Saturday, April 19, 2008

down the tubes

Well, despite having three aurora-type projects here, I'm down to zero operating as I write. The last one went down at the end of the day, and I've no feedback from the project concerning how to try pursue a fix, so...hey, it's Saturday night.

One week and counting and the band, which just got done practicing (well most of us), will be playing our first gig for the station. All the experienced players say the first one is usually the worst, but it seem like we really have a pretty good grasp of the music. So, in one week's time keep your eyes peeled for fiery ruptures in the earth's crust, strange silvery objects flying about the sky, dogs and cats living together, the general end of the world as we know it. Yours truly will have taken the stage to sing lead vocals in front of an audience. Rue the day!

Anyhow, shut up, Ethan. Seeing the auroras, of which there were some stunning examples in the sky today. {Sorry, I haven't had time to try and use my very basic camera and a tripod to attempt to capture them. It really does not do so well in dark conditions.} I could see how primitive peoples would imagine these great undulating light shows to be giant animals in the sky. I could definitely envision the right aurora as a snake, a dragon, a thunderbird, or whatever. They definitely have a presence that is different than any cloud I've ever seen, and no I've never seen a tornado in person. It will be great to get a good, strong display today without the ridiculously bright full moon that is also in the sky. It is amazing how much light that pumps out. Add in the fact that the snow surface is 90% reflective, and it's almost like somebody has a spotlight trained on you. I've never really seen such pronounced shadows created by moonlight anywhere else in my life.

Well, the evening calls.

3 comments:

Becky said...

Frustrating in the extreme to have no projects functioning-but you do need time off too.
Sorry your camera won't do good pics of the aurorae. But there are lots of them up on the web.
Is the lunar cycle normal-ie, waxing and waning in a 28 day pattern? And how high above the horizon is the moon?
BeckyH

Mr. Fairbanks said...

Ethan! Please, oh please, make a digital recording of your performance and post it. I'm psyched. I'm sure it will be good, knowing your perfectionist nature.

skua76 said...

I'm getting more and more psyched up for the great music next weekend...