Nanuq

Ice caving in search of the elusive iceworm. My daughter and I braved the depths of Byron glacier on a fun father-daughter outing. About to plunge in! Crawling in through the chute She made it! C'mon old man you can do it too... Getting deeper inside the glacial stream inside the glacier. The roof collapsed Getting a funny feeling about this This is as far as we can get And here they are! Real living iceworms.

There is a very yummy Kon-Tiki on the Bay for the next few days... someone stop me before I click!!!! And it's cheaper than some of the reps currently for sale...... 60s Kon-Tiki

The traveling Rolex show got to my local AD this last weekend, and I happened to be downtown. So I just HAD to wander in there... wow did they have some nice stuff! Some really gaudy stuff too... Guys in expensive suits were hanging around offering to show watches to people that showed interest, and I hung out at the GMT display a bit too long... the sales guys descended like locusts. One offered to show me the new GMT, and I offered up the opinion that all real Rolexes have acrylic crystals. He scoffed a bit, and remarked on how they get so scratched up. I said "yeah but a Rolex is meant to be USED, not stored in a safe." He agreed, eyeballed my bluejeans and polar fleece jacket, then saw a hint of Oyster showing at my sleeve. He asked to see my watch, and I felt a replay coming on... I happened to be wearing my newest, so I popped open the clasp and carefully handed it to him. While he wasn't stricken completely speechless like the last guy, I can guarantee he wasn't prepared for it. I said "See? scratches just make it look all that much nicer" and he smiled and agreed.

Nation's Snowmen March Against Global Warming October 11, 2007 WASHINGTON, DC — Braving balmy temperatures and sunny skies, millions of scarfless snowmen and snowwomen gathered in cities across the world Tuesday to raise public awareness about the heavy toll global warming is taking on their health and well-being. Snowmen from across the nation gather at the Washington Monument to protest global warming. According to organizers of marches in Washington, Atlanta, Montreal, Berlin, London, Reykjavik and Moscow, global warming is the primary cause of the steep reduction in the snowman population throughout the Northern Hemisphere. Demonstrators worldwide called on their governments to take more aggressive steps to reduce the effects of climate change. Organizers estimated the crowd at more than 375,000, but D.C. Police Commissioner Charles Stacey estimated turnout at 30,000 whole snowmen, with scattered rounded abdomens accounting for an additional 5,000. Atlanta organizers and police agree that all demonstrators had melted by 11 a.m. Joe Centigrade, president of the Advocates For Beings Of Frozen Precipitation, spoke at a mass rally Tuesday on Washington's National Mall. "The unseasonably warm winters of the recent past are a clear indication of a real environmental threat to humans and their frozen simulacra," said Centigrade, his coals arranged in a frowning pattern. "As snowmen and snowwomen, we accept the inevitability of melting, but the actions of man are causing us to evaporate well before our time." Speakers at the Washington rally included a Chicago snowwoman who had lost three snowchildren to warm temperatures, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, and Larry Chilly, formerly a 6-foot-tall, triple-segmented Muncie, IN snowman, who had been reduced to a slushy head. Centigrade told the slowly melting snowcrowd that as recently as 15 years ago, the average life span of a snowperson built in late December was three weeks to a month. Today, that same snowperson has an average life span of two weeks. Centigrade also recounted stories of once-jolly snowmen unable to keep their carrot noses in their fast-melting faces, and of others who were made of only two undersize segments. "In many regions of New England today, there's not even enough snow on the ground to make snowballs, much less a torso," Centigrade said. "Instead, some snowmen are stuck together with slush and leaves rather than pure, white snow. We must take steps now to end their suffering." Bearing signs with such slogans as "You Can't Build A Snowman With Rain" and "Winter = Life," the crystalline-ice protestors, many of whom had chartered refrigerated tractor-trailers and ice-cream trucks to travel to the mass protest, complained that popular stereotypes about snowmen obscure and trivialize the crisis. Larry Chilly speaks out against mankind's global irresponsibility. "Humans sneer at us, 'If you want to stay intact, go to the North Pole and live with Santa,'" said Susie Flakeman, a Thunder Bay, Ontario snowwoman waiting in line with hundreds of others to use a Porta-Freezer. "But less than one-half of 1 percent of us ever receive that honor. Most of us end up victims of the scourge that almost killed Frosty: man-made climate change." The protest was largely peaceful, disrupted only by a disturbing incident in which one distraught snowman hurled himself into the reflecting pool of the National Mall. He suffered third-degree slush on over 90 percent of his body before rescuers could recover him. He was rushed to a local meat locker where he was pronounced melted on arrival. Some scientists refuted the snowbeings' claims regarding global warming. "Throughout history, the earth has endured periods of temperature fluctuation," said Dr. Harley Morrison, a biochemist who has advised President Bush on scientific issues. "Also, there have already been several major blizzards throughout North America this season alone. I made a snowman myself, and he lasted for several weeks." Late word arrived Tuesday evening that the Moscow protest was violently dispersed by riot police bearing hot-water hoses and snow blowers. Moscow officials said the snowmen were illegally blocking pedestrian traffic near the Kremlin and causing people to slip and fall in their slushy wakes. Snow leaders, including Centigrade, condemned the crackdown. "Those of us who remember the Icelandic anti-heated-sidewalk riots of the 1980s know that the powers that be despise and fear snowmen who fight for their rights," Centigrade said. "They'd rather kill the messengers than face the fact that our ecosystems are changing irreparably. We're prepared to stay in D.C. as long as it takes until Congress agrees to listen to our demands." Before he could conclude his remarks, Centigrade's face slid off.

You just can't make this stuff up. Wolf catching salmon

Happy Birthday, and many more to come!

We got snow last night!! So of course I've been out playing in it, and having a blast. I can report that the DR has had its first experience in Alaskan Goo and survived. It's supposed to get into the 20s tonight with more predicted! SNOW! SNOW! SNOW! SNOW! I WANT MORE SNOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Two very generous members here sent me a small gift about 1/2 a year ago, and it's been sitting in my drawer, waiting for the right watch to install it on. So today I did it. Ubi and TT, thanks.

A few people have been asking me to take some comparison shots of my ancient MBW next to the gen. Remember the MBW has a gen Superdome tropic 39 and the gen has a gen "flat" tropic 39. That will distort some of the images. Enjoy! Dials #1 Dials #2 Back #1 Back #2 Lugs #1 Lugs #2 Case Profile HE valve

Mmmmmmmmmmmm, the Third is my favorite day of the month!

Mmmmmmm, AOPA wings.

Poor guy gets a 6263 from his wife as a gift, posts photos at TZ and then finds out it's a rep. http://www.imagestation.com/album/review.html?id=2087166567 It looks to me like one of those 2 super Daytonas DW had a couple weeks ago. Incabloc out the wazoo. Poor guy.

So THAT'S why they call them "Chocolate" Mark IIs. Now I get it.

I was window shopping watches and had on my new baby. I was wearing Carhartts and sneakers, had on a T-shirt with some smart-aleck statement on it, my polar fleece pullover, and was slowly cruising past the Omega and Rolex counters. The salesman behind the counter watched me come in, but didn't come over to say howdy. No big deal, I'd rather be left alone anyway. Anyway I got to the new 50th anniversary GMT and was bent over looking at it thru the glass, and the salesman eventually came over, looking me up and down. It started to dawn on me that I was trailer trash in his store. I asked a couple questions about the GMT and commented on the big beefy triplock crown, and he spied a bit of my oyster bracelet poking out of my sleeve. In the tone of voice reserved only for arrogant salespeople he said "oh, and are YOU wearing a Rolex today?" *dripping sarcasm* I said "oh, yeah... my old ratty one." He said "Hmmmmmmm, may I see it?" with a raised eyebrow, doubtless on the warpath for outing a rep. I said "Sure" and took it off, and handed it to him. You should have seen the look on his face. His mouth was moving but no sounds were coming out.

You guys know I believe in actually USING a watch instead of letting it sit in primping glory on a shelf somewhere. So today my new watch got to go on its first of many outings in the Alaskan boonies! I took it and we went for a nice gnarly mtn bike ride. I was having a great time on the back singletrack trails and I went roaring down a hill and then caught movement out the corner of my eye. There was a big dang moose RIGHT THERE, I mean I missed him by 4 feet or less! I was concentrating on the hill and never even saw him till I was right beside him. Luckily I got past before he started kicking, and I just kept right on going. I did learn one thing though, when it's really REALLY bumpy with lots of roots and rocks a heavy watch like a 1665 will beat your wrist to death. My crusty/trusty old Sub weighs half as much and doesn't beat me up on the same trails. I'm gonna have bruises on my wrist tomorrow! All in good fun... the new watch has joined in the fun and has a whole new life ahead of it in the Alaskan outdoors. Cheers!

When composing a photograph, pay attention to what's in your background so there are no surprises.

Some people have been asking me for photos of specific areas of the SD, so I threw together a quick set of photos. I hope you find them useful... SD reference photos

May I introduce my newest baby, a 1974 DRSD Mark II with chocolate dial. Enjoy!

Keep your eyes peeled gents, a little birdy told me that something I've been itching to get back in my hands is, finally, on its way. It should arrive the 24th or 25th. This is how we do FedEx in Alaska... dogsleds just don't happen overnight. Pictures to follow! I think it will be worth the wait.

I have been, in the last 24 hours, the target of a VERY clever scam on the internet. I received notice from Ebay that a claim has been opened against me for non-payment of a specific, expensive item over the last few weeks. The email headers looked to be genuine and the links in the email took me to what appeared to be Ebay sites for proving that I had indeed paid for the item. I admit I did not deobfuscate the URLs to IP addresses before I clicked. My bad. Subsequent contact with the seller reveals he did not open a claim against me. People, I do electronic security for a living, I deal with the intricacies of the web and all forms of electronic communications in ways I cannot even divulge. And this took me for a ride. It was clever and extremely well prepared. The only places I have posted photos of my purchase are here, RWG1 and Timezone. The only link back to my purchase is by the url to the original auction photos, which *could* lead to the seller, which could lead to the buyer, which could lead to me. The scammers are active on one of those three sites. I took steps last night to isolate my business dealings on the web, changed ALL passwords, and verified this morning there have been no intrusions. However my server has been slammed by access attempts from overseas. I am logging this. Gents and ladies, PROTECT YOURSELVES. There are some extremely sophisticated persons attempting financial gain through scams and this last one took me by surprise... and that's a very hard thing to do. PROTECT YOURSELVES. It's time to change all sensitive passwords and to monitor your finances for a few weeks. In a week change the passwords again. Cheers, -Nanuq

Until................. http://www.yarr.org.uk/talk/

I've been looking for a replacement crystal for my Seiko orange monster for quite some time... I finally found one that fits! I got it here: http://chronograph.com/store/mli_viewItem.asp?idproduct=876 It's not as domed as the original piece, but it does have a small dome and it's tough enough I can use "unusual" methods to press it into place without breaking.

Allow me to introduce my new baby... a 1964 GMT Master.

Who else is anticipating a delivery today?