GPS in the Iditarod

In case you haven't heard, the Iditarod is being run right now. It is the other 1,000 mile long dog sled race. The Iditarod stays in Alaska, going from Willow to Nome.

They are trying something new this year. Twenty of the top mushers are carrying little 2-pound GPS devices. If you go to www.iditarod.com and click on where it says "Live GPS Musher Tracking", you can see where the mushers are, their speed, elevation, all sorts of stuff. This gives you a better idea of what's actually happening out there.

As an example, the way the leader board stands as I type this, it says that four-time Yukon Quest and defending Iditarod champ Lance Mackey was out of Kaltag almost six hours ahead of four-time Iditarod winner Jeff King. Sounds like he has a pretty good lead, right? Well, if you look at the GPS Tracker, you find you that King has overtaken Mackey and is six miles in front of him and only nine miles away from the next checkpoint. Personal favourites Kjetil Backen of Norway and 2000 Yukon Quest winner Aily Zirkle are 36 miles and 70 miles behind King. JK is traveling at 9mph, LM at 6mph, KB at 9mph and AZ at 8mph. The temperature at JK's location is +19F and he is 22 feet above sea level, LM has +24F at 69 feet, KB has +23F at 466 feet, and AZ is out in +27F at 72 feet above sea level.

Pretty cool, eh?

Caption Contest

Alrighty now. Put your creativity caps on. It's time for a contest!

This is a picture of Lew. She is wearing a tiara.

Your job is to come up w/a witty caption. Don't send the caption to my e-mail! Post it here under the "comments" for all the world to see.

Be witty. Have fun. Remember, there is a naughty-work blocker on this site, so keep it clean. Or do like they do in the #@$*&$@ comics.

(you can click on the pic to get a better look)

School

Hey, has anybody checked? Has Hell frozen over?

Yep, I'm going back to school!

I've been accepted into a program through the Tanana Vallay Campus (TVC) of the Univ. Alaska - Fairbanks (UAF). They have what they call a "Fast Track" program (bottom). In and out in one year and into the work force. I will be getting a certificate in Power Generation. If I want to, I could stay in for another year and get my Associate's Degree in Process Technology from UAF. A description of the Process Technology program is posted here (bottom half of top page).

Classes start on May 19th but I may have to take a refresher course or two in math. It's been a while since I've used any of the stuff I slept through in algebra class. If this is the case, classes start on the 29th of this month.

(clicking on the images will enlarge them)

And by the way, yes, Hell does freeze over. I've been to Hell (Norway) and there was snow on the ground. ;-)