Day 8, 4/2/09 -- work. What else?

Today we had the best weather yet -- about 65, perfectly clear and sunny with only a moderate breeze. For much of the afternoon we worked with the high-bay door open. Hannes continued getting the focal plane together, Jeff mostly worked on his shaft assembly, and I worked on the optics stack. Kevin and François continued work on detector readout electronics, while Britt and Michele's assault on the flight computer is hitting the home stretch. Jerry, Joy, and Daniel mounted the star camera on the gondola.

Because the weather was so nice, I decided to go for a little bike ride. I started off in one direction but was thwarted by a dirt road (I have a Fuji road bike with skinny tires). I then headed into town, intending to go past and see what lies west of the town, but once I got to the main intersection I noticed the telltale sounds of a flat tire. I knew it wasn't going to hold air for any length of time, so I ended up walking the ~3 miles back to the high bay.

After my failed bike ride, I pulled a major boneheaded move. I accidentally put a hole in one of our extremely thin (4-micron polypropylene) so-called 'thermal' quasioptical filters. The hole is small, and it's located in a place we can work around (hopefully), but I felt like a total idiot.

We also found out today that, besides having an unnatural fondness for goats, Jeff also hates The Police (the band, not the law enforcement agencies). Therefore, his opinion on music no longer holds any weight with me.

I noticed that a couple of vending machines have found their way around the site -- one in our high bay and one in the hangar. This is notable for two reasons: 1, they will apparently have Pepsi. I love Pepsi, and it seems Pepsi is sold nearly exclusively in this town (er, village) which pleases me greatly. 2, next to the one in the hangar, I spotted a grill. I may never get any work done again.

Pictures:
http://picasaweb.google.com/asad137/EBEXinNewMexico040209#