Thursday, December 6, 2012

San Francisco - AGU Part 4

I went out walking again this evening while looking for somewhere interesting for dinner. Here is a view from the other side of the Union Square Christmas tree and you can see the decorated windows of Macy's in the background. I'm not sure what the bucket truck is doing but it was there a couple of days ago as well. Maybe a bulb is burned out on the star and its taking them a long time to identify it.


This picture is from the same vantage point of the one above showing the decorated palm trees at one of the entrances to the square. Lots of noise in this area as there are a number of percussionists performing their art on five gallon plastic buckets.

I had another OSPA session to attend early this morning as judge. It was just one of a whole series of presentations on a common topic which turned out to be so interesting that I ended up staying for the entire block. I guess I'm more than a little interested in ice studies no matter which pole the work is being done. When I initially moved to Alaska, it was as a physics grad student and one of the areas I considered studying was sea ice. This mornings talks were on the formation and physical properties of sea ice and one of them dealt with the impact of snow cover. Snow is a pretty efffective insulator and is much more reflective than melt ponds in the spring. All good stuff.

The afternoon was spent meeting with several folks on IT issues in Barrow and really enjoyed seeing them again. The last time I've met a couple of them was at the Polar Technology Conference a year and a half ago. I really enjoyed it the last time I attended it in 2011 but unfortunately, I won't be able to attend again next year.

The week is winding down and tomorrow mid-morning, I head north to Oregon. So this will be the last San Francisco - AGU post this year. No food photos this evening as I just had stir fried noodles with veggies. Nothing exciting at all.

14 comments:

  1. Hey to a vegan, stir fried noodles with veggies can be pretty exciting, lol. Kidding, no really.

    Great picture of the tree lit up. I recognize the Macy's as last year we went to the Cheesecake Factory located in there.

    Have a good flight and we'll see you tomorrow at coffee.

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    1. I guess stir fried noodles with veggies is something we have at home often so it didn't seem exceptional. There was a dim sum cart running around but the selection wasn't very good.

      They really do have the area decorated and the Macy's had a lot of lights and huge wreaths. Last year, I looked for the windows in Macy's but they were not accessible to the general public. See you guys later.

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  2. Richard:

    so sorry you won't make it to SFO next year. I'll bet it's a nice break away from your freezing weather for a few days.

    Oh, and I don't need the box from the Sena's. I am traveling light. thanks again

    bob
    Riding the Wet Coast
    My Flickr // My YouTube


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    1. I may make it to SFO next year but won't be able to male it to the Polar Technology Conference in Maryland next April.

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  3. Richard, I'm not such a fan of noodles ... but bucket drummers, they're a whole lot of fun. Sounds like it has been an interesting conference. Enjoy your last night in California and your journey home.

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    1. Not a fan of noodles?! I thought everyone likes noodles...

      Now I'm in OR until the middle of next week.

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  4. Physics and sea ice. I find it to be a great thing when two things I don't think of as being related turn up in the same sentence. Thanks. My world got a little bigger just now.
    ~k

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    1. Since I used to be a physics major, I would say that physics goes with anything. How did it go, biology is applied chemistry which is applied physics which is applied math which is applied philosophy.

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  5. Richard, I spent a lot of time walking around Union Square a couple of years ago, but had I been able to wait until the Holidays to be there, I would have; your photos confirm them.

    Have a safe trip home.

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    1. Coop,
      Thank you for stopping by and commenting! I've been going to San Francisco for many years and it is always nicely decorated for the holidays. Plus there were live musical performances in the square most evenings.

      Chicago along the Miracle Mile has some wonderful decorations before the holidays.

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    2. Richard,
      Now I need to pick your brain and see if there are any 'shortcuts' I should know with my new-to-me '82 RT100. This is my first BMW.

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    3. Be happy to. Step one is to add yourself to the Airheads mailing list. Do you knoe what mainteneance or repairs have been done?

      The early '80s are known to have valve recession problems due to poor heat conduction betwen the exhaust valve and the seat. The only repair is replace the valve seats and valves. This magic mileage seems to be around 50k and I had mine done two years aga.

      Lube the trans input spline and the rear hub spline every couple of years.

      Replace the brake fluid every year.

      I'm told that the diaphrams in the carbs dry out and crack every couple of years. I suspect I have that problem as my mileage dropped all of a sudden this summer.

      Those are what comes to mind right now, but more than willing to help....

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    4. I got the bike from a friend and know the previous owner but am still a bit unsure of how much maintenance has been done. I'll have a chance this winter to get it up on the rack and take a look at the things you've mentioned.

      Someone knew or suspected that the valves had been dealt with. At 86K, I'm not all that sure about everything else.

      I was a member of the MOA for a year (after attending the National in WI) and enjoyed the magazine, even with all the grumbling I hear from members about the evolving club. I'll get on the list and have been hearing a lot from all of my 'expert' friends; I'm surrounded by people that have been long-time owners.

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  6. Thanks Richard, more soon when I've got a keyboard to use.

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