Rob Gardner

One last stream of consciousness

I am ending 2005 with a final stream of consciousness post, which I hope captures a few useful thoughts and reflections on the year just ending.   Here goes, in no particular order or sequence.

First, tonight, December 31 is what some of us call 'amateur night'.  For those of us who once imbibed professionally but now are bystanders, you know what I mean. I hope everyone out there has a safe and enjoyable holiday. For me the holidays won't officially be over until Notre Dame plays (and beats) Ohio State on Monday. Go Irish!  (Image from Michigan vs N.D. at the "Big House" - this past September.)

2005 was year of personal lows followed personal highs.  It is ending on a good note - I don't think I've ever been more content, or felt so good about the future.  The point is that I have no damn idea what tomorrow will bring and finally I'm okay with that.  I have, all my life, tried to control outcomes.  It just doesn't work. Its not that I don't give a flying f**k about tomorrow, but I've got to show up, do my part, and let it happen as its supposed to, and accept that. 

2005 could have been viewed a terrrible year career-wise, although there does seem to be a positive gradient happening at the tail end.   I really thought Grid-building would be simpler, easier, and more satisfying than it has been.  How naiive!  Okay - nothing worthwhile is going to be easy, and we're gonna build something really sharp in 2006!

I am very happy to be living in the wonderful city of Chicago.  Since I re-started my running career in Ferney-Voltairre, I had the opportunity to run in the "world's greatest gym" (I took that line from a friend of mine who has taken many a run down the lakefront while training for marathons).  There is nothing more inspiring than a turn around the bend to see a stunning skyline which to me signals so many other inspirations and dreams of the people who built this fabulous place. 

Of course more than the place are the people I know here - at work, and in the city. I happen to have a particular set of avocations that put me into contact with people all over this city, and I've been blessed to know them.   Though I am not a native Chicagoan and who knows whether I'll be here on a long term basis, I value my time spent here so far, and have no plans to move (for once!).

And I am very grateful to have one of the world's coolest jobs, at one of the world's coolest universities.  I am very well paid for playing all day with any number of computing technologies, and all for
the purpose of investigating fundamental physics, like what is nature of reality afterall (yeah I'm reading Brian Greene too, what a good way to get another perspective on what I'm doing...nice to look up from the trench from time to time). 

And I get to travel the world for free to do it. This year I've been to Geneva a couple of times, Como Italy, Paris.  I get the opportunity to help others get done what they need to do to be production and contribute, which might be my best contribution.  When, in history, have people been so privileged?

This year has seen relationships beginning, ending, continuing, continuing in different ways, unexpected ways, new ways.  How cool it is to be participating in the work of the planet.

Now I'm off to celebrate a little, and bring in 2006 happy and free.

The art of cluster design and sleepy b-town

I am in Bloomington today to meet with my colleagues working on our next procurement for our Midwest Tier2 Center, which is going to be our little piece of the global LHC computing platform.  Cluster design is a pretty interesting optimization exercise.  We have so few dollars, so that makes certain choices easy, but in our minds we have about 10 use cases we know we'll need to handle which drive our considerations, we are mainly:

• the usual - easiest - processor clock speed, memory, Intel or AMD, dual core or not, two disks, how large is the second one, two NICs, how much power/cooling
• inter-cluster I/O (for bandwidth limited analysis) - so what kind of switch can we afford, do we want a separate myrinet/infiniband/.. for the data network
• then is really all about the storage - fiber channel? how many storage servers? ratio of CPU to storage, considering the use cases we have.
• high bandwidth pipes into out out of the cluster (10 Gbps interfaces to the WAN)
• how do we peer our two sites (Chicago and Indianapolis) at the Starlight facility at 710 N Lake Shore so we get a virtual circuit between our resources, abstracting site differences away from users.
• Whose pipes can we use?  We've got two 10 Gbps from Indy to Chicago right now, but they belong to someone else can we borrow?
• Connecting Chicago with the right optical equipment and machine room router and cluster switch...

All with such a tiny budget, we're going to need more $ to do the job right, I'm afraid. So then, we figure a strategy which has (capabilities+cost+time+moore's law+...) and descope and delay and hopefully we'll make ends meet in time.

We're concluding our meeting this morning in downtown Bloomington, at the Soma Coffe House on Kirkwood.  IU is of course on winter break now, and there isn't a student to be seen. I got a run in at 6 am, it felt like Christmas morning.  Hardly a soul stirring around.   It reminded me of when I taught there - it was always such a welcome break (turning in semester grades, the students leave, ah, finally I can do some real work).  Now I get to work all the time.  Hmmm...

If you happen to pass through Midway airport on Southwest Airlines...

Do stop by Terminal C (that's Continental, actually) and take a look a the exhibit on architectural visions for chicago's public spaces.  I had a few minutes to kill before heading out to Brookhaven lab this week for a meeting on LHC networking. (As an aside, what an awesome meeting - it was good to hear what the other Tier2 centers were doing, how we're all moving towards 10 Gbps connectivty real soon... we are going to have one smoking network connecting our facilities!!).  Anyway, back to my musings about futuristic chicago architecture.  Adrian Smith of the vaunted Chicago firm of Skidmore, Owings, Merrill ("SOM") thinks tall.  I mean really tall.  He's already got the tallest building in the world, the tower of Dubai, which was a contender for the WTC replacement.  Too bad, its now under construction in Dubai and it will be a beauty.  But it pales in comparison to what he has in mind for Chicago.  We're talking a massive transportation tower, a "gateway", which will be class of super-tall buildings (somehing like 5 times the height of the current tallest building) that will become possible with new "yet unconceived materials", and without the constraints of elevator systems.  Its got these interconnected spires with wierd landing pods positioned randomly around their cores.  And lots of hover craft buzzing around. Far out stuff, imagine no more snarled O'Hare or nail-biting Midway landings.

When the director comes to lunch...

And he's the director of Femilab, then you get a big lunch time crowd.  Even I show up.  This is the regular Monday brown bag talk at the Fermi Institute.  Usually we get a preview of someone's analysis on CDF, an ATLAS talk on a SUSY sensitivity study, or a visitor passing through (and sometimes we even spice things up with computing and grids).

But today is special - Pierre Oddone the new director of fermilab stopped by to give us a "roadmap" for Femilab.  This was an informal talk (meant to focus on the accelerator part of Fermilab's future...disclaimer, what follows are random, innacurate notes by rwg) but... the conversation quickly turned serious when the first roadmap slide was shown.  There was a map showing:

• Neutrino frontier - remains leading till 2015, so long as we do something with the neutrino program.

• Flavor frontier - in a leading role now, but not in 5 years obviously with CDF/D0 finishing and killing of BTeV.

• Energy - in a leading role now, not in 2010, how to get back in 2015?

So we're 15 minutes into the talk, still on slide 1.  Why are we abandoning flavor is the question... there's not an easy answer.  Whatever happened to breadth and depth in US particle physics...

Vision for the LC requires strong focusing now, but how do we extract a strong base on which breadth and texture can flourish.

Near term - we have to keep the tevatron (cdf/d0) and neutrino programs strong.

A very impressive set of curves on planned integrated luminosity in FY08,FY09 which will be the last hurrah of the Tevatron.

Woops, going back to previous slide from a question.  Why is fermilab involved in lhc?  Answer, its the biggest hep program in the US - already we've spent 600M on the machine and its two detectors.

Woops2 - now we're all the way back to slide 1, a half an hour into the talk.

Okay, onto the neutrino program.  Here's where the talk takes off...

MINOS just starting.  MiniBooNE looking at muon-electron mixing, will they find what LSND found?  First results soon... Kilowatts (or protons) on target is the game here for the machine performance.  Looks good so far, 10^20 protons every three weeks! (thats a lot of protons)

LHC - delivering the promise.  300 Megajoules of stored energy in the LHC, creates special challenges.

ILC (International Linear Collider) goals for Fermilab.  "Early" decision on whether to build the machine in 2010, to be constructed in decade leading to 2020.  This will be the highest priority for the lab, wherever it is built (US, Japan, Europe).  Measurement of Z' couplings to distinguish models, even at 500 GeV.  Expect to get cost estimate by the end of next year.

Interesting - we don't know yet what the future will hold in 2010, what the LHC may or may not discovery, which will influence the course of events.

See the ILC RDR when it comes out.

Strategy is to look back at the neutrino matrix - going up to 2 MW proton driver at 120 GeV in the MINOS target is the goal.

R&D helps develop SC RF technology. 2% of the ILC, a good test machine.

Alternatives - no tevatron means we still have a recycler, accumulator and debuncher to plaay with.

Cost driver: Klystrons per GeV.  Do an 8 GeV linac to get 0.5 MW on the output (that requires 1.5 Klystrons/GeV).  Compare to a spallation neutron source which is 100 Klystrons/GeV.  Cheap!!

Front end - 325 MHz cavities - these are quite different from the rest of the Linac.

Interesting question - how much R&D can we do for a machine that may never be built? Hard to justify. 

Neutrino Initiative: NOvA - off axis detector to attack the mass hierarchy problem. 

Interesting formula: improvement = (beam power)x(detector mass)x(detector sensitivity).

discovery reach in sin^2(theta_13) - depends on how lucky you are with which parameters are in play, and their ambiguities.

Minos and Miniboone till 2010.

Nova R&D and construction past 2010, competitve runs approaching 2015, complementary to T2K - the Japanese program.

Scenarios are complex to me!  What will CERN and Asia do?  Looking at 8B for ILC? How to share the cost?   CERN is in debt till 2010!  And, note that LHC will need to be upgraded, and will cost 1.5B or so.  Can CERN chip in 1B + other Europe 1B?  Can we then claim 50% from abroad (ask for 4B)?  But what if the ILC RDR comes back at 12B?

More arguments to build the proton driver - excellent neutrino program plus a research program.  Lets walk before we run.

Here is a link for more accurate information.

Okay, I'll go already

I got an invitation to go to a holiday concert last night.  Not the first thing I would think of for a good time on a Saturday night, but a couple of friends were singing in the choir (a choir, on a saturday night, see what I mean?) and so I relectantly accepted.  I immediately regretted the decision but was locked in since I purchased the ticket in advance and committed to give a buddy a ride (we'd go and commiserate together).  

As evening approached it started snowing, and there were lots of good college football games on TV.  I wanted to stay home and relax.  Only problem was I had committed to give my friend a ride.  Luke called me first, a half an hour before the pick up time.  "Rob, you still wanna go?".  Answer: "No, I don't, I've got too much work to do - got a paper to write and a proposal to review before Monday".  (I didn't admit to the secret plan to watch Florida State vs Virginia Tech.)  Luke: "Well, I don't wanna go either."  I replied, switching positions now, "Luke, we already paid $20 for the tickets, why don't we just go, leave early."  "No, I'm  staying home."   Me:  "Okay, I'm staying home too."   Then Luke,  quiet for a second,  replies, "Lets just go, Phil is expecting us."  I reply (semi-grouchy now), "Okay lets just go, pick you up in 20 minutes".  Grrrr...  a choir and christmas carols, why do I let myself get talked into these things.

So we went, and it was another example of "contempt prior to investigation" that can keep a guy like me in everlasting ignorance.  The event, billed as a neighborhood holiday kick-off concert, was at St. Josephats church on Southport.  I had no idea there would be a full orchestra and 50-or so member choir!  When the Southport Symphony Orchestra (named for a neighborhood street) began I could tell I was in for something special. Turns out they were professional musicians from the Chicago Lyric Opera,  Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra.  I had had no idea.

Then I couldn't help but get into the holiday spirit - found myself humming along and even singing when audience participation was invited.  During intermission I ran into people I know in the city, and suddenly Chicago felt like a small place, and I was a little part of it.  I thought of what the evening would have been like if I had followed my naturally lazy ways. I thought of myself at home on the couch, watching football in a semi-comotose state.  I was glad for being there, that Luke has prodded me to go after all.   When I found the webiste for the event this morning (see Holiday Pops Christmas Concert) I wondered when the world changed so that a one-evening, neighborhood holiday concert would produce such an exquisite website for itself.

When I got home last night I got to see all the college games highlights on ESPN anyway. Probably did the right thing, for a change.

Tracks, Tracks, and Soundtracks

For so long "tracks" to me meant only one thing, a vector of (x0,y0,x',y',p,chi2) made from 20 hits in five chambers, linked or unlinked with silicon microstrips, attached or not with a secondary vertex with good confidence level, identified as a kaon or not, with a certain "kaonicity" probability, all making it a good candidate or not for a charm daughter.  Before that, it was what side of town you lived on (we seemed to live on the "right" side most of the time). Now I live right by the tracks as see probably two dozen trains a day (Metra, Amtrack, Canadian RR, Chicago-to-South Bend South Shore line).  In between it was what I made when in trouble or in one jam or another.

But talking with any one from Gen-Y, Tracks can mean only whats on your iPod.  I have a  playlist called "Run" which connects me everytime with my recent running venues (my home route along the lakefront, Luxembourg garden, hills above lake Como, Fens and Back Bay).  Serves as kind of a soundtrack to my life as I reflect on the day's business, where things are going, where I've been.    This morning's run (a 50 minute jaunt along a frosty 16 degree chicago lakeshore) were "randomly" selected from "Run":

Song:Artist:Album:Genre

Everything You Want    Vertical Horizon    Everything You Want    Rock
I Don't Know Why    Shawn Colvin    Fat City    Alternative & Punk
Kill The Messenger    Shawn Colvin    Fat City    Alternative & Punk
Object Of My Affection    Shawn Colvin    Fat City    Alternative & Punk
Set The Prairie On Fire    Shawn Colvin    Fat City    Alternative & Punk
Climb On (A Back That's Strong)    Shawn Colvin    Fat City    Alternative & Punk
Orion In The Sky    Shawn Colvin    Fat City    Alternative & Punk
Monopoly    Shawn Colvin    Fat City    Alternative & Punk
Round Of Blues    Shawn Colvin    Fat City    Alternative & Punk
Tenderness On The Block    Shawn Colvin    Fat City    Alternative & Punk
Tennessee    Shawn Colvin    Fat City    Alternative & Punk
Polaroids    Shawn Colvin    Fat City    Alternative & Punk
Building a Mystery    Sarah McLachlan    iTunes Originals - Sarah McLachlan    Pop
From the Sky    Ryan Farish    From the Sky    Jazz
Shine    Ryan Farish    From the Sky    Jazz
Miles Away    Ryan Farish    From the Sky    Jazz
Cry No More    Ryan Farish    From the Sky    Jazz
Legacy    Ryan Farish    From the Sky    Jazz
Walk With You    Ryan Farish    From the Sky    Jazz
Pacific Wind    Ryan Farish    From the Sky    Jazz
Joy    Ryan Farish    From the Sky    Jazz
Living Water    Ryan Farish    From the Sky    Jazz
The Promise    Ryan Farish    From the Sky    Jazz
Beautiful    Ryan Farish    Beautiful    New Age
Beautiful    Ryan Farish    Beautiful    New Age
Everlasting    Ryan Farish    Beautiful    New Age
Holding Faith    Ryan Farish    Beautiful    New Age
Adoration    Ryan Farish    Beautiful    New Age
Atlantica    Ryan Farish    Beautiful    New Age
Secret Garden    Ryan Farish    Beautiful    New Age
Full Sail    Ryan Farish    Beautiful    New Age
Letting Go (Interlude)    Ryan Farish    Beautiful    New Age
Indian Summer    Ryan Farish    Beautiful    New Age
Carried By the Wind    Ryan Farish    Beautiful    New Age
Enchanted    Ryan Farish    Beautiful    New Age
Chasing the Sun    Ryan Farish    Beautiful    New Age
Sea of You    Ryan Farish    Beautiful    New Age
Sunshine In the Rain    Ryan Farish    Beautiful    New Age
Radio Song    R.E.M. Feat. KRS-One    Out Of Time    Alternative & Punk
Me In Honey    R.E.M. Feat. Kate Pearson    Out Of Time    Alternative & Punk
Shiny Happy People    R.E.M. Feat. Kate Pearson    Out Of Time    Alternative & Punk
Country Feedback    R.E.M.    Out Of Time    Alternative & Punk
Texarkana    R.E.M.    Out Of Time    Alternative & Punk
Half A World Away    R.E.M.    Out Of Time    Alternative & Punk
Belong    R.E.M.    Out Of Time    Alternative & Punk
Endgame    R.E.M.    Out Of Time    Alternative & Punk
Near Wild Heaven    R.E.M.    Out Of Time    Alternative & Punk
Low    R.E.M.    Out Of Time    Alternative & Punk
Losing My Religion    R.E.M.    Out Of Time    Alternative & Punk
Track 07    Lisa Loeb    Firecracker    Female Pop
Track 05    Lisa Loeb    Firecracker    Female Pop
Track 03    Lisa Loeb    Firecracker    Female Pop
Track 02    Lisa Loeb    Firecracker    Female Pop
Track 01    Lisa Loeb    Firecracker    Female Pop
Not Long For This World    Kelly Willis    What I Deserve    Country
They're Blind    Kelly Willis    What I Deserve    Country
Happy With That    Kelly Willis    What I Deserve    Country
Fading Fast    Kelly Willis    What I Deserve    Country
Time Has Told Me    Kelly Willis    What I Deserve    Country
Got A Feelin' For Ya    Kelly Willis    What I Deserve    Country
Cradle Of Love    Kelly Willis    What I Deserve    Country
Wrapped    Kelly Willis    What I Deserve    Country
Not Forgotten You    Kelly Willis    What I Deserve    Country
Talk Like That    Kelly Willis    What I Deserve    Country
Heaven Bound    Kelly Willis    What I Deserve    Country
What I Deserve    Kelly Willis    What I Deserve    Country
Take Me Down    Kelly Willis    What I Deserve    Country
Barely Breathing    Duncan Sheik    Duncan Sheik    Alternative
Don't Dream It's Over    Crowded House    Recurring Dream - The Very Best of Crowded House    Rock
No Need To Argue    The Cranberries    No Need to Argue    Alternative & Punk
Daffodil Lament    The Cranberries    No Need to Argue    Alternative & Punk
Yeat's Grave    The Cranberries    No Need to Argue    Alternative & Punk
Dreaming My Dreams    The Cranberries    No Need to Argue    Alternative & Punk
Ridiculous Thoughts    The Cranberries    No Need to Argue    Alternative & Punk
Disappointment    The Cranberries    No Need to Argue    Alternative & Punk
Icicle Melts    The Cranberries    No Need to Argue    Alternative & Punk
Everything I Said    The Cranberries    No Need to Argue    Alternative & Punk
Empty    The Cranberries    No Need to Argue    Alternative & Punk
Zombie    The Cranberries    No Need to Argue    Alternative & Punk
Twenty One    The Cranberries    No Need to Argue    Alternative & Punk
I Can't Be With You    The Cranberries    No Need to Argue    Alternative & Punk
Ode To My Family    The Cranberries    No Need to Argue    Alternative & Punk
Sad Songs And Waltzes    Cake    Fashion Nugget    Alternative & Punk
Italian Leather Sofa    Cake    Fashion Nugget    Alternative & Punk
She'll Come Back To Me    Cake    Fashion Nugget    Alternative & Punk
Nugget    Cake    Fashion Nugget    Alternative & Punk
It's Coming Down    Cake    Fashion Nugget    Alternative & Punk
Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps    Cake    Fashion Nugget    Alternative & Punk
Stickshifts And Safetybelts    Cake    Fashion Nugget    Alternative & Punk
I Will Survive    Cake    Fashion Nugget    Alternative & Punk
Race Car Ya-Yas    Cake    Fashion Nugget    Alternative & Punk
Daria    Cake    Fashion Nugget    Alternative & Punk
Open Book    Cake    Fashion Nugget    Alternative & Punk
Friend Is A Four Letter Word    Cake    Fashion Nugget    Alternative & Punk
The Distance    Cake    Fashion Nugget    Alternative & Punk
Frank Sinatra    Cake    Fashion Nugget    Alternative & Punk
Hallucinating Pluto    The B-52's    Time Capsule: Songs For A Future Generation    Rock
Debbie    The B-52's    Time Capsule: Songs For A Future Generation    Rock
Is That You Mo-Dean?    The B-52's    Time Capsule: Songs For A Future Generation    Rock
Good Stuff    The B-52's    Time Capsule: Songs For A Future Generation    Rock
Roam    The B-52's    Time Capsule: Songs For A Future Generation    Rock
Love Shack    The B-52's    Time Capsule: Songs For A Future Generation    Rock
Deadbeat Club    The B-52's    Time Capsule: Songs For A Future Generation    Rock
Channel Z    The B-52's    Time Capsule: Songs For A Future Generation    Rock
Summer Of Love (Original Unreleased Mix)    The B-52's    Time Capsule: Songs For A Future Generation    Rock
Song For A Future Generation    The B-52's    Time Capsule: Songs For A Future Generation    Rock
Mesopotamia    The B-52's    Time Capsule: Songs For A Future Generation    Rock
Quiche Lorraine    The B-52's    Time Capsule: Songs For A Future Generation    Rock
Private Idaho    The B-52's    Time Capsule: Songs For A Future Generation    Rock
Strobe Light    The B-52's    Time Capsule: Songs For A Future Generation    Rock
Party Out Of Bounds    The B-52's    Time Capsule: Songs For A Future Generation    Rock
Rock Lobster    The B-52's    Time Capsule: Songs For A Future Generation    Rock
52 Girls    The B-52's    Time Capsule: Songs For A Future Generation    Rock
Planet Claire    The B-52's    Time Capsule: Songs For A Future Generation    Rock
A Living Prayer    Alison Krauss & Union Station    Lonely Runs Both Ways    Country
If I Didn't Know Any Better    Alison Krauss & Union Station    Lonely Runs Both Ways    Country
I Don't Have to Live This Way    Alison Krauss & Union Station    Lonely Runs Both Ways    Country
Doesn't Have to Be This Way    Alison Krauss & Union Station    Lonely Runs Both Ways    Country
This Sad Song    Alison Krauss & Union Station    Lonely Runs Both Ways    Country
Poor Old Heart    Alison Krauss & Union Station    Lonely Runs Both Ways    Country
Borderline    Alison Krauss & Union Station    Lonely Runs Both Ways    Country
Crazy As Me    Alison Krauss & Union Station    Lonely Runs Both Ways    Country
Pastures of Plenty    Alison Krauss & Union Station    Lonely Runs Both Ways    Country
Wouldn't Be So Bad    Alison Krauss & Union Station    Lonely Runs Both Ways    Country
Goodbye Is All We Have    Alison Krauss & Union Station    Lonely Runs Both Ways    Country
Rain Please Go Away    Alison Krauss & Union Station    Lonely Runs Both Ways    Country
Restless    Alison Krauss & Union Station    Lonely Runs Both Ways    Country
Gravity    Alison Krauss & Union Station    Lonely Runs Both Ways    Country
Every Time You Say Goodbye    Alison Krauss & Union Station    Every Time You Say Goodbye    Country

Modern barn raising

This week at Fermilab we are building a new version of something called the open science grid integration testbed, which will eventually lead to the next release of the OSG production grid.  We are essentially try to work out all the bugs with software, installation methods, and validation tests.  We have a number of people from various VO's (virtual organizations) pitching in with the work - each expert and bringing something unique to the table.  Here is a snapshot of the current status:

Yes, this is how our computer grid begins its life - as a table on a whiteboard. As each site on the grid is installed, configured and validated, it gets a blue dot in the table.  You can see here we have a long way to go (today is the second day of the workshop, we have our work cut out.)

Over the years, we've done an exercise like this several times.  What I find interesting about the process is the community spirit that develops among the people working on the project.  There are about 30 people in a single room in the Feynman Computing Center at Fermilab, several others joining by Polycom, still others coming in through a chat room, each hunched over a laptop as they nurse their grid site or grid service into a functioning entity that science users "out there" will see compute and data resources appear on a map (or in something called an information service) and become available to submit their analysis jobs. "Hey, anybody know how to configure Monalisa?", or "Are srm clients required to be visible from compute nodes?", or "Whose turning up red in GridCat?", or  "Hey, can someone sign my host certificate?".  Something semi-magical happens when people, normally known only as a voice on a teleconference or salutation in an email materialize in person and are available for the quick consultations when the questions come.

My colleague Mike Wilde from Argonne Laboratory has often called this process "grid raising".  Seems an appropriate thing to be doing on the Fermilab prairie, next to the Buffalo herd.

Luxury of Commodity

When I travel I always try to get in a jog early morning or late at night to get a feel for the local environment.  Today I'm in Boston for an ATLAS management meeting. Last night's jog took me around the Back Bay, and the Fens (and  finally understood where Fenway got its name...some are slower than others).

I also like to compare notes with hotels.    I'm staying at the Buckminster in Kenmore Square - a place one might generously call "vintage".  It was either that or the Holiday Inn.  Well, I opted out for something unique and Boston-like.   The Buckminster is at the corner of Beacon and Commonwealth putting it right across from Fenway Park which I could see from room's window.  The place was charming enough, and though creaky and short on hot water I couldn't pass on the location (just a block from BU).  Also cheap.

On recent trip to Paris we stayed in the Latin Quarter and paid a small forturne for a basic room.  Of course, there were the Luxembourg gardens to jog in the morning, oh yes, there was Paris (I was there for work though).   We  stepped into a Brasserie and paid another small fortune for half a broiled chicken.

Finally on the way back from a visit to Indiana Bloomington I stopped at a chain in non-descript West Layfayette.  But for a few dollars the room and meal I got were "luxurious" by comparison.  Free wireless, a welcoming 'look and feel', a steak better than I had at any Brasserie in Paris.  Downside?  Well, the morning jog was among
commoditized townhomes and, a Walmart. Oh well.

Celebration continues

Well, I couldn't help myself - last night the weather improved so I went out to get a few more pix of the Sox Skyline.  I wasn't alone this time.  This one was taken from the Alder Planetarium - last night I was the only lonely soul out there; tonight, the lakefront was lined with tripods.  The photo is a crude representation of a stunning vista once experiences in person.

Okay, a couple more. One from Grant park, the other from the Shedd Acquarium.

 

Fish out of water, in Como

I recently attended a conference on detector technology in Como Italy, well, actually advanced "techniques".  So I guess Grid computing qualifies, so I gave a talk giving an overview of Grids as applied in high energy physics computing.  But it was strange, I must have been the only computing person in attendence, which meant I was a bit out of my element.  Early in my career I was more hardware/detector focused, so it was nice to see what happening with new detectors, experiments and machines. Oh, the food, venue, and accommodations were pretty nice too.