Baby Kuxdorf (and Highlight of my Trip)

The highlight of my trip: Isabel has her baby eight days ahead of schedule. I’m not sure if I’m going to have a chance to see her and the little guy before I leave, but I’m going to try.

Yesterday, December 30th at 6:16pm isy had a little boy, (currently still nameless) 7 pounds 13 ounces, 3.560kg. Isabel and baby are both perfect. Marco made it over from italy and arrived just after the birth.

i-CY

I have pretty good resistance to overwhelming my house with penguin things, and yet I believe I will want one of these when they are finally released in March.

Cruising the 401

When the guy in front of you orders a Triple Triple you know you’re not at Starbucks. This is Tim Horton’s country, my friends.

If this is Horton’s country, it must be Ontario and three milks and three sugars in your coffee is perfectly fine. A bit unusual, but fine.

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Fred Bass for Mayor

According to the Georgia Straight

Former Vancouver city councillor Fred Bass says he wants to become the next mayor of Vancouver. In an exclusive interview with the Georgia Straight in a West Side coffee shop, Bass, a physician, revealed his intention to seek the 2008 mayoral endorsement of the Coalition of Progressive Electors and the Vancouver Greens. Bass, a keen environmentalist, ran as a Green candidate for city council in 1996, and was elected in 1999 and 2002 under the COPE banner. In 2005, he came 12th in the race for 10 council seats

Fred Bass would make a better mayoral candidate than Jim Green was.

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James Brown, the Godfather of Soul

James Brown is dead, and I’m no longer certain what I’ll listen to while riding across the United States. Living in America is a pretty classic road trip tune.

My favourite quote from the New York Times article about his death comes from Chuck D. of Public Enemy

”James presented obviously the best grooves,” rapper Chuck D of Public Enemy once told The Associated Press. ”To this day, there has been no one near as funky. No one’s coming even close.”

No one near as funky indeed, and few as inventive.

Grandma Lobb, December 23, 2006

Inflatable Christmas Decorations

The New York Times has an excellent article on Those Inflatable Santas

It’s not so much the article’s topic that makes it great, as the words used.

Those Inflatable Santas: Eyepoppers to Eyesores

By PAUL VITELLO
Published: December 22, 2006

HOLTSVILLE, N.Y., Dec. 19 — On a recent quiet afternoon, with few witnesses around, Homer Simpson, Santa Claus and a penguin perched on an igloo suddenly appeared here on the Long Island landscape as if from nowhere, unfolding slowly like Frankenstein monsters lurching to life on the table. As Homer’s extremities reached full size, his pink nylon fist puffed into Mr. Snow Man’s face — an involuntary attack, to be sure. Bop.

It’s that last sentence…that single word Bop that completes the article’s first paragraph so wonderfully. Without it, the paragraph would be flat and dull and technical in nature.

Both the author and the editor who left that in deserve a tremendous amount of credit for doing so.

Coming Home, Via Toronto

There’s a great song by Wilco called Via Chicago that’s rolling through my head now, and has been lately.

I painted my name on the back of a leaf
And I watched it float away
The hope I had in a notebook full of white, dry pages
Was all I tried to save
But the wind blew me back via Chicago

I know I’ll make it back
One of these days and turn on your TV
To watch a man with a face like mine
Being chased down a busy street
When he gets caught, I wont get up
And I wont go to sleep
I’m coming home, I’m coming home
Via Chicago

For a long time I’ve felt like I’ve been searching for a home, but not anymore.

Vancouver is home, but this Christmas I’m getting there via Toronto.

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Flying to Alaska

More pictures from Alaska — my film, instead of the digital. I will post more soon in the galleries.

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Licence Plate

This is the licence plate of the uninsured Alberta driver who decided it was OK to cross 6 lanes of traffic on Cambie Street at full speed, without checking to see if lanes were empty.

Beacause I was unable to stop, the front of my Volvo doesn’t look quite the way it used too and I have no car for the next little while, in addition to the pleasure of dealing with ICBC.

Best Headline Ever

My favourite news story in quite some time:

Please Let It Be Whale Vomit, Not Just Sea Junk
By COREY KILGANNON
Published: December 18, 2006

MONTAUK, N.Y. — In this season of strange presents from relatives, Dorothy Ferreira got a doozy the other day from her 82-year-old sister in Waterloo, Iowa. It was ugly. It weighed four pounds. There was no receipt in the box.

Inside she found what looked like a gnarled, funky candle but could actually be a huge hunk of petrified whale vomit worth as much as $18,000.

…

Ambergris begins as a waxlike substance secreted in the intestines of some sperm whales, perhaps to protect the whale from the hard, indigestible “beaks” of giant squid it feeds upon. The whales expel the blobs, dark and foul-smelling, to float the ocean. After much seasoning by waves, wind, salt and sun, they may wash up as solid, fragrant chunks.

Film Speed Rating Conversions

After having an old Weston light meter donated to my photographic equipment, I needed to be able to be able to convert ASA information to Weston numbers. It would appear that this is less and less of a necessity, and there aren’t very many resources left to do so.

I posted this table a while ago, and it seems to be a fairly popular destination for wayward Googler’s, so I’m moving it to a new (and better) location.

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PowerBook Brain Transplant

My PowerBook G4 is now almost three years old — it dates from March of 2003. Time for a brain transplant.

Some 30 screws needed to be removed, the keyboard and the trackpad to replace the 60GB hard drive with an 80GB Hitachi. Not enormous, but enough to give me breathing room until later this year when the time comes to buy a new one.

Best Error Message Ever

Error messages can be funny sometimes, but this one takes the cake.

Windows Media Player Error Message Help

You’ve encountered error message 80042013 while using Windows Media Player. Additional information is not currently available for this error.

Of course, it’s such a cliche that it’s from Microsoft.

Media Bias

Media bias is a common accusation in the world of politics. Welcome to the world of technology journalism.

This is probably the most biased produt review I’ve ever read failing even to mention that the Zune in question is a first generation unique, while the iPod is a fifth (or sixth, if you count the last revision which many people consider a “half” version.)

I’m not saying I don’t like iPods, but at least be realistic before we make comments like this:

And, obviously, there’s Microsoft. Can you imagine any other company whose corporate culture would allow it to release such a flawed product? What do you suppose would happen to an auto company that produced a car with no steering wheel or seats that spontaneously exploded after three uses or three days?

The Sun Also Rises

It’s 0930hrs in Anchorage, and the sky is slowly turning a bright blue. This is not something I’m familiar with, and this strange world confuses me.

Pictures from Alpine, Alaska

Me standing in front of the CD4 drilling rig. This was the wamer day — -44 degrees Celsius — about 5 miles south of the Beaufort Sea

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Heading Home, Via Anchorage

Another 4 a.m. wake up call, and another day starts in Alpine. My last.

After a presentation on Sapphire (which I don’t need to attend, but will out of interest) I’ll be packing up our equipment and then my personal belongings. At 1400hrs, I depart on the twin otter and start the trip home with three flights stopping in no less than five cities.

I hope it’s warm in Vancouver tomorrow. I could use it.

At CD4. -48 Degrees Farenheit

I’m out, again, at the CD4 drilling well at the Alpine facility. I have no idea what the production of this well is, but it’s big.

It’s only -48 today, and the wind is less gusty than it was yesterday. This makes it much more manageable. At 0900hrs, the sky is still pitch black and the snow is blowing hard enough to create what they call a snow fog here.

While we’re waiting for somebody to caulk a seam, I’m sitting in a glycol heated trailer drinking fresh coffee and, of course, checking email and posting this note. It seems a bit bizarre.

Today is my last full day here. I got a baseball cap from one of the guys here. It’s a small souvenir, but a nice one.

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Staring Into the Wind

Today was my major day of work here in Alaska, and I woke up at 0430hrs. It’s now 2100hrs and I’m just getting to the end of my day.

But today was a great day.

I stood on the Alaskan Tundra north of the arctic cirlcle wearing a parka and a hard hat, and stared into a 22 mph wind which made the temperature feel like it was -57 degrees.

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Wind Chill

Everybody knows that weather all about windchill. Outside right now it’s “only” -7 degrees. Farenheit, of course.

The windchill makes it -57, thank you very much.

There is a lot of waiting around for people and things to be in the right place here.

The facility up here produces about 160,000 barrels of oil a day. For fire suppression, most areas are protected by the world’s largest fine water mist system installed by Dooley Tackaberry. The control room for that system is impressive.

I will be testing a new stabilizer module which is protected by Sapphire (or Novec 1230). The principle is similar to an alcohol still: a large, tall column separates the oil by temperature into different types. This module, when it comes online, will increase production by 6,000 barrels a day, or — expressed in more direct terms — US$360,000 of revenue a day. This makes my flight seem…cheap.

5 a.m., Alpine, Alaska

It’s 5 a.m. and my day is starting, or it’s already started. The current plan has me doing a test on at least two rooms, one of which may not be until 1830hrs. A long day.

The weather is howling today, with a wicked wind blowing across the Tundra. At about 1200hrs it should brighten up a bit to start looking like twilight. Until then the sky has a blackness to it that reminds you at every moment that there’s a whole universe out there and how small you are in it. It’s amazing.

I’m here at the ConocoPhillips Alpine facility, one of the most productive and profitable oil fields in North America. The facility is impressive, the food is good, the rooms are comfortable (but small.)

I will, hopefully, get some pictures today on a digital camera and see about posting them. The Nomex jumpsuit and down filled coat I’ve been issued need to be seen.

Internet access here is limited to two public terminals, despite the fact that there is sattelite TV. I will post a note later today when I get done with work.

Prudhoe Bay, Alaska: Someone Get Me a Low-Fat, No Whip Latte!

Landing in Prudhoe Bay is pretty special. This place puts the podunk back in “podunk town.”

It sure is fun though.

At the local Starbucks…oh…wait. There’s no Starbucks here.

At the local hotel, the buffet lunch is $15. I appear to be the only non-oil worker here. Non-hotel diners need to register at the desk…this is basically home for a bunch of people whenever they’re not actually in field.

At noon, it’s like twilight here. No dark, but definitely not light.

Prudhoe is the start of the Alaska pipeline, and as you descned into the airport you cross right over it. You can’t help it.

From a distance, it could easily be mistaken for a fissure in the ice, or maybe a recently cleared roadway. It’s only on approach that it becomes clear what it is. It runs like a scar above — not on, but above — the seemingly endless white Earth that surrounds Prudhoe Bay.

In just under 3 hours I board a Twin Otter and head to Alpine. It will be pitch black by the time I land, and I’m not sure about my Internet access.

Off we go.

Heading to Prudhoe Bay

Anchorage Airport provides public internet access, although it appears to be port 80 only — no email, or instant messaging.

Running the ring of security here was pretty stringent. Boots off, everything in separate containers. My wonderfully luggable Patagonia Burrito Suiter garment bag is sitting in the hold, thanks to a single stick of deoorant. Welcome to the new world.

Especially when the Homeland Security Terrorist alert level here at Ted Stephens International Airport is Orange.

Orange.

Prudhoe bay in 4 hours, after two stops. The first in Fairbanks, the second in Barrow.

Alpine, Alaska is the land of 24 hour darkness. My ultimate destination. My Ultima Thule. For now.

Alpine, Alaska

Tomorrow, I step out of a Twin Otter airplane and onto the Alaskan Tundra.

I’ve been here before but that was different. The Vollendam cruise was fun, and pleasant but it was summer. It was also a cruise, which meant a few minutes in over trafficked ports of call designed specifically to separate tourists from their dollars.

This is different.

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Meet The New Boss, Same As The Old Boss

Congratulations are due to Stephane Dion but even greater congratulations are due to Stephen Harper who seems destined, now, to form a majority government in the next federal election.

Several months ago, I said that Michael Ignatieff was the only hope for a Liberal majority government in 2007. Ignatieff was different enough to shake up the election, and the possiblity that Canadians would open up to it was real. Slight, but real.

Stephane Dion is a Liberal from the past, not a Liberal for a new future.

Gerard Kennedy did, indeed, play the role of kingmaker although he did so in way that I don’t think anyone predicted. Dropping off the ballot when he was so close to third—a hair separating him from Mr. Dion—was the shock of the day. Given the result, expect Mr. Kennedy to play a significant role in the next Liberal government, whether they win or not.

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