new job

HAZAA!
Very pleased to announce that I got a job as a Geologist for a company (also) in Schaumburg. This Chicago thing just might work out...

it's on..

I'm going to keep the juices flowing - starting with some snow pictures!

columnar joints

Here are some massive joints found at Frenchman's Coulee between the town of George, Washington and the Gorge Amphitheater (climbers for scale!).

nerd alert '09

1. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee (Dee Brown) nf - unfortunately
2. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (Mark Haddon) f
3. The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand) f
4. The Ghost Map (Steven Johnson) nf
5. Lolita (Vladimir Nabokov) f
6. Longitude (Dava Sobel) nf
7. The Mensa Murders (Lee Martin) f
8. Merde (Ralph A. Lewin) nf - pooptastic
9. The Nautical Chart (Arturo Perez-Reverte) f
10. The Prestige (Christopher Priest) f
11. The Romanov Prophecy (Steve Berry) f
12. Steppenwolf (Herman Hesse) f
13. The Toothpick (Henry Petrosky) nf
14. World War Z (Max Brooks) f – fan favorite

I'll explain later!

http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/The-Invasion-of-the-Green-Team-.html

watch video

Before I continue on my delayed recaps...
I was thoroughly moved by an article about oinkers.

Can't wait to see you, McG.

recap 1

Let's see...

In early December, I left Guyana after making a special trip to see a very large waterfall called Kaieteur. It was an hour flight south of Georgetown and is technically known for having the (123rd) highest "free-fall" of water on earth.




There are frogs found only in the Kaieteur national forest called the Kaieteur Golden Frog. If it were provoked and it jumped onto your upper lip, it could secrete a gas (160 thousand times stronger than cocaine) that would put you in a coma! They spend their entire (pathetic) lives in the same plant and are about the size of a thumbnail.
After that, I spent two weeks in Chicago and found an apartment.

Then I flew back to Seattle for the weeks leading up to Christmas and the New Year.

On January 5th, 2009, I got into my laden 1990 Toyota Camry and drove to Chicago...