Totality

We totally wanted to see a total solar eclipse so after 2017 wasn't close and I knew 2024 would be within driving distance, I started planning. And then April 1, 2024 rolled around so I resumed planning! I totally missed the ball.

I should have booked several hotel rooms in different cities and states along the path of totality throughout the northeast U.S., but instead I went searching for accommodations on April 1. Luckily, I found a tenting campsite in Rumney, NH for $14 per person. This would knock about 2.5 to 3 hours off the drive eclipse-day morning. We set off Sunday afternoon and arrived at the campsite and set up tents by 5:30PM then headed to town for dinner.

After dinner, we drove back and hunkered down for the short, but cold night (30 degrees F). Several times I woke to numb fingers and toes and was happy when everyone else woke around 5:00AM, so we packed up quick and got on the road to Newport, VT, some 2 hours north and as close to the center line as we could get without a passport (Canada).

We arrived in Newport around 7:30AM, got a Dunkin Donuts breakfast and headed to Prouty Beach for the event. We set up a prime spot with a blanket at the corner of a hill overlooking the lake below and facing in a general southwesterly direction - prime viewing spot. We thought we'd be a bit early arriving at 8:30AM, but there was already a growing crowd and a growing line for the port-o-potties!

The event was great, the eclipse was totally mind-blowing, and the traffic home was a total nightmare. We left just after totality and were driving by 4:30PM. What would normally be a 4.5 hour ride turned into a slow crawl which had us arriving home at 2:30AM Tuesday morning.

All-in-all - totally worth it!

Airborne Networking Research - Emulation 101

Modeling a fixed, wired network is a tricky endeavor. There are so many interactions at the network protocol level and the application data plane that make it far more stochastic than deterministic. Now, make the modeled network wireless and you've elevated the degree of difficulty. Modeling free space propagation loss, signal, noise and interference as well as antenna gain patterns and directions make modeling wireless networks a far more challenging task. Finally, make the modeled network airborne. Routers and switches are no longer bolted into fixed racks with neatly dressed cables; they are literally flying around in the air hoping to build some type of connectivity on which a network topology can be created. Welcome to my work.

The Meaning of Life

"The purpose of life is to discover your gift.
The work of life is to develop it.
The meaning of life is to give your gift away."

~ David Viscott

June 10K Everyday

My latest - and last planned challenge of this year - is done! I've been running at least the mileage of the month number every day of the month, so:

• at least 1 mile every day in January,
• at least 2 miles every day in February,
• at least 3 miles every day in March,
• at least 4 miles every day in April,
• at least 5 miles every day in May,

and at least 6 miles every in June was so close to a 10K per day, that was the June challenge!

Today I finished ...

Metric Mile Math

It's too bad the conversion between miles and kilometers is just over 1.6 (closer to 1.609 kilometers / mile). At just under 1.6, closer to 1.592 (just 17 less meters) we'd have:

   5 km / 1.592 miles/km ~ 3.14 miles

Or as we in the maths field like to say, π (pi) miles.

And then of course, my 10 km a day would be:

   2 * 5 km = 10 km / 1.592 miles/km ~ 6.28 miles

or 2π miles, to take this full circle.

ONE MORE 10K TO GO IN JUNE!

10K .. every day .. for 30 days .. half way ..

I just passed the half way of running 6.21371 miles (10K) for every day in June - the sixth month of the year; hence, 6(+) miles every day. I'm getting tired and it's a bit unexpected.

Horseneck Half Marathon

I had a great time at the 2023 Horseneck Half Marathon, beating my goal of 1:37:30 and finishing in the top 20!