half a cat

That was the best t-shirt seen in the recent trip to Philadelphia.

So - wedding updates for the abnormally nosy or just plain voyeuristic:

• Location: Leaning towards the old Depot at Oscar’s in Billings — sight unseen yet, but it sounds neat.
• 2nd Best Man (As I’m the one doing the marrying, I should be the Best man) : Kris
• Groomsman ..mmm, gonna have to come up with a different title there, that sounds like they should be making a horse pretty. Not that I mind that comparison. Marcus,
• Master of Ceremonies: Lou Becht. Seriously — is there anyone better for the job ?
• Date : Oct 6 2007. Wow. I have a wedding date.

So — what else has been going on ? Work. Then some work, and a bit more work, I took a poop, showered, slept a bit, then a ton more work. I might have done some more work in there somewhere. Oh yeah — then there was that one day that I worked a lot. Then I mowed the lawn — cause lawn’s don’t talk

I’ve been working on a “Lustre issue” at Sandia - nights, days, and weekends for ~3 weeks now. This is right after the 2 weeks of Army fun and 3 weeks of ORNL fun. Results: ORNL upgraded to the largest open science in the U.S., narrow-cased the Army with one of the other engineers on the File System team here at Cray, and Sandia’s issue #1 fixed and issue #2 being worked way below Lustre. There are a lot of folks who I should thank for either showing me more about Lustre or helping me work out other interactions and issues with the XT3. I’ve already done so personally, so I will protect the innocent here.

BTW - I saw an IOR perform writes at 34 GB/s on Lustre. Holy @#$@#! For the supercomputer illiterate - that is like throwing 8 DVDs across the room every second. Yeah, we got some mother@#$ing performance on a mother@#$ing supercomputer.

Oh yeah, and one very exhausted and burnt out Nic. I’ve gotten some very nice emails from mid to senior level managers about my work, and the freedom to take the time I need to “work from home” and regroup. Have I mentioned how much I love working for Cray ? I have been really working hard to make sure I am making the most of this opportunity. I really am starting to feel like I can move more and more into being a real “developer” on Lustre and I think I can move into a technically senior position in a few short years.

Well — I’m going to have another beer and pass out. I think tomorrow is clean the office, sleep and make beer day. Maybe I’ll mow the backyard too. Anything could happen!

I took off from work a bit early yesterday - was going to sit on the sofa and finish up the day working from home. As it turns out, you really do have to have your SecureID to get the VPN all setup. Whoops - back to work we go. It was a nice day so I decided to load up the dogs into the pickup box and give them a little treat ride to work and back. Now — I should note that this was Sammy’s first truck ride. She was a bit skittish about getting into the truck, but once I got Bogart in there, she knew what was going on and let me plop her right up.

So… we start cruising up to work with me watching the box in the mirror just to make sure she isn’t freaking out, etc. 10 minutes go past and she’s wandering around checking things out (Bogart is standing on the wheel well with his jowls flapping in the wind as usual…good dog!) - O.K Sams, no worries — good to go. Riiiight. Just when I thought things were settling down — nothing to be alarmed about, Sammy takes a two hop leap and jumps out of the truck at 55 mph.

“Shiiiit” was the first thing I said. Pretty sure about that. I’m stomping on the brakes (much to Bogarts skid…thump chagrin) and seeing Sammy tumble down the highway shoulder and into the ditch. I stop the truck, run around — thinking that for sure Sammy is either toast or really badly screwed up. I see some furry thing in the distance hop around and I gave her a call - she makes a beeline straight towards me. We get back up to the truck, and she flies into the front seat — me noticing she landed in some ripe assed poo somehow. Great, so now I’ve got a truck cab smelling like 30lbs of crap and a freaked out dog ejecting hair everywhere.

The return home was uneventful, and Portana took the lead on getting Sammy washed up. Bogart got happy fun bath time as well - two clean dogs! Total damage to Sam - a half dollar size road rash on her bum and some scraped up knees. She’s pretty stiff and sore this morning - moving around O.K but not setting any land speed records.

Goofy Dog.

I’m making salsa. I’ve finally gotten enough produce out of the garden to move forward on this. I’ve got regular tomatoes, roma tomatoes, bell peppers and jalapenos. I’m going for a fake Pace picante type thick salsa — chunky and scoopable. I hate watery salsa. Haaate.

The recipe:

• 1 15 oz can of Crushed Tomatoes or Tomato Sause (jury still out on which is better)
• 15 oz of water
• 2 medium tomatoes, cored & diced
• 3 medium jalapenos, seeds removed & small diced ( this is mild, more for hotter )
• 1 onion, small chop
• 1/3 cup vinegar (100% needed for canning)
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1 bunch cilantro, leaves finely chopped
• 1/2 lime juiced - fresh only!
• salt to taste (1 tbsp or so)

Optional:

• 1 15oz can sweet corn (drained)
• 1 15oz can frijoles negros (drained)

Mix everything but the cilantro and lime into a 4 qt sauce pan or larger (it’s going to boil). Add at least 1.5 tsp salt now. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer for 35-45 minutes or until thick. After 30 min, taste and add salt if necessary. While still hot, add chopped cilantro and lime juice. Stir together.

Canning - yes we are going to actually can this. It can then safely sit in the pantry or be given to folks as gifts.

Equipement needed:

• Large kettle with lid. 20qts or so — the best would be the blue enamel ones.
• Jar carrier or perforated vegetable steamer
• 2-4 wide mouthed pint jars - depending on optional ingredients used.
• Lids & rings for jars.

Heat water to ~180F and soak lids and rings - be careful to make sure they stay separated.

Fill kettle ~1/2 - enough that when jars are submerged, water is pretty close to covering the tops, if not over them. Bring kettle to boil - this will take at least 20 min.

While the salsa is simmering, wash wide mouth pint jars, dry.

When salsa is done (let it cool for a bit to make sure it tastes o.k) - funnel into jars, leaving 1/2″ space at the top. Wipe jars with damp paper towel to make sure the lip is clean. Seat lids and tighten rings until finger tight.

When water is just starting to boil, submerge jars - making sure to top off with more boiling water until the jars are submerged. Add the water at the sides of the kettle, do NOT pour directly on the jars. Boil for 20min, take jars out with jar clamp or heat proof rubber tongs and set on towel to dry. You should hear the jars “pop” as they cool — that means a good seal.

There you go — nothing special, but should be somewhat close to Pace (yes, New York City). I’m no great salsa officianado, I just wanted fresh homemade stuff that is healthy. Something easy to do, yet rewarding — a gift for family members.

This will be short and sweet. Albuquerque sucks. The food was pretty good - but the town is just dingy, dirty, and unkempt. So far my best description is a “West Philly of the Southwest”. BTW - the people I did meet and interact with were very nice and quite humorous. Thankfully they have the internet there and I can just work remotely next time.

Someone already mentioned the event — but I’ve risen from the ashes to confirm it: I’m gettin’ hitched. Yup. Me. Yessir - married. No, you go ahead and take a few minutes to let that sink in. Oh the ring — sure right over here.

Now then - hi I’ll spare the details of the proposal, ring, etc - Portana has done a much better job of that stuff. Besides — my job is just to puff out my chest and smile. I do want to reafirm just how lucky I am — I found a girl that can put up with me and who I have fun with everyday. We actually get along riduculously well - some have referred to us as “book ends” - the irony that we are both a bit dorky right there on the surface. It is quite blissful to think I have found that person who will tolerate me for eternity whilst plotting my slow and eventual death behind my back with my family - every guy should be so fortunate!

The phrases “I’m engaged”, “I’m getting married”, and “my fiance” are becoming more comfortable - but they don’t warn you that after you ask the Big Question that you change how you talk. Little things… It is kinda amusing talking to my two groups of friends - the Montana folks that are almost all married already, some with kids; and the folks from Penn - just starting or finishing the Ph.D, only one of which I know is engaged. You can imagine that some are “great, about time!” and others are “holy @#$@, whaaaa?” This should be a good bachelor party. Blantant hinting: I remember some drunken Lumberjack games (no not the “I’m a lumberjack and that’s O.K” song type…), and some glowstick frisbee for one; I’m thinking along the same lines. Note to those not from MT - you can use a shotgun to “chop” down a tree, but make sure to attack a tree of appropriate size - otherwise you end up with 2 boxes of shells, a sore shoulder, and a tree that is oozing and dripping sap on your tent because you forgot to move very far away before trying this.

Oh, you want to know when ? So far — and this data is a bit TBD — we are thinking early October 2007. Super simple, yet elegant. Lou will be officiating a Quakerish ceremony in a barn type structure, food along the lines of a pig roast and free booze. I think we are going more for a relaxing country wedding type event — without the dirt & hot wind Then again — this is all subject to change.

If 2007 sounds like a familiar year for weddings, put down your electronical information organization device. The ones I know of are: Sister #1 (ranked in age, not favoritism - I swear!) is early June 2007, Sister #2 (ok, yeah I like the other one more - j/k) is August 2007, Liza is the same weekend as Sister #1, A cousin here in the TC is late June 2007. It is official — I’m starting to get to that age where all you do every summer for 5 years is attend weddings.

I’m sure more will be said on this as we get the event actually finalized and planned, but for now I’m going to go bask in the glory of being engaged!

Cray, Inc. apparently…. It has been a while since I’ve posted some good poop humor…

So — I was standing in the hall near the restroom — the same hall that leads to the kitchen and lunchroom btw — talking to a fairly senior software manager and one of the lowlevel software guy about lord-knows-what and all of a sudden there was this “PRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT” noise that came flying out of the men’s restroom. Through the closed solid wood door. The conversation stopped, we all kinda glanced at each other and then in unison burst out laughing. The phrase “give ‘er hell” was said and we walked away — not wanting to see who came out of the bathroom. There are some things that you just don’t want to know.

Because I think this way — that kinda made me think back and wonder about some of the other “bathroom events”. There seems to be either an issue with the water/coffee/deli machine OR swamp-ass is much more prevalent than we think. I’m pretty sure at least 4 times a week I’ll be in the bathroom (I really use it much more often…) and hear someone really letting one fly. If you are lucky — just a little “prrt” - but at least once a day you hear someone having a “movement” that could be described in the mildest terms as a week-long-tequilla-binge-meets-30-day-challenge-to-eat-4-bratwurst-a-day-while-drinking-giardia-laden-new-jersey-turnpike-shots. I’m really understanding now the flushing power of public toilets — sometimes you need a firehose to sink these battle-shits. What is really wondefull is how unashamed people seem to be with these conditions. Most times if you have this problem in a public restroom — you try and spread out the “frrrgggugglllefwopfwop” so that it doesn’t sound like a underwater rocket taking off. But not these folks — hand to god, I’ve heard actual straining and grunting. Give ‘er hell indeed! Oddly enough — rarely do smells enter the picture. Perhaps the fans really do work - btw, rarely is not never. Good heavens…

Now a question for the lazyweb — is this common for all workplaces? How about women ? These are things I need to know.

This is almost the perfect weekend — almost because the weather is doing a nice job of being crappy. I tink it has been in the 60s and overcast all weekend. The bonus to this of course is a lot of time spent testing the finer points of Quantum mechanics - specifically that of whether two materials ever actually touch. In this plane of existence I’m speaking of my ass and the sofa. The evidence is not quite conclusive, but the dents in the cushions seem to indicate that I have a significant electron cloud which is impacting the atom spacing in said cushions. That is the beautiful thing about Heisenberg’s principle. I know exactly where I am but no idea of where I’m going. Or do I Shrodinger the whole mess and only really know which atoms are my ass and which are from the sofa by observing the separation ? Wouldn’t that be a kick — if one could somehow take electron energy transfer from the sofa to become more energetic? Hrm — it seems that may already happen in reverse, given the propensity for sofas and napping. Is my sofa going to spontaneously combust some day from the absobtion of so much energy ?

Anyhooo…. Most of the weekend has been spent watching World Cup games. I’m not planning on watching all of them - Tivo only has instructions to record the England, U.S, and Spain games. I may have to alter that if any of them go tits-up before the elimination round. I have had two consecutive mornings of coffee, sofa, blanket and el World Cupo. Currently Mexico is trying to convince Iran to bring their “war faces” next time. I’m hoping to see one of my 3 teams make it far enough to get me interested in the final games. I do find myself really wishing I had HD TV at this point - but only with a HD Tivo. Soon, but must pay off other bills and purchase a house.

Speaking of said house…it is looking like time to re-evaluate the finances and determine exactly how much of my income I really want to spend on a house payment. From the initial look at the current rates of exspenditure, I won’t be able to afford a house that I really like. Boogers. I’d really really like to get a nicer house because I don’t fancy myself moving in the next 10 years again unless something really strange happens. Yes, I like my new job that much

Speaking of said job (and here starteth the rantingseth) - I’m starting to get a bit miffed at the old job, where I started to think that I wasn’t bright enough or skilled enough to do actual Lustre hacking — network, kernel, disk layer, super-complex distributed networking programming. Yes, I’m not going to design the next great filesystem, but I really am starting to think that I can make a pretty good swipe at debugging and understanding the code base. Time will tell It just pisses me off that someone or worse yet — myself — convinced me that there were limits to my skills in this area without actually exploring them.

Ok - the old elbow is starting to kill me here from some retarded furniture re-arranging last night. Just a final note to those Right Coasters - I’ll be in Philly Jun 30th, July 3rd-4th and in D.C July 1st-3rd. Be there or get sprung.

Cheers!

This weekend was balls hot. HOT. Yes, those kind of balls. Sparing the innocent, but the metaphor is waaay too fitting. So! The Portana is back “home” for a weekend and I’m left up to my own devices. Muhahahahha!

What did I do with such unfettered access to massive quantities of stank and hormonal imbalance? Err, not that much really. Too hot. See previous statement on anatomical weather patterns.

Portana and I ran around Saturday - shopping here and there with a final stop at the Brew Shop for me to drop the semi-annual mint for brewing widgets and thingys. For those that brew - Stainless steel ball valves and a counterflow wort plate chiller are SO the best money. We also got sprung for a Gewurztraminer wine kit. It is dead simple to do with the existing beer equipment and is promising all sorts of tasty goodness. I’m looking forward to many o summer nights spent passed out amidst a few wine bottles on the deck. The sun shall wake me!

Saturday evening did see the lawn mowed - well at least most of it, apparently 90 minutes is just 15 feet shy of done I’d have continued but the dogs were getting pretty pissed from all the close calls during twilight. Not to mention that the mosquitos tend to focus on the fleshy white part of ones buttocks. Note to the public - don’t mow nude. Between the sunburn and the mosquitos — you are gonna be lumpy and red. Dead Sexy.

I did manage to get a nasty headache that took me out for most of Saturday - I think it is from not getting caffeine. Stupid free coffee at work and my lack of will power.

Sunday was the day of days. I woke up earliesh, cranked up the coffee pot (see I do learn) and headed to the garage to get beer-a-brewin’ and stuff arranged and cleaned up. It was hot enough that I put up the canopy out front of the garage for the full RedNeck look. It is the details folks. De-tails. Did I mention that I was walking around shirtless in baggy shorts and messy hair? Truck and Harley in the driveway? Details.

Heh — De-tails makes me think of all sorts of funny things about animals loosing their tails in horrible accidents. Hrm, bed time looming…anywhoo… Once that was all setup and going - I tackled the mess in the corner. Lots of moving things around and it appears to be slightly more accessible and organized. I’m hoping I did a few flourecent bulb replacements (do NOT drop on the floor…) and hung up the tennis ball for Portana’s windshield marker. I’ve heard if your are handy around the house, drives them nuts. Juxtapose that with being handy at the bar and all you get is slapped. Women — just don’t make sense.

Anyways…I’m starting to ramble and it could get messy. Power through this! I finally finished up brewing and got the beer into the fridge a meer 15 minutes after knockout. That’s right folks - 5 gallons of 200F sugar water & hops to 62F in < 10 minutes. These are some heady times in which we live. Man, not ending sentences in prepositions is a real biotch. Sigh. Ok, headed off to Auds for some grilled Elk and veggies on the grill. Homemande smoothies (mit boozen) were quite the treat to finish off a decent weekend, albeit alone

I’d best be off to bed, I’ve got dragons to slay at work tomorrow and another day of trying to keep the giblets out of the blender.

Update Is it wrong that I called the french press the coffee pot ? Did I hurt it’s feelings?

I was chit the chatting with Portana last night and she mentioned that in (as of 11.27 am CST) 21 days, 8 hours and 30some minutes (adjusted for timezones of course), we will have been dating for a year. It is a bit sad to say — but I’d forgotten that we were coming up on such a day. I mean — I know when our “day” is and that we’ve been dating for a bit now, but I hadn’t given much thought to the fact that we’ve been “bonking” (no, not that bonking… it is an inside joke) for almost a year now. It was still kind of rattling around in my head this morning as to what the last year has been like and how dating her after this time is still a super fun time. Yes there is the inevitable “comfort” that comes with time and living together for 2 months now has introduced another level of routine behavior and interaction — BUT I’m still amazed at how we are still goofy as all heck and really do enjoy spending time together. Awwww shucks…..

So you ask — what has the last year meant? Well — here are the highlights that come to mind. Nothing too gushy or personal of course - must protect the guilty

• Harley rides, lots of harley rides. First date after the thunderstorm (hey, why do you think guys buy motorcycles?), to Roscoe for her birthday, a few trips to Rock Dodge, lots of little lunch trips in Billings, Bozeman, getting beer from Costco, wow ! We jsut need to ride a lot more here in MN!!

• Cooking - I’m the meal master, Portana kicks my butt with some breakfast thingys and all baking. I make a mean milk shake and rule the grill. She makes me want to eat healthier I keep trying to cook healthier for the both of us!

• Pets - some good times, some rough times. Just a little note — these are likely the only kids we will have and we are both thrilled about that! But the hair…oh! the hair!.

• Dealing with life - my getting laid off, her job interviews, moving, two new jobs, packing two houses up, living as a guest at Auds for a month, unpacking into a single house, getting used to living together - sleep schedules, bathroom sharing, eating schedules, finally getting the hosue unpacked, furniture shopping, the list goes on. I’m amazed how we’ve gotten through all of that without a huge “Nic you are an ass” fight. Damn, I guess we might be adults after all!

I’m sure there are huge events I’m leaving out here, but I think it is suffice to say that this first year has been an amazing adventure both personally and relationship wise. I can’t think of anything I’d have done significantly different - I’ve really enjoyed it and hope it continues for a long, long time. Well — I’d write more, but I’ve got dragons to slay here at work!

Oy yeah — I love you Babe!

Sometimes the ol’ email box gives gifts of geeky fun! Today, the powers-that-be at Google gave me a Google Analytics account. This should supply an interesting picture of who comes to visit, etc.