2012: Year in Review

January: I posted about my book reading goals for the year and complained about how hot Sydney was. Oh, the irony!

February:  We went to Japan, where we skied, visited many cultural sites, stayed in a Japanese guest house, and pretended we were ninjas. I continued my reading plans.

March: I didn't post anything in March, I think because I was too busy applying for jobs!

April: Ethan and I took our last major trip in Australia to Uluru (Ayer's Rock). We saw a dingo, but no babies were stolen.

May:   I announced that we were returning to the States, but I didn't yet have a job. I pondered the future of the blog. I also posted my spider stories from Australia. I do not miss the giant creepy crawlies one bit!

June:  We returned to the U.S. I was surprised to find that Alaska hadn't changed much. By this time, I'd gotten my new job at the National Weather Service Alaska Regional Headquarters.

July:  We visited our good friends Heidi and Dan and lived "off the grid" for about a week. I missed having running water a lot. I also lost my camera cord.

August:  I visited my family in Florida and Virginia. I saw an armadillo and manatees. We started looking for houses, and I started my new job. Signs of fall started appearing in the end of August. And I got a new phone, so pictures started appearing again. Ethan and I went hiking with our friend Robin.

September: We visited Chicago over Labor Day weekend, where I stuffed myself silly and saw my favorite paintings in the art museum. I read a really terrible book and laughed about it. We got termination dust on the mountains.I started my watercolor class and shared my first paintings with you. I updated you on my reading list. And we finally got our stuff!

October:  We started playing board games with our friend Robin. I saw the Aurora for the first time since I'd been back and managed to actually get a picture of it. I shared my continued artistic attempts. I posted about Hurricane Sandy.

November:  another month with no posts, because we were too busy moving into our new house!

December: We had an earthquake, which merited a post about the '64 Alaska quake.

Honestly, this year was pretty stressful for us, both good and bad stress. I was trying to be positive the whole time, so I didn't post about a lot of things. I'll summarize what all happened:

We moved internationally
I changed jobs -- with much uncertainty, as one job was ending and I didn't have another lined up for quite a while
Ethan's mother remarried rather unexpectedly
We bought a house, but in the meantime we lived in a "temporary" situation for 5 months
We bought a new car
My sister had a healthy baby girl, although she had health concerns as she reached the end of pregnancy
Ethan's sister in law had a kidney removed due to a cancerous tumor, with positive results

Anyway, that's why I've been pretty sporadic posting this year. At one point, I was attempting to post once a week, which went well until we moved into our new house and my priorities changed quite a bit. I'm hoping that now that we're settled in, I can get into more of a routine again. And, I'm also hoping that 2013 is a much calmer year!

I wish you all a happy and healthy 2013!

Busy-ness

In the spirit of keeping you up to date with my every day life, I thought I would let you know what’s been going on with me and my work. When I got the contract to work for the BOM, I thought I might get an opportunity to work in a position embedded in the state fire agency. Back in February, that position opened up, and I seriously considered applying for it, but decided against it for two reasons: 1) I was worried about the commute and 2) it would have taken me out of the forecast office and I really wanted to broaden my forecasting skills.

Fortunately, I have gotten a chance to work there anyway for the past few months in the interim before the new person arrives, and it’s been a good experience. I’ve been working on the Fire Weather Training program, which is something I really enjoy, and I have really liked the day shift schedule. However, the commute sucks. I have to take the bus to the train station, take the train out to the burbs, and then get on another bus to get to the office. Between all the walking, transporting and transferring, I spend about an hour and a half getting to work. It wears me out. I don’t think I could have maintained working at this job and living where we do long term. 

I did try to ride my bike to the train station and then take my bike on the train a couple of times. It saved me a lot of time by cutting out some of the transfer stuff. However, it was about 12 miles round trip, in rush hour traffic, and between that and the work day, I didn’t feel any less worn out. Plus, taking my bike on the train was no barrel of monkeys either. I was travelling against traffic, so the train wasn’t too full, but the set up is not ideal (there’s one small area that I had to share with people with strollers, suitcases, and wheelchairs) and I still had to navigate Central Station with my bike. As a result, I haven’t done it since, and I just get fatter and fatter because by the time I get home at night I’m too worn out to work out, and it’s dark, and waking up any earlier than I have to (5 a.m., currently) just isn’t going to happen.

So that’s what’s happening with work. I’m enjoying this opportunity, and it is pretty much the exact experience I wanted. And, the short time frame means that I can tolerate this ridiculous commute business for just a little while longer. Then it’s back to my regular job, which will be good for my forecasting skills. Plus, it will be good to work with my forecasting coworkers, who are a lot of fun.

2010: Year in Review

January:  I got a Wii as a graduation present from my folks.  I went skiing a bunch of times.  I announced that we were looking to move out of AK, and that we were going to buy a house when we do.
February:  I complained about reading Walden.  I went on a diet.  I started posting about my interest in permaculture.  I finished Walden, and ended up liking it.
March:  I baked lots of bread from my favorite bread book.  I posted one of the awesome Mt. Susitna webcam images.  I whinged about missing a speech by the author of my favorite permaculture book, and I talked about one of the foremost women in Atmospheric Science, Joanne Malkus Simpson.
April:  I went to Virginia to visit my relatives, and posted that I had big news upcoming soon.
May:  I announced our upcoming move to Sydney!  I complained about decluttering and getting my visa.  I attempted to explain the Australia healthcare system (which I am no more knowledgeable about now that I live here).  I acknowledged that I was going to miss Alaska.  My visa arrived and I resigned from the National Weather Service.
June:  We went on a rafting trip down the Chulitna, where my boat flipped and I ended up floating down a glacial river.  Scary!  Next thing you know, I was packing up and moving on.  I arrived in Sydney and went to see the light show downtown and Manly Beach.  I unsuccessfully looked for an apartment and got discouraged by Sydney prices.  Back in Alaska, Ethan got punched in the face.
July:  I found a great apartment only 10 minutes from the beach!  I checked out the Royal Botanical Gardens, and got up close and friendly with bats and cockatoos.    I heard my first Kookaburra and bought tickets to see one of my favorite bands, The Eels.
August:  I went to Cockatoo Island to see an art show. At Featherdale Animal Park, I petted koalas and kangaroos. The Eels concert rocked.  The Australia election happened and I attempted to explain Australian politics. I went on a ski trip to Perisher Valley and got to visit Canberra in the process.
September:  I joined GoGet car share, took a bike riding class, and planted my garden.  I posted pictures of the beach I live near (looking back at those pictures, I can't believe how empty the beach is!).  I went bushwalking with my coworker and her husband through the glorious spring bush.  Ethan and Fievel arrived safely.
October:  I started my worm farm.  My garden started growing.  We made our first attempt at home brew.  We visited Taronga Zoo.  I did a post on water for Blog Action Day.  Fievel came home.  We enjoyed fish and chips at Watson's Bay and hiked past a nude beach.  We hosted a Halloween party, and people actually came in costume!
November:  Ethan and I went camping, sans camera card, where we saw kangaroos and possums in the wild.  I butchered Ethan's hair.  We did the Sculpture By the Sea walk.  My garden started producing, and dying at the same time.
December:  I did a 6-month in Australia update.  I posted about how weird it was to have Christmas in the middle of summer.  I went to the community garden for the first time and really enjoyed it.

Looking back, this has been a year full of unforeseen changes!  Back in January I had no idea I would be moving to Australia for the adventure of a lifetime (joke's on me about buying a house, huh)?  Although I've been a bit lax about posting in December, I hope to find some time to post more in the New Year (including those beer posts Uncle Carl asked for)!  May you all have a safe and happy New Year!

The More You Know: Famous Women in Science

Here's an interesting obituary on Joanne Malkus Simpson, one of the foremost women in Atmospheric Science. Seriously, I wish I were that awesome.

You may recognize her name as one of the inventors of the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale.

And the fish moves on...

Well, I've been Wiing and skiing, so I haven't had much time to update the blog. Plus, I don't have school to complain about anymore, so now...*crickets chirp*

Ha ha, just kidding, there's plenty going on. Skiing has been fun. We went down to Alyeska for New Years and got to watch the torchlight parade. It was really neat, but my pictures were kind of disappointing. So there's that.

I have been wanting to post some of my goals for this year, but we haven't really made a time to sit down and make goals. Part of that is due to the fact that we always sit down with Ethan's mom, and we've been too busy to get together with her. Also, through a miscommunication, she took 140,000 of our airline miles, so Ethan's been irritated. But anyway.

But here's some news for you: I am looking for a job in the Lower 48. That's about all I'm going to say about it, because I don't want to go through all the drama of applying and getting rejected here. Just suffice to say that if we're moving, I'll let you know.

In other, related news, this is the year we buy a house! No, really. We'll either buy a place if we move, or, if I can't get a job Outside by the fall, we'll buy one here. So yay for houses!

So that's kind of it for now. Today is a nice day and I'm planning to go cross-country skiing this afternoon with Ethan. After someone comes to pick up our fish tank, the moving of which I am dreading. But at least then my fish will go to a home where hopefully, his owner will clean the tank on a regular basis. Lazy owners are no good for fish.

Uh, I dunno, you decide

Well, my weekend was pretty good. Not too exciting, but moderately fun. Saturday night I went to see Knocked Up, which was pretty funny. I really liked the characterizations of the father and his friends, I guess because I have known people just like that. Then yesterday, I went to my friend's barbecue. I had told her that it might be rainy, but on Saturday, the weather looked all right. So I said "Oh I think it will be showery, but you know, not too bad." Famous last words (you would think I would learn about this stuff, but I never do). I woke up Sunday morning to a torrential downpour. Whoops. So we did what Alaskans do best in this type of situation: put on our raincoats, and had the barbecue in the rain. She had rented a shelter, so it wasn't like we were actually out standing in it. And the kids all got a kick out of playing in the mud. So all in all, it actually went pretty well.

In other news, I have signed up for a graduate course. Breathe, breathe, okay, don't panic, you can do this, it's a lot of money but you can do this.... I have mixed emotions about all this, which is why I've only signed up for one class and haven't applied for the degree yet. If I complete the program, I'll have an MS in Science Management -- in other words, a Project Management degree for science-types like me. I think that will help me get promoted sometime in the far, far off future. But like I said, it's a lot of money. And frankly, the classes look a little boring. I would rather be taking Japanese, but the classes conflict.

So that brings me to another dilemma: I actually signed up for Japanese 102 this summer (again!). But if I'm not going to be able to take 201 in the fall, is it worth an extra $600 for the class? I just don't know. Everyone keeps suggesting I get the Rosetta stone. Well, I hate to say it, but I'm just not self-motivated enough to do a class without a teacher. I need a schedule, with tests, and money that I paid for it so I don't just blow it off to go drink beer.

I guess all this graduate degree stuff is just raising some big questions in my mind. Do I want to stay in my current career field? Will I ever get better bosses? Will I ever start to care again? What would I do if I quit? What if I do quit and I can't get a good job with good benefits? How could I support my family without job-sponsored healthcare, if that happens? Do I really want to give up on the meteorology dream, even though it hasn't panned out the way I would hope?

Argh. This being an adult stuff sucks.

That's the way it crumbles, cookie-wise

Today I went back to my old intern days and launched the weather balloon. The reason I did this is because I need to maintain my certification, because one of the current interns is quitting. "If that's what you call it" he says. I hate to tell ya buddy, but just because the boss says you're "resigning" doesn't make it any different. Quitting, resigning, it's all the same thing. You're no longer working here.

I'm afraid I wasn't my usual self (friendly, chatty, mediocrely nice) because, well, I'm so jealous I can't see straight. He is quitting for some of the same reasons that I am so frustrated with this job -- stagnation, lack of leadership, an office that's not going in a direction that interests him, and the suckiness of shiftwork. But I'm still working, and he's leaving. Freedom!

Of course, freedom comes with a price (it always does). He doesn't have a job lined up. And let's face it, that's a big reason I don't quit. I have no idea what I would do instead that would actually support the family. Another big reason is that I really don't want to give up. This is a good job -- it pays well, it's fairly easy and the benefits are great. I've wanted to be a meteorologist for years. I paid time and money for the college to get here. So I don't want to just throw that all away.

But I just feel so stagnant in this office. My promotion possibilities are: Lead Forecaster, which is a crappier schedule, no more responsibility, and crappier shift duties. Sure, it makes more money, but that doesn't really get me any closer to my goal, which is a job I could actually see myself doing in 20 or 30 years. I'm tired of this shiftwork gig. This morning I woke up at 4:30, because my sleep schedule was all screwed up with the night shifts the past few days. And then, because I woke up so early and was so tired (but couldn't fall back to sleep), I felt sick all morning. This happens more and more frequently the longer I spend doing shiftwork.

I would like to get promoted to management. But first I need to move to another office, hopefully find a better Lead Forecaster position there, and possibly get a Masters degree. And to do all that, I have to wait. Wait for my husband to come home, wait for him to finish his stint with BP, wait for some other office to actually hire me.

I know, I know, that no matter what I will have issues with any office I go to. I know that I'm getting all worked up over nothing and that I should count my blessings. I know that it might just take a little more work for me to be where I want to be, both career-wise and mental-health-wise. But when I see my coworker take the easy route, I just get jealous. I'm tired of paying my dues, dammit!

Stepping up on the Soapbox (long!)

Ethan forwarded me an e-mail from his friend about this article: http://www.geocraft.com/WVFossils/ice_ages.html

It was an article arguing against global warming; it started out as an article saying that the proponents of global warming (scientists/government) were alarmist, but then rapidly moved into full-on "this is why there is no global warming". Here is my response:

Hmmm, interesting article. I am thinking about posting about it on my blog. I think it does a good job of demonstrating how you can manipulate the data to support either side of the argument. However, I wouldn't really advise basing any opinions on this article. For one thing, it's obviously very biased as well. Liberal use of quotations, such as in the phrases "global cooling", "global warming" and "scientists" belie the fact that the author is trying to sway the reader toward the opposite end of the argument. I personally took issue with the use of the phrase "scientists". For the most part, the scientists who are conducting the studies or are on advisory panels are actually scientists, with advanced degrees in climatology, or atmospheric chemistry or related subjects. I found this sentence rather ironic: "Unfortunately, a lot of disinformation about where Earth's climate is heading is being propagated by 'scientists' who use improper statistical methods, short-term temperature trends, or faulty computer modesl to make analytical and anecdotal projections about the significance of man-made influences to Earth's climate." Beside the fact that the author is guilty of some of the very same "improper statistical methods", as far as I can tell, he has absolutely no background in atmospheric sciences, much less an advanced degree. In fact, he seems to have a vested interest in fossil fuels (I have found some uncorraborated statements that he actually works for the WV Office of Miner Safety)!

Now, let me address some of the statistical issues with the article. While plenty of what he has to say is indeed fact (he has not lied outright, as far as I can tell), he does not paint the whole picture. For example, he states that "U.S. Temperatures show no significant warming trend over the past 100 years". This was actually taken from another article/blog to which he does indeed give credit. Both authors neglect to examine the fact that the U.S. has not been reliably cataloguing data for the past 100 years. While there were a few reliable stations 100 years ago, data collecting methods have changed significantly since then, and the observation network has also increased. To use an example that's close to home, most Alaska stations did not report temperature 100 years ago. To compare an observation trend over a period where the number of data points varies so greatly is not a very accurate statistical analysis. He in fact, admits this about 3 sentences later, when he says "...these reports are generally founded on ground-based temperature readings, which are misleading." So in the same paragraph, he has used the data to prove his point (that U.S. temperatures are not rising) and then argued that it's not useable!

I would also argue that due to the fact that the author have an atmospheric background, he is not able to effectively argue his point. He spoke of a study by Dr. Patrick Michaels (an actual climatologist/atmospheric scienctist) that indicates that the increase in temperature at land-based stations is due to to the "urban heat island" effect. While this is a good argument, there is no mention of the possibility that increased urbanization has actually had an effect on the radiation budget. The radiation that is reflected from asphalt and concrete does not simply escape out to space, as implied. Some portion of it is in fact, reabsorbed by the atmosphere. Perhaps this had been addressed by Dr. Michaels, I don't know. However, it doesn't support Mr. Heib's argument (or more probably, he is unaware of the subtleties of microclimate) and so it isn't mentioned.

I could actually tear apart this article paragraph by paragraph, but I won't. What I will say is that he is right on one thing -- the data can be, and often is manipulated to prove a point. The ultimate say on global warming is that we simply do not have enough data to indicate whether our current warming trend is a phenomenon caused or affected by humans. Our presence on earth is a blip on the timeline, and our scientific window is even smaller than that. Regarding Scott's comment that he doesn't "need propaganda from governments supporting a cause via scare tactics", this article does nothing to prove or disprove the use of government scare tactics, and based on the scientific (not factual) inaccuracies, I would not deem this author a reliable source for knowing "the truth about global warming".

As an aside: there are theories that indicate humans have been modifying the climate since they ever set foot on the planet -- in other words, long before the industrial revolution. But again, it has not yet been proved or disproved either way.

I neglected to mention a few other issues I have with the article: 1) most scientists are not necessarily concerned with the rise in temperature, but the rate at which the temperature is rising. The rapid rate increase in global temperatures is not equivalent to anything scientists have been able to find in pre-Industrial revolution history. The article did not mention this at all. 2) The article mentioned two sources of data for indication of a rise in global temperature: surface based obs (which I addressed) and satellite data. Regardless of the fact that I'm not sure he can support his statement about satellite data, he also neglected to mention other indications of rising temperatures: rapid glacial/ice cap melting, northward progression of the boreal forest, decreasing permafrost and changes in the fat stores of certain animal populations, to name a few.

Anyway, if you've stuck with me this long I appreciate it. Suffice to say that I think Mr. Heib's article is a bunch of crap.

See, this why I should so TOTALLY get my Master's in climatology -- I love this stuff!

Hmmmm.

Well, I just got an e-Vite from K to her martini party this Saturday. I thought I had not been invited to that, but I guess she hadn't sent out the invitations yet. I guess I should have been nicer about her. I don't know if I'll go or not. I have to leave early the next morning for a business trip, but if I don't take people up on their invites I can't complain about not having any friends.

I have been trying to start learning PERL this morning. I asked my boss where it was on our system. So he told me where to find it, but he didn't tell me how to get there (like how to get into the program). I didn't want to admit to him that I didn't know, so I swallowed my pride and asked my coworker. I felt really dumb, even though he was nice about it. I think I'm in way over my head here.

La la la la la la

So I actually got that course my boss originally signed me up for in August, and I bought some books on PERL. I think my boss was mad that I didn't come to him and ask to borrow his books, but I thought that if I'm actually going to be doing coding, it might be nice to have some books of my own around for reference. Also, I don't know how helpful a book written in 1997 would be; the programming environment can be pretty dynamic.

All this has brought up some conflicting emotions however. I'm excited to be learning something new, especially something seen as "smart" or "difficult" by those who don't know how to do it. After all, I am an intellectual snob. Also, I think this will diversify my skills and make it easier for me to find other jobs in other offices. However, I am worried about being pigeonholed into the role of programmer instead of forecaster in my office. For example, there is a lady who works here who used to be a forecaster. Once she got into the LINUX programming, though, she got stuck in there for the rest of her career. That's fine for her because that's what she likes. But I'm not sure I want to be a computer programmer for the rest of my life. Then again, this lady works M-F, 9 to 5, which is very appealing. So I don't know how I feel about all this. I guess the best tactic is to go full force, take advantage of this opportunity and learn these skills, and then see how and where I want to use them.

On a totally unrelated note, I have this song stuck in my head that I learned when I was at summer camp approximately 17 years ago. Why on earth did it pop up now, and when oh when will it go away?

Self-Improvement

So, my boss is encouraging me to learn PERL scripting by this summer. I think it will be good for my career; it will set me apart from other forecasters when I try to get a promotion or a job in another office.

However, I'm a little unsure about the best way to go about learning PERL. I'm not sure how much books will help me, and the office can't really afford to send me to a special class....I guess I'll have to do some research on this one.

I won! I won, I won, I won!

Two posts in one day! How did you get so lucky?

I just came back from the Anchorage Meteorological Society meeting. The AMS is basically a club for weather enthusiasts and professionals. Our Anchorage Chapter has meetings about once a month, with a hiatus in the summer.

Anyway, this meeting was really cool. We have guest speakers at all our meetings except the special Christmas one, and today's speaker was Fred Hirschmann, who does aurora photography. He showed us a lot of really cool pictures and talked about space weather (he actually recommended the NASA link I have on the sidebar). For those of you who don't know, space weather is forecasting things like the solar wind stream, solar flares, etc. There are lots of different phenomenon that can affect us here on earth, and in ways besides producing auroral displays. For example, a solar flare can cause such an electric charge in the atmosphere that it can actually overload power grids. There was one the 70s? (not sure of the date) that actually took out most of the power on the east coast. Anyway, these things also produce auroral displays, so he talked about what levels of the different measurments (solar wind, types of flares, interplanetary magnetic field, etc) make an auroral display more likely.

We also had a photo contest. I did not win, but there were a lot of really great photographs. It was a really basic contest. Everyone just voted for the photo they liked the best, with no real criteria. It was a neat way to look at some cool photographs taken by people in the AMS.

The other really cool thing about the meeting is that I won a prize in the forecast contest! We have a contest every year that you pay to enter, and there are 5 or 6 parameters that you forecast for the winter. I actually won last year too, when I had the closest guess for winter low temperature. This year I had the closest guess for winter high. I guessed 45 F on Dec 12th...we actually hit 45 on Dec 8th and 9th. My prize was a NOAA weather radio, which automatically alerts you when there is a weather/tsunami/civil defense warning in your area. That is going to drive EAF nuts and I can't wait! :)

Anyway, winning a parameter of the forecast contest two years in a row is kind of cool. It's all kind of a guess, really, because "forecasting" specific numbers like that several months in advance is not very exact. But I looked at climatology, what the highs and lows last year were and when they occured, and compared this year's weather pattern so far with last year's to determine whether I thought the value would be similar, higher or lower. And that technique seems to be working, for now.

All in all, a good meeting!

You Can Dance If You Want To

On to bigger and better things (than the reunion that is).

E and I have made a little bet. The story behind this is that my motivation to work out has been severly lacking lately. E told me that on Jan 2, he has to take his Army physical fitness test and he wants to acheive a perfect score -- a 300. So, I thought, this might be a good way to motivate myself: give myself a goal to acheive. I told E that I would try to take the test on Jan 2 as well (well, you know, just do the same activities and tell him what my "score" was) and that I would like to score 300 as well. As further motivation and to force him to hold me accountable, I convinced him that if I make a perfect score, he's going to send me a souvenir from Kuwait. Well, the souvenir is his idea. I just said "what are you going to give me if I do this?"

So now, I'm motivated. This will not be easy however. For women my age, the perfect score means running 2 miles in 15:46, doing 82 situps and 50 pushups, with 2 minutes for each event. Last week I ran a practice test and scored 150. I was at about 50% with the pushups and the situps -- 40 situps and 25 pushups. I also forgot that you really need to have someone hold your feet or find something to put them under to do the situps, so that hurt my score. (Seriously, try doing a full sit-up with your feet flailing around in the air. It's nearly impossible). My challenge will be the run -- right now I'm at 19:02, so I need to cut off 3 minutes, which is a long time! But I have calculated a little training plan, which should get me to 8:00 miles in 8 weeks.

The next challenge for me is to find time to work out. My afternoons are so full, I have trouble working out and maintaining my social schedule. Today I was supposed to watch Gray's Anatomy with the Army wives. But I did not manage to get up early enough to go work out, so I've got to work out after work, which kind of precludes Gray's Anatomy. I could just skip it. But I actually look forward to Thursday evenings, so I'm disappointed. I think I might see if I can show up a little late. I just need to get my act together and start getting up earlier, I think.

At work today, we had a lengthy discussion about various dances from the '80s and '90s. I mentioned the time my coworker tricked me into doing the Running Man at work. I was talking about how I used to make fun of my sister's friend, who really screwed up the Running Man. A said "The Running Man? What's that?" I said, "Oh, you know, that dance from the early '90s." and he said "No....I don't remember". So I said, "Sure you do. It goes like this:" and proceeded to demonstrate. Of course, A started cracking up. I said "What?!?" and he said "Of course I know how to do the Running Man. I just wanted to see if I could get you to do it. And you don't even do it right!" Of course, he would not demonstrate the "correct" way.

Anyway, so we were looking for old dance moves online, and I found this. It takes a little while to load but is extremely worth it. This guy rocks. For your viewing pleasure -- The Robot.

I am so smart! S-M-R-T!

Excerpt from a letter to Ethan:

Today I had a big talk with Bossman about my Individual Development Plan (career goals, etc). We talked a lot about my personal projects for the next year, but also we talked long term. He encouraged me to further my education by combining a meteorology degree with an emphasis in programming....I don't know how I feel about programming in particular. I'm not that interested in running models. However, I could see doing computer programming to make data available to the public, or creating a new webpage or something....computer programming with an emphasis in customer service, I guess. Anyway, Bossman was talking about several options. He's trying to encourage the region to open some slots to send local meteorologists to grad school in the Lower 48. Not for free, but a leave of absence type thing, or a 20-20 program, where you work 20 hrs a week and go to school 20. The 20-20 program would be something I would have to do here, but he said there would be options with some people over at UAA and I could create a designer degree.

I mentioned that we might want to move to the Lower 48, and he said that would be easier and better for my career. However if I wanted to stay here, there are possibilities for obtaining an advanced degree. All this was said in context of me possibly getting a MIC job (Meteorologist In Charge) one day. Bossman said he could see me being an MIC eventually....which is pretty cool, because I think I would be good at that. That's long term, though. He also said that I have a natural aptitude for the technology. So that made me feel really smart.

We also talked about the class I was supposed to get this upcoming year. I don't know if I talked to you about this, but he told me he had signed me up for an AWIPS Applications Development course (AWIPS is our LINUX-based graphics system). Then recently, I was looking at the regional list of people signed up to go to things, and I saw that S was signed up to go to that course, which made me mad. I mean, I understand if there's a better choice, or I don't get a course. That's okay, because not everyone gets to go to training every year. Just don't tell me I'm going, and then not send me, you know? Anyway, Bossman said that region had made that choice, and that there will be other opportunities and that I will get to go this year. What I inferred from that was that he was overridden by region and he wasn't too happy about it. I think if another slot comes open, they will send me, and he thinks one will probably open. However, I know that may not be the case, so if I don't get to go, I understand. But it makes me feel better that Bossman didn't lie to me; region just made a different choice and Bossman is going to bat for me. So this means I need to do some background work on the computer language.

All this boils down to a couple of things: 1) I'm feeling a little more confident about the job I'm doing and where I'm going with my career; 2) I may look into some computer programming courses for the spring (perhaps online courses, since unlike Japanese, I won't need to be in attendance) and 3) I guess I am getting into this computer and technology stuff, and that's not entirely a bad thing.

I really hope all this computer programming works out in a way I want it to. I feel so smart that people think I'm capable of becoming some sort of programmer, even if it's just pretty stuff like web design.

Amusement

While surfing on digs, I found that someone had taken pictures of me at work! Here I am, checking out today's forecast for Ohio:


Jeez, looks like I need to cut back on the cookies!

And here I am with the boss. As you can see, I get a little nervous when he checks over my forecast:



To give credit where credit is due, all these pictures are courtesy of Photographing Squirrels.

Why my job is more interesting than yours

The story you are about to hear is true. The name has been omitted, mostly so I don't get in trouble.

On Friday when I came in, my boss told me "you probably aren't going to get much help from the office at St. Paul today". St. Paul is this island that's about 20 miles wide way out in the middle of the Bering Sea. It is one of the most isolated places in Alaska. There is a little town of about 200 or 300 people there, but you can never ever get away from them. The weather is gray and rainy or snowy probably 300 days a year, and windy as hell probably 250 days a year. It is one of the most wretched places on earth.

Anyway, so I said "What's up with St. Paul?" Well, apparantly, on Thursday night, our office stopped getting weather observations from them. So they IM'd the forecaster, but he never responded (which is typical at any site, these guys are usually watching t.v. or something). Then the balloon launch data never came in. So our office tried to call theirs......and never got an answer. They called the guy in charge (at home, at 4 a.m; you can bet how that went over) and told him "hey, we can't get ahold of your guy".

Well, the boss guy went out to the office, and found out that no one was there. The forecaster's coat was still there, but the gov't vehicle was missing and all the weather equipment was smashed! So the boss guy called the police, who called the federal marshals since there was gov't property involved, and started looking for the forecaster.

Apparantly, sometime between 2 and 4, this guy freaked out. I mean, freaked out. He beat the observing equipment and the balloon launching equipment (expensive although outdated scientific stuff) with a fire extinguisher, drove to the Coast Guard station, bashed in their equipment, and then went home. Because, really, where else are you going to go after you go on a rampage on an island that's 20 miles wide? So the federal marshals arrested him and sent him on a plane back to Anchorage.

And that's all we know. It's a court case now, so no one can really talk about what happened. What the hell makes someone snap like that at 2 a.m.? I kind of imagine it went something like this "Dum de dum dum.....I'll just tie the string on the weather balloon now.....oh no, it broke.....AND WE'RE OUT OF STRING! THIS GODDAMN PIECE OF SHIT! I CAN'T TAKE THIS ANYMORE!" *violent crashing and banging accompanied by the Psycho theme song*

The weirdest part is that he was actually scheduled to go on leave this week to get married. Um, think that wedding is off? I told E that if he wants to bail on the wedding, that he should do it now and not let me know by rampaging against the weather observing equipment.

Don't you wish you had my job?

Worst Forecaster Ever

Holy crap. What a bad night. My forecast yesterday was the WORST EVER. Ok, except for the time I forecasted the tornado (we didn't get one). Or the time I didn't forecast 28 inches of snow in 12 hours (need I tell you that we got it?).

But yeah, my forecast for Bethel was "Mostly sunny. North wind 25 to 35 mph." I came in to a raging blizzard. Mostly sunny MY ASS!

Oh and for Dillingham? I forecast 6 to 8 inches of snow--yeah, they got 12 hours of freezing rain. Terrible! So basically, I totally screwed the pooch yesterday.

They should take away my forecasting merit badge. Too bad I don't actually have one.

Guaranteed 2 dress sizes smaller in three days! Ha ha!

Yeah, so we didn't do the Crow Pass hike this weekend. After I spent my Friday laying around moaning and throwing up intermittently, E decided he didn't want to run the risk of coming down with The Black Plague at mile 13. It was good we didn't go, because I didn't really feel all that great all the way through yesterday. Of course, E never caught it, which made me feel guilty because we basically had to cancel our plans because I have no immune system.

The good side is: I lost 3 pounds! Woo hoo! We were joking yesterday that we should start marketing it as a diet. Lose weight! Drop inches off your waist! But wait, there's more: call now and you get the first infection FREE! Honestly, I wouldn't recommend it though.