January 22, two days post inauguration. Almost two whole days since President Obama took office and things haven't gotten any better. WTF?

My fascination with Volcan Chaiten continues. Not a day goes bye that I don't dial up the webcam so I can check out the steaming beast so far south on the coast of Chile. Estimates vary, but it looks like Chaiten has extruded approximately 3 cu.km. (1.3 cu. miles) of steaming hot lava dome. Wow. The eruption event is ongoing, with continuous water vapor emmisions highligted with dome collapes of varying sizes. A fairly large dome collapse occured on January 19, and has been captured in both the web-cam log as well as from space in NASA earth resource satellite imaging.



The cacophony continues, and the days press on. One of the best things to happen so far this new year is a reconnection with my dear friends Kim and Joe Martinez. I will not lose contact with close friends due to my lack of effort any more. Really.