Nathan Hale

I didn't realize that it had been since Septe

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 11:38:05 -0500

I didn't realize that it had been since September when I updated!

Things have been going well here in Oxford, and the weather has been remarkably good considering what it could have been. I really enjoyed my time during Michaelmas Term (the fall term) and got to do a lot of great and new things.

For example, I joined the rowing team at my college and got to participate in a race, which is definitely something I've never had an opportunity to before (and probably won't again).

My marks were quite good during the first term, too, which is good since I was quite busy and took a heavy load of courses. This term so far is much quieter than last, which is nice. And soon I'll be picking a project and beginning the work that will become my dissertation.

Over Christmas Jamie and I took a great trip down to Telluride to stay in a backcountry ski hut with amazing views of Wilson Peak and the San Juans, and I saw an amazing sunset, perhaps the most amazing I've ever seen. And living in Colorado I've seen a lot of amazing sunsets. Less so here in Oxford, where the grey clouds tend to make the light just fade away.

I also, recently, was elected (unopposed) as Environmental Officer of my college. I assure you that the responsibilities are great and that I take my duty seriously.

And the most recent interesting thing that happened is that it snowed here! It doesn't snow here very often, and this is likely the only snow I'll see all winter, but it is still exciting. Plus the old buildings look very pretty with snow around them. It didn't snow much and it turned to rain right before the end of the storm, but some managed to stick around. I've posted some pictures here.

If you're reading this you most likely know all this, of course, which is a consequence of not updating more frequently. The things that I end up posting about are the bigger things, which the people reading this blog almost certainly know already. I set the original version of this up in September of 2002, so it's been nearly 10 years, though the last year or so has been quite slow. I also haven't changed much about how the picture posting works in at least 6 years, so it doesn't work as well as I might like it to. So I think that when I do post pictures from now on it will be on other sites, though I'll try my best to link to it from here.

Well, we've made it safely and successfully t

Fri, 16 Sep 2011 15:35:42 -0400

Well, we've made it safely and successfully to the UK after a delightful flight on Lufthansa. Lugging 100 lbs of luggage on trains and tubes through London was a trial and perhaps a mistake, but here we are.

I don't have much to do for a couple of weeks while I wait for classes to start, so after doing errands for a couple of days I took the opportunity of today to post some pictures from various things that I've done this summer, and I've posted those over on mountains page.

I intend to keep things more up to date here now that I've got more unusual things to report, though my posts may be shorter than they used to be. I also intend to turn my Today In Denver blog into a Today In Oxford blog (though with the same address) to show some of the sites and the weather.

Well, we're winding down to the final weeks h

Fri, 26 Aug 2011 14:26:52 -0400

Well, we're winding down to the final weeks here. I just (minutes ago!) sent in my official resignation, effective on September 12th, 2011, though most people have known for months that I'm leaving. And the plane tickets are booked as well; we're flying direct from Denver to Frankfurt Germany at 6pm on September 12th and then taking the quick flight from Frankfurt to London. And we get to fly on a 747!

It's been difficult getting motivated at work lately, which is probably expected. I've never actually quit a job like this, but I assume that it's pretty normal. Especially since I've known for so long that I'll be leaving. Still, I've been working hard at tying up loose ends and making things easier for the people who take over my work. But at the same time, I haven't had a tremendous amount to do because I haven't taken on new projects due to the difficulties of finishing them before I leave.

Other than that I've been mostly working on a personal programming project outside of work, so I haven't really had time to go through the pictures that I've taken on various journeys or to post anything. But I'm going to need to start working on packing and on moving some of my stuff out of ye olde homestead. And I would still like to get those pictures posted soon, but it may have to wait for the couple of weeks where I'm in Oxford but before the course starts.

My most recent bits of interesting news:
Wed, 03 Aug 2011 15:57:21 -0400
My most recent bits of interesting news:

I climbed Mount Rainier successfully last week. Physically it was incredibly difficult, with a lot of physical effort required. Technically it wasn't especially difficult because of the conditions that the mountain gave us. Incredibly nice weather and a well-marked trail without too much crevasse danger were both critical in our success.

I also had a nice road trip in either direction with Jamie, though I wouldn't recommend driving from Denver to Seattle in one day. It's a pretty drive, largely, it just happens to be a very long one. Seattle was a neat city to drive into late that evening though; the city itself is quite cool and the giant trees, drizzle, and overcast weather made it quite atmospheric.

I expect to eventually post a trip report and pictures on the trip. Due to the expected difficulty of the route I opted not to carry my SLR on the outside of my pack, so most of my pictures were from a smaller camera that isn't quite as good. Even the ones that I took with my nice SLR didn't stand out to me when I looked through them, but maybe a second look and/or some photoshop will improve my opinion of them.

The other big news is that I got my student visa back yesterday, which is the last big hurdle before I can start at Oxford. Everything else is relatively minor and none of it would actually prevent me from starting, it's more just tying up loose ends financially here. I also have some sartorial things to take care of, but I'm not too worried about that.