Storm watch 2006

"Working" without power by Corinne S.

That's what they called it on TV. The Thursday before Christmas, the Puget Sound had a huge wind and rain storm that knocked out power in much of the region for days. Personally, I was at work at the time.

Friday the 15th was a big deadline for me to get something entered into a national design competition. It was the "late entry" deadline so it was our last shot for that particular competition. A coworker and I worked 17 hours on Thursday trying desperately to get our entry ready in time (yes, we started working on it before the last day, but it was a lot of work).

As it happens, this was also the day of the big storm. Brian and I were working at Microsoft late into the night, with the power flickering periodically and the wind howling outside. There were reports they would close the 520 bridge (my way home) between 9 and 11 PM to avoid wind damage. I was supposed to get a ride home with my vanpool driver, who was also working late that night. But, like a sane man, he went home before they closed the bridge. I stayed on, knowing that the Guaranteed Ride Home program would take care of me with a taxi voucher.

At maybe 11PM, the power went off, but came right back on. Brian and I looked at what he had left to do and agreed to give it 2 more hours and then break for the night. Of course the servers were now down, but we'd at least been smart enough to copy everything local earlier in the evening.

We were near stopping when the power went off at 12:50 AM and didn’t come back on. At that point I tried to use the Guaranteed Ride Home, but I couldn’t print the voucher since there was no power. Doh. No problem. The instructions say to call security if you can’t print the voucher, so I called them. Unfortunately, they said it would be at least an hour before someone could bring me a voucher, and no one was in the office so I couldn't go get it myself. After a moment's hesitation, I decided I couldn’t wait that long (it was 1:15 AM, after all) so I called a taxi myself and paid with my corporate AMEX. Hopefully my boss will approve that when I expense it. :-)

The cab ride home went via I-90 since the 520 bridge was indeed closed. It was slow and there were a lot of trees down and very few street lights, but I got home safely around 2:30 AM. The power at my house was on when I arrived, after having been out briefly for perhaps an hour.

The next day I drove into the office (520 bridge still closed) and discovered that the power was still out with no estimate when it would be back. Due to the circumstances, we were unable to make our deadline (after all that work!). It was very disappointing, but we can still use the same materials to enter a couple of other design competitions over the next couple of months, plus I get to use it in my own design portfolio. Silver lining.

I posted a few photos from the storm on Flickr, but nothing dramatic happened at our house.

More from Dec. 10th holiday party

Andy hugs Maple by Corinne S.

I posted a more photos from the family holiday potluck on December 10th. See them on Flickr.

Can't blog my books n' movies

I've been unable to blog my book and movie consumption for a few weeks, so if you're looking for that stuff, you can find it on All Consuming. I hope that the guys at All Consuming will respond to my second support query soon.... Here's where to find my recent consumption info: November 2006 December 2006

Dahls 'n Harts 'n All

Happy family by Corinne S.

Today was a holiday family gathering for my mom's side of the family (my maternal grandma, aunt, cousins, mom, etc.). It was a really nice gathering, chock full of redheads and wild with kids and pugs. This is one really cute photo of my cousin Sally and her two kids.

At his request, I showed Andy, the boy in the picture, how to use my camera and he proceeded to fill up my 2 GB CF card. :-D A boy after my own heart. When I get a chance to process them, I will post more photos.

Anime+Pizza night

Anime+Pizza night by Corinne S.

Friday night Benjamin (and I) hosted the first anime and pizza night. It was a success with about 16 people and 5 pizzas. They watched Ergo Proxy. I couldn't pay enough attention to watch. Too tired. Too many subtitle.

Winter is dark, but it can be beautiful

Winter Reflection by Mingfong

There are some gorgeous winter pics on Flickr.

Approval

Exploring by Corinne S.

There are so many ways to get validation in this world... ;-) These are my three photos on Flickr's Explore page. I've mentioned two of them before.

TV: Heroes

Hereos is a great new show. It's one of a new breed of unique, high quality shows on broadcast television that have cropped up in the years since HBO started making Sopranos, Six Feet Under, and other high quality one hour dramas series. If you haven't seen this new show, I recommend checking it out. The show is on break until January 22nd, but they're going to do a Heroes marathon on New Year's Day so you can catch up if you'd like. The episodes are also available to watch online. Heroes on IMDB.com Heroes on NBC.com

Carbon Neutral

I got an email from Working Assets' Act for Change mailing list with links to a site where you can donate money to carbonfund.org to offset carbon emissions. It's a cool holiday gift for the eco-conscious people on your list (or the non-ecoconscious people to whom you want to make a point). In addition to being a good cause, I am smitten with the Santa illustration they included in the email. ;-) Here's their pitch:

Donate to Carbonfund.org and you can offset a friend's carbon emissions for a whole year. For a tax-deductible donation of just $55 you'll neutralize all your friend's global-warming gases -- that includes CO2 emitted by driving, flying, and heating or cooling a home.

Your contribution will go directly to certified C02-reducing projects supported by Carbonfund: reforestation, renewable energy and energy efficiency campaigns....

P.S. When you contribute $99 or more to Carbonfund.org, Working Assets will offset an additional 5 tons of CO2, which is the equivalent of taking a mid-sized car off the road for a year. It's like a gift within a gift, and it's free!

There is another site called climatecrisis.net where you can make a similar donation (I don't know if one site is better than the other). Climate Crisis also has a carbon calculator.

Inspiring works come from unexpected places

Holding on to Myself, 2006 by Peter Callesen A friend sent out an email containing a bunch of intriguing and inspiring cut paper art. I avoid forwarding on large emails, so I sought out the source. It turns out that they are created by an Artist/Designer in London by the name of Peter Callesen. You should definitely check it out.

Cheap flights to Europe

This morning in vanpool, Henry's mom (Anjani) mentioned that Scandinavian Airlines offers special fares to Europe every day in December each year. If you're planning a trip to Europe in 2007, this is a link you should check out now. Anjani has bought tickets through this promotion before and she says that there is no catch, aside from the restrictions explicitly stated on the site in terms of booking dates. :) SAS Christmas Calendar 2006

Puggy play time

Maple tackles Henry by Corinne S.

Maple met, and pinned, a new pug friend on Saturday. His name is Henry, he's 6 months old, and he's owned by my carpool mate. I took Maple over to their house on Saturday and they played. It took Maple a good 15 minutes to warm up to Henry. Tonight, we met and went for a walk together. Maple isn't altogether sure about Henry (he's very energetic and forward). On the return leg of our walk we ran into a third pug, Winnie. We let the three off leash to play for a while and they were hilarious fun.

More photos from play time on Saturday.

Welcome my niece to the world

Jessamyn flexes her hands by Corinne S.

My first niece was born yesterday around 11am weighing in just under 9 pounds. She's Benjamin's sister's third child, but the first girl. Her name is Jessamyn. She slept the entire time we were at the hospital! I hope that spells good things to come for Davonna and Rand.

More photos from the hospital.

Test post with a pretty picture

I'm doing a quick test so you can ignore this (though I did take this photo a few years ago).

A baby shower brunch

Davonna with knitted baby hat by Corinne S.

On Saturday I attended a brunch in celebration of the forthcoming birth of my niece (Benjamin's sister's third child). More photos.

Attack on Microsoft and Windows Vista

A developer that used to work at Microsoft, and is now working at Google, wrote a highly critical blog post about his experience developing the updated Shut Down menu in Windows Vista. The blog post has a lot of valid points and I agree with some of the conclusions drawn by the press (the additional shut down choices could be simpler). However, people's willingness to redesign this feature sight unseen without consideration of anything other than their own needs and opinions is, of course, frustrating. The comments on the blog post are both infuriating and enlightening. Mostly the former.

• Blog post: "The Windows Shutdown crapfest" (and many comments on said post)
• Joel Spolsky's article: "Choices = Headaches"
• Business Week article: "Vista's Many Turnoffs"

Stupid sprinklers

The sprinklers outside my office came on the other morning when it was barely above freezing and the ground was already completely wet. We just broke the all-time record for the most rainfall in November and yet the sprinklers are still coming on. I can't believe that Microsoft hasn't invested in sprinklers that detect ground or air moisture, or at least turned them off in the winter. It's crazy.

Patent me

On Friday I got a new patent cube in the mail for a patent I filed earlier this year. I feel silly, but they do give me a bit of a boost.

It snowed

Wisteria leaves on snow by Corinne S.

In case you hadn't heard, it snowed a few times in Seattle and surrounding areas last week. Of course, Seattlites reacted with a predictable level of chaos and most people stayed home from work 1-3 days. Admittedly the roads were icy, our city's ability to plow is limited, and we have little practice in (and thus suck at) winter driving, but we're still pretty pitiful. ;-)