Welcome to Santiago!

First glimpse of Santiago shows a fairly modern city around the airport. Not sure if the haze is smog or some type of of weather related inversion.

State of the Art

My last couple of flights on a Boeing 767 were over Russia and it was like being back in the 80's.....front projection TV, a little Sinatra playing during boarding and these curious control panels on the seats very similar to some a fellow blogger helped with during that same time period.

I'm sitting in Dallas awaiting a flight on a modern 767 to Santiago. I'll give an update on the differences!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_767

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I waved when I flew over you house on the way in cousin!

Spring Forward

Spring arrived a few days early for our local population of eligible bachelors down by the lake. Hundreds of leopard frogs started their homage to the warmer temperatures last night while we opened our windows to the weather---so I recorded a few of the boys serenading the ladies.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Leopard_Frog

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Food Around the World

In the first photo, a typical beginning to a meal for a business class passenger on a Singapore Airlines Boeing 777-300ER. The airline is one of the top-rated airlines in the world.

The second photo is the entire meal for every passenger on the IrAero Antonov An-26 100 turboprop heading up to the mine. Basically a winged bus for the teams to get to and from the mine on their rotations. The airline is focused on serving the far eastern cities of Russia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singapore_Airlines

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_777

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IrAero

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonov_An-26

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Up, Up and Away!!!

Though technically violating FAA and Homeland Security rules (Guantanamo here I come), I recorded the Triple 7 takeoff from Houston to Moscow a while back. The take-off was actually a very smooth and uneventful one. This Boeing is a very stable and quiet platform during flight.

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"Well, the Ides of March have come"

Bouquet of Buttercups

Just one of the many groups of buttercups popping up around the yard this (and every) Spring. This two-tone variety is one of my favorites.

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Long Walk to Memphis

Most airports require some walking and the international airport in Toronto is no different. The difference is they walk a lot more in their daily lives and this thinking applies to modern airports. It is Gate 250 for today's departure and it beats the heck out of Gate 272 from the previous trips.

Lost in the Clouds

Having lunch today at the CN Tower....the top is lost in the clouds this morning. Hopefully things will clear a bit for some good photos!

This Georgia Peach went fishing 22 Yrs Ago

And hooked a largemouth Florida Cracker :)

Fortunately for me, catch and release wasn't popular back then!!!

Happy Anniversary #22 to my favorite beach girl--3/10/2011

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8,035 days in captivity

Vertically Challenged

This Russian porcelain is rough! Should have one of those "You need to be this tall...." signs posted as you go into the bathroom.

King of the CATs

Yours truly and a few of his closest friends from the Western Hemisphere stand in front of a CAT 797F 400 ton Haul Truck being manufactured in Decatur, Illinois. The engine in the F Series is a single block, V-20 cylinder, quad-turbo, 4,000hp monster. The tires are mounted on 63 inch rims and stand over 13 feet tall. The gross vehicle weight is 1.4 million pounds!!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caterpillar_797

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Early Morning in the Entertainment District

Getting ready to walk to work this morning with an international crowd :)

Fond Farewells

An employee was leaving Kinross at the Kupol mine and her coworkers had a little fun Photoshopping the soon to be departed's head onto various bodies, printing the altered images on a plotter and then mounting on foam-core. Probably result in legal action in the states :)

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Just putting a date on my notes and....

.....Happy Birthday Grandma Setzer....the Big 90!!!!!

I'm Back :)

Not in my wildest dreams did I imagine waking up in CAT country again--unless it was because I was retired and taking a season for a Great Loop Cruise.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Loop

Up in Peoria as a customer of CAT. Looks to be a good week.

Going to have to study up on that 6 degrees of separation stuff.

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Hammer Drill

A bit larger than the home version found at your local DIY Big Box. This industrial rig uses the same concept while the operator sits in heated comfort. A planned pattern is drilled in the solid rock, the holes are then loaded with ANFO (explosive), and exploded with precision detonators to decrease shock waves and increase fragmentation of the rock.

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Winter Road

My friend in Russia sent me a picture of the "Winter Road" that he took this past week while traveling to Pevek. The snowfall isn't as much as some others areas but what does fall pretty much stays all season.

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The Youngest Soloist

The Dyersburg Advanced Choir donated their time for the local public library fundraiser. Several soloists performed including our very own Mackenzie---by far the youngest performer and with the most difficult piece of music to sing. She of course sang outstanding.

Did I mention she scored a perfect "1" in her solo ensemble contest last week for west Tennessee? Her brother (Mr. College-bound) just missed a "1" but was approached for potential scholarships...both follow in the footsteps of their older sibling!

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

8,157 days (22 years, 3 months and 30 days) since I met my main squeeze, but who is counting? :)

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

The fortunate thing for me is our first date was in a sports bar where I watched Kirk Gibson hit his famed World Series home run. Somehow I made an impression even while trying to pay attention and watch the game at the same time :)

Home Cooking

While the cafeteria pictured above actually had very good food and always looked like the photo, nothing beats a little home cooking.

Arrived back in the States and then home yesterday evening.

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Two Guys Who Grew Up Near St. Petersburgs

Yours truly and my Russian born friend Igor. He grew up in the city that was formerly call Leningrad and is now back to it's original name of St. Petersburg. He and his family now live in Vancouver, Canada and he works a rotation as a Continuous Improvement manager at Kupol.

Pictured in the background to the right is the backside of the "kupol" as viewed from the south.

Say it in Russian

I noticed the cover of the book and knew it was one of the titles in the series "------ for Dummies". Opening and looking over the diagrams, charts and math I knew it was a Six Sigma book. Getting the Russian translation from my friend born in St. Petersburg (Russia) though was somewhat enlightening. The translation of the cover reads "Six Sigma for Cattle". Wouldn't pass the politcal-correctness committee back home but works for me :)

Dawn over Kupol

Dawn breaks over Kupol to clear skies but the coldest temperatures of my stay at -37C with a 5-10 meter per second wind.

Utility Vehicle

Being slowly phased out due to poor reliability and lack of parts, this Russian stalwart has see many years of service around the area. Looking like a plump VW Bus, I saw many versions of this model around the mine and Magadan.

Where in the World is Dad?

Many of my geographically challenged female readers from Texas whose husbands have birthdays this week have asked, "Where are you cousin?", so I am posting a picture---not that I would call out any of my devoted followers by name :) It is actually a good question and I actually had previously created this picture for my own children when they asked where I was going to be the next few weeks. One of the young trio asked why I just didn't go to the left but weather delays this time of the year make travel through Alaska a dicey affair. The route shown is about 25 hours of air travel over several days depending on the airline schedules.

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Superbowl Monday

Nothing culminates the end of a football season like a Monday morning Superbowl party above the Arctic Circle. In the photo, the food has begun to arrive from the kitchens and placed on the tables in the Solstice Cafe. The Green Bay leaning crowd is strategically arranging their seats for talking smack to the one guy who has the courage to say he is Steeler fan. Most importantly though, the satellite signal beaming the game from an Alaskan affiliate is a good one today with the mostly clear weather.

The spread included many types of finger foods--chicken wings, pizza, nachos & cheese, meat platters, etc. I believe the fine folks running the kitchen googled in "Superbowl party food" and created the great menu from the search results. The crowd for the game included about a dozen folks who actually care and understand the game of American football, plus a few of our Russian friends who were curious about what all the excitment was about.

Brisk Morning Walk

Nothing gets the blood pumping like a walk to work in -25C weather. Multiple doors along the "Arctic Corridor" allow the more adventurous (or naive) to walk along the packed snow and ice until their ears freeze.

Frosted Flags

No, the flags are not frozen though they might look like it. The few days before the photo was taken the local weather was cloudy, windy and an occasional icy snow. The result is the snow packed onto the flagpoles...and most everything out in the wind.

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High Noon

A quick photo on the way to lunch shows the harsh mid-day sun relentlessly beating down on the arid landscape. Dawn and dusk are long affairs here that last for hours before and after the sun giving a surreal grey-blue glow to anything outside.

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Tastes Like Chicken

Some of my blog followers have asked, "So how's the food there?". The photo is fairly typical though I wasn't really on-board with the skewered mystery meat until it actually tasted like chicken---of course I have no idea what cat/dog/rat/wolverine taste like. If we had been a bit closer to a town I might have chosen another entrée :) Really, the only thing that might be truly different is the salads. Lettuce does not do well in frosty climates so cabbage is substituted along with other cold-hardy veggies. Soups, meats, vegetables, fruits and bread are all good stuff. I did have to get use to drinking whole milk again until I figured out how to water it down a little.

Day 10--A Cloudless Sun-Shiny Day

Dawn bring a cloudless sky over Siberia with cooler temperatures dropping into 30s overnight---the minus 30s of course :) The weather had been cloudy, a bit of snow and windy for the past week so the sun shining is a big change. A few more containers have arrived as the supply chain cranks up the deliveries.

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