In Park City

Posted Sun Aug 29, 2010 in

We made it to the resort about an hour ago. We’re settling in and will explore tomorrow before my meetings begin.

I’m tired after a long day in the car and two hard weeks at work. But, I’ll get a chance to regroup in the morning. I need to do a weekly review and get all of my projects sorted out. Then I need to figure out my meetings and get ready for them. My paper is thursday so I’ll have time to get it together.

Right now, though, I just want to gather my last wit about me. I feel witless after the big push and near 100 percent focus on the dam-breach analyses. Saturday wasn’t enough.

I have a couple of images to process and share. I’ll probably work on that tomorrow. For now, I’m calling it a night.

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Almost Done with Dams

Posted Sat Aug 28, 2010 in

Hydraulic SectionI’m almost done with my last dam (or damn) analysis. I’ll finish up the report this morning and ship it to the prime. I had issues with the network topology yesterday morning, but had a running model by noon and finished the required adjustments before 1600. By then my poor little pea-brain was toasty.

I managed to get my upper-body work done, although it was a challenge. Challenge is good and it’s interesting to work with a nearly 60-year-old body. Things don’t work the same as they did at 24-years. Still, the changes are happening and my weight is dropping. If I wasn’t working quite so hard I would be a lot more energetic, I think.

I bought my first iPad game this week. It’s called Osmos and is a physics-based game in which you move your mote about by ejecting mass (it’s an impulse engine) to approach and absorb smaller motes. Larger motes will absorb your mote, so care is required. The rendering is beautiful and the soundtrack is ambient music, which I also enjoy.

The pace of the game is generally slow, which works for me. I was looking for some casual gaming that provided a unique visual experience (something to relax with) and this is the trick. I think this one is a definite keeper and I’ll be watching Hemisphere for other products.

I’ve also been working with iOS 4 the last week or so. One huge difference I noticed is that the camera is so much faster. The lag between press and shutter release is nearly gone. It has digital zoom, but I can crop in any of the image editing tools I use.

Alright, I think I’m going to refresh my coffee and get this report done. Then I need to pack for my trip.

Edit: I added the image after I finished the last draft report. It’s a hydraulic section of the floodplain downstream from one of the dams. The section is determined by the topography of the valley, the discharge through the section, and the hydraulic properties of downstream reach. I use a numerical model to do the computations. This is one of the things I do.

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Three Down

Posted Wed Aug 25, 2010 in

I handed off breach analysis number three about noon today. The modeling was mostly finished late yesterday. This morning was do some checking and edit the boiler plate report, add in the specific figures needed for this structure, and then read over things to ensure they are basically correct.

I packed everything up and dropped it on my dropzone for pick up. Then I took a break, reviewed my leg routine, and went out to the garage to do the lower-body workout for today.

That went OK. It was a good workout, but there are still a number of kinks to work out of the system (pun intended). The time allotted for each exercise (pace or tempo) is something I’m working on. I’m still adjusting weights as well to get muscle fatigue at the end of each meta-set. I have a lot of learning to do, which I think is a good thing.

Food is good and the right food is better. I had a lean hamburger patty (grilled Sunday on charcoal) and a medium apple for lunch. I like to cut my apple into slices. I use my tool-knife for this task. It was a little dull so I took a few minutes to resharpen it. While sharpening the blade, I wondered if my little 10x hand-magnifier (left over from my college geology laboratory) would work as a makeshift macro lens for my iPhone. That could be fun.

I’ll have a mid-afternoon snack in a bit, probably some cottage cheese and more fruit. I think we’re making chicken fajitas for supper and that will be wonderful! I even have some non-fat cheddar to top mine.

Now I’m back to work on the next structure. Two more to go and I’ll have done what I said I would do.

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Tuesday Morning

Posted Tue Aug 24, 2010 in

CoffeeI’m up but not really awake yet. Mr. Coffee just finished gurgling, so I need a cup and one is available. I’m going to go get it. I poured a cup for myself and stowed the remainder in my ancient Stanley thermos.

That’s better. I made a short pot this morning because I’m not drinking as much coffee as I was a few weeks ago. I’m drinking more water because of my training/diet regimen.

My electronics just went nuts reminding me that cardio starts at 0600. I don’t think I have it in me this morning, so I think I’ll use my low time this afternoon to go ride the glider. I’m toast this morning — a little tired physically, but beat mentally.

The upper body workout yesterday worked. My upper-body muscles are tweaked this morning. They are not really sore, but definitely were worked hard enough to break down and rebuild. The adaptive response is alive and well. I guess that means I’m not dead yet. I might be old, but the basic systems are still working.

Yesterday afternoon I ran out of mental fuel about 1600. I turned in the second dam-breach analysis to the prime contractor in the morning, then started on the next structure. The final three all drain to a single receiving water. Fortunately I will not have to do a network analysis; just each one as a singleton. I set up the terrain and stream network in the geographic information system (GIS) software, then reviewed the simplified breach hydraulics for the three structures. I then set them aside for a bit so I could think about the approach. There has to be a way to reuse the cross sections so I don’t have to draw them multiple times.

In the meantime, I had an open channel hydraulics problem to solve for a colleague. His project has a flow measuring device that was supposed to be a Parshall flume — but it’s not. It is an open channel throttle or Venturi, but not a Parshall flume. Therefore, the standard rating curves for Parshall flumes won’t work for the device and the flows that are reported by the sensor are incorrect (in retrospect).

I completed the initial portion of my analysis last week when I wrote the conservation of energy equation from the constriction to the measuring point upstream. But, I needed to write a short R script to execute the computations and then complete my analysis. So, about 1400 I started that process. I confirmed my governing equation, then wrote about twenty lines of code to do the arithmetic. The only wrinkly was using the uniroot function to solve the governing equation. It required a little research and a couple of tries to get it done.

R is wonderful interactive calculator and general-purpose computational tool. I was able to solve the problem numerically in less than an hour because of the basic computational tools it provides. The ability to display results graphically and quickly makes R a useful exploratory tool. I find it much easier to use for such problems than a spreadsheet.

By the time I completed that task it was between 1600–1700 and I was done. There wasn’t anything left in me and I reached the point where I did not want to make another decision — not even about supper. By 1800 I was a little hungry but could not decide what I wanted and was too burned out to go fix. I almost just ate a bowl of cereal, but Wife rescued me and warmed up the leftover sirloin and a half of a baked potato.

I watched a couple episodes of Millennium and went to bed. I wanted to read a little, but the text swam before my tired old eyes, so I plugged in my iPod, listed to one or two songs (I remember Boy with the Moon and Star), and drifted off.

Now it’s time to refresh my cup, drink some water, and regroup for the push today. All I have in front of me are these dams. Everything else will have to wait.

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Ending a Weekend

Posted Sun Aug 22, 2010 in

I have ‘burgers and sirloin on the grill right now. I have a Corona Extra, a wedge of lime, and enjoyed a few potato chips on my free day. I didn’t go crazy today, but enjoyed a couple of treats I don’t normally eat anymore — a Klondike bar and a few potato chips.

It was a pretty good day. I woke about my normal time this morning, rose, made some coffee, and puttered at the computer while I woke. Wife woke and we made breakfast. We bought some turkey bacon yesterday and I cooked some of it, but I think neither of us liked it much. It’s not awful and I could eat it, but there are better breakfast meats so it will go away. It was a good try.

I worked on one of my dam-breach analyses today and just about have the modeling done. I have the figures prepared for the report and the back-matter (oops, just realized I need some HEC-RAS data for the appendix) and will finish up the report either this evening or first thing in the morning.

In reflecting on the weekend, it was a good weekend. I worked some and played some and feel pretty good about the upcoming week. It will be hard, but I can get things done. The following week in Utah will be a nice break after the big push on two projects. Then it will be time to come home and push on the next project, which languished in the challenge of the current one. It sounds like consulting, doesn’t it?

Now I’m going to go take care of our food and we’ll have supper. It will be time to regroup then, and see what will happen with the remainder of the evening.

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Oww!

Posted Fri Aug 13, 2010 in

It’s 0500 and I’m awake… been awake for about a half-hour. My body woke me about 0400, but I put off getting up to empty my bladder for a half-hour or so. I drink a lot of water, much more than I was, as part of my new exercise regimen. After puttering around with a light routine and having the habit broken, I decided just last week I need a bigger commitment to improving my general condition.

So, I restarted my old Body-for-Life routine. The exercise plan is simple and requires less than an hour. The eating plan is also simple and not very restrictive. The program is simple, but no program is easy.

I think we have a built-in program regarding food and exercise. We can change that program, but it requires a significant input of thought and energy to make it so. The changing requires rethinking priorities, planning actions, and then execution. The thinking and planning are trivial; the execution is not.

I think that is a general truism — the thinking and planning are relatively straightforward; execution is not. It’s tough to buck old habits and to bull through the internal resistance to change.

My preference is to rise relatively early, make coffee, and putter at the computer for an hour or two working through the previous day’s leftovers and organizing myself for my day. It gives me a chance to wake up and I spend the time reviewing my GTD lists, doing what little social networking I do, and thinking about what’s next.

If I’m exercising, I prefer mornings just after I have a chance to wake up. That takes me about an hour, most days. The routine takes about 35- to 45-minutes to complete, depending on whether it’s lower body or upper body. (The aerobics days require about 20-minutes — short but intense.) The training program is built on intensity, like most strength-training programs are. Pushing muscles to failure is the mechanic for forcing adaptation (growth). It works and is independent of age.

This change in routine is forcing me to rethink how I approach my day. That is not necessarily a bad thing, but it is different and so I need to reallocate some of my resources. My lists still need to be reviewed if I’m going to stay organized and efficient. I’ll have to rethink how I’m doing that, although right now there is only one project that needs attention and every extra moment is being directed to that effort.

The other side-effect is that this week my muscles are sore. It’s a good pain, but is distracting.

Yesterday was seminar day for this month. I was running behind on my preparation (see a couple of paragraphs previous), so the presentation wasn’t as strong as I prefer. It was also about a half-hour short. I wasn’t very pleased, but sometimes I can’t live up to my standards. (Heh! The line from Meet the Sniper where he declares “professionals have standards” just free-associated through my mind!) I did what I could.

The spin off from the build-up for the presentation, the demanding work on two projects, trying to resolve a software issue that is interfering with one of them, and the new exercise was that last night I was toast. I was sore and tired — mentally as well as physically. So, I blew off the cardio for the day (I’ll give myself a walk on that one this week — legs were just too sore), vegged in front of the television over supper (working our way through the first season of X-Files), and then crashed in my workroom.

I wanted to read and write, but just didn’t have it in me. I crashed about 2130. Now I need to ready myself for the day. I should go do my upper-body training in a half-hour or so. I think I’m ready.

Oh yeah… Happy Friday the 13th.

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Slow Wednesday

Posted Wed Aug 11, 2010 in

My muscles are pretty stiff this morning, which is a good sign. The HealthRider worked over my lower body pretty well, so I’m not going to work out this morning and let the muscles heal.

I woke early and had trouble settling back down. I was up for a few minutes and read that the Perseids are active. Wife and I stepped out the front door to see, but the sky was cloudy so no joy.

The early morning air was blowing pretty hard. It was cool — cool enough I didn’t want to stand in the wind in flannel pants and a t-shirt. We came back in the house. I grabbed my iPad and read a little before finally going back to sleep.

Now it’s time to get on with my day.

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