Randy Apodaca

I am home again and suffering extensively from jet-lag. I think a lot of it has to do with working nights for 6 weeks, but for some reason, jet-lag seems to hit me hardest upon return home!

Enough whining from me!

The trip to Germany was very productive and great fun. All of the groups that participated in the intercomparison this summer came together for a mini-conference to discuss results and ideas for publication. I got to learn a lot of cool things, particularly about biogenic organics… a subject I have not studied to any depth.

My trip to Jülich was routed through Paris and had an extensive lay-over built in. I hopped a train to the city center, saw a few sights, ate a meal, bought a few souvenirs (how appropriate being in France and all…), and then headed back to the airport. The bummer deal with this portion of the trip was that I had packed the camera in my checked bag, so no pics for this update. No big deal really, it was foggy and cold in Paris (right at 32F). I saw more of the Eiffel Tower from my plane than when I was standing right next to it.

Germany wasn’t all work either. Our incredible hosts had scheduled a couple of dinners and a trip to Aachen for the annual Weihnachtsmarkt (or Christmas Market). There are many street vendors, lots of food, and lots of hot spiced wine.

Here are a few of us in Aachen with our Glühwein. L to R is Jim (Heidelburg), Theo (one of the hosts from Jülich), Drew (Berkley), Steve (Boulder), Julie (Berkley).

I enjoyed the festival a great deal and was able to pick up a few Christmas gifts.

After the festival everyone gathered at a local restaurant for more drinks and a meal. They were serving off a special Christmas menu and the food was superb! I had rabbit…Mmmm!

Next week it is off to San Francisco. An annual gathering of science geeks for the American Geophysical Union. I’ll fit right in.  It should be fun as I was lucky enough to have a talk accepted and I should get to catch up with a couple of friends I made this summer. This time I will try to not pack the camera in the wrong place!

listening to: Gran Bel Fisher

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

Listening to:  Carbon Leaf

I have accumulated quite the collection of moose butt photos while living up here!

From the Random Thought File:

As you all can see by my website, I have an affinity for reading odd news articles. Here is the latest that caught my attention:

Express Yourself

Not an odd article, really, but I found it interesting as I have often wasted a few hours day dreaming about what I would put on a set of vanity plates.

I have checked the Alaska site and these are available:

NO3

NITR8

RADICAL

N2O5

(why the plates above would still be available is beyond me)

PENATR8

RED R8R

40 B LO

DOID (Short for Randoid, a nickname bestowed upon me by a few of my closest friends)

and several others…

I’ll probably have some spare time to think up a few more now that all of our field instruments are running! THANK-FREAKING-GOODNESS!

Any of you have any suggestions for my set of vanity plates?

From the Random Photo File:

Listening to: Gomez

Ok…I’ll admit…I am being a bit histrionic with this title, BUT, after spending a week and a half in my hut sniffing the air for dinitrogen pentoxide, I finally found some!…THEN…one of my instruments busted!

OK, busted might be overstating it a bit too, but for some reason it is not running right. So here it lies, in the lab, with its guts splayed-out for the entire interweb to see while I do a little exploratory surgery on it!

See those little people outside the window in the background? They are skiing…that is where I’d rather be…From time to time, when my instrument is frustrating me, I close one eye, holding my thumb and index finger in front of the other eye, I pretend to squish the skiers…paying them back for taunting me with all the fun they are having, but I digress!

Anyway, since I am the one that built the damn thing, hopefully I can figure out what is wrong with it and soon! Then I can stick it back out into the snow and ice and get back to work in my hut and think about something interesting to blog about…

In the meantime check out this article I found on the Drudge Report:

Human race will ’split into two different species’

Here’s a little snippet to get you interested…

“Men will have symmetrical facial features, deeper voices and bigger penises, according to Curry in a report commissioned for men’s satellite TV channel Bravo (my comment: Isn’t this the gay cable station?).

Women will all have glossy hair, smooth hairless skin, large eyes and pert breasts, according to Curry.”

As long as my genes don’t venture down the hobbit path, I’m down with it! I’m not opposed to “Bigger penises” and “pert breasts.”

Listening to: Garrison Star

–New feature: click on the “listening to” artist,create a free Pandora account and sample the music!

Oh, and don’t forget to checkout my blogroll over on the left. I have added a few new links and you might have some fun seeing what my friends are up to while I am slaving away at work. <Angry-pouty-face>