Degrees's Journal: In Minneapolis through Wednesday

Last year, we didn't get some of the training we needed, because the company put in place austerity measures. This new fiscal year - we aren't taking any chances. ;-)

I've never been to Minnesota before. Everything is so green here. Where I come from, it would be a semi-arid desert except for the Central Valley Project. By late April, everything not irrigated is brown. Here it is August, and stuff here is still green. Looks nice.

It is a little humid here today. I don't know if that is normal or not. For the "Land of 10,000 Lakes", I suppose a little higher humidity would make sense.

Anyway, I'm here to learn all I need to know about the Xiotech Magnitude 3D at the company headquarters. Although I'm sure it won't be on the curriculum, Novell helped an outside GroupWise consultant by lending an employee, and asking for Xiotech's help. Xiotech loaned them the gear and the space to build a ten node Linux cluster with full fail-over redundancy.

Boy I'd like to get a look at it (if it is still around).

updated: This place is gorgeous. I drove around to make sure I knew how to find the Xiotech building, and the town is wonderful. Tons of trees, and I saw not one, but two gaggle of geese. The second gaggle was waddling down the middle of a road. Also, the residential areas warn drivers to beware of deer. Lakes and forests everywhere. Just wonderful.

update2: whoops - leaving Thursday early AM, not here all week.

Welcome

[dead sun]

Welcome to the fine city of Minneapolis and its outlying suburbs. It's almost always a bit humid in the summer, and generally not so humid in the winter. We've had a little rain through most of the area recently, so that adds to it. You're lucky though, it looks like we're in for a beautiful week. I'd bet it won't get much more humid than it currently is, at least.

While you've heard we have lots of lakes, we also have a lot of parks in the area, often attached to a lake. Out towards Eden Prarie where Xiote

Thank you

[Degrees]

I suppose I should point out that it isn't really very humid, it's just that I come from an area that tends to be really dry. Yes, the weather is great - temperatures in the mid-eighties (28C) (where my home town will be in the low one-hundreds (38C)). If you all wanted people to move here, this week would be a great week to invite people for a free vacation here. Seriously beautiful country.

I don't know what time the training runs to each day - if it gets out early enough, I'll check out a park. Of course

Re:

[dead sun]

The week looks to be nice, though it was a little damp today. Highs in the low 80s for the rest of the week it looks like, though. For me, personally, it's at the upper limit of what I consider comfortable weather. I absolutely love fall in this state though. A few weeks of crisp, dry weather with lots of changing colors. It's a shame it doesn't last longer. If you ever get the chance it's worth hiking through one of our state parks around that time of year. See exhibit A [flickr.com] and exhibit B [flickr.com] for a couple examples

Re:

[Degrees]

Gorgeous pictures - I can see why you love it. :-)

I had seen a thing on TV about the Mall of America, and although they say there is a roller coaster, they didn't really explain the whole thing: three coasters, a water flume, two swinging arms, a ferris wheel... plus. I suppose that was wise: if they explained everything, you wouldn't need to visit.... ;-)

I hear that my home town is going to get a Hooters. I could have visited my first one here though. Heh.

I didn't know that about the sales tax on clothi