Been too busy to post lately - in part, taking care of sick kids :( Mostly, it's been Nicholas. We're lucky that David has a flexible work schedule and understanding bosses, and is able to work from home in the morning and/or work later at night. David only took Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve off this year - and Ali only took off New Year's Eve. We went to NJ for "A Mocko Family Christmas" at Steven and Jenne's. It was great to see everyone, and the four cousins had plenty of fun with each other and opening some more gifts.
We celebrated the new year back in Bowie at 8:00pm eastern. Sarah was very excited to bang sticks on pots and shout "Happy New Year!". We all went to bed before midnight, though.
On Sun Jan 6th, it was really warm out and Grandpa came over to help us put together a bike Sarah had gotten for Chanukah from him and Sue. After it was done, he, Sarah, and Ali went to a park to ride around, although Sarah was just as interested in playing on the swings and slides. David and Nicholas stayed home and watched the New York football Giants win a playoff game!
Yesterday, David went to a really neat seminar he'd arranged - the speaker showed data from the SORCE satellite, and it showed that the total spectral irradiance (amount of solar energy from the sun) at the top of the atmosphere is about 1361 W/m^2, rather than the 1366 W/m^2, which has been the "solar constant" for some time. This value does vary some with sunspots and an 11-year solar cycle, but the new measurements with more sophisticated instruments are quite precise. Although this is less than 1 percent of a difference from the previously measured average, David and his group are planning to test the effects of these new measurements in their atmospheric models.
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