Good day all.

It is a new year! Yes, I know it is already the middle of January, but for some of us, the new year doesn't actually start until we overcome the powerful urge to write '2001' on all of our checks. So...

"Should auld acquaintance be forgot, and never brought to mind!"

And in the spirit of new beginnings...

DING DONG

Well, I think that I have found a place where God intends me to be, and I feel that way more and more every day.

It can be as subtle as watching the sunset from the roof of the GI on a cold and clear afternoon, or that almost overwhelming feeling of luck and good fortune that I get whenever I think about my job, my apartment, my car, etc. Things are just plain working out. I have never been so at peace. And, I have received another nudge in what I feel is the right direction.

I had been attending church at the Fairbanks Lutheran Church, and I had been enjoying it alright, but I really felt as though I was not making a ton of headway in becoming more involved. Their opportunities to become involved, to become more than just another face in the Sunday crowd were very few. My particular "talent", music, could not really be utilized at all. And I just did not really feel welcome. I don't mean to suggest that the congregation was unfriendly...quite the contrary. It just didn't seem right for me. I decided to try another church, and so I picked out the Univ. Community Presbyterian Church, and I really
feel as though I should be there. I recognized the Director of the GI (Geophysical Institute), Dr. Roger Smith, when I walked in, as well as Celia Rowher, another GI employee who I work closely with on the monthly climate reports that get published in the press. I also know Celia from the Fairbanks Community Band.

It was so refreshing and the church community was so much more open and friendly. It just felt right. I learned that Celia was the director of the Hand Bell Choir, and I had always wanted to try my hand at that, pun very much intended. Last Tuesday night was my first rehearsal with them, and it is very, very challenging, but very neat. Kind of like bass drumming in marching band, but with more people, and more beauty. I have begun working on arranging a piece of music which I think will sound really nice on bells. It is great.

Well, I guess my point for writing all of this is to assure you that I am alive, revived, and very well here. I am beginning to feel a little more like I belong here, and I am happy.

MATRICULATION

Brian Hartmann, Student.

Wow, that seems odd to see that once again. However, it is a title which I gladly and enthusiastically accept, for it is the first step towards a new goal, that being Brian Hartmann, M.S in Atmos. Sci.

The time has come for me to intensify my learning, and to start using my brain in really great ways again. Not to suggest for one minute that I find my work unfulfilling or easy.

I love my work, and I love my project, and I love the people I work with. However, to be perfectly honest, I don't always like leaving at 5PM and not having to deal with anything of consequence until the next day. The academic environment around me is starting to sing its siren's song, and I have no mast to which I can lash myself..

So, to that end, I have registered as a student at the University of Alaska at Fairbanks, in a non-degree program, at this point. I am lucky enough that I get up to 6 hours of classes per semester (be they graduate or otherwise) paid for because I am an employee of the University. Also, I am lucky in that if the class is work related, I can attend during work hours and not have to make up the lost time.

I miss class. It may sound really odd, especially to those of you who are still in school, and who are desperately looking forward to the "end".

I am taking two classes, one of which will count towards my Master's program.

The first class is going to "Topics in Polar Climatology". The other class is "Science, Technology, and Politics", all of which are things that interest me. If THAT isn't a course where a nerd like me could flourish, I dare you to find a better one. Well, maybe "Drum and Bugle Corps: Cool, Really Cool, or Really, Really Cool?" or "The Effect of Mesoscale Severe Weather Meteorology on Wind Band Literature", but until they come up with those courses, I will make do with these.

GOINGS ON

Well, let me see...what is going on? Oh, birthdays and anniversaries! Whilst I was away, there were some people who
celebrated some days...let me see. Amy Winbinger celebrated a birthday on the 28th of December. My sister Karen and her
husband Jay err...John celebrated 11 years of mawig...mawig...is what bwings us...togedda...today...Wuv...TWUE wuv...oops, sorry. Sometimes my mind gets stuck in Cinema Mode. Anyway, Happy 11th, Karen and Jay. Class of 95 President James "Genghis" Kuehn, Conqueror of Norman, celebrated his birthday on January 9th. And Jeremy Allen Bill, the famous "Man with Three First Names", ekes up above the quarter-century mark on Sunday the 13th of January. If you know of any others that I have missed, please tell me, so they can get proper recognition on Captain Brian's Birthday Club.

Lets see. Oh, here is a bit of exciting news, if it ends up panning out. I may end up having a little something of mine published in Backpacker Magazine. I will keep you updated.

I went to see "A Beautiful Mind" this weekend. It is an ok movie. Russell Crowe does a fine job from the acting side of things. It is another one of those films that helps me see how I must look to other people, at least a little bit. It was a very personal movie for me.

The scene where Nash, played by Crowe, is trying to extract an algorithm of the movement of pigeons, I was reminded a little bit about how I was looking curiously at the inferred temperature sensitivity of house flies. The story goes like this. I was sitting in the music lounge with Kristen Clark and somebody else (Do you remember this, Kristen?), and there happened to be a creation of somebody's made out of construction paper, lying on the table, black and white construction paper. Anyway, I noticed that there was a fly buzzing around and when it landed on the construction paper, it would spend much more time on black construction paper than on the white. I wondered whether the fly was doing that because it was sensitive enough to tell the very little bit of temperature difference between the white paper, which would be reflecting energy from the lights, and the black paper, which would be absorbing the energy. I want to run some more experiments about that one day. I am sure that
there has probably already been experiments done in to that, but it is much more fun to start from scratch and try it myself.

I don't mean to necessarily suggest that I have a beautiful mind, but I am curious, and science, pure science, still lives on. Curiosity is the root of science. And if that is the prerequisite for having a "beautiful" mind, then so be it.

Anyway, in regards to the movie, I would indeed recommend it. It is worthwhile.

SUNSHINE EXPRESS

Well, summer is on its way! Yeah, so it is still about 4 months away up here, but it certainly feels more like it. We have continued to have great weather. We got up to 40 on one day last week, and we got up to about 36 yesterday. The real indicator is, of course, the sunlight. We are up above 5 hours of sunlight now!!! 5 hours! It is great. It is still kind of light at 4:15 or 4:30! I love it. We are getting increases of almost 5 and a half minutes per day. By the end of the month, we will be up to 6 hours and 45 minutes per day...ah, sweet full-spectrum bliss!

INJECTIONS D'HUMEUR

Kate Bollinger of 2000 UAF Geophysical Institute Intern fame sent this one along to me, so I will share it.

A termite walks into a bar and asks "Is the bar tender here?"

OK...do you get it yet? It takes a bit, but it is worth it. Just think about it for a second.

Next...

A bear walks into a bar and says "I would like a beer.......and a packet of peanuts."

The bartender replies, "Why the big pause?"

Well, that is enough of that. Remember to share these jokes with other people...laughter is good.

Have a great week.

Brian "Big Pause" Hartmann