A bold acquisition

Well as this was originally a scotch blog I think it is fitting to announce that I have finally bought a bottle of Ardbeg 10 yo. This was the biggest "must have" on my list for quite some time and was an absolute steal at $55 CDN. I am looking forward to cracking this one open, but I will wait for a very special occasion to do so. We got it at Crowfoot Liquor, which is a huge store right up the street from my parents place in Calgary. They had a very large selection, and a few hard to find in the US bottles. One of which was the Ardbeg I bought, and a 16 yo Lagavulin as well. There were some rarer bottlings as well but nothing spectacular, just a very good selection of good single malts. Now I know where to go when I come up north.


Last week I had an opportunity to visit NANUC which is the facility that houses the 800 at the University of Alberta. The folks there are great and they have done an amazing job of running the facility there. I hope that the 900 facility will be on this level as well. We had a good time visiting with the Edmonton folks as well, it's great to see old friends again, especially when there is lots of Kokanee to accompany. Thanks Lisa and Chad for making that happen. We have a couple of days left in Calgary now to see family here, and then we head back home. I am a bit anxious to get back as there will be a lot happening with the magnet in the next couple of weeks. I did get my passport though, so it should be smooth sailing hopefully.

You leave Canada, eh!?

Well, I made it into Canada okay. I'll be off to get my passport tomorrow and then pretty much everything will be squared away. It's a nice day here today, although it's cooler than Denver for sure. It'll be nice for a run for sure. Melissa and Elijah arrive tomorrow, and I miss them already. Well it's only a few more hours away.

Happy Father's Day

I'm off to see my dad today. Although it means a trip to Canada, I'm still looking forward to it. Passport Canada really screwed me on my passport this year, but to their credit they mostly fixed it. Unfortunately I have to enter Canada with my birth certificate though, so I don't know how that will go. I've never crossed borders without a passport before. If all goes well I can pick up my passport tomorrow in Calgary. Hopefully the re-entry will not be too much of a hassle.

I'm probably the only one who finds this funny

It's about time...

Finally! It's been a week and two days since my last run. Today I got home at a reasonable time and it did not thunderstorm so I was able to go out for an hour. I took Elijah with me in the joggy stroller, which takes a bit more effort to push. Also he started crying with about a mile and a half yet to go so I had to book it home. That boy is going to make a faster runner out of me. That or give me a heart attack.

I'm small and tricky!

I am a Thrust-ship. I am small and tricky - where you think I am, I probably am not. I can work very fast, but I tend to go about things in a round about way, which often leaves me effectively standing still. I hate rocks. Bloody rocks. What Video Game Character Are You?

Job Interview

Well, I've been quiet lately on the blog front as I have been really busy at work. And today I had a job interview that I've been preparing for as well. It went well, but I don't really have any idea what the result of it will be. I haven't really wanted to talk much about it as I did not really want to get too excited. But now that it is out of my hands I feel a little better about the whole thing. We'll see what happens I guess. Stay tuned!

Mmm, Iced Tea!

Had a great run today for a little over an hour. It was hot, but I took it fairly easy and did alright. When I got back I had iced tea and scones. Melissa bought me an iced tea blend from Peet's, and I made up a small batch of it at lunch and put it in the fridge to chill. So it was a great after run refresher. I've started to enjoy iced tea more now, and I will often drink it if it is available. I like the fact that it is unsweetened here and I can add as much or as little sugar as I like. Canadian iced tea is too sweet. Although I have to say that homemade is on a whole other level than the crap you get just anywhere. Peet's rocks!

Rainy Day

Well the rain that I experienced this morning just got worse as the day went on. It was pouring until about 2 in the afternoon, then the sun came out. So we were able to have a short family walk, but still get most of our chores done. I also baked scones for our afternoon tea, which were excellent.


In other news, the worldwide developers conference is on Monday, and I'm looking forward to seeing what announcements await from Steve Jobs' keynote. The rumors are suggesting that Apple is going to switch to Intel chips from the current PowerPC line. This would be a huge shift in policy, and I think it is unlikely, but you never know. In any case it will be an interesting announcement I'm sure.


Well, gotta go give the baby his bottle!

Running in the rain

Well today I got up early and started getting ready to go running. We got a jogging stroller from some friends yesterday and I wanted to take Elijah out and hopefully give his mom a chance to sleep in. It was kind of gloomy though, and by the time we were ready to go it was raining. But I was determined and I decided to go out anyway. It was not too bad as I was generating enough body heat to not notice the dampness of my clothes. By the time we got back we were dripping wet, but happy. I was refreshed and Elijah was asleep. It turns out mommy was not able to sleep in, but did get a nice hot bath. So everyone was happy.

Dress Steve Jobs for his keynote!

Morning person

Well, after a week of not going out running, I've decided that I need to be a little more proactive to get out and do it. Mostly I've been trying to go out after work, but with the magnet going in I've been too tired, or too late to go. Also, I've been wanting to spend time with Melissa and Elijah, and have often opted for long walks instead of runs. So with the arrival of much better sleeping patterns from Elijah I think now is the time to get back into going out in the morning. So tomorrow I'll be up bright and early to have a bite to eat and head out for a few miles. I'm hoping this will help with getting things done at work too. We'll see I guess.


Things have slowed down a little with the magnet installation. It takes a lot of time at each stage to check and recheck all the parameters. It's good though as it has allowed me to do some of the things that have piled up. All our equipment is now up and running again so we can do experiments again, and I have time on the 500 tomorrow to run some samples.


I got to watch the Incredibles last night, which was very entertaining. I enjoyed it partly because it was a good movie, and partly because Melissa and I were able to watch it with relatively little fussing from Elijah. It felt like old times again. I really liked the relationship between Mr. Incredible and his wife (Elastigirl), it reminded me a little of the relationship that Melissa and I have. At any rate, I really liked it, and I will have to check out the special features later.

Lazy

I've been really lazy this past week. I haven't been running since last Monday. I did go to the gym though so I'm not totally out of it. With the long hours at work it has been tough getting motivated to go. Although we had some good running weather this weekend, so I have no excuse. Oh well. Elijah has been pretty good this weekend, sleeping reasonably well. Although I'm glad that I did not have to get up at 5 for the Bolder Boulder today. In other running news, I have decided against running in the half-marathon in June. I'm just not quite committed enough to training right now, and really the money is not there for it. I may cave and buy a water bottle belt for those hot summer runs. We'll see how things go with the trip to Canada and all.

Hits close to home

I think everyone has had a computer like this, some people still have theirs!

Installation Pics

Check out the pictures from the installation of the 900 MHz NMR at UCHSC.

Since it's going around...

100 lesser known facts about me:


1. I think that banana is one of the funniest words

2. I love sleeping with the sheets all tucked in

3. I like serving other people

4. I have worn glasses since I was 4

5. I am happiest when I am solving problems

6. I loved learning to weld in high school and have wanted to do it for a living ever since

7. I was moderately overweight until grade 9 when I got pneumonia and lost 40lbs

8. I think Clint Eastwood may be one of the best actor/director ever

9. I love to cook, and bake. I make a mean chocolate chip cookie

10. I love going to Las Vegas, it’s the best travel deal going


11. I am learning to embrace and accept my geekiness

12. I love my wife’s smile, and she seems to have given it to my son

13. I enjoy my job because it offers new challenges everyday

14. I liked distance running in high school, but forgot that fact for 10 years

15. I am super anal-retentive about some things, which makes me good at analytical chemistry

16. I once earned enough money to buy a rib dinner by busking at the Fringe

17. I am not competitive and I hate most team sports

18. I love playing football, but only with a few people

19. My first car was a brown 1975 Plymouth Valient

20. I have a scar on my forehead from when I ran into a wall as a child


21. I love chopping wood, only one log has ever stood its ground with me

22. I hate eucalyptus

23. I make great pizza, and I should open a pizzaria

24. I like climbing trees, and am comfortable at most heights

25. I am a beer snob, the more hops the better

26. I am a whisky snob (duh!) I love single malt scotch

27. I have traveled through Germany, and visited the castle from the Sound of Music

28. I play the violin and the guitar

29. I think that Scotland is one of the most beautiful countries in the world


30. I have the best behaved cat in the world

31. I don’t like driving, and will walk anywhere if I can

32. I love going to the firing range, and I am a good shot

33. I drink tea for my blood pressure, but coffee is a secret pleasure

34. I am also a coffee snob

35. I hate seeing the Times New Roman font in a Power Point presentation

36. I think RSS may be the best advance the internet has produced thusfar

37. I didn’t get the chickenpox until I was 17, they appeared when I was at a Rolling Stones voodoo lounge concert

38. I love science for the sake of science. It appeals to my curiosity

39. I love to explore, and discovering new places


40. I smoked for a year in high school

41. I once wire wrapped a pulse generator from scratch, it worked on the first try

42. I was 21 the first time I rode a horse. I loved it.

43. I have a Ph.D. in chemistry

44. I became a follower of Jesus when I was 22

45. I am an avid scuba diver

46. I think that hot tubbing in the snow is the best feeling in the world

47. I think there is no greater feeling than a close shave

48. The best thing about my honeymoon was an ice walk in Maligne Canyon

49. I love the outdoors and camping


50. I can build a fire with no paper and one match

51. There is nothing in life as useful as a sharp knife

52. One of my favorite dishes is steak and kidney pie

53. I think haggis is a delicacy

54. I’ve learned that having a desk job makes you crave manual labor

55. I love mathematics, but didn’t really understand it until my sophomore year in college

56. I have all 32 teeth and have never had a cavity

57. I have freed myself from a broken elevator twice

58. I hate elevators

59. I like gambling, it’s a mathematical challenge


60. I think there is no better start to the day than a bowl of porridge

61. One day I want to visit China

62. I miss In-N-Out more than anything else in California

63. I am still amazed by how quickly Bruce Lee can move

64. I think sharks are fascinating and beautiful creatures, but I still love the movie Jaws.

65. I am a scientist and I believe in creation

66. I think there is nothing like a light salad before dinner

67. I can’t wait to take my wife on a cruise

68. I have great respect for troops who stand up for freedom

69. I used to have an earring


70. I hate my hair, I can’t do anything with it

71. My father taught me that if something is worth doing, it is worth doing well. Wiser words have never been spoken

72. I like spaghetti westerns

73. I run in an Edmonton Eskimoes cap that I won when I was on the Big Breakfast (a local TV morning show)

74. I drink more milk than anyone else I know

75. I would have never made it through grad school without late nights at Carl’s Jr, and early mornings at IHOP

76. I have expensive tastes, but a shoestring budget

77. I think C. S. Lewis is an amazing writer

78. I was a groom before I was ever a groomsman

79. I have never been someone’s best man


80. I never dated anyone seriously apart from my wife

81. The only jewelry I wear is my wedding band

82. I think that spongebob is hysterically funny

83. I love Chicago deep dish pizza

84. I never wear pyjamas

85. I am a boxers man

86. I have never been admitted to a hospital

87. I am not really allergic to anything

88. One day I want a wood burning, brick oven

89. I am Canadian, but I don’t like hockey


90. I have never had to take out a student loan for my schooling

91. My wife and I lived for 2 years in an apartment barely larger than the room I am sitting in now

92. My pet peeve is people who still have the white headphones on their iPod

93. I am a morning person

94. I have been electrocuted more times than I can count

95. I have a weakness for ice cream

96. I can count on one hand the number of foods that I don’t like

97. I used to build and launch model rockets

98. I think that a kitchen is the most essential room in a house

99. I love Christmas more than any other time of year

100. I needed help from my wife to compile this list

Elvis has entered the building

It's there, the move went great. Here's a blurb on a local news site

Spectroscopists do it 'til it Hertz

Well, tomorrow is the big day! The big magnet is being delivered at work, and is quite the ordeal. The magnet itself is huge and it has to be lowered into a 6 foot pit. It is being brought in through a hole in the wall and several peices of the ceiling needed to be cut away in order to fit it into the building. Then it is raised by two 40,000 lb hydraulic jacks and lowered gradually into the pit. All this with about half an inch of clearance under the ceiling. To get an idea of the size of this thing check out this install at Wisconsin. It's going to be a long day, but never a dull moment.


Once the magnet is moved in and everything is in place, the magnet will be energized. That probably won't happen for a few weeks yet. It's a superconducting magnet, which means that there is a large coil of superconducting wire in the middle, which is cooled with liquid helium. Once everything is cold enough to sustain superconductivity, the coil of wire is slowly run up to higher and higher current with an external power source. Once the desired field has been reached (in this case 21.1 Tesla, giving a proton resonance frequency of 900 MHz) the switch is closed and the current remains in the coil indefinitely. Because there is no resistance in the wire (superconducting), there is no loss of current once the external source is removed. Well in reality there is a little loss, but it is small enough that the magnet will not need to be recharged for many years. In the case of this magnet a controlled quench is required to settle the coil into place, so this process will have to be carried out at least twice (sometimes the magnet will quench a few times as it is being brought to field). A quench is when there is a sudden loss in superconductivity of the wire. All of a sudden the wire becomes non-superconductive, and the current in the wire generates a huge amount of heat as it runs out of the wire. This causes all of the liquid helium that cools the magnet to boil suddenly and fire out of the magnet as its volume changes. This results in a huge bang and giant plume of helium. In the case of this magnet there is so much helium that it could force all of the oxygen out of the room and suffocate all of its inhabitants, so a large duct is required to get the helium out of the building. All of this makes for a really exciting installation. I hope to be around for as much of it as I can, as I always learn a lot from the folks that build and install these suckers.

Hot Town

It was supposed to cool down today, but it did not. I was hoping that it would have cooled off a little before I went out for my run, but no luck. It was 89 when I went out. This coupled with the fact that I grossly underestimated the distance of the run that I had planned out. I ran for about an hour at a 10 minute per mile pace, and was just too hot to continue. So I switched to a walk/run tempo and cut the loop short. I had my water though, so was not dehydrated, just hot. There were other crazy joggers out too, but not many. Mostly just bicyclists. Will have to keep my runs to less than an hour when it's hot like that out. Still, it felt great to get out. As Melissa mentioned on her blog, I am sort of in training for a half marathon in June. I haven't decided for sure for sure if I will go, but I'm seriously considering it.



We had a tasty dinner, got some hot dogs and BBQ'd up some of those and some kielbasa. Using the BBQ saved us from heating up the house any more than neccessary. It was very good and I got to enjoy a nice Flying Dog pale ale. This has become one of my favorite local beers. It was also bath night for Elijah, so we took care of that too. He was actually somewhat happy, and we had some fun splashing around for a change. Normally he just screams the whole time. It was a nice change.

Interesting Week

Everything broke at work this week. It seemed like everything gave up the ghost at the same time. So we have to get quite a few things fixed before we are back up and running again. On the plus side, next week the big magnet is due to be delivered! I'm looking forward to relaxing this weekend and spending time with Melissa and Elijah. That and going for a run or two. Gotta go make a bottle!