NULL 2008-07-01 04:29:52.000 - Lisa Hodges,  Summit Intern This lovely Tuesday morning began much earlier than the rest. I awoke to Mike alerting me that we would have a nice sunrise. So I hopped out of my warm bed and threw on several layers of clothing and a hat and mittens and ventured out to the observation deck. Emerging to the deck, however, proved disappointing. The fog that we have been surrounded by all week had not yet lifted. We caught a few glimpses of the sun each time a thinner cloud blew past us. It looked like the sun

1st Shift 2008-06-30 13:19:30.000 - Steve Welsh,  IT Observer Jeff and Steve installing the tower Metek This has been my first week working with the "other" shift. It’s definitely been a little strange not seeing Brain and Ryan around all the time but so far I’ve really enjoyed my time with everyone on this rotation. Regarding work we’ve been really busy this week installing new equipment around the summit. So far we have two of the four Metek sonic anemometers up and running plus the 3-cup summer anemometer is now out and recording data too. With, much appreciated, help from

NULL 2008-06-29 14:53:26.000 - Lisa Hodges,  Summit Intern the ladder to the cold room I like to climb. Trees. Ladders. Rocks. Mountains. I know most kids outgrow this habit, but I haven’t yet. Here at the summit, we are nearly 2000 feet above treeline, so, unfortunately, there are no trees to scale. Even if I walked down to treeline, the tiny Krumholtz that grow up here are shorter than I am, so I would not be able to climb any trees until well below 4000 feet. Fortunately, at the summit, there are plenty of ladders and rocks to climb. If

meteks 2008-06-28 14:02:51.000 - Jeff Wehrwein,  Summit Intern NULL When I first came to the Observatory, I was surprised to see only two instruments sitting atop the tower. One of them was the wind vane (which looks like an ordinary piece of metal), and the other was the pitot tube static anemometer, our year-round anemometer. I was a bit disappointed that there weren't more exotic-looking gadgets up there, showing off the Observatory's meteorological prowess. Lately, however, my fears of lackluster gadgetry have been relieved. On my first shift, we added a nifty Vaisala sonic anemometer to the tower, and yesterday

Tapes and Carhartts 2008-06-27 05:26:33.000 - Mike Finnegan,  IT Observer Tapes and Carhartts Life here on the summit has been rather grey as of late. Grey and wet. For much of my time awake, as I am working nights, this grey turns more to a thick black. On nights such as this, observations take roughly 30 seconds and really aren’t terribly interesting. This gives me time to do some programming while listening to some fine music. Chris gave me a bunch of cassette tapes for Christmas to play in my car, but I unfortunately left the window open and frost

stop and smell the roses 2008-06-26 11:34:07.000 - Stacey Kawecki,  Observer perfect reflections "Stop and smell the roses." It's a very popular phrase, indicating that one shouldn’t rush through life. One should appreciate the beauty that unfolds around them, much like how the petals of a rose unfold as it blooms. Every so often, during my off shift week, I will travel to home, sweet, home... New Jersey. The trip is populated with highways, by ways, some long and windy roads, and even a few bridges, not to mention tolls and a couple of somewhat painful trips to the gas

Volunteering at MWO. 2008-06-25 04:17:58.000 - William Lanford,  Summit Volunteer Mr. Pizza. “You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give." -Kahlil Gibran (1883-1931) The home page of Mount Washington Observatory states, “Since 1932, the non-profit Mount Washington Observatory has been keeping watch on one of the planet's most extreme places, the 6,288 foot summit of Mount Washington. We invite you to become a part of it.” I have done just that as a volunteer, (place website for volunteering, MWO) for one week during the month of June

Volunteer thoughts 2008-06-24 21:37:19.000 - Michael Lalancette,  Summit Volunteer Easy as Pie. Although the weather has not been optimum I have beenable to settle into life at the Observatory for the past week.It has been an interesting week seeing how the staff andinterns interface and live together. We did witness a greatsunset and sunrise (a first for me) along with a ride down themountain and back up on the cog. I rode the cog as a childwith my father in the ealy 60's. Although I did an EduTrip inthe winter a few years ago I had no idea on what

L.L. Bean Visits 2008-06-23 18:01:06.000 - Brian Clark,  Observer Posing in front of the tower A special group of guests paid us a visit on the summit on Friday. A total of eight people from the product testing department at L.L. Bean made their way up the mountain for the day with three of them hiking up Boott Spur and the rest coming up the Auto Road. These are the people that are responsible for developing and testing new and updated products for L.L. Bean. If you don’t already know, L.L. Bean is a huge supporter of the Observatory as

Past, present, and future. 2008-06-22 17:37:29.000 - Ryan Knapp,  Meteorologist How I feel: Illuminati My last week off, I watched “Kung Fu Panda” and there was a quote that I thought seemed fitting in describing everything that is going on at the Observatory. It wasn’t an original line but a parable that has been around for some time. It went: “Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift, that is why we call it the present.” The parts about yesterday and tomorrow are very true but the part about today is debatable. It is a gift but