So I've returned....

...and instead of starting out with a bang, things up north for the whole Area 51 shingding started with a whimper and just went down from there. 

Now, according to various estimates (from here, here, and here), about 3,000 people showed up in total for the Alienstock event in Rachel, well below the estimated 30,000 that had been bandied about.  Over in Hiko, where yours truly was sitting at, it was even more dismal, even though from my initial perspective that there seemed to be a lot of people showing up; most were just stopping to get pics, buy souvenirs, then head down the road to where the fun was.  In fact, there were only at most about 300 that showed up, with only a few dozen still sticking around after nightfall for the presentation of Bob Lazar's documentary about Area 51 and the DJ show. 

When I called the event organizer around 2330 to get the OK to clear for the night, he confirmed that, plus that the event for the following day has been cancelled as they weren't seeing the number of people that they expected.  OOoooKayy then, so called my boss to let him know, and he gave the OK for me and my partner to pack up and head on back to Vegas.

Ah well, at least I got to have some fun, plus get a nice t-shirt out of the deal...see the below pics:

And if you would like one for yourself (and they were so popular our EMTs were getting offered to sell the ones off their backs), you can buy yourself one here!  Hurry, it ends on October 1!

Anyway, it was fun, even though me and most of the others that went had some minor respiratory issues likely caused by the higher altitude, the dust, and the colder air that we're recovering from.

Now back to reality, or as close as you can get to it in Sin City ;-)

The 'Storm Area 51' mess

Over the last few weeks, the entire nonsense of the desire of individuals that want to do a foolish ground assault against a remote secure military installation on the sketchy belief that proof of extraterrestrial life exists has risen to a near-crescendo both locally and internationally. 
(I won't post any links to it as it is easily looked for in a Google or Bing search)

Suffice to say, I and the company I work for as a second job will be involved in this up to our eyebrows.  For more details on this, I have provided a link to a podcast where my boss discusses some of the tasks and preparations that are being done for this event.  You can access it from here.

I'll be working the assignment at the Alien Research Center in Hiko this coming Friday and Saturday, and will post pics I take after I come back into town and recover a bit. Posting from the area will not be possible due to the scarcity of bandwidth and cell service in general, which is common in this area.

Wish me luck!