Dmitry Samarov
08 August 2009
08 October 2005
Is it cold yet?
Ahhh, the joys of summer are so fleeting. This week ended in a cold drizzly rain to complement my lurking head cold. I could swear it was 80 and sunny just days ago and now the cold nights are starting already. I'm trying to remember how to enjoy those 60 deg days since they won't last long either.
I haven't posted in months and months and it's been a busy time. The cold kept me inside all day today, and I have exhausted all my normal under-the-weather entertainments (didn't even make it down the street for used novels) to the point of remembering I had good intentions of keeping this thing up to date.
Here are some of the highlights of the summer:
May:
We finally found Eric a bicycle and spent lots of weekends this summer biking along the lakefront. We did 30 miles plus for the Bike the Drive ride on Lake Shore Drive. We really lucked out on weather that day. It was gourgeous.
June:
Not worth mentioning...lots of work and little play.
July:
I spent a lovely weekend with Eric in Montreal during the Jazz Festival following a meeting at McGill. It rained all day Saturday, but we found a little table under an awning, ordered a nice Chianti and some munchies, and listened to live music all afternoon.
August:
One of our really good friends from college got married in a lovely outdoor/indoor ceremony at the Richmond Botanical Gardens. We made it halfway through before the storm started. It was a great time and we got the chance to catch up with some other college friends. Being the perfect occasion to make good use of my new camera, I, of course, left it behind and can't show you nice pictures of roses and iris. However, for this wedding I managed to get the flight arrangements made properly (see last year's post) and we had a nice uneventful trip.
As always rain plays an important role in most of our vacations...
I escaped back to Maryland for most of a week to visit friends and tie up some loose ends for my thesis paper. It was just an amazing time and I still miss you all.
September:
For labor day we camped out near the I&M canal path and got in a nice chunk of it done in beautiful weather. (The bugs got a nice chunk out of us the night before though...have to remember to stock the camping box with bug repellent!)
I survived the successive visits of my in-laws and parents in the same week separated by a day. Whew! But a nice time was had by all.
My project has most of a second telescope up now!
And check out this cool sunset pic from three weeks ago in AZ.
Just this week we made a major test of a small prototype telescope that I'm working on right here in Chicago and it was pretty successful. If one of the next couple nights is clear, we'll take some more measurements.
Anyway, it was a very nice summer and I have conveniently left out all the annoying parts since revisionist history (and science!) is now apparently in vogue.
Now if I can get just one or two more lovely weekends, then I think I'll be all set for another winter.
I haven't posted in months and months and it's been a busy time. The cold kept me inside all day today, and I have exhausted all my normal under-the-weather entertainments (didn't even make it down the street for used novels) to the point of remembering I had good intentions of keeping this thing up to date.
Here are some of the highlights of the summer:
May:
We finally found Eric a bicycle and spent lots of weekends this summer biking along the lakefront. We did 30 miles plus for the Bike the Drive ride on Lake Shore Drive. We really lucked out on weather that day. It was gourgeous.
June:
Not worth mentioning...lots of work and little play.
July:
I spent a lovely weekend with Eric in Montreal during the Jazz Festival following a meeting at McGill. It rained all day Saturday, but we found a little table under an awning, ordered a nice Chianti and some munchies, and listened to live music all afternoon.
August:
One of our really good friends from college got married in a lovely outdoor/indoor ceremony at the Richmond Botanical Gardens. We made it halfway through before the storm started. It was a great time and we got the chance to catch up with some other college friends. Being the perfect occasion to make good use of my new camera, I, of course, left it behind and can't show you nice pictures of roses and iris. However, for this wedding I managed to get the flight arrangements made properly (see last year's post) and we had a nice uneventful trip.
As always rain plays an important role in most of our vacations...
I escaped back to Maryland for most of a week to visit friends and tie up some loose ends for my thesis paper. It was just an amazing time and I still miss you all.
September:
For labor day we camped out near the I&M canal path and got in a nice chunk of it done in beautiful weather. (The bugs got a nice chunk out of us the night before though...have to remember to stock the camping box with bug repellent!)
I survived the successive visits of my in-laws and parents in the same week separated by a day. Whew! But a nice time was had by all.
My project has most of a second telescope up now!
And check out this cool sunset pic from three weeks ago in AZ.
Just this week we made a major test of a small prototype telescope that I'm working on right here in Chicago and it was pretty successful. If one of the next couple nights is clear, we'll take some more measurements.
Anyway, it was a very nice summer and I have conveniently left out all the annoying parts since revisionist history (and science!) is now apparently in vogue.
Now if I can get just one or two more lovely weekends, then I think I'll be all set for another winter.
05 March 2005
Here's a really nice shot of the cerenkov telescope taken by somebody else. It's at the base of Mount Hopkins now, but will eventually be moved to a nice dark site at Kitt peak. The 12 m diameter reflector is made up of more than 300 hexagonal mirrors. The reflected light is collected by a 499 pixel camera housed in the yellow box.
22 February 2005
february...
Tonight - wine - Yellowtail Shiraz
I traditionally despise this month more than any other. But that's not fair really. Feburary starts out dark, but brings light in the end.
So what's new? Eric has found and started a job. It's a small company that does financial software consulting. They're located downtown, giving him an easy commute.
I'm keeping busy with work, which right now means spending a lot of time on the phone - I'm seriously considering getting a headset. I'm also finally getting us moved into the apartment. I think there are only a couple of boxes left. We added some more modular furniture...woohoo!
There's an empty lot across the street that some of our neighbors are garden squatting on. We may order some seeds and try to grow something for real this spring. It'd be great to have some fresh veggies this summer.
Oh...and this is funny. Eric took the kitties to the vet last week. Ganymede (aka SuperBiggie Kitty ala my brother Drew) has gained some weight and the vet suggested some pretty extreme diet measures! Yeah, that would work real well. We're cutting the wet food pretty drastically, but other than that I think she'll be fine as long as we run her around a bit more. She is a bit roly-poly, even for her. We'll see how it goes. I expect she'll lose some of it as spring comes anyway. The rascal is happily snoring on my pajamas right now. We'll have to start keeping an online weight diary for her or something.
I traditionally despise this month more than any other. But that's not fair really. Feburary starts out dark, but brings light in the end.
So what's new? Eric has found and started a job. It's a small company that does financial software consulting. They're located downtown, giving him an easy commute.
I'm keeping busy with work, which right now means spending a lot of time on the phone - I'm seriously considering getting a headset. I'm also finally getting us moved into the apartment. I think there are only a couple of boxes left. We added some more modular furniture...woohoo!
There's an empty lot across the street that some of our neighbors are garden squatting on. We may order some seeds and try to grow something for real this spring. It'd be great to have some fresh veggies this summer.
Oh...and this is funny. Eric took the kitties to the vet last week. Ganymede (aka SuperBiggie Kitty ala my brother Drew) has gained some weight and the vet suggested some pretty extreme diet measures! Yeah, that would work real well. We're cutting the wet food pretty drastically, but other than that I think she'll be fine as long as we run her around a bit more. She is a bit roly-poly, even for her. We'll see how it goes. I expect she'll lose some of it as spring comes anyway. The rascal is happily snoring on my pajamas right now. We'll have to start keeping an online weight diary for her or something.
25 January 2005
Tonight's wine is: Yellowtail merlot
with a Snickers bar!
So I'm not doing so great at keeping this up to date. Christmas and New year's flew by. I saw most of my family and Eric's, too. We had one o' them ole fashioned type holidays with ten people for dinner. It was a lot of fun.
But. I've been home for all of 5 days of the month and am completely vegging out tonight.
I did some night observations in Arizona and am still recovering my sense of time. By the time I finally made it back to Chicago, I half expected to be back in Maryland it had been so long. We have a fair amount of snow but it feels routine here, not shocking like that 3 feet in MD last year.
I've caught a cold (if you're keeping astronomy hours do you take dayquil or nyquil ?! or both with lots of alcohol?) and am in a bit of season shock. When I left Chicago, it was maybe 20 F. In Arizona it's about 60 F day and 30 F at night. I spent a week in Colorado, and it was cold! I flew out at about 10F and landed in Tucson for an 80 degree, crank up the AC scorcher. But today was a jacket open afternoon in Chicago. We may get more snow in couple days though. Bring it on. I've got my shovel at the ready!
My last week in Arizona was well spent. I learned an enormous amount about running the telscope and we're starting to get data - very exciting! I'll upload some photos next.
with a Snickers bar!
So I'm not doing so great at keeping this up to date. Christmas and New year's flew by. I saw most of my family and Eric's, too. We had one o' them ole fashioned type holidays with ten people for dinner. It was a lot of fun.
But. I've been home for all of 5 days of the month and am completely vegging out tonight.
I did some night observations in Arizona and am still recovering my sense of time. By the time I finally made it back to Chicago, I half expected to be back in Maryland it had been so long. We have a fair amount of snow but it feels routine here, not shocking like that 3 feet in MD last year.
I've caught a cold (if you're keeping astronomy hours do you take dayquil or nyquil ?! or both with lots of alcohol?) and am in a bit of season shock. When I left Chicago, it was maybe 20 F. In Arizona it's about 60 F day and 30 F at night. I spent a week in Colorado, and it was cold! I flew out at about 10F and landed in Tucson for an 80 degree, crank up the AC scorcher. But today was a jacket open afternoon in Chicago. We may get more snow in couple days though. Bring it on. I've got my shovel at the ready!
My last week in Arizona was well spent. I learned an enormous amount about running the telscope and we're starting to get data - very exciting! I'll upload some photos next.
19 December 2004
Winter!
I am psyched! It is about 16 F outside and we had snow showers today. Not too much, but it looks purty. Kind of makes you want to run outside with your camera after midnight. The picture is of our neighbors light display. They had really cool Halloween deco too , but I missed the photo.
The lapse in blogging can partially be blamed on my friend Tak being in town last weekend for his convocation. Congrats, Tak! The rest is due to my continuing obsession with my current project and occasional pauses for bursts of Christmas shopping. The time goes too quickly, but I think I can finish up most of my shopping tomorrow. Hope you all are are gearing up for a nice holiday. Happy holidays and safe travel!
I'll see if I can manage a couple posts from the road. Eric is going to spend some time with his folks after Christmas. Coming back it will be just me and the kitties, sort of a twist on "Travels with Charley". I'm sure much fun will be had by all.
The lapse in blogging can partially be blamed on my friend Tak being in town last weekend for his convocation. Congrats, Tak! The rest is due to my continuing obsession with my current project and occasional pauses for bursts of Christmas shopping. The time goes too quickly, but I think I can finish up most of my shopping tomorrow. Hope you all are are gearing up for a nice holiday. Happy holidays and safe travel!
I'll see if I can manage a couple posts from the road. Eric is going to spend some time with his folks after Christmas. Coming back it will be just me and the kitties, sort of a twist on "Travels with Charley". I'm sure much fun will be had by all.
01 December 2004
Zoom!
Woh! Has it really been that long since I last posted?
Well, life in its predictably twisted way has not been boring in the last month. Let's go to the highlights:
Arizona
- interesting meeting, beautiful part of the country
- flat tire on my rental car up Mt Hopkins in the rain at 11:30 pm during a power failure that killed the security gate...nice 4k walk in the dark up to the dorm. National was really nice about it, too. Because the tire couldn't be patched, they asked me to drive it in on the spare. Yeah, all the way to Tucson at sub-Granny velocities. Fun times.
Thanksgiving
- went to my Aunt and Uncle's place in Ohio
- spent 5 mind-numbing hours creeping through fresh snow in Indiana
- yummy food
- spent lots of quality time with my 10-year-old cousin
- learned the complex history of the Bionicles
Thankfully the return trip was uneventful. We just got our car out of the body shop so seeing the cars accumulating in the ditch on the way out was a little unnerving to say the least.
Other than travelling, I've been completely lame though. I'm still learning the ropes on my new projects and trying to keep on top of things. Hopefully I'll have more interesting news to share now that I'm getting more settled here.
Well, life in its predictably twisted way has not been boring in the last month. Let's go to the highlights:
Arizona
- interesting meeting, beautiful part of the country
- flat tire on my rental car up Mt Hopkins in the rain at 11:30 pm during a power failure that killed the security gate...nice 4k walk in the dark up to the dorm. National was really nice about it, too. Because the tire couldn't be patched, they asked me to drive it in on the spare. Yeah, all the way to Tucson at sub-Granny velocities. Fun times.
Thanksgiving
- went to my Aunt and Uncle's place in Ohio
- spent 5 mind-numbing hours creeping through fresh snow in Indiana
- yummy food
- spent lots of quality time with my 10-year-old cousin
- learned the complex history of the Bionicles
Thankfully the return trip was uneventful. We just got our car out of the body shop so seeing the cars accumulating in the ditch on the way out was a little unnerving to say the least.
Other than travelling, I've been completely lame though. I'm still learning the ropes on my new projects and trying to keep on top of things. Hopefully I'll have more interesting news to share now that I'm getting more settled here.
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