lords and lags

We had a visit from various VIPs at our camp this morning...

Minister of Environment, David Anderson
Jim Vollmershausen, RDG, PNR, Environment Canada
Henry Hengeveld, Senior Science Advisor, Climate Change,Environment Canada
Jonathan Waddell, Office of the Minister of the Environment
Kevin McCormick, Chief, Northern Conservation Division, Environmental Conservation Branch, PNR, Environment Canada

and the Minister's guests:
Sir (Robert) Andrew Burns, United Kingdom's High Commissioner to Canada [ambassador-equivalent, also a member of the Privy Council...which means he's an advisor to the Queen, but led to the inevitable murmured toilet jokes]

Rt. Hon. Michael Meacher, Minister of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, United Kingdom
Hon. Børge Brende, Minister of Environment, Norway
His Excellency Svend Roed Nielsen, Ambassador from the Royal Danish Embassy in Ottawa
His Excellency Ingvard Havnen, Ambassador from the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Ottawa

I was part of a welcoming party, as shown on the http://www.marsonearth.org website as they got off of their Twin Otter. Politically-influential people, in casual clothes with backpacks. I had bought NASA hats and trinkets to give away to them... later, we showed off our ATV and experimental gear, and I gave the "why NASA is interested in Mars analogues" speech. They left after lunch.

Meanwhile, the science backroom team back home was convening... and after procrastinating for several weeks, now wants significant software and procedural changes. One day before tests begin. Yeah, right...

And AR was tense and birdlike, highly stressed, given to occasional outbursts. Insisting on driving the rover-sim ATV, when VR was the only one of us trained on it. Trying desperately to get air time in front of the VIPs (I arranged something).

And yesterday's solution to the file transfer lag problem caused ripple-effect twitches back at home... much consternation. Sigh... I've stretched my folks up close to their collective and individual limits in many cases. I'm very proud of them... they've come together in just two months, suffered a moving target and little written specs or requirements, and have gamely persisted with only traces of complaint. Even though deserved... sometimes I feel bad that I've stretched them so far, taking a toll on their energy, well-being and personal lives. I just hope that this project teaches us something worthwhile.

And it is bright and sunny, requiring sunglasses, at 1am...

You can sometimes see me at this place.