Moving to Los Alamos, New Mexico

Erin and I are moving to Los Alamos, New Mexico next week so I can take a postdoc at Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Recruiting brochure published by LANL. Scanned by Colleen Bryant.

It’s an interesting move in a lot of ways. First, the work itself promises to be very exciting. I think it might, and I hope it does, turn into a permanent career (something that I knew IBM never would).

Second, as some of you know, Los Alamos is my hometown. I was born there and lived there until I left for college. I never in a million years expected to come back, even after I became a researcher – who goes back to their boring hometown these days? The lab is for physicists, not HCI people. And besides, I was a city person now.

However, this spring, Erin and I visited Los Alamos and I gave a talk at the lab, because why not, and it might be good networking and/or practice. The talk went quite well. Afterwards, my dad, who also works at the lab, was riding home on the bus (yes, Los Alamos has a bus system now!) with someone who had also been at the talk, and this person asked: is he recruitable?

Later my dad related this to me and asked if the lab was something that I would consider. Not really, I said. But over the next few weeks, Erin and I talked it over periodically, and the idea grew on us. It would be close to family. It was an institution whose legacy I was proud of, filled with smart and friendly people, and where I really could work on saving the world. I could park my bike outside without worrying about it.

So, yes, we decided, I was in fact recruitable. My dad gave me some names, and I wrote a bunch of emails and talked to lots of people on the phone; this turned into an interview visit and that turned into an offer. And now the movers will be here in a week.

Boys from the Los Alamos Ranch School on a pack trip. From Los Alamos Historical Society.

I’m confident that we’ll be happy in Los Alamos. It will take a little more getting used to for Erin, since she doesn’t have 18 years of history there to build on (for example, I am told I’m not allowed to give directions according to what used to be there). And I think for a while things will be rather strange, since all my memories are through the eyes of a child. Net, however, it’s a very positive move and a tremendous opportunity for us. I’m extremely thankful that we are fortunate enough to be able to do it.

Finally, Los Alamos and northern New Mexico are a wonderful place to visit! We hope you will do so and would love to have you.*

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*Assuming we know you. If not, accomplishing that is a suggested first step.

Sunny, open-plan Cambridge condo for rent, hardwood floors, $2500, available Nov. 1

We’re moving and need to re-rent our 2 bedroom, 2 bath condo on Fayerweather St. in Huron Village (map). It’s available November 1.

It’s really a very nice place to live. The apartment is quite close to things (Porter Square 15 minutes on foot; Harvard Square 20 minutes on foot or less by bus; Whole Foods and Fresh Pond Mall 15 minutes; library, hardware store, coffee shop, bakery, restaurants, and other businesses within a few blocks; largest park in Cambridge one block away) and in a pleasant neighborhood with lots of trees.

The apartment itself is great. It’s a 2003 renovation, so the appliances are new and there are plenty of outlets and whatnot. Washer/dryer in the unit, dishwasher, hardwood floors, granite countertops, central air. Master suite has a private bath. Private balcony and shared yard. It’s open plan and very sunny, with big south facing windows.

Rent is $2500; it’s a fee apartment, but the fee is half off. Happy to answer any questions; please e-mail me at reid@reidster.net. To set up a showing, contact our realtor, Andrea, at 617-953-5378.

Bottom line, it’s a wonderful place to live and we’re very happy here. If we weren’t moving out of town for work, we’d want to stay for a long time.

More photos:

Fresh Pond, and mobile blogging

I do enjoy this (albeit cliched) sunset from the dog pond at Fresh Pond last night, but this post is mostly an experiment to see how well blogging from my phone works. Comments welcome!

Old boots, new boots

Above are my two pairs of hiking boots. The one on the left has been resoled once and desperately needs it a second time. The insoles are falling apart. It has large cracks in the leather. The double seams in the heel are blowing out. The pair on the right has all the same problems, plus the inner is falling apart (note duct tape) and it’s been resoled at least twice. I believe the two pairs are 10 and 11 years old, respectively.

So, time for some new boots.

Fortunately, my dad had found a pair of nice all-leather boots at a rummage sale, nearly new and extremely cheap. Unfortunately, they were just a tiny bit too small, despite being nominally half a size bigger than the boots above. (I am passing them on to another local hiker.)

I agonized for several days about whether to buy another pair of Sundowners or try something new. Laziness won out. I do like the Sundowners a lot. REI doesn’t carry them any more, but Zappos does. Hopefully they will last another decade!

Below is an old boot on one foot and a new one on the other:

Greater Boston has a signage problem

Quick, what the hell does this traffic sign mean?

One of the infrastructure things greater Boston totally does not get right is street signs. For example, you might think, given the fact that the street network is an insane tangle left over from a variety of historical baggage, good street-name signs might be a priority. They are not. Such signs are frequently missing, hidden, and/or oriented incorrectly.

Anyway, the above sign marks a street where the top layer(s) of asphalt have not yet been laid down, but the manhole frames (which are of cast metal, I assume) have been installed. Since said frames are level with the complete street, on the incomplete street they stick up a few inches. I assume “castings” is a jargon term. It is a bit depressing that whoever approved these signs did not empathize with the average driver before doing so.

Post Irene

Last night around 6:30 the storm seemed to have pretty much wound down, so I went out for a walk around Fresh Pond.

Blossom in the street.

This tree had broken off. It has apparently blocked the road and been dragged out of the way already.

There were quite a lot of sticks and leaves strewn around the neighborhood.

This large tree was down across the path around Fresh Pond. (Note that the greenery in the background is standing, undamaged trees.)

After returning home, I paid less attention to the storm, which still gusted occasionally, and went about my business until it was time for bed. I looked out the windows (as I often do before bed) to discover this:

Fortunately, the car was undamaged. However, it seems my assumption that the storm was more or less over was incorrect – I'm pretty certain I would have noticed this when I returned from my walk about 8pm.

In the morning, there was a lot more tree damage in the neighborhood than I expected based on my observations of the storm. Perhaps we have wimpy trees around here? I've been in some pretty memorable windstorms while camping, and it sure didn't seem that Irene was as windy.

Street blocked off with some power lines down.

Another mess in the road.

Irene Interim Report

So far, Irene is pretty much a non-event in my neighborhood. Currently, winds at ground level are breezy, and often calm. At treetop level, my (inexperienced) guess is that the steady wind is Beaufort force 5 (18-24mph) with gusts of force 7 or 8 (31-46mph). This is significantly less than was expected now, though it's supposed to continue building until 5 or 6pm. The rain has stopped (it was never heavy after I got up today) and radar suggests there won't be much, if any, more. I've opened some windows because it is stuffy and humid in the house (88% according to our thermostat).

Things seemed pretty safe outside, so I went out to poke around.

The most “serious” damage I saw, around the corner from our house. The broken branch is touching some power lines, so there'll be some attention needed on that. (The car is undamaged, and it had been moved by the time I came by again on my return.)

I did not know there was an apple tree in the park.

Berries down!

Another big branch down in the park.

Hurricane Irene Is Nearly Here

This weekend has a bit of an impending doom aspect to it, due to the approach of Hurricane Irene. I've never experienced a significant tropical cyclone, and while it will be quite cool in many ways, I suspect, I would prefer to pass. Anyway, here's the status as of early evening here in Cambridge, Mass.

Radar image from Wunderground as of a few minutes ago. Note that radar does not extend too far out to sea, so a significant portion of the storm is omitted.

First off, while the radar image above looks quite dramatic, the likelihood of a disastrous event here is very low. Storm surge will be low (and our house is at sufficient elevation to be safe from all but extreme storm surges), and wind will be exciting but significant destruction is unlikely (more on that below). We're on a bit of a hill, so flooding from rain should not be a problem. I suspect loss of power to be more likely than not, and that will be annoying.

Storm track prediction from the National Hurricane Center's series of advisories for Irene.

Irene is approaching from the south. The currently expected track, as seen above, is for the center of the storm to pass through the center of the state, and for it to be a tropical storm with sustained winds of 70 MPH, gusting to 85; of course, wind here in Cambridge is expected to be less.

I am not a fan of wind.* I find it unnerving and ominous, much more so than rain or lightning. And this house rattles and creaks rather unpleasantly in high winds. My biggest fear is that the wind will knock over the house. Of course, the actual odds of this happening are essentially zero. I read up on wind damage thresholds, and stick-built houses are good for a lot more than a tropical storm several miles inland. Plus, this house is 100 years old and has been through a lot. Finally, I haven't seen anyone boarding up windows anywhere. Even losing the roof is quite unlikely, I believe.

Anyway, for these reasons I have been paying a lot of attention to the wind forecast. Weatherspark (which uses NOAA predictions just like the NHC) has this to say about the wind (note log scale):

Couple of observations on this prediction. First, the inflection point on the wind, where it kicks up from calmish (15mph) to pretty windy (30mph) is between 4 and 5 am. Ugh! I strongly suspect it will wake me up. Peak sustained wind (52mph, with gusts beyond that of course) is at 5pm. It then drops off more rapidly than it built up, but still doesn't calm down until after midnight. We'll see how I feel, but I suspect I won't be able to sleep until it's clearly winding down, so it's looking like a long day, unfortunately.

The NHC also publishes maps which I won't bore you with but which estimate the probability of hurricane-force winds (74mph sustained) at zero percent, 50-knot winds (58mph) at 20%, and tropical-storm force (39mph) at 70%. I think it would be cool if I could look up a probability distribution for my location (and I suspect the NHC's data would support this).

I have plenty of food, cat food, and water (10 gallons potable plus a bathtubful that is a tad grimy). Flashlights are a dime a dozen in this household given our adventure habit, and I've got plenty of charged batteries. My cell phone has Internet connectivity. Potted plants and junk on the deck is inside. I'll wear shoes throughout the day in case I suddenly need to clean up glass.

I think it will basically be a rainy day at home with extra drama, and hopefully not too much extra drama. See my Twitter stream for updates and hopefully some interesting photos.

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* No pun intended.