The Roof!

Wednesday is my long day at school. All the other days are very short. On Wednesdays I get to school at 7 am to go to the gym (and secure some parking) and leave myself enough time to change into normal clothes, maybe check my email, and head to Pre-Calculus. After Pre-Calculus, I walk back to Duncan Hall for my class on Weather and Climate. After that I've got a 3 hour break to study, work or swim and then a GIS lecture until 5:45 pm.

It was a nice day, despite the fact that we've got some ugly (although much needed) weather coming in starting tomorrow. And since I finally have keys to the building, grad room, staff elevator and the lab, I decided I would get the pics up of our rooftop lab. Here it is:

It's not much to look at, but the fact that it is on the roof is the nice part. The Diablo Moutain Range is off to the left. This is on top of the eighth floor (which is our lab).It's also a good place for sunning yourself, studying, or just taking a break. It's only accessible to our lab people, so it's ok if I lay up there in a bikini. Just kidding. That would be weird. Anyway, there's a bunch of instruments, cameras and weird stuff up there that I only partly understand at this point. The SJSU Weather Center runs off the data these machines provide and there is a real-time camera on the "Current Weather Conditions" link so you can see if it's sunny enough to make the trip to the roof worth while. It also allows you to see the air quality/ visibility going on. And if it's night time. Because sometimes as a grad student, it's hard to tell.

Here's a view of campus from the roof. The tall tree in the middle is a dying Redwood that someone thought would be clever to plant in an arid valley. You can also see something-or-other-hall off to the right which was in a photo a week back that I posted.

 Downtown San Jose...which, in case you didn't know, is where SJSU is located.

 Storm front coming in. Those are the Santa Cruz Mountains. That range is what separates me from my frigid surf spot.

Which reminds me. Every time I go surf (it's been a week or two...classes, rain, etc...you can't surf in CA after a rain...storm run-off can make you sick) up here, I envision the photos I've seen of people surfing in the arctic. They really do, I swear. I don't know why, because they're crazy.

This photo was taken from nothingmajor.com.

Yes, that is a surfer standing on a slab of ice in the arctic, about to paddle out. This is how I feel as I'm getting ready to surf up here. It is so cold!

A link to that crazy article is HERE

Of all the crazy things people do, this one just dumbfounds me.

If ever I were surrounded by icebergs, I just don't think it would occur to me to jump in with my surfboard and have a morning session.

The Northern (or Southern) Lights are definitely on my list of things to see in my lifetime, but I think when I do I will be snuggled into several layers of fur and seal skin, with a cup of hot chocolate nestled into my mittens.

By the way, I'm not procrastinating my studying and homework, I've just sworn off any real work tonight due to my long day.