Finally, a reasoned analysis of the hype

In the midst of Michael Jackson "hoopla", something remained unsettled with me, something I struggled to put into words but felt none-the-less. Today's opinion piece in the NY Times captures it very well: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/04/opinion/04herbert.html?_r=1

"The Michael-mania that has erupted since Jackson’s death — not just an appreciation of his music, but a giddy celebration of his life — is yet another spasm of the culture opting for fantasy over reality. We don’t want to look under the rock that was Jackson’s real life."

And, by analogy, we don't want to critically examine our own lives (or the collective life of the country) because it does seem to have become quite hedonistic (pleasure-seeking; "Am I happy?" is a very popular self-analysis question). Your thoughts?

A sad story that continues . . .

Solitary incarceration is a horrible punishment. And what I don't understand is how the drumbeat of "release the prisoners of war" can be so loud in this country (I guess it was particularly strong during/after Vietnam?) and yet we ourselves hold hundreds of POWs to this day. The whole mess is just sad.

Una noche muy latina

Tonight I'm renaming the night "Latin Night" since I'm watching two futbol (soccer) matches, one on the internet and one on Telemundo. And exchanging text messages in Spanish with my friend Baltazar. Chile and Bolivia are tied in the 42nd minute (in Santiago) and Mexico leads Trinidad & Tobago 1-0 in the 15th minute.

The internet feed of Canal 13 (from Chile) isnt great, but I'm getting it alright.

EDIT 44th minute: GOOOOOOOOOOOL Chile!!

Baptism, Chesapeake style

Yesterday I joined Iglesia Emmanuel for their bi-annual baptisms and drove with Baltazar, Oscar, Isabel, and Iris down to Point Lookout State Park in far southern Maryland. There were 29 people baptized (by my count) and hundreds of people in attendance. We left Annapolis about 6:15 a.m. (15 mins late, as I was the last to arrive!) and I carpooled down with my small group. We had an excellent cookout with lots of tasty meats and played 2 rousing games of futbol (soccer). The baptisms were held around 10:30 a.m. and lasted through about 11:15. I taught some of the guys how to throw the frisbee around - but one of 'em sent an errant disc hurtling into the women (and it banged one of them in the head) so that ended our frisbee-tossing.

Here's a picture of where Point Lookout is in MD; I'll post other pictures soon.

A final goodbye, and a new start

Two weekends ago, the Barrett family gathered at Camp Don Lee to say our final goodbye's to Paw Paw and sprinkle his ashes in the Neuse River just off of Don Lee's pier. We also gathered to dedicate the (still unfinished) "Troy and Robbie Barrett Cabin" to God's glory and service. It was a glorious Saturday (warm and breezy), a perfect day to gather and remember. Mary Beth, Matt, Tim, Mike, and I tossed an ultimate disc around before lunch, and then we all headed out to the pier for the ash spreading. Afterward several of the crew went out on a sailboat, and others hung around and relaxed on the pier. Later in the afternoon, Bill, Tim, and Dad showed off with coordinated back-flip dives off the Don Lee diving platforms. Tim, of course, stole the show with multiple 2.5 (maybe a 3.5?) turn dives. As they were exiting and getting ready for dinner, I said my goodbye's and left for Asheville around 4:30 p.m.

Here are some pictures.

Random photos from the past 2 months

I realize I've gotten behind in posting photos on the trusty blog (Facebook is so much easier to upload photos... Blogger, can you make any changes??!) Here are a few random pictures spanning my Final Four watch party (Saturday 04 April), Easter dinner over at the Sponaugle's with Campus Crusade, a nice shelf cloud that passed over USNA on April 21, and Zach's visit from April 29-May 3.

Whew it's muggy!

Now that it's mid-May in Annapolis, the moisture has finally surged into town. (Just in time for me to drive 1500 miles west only to hope and pray for 55F dewpoint on the northern high plains... ugh!) I think I've decided that while I like moisture, I also like dry climates where my body can sweat and effectively and efficiently cool itself. High moisture content is nice for on thing: thunderstorms, and last night we had a few comforting rumbles of thunder (enough to cause me to pull up and auto-loop the local radar!)

In other news: my car is all Rain-X'ed (accomplished in the parking lot at USNA) and ready to go, and now if only the atmosphere would cooperate and give us a decent western trough between now and the end of May. Given the likely state of the atmosphere next week, here's what I would prefer (still not ideal, but do-able!)

1- slight reorientation of the mostly zonal upper-level flow (from out of 285 to out of 265)
2- quick disappearance of any closed/cut-off Gulf of Mexico lows
3- subsequent faster return of winds south of 90degrees (implying moisture return)
4- no detrimental cirrus shields or overnight MCCs (not likely given dearth of moisture)

I'll try to blog frequently from the field. We'll depart 17 May from AVL and be out through 30 May, returning to AVL 31 May.

What will it be: trough or ridge? Dry or moist?

This Sunday I leave for the plains with the Severe Weather class from UNC-Asheville. My friend from grad school, Dr. Godfrey, has asked me to help navigate (& drive) during the trip, and I'm excited to join them on this adventure. Now if only the atmosphere will cooperate: the long-range global NWP models (GFS, ECMWF, and NOGAPS) are all depicting some form of western ridge-eastern trough setup for the first few days of our trip. The most troubling thing is that some models take the eastern trough into a closed low parked over the Gulf of Mexico, ensuring dry stable northerly surface flow over the Gulf through the weekend. We'll see how it the atmosphere actually behaves (144-hr to 180-hr forecasts aren't entirely reliable), but regardless the first few days of the two-week class do not look promising. On "down" days, the class will visit SPC, NSSL, the research Doppler radars, and a mesonet site, and will hear talks from Dr. Chuck Doswell and other scientists & researchers. Of the 12 chaseable days (the first and last day are "ferry" days), climatology dictates that we should have 3-4 with storms, and at least 1 of those days should be chase-friendly with tornadoes. Again, all I can say is "we'll see". Of course from the objectives of the course, any atmospheric day is ripe for teaching: explaining the why of the atmosphere is just as important on non-storm days as on storm days. (It's just not as exciting to verify your forecast on the non-storm days!)