LUNA-TICS TEAM ROOM: Year-round "Looney" fun.

[Kona2]

Dasher's had the reindeer eye on that flashing red harness all week, and now owns it !

Congratulations, Michelle, on rowing over 300,000 m in the Holiday Challenge thus far....and earning $12.47 in Concept2 donation $$$. With those antler lights and that flashy red harness, should help light the way well for the upcoming sleigh rides...

[Kona2]

Woohoo and hooyah !! Marking a milestone feels pretty special - and when it's a ONE million meter milestone (on top of getting reindeer, getting antler lights), it's even better! Congratulations, Adam, on achieving a ONE million meter rowing season! We wish you many, MANY more !!

[Kona2]

Woohoo and hooyah! Not only in New York are there fireworks - we've got some good fireworks going on in the Netherlands, too! Peter H has his million meters in the bag for a grand Christmas present!

Congratulations, Peter H, on achieving a ONE million meter rowing season! We wish you many, MANY more !!

[Kona2]

Another rower meets the Concept2 donation milestone... and frees a reindeer!

Rocky Mountain National Park has two entrances - an east and a west portal. The east portal is in Estes Park, CO and the west portal is just outside of Grand Lake, CO. The wildfire season was pretty tough in the Estes Park, CO area this last year (and in previous years). Many Coloradans (including this one) are most appreciative of the work of our firefighters. Looks like Nathan has good control over the fire lines, and we thought he could handle Fireball, the reindeer.


Congratulations, Nathan, on earning the Concept2 donation and freeing your reindeer, Fireball !

[Kona2]

Ottar the reindeer is now proudly wearing the red harness !! Make that the flashing red harness !!

Congratulations, David A, on rowing over 300,000 m in the Holiday Challenge thus far....and earning $ 10.80 in Concept2 donation $$$. With those antler lights and that flashy red harness, should help light the way well for the upcoming sleigh rides...

[Kona2]

Wowzer, mates! Another teammate has made it to the 200K milestone in the Holiday Challenge!

Ted's continuing to set a great pace in the Holiday Challenge! Ted's from Wakulla County in Florida. Lots of on the water opportunities with four major rivers in the county. Guided river tours, bicycling trails, glass bottom boats....and days at the beach. Congratulations, Racer (aka Ted C-G) on earning $ 6.88 in Concept2 donations thus far, earning your antler lights, and the coveted Holiday Challenge pin !! Way to row !!

[bg]

Woohoo and hooyah !! Marking a milestone feels pretty special - and when it's a ONE million meter milestone (on top of getting reindeer, getting antler lights), it's even better! Congratulations, Adam, on achieving a ONE million meter rowing season! We wish you many, MANY more !!

woooo hooooo and congrats adam :}

[Kona2]

Time out from the Reindeer Games to celebrate an awesome team meter milestone....100 million meters today ! Sweet ! Way to row, team !!



Day 24 or 25 of 33

Concept2 donation $$$ by entire Rowing Universe = $ 17,315.12

Concept2 donation $$$ by our team = $ 354.89

Season meters as of 227/365 = 100,276,321 m

Total meters in the last two days = 672,813 m

Oars in space (participation) = 30 percent

MILESTONES...Bragging Rights...Celebrations:

3.25 MM Cathie
3.1 MM Michelle
2.5 MM Ronnie
1.8 MM Ed
1.7 MM Marie
1.65 MM Minnie
1.45 MM Rebecca
1.4 MM Anita
1.3 MM Ted
1.0 MM Adam
1.0 MM Peter H
800 K Roger
300 K Karyn
250 K Nathan

Thanks, everyone, for rowing with us !

Brian C 5,000 m
Harold 5,500 m
K2 5,546 m
Teresa 5,661 m
Chuck E 6,000 m
Nataliya 6,000 m
Chip 7,021 m
AJ 7,166 m
Adam 7,500 m
Tim G 7,500 m
Stephen W 7,516 m
Anita 7,700 m
Marty m
Ed 10,000 m
Greg C 10,900 m
Roger 11,000 m
Tammy 11,000 m
Fritz 12,319 m
Ian 12,464 m
Greg H 12,501 m
Tony 13,332 m ...oops....I'll bet that's two 6,666's and I was late getting the numbers...
Minnie 13,727 m
Kristine 14,000 m
Peter G 14,000 m
Rebecca 15,000 m
Ronnie 15,000 m
Zander 15,000 m
Jim 15,776 m ... probably some 888s in there, too
Michelle 18,000 m
Mike C 20,000 m
Danno 21,097 m
Jaybird m
Karyn 23,280 m
Ted 24,000 m
Peter H 25,000 m
Sam 26,476 m
Rosi m
Cathie m
Marie 31,116 m
Nathan 40,163 m
Robyn m a mighty row

[Kona2]

Another rower meets the Concept2 donation milestone... and frees a reindeer!

Teammate Andrew A has just joined us, and great leaping reindeers...he's already earned enough meters to free a reindeer (and is halfway to his antler lights). Andrew is from Wooster OH, and Wooster takes its name from Gen David Wooster, an American Revolutionary War general. Ron M and others on this team are better historians, yet I'll try to tell the story generated by yet another bunny trail with connections to Fort Ticonderoga. Ticonderoga was constructed at a narrows near south end of Lake Champlain in upstate New York. The site controlled portage where the trade routes between British controlled Hudson River Valley and French controlled St. Lawrence River Valley converged. The name Ticonderoga is from the Iroquois word meaning "it is at the junction of two waterways." Gen Wooster recognized the strategic importance of Ft Ticonderoga, and obtained funds to support a force that would aid Benedict Arnold and Ethan Allen to conduct a surprise attack on Ft Ticonderoga, capture the fort, and gain access to artillery needed for the Continental Army. This was the first American victory of the Revolutionary War.

But that's Gen Wooster...by all accounts, a saavy general and one well liked by those he commanded. The city of Wooster has some things it can boast about, too. Teammates living in this area have access to Spangler Park (aka Wooster Memorial Park) with its seven miles of trailways - these with names like Trillium, Sassafras, Strock, Spangler and Saddleback. And, Wooster's cooperative venture called Local Roots, provides local farmers a way to market their produce. The model for Local Roots is being used by other cities and states. Good stuff.


Congratulations, Andrew, on earning the Concept2 donation and freeing your reindeer, Spangler !

[Kona2]

Another rower meets the Concept2 donation milestone... and frees a reindeer!

Chuck of Little Rock's reindeer sent me down many, many bunny trails....and off into space-time calculations (important for an astrogator), and ultimately into thoughts of Casimir effect and its potential ability to produce locally a mass negative region of space time, that would stabilize a wormhole to allow faster than light travel...with the wormhole being a shortcut through space time. Whoa. Lost most of us on that journey. So, we take a step back and talk a bit about Little Rock, a city so named for a small rock formation on the south banks of the Arkansas River. The rock formation was used as a landmark by early river traffic and became a well known river crossing. Flash forward to more recent times, when another river crossing was envisioned by some pedestrians and cyclists and you get something called the Pulaski County Pedestrian and Bicycle Bridge...aka Big Dam Bridge. This bridge is 14 feet wide, and has 8 observation areas - and covers the 1,056 m across the Arkansas River. There is an extensive Arkansas River Trail system for recreational use, and every September, the BDB 100 bike ride is held. The bridge was constructed specifically for the use of cyclists and pedestrians, and is the longest bicycle pedestrian bridge in the US I believe.

So where does this Pulaski name come from? From Count Casimir Pulaski, a Polish volunteer (later a Brig Gen) who saved George Washington's life in the American Revolutionary War. Pulaski is called the father of the American Cavalry, and is only the 7th person to have honorary US citizenship. Many areas of the US are named after Pulaski. But it was the Casimir name that caught my astrogator's eye, and thus the reindeer is Casimir....


Congratulations, Chuck of Little Rock, on earning the Concept2 donation and freeing your reindeer, Casimir !

[Kona2]

Day 25 or 26 of 33

Concept2 donation $$$ by entire Rowing Universe = $ 18,285.44

Concept2 donation $$$ by our team = $ A lot

Season meters as of 229/365 = 101,316,692 m

Total meters on the day = 1.033.371 m

Oars in space (participation) = 24 percent

MILESTONES...Bragging Rights...Celebrations:

4.35 MM Jay
2.45 MM David A
1.7 MM Brian M
1.55 MM Matt F
1.25 MM Tim G
900 K Ron J
550 K Jay R

Thanks, everyone, for rowing with us!

Richard T m
Steven D 1,000 m
Marty 3,000 m
Harold 4,000 m
Andre 4,185 m
Chuck E 5,000 m
K2 5,000 m
Paul S 5,000 m
Zander m
David T 6,000 m
Kristine 7,000 m
Stephen W 7,000 m
Laurie 7,200 m
Anita 7,500 m
Bernie 8,025 m
Dana 8,268 m
Minnie 8,727 m
Tim P 9,741 m
Mike M 10,000 m
Peter G 10,000 m
Ronnie
Michelle 11,000 m
Nataliya 11,000 m
AJ 11,522 m ... so glad you made all the reindeer!
Jaybird 12,000 m
Greg H 12,502 m
Jay R 14,238 m
Tim G 17,500 m
Ron J 22,125 m
Matt F 30,000 m
David A 31,079 m
Brian M 34,593 m
Andrew 692,282 m

[Kona2]

Another rower meets the Concept2 donation milestone... and frees a reindeer!

Whoa....deja vu with Fort Ticonderoga...as teammate Greg C rows across the 100K meter milestone! Greg's from Fort Wayne, IN and Fort Wayne is named for another American Revolutionary statesman, General "Mad" Anthony Wayne. Couldn't really say exactly why Wayne was called Mad Anthony, but gather that it is because of his bold charges into the enemy with bayonets only! Yikes, that would be rather like knife combat in the woods in the dark. Mad Anthony was also a statesman, though. After he'd served a few tours of duty, he retired, and then was recalled to re-enter the US Army to build a series of forts near the Miami Indian Village of Kekionga in late 1790s. Fort Wayne, like many of the forts constructed around this time, was built at the confluence of three rivers (St Joseph, St Mary's and Maumee) as a trading post. Growth accelerated when the Wabash and Erie Canal was completed. The original plan was to link the navigable water of the Maumee with the Wabash through the seven mile portage at Fort Wayne. The Wabash and Erie Canal was a shipping canal that linked the Great Lakes to the Ohio River via an artificial waterway. The canal provided traders with access from the Great Lakes all the way to the Gulf of Mexico (468 miles). Repair costs and completion of the railroads pretty much took this canal out of play as a major transportation mode. Who knew?!

So where does Ticonderoga return? Mad Anthony first got his name during the battle to capture Fort Ticonderoga - the same battle that General Wooster was in with Benedict Arnold (discussed while we were busy freeing up Andrew's reindeer yesterday). So Wooster and Wayne must have been Army buddies.


Congratulations, Greg C, on earning the Concept2 donation and freeing your reindeer, Kekionga !

[Kona2]

Woohoo, Ronnie! Prancer is proudly wearing that flashing red harness!!

Congratulations, Ronnie, on rowing over 300,000 m in the Holiday Challenge thus far....and earning $ 12.32 in Concept2 donation $$$. With those antler lights and that flashy red harness, should help light the way well for the upcoming sleigh rides...

[Kona2]

Hooyah for Winter Break ! Cathie has earned the red harness for her reindeer, Midnight Sun !

Congratulations, Cathie, on rowing over 300,000 m in the Holiday Challenge thus far....and earning $ 10.41 in Concept2 donation $$$. With those antler lights and that flashy red harness, should help light the way well for the upcoming sleigh rides...

[Kona2]

Wowzer, mates! Another teammate has made it to the 200K milestone in the Holiday Challenge!

Ed C's reindeer, Turbo, has been blasting through the skies ... challenging some of the other reindeer to some speed tests! Fast as he flies, those antler lights better be well secured!

Congratulations, Turbo, on earning $ 6.48 in Concept2 donations thus far and earning your antler lights, and the coveted Holiday Challenge pin !! Way to row !!