Hola...

Cuando soy tipsy, español y francés me parezco repentinamente
tenerme más sentido, comienzo a pensar un poco en ellos. En digitos binarios, heh. Acabamos de volver de una barra en Nerva. Mucho Cuba Libres que... es los casi 2am, yo debe dormir. Pero el camaraderie es muy importante.

Re-entry forebodings

I've been homesick at times... often I dearly miss the kids and Pat and ordinary, familiar things. Part of me is very ready to come home. But part of me is dreading it... this has been a nice little stasis, away from politics and news and relationship issues and financial and job stress. Just the mission, the science, the goals. Once I'm home, things may change or have changed for the worse... and I'm not sure how I fit in anywhere, anymore. Or with whom, individuals as well as groups. But I have no choice. Maybe things will be OK. Or at least tolerable...

acidity

Right now we've finished one hole and are waiting for the next one... actually, right this moment everyone has either gone to their beds or out to bars ;-). I've spent the day resolving NASA problems -- Johnson Space Center hired the Carnegie Institute to do some biochemistry, now the Carnegie guy (a) publicly derides the recently-arrived JSC colleague as a no-talent loser, (b) wants to take the specimens back to Carnegie, instead of curation at JSC. The project lead (CS) is in transit, flying home today, and is unavailable... I'm the only NASA employee left here, so I get to clean up ;-).

Otherwise, I drove to Seville, picked up the JSC person at the airport after she turned in her rental car, and bought packing supplies at El Corte Ingles (department store on the ring road). I bought two white T-shirts which are now steeping in red and yellow acid springs.

Last Friday CS poured a ceremonial bottle of Rio Tinto water down the completed borehole, and we posed for a group picture. Note the position of the rock core that Todd is holding (next to me)...
( 2 photos... )