Supercomputing 2012 - Salt Lake City

I made it through yet another Supercomputing conference intact--woo hoo!  I really didn't have much chance to go sightseeing, but I did walk around Temple Square (where the statue photo was taken) and on my last night I was able to attend the Mormon Tabernacle Choir rehearsal.  The JB's restaurant was just a funny picture because the name made me think of my dad.  Next year the conference will be held in Denver.

Cambridge, Cambridgeshire

My trip to Cambridge went really well.  I had a great time working with my colleagues face-to-face, and also attending the 38th Cambridge beer festival.  Here are some pictures of the flat I stayed in during the week, as well as a picture of the green where the festival was held.   The weather was gorgeous.  Perfect for sitting on the grass with a pint of real ale.  

Now I as I am writing this I am in the garden apartment we'll be staying in for two weeks in Vicenza, Italy.  I flew from London-Gatwick to Venice this afternoon, and met Jason and Margie there.  They had flown from Boston via Zurich and arrived two hours before me.  Then we caught a bus to the train station, and an hour train ride later we were in Vicenza.  They are both pretty tired, so I am sitting up all on my lonesome.  I only lost an hour from the UK, so I am still feeling pretty awake.  I think we will get up early tomorrow do some walking around town.  Once Jason's uncle and cousin join us tomorrow afternoon, our group will be complete.   More pictures to come...

My bags are packed, I'm ready to go...

OK. That's not really true. I still haven't packed, but I think that I am ready to go. Jason and I are going to have quite a busy couple of weeks. I fly from Boston to London Sunday morning at 8am, arriving in London at 8pm. I'll be on the same flight as one of my co-workers, so we'll share a car that will drive us the two hours to Cambridge. For the week I'm in Cambridge I'll be sharing a two-bedroom apartment with another co-worker who will have been in the apartment for a day already by the time I arrive.

Monday morning at 8am we'll be driven to the office to start the work week. We have some topics planned to cover during the week to take advantage of the face time we'll have. I'm excited to see some people I usually see only once a year at the Supercomputing conference, and some people I'll be meeting in person for the first time even though we've worked together for over two years. It will also be fun to take part in our Monday team meeting from the other side of the video conference.

While I'll be working regular hours Monday through Thursday, I think the UK team has some fun planned for us too. Our visit purposely coincides with the Cambridge Beer Festival, so we'll be spending our evenings sampling local brews. I also found out today that we'll be going punting on the river. It's a hobby of a co-worker of mine, so it should be a fun adventure.
Friday morning I'll head from Cambridge to London's Gatwick airport for the true start of my vacation. I fly directly to Venice, Italy, where I will meet up with Jason and his mom. They will have arrived three hours earlier from Boston via Zurich.

While on travel I will not be using my phone. Since I will be working next week, I will have my laptop with me and I will be able to email (via Gmail) and Skype. Jason and I plan to keep in touch the first week via Skype video chat. I'll also try to post pictures as we take them.

October 2010 New Hampshire hike

I just found these photos on my camera, and I thought I'd post the bright, fall photos to brighten up the winter around us. This was a day trip we took in October, and the leaves were gorgeous. There had been a lot of rain recently so the trails were really mucky, and you had to be careful where the trail crossed streams. You can see Jason below exploring the best way to get across the water. I think it was at this point where we just took off our gaiters, boots, and socks; rolled up our pant legs; and walked across in our bare feet. It was pretty cold, but definitely worth the effort!

Christmas 2010

Better late than never, right? Here are some photos of our Christmas wreath from this year. We decided to do a wreath instead of a tree because we were late decorating this year, and finding room for a large tree requires us to rearrange a lot of furniture.

We had a great time spending Christmas on the Cape at an amazing bed and breakfast in Barnstable -- Ashley Manor. It was a really sweet place with great food and service, and we stayed in the Ashley room which afforded us a private entrance. We split the weekend between walking on the (cold, windy ) beach in Dennis and curling up in front of a roaring fire watching old movies. It was a pretty pleasant trip.

As usual we had an unplanned adventure. We had some great conversation while having breakfast on our first morning (Christmas Day) with our fellow guests. One of the couples had driven up from NYC to spend Christmas with family who lived on the Cape in South Yarmouth. As breakfast wound down, they asked us to join them later that day for Christmas dinner with their family. We didn't really have any plans for the day, so we took them up on their generous offer. We had a great time chatting, eating amazing food, and playing games. I don't think I'll ever forget their hospitality.

Bash Bish Falls Summer Hiking Trip

The Quarterly Report...

(Jebo... the king of the castle...)

While sitting here on a Sunday waiting for the triptophan from Thanksgiving dinner leftovers to kick in, I thought I'd catch ya'll up with the quarterly report. That's right. I clearly haven't provided enough regular updates this year to meet the minimal requirements to qualify as a blog.

Hmmm... let's see... where to start? In June our little cat Hazel stopped eating regularly. We took her to the vet, and they gave her pain medicine to see if it would help her regain her appetite. It did allow her to start eating again, so we thought she was doing just fine. Later on in the summer we noticed that Hazel was throwing up more than normal, and there wasn't a hairball present as a cause. She also started losing weight and acting differently, so we took her to the vet again. They referred us to a larger animal hospital in Jamaica Plain (a suburb of Boston), so Jason took her in to the emergency room. After examining her they suspected that she had a mass obstructing her abdomen and interfering with her digestion. They also thought that the mass might have been caused by some form of cancer.

Hazel went into surgery on the morning of September 11, and we were able to go see her later on that evening. The doctor removed a mass that was almost entirely obstructing her intestine and she also took three tissue samples to check for lymphoma. We were able to bring Hazel home on the evening of September 12, and she was prescribed special soft food to help her gain weight.

Fast forward a month and our little lady is finally back to her old self. Her stitches are out, she's gained back at least two pounds, and she's running around the house trying to score bits of milk and yogurt whenever she can. Although you can see in the picture above that she's still working hard at growing the hair back on her little leg (it was shaved to give her an IV) and her belly. She does still have cancer in her intestines, but we've decided that as long as she isn't in pain we will just let her be since she's pretty old for a house cat.

A week after Hazel's surgery I went to San Jose, CA for a week to attend a work-related conference. I have another conference trip coming up the week before Thanksgiving. Another week of talking to customers about our product, but this time in New Orleans. I always look forward to these trips as they're one of the few times I get to meet up with my coworkers from the UK.

I think we've finally turned the corner into fall in New England. The days are consistently cool so I pulled out the last bits of our garden. Our tomato and green pepper plants were still hanging on, but they weren't producing much. I'm going to puree the green tomatoes this afternoon. I actually have a pretty good recipe for chocolate cake that calls for pureed green tomatoes, beer, and instant coffee. I think the two peppers will go nicely in some turkey noodle soup, so their days are numbered too.

While I'm doing random things around the house today Jason is in southern Maine with one of his tennis buddies. Bruce is older and doesn't drive any more, but once a year he takes a trip up to Waterville to golf and visit some friends. Jason drove him this year, and it sounds like they're having a good time. Jason has Columbus Day off from teaching, so they may stay overnight somewhere and head back tomorrow.