Monday, 25 March 2013
While I wait
Just have to love computer updates. As I sit here and write this inside at work I could be outside at my hotel enjoying the sunshine. Oh well, there is always tomorrow where I should be done work at 3-330 as I will be starting at 6:30 with some teleconferences... This 2-3 hrs time difference is tough when work expects you to still be able to support. Oh well, only a few more days then home for Easter.
The weekend was good, Gwen and I went to a street fair downtown with my colleague, Jason. It was pretty interesting, I've never seen a street fair that was at least 6 city blocks long... We had fun, enjoyed the sun and say some pretty cool things for sale. Gwen made the only purchase of a necklace that has interchangeable marbles to suit your outfit, very versatile.
Sunday we completely changed our plan. We went to Biosphere 2 that is run by the university of Arizona. This was really neat - it is a massive enclosed system with green houses, water and air to conduct, essentially, life size experiments with plants and ecosystems. Inside is over 3 acres of land with vegetation ranging from rainforest to desert - in total 5 different biomes.
The building was constructed in the late 1980s for the purpose of closed system research meaning it would be completely sealed to the outside world. The first experiment lasted 2 years (and 20 mins) and had 8 people living and working inside. The idea was that the facility would be readied for the next research cycle to last 1 year for a total of 100 years of research. However, the second expedition lasted only 6 months as the private enterprise that was funding the research realized that the 8 people inside had to work a total of 66 hrs a week each to maintain the plants and facility, leaving little room for research to be completed. This was tough to justify especially when the habitants had very low caloric intake (roughly 1500 calories a day compared to 2000 that typically have). So, they cancelled the project and instead opened it up to the other research groups, primarily universities.
After biosphere 2 we took a drive to ... COOLIDGE ARIZONA!
This was the smallest, probably most run down city I've seen, lol. It was pretty cool to see our name all over the place. Gwen took lots of photos while I drove around.
After Coolidge we drove back to Tucson and went to the west saguaro national park to see some cactus. We stayed there until sunset and then drove back into Tucson for dinner at red lobster.
This morning was early, dropping Gwen off at the airport for 6:20 so she could catch her flight home. Work was good, relatively quiet here but still somewhat productive.
Whatelse... 3 more updates to go....
Found out that Jason was quite the childhood prodigy. At 17 he was attending computer drafting courses and once he finished all the course work in 3 weeks he proceeded to work on his own designs and help other experienced designers in the class with their designs as well. He was so talented that he got recruited by a large aircraft engine OEM who funded all his university schooling in trade for the rights to a design patent that they are still working with today. Quite amazing.
Well, almost done the updates, hopefully Gwen uploads some photos to Facebook as she has all the pictures on her iPad and I need to transfer these over to my computer. Hope you all are doing well back home.
The weekend was good, Gwen and I went to a street fair downtown with my colleague, Jason. It was pretty interesting, I've never seen a street fair that was at least 6 city blocks long... We had fun, enjoyed the sun and say some pretty cool things for sale. Gwen made the only purchase of a necklace that has interchangeable marbles to suit your outfit, very versatile.
Sunday we completely changed our plan. We went to Biosphere 2 that is run by the university of Arizona. This was really neat - it is a massive enclosed system with green houses, water and air to conduct, essentially, life size experiments with plants and ecosystems. Inside is over 3 acres of land with vegetation ranging from rainforest to desert - in total 5 different biomes.
The building was constructed in the late 1980s for the purpose of closed system research meaning it would be completely sealed to the outside world. The first experiment lasted 2 years (and 20 mins) and had 8 people living and working inside. The idea was that the facility would be readied for the next research cycle to last 1 year for a total of 100 years of research. However, the second expedition lasted only 6 months as the private enterprise that was funding the research realized that the 8 people inside had to work a total of 66 hrs a week each to maintain the plants and facility, leaving little room for research to be completed. This was tough to justify especially when the habitants had very low caloric intake (roughly 1500 calories a day compared to 2000 that typically have). So, they cancelled the project and instead opened it up to the other research groups, primarily universities.
After biosphere 2 we took a drive to ... COOLIDGE ARIZONA!
This was the smallest, probably most run down city I've seen, lol. It was pretty cool to see our name all over the place. Gwen took lots of photos while I drove around.
After Coolidge we drove back to Tucson and went to the west saguaro national park to see some cactus. We stayed there until sunset and then drove back into Tucson for dinner at red lobster.
This morning was early, dropping Gwen off at the airport for 6:20 so she could catch her flight home. Work was good, relatively quiet here but still somewhat productive.
Whatelse... 3 more updates to go....
Found out that Jason was quite the childhood prodigy. At 17 he was attending computer drafting courses and once he finished all the course work in 3 weeks he proceeded to work on his own designs and help other experienced designers in the class with their designs as well. He was so talented that he got recruited by a large aircraft engine OEM who funded all his university schooling in trade for the rights to a design patent that they are still working with today. Quite amazing.
Well, almost done the updates, hopefully Gwen uploads some photos to Facebook as she has all the pictures on her iPad and I need to transfer these over to my computer. Hope you all are doing well back home.
Saturday, 23 March 2013
Greetings from sunny Arizona
Well blog followers, I hear you are on the edge of your seats waiting for updates.
Gwen arrived safe and sound yesterday early afternoon. I finished work early as I was at work early and then we spent some time by the pool. Gwen already has a little sunburn...
We met one of my colleagues, Jason, for dinner at a place called Jonathan's Cork. They had great steak and according to Gwen and Jason, great steak and lobster too. After dinner we went to a pub near the university before calling it a night at 11:00.
Today we are going to go to a street fair downtown called 4th Avenue street fair. It should be a good time, weather is 24*C and sunny today. Afterwards we don't really have plans yet. Maybe some more exploring, I haven't really explored downtown Tucson too much.
As for tomorrow, I'm not sure what our plan will be yet. We might do some exploring outside of Tucson, don't worry we will stay in the US ;).
Here are some pictures from Gwen's camera yesterday.
#1 is of the scenery as you leave the airport. 2 is us ready to go to dinner. 3 is the Pima Air and Space Museum. 4 is the urban sights in Tucson. 5 is your favourite married couple. And 6 is Jason's car, it's pretty fast.
Hope you are all keeping warm in Manitoba.
Gwen arrived safe and sound yesterday early afternoon. I finished work early as I was at work early and then we spent some time by the pool. Gwen already has a little sunburn...
We met one of my colleagues, Jason, for dinner at a place called Jonathan's Cork. They had great steak and according to Gwen and Jason, great steak and lobster too. After dinner we went to a pub near the university before calling it a night at 11:00.
Today we are going to go to a street fair downtown called 4th Avenue street fair. It should be a good time, weather is 24*C and sunny today. Afterwards we don't really have plans yet. Maybe some more exploring, I haven't really explored downtown Tucson too much.
As for tomorrow, I'm not sure what our plan will be yet. We might do some exploring outside of Tucson, don't worry we will stay in the US ;).
Here are some pictures from Gwen's camera yesterday.
#1 is of the scenery as you leave the airport. 2 is us ready to go to dinner. 3 is the Pima Air and Space Museum. 4 is the urban sights in Tucson. 5 is your favourite married couple. And 6 is Jason's car, it's pretty fast.
Hope you are all keeping warm in Manitoba.
Wednesday, 20 March 2013
Fastest flight ever
So apparently I flew over 32,000 Kms from Montreal to Denver in about 4 hrs. That's 8,000 km/h. I didn't realize we broke the sound barrier by about 6 times... Lol, good old Airshow glitch...
No troubles on my flights. It is weird being 3 hrs behind in one work day. Luckily I'm only going to do a bit more work outside then relax a bit. And figure out dinner plans...
No troubles on my flights. It is weird being 3 hrs behind in one work day. Luckily I'm only going to do a bit more work outside then relax a bit. And figure out dinner plans...
Going to Tucson again
Well I've had enough of the snow and cold so I decided I should go to Tucson for a bit where the weather is 27*C and sunny. I wish...
I need to go to Tucson and spend some time on site, bring the medevac project back on track and open lines of communication. Luckily my time there spans a weekend so Gwen will fly down and get to enjoy some southern Arizona weather. From Tucson I will fly back to Winnipeg for Easter and then unsure where I'm going from there.
The lineups to clear US customs is super long for this early in the morning, wow. Apparently the budget cuts by the government is hitting them hard here.
Anyways, going to be a long 27 hr day as I gain 3 more hours traveling west. No plans for when I get in other than send a few emails based on work I get done on the flight. Then, relax a bit I hope.
I need to go to Tucson and spend some time on site, bring the medevac project back on track and open lines of communication. Luckily my time there spans a weekend so Gwen will fly down and get to enjoy some southern Arizona weather. From Tucson I will fly back to Winnipeg for Easter and then unsure where I'm going from there.
The lineups to clear US customs is super long for this early in the morning, wow. Apparently the budget cuts by the government is hitting them hard here.
Anyways, going to be a long 27 hr day as I gain 3 more hours traveling west. No plans for when I get in other than send a few emails based on work I get done on the flight. Then, relax a bit I hope.
Tuesday, 19 March 2013
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