from the word go. First off, the normal crew dropped like flies before the trip so that there ended up only being four of us.

Then through a combination of too many miles in too short a time, a dirty water filter, busted boots, and being out of shape everything just sort of fell apart after only a day and a half.

So for next year, plan small and walk big. Not the other way round.

Yosemite National Park

Last weekend I flew out to San Jose to meet Wyatt. He was already out there for business and suggested a trip into Yosemite. What a smashing idea it turned out to be.

See pics (volume 1) here:

Yosemite 2007, Volume 1

Both Yosemite Valley and Hetch Hetchy Valley are really too immense to be adequately expressed in either words or pictures. I'm sure there are plenty of places bigger and more impressive but this was my first experience with such immensity. I definitely have an itch to get back out there for some backcountry hiking and camping. I want to earn a view from the top of one of those big slabs of rock.

Volume 2 of the pics should find its way online next week after I get Wyatt's photos.

One more.

On our annual December trip to western North Carolina Becky and I went on a nice dayhike in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Really. We even have pictures to prove it!

Charlie's Bunyon

Momentum is the word of the moment.

Well since I wrote that last post I just couldn't help but go ahead and put up the other pictures.

Enjoy.

NAMMA Play

Procastination is the word of the day, in perpetuity.

So it has been quite a few months since I've posted anything. For those of you who actually read this, you know that I made it back from Cape Verde safely. I really haven't thought about the trip for a good long while. Once I returned there was just so much to get back into on the home front. Now that things are getting a little calmer I'm starting to look back on my adventures. In that spirit I've place another web album up from the trip. This one is focused on the actual work I did over there. So check it out. There's one more coming soon that features non-work and non-diving photos so stay tuned...

NAMMA Work