Eric Sorenson

Moved to Vox

My new address: http://ahpook.vox.com/ I'll probably keep this site to put up links to stuff that is hosted here , and obviously if Vox decides to kick everybody off and recycle the electrons (as their EULA reserves them the right to do) I'll pick back up where I left off. But otherwise, head over there for bloggy goodness.

On Dogs

Saturday at the park, we saw a couple with two older Golden Retrievers sitting in the shade. We waved and walked on a way so we didn't bother them, sat down and threw the frisbee for Laswell while picnicking on bagel dogs.

After a while they started packing up and I noticed they had a harness around one dog's hindquarters to help him stand up and walk over to the car. The simple, matter-of-fact way the lady helped him walk on his dysplasic haunches pierced me straight through and I started crying, about two seconds before Jen saw the same thing and said "Don't start crying, Eric."

Eric Drinks the Kool-Aid

Note: this was a reponse to my sister-in-law Ida's question about the state of the Mac world. Figure I'll post it since I spent a pretty long time writing it and it might help others...

Hi Ida - Yes I got both Jen and me new Macs. I am super happy with mine (I got the MacBook Pro laptop) and Jen is slightly less happy with her Mac Mini but I have been able to address most of her problems the past couple days so it's working out a bit better. She was really used to Windows and the "out of the box" stuff on the Mac did not work as well as the programs she was used to so we had to go get some add on software to make her life easier.

The big question these days for mac buyers is whether you want a PowerPC or Intel chip in it. This is a somewhat geeky issue but it bears directly on your questions so bear with me for a moment. Macs traditionally had chips made by IBM called PowerPC as their CPU (central processing unit -- what makes the whole thing go). You will see this on the different machine specs as "G4" or "G5" - these are successive generations of PowerPC chip and generally higher = faster and more expensive. The latest PowerPC macs are G5s at around 2 Gigahertz (there are no 3 Gig macs so that spec from your computer guy won't translate directly). In January however, Apple announced that from now on it'd be making new Macs with Intel chips in them instead of PowerPC. On the specs for various machines these have names like "Core 1.5Ghz" and "Core Duo 1.8Ghz" -- hah hah, Apple Core get it? Again, no 3ghz systems but for various reasons they don't need to be that fast to be enjoyable.

208v vs 110v

Good to know I'm not totally insane. At least, not in this regard. I've been sort of obessesed with the idea that we ought to be running our datacenter equipment off 208v circuits rather than good ol' 110. A catastrophic HVAC failure in our datacenter left temperatures way too hot (see temp graph after the jump!) focused my attention on the tremendous amount of heat our dual-opteron compute farm pumps out.

SubtractiveLAD - Suture

Heads up to n5md fans : The new subLAD album is out and it's fine, fine stuff. I love their simultaneous mp3 + cd release strategy 'cause it suits my need for immediate gratification while making sure the hard-working artists get their dosh. I bought the whole album for $9.99 via Paypal, downloaded it at 200KB/sec, and have kept it in constant rotation since yesterday morning. There's echoes of the more sublime moments from recent Kettel and Secede output along with some darker not-to-be-trifled-with vibes to keep the heads nodding. At the moment I'm really digging the long ambient pieces 'rerum natura' and the closer 'embryonic again' but there's not a track that sounds out of place or less-than-immaculately polished.

So pick your poison, physical media or digital delivery, but drink up:

http://www.n5md.com/discography.php?catno=136

( not a Boomkat-style sponsored message, just a fanboy a-raving )

Wish List

Amazon doesn't let you add things to your wish list that you can't actually buy on amazon. Which things, suprising though it may seem, there are quite a lot of. So here's my actual wishlist, from wherever the items may originate.

Arkel Bug Pannier -- Very sweet convertible pannier / backpack. Update: Still want this !!
Antec Sonata 2 -- The charms of my Shuttle XPC are wearing thin. For the next iteration of my home workstation, I want to go s i l e n t, and the Sonata is about as quiet a starting point as they come. Update: Probably not going to happen, even if there were games I want to play, I don't have time to play them. So why bother spending money on a computer?
Children's Discovery Museum Family Membership -- This very neat museum is just up the train tracks from us. The $85 Family membership will get the three of us in for a year! -- Thanks Grandparents Sorenson!
Burley Rain Gear -- With a pair of Ultimate Commuter pants and a Rock Point jacket, and a heavy downpour will simply make me laugh! Apparently it decided not to rain this year. Waste of money.
Meat Thermometer -- Face it, you gotta find out how hot your meat is somehow. We've seen this particular thermometer in action, at Karen and Chris's place, and it kicks butt.
Daytona Skull Cap With Visor -- Now this one's for Jen. There's no way to link directly to it, but she's ALL ABOUT the Skull Cap, Large size, in Pearl White to match her cruiser. I bought this for her for Valentine's day. Awwwww.

Response from Campbell Traffic Engineer

Mr. Sorenson,
Thank you for your feedback concerning the Campbell Avenue Bicycle Lane Project. Regarding the portion of Campbell Avenue under Highway 17, we believe a separate bike lane would encourage bicyclists not to ride on the sidewalk and thereby improve pedestrian safety. The shared lane marking is an interesting idea that requires further investigation on our part. Thank you for sharing this idea.
Matthew Jue, P.E., T.E.
Campbell Traffic Engineer

Well, it's better than being told to go screw myself, and better than being ignored completely. But I notice that although the idea "requires further investigation", he didn't mention whether they were actually going to do any investigation. Pretty convenient. Time to ratchet it up a notch, I guess.

Campbell Ave Bike Routes

To Matthew Jue, City of Campbell Traffic Engineer; Herman Wadler, Campbell Bike Advisory Committe; Stephanie Condon, The Campbell Reporter

Greetings. I read with great interest the article in the Dec 7 Campbell Reporter regarding the project to add bike lanes under the Hwy 17 overpass. As a Campbell resident and daily bike commuter, this crossing is one of the trickier areas I ride through. I definitely support improving bike facilities, especially since there are bike lanes leading up to the underpass from the Bascom Avenue side which suddenly end without signage, leaving many cyclists unsure of what to do. On the weekends, the problem is much worse with the increased bike and pedestrian traffic around the trail and through Campbell Park.

However, given the physical constraints of the underpass as well as the financial burden to the City, I wondered if you would consider making a shared right-hand lane "bike route" instead of a separate bike-only lane. This would simply involve signage, paint, and hopefully some education / awareness-raising activity which would still cost substantially less than the proposed construction.