Back when I was a starving college student, I thought nothing of pirating the occasional song, but over the last few years, I’ve watched the business model for digital content change.  You can get anything for free now… if you’re willing to set your morals aside.  Music, books, movies, TV shows, comics, software… the list goes on and on.  Content creators coming onto the scene today recognize this reality and build their business models around free content.

For example:

Jonathan Coulton lets you listen to all his music for free.
Penny Arcade and PVP Online post their web comics online for free.
Lee Goldberg is converting his out-of-print books to Kindle versions.
And many, many programmers are offering free versions of their software online.

In each of these cases, the creators have alternative revenue sources.  Coulton sells merchandise at his concerts as well as full albums on iTunes; PA and PVP sell posters and T-shirts online; Goldberg receives royalties direct from Amazon for his eBook sales; and programmers often sell more capable versions of their software or have PayPal “donate” buttons on their web pages.

Here’s the thing:  Their content is free for the taking. We can enjoy their work without paying a cent.  But if that’s the way we want go about it (and we can — unlike out-and-out piracy, there’s no moral obligation to buy anything when artists give it away for free!), without any financial support, our favorite artists will eventually stop making things for us.

If I can help keep them going by spending some money and creating some links, I’m happy to do it. If you’ve been enjoying someone’s “free” content, even if it’s just a blog, Youtube series, or some small piece of shareware, I hope you’ll consider doing the same.

This year, as I embark on a year-long backpacking trip, I won’t have any extra room for material possessions.  Most of the support you see below will necessarily be for digital items.

After the jump, the artists and creators I’m supporting in 2010…

Instapaper

I first learned of Instapaper from a new blog I’m following called Long Form.  Because the articles they post there are, well, long, they put in a little “Read Later” button next to them.  To use this button, you need to create a free Instapaper account.  Here’s the cool part:  Once you create an account, anything you mark to read later will show up on your Instapaper iPhone or iPad app.  The best part is, you can do the same thing with any web page by simply dragging their “Read Later” button to your browser’s bookmark bar!

The free version of the Instapaper iPhone app works just fine, but it has some limitations.  I’m happy to support the author today by purchasing the full version.

Flash Video Player
I’ve been using Joshua Eldridge’s Flash Video Player plug-in for WordPress ever since I converted my videos to H.264.  It makes the process of wrapping up my video files with a poster frame and embedding everything in a customizable video player super simple.  A single line of pseudo code is all it takes.

I have no complaints, except that it doesn’t work at all on Apple products (only because Apple doesn’t support Flash players.)  It’s time to click the donate button.

JW Player
Actually, I do have one complaint with the Flash Video Player plug-in above!  A couple versions ago, a JWPLAYER watermark appeared in the bottom corner of all my videos.  I doubt it bothers anyone but me, but I think it’s time to purchase the full version of Long Tail Video’s JW Player.  Besides making the watermark my own, €59 will give me the option of annoy all my viewers with advertisements, too!  (I doubt I’ll ever use ads – I’d rather make money in a way that doesn’t bother me when I encounter them on other sites!)

Lawrence Watt-Evans
I’ve supported Watt-Evans in the past on Labor Day, and this is almost the exact same thing.  He’s working outside the normal publishing schema by getting his “advance” direct from his readers.  Here’s how he explains it:

1. I post a chapter.
2. If readers like it, they send me money.
3. If I receive enough money, I post the next chapter.
4. Repeat until the novel is finished.

Chapters are running $250 and he’s writing two books right now: Realms of Light and The Final Calling.  I put up some money last year for Realms of Light. This time, I’m going to drop $25 (which should net me a signed print edition when it comes out!) on The Final Calling.

Alex King
Alex King writes more than a few of the WordPress plug-ins I’ve been using for years.  If you’re reading this entry on a mobile device, his WordPress Mobile Edition plug-in is displaying it for you.  If you decide to Share This post with one of the Facebook, Twitter, or StumbleUpon buttons at the bottom of this post, he made that, too.  If you came to this blog from over on my Twitter account, his Twitter Tools plug-in auto-posted that for me.  Donate button, here I come.

Subscribe 2
Subscribe 2 is another WordPress plug-in, by Matthew Robinson, that sends out a mass-email whenever I post a new entry.  Now, I don’t have a ton of subscribers, but that’s hardly Matthew’s fault!  His plug-in simplified my life, it does something I couldn’t have done myself, and he gave it to me for free.  I can give him money for that.

Filezilla
Filezilla may not be the best FTP program out there, but for so many reasons, I’ll never use a different one.  It’s got everything you’d expect from a good cross-platform FTP client (a site manager, drag-and-drop file transfers, resume-after-disconnects, etc.) and one thing that simply puts it over the top: The absolute easiest automatic download-and-update software patches you’ll find in a freeware package (at least on the Windows side.)  Seriously, it’s a crime that all our software updates aren’t handled like Filezilla’s.

And in the spirit of true freeware, there is no “professional” version you can unlock after parting with some cash.  Nope, you get it all for free and the only way to give them some money is with their Donate button.

This American Life
Okay, so This American Life isn’t exactly an “independent” podcast, but then again, it is public radio. And public radio sort of spearheaded the whole “donate to keep us going” idea before the internet was even around.  I hate pledge drives – nothing gets me to turn off the radio faster – but for some reason I don’t find the 60-second openers on This American Life all that offensive.

I’ve been a subscriber to the podcast for a few years now.  I have no problems finally helping them cover bandwidth costs.

If you have iTunes installed, do yourself a favor.  Open it up, Click on Advanced, then Subscribe to Podcast, and then copy/paste the following link:

http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=201671138

Voilà! You’re subscribed!

Radiolab
And then there’s RadioLab.  RadioLab is a lot like This American Life in that it’s a radio show that focuses on Story, with a capital S.  But whereas This American Life can be about almost anything, RadioLab always has a strong science focus.  Plus one is from NPR, the other PRI.  Whatever that means.

Anyway, the first time I listened to RaidoLab, I wasn’t sure I liked it.  They heavily edit their shows, which gives them a distinctly non-radio feel.  Listen to a couple before you decide.  You may end up like me, happy to pay for more.

If you have iTunes, you can subscribe for free just by clicking the following link:

http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wnycs-radiolab/id152249110

Lee Goldberg
Oh, I almost forgot Lee Goldberg!  He’s a writer, probably best known now for his Monk TV show novelizations.  I was attracted to his blog, A Writer’s Life, a few years back when I followed a link to one of his many entries of him verbally eviscerating some idiotic wannabe/fan/writer who asks him to write their books.  Very entertaining.

Recently, Goldberg has been experimenting with publishing his back-catalog on the Amazon Kindle.  He’s shared his successes (and failures) on the blog, illustrated with monthly earning statements.  It’s very informative for anyone thinking about going the all-digital publishing route.  Be careful, though.  He’s still a strong advocate (and make a convincing argument for) the traditional publishing route.

I think I’ll pick up one of his Kindle books, probably The Walk, and read it on my iPhone’s Kindle App.

That’s my list this year.  Where’s yours?

© Arlo for A Midgett Blog, 2010. | Permalink | No comment |

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Nags Head is turning into my de facto lightning photography grounds.  My grandparents have a beach house with a covered porch and hot summer afternoons often turn into evening thunderstorms.  But conditions aren’t always right.  Even when it’s not raining, often the wind blows so hard the camera vibrates on the tripod.

Anyone that’s tried to get a good lightning photo knows that it can take a lot of patience.  Good thunderstorms may display nice strikes every few seconds, but that doesn’t mean you’ll always have your camera pointed in the right direction.  Even if you do, the lightning strikes themselves won’t necessarily be photogenic.  It once took me 57 tries to get a lightning bolt to cooperate with the rule of thirds.

A couple weeks ago, another summer thunderstorm was passing us by at the cottage.  My cousin had a new camera and was out on the front porch trying to get a lightning photo of her own, but I decided to stay inside because it looked like it might rain at any minute.  Eventually she packed up, but the rain never arrived.  Later in the evening, when the lightning flashes picked up in frequency, I stepped out to take a look for myself.

The storm was passing south of us, heading out to sea, and as the warm, inland air advanced out over the sea, bolts of lightning were dancing every which way.  For a storm lover like me, it was a great show.  Even better, from where we sat it, was warm, dry, and there was not a breath of wind.  I decided to run in and grab my new camera.

Our neighbor’s cottage was empty, boarded up for the season. I didn’t figure they’d mind if I commandeered their gazebo overlooking the ocean.  Our porch is set back behind a dune, so it was a treat to be able to look out toward the Nags Head Pier with the storm behind it.  I didn’t even need a tripod; there was an 8-foot supporting column with a nice, flat surface on top.

How good was the show?  It took me exactly four exposures to get this shot.

Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Date: 9:04pm, 22 August 2010
Focal Length: 24mm
Shutter: 15 seconds
Aperture: F/4
ISO: 100
Photoshop: Minor rotation to level horizon, cropped to 17×6 panoramic, slight saturation increase

© Arlo for A Midgett Blog, 2010. | Permalink | No comment |

Have you been following Oksana and me on Twitter or Facebook?  That’s where the bulk of our travel updates have been posted so far.  I thought I’d have tons and tons of time to work on the blog while we drove across the country — we even paid for the unlimited data plan on our iPad! — but it turns out you can’t type very well while driving.  While sitting in the passenger seat while driv–You know what I mean!

Seriously, though, I expected there would be plenty of time left in the day for blogging, but I didn’t count on how tired we’d both be after putting in a few hours behind the wheel.  I was discussing this with someone on the trip (I forget who it was) and they brought up a very good point: It may not be physically taxing, sitting on your butt all day, but driving can be quite mentally taxing.  If you put in 6 or 8 hours behind the wheel, that’s 6 or 8 hours of unwavering attention you have to devote to the task.  It’s no wonder I don’t have the mental fortitude to sit down and string some words together on a laptop after that.

I’m in a hammock now.

A little bit of catch up, to explain how we got to where we are right now:

Oksana and I departed Juneau on July 1 on a ferry to Skagway,
We drove from Skagway to Seattle, through British Columbia, in a little more than a week,
We visited with many, many friends in Vancouver and Seattle before,
Picking up Oksana’s brother and sister-in-law at SEATAC.
We drove them south down the Oregon and northern California coastline to see the Redwoods,
Spent a day in San Francisco with friends,
Drove to Sequoia National Park to see the General Sherman Tree and then,
Spent some time in Las Vegas… whereupon our plans sort of fell apart.
To give Oksana’s family time to recouperate from all the driving, she stayed with them in Vegas for a week while I drove the Jeep to North Carolina by myself,
They hopped a flight to catch up and we spent a few days on the beach in Nags Head before attending my grandfather’s 90th birthday party,
Then we all piled back into the car and drove down to Orlando for a day at Disney World,
More driving to Key West for two days of diving (and lobster season!), before
Taking Andrey and Natasha to Miami for their flight home,

(inhale)

Oksana and I then drove up Florida again to visit my other grandparents near Tampa,
Before driving all the way back up the east coast, at a slower pace this time, overnighting in NC, then with my aunt outside DC,
To arrive just in time to meet up with my uncle and our Russian friends for a weekend of New York City sightseeing,
Then Oksana and I drove to Niagara Falls (Canadian side) for our 8th wedding anniversary,
On the way back south, we visited more friends and family near DC,
Finally coming to a stop again in Nags Head, North Carolina!

(If you’re interested in seeing some pictures, I’ve created a public Facebook album with quite a few photos from our road trip.)

We still had a plan, at that point, to leave the country around September 1st.  The only things we had left to do were finalize our packing (we took advantage of having a Jeep and brought far more stuff with us than we could hope to bring on the backpacking leg of our trip) and figure out whether to store or sell our Jeep.  We always planned to do that in Florida.

But, man were we tired of driving! In about six weeks, we’d clocked almost 12,000 miles on the odometer.  We decided we needed to unwind for a week with my grandparents at their cottage in Nags Head.

It wasn’t an entirely selfish act.  Earlier this year, my grandmother suffered through a bout of pneumonia and a major heart attack.  She’s doing well, but needs constant supervision.  All summer long, as practically everyone in our family has come for a visit, the cottage has been a bustle of activity with everyone lending a hand with the cooking, cleaning, shopping, etc.  But as September approached and everyone went back to work and school, only my grandfather and my aunt remained to hold down the fort.

They were thrilled to hear that Oksana and I were planning to stay another week.

And then, the other day while Oksana and I were playing in the surf, it occurred to me that there really wasn’t any reason we couldn’t stay even longer.  The deadlines we have are all self-inflicted.  We’re unemployed!  As long as we’re not dipping into our savings (and we’re not, while we’re staying at the cottage rent-free), it doesn’t matter if we return to Juneau in September 2011 or October 2011.

I discussed it with Oksana first before bringing the idea to my grandfather.  Would it be helpful for us to stay at the beach with them through the month of September?  The answer was a resounding “Yes!”

So that’s where we are now.  We still plan to leave the country from Florida — on a last minute cruise fare that passes through some Mexican or Belizean port, if possible — but that won’t be until early October now.

And that’s why I hope to have a bit more time to work on the blog.

© Arlo for A Midgett Blog, 2010. | Permalink | No comment |

About three weeks ago, Oksana and I took her brother and sister-in-law, Andrey and Natasha, down to Key West. They were visiting from Russia and we took it upon ourselves to show them a good time. Andrey received his PADI open water certification course in Katmchatka this spring — in the COLD! — just so he could dive with us here in the States.

On our last trip through Key West, Oksana and I stumbled upon a little dive shop called Dive Key West. We had a wonderful experience with them, so we knew right where to take Andrey. What we didn’t realize, however, was that we would be there for the opening day of lobster season…

Technical notes:

I had a little problem with… ahem, I mean I was fortune enough to have a learning experience with the audio on this podcast. I don’t know why our Zoom H2 picked up interference from our iPhones — they were both clear across the room and it’s never happened before — but our “clean” audio track was riddled with cell phone noise. The (slightly) lesser of two evils was to use the crappy audio record by the Canon 5D’s on-board mic. I have no idea where the clicking sounds throughout that track came from (because we were careful to turn off the AC and check for other noises in our hotel room.)  At any rate, I did the best I could with a little noise reduction and music.  Anyway, next time: phones powered all the way off.

<em>The following is a transcript of the above video for Google’s benefit (ignore it, watch the video instead!)</em>

(Postcard Valet)

So we were back in Key West, getting ready to do our dives, and we asked what they had available and the guy behind the counter said, “Oh, are you going to be here for the start of lobster season?” And I said, “Tell me more…!”

On my previous 28 dives, I’ve been drilled to never ever touch any marine life under water. Having to catch lobster was a huge change.  We had no idea what we were getting into!

We had three people going on the dive: Arlo, Andrey, and myself.

We signed up for the dive, and paid for our guide, who gave us a brief introduction:

(This is Cole)

“Get my attention and be like, ‘Big! Lobster!’ and I’ll come over and I’ll try to get it, okay?”

(This is Oksana translating for her brother…)

“If you guys just want to practice with some smaller ones, or something like that, then, you know, go ahead and do it.”

We decided to purchase one Lobster Assassination Kit.

The Lobster Assassination Kit consisted of a tickle stick, measuring tool, a hand net, a mesh bag, and a pair of rubber gloves.

“He’s going to be inside, underneath one of the ledges of coral. So you’re going to go behind him and you’re going to tap his butt, okay?  Because when you tap the butt, it’s sort of like when they’re in the wild, the larger ones stay in the back of the hole and they tap the other ones with their antennae when they’re trying to get out, so they move out of the way.   So you get behind them, put this up against the coral and you tap them out, until they get over here, and they you can either just tap them into there, or if you spook them, they swim backwards and they’ll actually just swim straight into the net.  Put it down, okay?  If you’re holding it up here, they can swim back out, so make sure…”

“We’re going to be working our way out to the reef out here. It’s going to be a 25-minute ride out.  Ten minutes prior to the arrival, the captain will let us know, I’ll pass that information onto you guys. Trying to give you a little early warning there, so that way you can be ready to get into the water once we’re on site.  Especially if you are sitting close to the stern of the vessel, please try and be ready before we’re there…”

When you’re on a dive, looking for lobsters, you tend to swim around and look for little holes under the rocks and what you look for in those holes are two antennas sticking out.  And when you spot those, you know there is a lobster in there.

Most of the little lobster holes we found would have one, or maybe two, lobsters, but we were incredibly lucky because the second lobster hole we found… there must have been ten of them underneath this one rock and there were three, separate entrances.  But we had no idea what we were doing.

We had only one Lobster Assassination Kit.  We really had to figure out a way to work as a team, and we had to do it fast!

We’d start out just jamming the stick under there and wiggling it around.  We were swimming into each other and kicking each other in the face.  We were catching regulator hoses on other people’s equipment.  It was… it was chaos; it was a nightmare!

But before long, we got our teamwork down and had one person tickling the lobsters out, while another person would capture them with the net and then two people would swim together, measure them, and figure out a way to extract them from one net and put them into the bigger bag.

It’s not until you tickle them out from under that rock, that’s when you realize just how fast lobsters are!

And those suckers would jet off, so quick!

And, by the way, they swim backwards.

By the second dive, we could essentially have done it ourselves.  I was getting pretty good at tickling them out of the hole, tapping them just in the right direction, so they’d swim right into the net.  And the only thing I couldn’t do, without the gloves, was transfer them into the keeper bag.

All that chasing around, after those lobsters, paid off for us.

We had to let go any whose carapace were smaller than three inches and any egg-bearing females.  So, while we caught maybe 20 lobsters or so…

We ended up catching nine of them.

I would have stopped at four lobsters, one for each of us for dinner, but Oksana’s brother wanted as many as we could possibly get.  He was having a blast under water!

And it was really fun to sit on the deck of the dive boat, and having our dive guide count all of them, because we got really good-sized lobsters.

“Oh, very nice”

Back on the dock, we were shown how to clean our lobsters…

“Are you supposed to cook them first?  Or does it matter?”

“Nope.”

“So you stick the antenna up his butt, and you pull out the poop track.  It’s called an “antannenema!”

We ended up just putting ours on ice and taking them to a restaurant.

(Restaurant, Conch Republic)

They ended up cooking all nine lobster tails for us, and serving them on a huge platter.  Almost more lobster than we could eat…

And it was really cool to see it brought out on the plate and all the people around us in the restaurant, they were like, “Ooo, look at that plate!”

For my brother, it was his first dive out in the open water, in the warm water. And he loved it! He loved chasing lobsters and he was so excited when we got out. He said, “You know what?  Next year we’re back in Key West, and we’re diving again.  Diving for lobster!”

© Arlo for A Midgett Blog, 2010. | Permalink | One comment |

Here’s a long-ish podcast episode about the NASA Tweetup I attended back in May.  Oksana wasn’t able to go with me, so this video ending up being a one-man show.  There’s some good stuff in there, I think, but I ran into some problems during the production (not the least of which was overexposing my “narrator” shot… grrr!)  My intent was to convey my own experiences at, and thoughts about, the NASA Tweetup.  I hope I managed to at least do that.

Originally I thought I’d post it in June, but packing for our backpacking-around-the-world trip got too crazy for that.  Then, I thought I’d post it on the first week of the trip, but the trip itself got too crazy for that!

Oksana and I are finding ourselves facing down the Traveler Blogger’s Dilemma: How do we budget time for webpage work when there’s a whole exciting world out there to see?  Turns out that’s especially hard when you’re visiting friends and family!

The following is a transcript of the above video for Google’s benefit (ignore it, watch the video instead!)

So, back in April, I had planned a vacation with two of my friends to go see what I thought was going to be a once in a lifetime experience.  That was one of the last four space shuttle launches in Florida.  We watched that launch from the NASA Causeway which is about as close as you can expect to get if you’re just a member of the public, but we had to pay about $110 dollars for that privilege.  From 11 o’clock the night before until about 6:30 in the morning, with a gap of maybe an hour and a half when we toured the visitor’s center in the middle of the night, we were stuck on a bus.  I’m not complaining, we saw a fantastic launch, I got some awesome pictures, and it’s a memory that will live with me forever.

And with three shuttle launches to go, I never thought I’d get to see another one…

(Twitter | Chance to see launch! RT @NASA: registration for STS-132 launch will open Apr 19-20. You don’t have to be 1^st! http://www.nasa.gov/tweetup | 10:22am Apr 16th via TwitterGadget | joe_e_bear | Joseph E Sears)

..but!  One of my friends let me know that the NASA Twitter feed was advertising a contest of sorts, more of a lottery actually.  They were going to be invite people to their “Tweetup” for the next shuttle launch.  Turns out over 1000 people signed up and they chose 150 – one of which was me!

They were organizing two days worth of events before the shuttle launch…and they were going to let us see the shuttle launch from the press site which is about 3 miles closer than the Causeway I’d seen it on before.

That clenched it, I had to go.

So the first day I’m there, I drive to the Kennedy Space Center, and using the directions they gave me, I find the place where we registered.  We were all standing in line, very excited to give them our IDs, and in exchange they gave us a NASA bag full of all sorts of promotions goodies.

One of the coolest things in there was a bag of freeze dried “space ice cream,” which I haven’t tried yet, so I’m going to go ahead and give it a shot here.  It’s like an ice cream bar — sort of warm and dehydrated. (laugh) (bite) (chew) But actually really good!

At the security checkpoints, we had to flash our incredibly cool NASA Tweetup press badges.  Then we drove to the Vehicle Assembly Building and hung a right, and right there was the press area.

They had a tent set up for us right next to the countdown clock and it had air conditioning inside, it was grass on the ground with tables set up everywhere, with power connections and wi-fi so that we could get on the internet and user our Twitter accounts.  It was actually a very comfortable setup.

They had a podium up front, flanked by two screens showing whatever NASA TV was showing and they paraded in a whole bunch of guest speakers for us the first morning.

John Yembrick, NASA Spokesman
Robert Braun, NASA Chief Technologist
Janice Voss, Astronaut

Ron Woods, NASA Equipment Specialist
Jon N. Cowart, Orbiter Engineering Manager
Stephanie Stilson, Flow Director – Orbiter Discovery
Dave Wolf, Astronaut

When the speakers were talking, I tried to give them my full attention.  I took a few pictures of course, and some video, but I noticed a lot of people were just buried in their laptop, tweeting and retweeting everything that was said.  I’m sure NASA loved that because the whole point inviting so many people is that we rebroadcast that to our own audiences and build up the enthusiasm that we feel for NASA.

I posted maybe 20 tweets that day and worried that I was boring people that follow me; some people must have posted literally hundreds.  Looking around at the “Tweeps,” as we called ourselves, I noticed a very diverse bunch of people.  There were quite a few that knew a lot more than I did about NASA.  There were some, like me, who were just sort of there, star struck and just taking it all in.

That afternoon, after lunch, we got to go on a tour of some of the NASA facilities.  First stop was the International Space Station Center.  There was an introductory movie, that was maybe five minutes long, and then we were let into a place where they had mockups of the different living modules and the science modules.

I almost missed it because we didn’t have a lot of time there, but if you crossed this elevated bridge, you could look down into the real clean room.  There wasn’t a lot of activity going on, but it was kind of cool looking down into the place where they actually build the modules for the space station.

Next stop was the Saturn V Center which was really, I thought, quite impressive.  First we were shown a movie that talked about the Space Race.  Kind of emotional when they touched on some of the losses and hurdles that were overcome to achieve the first moon landing.

(I was a launch controller here, when from this very spot, Man took off to fly to the moon.)

After that we were ushered into the actual Mission Control room that has been restored and sort of turned into a museum.  They had a presentation there that kind of made it feel like it did when they launched the Saturn V rocket.  And they dimmed the lights; you could see the different control stations light up and the sequence of events on the wall…

(Oxygen tank has been pressurized…)

After that, we had about an hour or so that we could wander about the Saturn V museum. They had the newly-restored Saturn V rocket with all sorts of displays and dioramas around.

I touched a rock that actually came from the moon.

(Lunar Sample 70035.40.020 | Apollo 17, December 7-19, 1972 | This basalt sample, estimated to be 3.7 billion years old, was collected by astronaut Harrison Schmitt near the Taurus-Littrow Valley region of the Moon.)

I went in to get a drink and found out that they were incredibly expensive and made a joke on Twitter that that must be how they were funding the space program.

(I think we now know how they’re funding the space program… http://twitpic.com1nhnua #nasatweetup 11:44am May 13^th via Tweetdeck | rlomidgett | Arlo Midgett)

After the Saturn V Center, we had what was probably the most amazing experience, for me, for the day.

We went out to the launch pad. We were within maybe 200 or 300 yards of the Space Shuttle Atlantis the day before it was set to launch.  There were camera boxes all around us that people had set up, and we were there to watch what they call the Rotating Service Structure retract.

It’s that huge apparatus that’s leaning up against the Space Shuttle and they pull it away, leaving the Shuttle exposed on the launch pad by itself.  It happens very slowly, so you don’t really end up staring at it the whole time, but bit-by-bit and piece-by-piece, you see Atlantis revealed on the launch pad.  It was very, very cool to be there for that.

Before we left we had our group Tweetup photo taken by the NASA photographer.  I left that night at probably around 6:30pm and while I was in Orlando, I called a local radio station, here in Juneau, and gave a short little interview about my experiences down there.  Which was kind of neat; the next day I had a lot people sending me tweets saying that they woke up to me on the radio.

The second day didn’t start out so great.  I guess there were something like 300,000 people driving to the coast, and I didn’t plan ahead for the traffic, so I got there a little bit late and was literally running in to get into the second Tweetup group photo.

After that, we again set up in the Tweetup tent and I can’t speak for everybody else, but my sense of anticipation for the launch made it so that I couldn’t quite pay attention like I did the day before.  I found myself getting up and going outside and looking at the countdown clock.  I went and found a spot where I could set up my tripod and sort of claim my space up front.  There was a moment were CNN came in and interviewed some people at the Tweetup.

I, myself, was right behind Stephanie when she was giving a local TV station an interview.

Stephanie Schierholz, NASA Social Media Manager
(Today they are primarily here to watch the launch, but we have some guest speakers for them…)

And then they turned and talked to me.  As far as I know, that never aired; I didn’t see anything on their website, but…

About 45 minutes before the launch, I went out and started setting up my tripod and my camera gear.  I had decided that, this time, I was going to go for video since I had focused on getting photos on the last launch, but with three or four cameras with me, I couldn’t really decide what to use, so I had a kind of creative solution: I brought a tripod plate, and with bungee cords and gaffer’s tape I put all three of my cameras on it and focused them all on the launch pad so that when I moved it, they would move together and hopefully keep pointing at the same thing.

Our only rule in setting up our tripods was that if any of the official media asked us to move, we had to.  Fortunately, where I picked apparently wasn’t in the way, because the only media that came over to me just wanted to take pictures of my crazy camera setup.

In the 45 minutes before the Shuttle launch, we watched manatees frolicking in the water out in front of us.  An alligator swam right underneath, right by my feet.

The launch itself was spectacular!  Being half-again as close as I was on my first launch, I could definitely tell a difference in the sound.  It was louder! I actually felt the rumble in my chest.  It shook me.

(Go Atlantis!)

Unfortunately, I must have bumped the focusing ring, or something, on the camera that was set to take some photos, because every one single one of them turned out blurry.  Do I regret that?  Not a bit!  The only disappointment was that, from our vantage point, the column of smoke went straight up, and as the Shuttle arched over the eastern horizon, it fell behind that column of smoke and we weren’t even given a chance to see the booster separation.

After the launch, I was coming down off an emotional high and I had a long drive ahead of me, but it was interesting to think that there were hundreds or thousands of NASA employees all over the country that their work was just beginning.  The Space Shuttle had to get into orbit, and then dock with the space station, carry out their mission, and then return.

I just kind of chilled out in the Tweetup tent and spent some time out on the grass in front of the countdown clock reflecting on an amazing experience.

It’s funny to think all of this came about because of Twitter, a service that so many people don’t want to join because they think it’s people talking about what they had for lunch

(Screencap:  Twitter search for “just ate a sandwich”)

But without Twitter, I never would have seen a Shuttle launch from the press site.  And a big thanks to Stephanie at NASA who put this whole thing together!  I mean, she gave me a second once-in-a-lifetime experience.  And who knows?  With two more Shuttle launches, maybe there’s a third once-in-a-lifetime experience waiting for me?

© Arlo for A Midgett Blog, 2010. | Permalink | 15 comments |

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While driving down the Alaska Highway in British Columbia, you can’t help but spot some wildlife.  We expected to see some deer (and we did, two), hoped to see a bear (four of them; three black, one grizzly), and sort of doubted we’d see any moose (but we saw two, anyway).  It never even occurred to us that we might run into some buffalo.

The first two we spotted were slowly lumbering along the side of the road, munching on the grasses that grew on the huge shoulder between pavement and forest.  We stopped the car on the other side of the two lanes of traffic and tried to get some good photos despite the rain.  Unfortunately, those two bison were not exactly interested in us and didn’t even look up from their meals.

As we drove from Watson Lake to Dawson Creek, we kept a running total of buffalo going.  Nine, ten, eleven, twelve… and still no better opportunity for a great photo. That is, until we rounded a curve and gave up completely on our count.  Spread across both sides of the road, a herd of at least 40 bison were slowly walking the shoulders.  We saw bulls moving among the cows and newborn calves; a whole social dynamic was on display for us.

We took a lot of photos out both windows.

When one lumbering bull approached my side of the car, I focused in close on his head and snapped a few like this one.  Look into his eye.  I think he’s wondering what sort of a dent he could put into our Jeep…

Canon 5D Mark II
Date: 1:40pm, 3 July 2010
Focal Length: 200mm
Shutter: 1/160 second
Aperture: F/2.8
ISO: 250
Photoshop: Auto Contrast

© Arlo for A Midgett Blog, 2010. | Permalink | 2 comments |

Boy oh boy.  You’d think now that I’m officially unemployed, I’d have all the free time in the world.  Not true!  I have a million and one things to do, starting with packing up one life and preparing to embark on another.

One thing I really need to get going on will be accomplished by this blog post.  It’s time to plan our going away party!  It’s going to be EPIC and if you’d like to see us off, you’re totally invited.

Here’s the low-down:

• It’s going to be all day on Saturday, June 19^th (starting at noon, dinner at 6pm)
• It’ll be at the Schiable House, on Back Loop Road (next to the Mendenhall River Bridge)
• Anyone that knows us is welcome to show (and bring a guest if you like!) but you’ll need to RSVP
• This will double as Oksana’s 30^th birthday party (more on that later)
• It’ll be a potluck (ohGodnotanotherpotluck!  Yes, but hold on:  There’s a theme!)
• The theme will be: A Second Thanksgiving (I don’t have a parenthetical for this, but I was on a roll)

“A Second Thanksgiving” theme is something I’ve wanted to set up with my friends for a long time now.  I mean, seriously, why shouldn’t we have more than one Thanksgiving?  Besides the sentiment of, you know, giving thanks for the things in our lives, shouldn’t we be able to enjoy all that wonderful food more often than once a year?  Turkey, stuffing, casseroles, cranberries, rolls, pumpkin pie… I’m making a declaration right now: It’s time to break out your favorite family recipes!

And this is why you need to RSVP: We can’t have everyone bringing cranberries.  I’ll start us off: I’m bringing the turducken.  What’s that?  OH YEAH THAT’S RIGHT I SAID TURDUCKEN!! Also, put me down for stuffing.

We can coordinate RSVPs and potluck dishes here in the comments, I guess.  Oksana and I hope we’ll have a lot of people show up, so I’m throwing out a request for at least one other “big dish” item.  Anyone willing to tackle another turkey?  Of course, we’ll need plenty of side dishes.  I suspect we’ll need at least two of everything.  Maybe even more.  (By the way, the Schiable House has a kitchen, so we can at least do some of the cooking there.)

As I mentioned above, we will also be celebrating Oksana’s 30^th birthday party!  Now, let it be said that the best gift you can give her is your presence at our going away party (well, maybe the best gift would be sticking around to help clean up…), but if you feel like you must buy her a gift, then you’re going to have to get creative.  Chances are, if your present has any sort of physical properties at all, it’ll probably just sit in storage for the next 12 months.  No puppies, okay?

Finally, if I can get my act together, I may pull together some video/computer equipment for the party, too.  I would love to have something set up in the corner where guests could put pins on a map, give suggestions on where in the world we should travel, or just get some help (if needed) subscribing to our podcast.  But really, that’s all secondary because…

We’re going to be gone for an entire year.  All we want to do is make time to see our friends one last time before we go.

So, get those RSVPs in, okay? (Recipes! s’il vous plaît) And we’ll see you in a couple weeks!

© Arlo for A Midgett Blog, 2010. | Permalink | 15 comments |

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The Kennedy Space Center is a sprawling complex located on Merrit Island in Florida.  While much of it, like the Visitor’s Complex, is open to the public, there are checkpoints barring access along most roads in.  Security is tight near launch dates and while you may be able to book a bus tour to certain destinations inside, you can’t just drive onto NASA territory without a badge.

I flashed my Tweetup badge, the security guard said, “Thanks, boss!” and I drove right through.  Felt like a VIP.

On the morning of the 13th, I was cruising along in my rental car, heading for the press site.  Just after the Vehicle Assembly Building came into view, I passed a sign with the Space Shuttle on it proclaiming “1 Days to Launch!”

In fact, I passed a couple such signs, and they got me thinking about what an undertaking a Shuttle launch must be.  That close to launch there must be hundreds, if not thousands, of NASA employees and contractors working very hard to insure that everything goes off without a hitch.  I didn’t see them along the roadway, of course; they were all tucked away in the administrative buildings, the labs, at the launch pad, in mission control.

I loved the idea of those signs along the road, someone dutifully changing their little numbers every evening.  It spoke of morale.  Of teamwork on an epic scale.  I resolved to get a photo before I left.

That evening, after a day full of events and tours, I found myself driving back along the same route.  Traffic was light, and it was easy to spot the sign on the other side of the road.  As if it was meant to be, a gravel strip across the median appeared right beside it.  I pulled a U-turn, parked the rental on the grass and grabbed my camera.

Surprisingly, someone had already switched the “1” to a “0.”  Another reminder that, in just 20 hours, Atlantis would be leaving the Earth.  I took a few pictures, trying to find the best framing with the VAB behind, but I was in a hurry.  Badge or no badge, I felt self-conscious taking pictures of a government installation from the side of the road.

Two minutes later, I was back on the road to Orlando.  Tomorrow was Launch Day.

Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Date: 7:08pm, 13 May 2010
Focal Length: 200mm
Shutter: 1/400 sec
Aperture: F/4.5
ISO: 100
Photoshop: Auto Color

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The day before the STS-132 shuttle launch, the NASA folks had arranged a day full of activities for those of us invited to the Tweetup.  We spent the morning in an air-conditioned tent, listening to guest speakers, but after lunch we were taken on a tour all around the Kennedy Space Center.

One of the places we had the most time was at the Saturn V Center.  It’s a huge museum commemorating all the missions that used the Saturn V rocket.  As you enter, there’s a fantastic historical video, then you’re escorted into the actual control room they used back in the day.  They’ve converted the huge room into a presentation that gives you a good feel for what the excitement level must have been like when they launched those massive rockets.

After our group watched the movie, we had about an hour or so to explore the rest of the museum.  I wandered alone, reading the plaques, examining the models, and taking pictures of some of the exhibits.

Off in a dark room devoted to the lunar missions, this capsule sat in a roped-off corner.

Taking pictures in a museum is usually pretty dull.  The lighting is tricky, especially for anything behind glass.  I’m sure that someone who’s proficient at studio photography would enjoy artfully capturing these types of exhibits, but not me.  Even assuming I’d have the luxury to compose the shots as I’d like, I’d probably just end up with the same photo thousands of other museum-goers took.

It was with that mindset that I snapped a few photos of the Apollo 14 Command Module.  I wasn’t trying for a great picture, just wanted to bring home photos that showed what the Saturn V Center looked like.  Like everything else I shot in there, the camera was on the green (automatic) mode.

I didn’t see the photos until I got back to the hotel, but I was immediately struck by this one.  I love the lighting with the module illuminated and the rest of the corner swimming in darkness.  The camera did a good job exposing, of course; all I did was push a button, but whoever designed the exhibit for the “Kitty Hawk” deserves credit, too.

Also, as a side note, I have to say: Even at ISO 1250, the Canon 5D can take some remarkably noise-free photos!

Canon 5D Mark II
Date: 3:28pm, 13 May 2010
Focal Length: 24 mm
Shutter: 1/20 sec
Aperture: F/4
ISO: 1250
Photoshop: Cloned out tiny light flare near ceiling

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There’s an easily-overlooked natural wonder printed on every map of Puerto Rico: “Mosquito Bay.”  It’s a regrettably descriptive name, but I like to think the fact it has never been changed is simply a clever cartographer’s trick that keeps the surrounding area undeveloped.  The locals on the island of Vieques refer to it as “Bio Bay,” and it’s home to one of the best bioluminescent displays on planet Earth.

The conditions in Mosquito Bay are just right for trillions of organisms, called dinoflagellates, to thrive.  Invisible to the naked eye, these microscopic creatures release a tiny burst of light when the water around them is disturbed. When millions go off at once, the water glows blue-green.

Every night, excepting those near a full moon, local companies bring tourists by the van-load to witness the phenomenon.  You can’t see it from the shore, so boats are provided. Gas-powered motors have been outlawed, but there are still electric-motor pontoon boats for those that want to be up off the water.  Oksana and I chose to take a guided kayak tour.

As soon as we arrived at Villa Coral, our guest house in Vieques, our hosts recommended a small company and made reservations for us that very night.  We met our fellow tourists in the empty Sun Bay parking lot while one of our two guides passed around some all-natural, completely-ineffective insect-repellant.  We settled up, $30 each, and then, just after sunset, we all piled into a large van and scraped our way along a sandy lane through the mangroves.

Our time on the shore was mercifully brief, but we still had enough time to learn why they call it Mosquito Bay.  Next to us, another company was launching their pontoon boat beneath the glare of twin halogen lights, bug magnets.  We stood around in ankle-deep water, swatting ourselves, while our guides equipped us with life vests and paddles.  As soon as we were able, we glided out across the water, away from the lights, toward the center of the black bay.

Not more than 40 yards offshore, we began to see the bioluminescence in the water.  Every paddle stroke created a pool of glowing green that whirlpooled away behind us.  If my wife and I hadn’t been in a twin kayak, we never would have kept up with the group.  The temptation to plunge our hands into the water was too great to resist.

Far out in the bay, the only illumination comes from the few houses along one shore and the occasional glare of a passing car.  Otherwise: Nothing but white stars above, green stars below.

Our guide forced us to endure a short science talk while we rafted the kayaks together and tied them off to a buoy.  Finally, we were allowed into the water.  Oksana and I were ready; we had brought our own masks and snorkels. We were the first in and (30 minutes later) the last out.

How can I describe what we saw under the water?  Every movement, no matter how small, is a Hollywood-worthy special effect.  Pinpricks of light, tiny green stars, trail behind you as you swim.  Lift your arm out of the water and sparkling glitter cascades down your skin like a 3D particle-emitter effect.  A simple back-float implies the glowing ghost of last year’s snow angel.  I imagine a cannonball from the pontoon boat, although antithetical to the tranquility of the scene, would be an impressive emerald explosion.

Perhaps the most impressive sights were the three-dimensional silhouettes created under the surface.  A person treading water was reduced to a headless black void, outlined so perfectly you could tell from their curves whether they were boy or girl.  A hand, examined up close from behind the glass of a dive mask, was so well delineated you could almost see the wrinkles on the knuckles.  On occasion, a fish would dart beneath us, green comets in a galaxy made of liquid. I had the impression that if they swam just a little slower, I could identify them by the shape of their negative space.

As incredible as it was, I’ve actually seen better bioluminescent displays in the ocean.  Once, near Ketchikan, Alaska, I witnessed tiny but incredibly bright waves crashing on a rocky beach.  One magical night in the Galapagos, I sat on the stern of our boat, anchored off Isla Bartolomé, and watched black sea lion shapes chase black fish shapes for hours.

What makes Vieques’ Bio Bay so special is its unique combination of environmental features.  The decomposition of the mangrove vegetation, the temperature of the water, the small channel leading out to the sea, and the lack of development on the shoreline all combine to make a perfect breeding ground for those little bioluminescent dinoflagellates.  Each gallon of water in the bay holds as many as 700,000 of the unicellular organisms and the conditions stay the same, year round.  There are, of course, other bays where bioluminescent displays are as dependable – many of them nearby in the Caribbean – but Mosquito Bay is considered by many to be the brightest.

My only complaint is that it’s practically impossible to capture the spectacle on film.  Consider: When the glare of a full moon is enough to drown out the light produced by these tiny creatures, a photographer’s flash will obliterate it.  A stable platform for your camera would make long exposures a possibility, but those are generally hard to come by on a kayak.  Most of the better photos found online use either multiple exposures or liberal Photoshopping.  Both work well enough, but don’t really capture the effect you see with your own eyes.

Vieques’ Bio Bay is just one of those “you have to see it to believe it” places.  Trust me; it’s worth a few mosquito bites.

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I spent quite a bit of time at the recent NASA Tweetup looking through my camera’s viewfinder.  Although I didn’t come away with any decent photos of the launch itself (I focused on the video this time, instead), I figured this week’s photo would still come from last weekend.

Then I found myself playing with Oksana’s new iPad, installing the Dropbox app.  I tapped into my account and started to play with what could and couldn’t open on the tablet.  That’s when I came across a folder full of Ecuador photos and realized that, even though I hadn’t taken my DSLR along on the trip, I still managed to come away with some decent shots.

This is Baños.  I love this little town tucked in the middle of the mountains.  There are trails everywhere up the steep hillsides and it only takes around 40 minutes to hike to the top (even if you do have to huff and puff through the altitude).

On one such hike, we found ourselves at the surprisingly popular Café del Cielo.  It was one of the few places we encountered in Baños that had unrestricted wi-fi, plus the packed house was a good indication that the food wasn’t bad, either.  They were too busy to even put us on the waiting list, though, so we resolved to come back later.

Later turned out to be New Year’s Eve.  We wanted to be reunited with the rest of the group before midnight, so hiking up and down the trail in the dark wasn’t an option.  We took an expensive cab ride up the meandering roads behind the mountain instead and, what with all the costumed kids stopping us for New Year’s cash donations, it probably took just as long to get there.  Our driver, knowing that we were at his mercy, arranged for an even higher fare for a scheduled ride back down.

But it was all worth it.  Café del Cielo was practically deserted and the very friendly and attentive waiter put us right up against the plate glass windows.  While Robert, Ana, Alicia, and I enjoyed our small meals (everything cost $5 or less; fairly expensive for Baños) and fantastic fancy coffees, I leaned my wife’s point-and-shoot against the window and took many long-exposure pictures.  Oksana’s little Panasonic doesn’t give you any manual controls, but at least its Starlight preset allows you to dial in 15, 30, or 60 second exposures.  This shot was my favorite of the evening; no reflections in the glass and neither over- nor under-exposed.  Sort of the Goldilocks photo of the set.  You know, just right.

Panasonic DMC-TZ5
Date: 8:54pm, 26 June 2008
Focal Length: 29mm
Shutter: 30 seconds
Aperture: F/4.8
ISO: 100
Photoshop: Unaltered

© Arlo for A Midgett Blog, 2010. | Permalink | No comment |

We also have a thousand-and-one other things to do.  Arrange for medical/travel insurance, complete our vaccinations, set up new bank accounts, cancel most of our utilities and make arrangements on the others to pay up a year in advance, buy ferry tickets, pack, fix the website, and somehow keep posting content (even if it’s Spartan, like this.)

On the plus side, my new Sony Vaio laptop arrived yesterday (after much struggle with FedEx Ground!)  Somewhere around here is my Adobe Master Collection serial number and as soon as I find it, I’ll finally get to try editing actual AVCHD files.  My previous Dell didn’t have the horsepower; let’s see what these i7 chips can do.

Appropo of nada, here is my letter of resignation:

May 10, 2010

Jim Gage, Media Services Manager
University of Alaska, Southeast
11120 Glacier Hwy
Juneau, AK 99801

Jim,

It is with sadness that I’m submitting this letter.  As you know, my wife and I have decided to take a year off to travel the world, therefore; I’m resigning my position as Digital Media Specialist at the University of Alaska Southeast. My last day will be June 1, 2010.

Over the years, I’ve come to cherish my role at UAS and I’m proud of the work I’ve done, not just for our department, but for the university as a whole.  Sprinting alongside students in an Ultimate Frisbee class, giving Spanish lessons in a tent on the Inca Trail, shooting ice field footage for the Environmental Science program from the open door of a helicopter, creating a 50-year anniversary party slideshow… No other job could give me the same opportunities!

I’ve worked full-time in Media Services since early 1999, and in my current role since October of 2000 (In fact, I started out in the glamorous role of Student Assistant on Aug 23, 1996!)  In addition, I have had the pleasure to work for the university in a freelance capacity, as a volunteer, and as an adjunct faculty member.

As I prepare to leave, I find myself reflecting on a job that, surprisingly, evolved into my career.   I can’t overstate how much I appreciate how UAS, and specifically the ITS department, labored to be flexible with regards to my contract.  Changing to an idyllic 10-month contract really worked for me, eliminating a sense of burnout and renewing my drive to contribute to the university in other ways.

The University of Alaska Southeast has been very good to me and I will be making every effort to return to it just as soon as our travels are complete.

Sincerely

Arlo Midgett

I would have thought I would be overjoyed to leave work behind for a year, but for some reason, I’ve actually been enjoying my job recently.  I may actually miss it; color me surprised.

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It’s Tuesday night.  I’m flying red-eye from Juneau to Orlando for NASA’s second-ever Shuttle launch Tweetup.  Seems like a good time to jot down what you can expect from me over the next few days.

I should be arriving at my Orlando hotel around noon on Wednesday, right about when this entry auto-posts, I suspect.  I’ve got half a day to recuperate from the jetlag and, in addition to enjoying an afternoon nap, I plan to tackle a few errands.

First, I need to experiment with a creative tripod solution for launch day.  I have, literally, four cameras at my disposal – not counting my iPhone! – and one thing I learned at the last launch is that one tripod is not enough.  To that end, I want to rig up some sort of contraption that lets me focus two or more cameras at the same subject – the Shuttle, obviously – so that I’m then able to pan and tilt them in tandem.  That’ll solve my dilemma of whether to shoot photos or video, right?  Should be interesting.

While experimenting with that, I’ll be charging all sorts of batteries.  I’m promised an air-conditioned tent, a seat at a table, and my own power strip at NASA’s press site, but it can’t hurt to be prepared.

In that vein, my backpack is packed to the hilt.  I have with me:

Two DSLR camera bodies, a Canon 5D mark II and a Canon Rebel XT
Three zoom lenses, one wide angle, one 2x extender
One external flash
Two regular tripods, one tripod “plate” attachment
Two Gorillapods, one UltraPod
A Zoom H2 digital audio recorder
Two video cameras, a Canon HFS10 and a helmet-mounted Contour HD
My iPhone (of course)
Three external Western Digital Passport hard drives
Many SD and Compact Flash cards
and my Dell XPS 1330 laptop

(I was this close to bringing my new powerhouse Sony laptop along, too, but FedEx didn’t quite come through for me.  Oksana will have to pick that up tomorrow and I won’t get to set it up until I get home next week.)

Plus, if I have time on Wednesday, and if I can find an Apple store near the airport in Orlando, I might just pick up a new iPad, too.  Just before leaving, Oksana and I decided to get one.  I could pick it up after the launch, but who knows?  Maybe I’ll find a use for it at Cape Canaveral!

Thursday is when the fun begins.  Here’s the schedule they provided me:

8-9 a.m. — Registration at the Kennedy Space Center Press Accreditation Badging Building
9-10 a.m. — Travel to the press site, set up, meet fellow participants
10 a.m. — Welcome and introductions by @NASA team members John Yembrick and Stephanie Schierholz
10:10 a.m. – Robert D. Braun, NASA chief technologist, NASA Headquarters
10:30 a.m. Jon Cowart (@Rocky_Sci), Orbiter Engineering manager, Space Shuttle Program, Kennedy Space Center
10:50 a.m. – Stephanie Stilson, space shuttle Discovery processing director, Shuttle Processing Office, Kennedy Space Center
11:10 a.m. — Astronaut Janice Voss
11:30 p.m.-12:15 p.m. — Break for lunch
12:30 p.m.-1:15 p.m. — Demonstration of the Advanced Crew Escape Suit (ACES)
1:20 p.m. — Instructions for launch day, board buses
1:30-6:30 p.m. — Tour of NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, including visits to the International Space Station Center and Apollo Saturn V Center. Your tour will drive by the Orbiter Processing Facility, Vehicle Assembly Building, Mobile Launcher Platforms and Crawler-Transporter. The last stop on the tour will be Launch Pad 39A to view retraction of the Rotating Service Structure, scheduled for 5:20 p.m. and space shuttle Atlantis. We will have a short break at the press site at about 4:30 p.m. If you need to leave, you may do so at that time.

And then on Friday:

9:30 a.m. — Arrive at Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39 Press Site.
10 a.m. — Group picture beside the countdown clock.
10:30 a.m.-2 p.m. — Free time and visits from guest speakers, including
- Astronaut Dave Wolf
- Lt. Col. Patrick Barrett, weather officer with the Air Force’s 45th Space Wing Weather Squadron
- Chris Meinert, STS-132 Closeout Crew member
- Madi Sengupta (@msengupta), Space Station Robotics instructor at NASA’s Johnson Space Center
- Amiko Kauderer, @NASA_Johnson team member leading STS-132 mission Tweetup
2:20 p.m. – Launch of space shuttle Atlantis on the STS-132 mission
~3:30 p.m. — Post-launch news conference on NASA TV

Following the launch, you are free to depart on your own schedule. If you leave immediately, be prepared to sit in traffic for quite some time.

(In the event of a 24-hour delay, we will repeat the launch day schedule, but everything will begin 30 minutes earlier)

I’m planning for long days, since I have an hour-long commute to and from my hotel.

It should go without saying that I’ll probably be posting quite a bit on Twitter during this trip; I mean that’s the whole point of allowing us access to the press site, right?  If you’d like to follow along, you can read my updates here: http://www.twitter.com/rlomidgett.  I, and the 150 or so other attendees, will be using the hashtag “#nasaTweetup” if you want to pay attention to the wider conversation.  I would not be surprised if I were to post a few photos and videos on my Facebook account, too.

NASA has its own Twitter accounts, of course.  You can follow @nasatweetup or even just @NASA.

In addition, there should be plenty of professional NASA coverage of the event as well.  The information they sent me included the following:

NASA will use UStream to broadcast the portion of the NASA Tweetup at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/nasa-television. (May 13, 10am-11:30am — I’ll try to tweet about it a few minutes before it begins.)

Portions of the NASA Tweetup may be broadcast on NASA Television and online at http://www.nasa.gov/ntv.  (I’m disappointed that we can no longer pick up the NASA TV satellite feed in Juneau, otherwise UATV would probably be rebroadcasting this.  I guess NASA switched off their west-coast satellite uplink a little while ago and the remaining feed is just a couple degrees below our horizon…)

Photos will be posted online during and/or after the event at http://www.flickr.com/photos/nasahqphoto.

Three other links that might be handy:

Regular launch updates: http://www.nasa.gov/shuttle
Schedule of milestones to launch: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/news/132_countdown_milestones.html
Media briefing and event schedule: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/news/132_hours_events.html.

Provided the Shuttle launch isn’t scrubbed, I expect to have one hell of a great time on this trip!  I’ll shoot as much video as I can, take some great pictures, and post what I can throughout the next two days.  I’ll use the following weekend to decompress, reflect, as well as organize all that media to see what I have.  I hope to be working on a new Postcard Valet podcast episode on my Sunday flight back to Juneau.

And, once I get home, if the migration to the new laptop goes smoothly, I may just post it ahead of our “first Monday of the month schedule.”  If not, come back on June 7^th and I’ll show you something pretty awesome.

© Arlo for A Midgett Blog, 2010. | Permalink | One comment |

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In 2008, Oksana and I purchased one-way tickets to Florida in the hope of buying a new car.  Fortunately, we found the perfect Jeep the very first day we were there and all we had to do was drive it back home to Alaska.

Even though the most prominent memories we have of the trip are of driving, Oksana constantly doing her MBA homework, driving, Oksana fielding calls from work and driving, we… where was I?  Oh, yeah.  Driving.  We actually did find time to explore a couple places.

I don’t remember how we picked out Bryce Canyon, but it turned out to be a great idea.  I don’t even know if it’s as great as our memories make it seem or if we were just thrilled to have one day on the trip that didn’t involve driving from point A to B.  At any rate, I sure wouldn’t mind going back again.

Once we got there, we scheduled a half-day, afternoon horseback ride; that left the morning for exploring the park.  We asked at the entrance what we could see and do in only four hours and soon after learned just how well it’s laid out.

There’s only one road through the park and it meanders along the upper cliffs of Bryce Canyon.  On the right is nothing but forest and hills, but on the left, just beyond the few cars in the oncoming lane, you can catch glimpses of the famous canyon seen through the numerous scenic overlooks.  Only after you get to the final turn-around and start back do you realize how easy they made it to pull off the road at every parking lot along the way.  At every stop, mere steps beyond your car, will be another impressive and unique view.

At one such stop, we came across this natural bridge.  Just like all the rest, I took many pictures from many angles.  This one is actually a stitched composite made up of 19 photos.  May not be the best image I captured in Bryce Canyon, but it’s one that stands out in my memory.  Perhaps because whenever I think of it, I also think of this cute one:

We have ton of media left over from our day in Bryce Canyon, including the horseback ride, a local rodeo show we visited later that night, and the sunrise the next morning.  I have half a mind to make a podcast episode out of it, but then…  We might get even better footage if we end up driving part of The Grand Circle in July.  Decisions, decisions!

Canon XT
Date: 11:05am, 26 June 2008
Focal Length: 18mm
Shutter: 1/320 second
Aperture: F/7.1
ISO: 100
Photoshop: 19 images stitched with Autostitch, cropped, slight cloning to balance sky gradients.

© Arlo for A Midgett Blog, 2010. | Permalink | No comment |

Have you ever thought about going to the Galapagos Islands?  How ‘bout this fall?

Here’s the deal.  Oksana and I will very likely be passing through Ecuador around October or November and I can’t imagine not taking her out to that amazing archipelago.  Unfortunately, it’s going to be way outside our budget of $100/day.  The rest of Ecuador is quite inexpensive, so we might just settle down for awhile and save up for the trip, but I’m hoping we can find another way…

When I was there in January, our group paid for a seven-day tour of the islands.  For the entire week, our home was the 78’ motor yacht, Floreana.  There’s room for 16 passengers (8 rooms), and everything from an English-speaking naturalist guide to three meals a day was provided.  Our itinerary generally consisted of two land excursions and two snorkeling excursions every day, with a couple of nights out on the towns (Puerto Ayora and San Cristóbal.)  Although there were only five people in our group, we quickly bonded all the other tourists and had a fantastic time!

Every time I bring up my trip to the Galapagos, someone says, “Oh, I’d love to go there someday.”  It gets me thinking.  How hard would it be to fill the Floreana with friends and family?

This is me, inviting you to join us on a Galapagos trip!

Let’s discuss the details a bit:

• Right now, Oksana and I don’t know when we’ll be getting to Ecuador, but my best guess is late-October, early-November.  Obviously, if this Galapagos trip comes together, we’ll adjust our itinerary accordingly.
• I would suggest taking two weeks off from work/school for this trip, but you could probably get away with just 10 days if you had to.  We’ll be spending an entire week on the boat, plus you’ll need a couple days from travel from the U.S.  If you’ve got a bit of extra time, we can tour Quito, visit the equator, and go to the renowned Otavalo market.

Cost estimate:

• Round-trip airfare from the U.S. to Quito (or Guayaquil): ~$1,500
  (I think it cost us $1,800 from Juneau, but it can probably be done cheaper with advance planning.  Also, don’t forget: You could save a lot by using your airline miles!)
• Round-trip airfare, Quito-Galapagos: ~$425
• Galapagos park fee: $100
• Seven-day boat tour: ~$1,000, plus tips
  (We paid $1,000, but that was arranged after we arrived at the islands.  Prices in Quito were around $1,250 for the same trip, but if we really can reserve the whole boat as a group, I’ll bet we’ll be able to negotiate $1,000 again.  Note that this will cover everything for the entire week, excepting sodas/alcohol and possibly incidentals in the port towns.)
• Extras: Maybe $500.
  If it were me, I’d probably budget an extra $500, just to be safe, but if you want to pinch pennies, you can get by on $20 for every extra day spent in Ecuador (which will cover food, transportation, and a clean hostel room, but probably not any extra tours or souvenirs.)  Maybe double that in the Galapagos, $40 per day, for any time not spent on the boat.  Obviously you can upgrade to the Hilton in Quito, if you like, but that will be much more like U.S. prices!
• And if I can convince you it’s worthwhile: $100 to Oksana and me…
  …in exchange for taking on any and all arrangements that you’d like us to take care of!  We’ll reserve the yacht, the hotels, the Quito-Galapagos airline tickets, we’ll meet you at the airport and take you to your hotel or hostel, we’ll give you a tour of Quito (or of other parts of Ecuador, if you have the time!), and we’ll make sure to have you back at the airport in time for your return flight home.  (If 14 people to join us, and if those 14 each chip in an extra $100, it’ll just barely cover one of our own trips.  Still wouldn’t be quite within our budget, but it’d be close enough for government work!)

So what are we looking at, total cost-wise?  I think you could do this for $3,500. (And hey, you Alaskans can knock that price down if you throw your dividend at it, right?)

Yes, that’s a lot of money, but let me assure you, a week in the Galapagos is so worth it!  There really is no place like it in the world.  The animals are completely fearless and you will be right up next to giant tortoises and both land and marine iguanas!  If you like birds, you’ll see blue-footed boobies, albatross, frigate birds, pelicans, pink flamingos, Darwin’s famous finches, and probably even penguins!  In the water, you’ll swim right up to sharks†, manta rays, sea turtles, and sea lions!

Oh, the sea lions!  I’d go again just to swim with them.  I can’t tell you how amazing it is to swim with the same sea lion pup for half an hour, playing follow-the-leader, blowing bubbles at each other, and looking each other in the eye.  Magical.

I wish I had the time right now to put together a video of our last trip there (I have literally hours of footage and no time to go through it.)  The pictures sprinkled throughout this post will have to do for now.

So.  Are you interested?  Even a little bit?  Well then… we need to hear from you!

I’ve organized trips like this for the university before, and what I like to do in the early stages is just get a feel for who’s thinking this might work for them.  What you need to do is send me an email (or get in touch with me another way) to let me know how likely you are to go with us.

Something like:

100% — “Count me in; I’m going no matter what!”
75% — “I really want to go, but it’ll depend on the dates.”
50% — “I have the time this fall, but I’ll have to see how much money I can sock away this summer.”
10% — “I’d love to go, but I don’t know how it’ll ever work.  Keep me informed, I’ll pray for a miracle!”

Really, the percentages don’t matter much.  If you’re interested at all, let me know!  I’ll form an email list and we can take it from there.

It may be that only two or three people want to go.  That’s okay; it’ll be super easy to find a tour that can fit a smaller group.  If, however, we get more than 14 people interested, I’ll probably have to form a waitlist of some sort.  In that case, your percentages will be much more important.

So what are you waiting for?  Send me that email already!

^† (You don’t have to swim next to the sharks if you don’t want to.)

© Arlo for A Midgett Blog, 2010. | Permalink | One comment |