But it was still only 28 degrees and windy, so my time outside was very limited.
Friday, April 29, 2011
Starry Night
The stars were finally out the other night.
But it was still only 28 degrees and windy, so my time outside was very limited.
But it was still only 28 degrees and windy, so my time outside was very limited.
Friday, April 22, 2011
Moonstruck
It didn't take long, walking around in public last weekend, to realize that the full-moon was upon us. People get absolutely (more) insane whenever the moon is showing it's full brightness. I wish I knew why. Anyway, that made me want to mess around with some camera time, but the clouds and crappy weather had already started to blow in. Still, had some fun over-exposing some shots; like this one. Cool around the moon, but wild that there really wasn't even any of the city-light visible to the eye at the bottom of the picture.
Clouds, haze, and a full moon... not to mention some light rain blowing around, just to make things wonky. Still kinda fun though.
The next night had a lot fewer clouds, but there was still a good amount of moisture in the atmosphere. Still... with some playing around (quickly, before my battery died) I got a moon pic with a fair amount of detail.
I have a few more thinsg I wanted to play with trying to capture... but it has literally been raining and/or snowing for the past 10 days or so. Ah, spring in Colorado.
Clouds, haze, and a full moon... not to mention some light rain blowing around, just to make things wonky. Still kinda fun though.
The next night had a lot fewer clouds, but there was still a good amount of moisture in the atmosphere. Still... with some playing around (quickly, before my battery died) I got a moon pic with a fair amount of detail.
I have a few more thinsg I wanted to play with trying to capture... but it has literally been raining and/or snowing for the past 10 days or so. Ah, spring in Colorado.
Weekly Sightings
Last week (mostly) wrapped up with a loud and fun dinner to celebrate Bonnie's birthday! I think she's old enough to drink now... and definitely wanted to prove that point with the margarita that she chose.
If you want to be "that guy" walking around looking like a complete douchebag... then you need flipflops with LED headlights. Just $60 at REI, and not a single chick will come up to bother you.
It seems like every year I try to give Indy Car racing another chance... but every year I make it through about 2 races before I remember that it's silly, and completely boring. This year, I had the back-to-back ridiculousness of the current top drive, Dario Franchitti wearing not one, but TWO Breathe-Right nasal strips during his pre-race interview. I wonder if the plan was to be able to breathe twice as well, or if he was going to use them like tear-off visors? Then, if that wasn't enough... ALL of the Versus commentators down "trackside" doing interviews, had their own Versus driving suits on. Riiiiggghhhht.
I took a first aid class this week, to renew my first aid and CPR certifications, as usual, it was an interesting class. This particular class, definitely had one of the more entertaining/comical videos to accompany the teaching. Plus, the book even had a tear out cell phone in the back cover, to be used in practicing to make emergency calls;
One of the ladies in my group MIGHT have overdone it on the lipstick that day;
And of course the training was on campus, on 4/20. And leave it to Boulder to have several planes doing aerial advertising, for local dispensaries, flying over campus. Might as well, all your key customers were in one spot... I've never seen so many people suffering from chronic back pain in one spot.
If you want to be "that guy" walking around looking like a complete douchebag... then you need flipflops with LED headlights. Just $60 at REI, and not a single chick will come up to bother you.
It seems like every year I try to give Indy Car racing another chance... but every year I make it through about 2 races before I remember that it's silly, and completely boring. This year, I had the back-to-back ridiculousness of the current top drive, Dario Franchitti wearing not one, but TWO Breathe-Right nasal strips during his pre-race interview. I wonder if the plan was to be able to breathe twice as well, or if he was going to use them like tear-off visors? Then, if that wasn't enough... ALL of the Versus commentators down "trackside" doing interviews, had their own Versus driving suits on. Riiiiggghhhht.
I took a first aid class this week, to renew my first aid and CPR certifications, as usual, it was an interesting class. This particular class, definitely had one of the more entertaining/comical videos to accompany the teaching. Plus, the book even had a tear out cell phone in the back cover, to be used in practicing to make emergency calls;
One of the ladies in my group MIGHT have overdone it on the lipstick that day;
And of course the training was on campus, on 4/20. And leave it to Boulder to have several planes doing aerial advertising, for local dispensaries, flying over campus. Might as well, all your key customers were in one spot... I've never seen so many people suffering from chronic back pain in one spot.
Visitors
We had a couple busy weekends with visitors lately. First up, Harry, Danielle and Nate came out just a couple weeks after our visit to their house. It was Nate's first birthday, and we were all set to do some partying! We went all out and made up all of Nate's favorite food; cheeseburgers, chicken, french fries and mac-n-cheese!
Jesse and his mom came up to join the celebration too, and it was an all-out party. After dinner it was time for Nate's awesome birthday cake. Chocolate with butter cream from the awesome Spruce Confections bakery in Boulder.
No doubt that Nate loved his cake!
The weekend after that, Jessica was super excited that her good friend Stephanie and Addison were able to come out for her baby shower! No matter how many times we tell Addie to "stop growing", she never seems to listen, and is bigger everytime we get to see her! But, it still doesn't keep her from looking like a bobble-head when she tries on Jessica's helmet.
On one of the days we got to go into Nederland, so that Stephanie could show Addison where she grew up, and of course to see all the changes since Steph was last there. This of course meant a stop at the Carousel of Happiness was mandatory.
Jessica even got to take Magnum for his first official ride on the carousel.
Other than that, we mostly hung out for the weekend, did some good catching up and the ladies had fun at their shower. Addison and Cyrus also became best of friends - he's always a ladies-man, for sure.
A fun diva picture or proof for next time we see Addison, so that we can yell at her for continuing to grow-up;
Jesse and his mom came up to join the celebration too, and it was an all-out party. After dinner it was time for Nate's awesome birthday cake. Chocolate with butter cream from the awesome Spruce Confections bakery in Boulder.
No doubt that Nate loved his cake!
The weekend after that, Jessica was super excited that her good friend Stephanie and Addison were able to come out for her baby shower! No matter how many times we tell Addie to "stop growing", she never seems to listen, and is bigger everytime we get to see her! But, it still doesn't keep her from looking like a bobble-head when she tries on Jessica's helmet.
On one of the days we got to go into Nederland, so that Stephanie could show Addison where she grew up, and of course to see all the changes since Steph was last there. This of course meant a stop at the Carousel of Happiness was mandatory.
Jessica even got to take Magnum for his first official ride on the carousel.
Other than that, we mostly hung out for the weekend, did some good catching up and the ladies had fun at their shower. Addison and Cyrus also became best of friends - he's always a ladies-man, for sure.
A fun diva picture or proof for next time we see Addison, so that we can yell at her for continuing to grow-up;
Friday, April 8, 2011
Not an iPad
There was a good "carpet" of clouds laying down on Boulder this morning, when I came around the hill and started my way down.
I had pretty much forgotten that I had a tour of our new supercomputer on my schedule this morning! A nice distraction for the morning routine, minus the fact that I couldn't take my coffee with me. Your tax dollars hard at work... this is a roughly $8m Dell supercomputer that intended for research on the University campus. There wasn't a building set for it to go into, so instead, it went into a custom made container, that sits in a parking lot - but at least it's out of the floodplain, unlike most of our equipment. It definitely doesn't look flashy from the outside;
The second row of four rows of racks;
1,348 nodes, each with 12 cores and the machine has a bit over a petaflop of memory. The racks are separated into cold and hot zones, the hot zones being contained inside these "rooms" and averaging about 150degrees, vs. 60 degrees for the cold.
Here is the mechanical chiller;
And a good portion of the passive chiller. The system has been running quite efficiently, at about 1.07 - 1.2 Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE). Still, that's about $20k of electricity per month.
Now that's a pretty serious circuit box!
And this, of course, is the Mani-corn that sits outside and guards the supercomputer.
I had pretty much forgotten that I had a tour of our new supercomputer on my schedule this morning! A nice distraction for the morning routine, minus the fact that I couldn't take my coffee with me. Your tax dollars hard at work... this is a roughly $8m Dell supercomputer that intended for research on the University campus. There wasn't a building set for it to go into, so instead, it went into a custom made container, that sits in a parking lot - but at least it's out of the floodplain, unlike most of our equipment. It definitely doesn't look flashy from the outside;
The second row of four rows of racks;
1,348 nodes, each with 12 cores and the machine has a bit over a petaflop of memory. The racks are separated into cold and hot zones, the hot zones being contained inside these "rooms" and averaging about 150degrees, vs. 60 degrees for the cold.
Here is the mechanical chiller;
And a good portion of the passive chiller. The system has been running quite efficiently, at about 1.07 - 1.2 Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE). Still, that's about $20k of electricity per month.
Now that's a pretty serious circuit box!
And this, of course, is the Mani-corn that sits outside and guards the supercomputer.
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Random Pics
Crazy color in the sky on this evening!
I hate snow... but sometimes it can be somewhat pleasing to look at.
Early spring skies at sunset.
Windy, early spring skies at sunset.
Crazy-high clouds filling the sky.
Neo
Daytime moon with clear skies.
I just liked the contrasting colors
Kodoma, up close and personal.
I hate snow... but sometimes it can be somewhat pleasing to look at.
Early spring skies at sunset.
Windy, early spring skies at sunset.
Crazy-high clouds filling the sky.
Neo
Daytime moon with clear skies.
I just liked the contrasting colors
Kodoma, up close and personal.
Name Game
Gotta come up with a name for the little guy known so far as "Tadpole"
I knew right from the start, that I had the perfect name for this mini-human... Magnum Excalibur Skeletor Hutchison
What combination could possibly be more perfect and "powerful"!? I even have pictures to prove my point...
Magnum;
Excalibur;
Skeletor;
However... I don't think that Jessica and I are on the same page with this one...
I knew right from the start, that I had the perfect name for this mini-human... Magnum Excalibur Skeletor Hutchison
What combination could possibly be more perfect and "powerful"!? I even have pictures to prove my point...
Magnum;
Excalibur;
Skeletor;
However... I don't think that Jessica and I are on the same page with this one...
Updates
Judging from my blog, it definitely looks like life has been boring and lazy, but actually it's been anything but! With the news of the little one coming, there was an urgency to finally do some of the "planned" (only in my head) projects, in preparation. Plus... apparently, a vicious case of nesting for me.
First up was the spare bathroom! It needed some love, updating it from the fixtures of the 70's, refreshing the boring white walls...
...and fixing up the "enclosure" that was created to hide the hot water heater - the poor construction of which had long been driving me mad.
Not to mention the ugliness that was behind the enclosure, and the fact that really killed the light in that corner.
So... new fixtures, trim, paint, blinds, sink, faucet, staining, outlets and switches along with some general TLC, transformed the bathroom a good bit!
Especially the corner where the hot water heater resides.
It was a ton of work, reclaiming, repairing and refinishing the wood that was used in the original enclosure. Not to mention, designing a piece that would be removed easily enough for maintenance and repair at the heater, while making it secure enough to not just fall-off and crush someone; especially with a curious, small, climbing human on the way. I was pretty happy with the results though. Now we have a new shelf and more light in the corner as well.
Up next was the spare bedroom, which would of course become the room for the new mini-human roomate we'll have. It too was drab white, and needed paint after I removed the bunny wall-paper trim a couple years ago. Plus had some broken doors and a host of other small touch-up stuff, not to mention more fixtures from the 70's again.
Touch up on the walls, new paint, new fixtures, new outlets and switches, new closet door, and new bedroom door later, we had a much-improved room.
I think the cleaning out of our general belongings in what was our spare room, probably took the longest in this change!
Clarence was tired after all this, but there was plenty left to do!
Up next we were scheduled to have some workers repair and refinish our wood floors in the kitchen, bathroom and mini-human-roomate bedroom. Which of course just also happens to be the center of our house! Ugh... but the floors definintely needed some love! Here is the kitchen after the first day, which included replacing a couple of the boards (but which let us keep the great design that we loev, on the floors).
We were super-happy with the job they did, especially when you compare the same section a few days later!
And more of the kitchen floor!
The bedroom came out great too! And if you compare it to the floor in the picture of the updated room above, you can really see how much it lightened up the floor, as well as brought out the great look of the natural wood.
Neo was really psyched, and was jumping for joy at the completion of these major projects!
Of course, it just meant we had a ton of cleaning, re-organizing and a host of other "small projects" up next, that I still wanted to complete. But at least the house was liveable and getting back to normal!
First up was the spare bathroom! It needed some love, updating it from the fixtures of the 70's, refreshing the boring white walls...
...and fixing up the "enclosure" that was created to hide the hot water heater - the poor construction of which had long been driving me mad.
Not to mention the ugliness that was behind the enclosure, and the fact that really killed the light in that corner.
So... new fixtures, trim, paint, blinds, sink, faucet, staining, outlets and switches along with some general TLC, transformed the bathroom a good bit!
Especially the corner where the hot water heater resides.
It was a ton of work, reclaiming, repairing and refinishing the wood that was used in the original enclosure. Not to mention, designing a piece that would be removed easily enough for maintenance and repair at the heater, while making it secure enough to not just fall-off and crush someone; especially with a curious, small, climbing human on the way. I was pretty happy with the results though. Now we have a new shelf and more light in the corner as well.
Up next was the spare bedroom, which would of course become the room for the new mini-human roomate we'll have. It too was drab white, and needed paint after I removed the bunny wall-paper trim a couple years ago. Plus had some broken doors and a host of other small touch-up stuff, not to mention more fixtures from the 70's again.
Touch up on the walls, new paint, new fixtures, new outlets and switches, new closet door, and new bedroom door later, we had a much-improved room.
I think the cleaning out of our general belongings in what was our spare room, probably took the longest in this change!
Clarence was tired after all this, but there was plenty left to do!
Up next we were scheduled to have some workers repair and refinish our wood floors in the kitchen, bathroom and mini-human-roomate bedroom. Which of course just also happens to be the center of our house! Ugh... but the floors definintely needed some love! Here is the kitchen after the first day, which included replacing a couple of the boards (but which let us keep the great design that we loev, on the floors).
We were super-happy with the job they did, especially when you compare the same section a few days later!
And more of the kitchen floor!
The bedroom came out great too! And if you compare it to the floor in the picture of the updated room above, you can really see how much it lightened up the floor, as well as brought out the great look of the natural wood.
Neo was really psyched, and was jumping for joy at the completion of these major projects!
Of course, it just meant we had a ton of cleaning, re-organizing and a host of other "small projects" up next, that I still wanted to complete. But at least the house was liveable and getting back to normal!
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