Saturday, September 24, 2005
posted 9/24/2005 02:29:00 AM UTC+12, McMurdo Local Time
L-Photo-resist etching circuit boards in the bathroom.
R-Jerry fitting boots at the outfitter.
Boy has it been a crazy week! Last Friday, Saturday, and Sunday I was working up at Mountain Crossings to fill in for my friend Cornbread and make some extra cash. Had a really good time working up at the shop, kind of miss working there fulltime! Sunday evening and most of Monday was spent designing and building a little USB<->IO interface that will eventually be used to run my dad's CNC table. It had been quite a while since dad or I had etched a PCB using photo-resist, and we somehow managed to forget/loose the recipe to make the developer for it, so really all of Sunday night was spent experimenting to get the technique down again. This time, we wrote everything down though, so that shouldn't happen again :)
Tuesday was travel day, dad gave me a lift down to North Springs Station, where I took the train down to the airport. Checked in and went through security without any issues, then waited for my plane to leave. The flight to Denver was on a smallish jet, and I had to sit with my largish carry-on (didn't check a bag this trip) between my legs and the seat in front. Not too comfortable, but it wasn't too bad and the flight was pretty quick. Met up with Molly at the airport in Denver, then we drove up to Boulder for food and visiting with friends. Molly had just finished with the last of her medical stuff to get PQed in Denver, so things worked out for her to meet me at the airport rather than taking the bus to Boulder. Things are sounding good with regards to her going down to Antarctica, so that's pretty neat!
Wednesday and Thursday were spent in Longmont running errands and getting things ready to go to Antarctica and New Zealand. When I got back, several packages were waiting for me from the last month including my paper itinerary for the flights from Denver to Christchurch! Also had some goodies for my bike arrive to get it ready for touring around NZ after I get done working in Antarctica. The only thing that hasn't gone smoothly over the last few days was getting a renewed driver's license, but it hasn't been bad. Basically, after waiting 45 minutes in line, I discovered that I'm being issued a 30 day temporary license before my new one gets mailed out in a few weeks. So, basically, I'm going to be using a temporary license to get me down to Antarctica, where it will expire, then sometime after that I will get my new license through the mail hopefully. Not sure how long I'm not going to have a valid driver's license, but I don't expect it will be a problem as I'll be on The Ice the entire time :)
So, that's about all for now, I'm about to bike over to Boulder to take care of some more stuff there. Tonight we're having a little get-together at one of my favorite restaurants in Boulder, which should be a lot of fun. Should be several people involved with the USAP as well, so it will be fun to meet some of the people that I'll be working with in under a week from now!
posted 9/24/2005 02:29:00 AM UTC+12, McMurdo Local Time
Mad dash to the finish!
 |  |
L-Photo-resist etching circuit boards in the bathroom.
R-Jerry fitting boots at the outfitter.
Boy has it been a crazy week! Last Friday, Saturday, and Sunday I was working up at Mountain Crossings to fill in for my friend Cornbread and make some extra cash. Had a really good time working up at the shop, kind of miss working there fulltime! Sunday evening and most of Monday was spent designing and building a little USB<->IO interface that will eventually be used to run my dad's CNC table. It had been quite a while since dad or I had etched a PCB using photo-resist, and we somehow managed to forget/loose the recipe to make the developer for it, so really all of Sunday night was spent experimenting to get the technique down again. This time, we wrote everything down though, so that shouldn't happen again :)
Tuesday was travel day, dad gave me a lift down to North Springs Station, where I took the train down to the airport. Checked in and went through security without any issues, then waited for my plane to leave. The flight to Denver was on a smallish jet, and I had to sit with my largish carry-on (didn't check a bag this trip) between my legs and the seat in front. Not too comfortable, but it wasn't too bad and the flight was pretty quick. Met up with Molly at the airport in Denver, then we drove up to Boulder for food and visiting with friends. Molly had just finished with the last of her medical stuff to get PQed in Denver, so things worked out for her to meet me at the airport rather than taking the bus to Boulder. Things are sounding good with regards to her going down to Antarctica, so that's pretty neat!
Wednesday and Thursday were spent in Longmont running errands and getting things ready to go to Antarctica and New Zealand. When I got back, several packages were waiting for me from the last month including my paper itinerary for the flights from Denver to Christchurch! Also had some goodies for my bike arrive to get it ready for touring around NZ after I get done working in Antarctica. The only thing that hasn't gone smoothly over the last few days was getting a renewed driver's license, but it hasn't been bad. Basically, after waiting 45 minutes in line, I discovered that I'm being issued a 30 day temporary license before my new one gets mailed out in a few weeks. So, basically, I'm going to be using a temporary license to get me down to Antarctica, where it will expire, then sometime after that I will get my new license through the mail hopefully. Not sure how long I'm not going to have a valid driver's license, but I don't expect it will be a problem as I'll be on The Ice the entire time :)
So, that's about all for now, I'm about to bike over to Boulder to take care of some more stuff there. Tonight we're having a little get-together at one of my favorite restaurants in Boulder, which should be a lot of fun. Should be several people involved with the USAP as well, so it will be fun to meet some of the people that I'll be working with in under a week from now!
