Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Sixth Grade Science Camp
Our local elementary school sends the sixth graders to the mountains for a week of science camp (well, four days this year to save money). The camp is somewhere in the Arrowhead / Big Bear area. It is always in the Winter so that they get some snow time.
Today is the departure day for Hayley to head to Science Camp. We have a week of rain in the forecast in SoCal this week. The camp is high enough that this means SNOW! That is a rare thing for our SoCal kids, so they are excited. The forecast calls for up to 2 feet tomorrow. Hayley is excited.
The weather picture looks almost perfect. There may be some flurries today, but nothing likely to cause driving problems. It will dump over the next two days and then probably be back to flurries for the drive down on Friday.
Today is the departure day for Hayley to head to Science Camp. We have a week of rain in the forecast in SoCal this week. The camp is high enough that this means SNOW! That is a rare thing for our SoCal kids, so they are excited. The forecast calls for up to 2 feet tomorrow. Hayley is excited.
The weather picture looks almost perfect. There may be some flurries today, but nothing likely to cause driving problems. It will dump over the next two days and then probably be back to flurries for the drive down on Friday.
Friday, January 18, 2008
Doo Doo Doo Looking Out My...
... uh, work window. For anyone too young to know, that is a take-off from a Creedence Clearwater Revival song.
Anyway, this picture was a nice sunset that I caught while looking out my work window last month. I am on the 3rd floor of a building next to the Irvine Spectrum. The neon lights to the left of the photo are a 21 screen theater. Cheesecake Factory is across the street. The lower part of the picture shows the front area of the building with trees and the lights pointing up into them.
Of course the highlights of the photo are Saddleback Mountain in the distance and the moon rising above it.
I wish I had a better camera with me for this than the camera on my phone. It could have been a really nice photo then. However, I'll settle for this and be happy.
Anyway, this picture was a nice sunset that I caught while looking out my work window last month. I am on the 3rd floor of a building next to the Irvine Spectrum. The neon lights to the left of the photo are a 21 screen theater. Cheesecake Factory is across the street. The lower part of the picture shows the front area of the building with trees and the lights pointing up into them.
Of course the highlights of the photo are Saddleback Mountain in the distance and the moon rising above it.
I wish I had a better camera with me for this than the camera on my phone. It could have been a really nice photo then. However, I'll settle for this and be happy.
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
New Zealand Photos
I took a few photos from the air when we were landing in Wellington, NZ. The camera phone doesn't have a very high resolution, but here are a few that were interesting.
These photos show the northern coast of the South Island.
These are photos of the Wellington skyline in the distance as the plane approached the airport on Sunday when I first arrived:
I liked this rock outcropping that I caught as we approached Wellington on Monday when returning from the South Island:
These photos were sent to me by my customer. We had lunch at the Highfield Estate winery in Marlborough which has become a respectable wine growing area. We were outside, so the winery gave those of us with limited hair protection hats for sun protection.
These photos show the northern coast of the South Island.
These are photos of the Wellington skyline in the distance as the plane approached the airport on Sunday when I first arrived:
I liked this rock outcropping that I caught as we approached Wellington on Monday when returning from the South Island:
These photos were sent to me by my customer. We had lunch at the Highfield Estate winery in Marlborough which has become a respectable wine growing area. We were outside, so the winery gave those of us with limited hair protection hats for sun protection.
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
December Sun in Sweden
On my recent trip to Sweden, I didn't see the sun at all while I was in the country. I watched the sun set on Sunday as I left Orange County Airport and I saw it again when my plane broke through the clouds above Stockholm the following Friday.
Here is a photo taken from the airplane looking down at Lake Elsinore. This is about 10 minutes after take off as the plane was flying east. My last glimpse of the sun was about an hour after this.
The sky was clear for most of the trip. The problem was that the days were short and the sun never rose far above the horizon. I was at approximately 63 degrees North Latitude (about like mid-Alaska) and very close to the Winter Solstice (the shortest day of the year). The sun rose at around 8:30am and set at around 2:45pm. On top of that, I was working in a small valley that didn't get direct sunlight.
The series of pictures below show the front of the building where I was working at various times of the day. Note the clock on the front of the building and then compare the timestamps on the photos (my camera phone was still on US Pacific time).
Here is a photo when we arrived to work one morning at 8:06am (it was Dec 12 in Sweden, but still Dec 11 at 11:06pm at home).
Here is a similar shot the next morning. Note that the sky is clear in both photos, but the sun was never high enough to see it.
Here is a photo at around 9:30am. The sun is up, but not shining on anything near me.
At lunchtime, I could see the sun shining on some nearby homes. The pictures below show the front of the building again, and then I turned to my left to take a photo of sunshine in the distance.
Finally, I took some photos at 2:20pm when the sun was close to setting.
Shortly after 3:00pm the sky was completely dark. It was nighttime.
The clear skies also led to some cold temperatures. Clouds act as an insulating blanket the retain heat. Having grown up in SoCal, I have not had to endure a lot of cold temperatures in my life. I believe that I hit my personal low for temperatures I have been outside to experience one night when we left work. It was -19C which is around -2 Fahrenheit.
Here is a photo taken from the airplane looking down at Lake Elsinore. This is about 10 minutes after take off as the plane was flying east. My last glimpse of the sun was about an hour after this.
The sky was clear for most of the trip. The problem was that the days were short and the sun never rose far above the horizon. I was at approximately 63 degrees North Latitude (about like mid-Alaska) and very close to the Winter Solstice (the shortest day of the year). The sun rose at around 8:30am and set at around 2:45pm. On top of that, I was working in a small valley that didn't get direct sunlight.
The series of pictures below show the front of the building where I was working at various times of the day. Note the clock on the front of the building and then compare the timestamps on the photos (my camera phone was still on US Pacific time).
Here is a photo when we arrived to work one morning at 8:06am (it was Dec 12 in Sweden, but still Dec 11 at 11:06pm at home).
Here is a similar shot the next morning. Note that the sky is clear in both photos, but the sun was never high enough to see it.
Here is a photo at around 9:30am. The sun is up, but not shining on anything near me.
At lunchtime, I could see the sun shining on some nearby homes. The pictures below show the front of the building again, and then I turned to my left to take a photo of sunshine in the distance.
Finally, I took some photos at 2:20pm when the sun was close to setting.
Shortly after 3:00pm the sky was completely dark. It was nighttime.
The clear skies also led to some cold temperatures. Clouds act as an insulating blanket the retain heat. Having grown up in SoCal, I have not had to endure a lot of cold temperatures in my life. I believe that I hit my personal low for temperatures I have been outside to experience one night when we left work. It was -19C which is around -2 Fahrenheit.
Monday, January 07, 2008
Holiday Shutdown
My company did a holiday shutdown from 12/22 - 1/1. While there was some support going on, for the most part the company was closed and everyone went home. It was basically a free vacation for all of us. I am familiar with companies that do this, but this was the first time that I have worked at a company with this policy. It was a nice year-end break and, outside of a small amount of support work, I got to spend most of it doing fun things with the family.
