Tickets to Greece

Sarah and I bought tickets to go to Greece leaving 3 September for about three weeks.  Much of that time will be spent working in one of her PhD Field Areas, trying to get her a publication out of it.  Her field area is essentially a beach in the Cyclades, so it won't be the worst field area.  We will also attend a wedding of a friend of hers, and possibly see another friend, time and funds permitting.

I am interested in being her field assistant, as I have never done the detailed work that she was/is doing on these rocks.  If it turns out I am not capable of this type of work for long hours, I will probably wander off, and try to justify my time by doing some slightly less detailed work that I will pretend will be useful. It really all hinges on my ability/inability to spend all day, counting the number of crystals in a given area of rock, or some such nonsense that does actually tell one quite a lot about the magmatic processes and eruptions.

Also in the planning stages are a running trip on the Superior Hiking Trail (SHT) in October, and a trip to the Southwest in November, with the hopes of some long runs before Sarah gets too lost in a Minnesota winter. We have talked about the SHT since we first discussed run-packing.  My Dad was concerned that the weather may not be good during our window to do it, and if his knowledge of weather patterns proves accurate, we may come up with an alternative destination.  We are shooting for post-bugs, with fall colors.  I think it may be after the peak of fall colors, but hopefully there will still be some.  This will be our first foray in run-packing, and the trail has enough infrastructure to make it a reasonable choice.

The trip to the Southwest is even more tentative at this point.  It is something we definitely want to do.  However, Sarah has been of no fixed address for years, and I have been off and on since about 2010.  Both of us are getting tired of this lifestyle, and are interested in the idea of living somewhere.  Thus, at some point we will be trying to find "the right place."  Sarah's sister asked me recently if I could live anywhere, where would I live?  That question that has been on my mind, and Sarah's, for years now.

There are two opposing forces in choosing a place to live.  The livability of the place, and the jobs that are available to one living there.  For example, Portland, OR ranks high in livability, but has little to offer in the jobs category.  Of course, we could live in Portland, and continue to work exploration contracts, but since Oregon has a state income tax, it actually becomes less attractive, as short-term contracts in many states and countries complicates state taxes.  Thus, Portland is most attractive to live in if one works in Oregon.  On the flip side, Vancouver, BC has a great job scene, but owing to visa issues ranks low for me on livability (without the visa issue, it ranks very high for livability, as a note).  It seems that one can make an argument to stay in purgatory until a job comes along, letting the place choose you, or one can choose a place and try to make it work.

If the place is to choose, then it is likely that the November trip will happen.  Employers are painfully slow at hiring, and there are not many jobs right now (that are "ideal" jobs).  In this scenario, the November trip will likely happen, as will a December trip, a January trip, and a February/March trip.  In which case, I need to spend some solid hours getting fit for some good desert running.

If we are to choose a place, than October and November will probably be spent trying to answer the unanswerable question, "where would you live if you could live anywhere"?  Then the "trip" would be moving to that place, and I can spend my days leisurely ignoring fitness.

Regardless, it seems that I will no longer have excuses for not posting more regularly to this blog.  While there may be some instances during travel that I do not have time for writing, it should provide something to write about when I return to a place I can sit with Penelope (my netbook), and write.


A note on photographs:  I still have some photos from New Zealand, and a handful from Ontario and Quebec to post.  However, I am using a smartphone hotspot for internet, and the cost of uploading photos would be prohibitive.  This means that there will probably be a flood of photos once I get into a position to upload them all.  As such, I will try to provide links in old posts to relevant Picasa albums so it is easy to find.  Conversely, by going to picasaweb.google.com/aillaud, one can see photographs dating back to 2007.