greg_conway

pictures of tornado outbreak in Raleigh

2009-05-06T11:15:15Z

Last night we had a pretty significant tornado outbreak in the area, the largest in about 20 years by some media accounts. Up to 8 tornadoes may have touched down in the local media market viewing area, including one confirmed about 10 miles from where we live and one (as yet unconfirmed) only about 1 mile from where we live. All around us there was flooding and trees down.

I didn't get any pictures myself (believe it or not, I was out driving around in it with Alyssa and trying to cross intersections that had turned into virtual streams in some places) but lots of folks did send pictures to the local television stations. We did make it home ok and fortunately nobody in our immediate neighborhood was hurt or suffered significant damage.

Anyway, here's a great slideshow from one of those tv stations. There are some duplicates in these (apparently the guy had trouble with his ISP while uploading them and so did it several times) but just skip past them. As you read them, keep in mind: these all happened within 25 miles or so of our house! Yikes!

Enjoy!

http://www.wral.com/weather/image_gallery/5087962/

I smell a scholarship in the air

2009-01-29T23:57:36Z

So those of you who know Wendy and I well have heard us remark from time to time how athletic and fast Alyssa has become, how she flys up and down the soccer field seemingly at light speed, and so on.

Over the last few weeks Alyssa has been in tryouts for a county wide elementary school athletic competition. She tried out for 6 events (100 yard dash, one mile run, pullups, long jumps, etc) and not only won most of them, she actually broke five out of six school records in the process !

Think about the size and length of a child's arms and legs for a moment, and then consider that she did 13 pullups in 49 seconds, ran 100 yards in 15 seconds, and ran an 8-minute mile. Alyssa turned nine years old just one month ago.

Holy crap, I think I smell an athletic scholarship in her future!

- Greg

Heard this on the radio yesterday

2008-09-14T03:33:44Z

I was listening to the radio the other day when I heard this blog being read and it kind of appealed to me. It's written by Eve Enson, author of "The Vagina Monologues". I figured I would share it. It's a little over the top in a few places for my taste ("I believe that the McCain/Palin ticket is one of the most dangerous choices of my lifetime, and should this country chose those candidates the fall-out may be so great, the destruction so vast in so many areas that America may never recover." Jeepers, exaggerate much?) but very well written in some other places. At any rate, I found it interesting enough that I figured I would share it since, well, I haven't shared anything even remotely interesting for quite some time.

Here's the link:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eve-ensler/drill-drill-drill_b_124829.html

Ben Stein rates this dealer "five stars" in customer satisfaction!

2008-05-27T22:23:27Z

Stumbled across this little gem yesterday ("Some Exciting News About the Kieffe & Sons Ford Ad") . Figured I would share it with you because anger and disgust just loves good company. One commentator wondered aloud how it would have played if it had been targeted against blacks, hispanics, jews, catholics, or any other minorty. It does make you wonder.

http://undergroundunbeliever.blogspot.com/2008/05/some-exciting-newsabout-ad.html

Nerd alert: this picture is incredible

2008-05-27T22:06:54Z

Check out this photograph. It's a picture of the Mars Phoenix lander parachuting to the surface as captured by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter high overhead. This is the first time that one space craft has captured an image of another landing on Mars. Absolutely amazing stuff.

http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/230838main_PSP_008579_9020_descent.jpg

Phoenix, party of one, your table is ready

2008-05-26T02:03:00Z

Welcome to the Mars polar region! Cool shit. I'm in science geek mode, Wendy may need to reboot me at some point soon.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/space/05/25/mars.lander/index.html

Oh, and before I forget, happy Memorial Day everyone!!

- Greg

Happy b-day Shanzer!

2008-04-16T22:51:02Z

From one old man to another ....................

Happy birthday to Mike "I have maps older than this kid!" Shanzer!

Make the most of it, my friend; at our age, who knows how many more we have left! :-)

oh, that's rich

2008-03-24T00:41:43Z

From the kind people who brought you Tiananmen Square.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article3607668.ece

And these people won the rights to host the Olympics??? Wow.

contest information

2008-03-20T00:29:50Z

I was asked as a personal favor to forward this to any technical friends I might have, and this is the easiest way I know to reach you all, so here goes.

My former employers in Rochester are holding an open contest to solicit ideas to help them further monetize a technology they've been building out for a while now. I only learned about the contest today, but the basic gist of it seems to be:

1. You review the demos, documentation, and APIs online and  dream up a novel commercial application for the technology
2. If they like the idea, you sign over the rights to it and in return you get $100K immediately and 50% of the first year profits (up to $1M USD)
3. If you were inclined and qualified, they apparently would make you a job offer to go along with it as well.

I've been off the staff for about a year now and I don't know much more about it except to say I learned about the contest via a personal e-mail from the CEO so I know they're serious. Otherwise, I'm just the messenger and not involved in any way.

It's an open contest so feel free to share the announcement with anyone who might be interested.

I'm sure you could direct questions to them via their official contest website if you wanted to learn more. Here's the announcement I was sent:

http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/03/19/the-semantic-hacker-one-million-dollar-challenge/

Thanks. We now return you to our regularly scheduled diversions, already in progress.

- Greg

Music Meme - The Carolina Edition (Answers)

2008-02-20T01:14:45Z

Well, since Boba broke the ice (and since lately it seems like I only check LJ once every few days and don't want to wait until then), I'll go ahead and post my answers too.

Some of these are pretty obscure British progressive rock bands (Pendragon, IQ) that I doubted anyone would recognize, but a few that were missed did surprise me. They included popular songs by 38 Special, Styx, AC/DC, Led Zepplin, Matchbox 20, and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.

Anyway, here it is.

1) There's something I want to ask you, before it's too late. (Fish, "Just Good Friends")
2) See those people there? They look after me. (Marillion, "The Lap of Luxury")
3) My features form with a change in the weather. (Tears for Fears, "Mother's Talk")
4) I get the same old dreams, same time every night (Rainbow, "Since you been gone")
5) The time is now to take my wares to the street (Styx, "Love in the Midnight")
6) An old man came here telling tales Of days gone by and seven veils (Pendragon, "Dance of the seven veils")
7) You see it all around you, good lovin' gone bad (38 Special, "Hold on Loosely")
8) I was talking to a friend of mine, he said a woman had hurt his pride (Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, "Don't do me like that")
9) We roll tonight, to the guitar bite (AC/DC, "For those about to rock")
10) The Mississippi Delta was shining like a National guitar (Paul Simon, "Graceland")
11) Every moring when I wake up yawning I'm still far away (Scorpions, "Coming Home")
12) How long must I stay, how long must I go on? (Saxon, "To Hell and Back Again")
13) Lights are out on neon drive, unprotected in my bed (IQ, "Red Dust Shadow")
14) I got the call today, I didnt wanna hear, but I knew that it would come (Don Henley, "Heart of the Matter")
15) Can't you say you believe in me? (Boston, "Still in Love")
16) She says it's cold outside and she hand me my raincoat (Matchbox 20, "3 AM")
17) When they turn the pages of history, when these days have passed long ago (Rush, "Farewell to Kings")
18) The show is over, close the storybook (The Verve Pipe, "Colorful")
19) This is the springtime of my loving (Led Zepplin, "The Rain Song")
20) Wait a minute baby, stay with me a while (Fleetwood Mac, "Sara"):

Music Meme - The Carolina Edition

2008-02-13T02:49:51Z

Most of mine are way too easy. I gotta get some new tunes. :-(

1) There's something I want to ask you, before it's too late.
2) See those people there? They look after me.
3) My features form with a change in the weather.
4) I get the same old dreams, same time every night.
5) The time is now to take my wares to the street.
6) And old man came here telling tales of days gone by and seven veils.
7) You see it all around you, good lovin' gone bad
8) I was talking to a friend of mine, he said a woman had hurt his pride
9) We roll tonight, to the guitar bite
10) The Mississippi Delta was shining like a national guitar
11) Every moring when I wake up yawning I'm still far away
12) How long must I stay, how long must I go on?
13) Lights are out on neon drive, unprotected in my bed.
14) I got the call today, I didnt wanna hear, but I knew that it would come
15) Can't you say you believe in me?
16) She says it's cold outside and she hand me my raincoat
17) When they turn the pages of history, when these days have passed long ago.
18) The show is over, close the storybook
19) This is the springtime of my loving
20) Wait a minute baby, stay with me a while

No userpic. I look like the love-child of Mickey Rooney and Rosanne Barr.

2008-01-24T04:16:25Z

It's starting to smell a lot like Y2K in a few dark corners of the internet.

I came across this little nugget of calm rationality tonight. We all know that the US economy is in a bit of a mess right now, and we may be heading toward a recession. Job anxiety and household debt are up, home values and 401(k)s are down, and George Bush has decidered to salvage a $13 trillion dollar economy with a $150 billion dollar stimulus package. Good luck with that.

Fortunately, it turns out there are some straight-forward and rational ways we can prepare for the coming recession. We can start by converting our life savings and investments into precious metals; stocking up on seeds, dry goods, gasoline, and water; buying tents, sleeping bags, and kerosene heaters; sharpening our knives and axes ( in case we have to gut a woodchuck and cook it over the Coleman); purchase new guns and ammo; and finally put up that windmill we've been talking about all these years but just haven't gotten around to yet.

It's all spelled out here: http://2good2lose.com/recession-list.shtml

Don't delay, people. That windmill won't erect itself you know.

- Greg

sticks and stones

2008-01-23T02:44:47Z

So last night I'm channel surfing on the TV after Wendy and Alyssa had gone to bed when I come across a program about bigfoot. "Oh," I thought to myself, "a monster hunt. This might be good for chuckle."

It didn't disappoint.

Near the end of the program, a veterinary doctor from the state of (I think) Washington was recounting the tale of his own close encounter with the legendary, reclusive creature a few years prior. Now, he never actually saw the great beast, mind you, but he definitely heard it. What, a viewer might want to ask, did it sound like? Grunting? Howling?

No.

It turns out it sounded exactly like two pieces of wood being struck together several times. Tap. Tap. Tap. Then, as if to underscore his point, he looks directly into the camera and states (I'll paraphrase, I was laughing too hard to recall perfectly now) that lots of animals can snap twigs and branches by walking on them or through them, but it takes two hands to strike two sticks together like that to make that noise.

Yeah. That or a decent breeze, doctor doolittle.

Keeping in touch

2008-01-20T04:04:53Z

Just to brief note to update all our friends and family of how we are doing down here.

Life continues to be a little crazy but is beginning to settle down into a normal routine again. The holidays are finally behind us, which means that we can actually do the heretofore almost unimaginable again -- drive past toy and grocery stores without having to stop to enrich further the leaches at Visa and American Express.

Today we got our first snow since moving. It wasn't much at all, less than an inch, and it will be gone in a day or two. Still, as a man of the snowy white north, it was absolutely hysterical watching the local media cover the event like OJ Simpson and Al Cowlings were personally delivering the fluffy white stuff in the back of Al's slow-moving white bronco. There were media alerts, news tickers, and warnings about closed schools and shutdown businesses ... even live helicopter shots (I swear I am not making this up) of DOT trucks applying brine to the road. And, exactly like Debs warned us, there really was a run at the local stores for toilet paper and batteries! Apparently, it hasn't snowed more than an inch here since 2004, an episode that snarled traffic for hours and closed businesses far and wide. Being a weekend I have no idea how many people were affected the same way this time, but needless to say we took it all in considerable more stride.

The last week has brought us, however, some much needed (albeit still insufficient) relief from our drought. We continue to live under extreme drought conditions, and water restrictions will remain an everyday fact of life down here for many months to come (some are now saying that, owing to the rapidly growing population and insufficient water capacity at least some of these restrictions may never go away). Such is the price for living in this beautiful area (interesting side fact: our hometown of Apex was just rated number 14 on Money magazine's "100 Best Places to Live list", read all about it at http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2007/moneymag/0707/gallery.BPTL_top_100.moneymag/14.html if you are interested). The good news is that the long term forecasts now indicate that the drought may let up more by spring, so we are keeping our fingers crossed.

Alyssa has been doing well. Year round school seem to agree with her and us. As I previously explained to some of you, schools down here are in session year round, and students go in repeating sessions that are 10 weeks on, 3 weeks off. The entire student body is then "staggered" into these rotations such that, at any given time, 1/4 of the students are rotated out.   This allows schools to operate with more students than seats. Some parents hate the system, but we find it works well enough for us.

Alyssa has also been participating in a youth basketball program at the local community center. Today she had her second game, and so far her team has one both of them.  She has made a number of friends in the community, and has picked up hobbies like roller skating, biking, and scootering (did I just make that word up? Probably.)

Work continues to go well for me. As you probably know, I found work at the SAS Instutute in Cary, the world's largest privately held software company. The bread-n-butter of SAS has traditionally been their base statistical analysis software (hence the acronym SAS), which is used by mathematicians to crunch huge volumes of data quickly and accurately. On top of this base product they have developed a number of what they call "Solutions" that tackle particular market segments like genetics, risk assessment, credt fraud detection, business intelligence, data mining, and so on. I am working on a solution called "Financial Management", which you can read more about here if you are interested: http://www.sas.com/solutions/financial/fms. I am currently assigned to the lower level "Accelerated Computation Engine" portion mentioned in the article. That part of the project involves a great deal of custom OLAP technology (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olap if you are unfamiliar with OLAP), so I'm learning a lot about that as I go along too.

SAS is a great company to work for and is famous for their generous employee perks and great job security (see http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/04/18/60minutes/main550102.shtml).  I consider myself fortunate to have landed a job so quickly at all, even more so at a company like SAS (especially given my interview, which I felt I had handled poorly as I was somewhat rusty at sitting on that side of the desk after all those years!).

Wendy has recently started her new job at NVIDIA and loves it! She spent a week at orientation in CA a week or so ago, but is back at home and now working out of the local Durham office. I'll let her fill you all in on how that's going in her own journal in the coming days and weeks.

Other than that, we are all well and happy. We enjoy the area down here, although we wish we could somehow convince friends and family from New York to move down here and keep us company. Stay warm and stay safe and we'll do the same down here. Hopefully we'll get back of to New York sometime soon to visit with you all.

- Greg