Caught in the Rain

Last night Andrew had another gig at the 356 club, and he reports that it was a great success and the crowd kept asking for "One more song!" I didn't go see them play since I find it tough to stay up until 3:00am. Next up for the band is going into the recording studio to make a 3 song demo CD. Andrew is really having lots of fun with all the band stuff. This afternoon we went out on the sailboat to motor around and have a swim, but we were quickly caught by an approaching pop up thunderstorm. You can see the big rain coming down in the distance over Andrew's shoulder in the top photo. We motored back as quick as possible back to the slip, and just got the boat tied up when the first rain drops started coming down. We holed up inside the cabin while the lightning and rain crashed down all around us. Something different I'll say, but we both would have rather been floating around in the water and sun instead. We are back into our normal afternoon popup thunderstorm weather pattern so it makes boating a challenge, especially in a sailboat where on the water the mast is the tallest point around.

On the Deck

After doing some weeding, Andrew and I sat out on the deck for a couple of brewskies and talking shop. Nice life I have to admit. Today was a great day at work, I was able to focus on HPC benchmarking all day without interruption, which is exactly why I signed onto this new job in the first place. Andrew is going to Leicester, UK later this year, and we are contemplating going to Prague on the same trip since the EuroGraphics conference is occuring at the same time. I think I'm in, if my new boss will give me the time off.

At Work

Here I am blogging at work today. I have put up some mirrors in my cube at the research park to help make it look bigger and also so I can see if anyone is sneaking up on me. I love my dual monitor display, and I have a place for my mac laptop as well (which is where I do my blogging and photo/movie work). After work yesterday we went to the BiLo to get a going away gift card for our neighbours who are moving back to California. On the drive back we saw a guy in the road right by our turnoff, waving us all into a single lane. There was smoke and fire on the side of the road where a tree had fallen onto a powerline in the strong winds of the approaching thunder storm. The powerline was on the ground causing a small fire, which in the windy conditions was getting bigger. Fortunately we heard and saw the volunteer fire department truck on its way. When we pulled up to our garage, sure enough the power was out. I can't believe how many power outages we have around here. The BBQ for the neighbours started off in the dark, but then the power came on later so Matt was able to microwave the baked beans. We got some really good rains for the garden, but overall we are now into serious drought. We left the BBQ around 9:30 and then watched Hell's Kitchen - this is one of our favorite shows right now.

We're Back

We made it back from Warsaw and had a really good time. I am going through the ton of photos and movies I took and will be making some posts on that. Here is one shot of Andrew drinking a coffee at an outdoor cafe on Novy Swiat street - a long and very pretty street with lots of shops and outdoor eating. We lucked out on the weather and every day was sunny although unusually hot. When we got back I was pleased to see that my drip irrigation system that I purchased from Walmart and setup just before we left was working and my herbs were thriving. This photo is from before the trip - now the herbs are absolutely gigantic and I must start drying them since I can't use them all up fresh. I have a whole box of italian parsley, 3 kinds of basil, oregano and marjoram. I am now a big fan of drip irrigation and must start setting it up in the garden. We got home late on Sunday, and then had house guests on Monday and Tuesday night - some friends from Idaho came through on their month long vacation and it was great to see them and get in a few hands of bridge. The cats were a little skittish having just got back from their jailhouse but now everything is back to normal and they are acting fine. This past weekend Andrew and I went power boating on Saturday and we both got a little sunburned. We were wearing suntan lotion but it must have rubbed off or something. Sunday we wanted to go to the sailboat but my legs were too burned and I didn't want to put them in the sun again. We made a scallop and linguine dish last night with a shallot and white wine sauce. It turned out pretty good but I think we used too much pasta.

Off to Warsaw

Andrew's guest blog: Well, we're finally all packed and ready for our trip to Eastern Europe, er, I mean Central Europe. I read somewhere online that the Poles don't like for it to be said that Poland is in Eastern Europe. The pic is of me sitting at our dippy little airport—one good thing it does have is that it (still) has free wireless. And power. When I flew through DFW I saw that they were now charging for electricity. And the only "free" power outlet was somewhere behind a bank of vending machines. And both outlets were being used by laptopers such as myself...so I was SOL.
Our first leg of the trip takes us some distance out of our way since we travel northwest to Chicago. Then it's something like an 11 hour flight to Europe. I'll probably bang a bit on the laptop, read a book, watch a movie, or snooze, or all of the above most likely. One of the better flights I was on recently was to Stockholm when I got lucky enough to fly business class. Reclining seats with your own DVD player and power for the laptop. It was nice. Today flying LOT I have no idea what to expect. It's a Boeing 767 but I find them not as well equipped as the Airbuses (sorry, I know how some of you readers prefer Boeings, but I've yet to see your own personal DVD player on a Boeing; I'm pretty sure the A330 has them, even in economy class).
I think that's about it—we lose a day in transit so we don't get in till Monday afternoon. Then it's either a taxi or bus to our hotel. Bon voyage to us!