Subduction Leads to Orogeny

And orogeny allows people to accomplish things like this. Truly inspiring.

Crushin

Having fun with training right now. We're in the annual deep freeze where the daily high rarely reaches over -20 so skiing really isnt an option. i bust out some trainer time when i'm home (which isn't much), so really the only option left is snowshoeing.  Dejock and i did the Big Thunder ski jump a few times when he was up but the owners weren't happy so now i'm doing the Coppin Rd trails, basically an endless supply of trails over the Nor'westers and down to Superior. The loops are great and its real easy to get in some good hours and i can keep a pace that keeps my HR high so i'm not complaining at all. My Feb break looks like another epic road trip south, only this time i'll still be in ontario at the end of it.

Got word of the proposed TbayCC 40k TT course the other day, and if they decided to do it i think it will go down as one of the most difficult club TT courses certainly in ontario, and i'd put it up against any other in canada. i really hope they run with it for no other reason than it will be an awesome test for myself. i'll be surprised if i can even break the hour in full TT gear.

Some Purple Stuff

yes it has been a while since my last post, but rather than lack of time or desire the reason i haven't posted is there isn't much to talk about. my day is pretty simple, up at 6:30, in the gym at 7:30, class from 9 til noonish, ski in the afternoon, back to the lab or library to do some work, class in the evening then its back at it the next morning. Not very exciting i know, but its the job and its got to be done. The workload is pretty tough at the moment, but Geology has a great group of guys and we chuck on some good beats in the lab and rip through til its done.

Below is a photo i took of Anorthosite under the microscope. each little patch of colours is a different mineral and its my job to ID each one, then play a game of clue to see what the name of the rock is. Seems pretty simple but unfortunately thats not so. For example the blue stuff in the middle is spinel, but it could also be sodalite, fluorite, or tourmaline, each of which could lead you into a thinking you have a different rock than you really do.  Sometimes i get it right, most of the time im wrong but its all learning. Each rock takes about 45 min to properly ID and a list of 15 is standard for a weekly assignment. All that means is i have to budget my training, school and work time but for the moment it seems to be working.