Here is a picture taken from the Columbia on its last mission. It's a picture of the west coast of Europe, and the Azores where I live. If you look left of Portugal out in the Atlantic, you will see the islands. It is taken when the sun was going down in Europe, so the white dots are the lights of the cities in Europe. You can also see the Canary islands off the coast of Africa. Notice how the Sahara desert in Africa is so huge, and you can see it even at night because of all the sand.
http://pic10.picturetrail.com/VOL326/811984/inbox/69218.jpg

thats a great picture...:)

WOW!! That's crazy!! :) GREAT PICTURE!!

~Amanda

you live in europe soaring?

I live on Terceira island which is part of the chain of islands known as the Azores. If you look at the picture, you will see the Azores to the left of Portugal out in the Atlantic ocean. I work for the department of defense, and we have a re-fueling station for the Air Force jets that fly from the states to mainland Europe.

ok...cool...its amazing how many members we get from the armed forces...:)

ORIGINAL: Patrick

ok...cool...its amazing how many members we get from the armed forces...:)

Actually, I am not in the service. I am a Department of Defense Dependent's School teacher. I am the high school band director at Lajes High School. DoDDS schools are located throughout Europe and Asia. I have been stationed in Germany, Japan and now here. This is my 36th year of teaching, so I think I will call it quits after one more year. Getting old and tired. :D

as a band leader, do you play just about everything? what is your specialty?

and do your cars travel with you??

Wow Soaring, that's very interesting... DETAILS!!

~Amanda

Super great picture Soaring, every once in a while I hook up to a satellite site and get pictures like that . They are really great...Thanks For The Site...

WheelBrokerAng

I have a Satellite Pic of my house, it's pretty cool... I got it from this site:
http://www.terraserverusa.com/

~Amanda

ORIGINAL: Patrick

as a band leader, do you play just about everything? what is your specialty?

and do your cars travel with you??

Yes, I play all the band instruments, but not strings. My major instrument is the Euphonium, which is a small tuba. My cars stay at the farm in Texas where my brother and I built a 30X40 barn. They are under car covers as well as being in the dry barn. I could bring them to the island, but most of the cars here are rusty since we are located right on the coast, and it's not a very big island to begin with. I have an old beater Honda Civic that I drive to work and back. It is amazing how long these old Honda's last. It is an '81 model with over 200,000 miles on it, and still runs like a sewing machine.

my moms sewing machine is broken...but seriously...

my dad has a few customers who have old civics and accords that have 300+ on them and with regular maintenance they run great..

well, they run [8D]

Yeah, it's nothing like jumping into my Mach1, but it gets me to work and back. Doesn't use any oil, and gets super gas mileage. Now, my wife, on the other hand, has a Chevy Blazer. That POS burns oil and gets about 2 MPG. But, it is big and safer for her to drive than the Honda.

so she lives there with you?

btw, i played trumpet until i broke my hand in high school, and i play piano...i tried guitar for a while..but couldnt get the hang of it...so i udnerstand the strings thing

Yes, of course she lives with me. She's my wife. :D She's also my golfing buddy.

well, when you said you travelled around alot i wasnt sure. how often do you get to be stateside? like teachers in the states, do you get the summers "off"?

Yeah, we get out of school the middle of June, then have off until late August, so we go back to Texas for the summer. We'll be looking for a retirement home this summer, so won't have much time to work on my Mustangs. [:o]

well, good luck with that!

TY, now it's just the pain of having to go into several houses in the general area we want to live, which is the hill country of Texas, which covers several counties. [:o]

hmmm..ive been to texas...the only hills i saw were near new mexico...i stayed in amarillo for a while...

thats pretty neat, soaring!

ORIGINAL: Patrick

hmmm..ive been to texas...the only hills i saw were near new mexico...i stayed in amarillo for a while...

There ain't no hills anywhere near Amarillo. :D That God forsaken place is flatter than a pancake. Out in the Big Bend area are some big mountains, and in the hill country around Austin are some nice sized hills.

compared to pennsylvania, it all seemed very flat to me, and hotter than hell.

Look at the spot wear the most light is That is BELGIUM :D:D:D

Greets,

FairgangstaZ

really?

yep right under the uk you see a little rond circle thats paris (france) and right to it lies belgium :D

Greets,

FairgangstaZ

Yep, you Belgians even light up your major highways in critical areas. Been to Brussels from Germany many times.

lit highways...that must be nice

don't you have them [&:] ? I thought only france and spain didnt had them :) yeah its pretty neat but if you live here its nothing special

@soaring: did you enjoyed your stay in Belgium ? tasted the Belgian fries or our chocolat ? :D

Greets,

FairgangstaZ

around large citiess with alot of interchanges they are lit,, but mostly, no...

but maybe its becouse Belgium isn't that large everything is packed together

Greets,

FairgangstaZ