Spam Comments

For the few of you who comment on this blog you will notice a new addition to the comment form. It will ask you to verify the word that is printed in the window before your comment will be added. I'm getting tired of deleting spam comments every time I post, so this should thwart those wiley comment-bots.

Boy oh boy what a ride!

I haven't posted in a while so I thought I would break the silence. It's been a roller-coaster ride the past two weeks, but now that it's over I feel like I can address everything that went down. The last day I posted I hinted at some of the issues associated with the loan that had come up. They were all annoying but not insurmountable. It usually involved me having to fax over some piece of information to verify this or that. But on Monday the 19th a bomb got dropped on us. The bank told us they could not give us a loan for the house. This happened 5 days before we were supposed to close, and on the actual loan commitment deadline. We were devastated. By the end of the day we had a single long-shot to go on, but were not going to be able to make the commitment deadline, meaning our earnest money ($2500) would have been lost if we could not buy the house. We were assured that by Tuesday we would have an answer yes or no. Needless to say having this all happen well after it should have (all the problems we were having were immigration related and should have been caught during the pre-approval stage) got Melissa all riled up and she started kicking butt and taking names. By the end of Tuesday the answer was no, but another option had become a possibility. Our original loan could not happen but the bank was willing to try to push through a different loan (which ordinarily would have required a 25% down payment for non-permanent residents) with our 5%. But we would have to wait until Wednesday. Finally Wednesday came and we got the new loan. Being completely jaded by the whole process, I was not willing to count on anything anything until the keys were in my hands. That happened yesterday. So now having lost our hopes and dreams, worked through anger and depression, lived with cautious optimism, and moved-out, closed and moved-in in a single day, we can proudly say that through it all we survived an are now homeowners.


Looking back at it now I can see the hand of God moving in all of it. God saved this house for us, it was on the market for months before we saw it at a higher asking price. God got the loan for us, if the immigration issue had been caught at the beginning of the process we could not have got a loan at all and would not have been able to even look at houses. Because the bank messed it up they were willing to go out on a limb to get us the loan we got. I have learned a lot about the way God works through the past few months. He gives us blessings and miracles everyday, but never hands them to us on a silver platter. Like a good Father He wants us to learn and grow from every experience. This means that He will always have his will done in the end, even if we have to do some of the legwork. Would we have got the loan without Melissa's complaints? Would I have got this job if I had applied for it right away? Would I have been able to take this job on our current visa if I didn't know what I've learned about immigration through our time here? Probably not. All of these issues we've had have been God's design. It's easy to forget about your faith when everything goes your way, it's only in the hard times that we really remember who is in charge. Needless to say I will be asking my saviour to bless our house tonight with a dram of Ardbeg; one of God's gifts for another.

Bluetooth Kicks Ass

On another note, I got a new phone this week. My old one was two years old, and Verizon allows you to get a $100 credit on a new phone when you sign another two year contract. So It gives you a little scratch to buy the more expensive models. I bought the Motorola E815, which I have been waiting more than two years for. When I bought my laptop in March of 2003 it came equipped with the ability to communicate wirelessly with Bluetooth enabled devices. But when it came time to get my new phone the last time, Verizon still had no Bluetooth enabled phones. So I went without. It turned out to be fairly good timing, because soon after Verizon picked up the Motorola V710, which was Bluetooth equipped, but hamstrung into only accepting connections from a Bluetooth headset. This phone turned out to be one of Verizon's biggest fiascos in the geek community, as Verizon kept stating that they would release a software upgrade that would allow the V710 to communicate with computers, but they never did. The end result was a phone that would not do anything you would want a Bluetooth device to do, mainly sync contact and calendar information wirelessly with your computer. Earlier this year the E815 was released and has had not much but rave reviews. The Bluetooth is now functional, and can be used to sync with your computer. Of course Verizon states that this is only possible with the purchase of their connection kit, but those of us blessed with an Apple computer can accomplish this seamlessly with iSync, which comes with the computer.


Anyway, I was happy to have a new toy and I was all set for a day of geekdom setting up the phone with the computer. Unfortunately, Apple foiled my plans and within 5 minutes I had set up the phone and synced all my contacts and calendar info. It was too easy. It works absolutely perfectly, every time I change a contact or appointment on my computer with one click it's on my phone too. And the opposite is also true, with one click all contacts I've added to my phone are on the computer. And my phone doesn't even need to leave its holster. This has been very useful at work as not a day goes by now where I don't have someone that I need to add to my cell phone. Now I just need to get a headset, as it always seems that someone is calling me when I'm driving to or from Boulder. Man, there was a time when I was embarassed to wear my phone on my belt, now I'm talking about a headset! What a difference a different kind of job makes.

Crikey!

I can't believe that some people buy more than one house in a lifetime. Or worse, refinance! Every day it's something different with these people. I keep telling myself that at the end of this I will finally be in a house but as the closing date draws closer all these issues and questions just add to my stress level. I just have to make it through 8 more days.

This vacuum sucks!

Well our new vacuum cleaner was delivered yesterday. Our old vacuum we got when we were married and it has lasted 8.5 years, but it was pretty much useless by the end. There was almost no suction at all. So we decided to buy a Dyson, which everyone seems to go on and on about. We found one on Amazon.com that was factory reconditioned and considerably cheaper than the new ones. Since we knew we were going to be buying a house I wanted to make sure that the old vacuum never got a chance to (not) clean it. Plus we will be able to give the apartment a good cleaning when we move out. We tried it out last night for a bit and the suction is incredible. It pulled up a ton of dust from just a small patch of carpet that had been "cleaned" just a few days before. Plus I no longer have to worry about buying bags. Needless to say, I may actually enjoy vacuuming this weekend.

Home Inspection

Yesterday we had our home inspection done. It was a really neat experience, and I got to know the home we are going to buy a little better. The Inspector had no major comments, and even went so far as to say that our next home buying experience will probably be a disappointment as there are so few houses in as good shape as this one. When you are spending this much on something that sure is a comfort to hear. Melissa was also busy during the inspection measuring everything to see where our stuff will fit best. And she took lots of pictures so that everyone can see a little more of the place. Only 15 more days for us, we can't wait!

Under Contract

Well after much hunting we finally bagged a house. And because it was a long weekend everyone was anxious and we were able to get under contract by Friday afternoon. Melissa has posted some pics on her website. It's a two story, single family dwelling, 1700 square feet with a 300 square foot unfinished basement. It satisfied all of our principle requirements (garage and a big kitchen) and all of the secondary requirements (too many to list). We close on September 23, and move that week. We are out of the apartment September 30, which coincides with the end of our lease. So it's going to be a busy month for us.



Today we are off to Peet's for a cup of tea, and a little shopping at Sears. We're hoping to see if there are some Labor Day sales for things we need. We might do a little furniture shopping too as now we have more rooms than we have furniture. Here's hoping for good deals!

House Hunting

Today is a big day for us, we are going house hunting. We are looking at places that are close to our church. We can't live close to work so we might as well try to live closer to our church community and friends. So hopefully we'll find something we like. We are hoping to move sometime in October, so time is not on our side. The boy is growing fast, and this apartment is not keeping up with him. I had a long week last week, busy, but fulfilling as usual. We have the spectrometer almost completely set up, and just have most of the remaining tests to run. But the major tests are all passed, and the system seems to be functioning as it should. Also, on Friday we were able to get everything moved into its final location, and all the cables organized. It is very neat and tidy now, just the way I like it. I finally broke into that scotch that I got free at the ENC this year. It is McClellands Lowland malt, basically a 4 yo bottling of a lowland distillery. It is renamed so that it's young age does not affect the good reputation of the distillery itself. I was hoping to be pleasantly surprised, but was not. Initially it was a very nice malt, not too strong an attack, with decent flavor and aroma. Nothing really stood out about it, but it was not bad. Unfortunately the aftertaste kicked in, with very chemical flavors. I almost couldn't finish it. Oh well, it was free at least, nothing ventured nothing gained.

Another week

Yikes, another week without blogging. Unfortunately I've just been too busy. I barely even had time to update the news page for the magnet website. I did reasonably well on the exercise front though, I went for 4.3 miles in 30 minutes on Monday and for almost 5 miles on Wednesday in 40 minutes. Today I was just too pooped from work to even think about going out. I'm not sure about tomorrow either as I have to go into work. So Sunday may have to be the day. It's supposed to be much cooler here this weekend so it will be good weather for it. I haven't been sleeping too well lately. There is so much to do at work right now that I find it difficult to shut my mind down. I have no problem falling asleep as I am usually pretty tired, but then I wake up at 4 and can't get back to sleep. It's good because I'm so busy at work that I'm finding it really enjoyable and fulfilling. I just need to be able to turn it off when I go home. Oh well, things are progressing really well with the magnet, so it should start settling down soon. Well, time to hit the sack, hopefully tonight will be better.

Lazy Ass

That's what I've been for the past two weeks. The last time I went running or worked out was almost two weeks ago. That's going to change this week, I'm determined. Today was a perfect day for running, overcast and 56 degrees, so I finally took advantage of it and went for a long run. 8 miles, 80 minutes. So it seems my endurance hasn't dropped too much this summer, it just seemed that way due to the difficulty of running in high temps. It sure makes me realize how much more energy it takes to keep you cool while exercising in the heat. So this week I have to kick it back into high gear, too much work and not enough exercise makes me a very unhappy man indeed. The work is very fulfilling though, so it's easy to get caught up in it. Unfortunately there are not enough hours in the day. Well gotta get on dinner, it's BBQ chicken pizza tonight I can't wait.

Chicken of the VNC

This week I was doing a lot of UNIXy stuff on the computer that is due to run the spectrometer. Since it is not being used right now, it is a great time to get these things taken care of. Some of the problems that I had this week I was not able to fix to my satisfaction, but the main problem I did fix. That was to set up the computer to accept VNC connections. Essentially a VNC server allows you to run a computer remotely without taking too big of a hit on speed. When done properly it can be fairly secure as well. We were having a lot of problems running the program that runs the spectrometer, which is the only program that we want to run really. But it turned out that by setting a few strange variables associated with the program we were able to get it going. So I spent most of the afternoon writing a few scripts to make sure that the connection is set up properly without requiring too much knowledge on behalf of the user. I'm glad I got it to work though as it made for a satisfying end to the week. For those of you still mystified, Chicken of the VNC is a VNC client (a program that allows you to connect to a VNC server) for the Mac, I just thought the logo was great.

Whew!

Boy what a week. I'm glad that is over. I felt like I was running behind all the time, and never had enough time to get everything done. But I did, and I am ready for next week now. I took a trip to Boulder yesterday and barely had enough time to get around to all the places I needed to. It was raining as well which made it not so pleasant. Hopefully now I won't have to head out there again for another couple of weeks. I'm trying to get reestablished at UCHSC, and am hoping I can get a mailbox there rather than having to go all the way to Boulder to check my mail. There are definintely a lot of issues to work out with this complicated appointment, but I was anticipating that anyway. I was just hoping to have a little more time to transition.


Well, tonight I think Melissa and I will go to Cherry Creek North and hit Peets. I want to swing by the Apple store and check out the "Mighty Mouse." For those of you who don't know, hell has officially frozen over as Apple introduced its first multi-button mouse. Just in time too, I'm in the market for a mouse for work. We are going to a friends place tomorrow for a picnic, and then with church on Sunday this may be our only chance to go.

Eraser

Well, I have officially been erased. I sent my letter in to the department yesterday to say that I was changing jobs and today all record of my working with UCHSC was gone. No more email, no more security access, no more nothing. So hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to sort out everything in Boulder and transfer my identity to there. It really pisses me off actually because if you put in for a raise or change in benefits or something it takes more than a month to be processed. But this, one day. I just don't get how ridiculous this campus can be. Oh well, enough ranting. I have another big complaint, but it involves the behavior of a the representatives of a major company. I can't afford a lawyer, so I'd better just not go there even though their comments are hurting our facility.


Our webpage is really coming along, go check it out and make comments for us. If something doesn't work for your browser we want to know about it.

First day!

Well officially I guess tomorrow will be my first day at my new job. I say officially because I've kind of been doing a lot of it already. But now that it is official I will be able to do a lot of the things that I could not technically do before. Like ordering items for the facility. And of course I'll be able to move into my office. I think it will be a little busy and a little exciting all at once.


Today I got new jogging clothes from Target. Very nice shorts with built-in "support" and a great shirt that wicks moisture away from your body. Maybe now I'll be able to go running in 100 degree weather without going topless. For me it's a neccessity as a T-Shirt is just too hot and I don't really care what other people think after about mile 3. But I worry about the safety of others, one day the glare of sun off my pasty white chest is going to blind some poor driver. That would be bad. So hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to take them for a spin. They were a great price ($24 for both) so if they work out well I may go back for more. Melissa made me get these after I told her that I would not do certain stretches in the gym due to the translucent nature of the worn material in certain areas. Yikes!

Road Trip!

Well we went to Boulder today to get all my final paperwork sqaured away. I had to pick up a computer as well to use temporarily in the facility until we get our own. We parked in the reciprocal (meaning that I could use my UCHSC parking pass to park) parking lot and walked to the Chemistry department. Boulder has a great system of walking/bicycling trails so it was easy to get there, but navigating the buildings with a stroller was a bit challenging. Once I had that all sorted out we walked up Broadway to Pearl street and up the outdoor "mall," basically just a pedestrian only street with lots of shops. We found a nice bakery/cafe to eat lunch in and then went back to campus. Boulder is a beautiful town, a bit weird, but beautiful. It will be nice to be able to go up there more often now. Apparently I can get a discount on the bus up there with my ID card, so I'll have to look into that option for getting there. It might be nice to zone out with my iPod occasionally while someone else does the driving. Especially in the winter.

The last minute

Well, as expected everything came together at the last minute for our visa. So it looks like Monday I'll be officially starting the new job. We're off to Boulder tomorrow to bring in our new documents and sign paperwork, etc. Also we'll try to see some of Boulder in the best way to see Boulder: on foot.


Things are looking pretty good for the magnet, we've started a Magnet Blog to deal with some of the more facility related announcements there. So you can check that out if you are curious. Plus we'll be working on the Rocky Mountain Regional 900 MHz NMR Facility website quite a bit in the next little while, so look for changes there too.

Weekend Off

Well this has been a great weekend off, I've caught up with my chores and still had some time to relax with the family. Today was a little cooler too (91) which was nice. This week will be hectic at work for sure, we will be bringing the magnet up to full field, assuming it does not quench spontaneously. This will take three full days, and if we start Tuesday morning we should know if the magnet will persist or not by Friday. That coupled with the paperwork I have to take care of will make it pretty busy. I'm going to try to regularly go to the gym though as I have been dragging these past couple of weeks without it. It's amazing how much more energy I have at the end of the day if I've had a workout. Friday is pay-day, if all goes well it will be the last pay-day with my small salary. It could not come at a better time, this month has taken us right to the bitter end. God has really answered the prayers we have been sending up all year, this job could not have come at a better time, and I could not have been more of an underdog for getting it. There's no question in our minds that God has provided for us and will continue to do so.

Yikes!

Well if anyone was wondering if it was possible to run 5 miles in 100 degree weather then the answer is yes. If anyone was wondering who would be crazy enough to run 5 miles in 100 degree weather then the answer is me. Actually it wasn't as bad as you might think. This was my first weekend off since we were in Edmonton, so Melissa and I ventured off to Cherry Creek North this morning. We ended up wandring around and window shopping. Dreaming mostly. With the prospect of buying a home looming it's easy to dream big. I really enjoyed getting out of the house with the family and it did not seem too hot. So by the time we had finished grocery shopping and come home I had decided that I would go running despite the heat wave. I haven't been out since Monday, our last day in the low 90s. I prepared for the run by drinking 4 big glasses of water before my lunch, which I knew would work its way through my system in about an hour, just in time for my run. As I was taking Elijah out with me I packed two big water bottles and a bottle of Gatorade into the jogging stroller. Then both of us lathered up in sunscreen. By the time I had finished the run I had gone through both water bottles and a few sips of the Gatorade. I was glad to have finished the full 5 miles as it has been a while since I've been able to do that, and I've been trying to get back in shape. It took me about 50 minutes which is off my best pace, but pretty reasonable for a hot run. I've been keeping hydrated ever since. So with the right amount of preparation running in this heat is very doable.


I'm glad I was able to go, this week has been pretty stressful. I've been trying to get my visa all sorted out so that I can start at my new job on August 1. Unfortunately as it seems to take at least a day for anyone to get back to you and with miscommunications and weird hours for certain offices it has taken a full week to accomplish what should have taken a day. Now I need to get a few letters signed and hopefully it will all come together next week. But for sure it will be at the last minute. This doesn't help my stress level at all though. Things aren't as bad as I had thought though because when we donated blood on Tuesday my blood pressure was 132/82. That's pretty good considering I've been slacking on the working out and jogging, and have been drinking a little too much coffee lately. Well, it's a busy week this week, and I'm sure everything will come together by the end of it. Gotta go, Melissa's making dinner tonight and I have to watch the boy.

Message for Dr. Armstrong...your magnet is calling

Well starting this week I am officially on call. The system that keeps the magnet up and running is set up to contact me if something goes wrong. This morning I got the first call. Fortunately it was at 8:30, and not 3:30. But as I was going to drive Melissa to the doctor (see Dame Limps-a-lot) this sort of put that plan out the door. It turned out to be an alarm that was not yet set up so I really didn't have to rush in, but it gave me a taste of what's yet to come. Oh well it's part of the job I suppose. I surprised Melissa by coming home early (5 o'clock) and was able to get out for a run this evening. Man am I out of shape. I'm going to have to get serious, I'm thinking about running in the breast cancer race for the cure in October. Anyone who may sponsor me let me know, if there's enough interest I'll do it for sure!

Lambda!

Today the magnet reached the lambda point. For lower frequency systems, the magnet coils are cooled to superconducting temperature by liquid helium, which is about 4 degrees Kelvin, or -269 degrees celcius. For larger systems like the 900 however, the magnet is cooled by superfluid helium. This is accomplished by cooling the liquid helium with a fridge system. Essentially this is just a big coil of tubing inside the magnet can that you can flow a small amount of liquid helium into, and is pumped with a vacuum. Under vacuum, the evaporation of the liquid helium cools the coil and the surrounding helium just like the evaporation of sweat from your skin cools your body. Using this fridge system the temperature of the helium surrounding the magnet can be cooled gradually (over about 30 hours) to 2.17 degrees Kelvin. At this point, called the lambda point, the helium becomes a superfluid and behaves completely unlike a normal liquid. In the case of the magnet, the lower temperature of the helium lends stability to the superconductivity of the wire, and allows the magnet to be brought to 900 MHz. Right now the magnet is energized to about 675 MHz, and will be left to stabilize at 2.17 K for the next week before being brought to full field.