The wheels on the bus...

Walking home from uni today, after a long day spent pouring over this geochemistry assignment, a cyclist came past me singing at the top of his voice some crappie American country song he was listening to on his mp3 player. Other than the complete lack of self respect - i think he's got onto a new, probably un-necessary, niche in the market of rolling jukeboxes. I felt like asking for a Green Day track or Hey Jude maybe.

In other news; George Bush wrote a letter to North Korea expressing concern over their nuke plans. And who said he was iliterate? New-cle - er. A man reappeared at a London Police Station today after being missing in his Canoe in the North Sea for the last 5 years. Aparently he can't remember a thing except the £450,000 life insurance money now in an oversea's bank account. There also some silly news from Germany (as usual); a thief, ingenious a breed as they are, used a flower pot to steal a Porsche. And now for something completely different...

A photo...

More uploaded in due course.

Laters!

December 3rd

Only 22 days left to go before xmas and it really doesn't feel like it. Its still hitting low-mid 20's out here during the afternoon, a world away from the usual wet, cold and windy UK weather. Still, New York is already getting hit with lots of snow and sub-zero temperatures so ill get my fair share of winter there.

The Rolling Stone Magazine recently published a list of the 50 top songs over 7 minutes in length. Amongst others were Jesus of Suburbia by good ol' Green Day, One by Metallica, Champayne Supernova by Oasis, Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands by Dylan and Hey Jude by the Beatles. If your wondering where your favourite 70's and 80's hits like Hotel California are, tough - its not quite long enough! Which is for the best really cos it isnt really that good a song! I was surprised Bat out of Hell, Master of Puppets or Stairway didn't make it though!

Up in smoke and goes the culture

Theres a not-so-great prize available for whoever can name which song that line's from! Comment suggestions.

So, from the fun and leisure last weekend of Vegas and the big GC, this week and next are so full of work it aint even funny. My Mars GPR presentation is finally out of the way as of yesterday and ive nearly finished the accompaning report. I'm half way through another report - "The Tectonic History of the Altiplano though palaeo-elevation techniques". Yes it is exactly just as interesting as the title sounds! Ive got 2 "take home" exams next week - essentially we get given the exam to do at a time convienient to us. Its a good idea but open to a lot of abuse - i know for a fact that most people in the class will cheat and look up answers. I won't! Then theres geochemistry. The lecturer has managed to loose half of the homeworks we handed in along with a midterm exam. He's aparently got the marks for the homework but will allegedly make them up for the midterm so im not sure which way thats going to go. He also sprang a surprise on us yesterday by scrapping the final for a project. Good news? No! Not when that project is "Discuss the geochemical evolution of the Earth!" It's long, its hard and we haven't got long to write it! Here come some long nights.

Well the weekend has crept around again, time is flying by its just silly. less than 3 weeks til New York and then Christmas and then Peru. Before i know it, itll be January and uni again and most importantly, countdown til i get back to the UK! Its the last in the current series of top gear on sunday (i think) and theyve got Lewis Hamilton racing The Stig around the track. Should be awesome - don't miss it!

Anyway g2g and find some papers for a friend. Cya

Las Vegas and Grand Canyon

Saturday night/Sunday morning was spent flicking between sleep and reading on a old greyhound bus from Vegas to Phoenix. 3 days before, i'd made the opposite journey and the infilling gap was full of everything Vegas legally had to offer (to a 20 yr old atleast!).



Thursday afternoon, shortly after arriving, i went on abit of a whim and did a 12000ft skydive from an air-strip just south of Vegas. What an awesome experience! I have to reccomend it to anyone, even just to do it once - the feeling of freefalling at 120mph towards the earth is indescribable. The dodgiest bit though was stepping out of the plane at 12000ft onto a 1ft square ledge beneath the wing whilst your instructor (strapped to your back) gets out of the aircraft behind you.



Friday i went on an all day trip (literally! It left at 5:50am!) to the Hoover Dam and Grand Canyon. It was something like 580miles round trip which i only found out once on the bus but despite that, it was worth it. The Hoover Dam was a spectacular piece of engineering especially during America's great depression, extending 750+ft in height from Lake Mead to the north and the rest of the Colorado river to the south. Another, more spectacular engineering feat is being built nearby. The tallest arch bridge in America is being built to span the gorge created by the Colorado with views of the Hoover Dam.

The Grand Canyon was simply indescribable. It left me momentarily speechless! No photos or videos (although i took quite a lot!) can portray the awesome beauty of what is essentially a big hole in the ground. The river is bearly distinguishable from the canyon rim and the geology is so well exposed, even a geographer could interpret it! I wanted to go hiking down to the bottom but we didn't have time and our bus driver was being quite strict about keeping to schedule. BTW: The big bird in the photo's is a California Condor. They circle on the thermals in the canyon and have wing spans of around 8ft. An awesome sight in itself never mind the background!

So back to everyday life and back to Tucson. This week is probably the busiest yet. Ive got a presentation tomorrow (thursday) on something i could talk for about 2 hrs on but ive got to condense it into 10 minutes. Then theres the 2 other reports and final exams to prepare for. Fun times!

Thanksgiving Travels

Just a shortish post to keep everyone sweet - ive got a lecture shortly and a bus to catch this evening to Las Vegas.

Why Vegas? some might say! We'll, its relatively close to Arizona and theres plenty to see even if i am too young to gamble and get wasted on the strip. The overnight buses there and back means ive got 3 days/2 nights in the glamour. Thursday afternoon ive got something a little special - a 3 mile high (15000ft) skydive over the Las Vegas Valley! Rest assured, plenty of photos will go on here after that one! Friday, im on an all day tour to the Grand Canyon, Hoover Dam and Lake Mead (more awesome photo opportunities!) and Saturday ive got the day to explore vegas itself (in the daylight atleast) before my night bus home. I'm back Sunday morning (Arizona time) so watch out for photos providing i'm not too tired when crashing from my adrenaline high from the previous few days.

Have a good weekend now y'all!