This past weekend was all about exploring a city. Vancouver was the chosen destination, even though I’ve been there so many times. It was about good food, music, walks, absorbing the city vibe, conversation, etc. (Oh... and a lot of book work as well).

   
(Walking around Stanley Park… Beaver Lake and the beach where an artist was balancing stones)

   
(Flowers in Vancouver’s downtown, shopping for hats at Granville Island, Sushi at “Kamei Royale”, live blues and dancing at “The Yale”).

Susan and I also visited the Vancouver Art Gallery where we spent few hours. They had an exhibition of mainly paintings from the Golden Age of Dutch Art. Beautiful paintings. Since I love photography, I particularly enjoyed Andreas Gursky’s and Anthony Hernandez’s works. Of great note was Jack Shadbolt’s paintings as well. The gallery room with two of his larger pieces was a great moment in our tour of the museum. Finally, the “Ought Apartment” was such a wonderful installation... a vertical timeline of interior design and styles throughout the decades.

It was great seeing my sweet friend Colette and her boyfriend Brian on Sunday. It’s always soooo great seeing and talking to Coco!

 

My first exposure to Unix came around 1992-93 when a contractor at my department at the time gave me remote access (via my 2,400bps modem) to his Sun workstation at his office so I could “play around”. I remember how within mins of getting access I was able to crash his machine because I was trying to start X Windows :-)

I was totally intrigued. I used the 2,400bps connection to download one of the first distributions of Linux at the time and since then I was hooked. Back at the department, my favorite professor gave me administrative access to our Dec Alpha workstations and I was off experimenting and learning. He was supportive even when mistakes were made (like the famous incident when “someone” “accidentally” removed the “mail” command from the system, disabling command-line mail access to an entire class for a while :-)

Granted, I always liked Microsoft development technologies but Unix has always been in my heart. Those who know me since my University years will remember my active support for all non-Microsoft operating systems. Even as a poor student, I actually purchased BeOS, OS/2, a distribution of Linux (I think it was RedHat), etc.

All my PhD research was done on a network of Linux workstations. I even played with a GoldRush System V-based machine while at the University of Newcastle.

The programming language C, closely associated with the early days of Unix, was my favorite during my early days at the University (perhaps because I was exposed to Fortran and Cobol at the same time :-)))

It was great to read a mainstream news article this morning on the BBC about the people and the early days of Unix, 40 years ago. The initial work of Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, and the rest of the team has had such a huge impact in our world. Here’s to the next 40 years!!!

As Dr. Salus concludes the “40 years of Unix” BBC article, "Unix is the best screwdriver ever built".

I spent this past weekend at Shi Shi beach, over at the Olympic Peninsula. Cris and I have been discussing a camping trip together for some time now.

  
(Location of Shi Shi beach)

 
(Driving past Lake Crescent on the way... don’t ask who took the photograph from the driver’s side… as the car was moving :-)

Cris, Laura, and I left on Friday and headed towards Port Angeles in order to get our National Park permit and canister for our food (no bears on the beach but apparently the food odor was attracting raccoons). After getting the Makah reservation permit from a market place in Neah Bay, we headed towards the head of the Shi Shi trail.

The trail was close to 2mi, easy to do, despite having to carry food and water for the weekend. The view, as we approached the beach, was spectacular.

       
(The hike towards Shi Shi beach)

Friday was just about settling to our spot, camp fire, and start absorbing the remoteness and beauty of the place.

   
(yes, smors were on the menu :-)

On Saturday we went for a long walk up and down the beach. What a wonderful and peaceful place… still, full of life! We met quite a few people along the way. Of note were the three + one group of teens who were on their last day of a 50mi hike up the coast. The three got separated from the last one. They were about 10mins apart but, as we discovered later, they must have got into a fight because even when the poor lonely guy reached them, they still didn’t continue their hike together :-( The guy looked sooooo tired when we saw him. I offered to help with his backpack but I think he was trying to save face and was determined to complete the entire hike on his own :-) Good lad.

        

We headed back to our camp site, picking up firewood on the way :-)

Unfortunately, Laura got a stomach bug and spent most of her evening in the tent, resting. Cris and I must have spent close to 6 hours in front of the camp fire, talking, eating, enjoying the gorgeous sunset and then the clear night sky, in all its August glory, full of bright stars, and atmosphere-burning meteorites (shooting stars)… oh… and the odd satellite or plane confusing us :-)

        

It was another great weekend in the Pacific North West. I had lots of time to think and reflect upon events of the last month or so (mostly at work but in my personal life too). Saturday night, staring at the stars of the clear sky brought back memories from Greece, where I used to do the same for hours. Nothing better than to stare at the universe while it talks to you. Things are clearer in my head now!

I am planning to explore the Olympic peninsula more. There is so much to see and do around there.

I don’t often blog about many of the things I do in Seattle in the evenings (well, with the exception of concerts sometimes :-) but last night requires a special entry.

Cindy (blog) took me to Seattle’s “A Contemporary Theatre” for a production of “Das Bardecu”, a comic adaptation of Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen. It was VERY funny but, most importantly, the entire experience was amazing. Wagner’s operas are the subject of a symposium at Seattle’s Opera, so they timed it really nicely.

I had never been at that venue before. It’s gorgeous. Even though the theatre was packed, they still need our support so if you are around Seattle, go check their calendar and see a play!

I also met some new people and I was encouraged to explore the University of Washington’s World Series, which I am definitely going to do.

Thanks to Cindy for making me part of her journey around the country while she’s exploring plays, theatres, art groups, etc. It was a fab night and… another one might be scheduled for tonight :-)

I just noticed a beautiful video about Microsoft’s External Research (my previous group). A great view at very high-level of what the team is doing. I had the honor/pleasure of working with some of the folks in the video.

Although I have stayed in touch with everyone in External Research, I am really looking forward to finding an opportunity to working more closely with them again.

I enjoyed reading Ian’s analysis on how to interpret “faster” when it comes to comparing infrastructure-as-a-service and a supercomputer.

Snippet:

For example, let's say we want to run the LU benchmark, which (based on the numbers in Ed's paper) when run on 32 processors takes ~25 secs on the supercomputer and ~100 secs on EC2. Now let's add in queue and startup time:

• On EC2 , I am told that it may take ~5 minutes to start 32 nodes (depending on image size), so with high probability we will finish the LU benchmark within 100 + 300 = 400 secs.
• On the supercomputer , we can use Rich Wolksi's QBETS queue time estimation service to get a bound on the queue time. When I tried this in June, QBETS told me that if I wanted 32 nodes for 20 seconds, the probability of me getting those nodes within 400 secs was only 34%--not good odds.

So, based on the QBETS predictions, if I had to put money on which system my application would finish first, I would have to go for EC2.

... Phew... what a fun weekend that was! I had such a good time even though i am now suffering the consequences (more on that later). I seriously needed the time to switch off. The weekend was totally packed but I still had time to contemplate a work-related decision. Earlier today I put things in motion so history will tell whether it was the right one.

On Friday, I left early from work in order to buy few little things from REI (I only needed new camping fork, spoon, and knife) and I ended up spending $240!!! :-) It’s all good though since I am really preparing for a loooong riding/camping trip for 2-3 weeks. Destination is yet to be determined but, after Coco’s recommendation, Baja California for some scuba diving is high on the possibilities. For now, I am going to enjoy every single weekend here in Seattle :-)

I got home and started preparing the bike for the road trip. Destination was Hood River where I was going to meet Sheryl and a group of her friends.

I wanted to enjoy some good riding so I looked at the maps for alternative ways of getting there. The fellow riders at Microsoft not only confirmed that it was a good route but suggested that it was amongst the best (if not THE best) road for riders, full of turns, up in the mountains, with great views. Well, it was SPECTACULAR. So much, in fact, that I am looking forward to doing it again.

   

I had the entire road almost to myself. I was able to throw the bike left and right, to take corners fast, to pump up my levels of adrenaline on a number of occasions :-). I had few scares but the only real danger was when, at a left turn, I found myself facing another rider who had decided to use my lane in order to avoid some holes in his. Grrrr!

So, with the first opportunity I am doing the Randle - Northwoods - Carson route again (NF-25 and NF-90), going through a national forest, up the mountains, and the twisty roads.

I stopped at a random grill, at a random town on the way, and I had soooo much fun. The people there were very welcoming, especially the two married women (on their own) who were totally flirting with me (or, at least I thought they were :-). Unfortunately I don’t remember the name of the town but, looking at the map, I think it was either Carson or Stevenson. After the stop for food and drinks, I was on the way towards Hood River and the Tucker Park camp, to find the rest of the folks who had arrived a day earlier.

    
(Columbia river as I was approaching Hood River, I just arrived, Sheryl and I go grocery shopping, the camp at night, and Sheryl)

Saturday was about hiking and swimming (well, ok… just staying afloat :-). After breakfast, we drove towards the Lost Lake area (I took the bike :-), about 20-25 miles away from Hood River. A number of us went on a 2-hour hike. The view of Mount Hood from the top was amazing! It was also fun to find a wedding party at the very top. We had just missed the ceremony but we were still able to chat with the very nice folks and the young pastor.

   
(Eric chilling, and being shot by Kristin, the camp in the morning, next to the Hood river)

            
(Lost Lake, hiking… wayyyy too hot, Mount Hood)

There are some incriminating photos of me in the lake. I will upload them when i get them from the other peoples’ cameras :-) (well, I’ll think about it at least :-)

Dinner was at a Hood River restaurant… really nice. Then back to the camp for marshmallows with chocolate (there is a shorter term for them but I don’t remember it… second time I had them… first was July 4th this year) and sausages :-)

   
(Sheryl, a romantic moment with Daniel who is married btw… so don’t get any ideas please, and Savas with Daniel and his wife, Sheryl, Kristin, Erin, Amanda, Alayna, and Kathy)

On Sunday, we had arranged to take windsurfing lessons. Sheryl and I arrived there a little bit late. As a result, I didn’t apply the sun block cream properly and i am now suffering from a totally burned back :-( The windsurfing was amazing though. I seriously enjoyed it and I want to learn more now. I was falling all the time, of course :-) It felt like learning how to ski. If it wasn’t for my sunburn, I would probably be aching from all the bruises now :-) Nevertheless, windsurfing was absolutely fantastic and I had a blast.

I took the scenic Highway 14 until I found I5 and then back to Seattle. I wanted to arrive back relatively early so I could concentrate on the book, on which I did some work while at the camp.

(the view of Columbia river from Highway 14)

I worked till 3am on Sunday. Today (Monday) was our 50% deadline with O’Reilly and I am pleased to report that we’ve made it!!! Chapters 1-4 & 11 have been submitted. But it seems that we are doing even better since we believe that in 2-3 weeks (if not sooner) we will be able to also submit chapters 5, 7, and 8 as well, positioning us ahead of the agreed schedule, which would be absolutely fantastic! Ian, Jim, and I have worked hard and I think the results are starting to show!

 

Well, the weekend was absolutely amazing, I met new people, learned (well… sort of) how to windsurf, camped, submitted 50% of the Web book, and made an important career-related decision. August has started really well. Next week or the following one we are probably going camping at Shi Shi beach. Can’t wait.

 

Trip profile:

Max Elevation: 4,081ft.
Distance: 474mi (unfortunately I forgot to include the day trips)
Max speed: Would be self-incriminating

 

 

* The photographs with the rounded corners are from Sheryl’s camera.