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

[Kona2]

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

Hooboy! Pretty sure that was a sonic boom as Jet flew by! Mike M's reindeer Jet has just hit reindeer Mach 1... !

Congratulations, Jet (aka Mike M) on earning $ 6.00 in Concept2 donations thus far and earning your antler lights, and the coveted Holiday Challenge pin !! Way to row !!

[Kona2]

Woohoo and hooyah !! Lots of personal milestones occur during the Challenges, but perhaps none more special than hitting the million meter milestone!! Congratulations, Marty (aka Crusoe the reindeer) on achieving a ONE million meter rowing season! We wish you many, MANY more !!!

[Kona2]

Woohoo and hooyah !! Congratulations to our resident artist, AJ, 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!

Jessica lives in Tucson, AZ. Tucson, sometimes called the Old Pueblo, was called Tucson after the Tohono O'odam people's name for it: Cuk Son, meaning at the base of the black hill - a reference to nearby volcanic mountains. The city was built on top of a prehistoric Hohokam village in 1775, about the same time as a lot of our east coast counterparts were getting established. Hohokam is a word that means "those who are gone." The Hohokam civilization lasted 1,000 years and suddenly vanished about 1450. They constructed large cities and vast irrigation systems, which means they had to have good management systems in place and water law. One of the theories associated with their vanishing is that there was a great drought. Water, especially water untainted with metals, continues to be a scarce resource for southern Arizona. Some really good negotiation via the Central Arizona Project (or CAP) delivers water from the Colorado River near Lake Havasu City to southern Arizona for cities and agricultural use.

Up until the 1980s, the outside world called the Tohono O'odam people Papago Indians. Papago was a word meaning tepary bean eaters, a name given to them by the conquistadores (who had heard them called this by competing tribes). Tohono O'odam means desert people, and that is what they have always called themselves. In the 1980s, the Papago name was officially replaced with Tohono O'odam. Got that right.

Baboquivari Peak (say Bob-o-key-var-eee) is the most sacred place to the Tohono O’odham people. It's located about 50 miles southwest of Tucson in the Baboquivari mountains, and is popular with hikers and climbers. It is also the center of the Tohono O’odham cosmology and the home of the creator, I'itoi. According to tribal legend, he resides in a cave below the base of the mountain. The Tohono O'odham believe he watches over us still today.

Some favorite things in Tucson: the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum, Sabino Canyon, Saguaro National Park, Kitt Peak Observatory.



Congratulations, Jessica, on earning the Concept2 donation and freeing your reindeer, Baboquivari !

[Kona2]

Currently December 21st in the southern hemisphere, and the world has not ended with the Mayan calendar. We're getting ready for tomorrow's Winter Solstice here in the northern hemisphere and Baz, Angelo, Dave H, and Bernie already have "Here Comes The Sun" playing in the background!




Day 28 or 29 of 33


Season meters as of 232/365 = 105,128,701 m

Total meters on the day = 3,232,063 m

Oars in space (participation) = 37 percent

MILESTONES...Bragging Rights...Celebrations:

4.4 MM Jay
4.3 MM bg
3.3 MM Cathie
3.15 MM Michelle
2.8 MM Danno
2.5 MM David A
2.25 MM Jim
1.75 MM Marie
1.45 MM Dana
1.4 MM Bernie
1.3 MM Tim G
1.25 MM Zander
1.2 MM Harold
1.0 MM AJ
1.0 MM Marty
600 K Bobbie
550 K Jessica
450 K Tammy
400 K Greg C
300 K Kristine
300 K Nathan
100 K Ryan
50 K Brandon

Thanks, everyone, for rowing with us!

Elias m
Steven D 2,000 m
Tony m
Karyn 4,528 m
Sam 4,800 m
Andre 5,000 m
Chuck E 5,000 m
Anita m
Pat S 5,315 m
David T 6,000 m
Fritz 6,248 m
K2 6,348 m
Nataliya 6,300 m
Kristine 7,000 m
Bobbie 7,300 m
Andrew 7,370 m
Chip 7,511 m
Rosi 8,000 m
Marty 8,500 m
Ian 10,435 m
Tammy 10,520 m
Greg C 10,687 m
Jay R 11,367 m
Jane 11,761 m
Cathie 12,000 m
James G 12,370 m
Marie 12,519 m
Teresa 12,764 m
AJ 13,820 m
Danno 14,000 m
David A 14,598 m
Brian M 15,000 m
Mike C 15,000 m
Harold 15,500 m
Zander 15,500 m
Bernie 16,078 m
Tim G 17,500 m
Minnie 18,081 m
Jim 19,000 m
Jessica 20,000 m
Peter G 20,000 m
Roger 20,430 m
Ronnie 21,055 m
Ryan 23,000 m
bg 26,186 m
Dana 26,893 m
Jay 35,890 m
Michelle 42,000 m ...wowzer!
Nathan 50,629 m
Brandon 56,236 m
Katerina 1,087,027 m
Christa 1,417,437 m

Let's go, team ! Only four or five rowing days left in this Challenge....you can DO IT !

[bg]

woooo hoooo and congrats marty and aj.....and welcome and welcome back to all the new rowers.....and once again thanks k2 and aj and all of the luna-tics for making this such a fun challenge :}

[just27]

Let's go, team ! Only four or five rowing days left in this Challenge....you can DO IT !

I feel like the Little Engine That Could ... I think I can, I think I can ... my poor reindeer is beyond impatient, still in the shed. However, I have been watching everyone else's deer (congrats, all!), plus various deer stories ... this one is particularly nice, I think:

http://blogs.discovery.com/animal_oddit ... -boat.html

[Luna]

Oh Deer

[Leaky Tiki]

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

Hooboy! Pretty sure that was a sonic boom as Jet flew by! Mike M's reindeer Jet has just hit reindeer Mach 1... !

Congratulations, Jet (aka Mike M) on earning $ 6.00 in Concept2 donations thus far and earning your antler lights, and the coveted Holiday Challenge pin !! Way to row !!

Thanks, Kona, but I think the noise was Mike C's Sacagewa. Jet (me) rode his slipstream past 200k about an hour ago down here in California, so it's all good. Thank you for all the encouragement!

...Mike M.

[kgallagher]

Congratulations to everyone on their great efforts this Holiday Challenge! I hit my 200k last weekend, but have been low on motivation since. I feel the need to share why, but here's a heads-up, it's depressing.

I don't know if everyone around the world heard or not, but in Newtown, Connecticut there was a horrendous tragedy last Friday, Dec. 14, 2012. A lone gunman (20 years old) broke into Sandy Hook Elementary School and killed 20 students and 6 teachers. I live in New Haven, CT. which is about 23 miles from this town and my boathouse is in Oxford, CT (only 10 miles from Newtown.) I am a parent and an elementary school teacher and have been struggling with how this community can move forward. The devastation is unbelievable. There are amazing stories about the heroism of teachers and students. Today I did a 26 minute piece (plus warm up and cool down) in honor of those whose lives were lost.

Rest In Peace: Charlotte Bacon (6), Daniel Barden (7), Rachel Davino (29), Olivia Engel (6), Josephine Gay(7), Ana M. Marquez-Greene (6), Dylan Hockley (6), Dawn Hocksprung (47), Madeleine F. Hsu (6), Catherine V. Hubbard (6), Chase Kowalski (7), Jesse Lewis (6), James Mattioli (6), Grace McDonnell (7), Anne Marie Murphy (52), Emilie Parker (6), Jack Pinto (6), Noah Pozner (6), Caroline Previdi (6), Jessica Rekos (6), Avielle Richman (6), Lauren Russeau (30), Mary Sherlach (56), Victoria Soto (27), Benjamin Wheeler (6), Allison N. Wyatt (6)

Karyn

[Citroen]

I don't know if everyone around the world heard or not, but in Newtown, Connecticut ...

You'd need to live in a cave with no Internet or TV to miss that. The discussion here in the UK after the initial shock of another American shooting has been all about your gun controls (or lack of). There's been a countless number of tweets in my timeline.

One of the kids is from England, his father used to work for IBM UK Limited. He now works for IBM Corp in Somers, NY. So our local news was full of that story as he lived in Southern Hampshire. I live in Northern Hampshire and I work for IBM UK Limited.

Having lost a child at 21 months old (14 years ago yesterday) this is something that will never leave those poor parents. They have my deepest sympathy. In the normal scheme parents are supposed to be outlived by their children.

I hope your President can do something to outlaw assault rifles and high capacity ammunition magazines. The hardest part is that you can't legislate for someone with a mental illness and a high powered weapon.

[Kona2]

Agree that the Newtown tragedy has worldwide publicity, and yet some of our teammates are off the communication grid every so often depending on locale. We have many teachers on the team, and several teammates in the geographic area near Newtown. I wondered about the impact, especially to those who live or work nearby, and who work with children. Karyn and Citroen's messages show the international connections of the event. I think Dylan H is the child from the UK. Families are hugging their children a little more often and wondering how to keep them safe in this new world. For all that is sometimes "goofy" on this team, we are a community that has shared many losses - and we help each other get through those losses. I think I'll put some 888s in my row today in remembrance of young lives that have been lost in this tragedy and in others. And for Citroen's child lost. One doesn't forget. Ever.

[Kona2]

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

Hooboy! Pretty sure that was a sonic boom as Jet flew by! Mike M's reindeer Jet has just hit reindeer Mach 1... !

Congratulations, Jet (aka Mike M) on earning $ 6.00 in Concept2 donations thus far and earning your antler lights, and the coveted Holiday Challenge pin !! Way to row !!

Thanks, Kona, but I think the noise was Mike C's Sacagewa. Jet (me) rode his slipstream past 200k about an hour ago down here in California, so it's all good. Thank you for all the encouragement!

...Mike M.

Rats - I knew I'd run into an episode of "That's Not My Reindeer" sometime this season! Congratulations on earning your antler lights, Mike M....and congratulations to Sacagewa reindeer (aka Mike C) too. Great rowing by all !

[Realistic]

I don't know if everyone around the world heard or not, but in Newtown, Connecticut ...

You'd need to live in a cave with no Internet or TV to miss that. The discussion here in the UK after the initial shock of another American shooting has been all about your gun controls (or lack of). There's been a countless number of tweets in my timeline.

One of the kids is from England, his father used to work for IBM UK Limited. He now works for IBM Corp in Somers, NY. So our local news was full of that story as he lived in Southern Hampshire. I live in Northern Hampshire and I work for IBM UK Limited.

Having lost a child at 21 months old (14 years ago yesterday) this is something that will never leave those poor parents. They have my deepest sympathy. In the normal scheme parents are supposed to be outlived by their children.

I hope your President can do something to outlaw assault rifles and high capacity ammunition magazines. The hardest part is that you can't legislate for someone with a mental illness and a high powered weapon.

Gun debates is in full force these days, and the right to own guns has a lot of history.. Just a couple quotes:
1.”A free people ought to be armed.”
~George Washington

2.”To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them…”
~Richard Henry Lee

3.”The right of self-defense is the first law of nature; in most governments it has been the study of rulers to confine this right within the narrowest possible limits. … and [when] the right of the people to keep and bear arms is, under any color or pretext whatsoever, prohibited, liberty, if not already annihilated, is on the brink of destruction.”
~St. George Tucker

So you might see why this is a touchy subject for a lot of people. The ironic thing is I don't find that a lack of gun control is the big issue we face (although it's still a problem). The big problem is that we have schools without sufficient security. Maybe some day people will notice that schools, and areas with very low security is being targeted, and maybe we need to change that.

[Kona2]

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

James G aka Enrage abides in Victoria, Texas. Victoria is somewhat mysterious in that it's called The Crossroads Region for its 2 hour proximity to Corpus Christi, Houston, San Antonio and Austin. Nearby is Matagorda Bay, an area that has been called The Cradle of Texas History. This reindeer research has made for some interesting comparisons of how the western part of the US was first colonized, as compared to the east coast, the northwest and now the southwest. The French were pretty busy at both the border to what is now Canada, and the border to what is now Mexico. Fort Saint Louis, a French colony, was established in Matagorda Bay. Some time later (time passed), add in Mission Senora del Espiritu Santo de Zunga, a mission established by Spain in Victoria County that was also built on Matagorda Bay near Fort Saint Louis. Between the Fort and the Mission, the intention was to secure the coastline from the French and to gather the local Indians. Well, the Indians didn't want to be gathered. The Mission ultimately moved inland, and development in that area became the foundation of cattle and horse ranching.

James G uses an avatar of cult film The Big Lebowski and quotes "The Dude Abides...Man." Some say that means he rolls with the what life presents him. Some say that this is "an intentionally vague phrase, hinting that the dude lives in his unperturbable state of dudeness, somewhere." I think you have to see the movie to understand it. I haven't seen the movie. I do know that there was no other name for his reindeer than The Dude.

Congratulations,James G, on earning the Concept2 donation and freeing your reindeer, The Dude ! Onward !