The Smog of L.A. Is Optically Thick, as Astronomers Say

On the plane to L.A. I was supposed to have an empty seat next to me.  That was the case when I checked in, but when I got to the airport to print out my boarding pass the seat was filled.  The guy that filled it decided he wanted to tell me his entire life story.  I don't understand that urge.

I get to L.A. (after descending through a really thick cloud of smog that made it almost impossible to see the skyscrapers), and the plane is taxied around for forever.  We get off the plane and get on buses to be shuttled to the terminal.  I have to carry my suitcase up a large flight of steps at the gate.  When I get to the top, the people waiting to board the plane are crowding the area and not moving.  That's helpful.

I then get to the rental car agency where the lady first asks me for another credit card because mine has been declined.  That's not possible.  I verify that that couldn't have happened, and I tell her I'd like her to try the card again.  She then tells me that the credit check issued on my driver's license failed.  That's also not possible.  She kindly told me that it could fail due to poor or no credit (also not possible).  She is unwilling to offer solutions, and it is like pulling teeth to get her to tell me where the next nearest rental car place is.  She tells me, and it is some absurd distance away.  I call the other graduate student that's going to the mountain with me.  Thankfully, he was able to retrieve me.  

And now, the observing isn't going very well.  There is a lot of wind, which makes the atmosphere unstable.  There have also been a lot of technical issues that have caused loss of time.  So much more can go wrong when using six telescopes at once instead of one. 

Then there was an earthquake today.*  

On the bright side, two astronomers I really like are coming to take over the telescopes after my time is up, so I will get to see them.  I also plan on going on the guided tour of the observatory on Saturday.





*Note:  It wasn't an earthquake.  The washer was just shaking the building more than I thought possible.  It was used again with the same effect.  Lame.