Skylar’s Blog

slova = word

yezik = language/tongue

rooski = Russian

angle-inski = English

zalstra = tomorrow

sputnik = satellite!

Moosar = garbage

Meeyasa = meat (try not to mix up with garbage)

ootra = morning

dien = day

krasnay = red

vecher = evening

noche = night

snieg = snow

chetayoo = I read

shetayoo = I count

gavaryoo = I speak

horrowshow = good/well

plo-ha = bad

loobloo = love

ya n-ye znayoo pa rooski = I don’t know Russian!

 

Well, if you did not know, I am currently located about 6000 miles from you, give or take.  Thats 10,000 kilometers.  The other side of the world.  Chernigov, Ukraine.  Never been to another continent before.  Its different, and the differences are fascinating to me.  Soo much of it is just perception, but to me it feels like a very unique culture.  Or perhaps an interesting combinations of culture.  Small cultural things seem to come from every direction, north, south, east, and west influences combined into something completely of their own.  And its old! Influences can be traced not only from direction, but also era.  And not that I have met nearly enough people to say that this accounts for all of them, but I feel like the people I am with have a profound respect for living, and that in itself if exhilarating.  With all that said, no matter how different and foreign a place might seem, the some things are the same, and that is great as well.

 

The trip here was interesting.  I forgot to sleep before leaving, and I left my house at 1:30 in the morning.  Had plenty of time at the airport, no rush there, but as soon as I got on the first plane, there were problems (typical, I think I have an average of 1 in 3 of my flights and arrival getting messed up at this point).  The weather was really cold (teens in Fahrenheit), and I think that was probably complicating things, apparently they were having problems with a computer controller of the engines.  Back to the jet way we went…. computer got reset.  In the plane I was swearing to myself, as I only had a 40 minute layover at the next airport, and that time was quickly being eroded away.  If I missed the next flight, it was almost a guarantee that I would not make the international flight, and would like be spending a night at an airport.  Figure a 20 hour trip turned into a 36 hour trip- ugh.  However, fortunately, I hit the ground running and just barely made my next flight, the last person on the plane.  And, on that flight, I swear to god, Paul Giamatti, the actor, was sitting just a row behind me with his family.  I wasn’t sure if it was him on the plane, and even if it was, I didn’t want to be an asshole fan-like person.  But I looked up some stuff online after, and it was totally him and his family!  Hehehe, I thought it was cool, I really like “Lady in the Water”, even though everyone else hates it. 

 

From there, I didn’t spend much time in the next airport either, and then it was only 10 hours straight on  one more plane.  Ugh…..  stretched on forever.  I didn’t feel like I slept on the plane very much, if at all, but… somehow I can remember very little of the flight… When I was conscious on the plane, I had Luda to keep me company, my seat mate.  I must admit, she was awesome!  She was older lady that did not speak a lick of English, but she smiled a lot, and was really nice.  And I was able to help her when the stewardess came around with food and coffee and stuff!  Hehehe, I only know so many words, but it was awesome being useful. 

 

Soon enough I made it.  Off the plane and into Oksana’s arms.  Sigh… so nice .  At this point though, the only sleep I have had is bad sleep on the plane over a 38 hour period, and my clock is all kinds of messed up.  Even now, 2 days later, I desperately want to sleep at around 6 or 7 pm local time (10 am back home, which makes no sense at all to me….), and even after pushing it to 10 pm to sleep, I wake up at 5 am and can’t sleep at all after that.  I am trying really hard to force my internal clock, but circadian rhythms are a function of the body that I now realize are far beyond my control.  It’s a little frustrating…. but oh well.

 

I love all the food, but there is sooo much!  Many different flavors on the table, lots of wholesome food, lots of meat, it’s awesome!  Celebration.  And I must confess, I really liked having the first dinner with Oksana’s family, laughing, talking (sorta), and drinking local honey vodka!  It was awesome. 

 

Well, what else… Its cold, but not real bad.  Colder than Oregon.  The weather… overcast, feels like Oregon… maybe a little flatter though.  I walked on a frozen river yesterday!  Never done that before.  Well, now that I woke up and emptied my mind in the early morning, I’m starting to feel that maybe I do have a bit more sleep in me.  Just gotta keep the clock changing.

Funny how some days one feels the creative spark, and some days not. Quote from the Indian to Dustin Hoffman in “Little Big Man” after the Indian comes back down the mountain, “Sometimes the magic works, sometimes it doesn’t.”

The night sky hasn’t been affording me much to see as of late. Oregon winter = cloudy nights with light rain. First good night in the near future I am still very much anticipating viewing Saturn. Its getting about the right time of year, and i suppose as soon as this next full moon passes and a clear night comes, there will be a prime viewing opportunity. Also, i received a birthday present a little early, seeing as my birthday is Saturday, a set of binoculars. Something i asked for, something that is easy to take with me for viewing the night sky. If and whenever i ever get around to the backpack hiking, they would be something that i would love to have with me as well. I wasn’t very specific when i was asking, other than they be 50 mm objective lenses, a good medium size. And of course i got a great pair of 20 zoom binoculars, but it is an interesting thing what is best for viewing the night sky. Turns out that there is a relationship between the objective lens and zoom power that affects the size of the image presented to your eye. A 20×50 (20 zoom and 50mm main lens) presents roughly a 50/20 = 2.5mm image to the eye. In bright light conditions the pupil constricts to roughly this size, making a 20×50 appropriate for daylight use. However, at night, the pupils can dilate up to as much as 7mm to absorb more light, and when the image is only 2.5mm, much of the pupil’s light absorbing ability is wasted. For night use, with the same size pair of binoculars, it is better to have a lower power set, and as such i swiftly returned my pair for a 10×50 pair. I dislike returning gifts, bu i really like the 10×50’s. I must also say, 20 zoom was really too much for hand held use. They had to be held very very steady to see what you are looking at, and the 10 zoom are much easier to use quickly. Now just for the clouds to pass… or maybe a really interesting looking bird to come by…

I was reading an article on msn the other day about 2008 being the gayest year yet in Hollywood. First off, I must mention that i do not harbor any resentment to the gay community, I guess honestly i don’t harbor much of any strong feeling for the community. However as i was reading the article, I noticed a profound change in my perspective of gays. I can vaguely remember being a high school student, and my perspectives at the time. I would say at that earlier time that the idea of a gay man bothered me. The act, the idea of a man with another man, well, just didn’t fit. I’m straight, go figure. However, at that time in my life, i would be lying if i said the idea of lesbians did not capture my attention (just a little bit, i swear). So, as a very young man, gay men bad, gay women hot. Now I’m reading this article, and i realized a funny thing was happening. Every time I read about a new gay guy that came out in Hollywood, I really wasn’t bothered in the least. However, every time I read about a lesbian in Hollywood, well… my thoughts were, “gosh darn it, she’s gay now!? she’s hot, that sucks.” And damn Ellen marrying this young hot chick, she’s like a sugar daddy? I dunno, I wouldn’t say that lesbians frustrate me, but… you know, the fewer lesbians, the more women on the market, and the more gays, the fewer men to compete with! lol, anyway, seriously not trying to make a political statement, I personally am fine with the idea of gay marriage and rights and whatnot, but its a funny thing how perspective changes.

Well, once this blog is posted i think I’m gonna go make a white wings.

Oh yeah, and I’m leaving the country in two weeks.

Its been a little while since that last post. I guess i am already getting to that point where i gotta push through if I wanna keep this blog thing up. ehhh, but i got nothing prepared right this second. week has been blah, nothing too important. Not enough work towards goals! Maybe a few new russian words… However, one cool thing was creating and posting the following videos on youtube. Both videos pretty recent, motorcycles was end of November, sled was earlier this week. Me and my brother

Yay snow! It snowed Friday night, stuck through Saturday, and is still on the ground as of now, Sunday night. I feel kind of sad, because I really don’t feel the same fascination with it from when I was kid. Its exciting, but its also cold, wet, and slippery. When I was a kid it was like a whole different world out there after it snowed. Every familiar place needed to be re-explored in response to the snow. These days… I just think brrrrrrrr. What a wuss. Ah well, at least its beautiful, as well as an excellent excuse to light the wood stove, which I also love.

Current weather restricts the star gazing, and I don’t really want to go out when its not coming down, because its freezing! Seriously, It’s not that I couldn’t go out, its just that I don’t really want to. So just trying to keep up on Stellarium, as the winter sky slowly changes. I’m still very much looking forward to observing Saturn, should be right around the corner.

So, I have a few things to note towards achieving some of my other goals. Something I have failed to mention previously is that I have had an ongoing, albeit small, effort towards learning Russian. I like the idea of simply broadening my horizons with this project. I purchased several beginners language books, including Russian several years ago. It’s nice to finally actually be going through one of the books. I am also fortunate, and grateful, to have an extra resource in this matter from a special friend .

Previously, I had found an introductory free audio course in Russian on Itunes called A spoonful of Russian. While definitely qualifying as introductory, it was very helpful in presenting various aspects of Russian speech as well as information on Russian culture. The author is of Russian origin, and quite friendly. However, even though I found the program interesting, it is also simplistic. Very recently I came across another free audio course at www.book2.de. The audio recordings are much more traditional, and not nearly as personal, but they were just the kind of thing I needed to increase my vocabulary beyond saying hello and thank you. I really haven’t gotten that far with this goal, but I would really like to persevere, just a little bit here and a little bit there. It was such a rush when I learned how to read the Cyrillic alphabet, even if I didn’t understand the words. I am really looking forward to hearing simple conversation and being able to understand what is being talked about.

Also, I have been thinking about making that cameesa t-shirt design. I’m really not much of an artist, but that’s just more motivation to flex my unused artistic muscle. All I have to do is come up with something simple, using a minimum of colors, and make it appealing to the eye. I’m not sure where the actual idea will come from, but I’m sure something will find me. Something I have realized over the years, is that I often tend to have friends that are far more creatively inclined than me. Always drawing, writing, singing, dreaming, and being creative. Its funny, but it seams like many of the most important people I have met in my life seem to have this creative penchant, whereas I feel relatively uninspired. Funny thing, dunno what to make of that. Anyway, point being, I think I will have to consult with some of these friends if I want to get anywhere in this matter.

I also keep telling myself to go make white wings! But I keep not getting to it. It’s not like I have a busy life right now, but no time for making paper airplanes? It’s a sin! Things happen though, work continues on the addition to the homestead, here and there. Other things come up, daily boring life things I guess. Well, not all boring ))).

Scott, one of those creative people I was talking about earlier, has invited me to his work’s Christmas party in Seattle. I’m psyched!!! Not everybody gets to go to a SOE (Sony Online Entertainment) Christmas celebration! And I’m not even a huge video game nerd! Only a medium sized nerd. Makes me feel like a pretty lucky bastard. Thank you Scott. Word!

The Stars twinkle eternal. Always there, night and day, clear weather or socked in. I guess when something is always there, it gets taken for granted. Part of the joy of being back in Oregon has been the dark starry nights. Out in the woods, on a moonless night, the cosmos seems to go on and on forever in intricate detail. Should you pull out even simple binoculars, to look in an area where you see only one star, you suddenly see ten. Pretty cool stuff.

Simple understanding of the night sky:

• If you are looking up at the sky at a certain time every night (say 12am) the night sky will rotate around you once a year. In other words, the night sky of January 1^st basically always looks like the night sky of January 1^st.

• The yearly rotation of the night sky revolves (approx) around the north star aka Polaris, which is also the same star the nightly (and daily) rotation of the sky revolves around.

• Planets Move independently of the of stars, but still in a semi-regular pattern.

• All planets (and most objects in the solar system) are traveling in a counterclockwise direction if viewed from above the earth in the direction of the north pole.

• Outer planets Jupiter and Saturn don’t move too much year to year, because they are out quite a bit further from the sun than earth, and take much longer to go around the sun (low radial speed, not necessarily low actual travel speed). So one year you will see Saturn (at midnight) in early January, next year it will be mid January (approx 2 weeks later) until you see Saturn in the same place (at midnight). Which means it will also have moved against the background of the stars, but not much. One should be able to observe these two planets on basically a yearly basis.

• Mars takes approximately (pretty big approximation, its actually 690 days) 2 years to go around the sun. Because we are chasing it, and basically do 2 revolutions (approx) for every 1 revolution mars does, Mars is basically visible at the same area in the sky every two years (approx approx approx). Draw it out for yourself, or just trust me.

• Venus and Mercury can be visible, but only during the evening or morning near the horizon in the direction of where the sun is setting or rising. This is because they are closer to the sun than us. They are never going to be visible in the middle of the night in the middle of the sky. The timing of their visibility seems a bit more complicated to me (probably not too complicated math, but not worth trying to figure). Recommendation: Stellarium! Or pay attention to some kind of astronomy newsletter (or blog!)

• This information is based on the idea of observing a planet at the same time of night at certain times of year. Basically just because Saturn is going to visible at midnight in January, doesn’t mean it isn’t visible right now. Currently one would just have to wait until early morning to see it. Point being, very large portions of the night sky will be visible on any given night, I figure something like ¾ or more of it (not factoring how north or south you are), but some of it might require being awake at 4 in the morning to see.

• Probably should be mentioned that latitude will make a pretty big difference with what can be observed. Most people who might read this blog are likely to live in the northern hemisphere, and will have never seen parts of the southern sky (myself included). The portion is a relatively small percentage area of the night sky depending how far north (or south) you are, but nonetheless, there are stars that you and I have never ever seen. Guess I am gonna have to make it below the equator some day. (Actually, when I lived in Caribbean, in a tropical latitude, during the winter, technically the full southern sky should have been visible to me. Too bad I did not know jack about the night sky then, or I could have made more of it.)

• Finally, any person on the face of the earth (again, not counting for latitude), will have a similar experience of the night sky on a given day. So although Iraq maybe in the middle of the day right now, when it is night for me, in 12 hours they will experience an extremely similar night to what I just experienced. Even time of events, such as moon rise, position of stars at midnight etc, should be fairly similar. (figure no more than an hour or so off due to position of time zone). I personally feel quite connected to everyone else on the earth by this similar experience, we all see the same thing in the sky. Pretty cool if you ask me.

So the starry sky has been there my entire life, and although I have enjoyed the occasional star gazing experience, I have not enjoyed much past that. Time to change that. First off, I totally have to recommend Stellarium. Its free at this point, but also just in beta stage, so may not be free forever (like i would recommend something that isn’t free). Get it while you can! Only problem I have had is trying to run other programs simultaneously, and that’s no surprise considering how far my computer is from state of the art. Its like having the planetarium in your computer. With a few clicks you can enter your location on the earth, and the program presents a view of the night sky in real time. This picture includes not only the stars, but also the moon, planets, other planet’s moons, dwarf planets, asteroids, nebulae, the milky way, and even other galaxies. Plus all the constellations are presented in a simple and easy to digest format, including visual art to help figure out what the hell the ancients thought they saw up there.

An image of Orion’s belt taken from Stellarium. Copyright ©Stellarium

I never thought it could be so easy. I’m pretty sure I have half of the northern hemisphere night sky constellations remembered already, including a few interesting stars, as well as the Andromeda galaxy, which is one of the few galaxies visible (not very f-ing visible if you ask me) with the naked eye. Seriously, only took an hour with the computer. Now I just have to wait until summer (or stay up all night) to learn the other half…

However, I also have had access to a telescope, which helps keep it interesting as you go the through the night sky. The telescope is a reflector, Telestar 114AZ by Meade. The initial mirror has a diameter of 114mm, almost 5 inches. With the highest power lens, the image diameter is like half the diameter of the moon. Point being, fairly powerful scope. At full power, objects move out of the image in less than a minute, and it really takes effort to track. And honestly… you don’t see much more at the higher powers, the atmosphere just messes the image up too much. The craters on the moon are a little more clear… but I feel I get just as much effect for most objects at a low power setting, or simply looking through binoculars. In fact, the binoculars are probably the best tool for simple observation. Way less effort, and still quite an impressive effect. The moon just looks like a white disk until you take a look through these simple optic tools. Absolutely recommend binoculars, even a shitty pair.

The big thing I am looking forward to now though will be a sighting of Saturn. It is visible currently, but one has to stay up till 2 or 3am to view. I have not made the effort yet, but every day that time is a little earlier in the night; and, in January, Saturn will actually be visible near the horizon at Midnight. I have had a chance to look at Saturn through the previously mentioned telescope a long time ago, and can say that this is probably one of viewings a high power telescope really comes in handy for. Actually seeing the rings in real time is pretty mind blowing. So I will look forward to reliving this experience in the near future.

Well, thats my take on astronomy at this point. I can name a few of the brightest stars now, mainly Vega, Capella, Alderban, and Sirius. I will continue to keep it up, focus on learning new constellations as the year progresses. Kind of fun hobby so far. Not too much effort to keep up with either, and pretty much free, excluding telescope. Like I say earlier, not really necessary, but I do completely recommend some sort of simple optics, like binoculars. Of course, if I was loaded… it would be pretty sweet to have one of those computer controlled tracking telescopes, where you just dial in the object or whatever. Eh, too easy :p

Also… long entry. I will try to avoid doing that in future. Maybe… Maybe I will just make long entries my thing. Eh, whatever, figure it out as you go. Still pretty cool to have skylarmarvin.com. It’s like a pride thing. Motivates me to put stuff up. Awesome.