Mount Washington Observatory Presents…Stacey Kawecki (me!)

2007-08-21 21:42:01.000 – Stacey Kawecki,  Observer

Mondays sunset.

Mount Washington Observatory Presents…Stacey Kawecki (me!)

Quick Facts:
Juice of Choice: 100% Cranberry Juice, no sugar added
Longest amount of time to eat a cookie: 6 Hours
Favorite Saying: Ouch! ( a result of being an incurable klutz)
Ideal Job: Working as an observer on the summit of Mount Washington

If you hadn’t guessed by now, my name is Stacey Kawecki, and I’m the newest observer up here on the summit. Since graduating from Rutgers in May of 2006, I’d been in a sort of fog (no pun intended). I was unsure about what it was I wanted to do with my life after college. I hadn’t really thought about what I wanted to do after college. Then Mount Washington happened. I visited the summit once, in March of 2006, a blustery day if there ever was one, winds sustained at 90MPH, with gusts up to 100 MPH, a “no skin exposed” day. It was the most exhilarating experience of my life. Now, a year and a half later, here I am. In the two weeks I’ve been up here, I’ve experienced some pretty neat (yes, I just wrote “neat”) stuff. I’ve seen thunderstorms in the distance, experienced multiple summit lightning shut downs, freezing temperatures (along with freezing fog, ice pellets, and a lot of ice, by my standards, for August). I’ve seen the highest recorded wind of the summer, 94 mph, witnessed a decent gust from a thunder storm, was able to see 130 miles into the distance, saw Mount Washington’s shadow yesterday at sunset, and probably the coolest thing of all. Walking around out on the deck around 9 pm EST, doing my job (ahem, observing, if you will), I observed my shadow. Now, normally, this wouldn’t bother me. Where I come from (New Jersey), lights are everywhere, streets, houses, cars, etc. I saw my shadow, and immediately looked around for a source…and that source just happened to be the moon. Never in my life have I seen a shadow cast by the brightness of the moon. It’s not even a full moon tonight, not even quite a half-moon. It has been an absolutely amazing, if not tiring, two weeks. Between giving tours (five today!), doing observations, keeping up with maintaining the observatory, learning about a hundred new things every day, and, of course, giving Nin love, I’m feeling a little burnt out. I’ve also gotten to know some really talented and intelligent people, including, but not limited to, the rest of the crew up here, our volunteers for both weeks, and some of our guests.

Yesterday’s relief from freezing temperatures sent us all outside to throw around the football on the deck, which was, all in all, great fun. I can’t wait until next week.

Stacey Kawecki,  Observer