So Much Snow

 A couple weeks ago Pamela and I went up to her family’s cabin in Forest Lakes.  We were hoping to head up there and be joined by some friends for a fun weekend in the wilderness.  We were also excited to see that the weather forecast for the weekend called for snow.  It snowed the weekend we went to the cabin last year and it was a lot of fun.  It’s seems extra special because we never get to see snow living in Phoenix.  

Lots of snow already on our drive up

Pamela and I had off work Friday and drove up with Jordan.  Our other friends couldn’t swing a Friday trip but we still decided it would be fun to hang out at the cabin for 2 days.  Soon after leaving Payson we were excited to start seeing all the snow that had already fallen in the area.  There were so many nice views of snow covered pine trees along the drive.  I was so excited to see the snow I just kept snapping pictures.  

It's everywhere!

As we climbed in elevation we noticed the temperature kept dropping and there was more and more snow all around.  Arriving at Forest Lakes we were in for a little bit of a rude awakening.  Although the freeway was freshly plowed and fairly dry from all the traffic, the neighborhood street up to the cabin had plenty of snow left.  Not to worry though, we just proceeded slowly and lucky for us the cabin is only a short distance in from the main highway.

Then came our second realization about large amounts of snowfall.  The hundred foot driveway that sets the cabin back nicely from the road was covered in 6-8 inches of snow with a huge mound right at the front from where the plows cleared the road.  This was a little unexpected but that’s why we came to the cabin, for some adventure.  I opened the shed looking for something to clear the snow and found a broken snow shovel and a rake.  It was less than ideal, but between the scoop part of the snow shovel and the rake, Pamela and I were able to start clearing a path.  After maybe 45 minutes we had cleared enough driveway to fit our car and 2 more for our friends behind it.  Now it was time to unpack and finally start relaxing and enjoy the cabin.  

Good enough, now time to start having fun.

Snow angel!  Good work Pamela

Once we started a fire and figured out the heaters it was smooth sailing.  We had a pleasant evening filled with hot cocoa, smores, and a Christmas movie.  The next morning it was time for snow reality check number three.  We greatly underestimated how much snow would be falling this weekend.  We woke up to find the amount of snow outside had doubled.  Another 6-8 inches of fresh powder had fallen overnight and was still coming down.  Luckily we had good cell reception at the cabin and could warn our friends.  We caught Kim as she was visiting the store before heading up herself.  

Seriously?  Guess we have to clear the driveway again

Day 1 - Looking out the back porch

Day 2 - Looking out back, notice the railing is nowhere to be seen

Sorry Jordan you can't go out that way, it's blocked by snow!

After deliberating for a while and checking the weather forecast on our phones we decided our 2 day retreat to the cabin was turning into an escape plan.  We would clean up the cabin and wait for the snowplow to come by to give us the clearest path back to the freeway.  We brushed the snow from the car and re-dug the driveway back to the main road so we were all ready.  Then at about 1:00 Pamela heard the plow drive by and it was time to make our move.  He hadn’t improved the road as much as we hoped but as the snow started to intensify we knew this would be our best shot at getting home before getting stuck at the cabin.  

When the wind picked up it looked like we were inside a snow globe

As we slowly made our way back to the freeway, skidding and sliding, we both lamented not having the all-wheel drive Forester anymore.  It was a little scary but once we made it back to the freeway we were alright.  The 260 was much more cleanly plowed and the decent flow of traffic kept much of the snow and ice from accumulating in the lanes.  I snapped a few more pictures of the snow coated trees along the road.  All that snow was inconvenient but also very beautiful.

Goodbye snow!

Bonus video of Jordan playing in the snow:

Vacation Sentiment

Pamela and I are planning a vacation for this fall and we've narrowed it down to two locations; Aruba or Jamaica.  We've looked at flights and resorts for both places and they both look awesome and we can't decide.  So I figured since I turn to Google for so many other answers, why not try it out to help us decide on our vacation.

The numbers are based on the amount of Google search results yielded from an entry in the form of (Location) "(Adjective) vacation".  I figured this would give me a general idea for the overall portion of people that were satisfied or not satisfied with their trip to either location.  I plotted the results against each other for easier comparison in terms of percentages. 

Positive Sentiment

Negative Sentiment

Results:
1)  Jamaica returned more hits for both the positive and negative searches.  
2)  The ratio for the positive searches was about 65% for Jamaica and 35% for Aruba.  The negative searches came out to around 80% for Jamaica and 20% for Aruba. 

Conclusions:
Jamaica returned more results for all searches, this is most likely due to Jamaica being both larger in size and possibly a more common vacation destination.  However, Aruba had a higher percentage against Jamaica for positive sentiment than it did for negative sentiment.  This tells me that across all of the Google results, a higher percentage of people were satisfied with their trips to Aruba than with their trips to Jamaica.  I realize there are flaws with this process and by no means is this conclusive evidence that Aruba would be a better destination.  This all just comes down to one more data point for us to use in making our vacation decision. 

Napa Valley

In typical Hesselblogger fashion, it is now 3 weeks since our trip to Napa Valley and we are finally going to blog about it.  Much like the New York trip, this was quite a departure from our usual beach-style vacation.  This trip was all about exploring the area and enjoying all the great food and drinks this place had to offer.

We arrived Friday morning into a portion of Napa Valley called Yountville and checked into our hotel, the Napa Valley Lodge.  Our favorite part about this hotel was the fireplace in the room.  It was fun to unwind after the day and enjoy a crackling fire, especially when it was a little cold and rainy outside.  Our first stop on the food tour was a place called Bottega.  This was some very tasty Italian food, probably our second favorite restaurant of the trip.  On any other trip it might have been the best, but we would top it later that night.  After lunch we went to our first wine tour/tasting at Stags' Leap Winery.  We learned all about the history of the area and of this particular winery, which was used as a speak-easy during prohibition.

In the evening we had our much anticipated dinner outing at Redd.  This place was amazing.  Pamela's coworker, who made the reservation, pressured us into getting the 5-course tasting menu with wine pairing.  Sooo worth it.  It was actually more like a 10-course meal because they gave Pamela and I different courses each time, which we would trade and split.  Every dish was amazing and we thoroughly cleaned our plates of the delicious food.  I think we passed out as soon as we got back to the hotel, we were so stuffed after eating 10 courses, with wine.

Saturday we began with Lunch at Mustard's Grill.  Yes, we began with lunch.  It's our vacation, we're allowed to sleep in.  Mustard's was described as upscale truck stop food, or something similar.  Don't let that throw you off, it was yet another fancy restaurant.  We stuck with old favorites though; onion rings, a cheeseburger, and mac 'n cheese.  Next we decided to drive around to see the area and try a few more wineries.

We first stopped at a winery called Peju.  You can drive up the main highway and there are wineries and tasting rooms all along the road.  We looked a few up online that we wanted to stop at, but if you were so inclined you could just stop at one every mile and try some wine.  All the main houses were gorgeous with fountains and fun art, which was almost as fun as trying the wine.

Next, we drove toward Sonoma and went to a place called Artesa Vinyards & Winery.  This was a huge place on top of a hill, and if it wasn't so darn foggy that day the views would have been amazing.  All their neat fountains and water features did give us a few ideas for our next house though. 

Our dinner for the evening was at the Culinary Institute of America, Greystone Campus.  This was really cool because their kitchen is situated in the middle of the restaurant and completely open so you can watch all the food being prepared.  Sort of Like Buca di Bepo, but with way tastier food.  We were hoping to see some head instructor chefs yelling at the students like Gordon Ramsey on Hell's Kitchen but no such luck.  It was still a fun experience and the food was great again.

Before leaving on Sunday we got up early and tried one last tasty treat on our way out, the Bouchon Bakery.  This place had super pastries and I'd say it's a must try if you ever stay around Yountville.  Pamela had a classic French croissant with chocolate and almond filling, and I had a cream cheese danish.  We also snagged a caramel macaroon for the plane ride home which was my favorite.  Mmmm.

I think I gained a pound a day while we were on that trip, the food was just so good.  But I guess that's why I'm doing P90X, so I can enjoy some nice treats like that every once in a while.

Launch Beard Time Lapse

While I was out in California growing my launch beard I thought it would be fun to take a picture of it every day so that I could make a time lapse video afterward.  This afternoon I took a little bit of time and played around with Windows Movie Maker and below is the result. There were only 15 days worth of pictures so I went through twice, the second time with fading transitions in between the pictures.  Poor Pamela is married to a huge nerd but it's okay, she makes a guest appearance on day 15 and she looks pretty happy to see me.

Launch Beard Update - Day 14

This will most likely be the last launch beard update since Pamela is coming out to visit tomorrow.  I am super excited to see her.  Even though it's only been a couple weeks it seems like way longer.  Possibly because I've only been home for a few days over the weekends for the past two months.  Either way, it's going to be awesome to see Pamela and spend some time with her.  But that means the beard will have to go.  It was fun while it lasted but I think I prefer not having a beard.  Plus I don't think it helped to give the rocket good luck anyway.  It wasn't anything we did but the launch is delayed again.  So apparently my launch beard wasn't sending the rocket good karma.

launch Beard Update - Day 7

woekI'm still working on my launch beard and I wanted to post an update.  Mostly because there is not much else new going on for me out in Lompoc.  So it's been a week since I stopped shaving and although I would have liked to have a more substantial beard, I do have a decent foundation going on.  In these latest pictures you can see a good amount of growth but I'm afraid some of it is lost in the quality of the webcam image and the fact that my hair is sort of blond and blends in with my skin.  Either way, I'll still be taking pictures and tracking my progress.  I only have one more week until Pamela comes out to visit (Hooray!), so we'll see how much more I can grow before then. 

Launch Beard

It was brought to my attention a couple of weeks ago that the engineers here at Orbital like to grow beards when they are traveling for a launch campaign.  It's sort of like when athletes grow beards when their teams make it to the playoffs, especially in hockey.  I think it's mostly a superstitious thing and the beards are supposed to be good luck.  I'm not sure about all that, and Pamela prefers me without a beard so I've abstained from growing one.  But now that I'm staying out here until we launch and Pamela doesn't come to visit for two weeks, I thought I would try growing a launch beard.  I haven't tried growing facial hair for a while so this should be fun.  It's just the first day today so all I've got is some minor stubble but I'll post again next week with my progress.  Hopefully this will bring good luck to the rocket too.

On the Road

...but still staying in touch. 

Pamela and I both travel a decent amount for our jobs, but when one of us in on travel we like to stay in touch as much as possible.  This usually includes texts, emails, and in the evenings we like to do skype webcam chats so we can see each other and talk.  It is really nice to see a familiar face when you are in strange city working with people who you may not know that well.  This week Pamela and I are both out on business travel.  It doesn't happen much but even when we are both out, we still like to meet up for our skype chat after work.  We are both surrounded by unfamiliar hotel backgrounds but it's comforting to see that familiar face to remind you of home. 

Little town of Lompoc

Today I'm heading back out to California for work. I'll be out there for a couple weeks while we try to launch our rocket. We work at Vandenberg Air Force Base and we stay in a town outside of the base called Lompoc. I'm not surprised when I tell people where I'm going and they have never heard of it before. Lompoc is very small and you would only know of it if you've been through that area. For my friends in Arizona I thought I would put together a list of cities for comparison. Google page results may not be the most accurate way to judge a city, but it does give some sort of quantitative value to how big or interesting a place is.



If you've ever been to any of these cities in Arizona, or more likely, driven through them on the way to someplace else, you can get a feeling for what Lompoc is like. I guess the good news/bad news is that we are at work for most of the day and don't have to spend much time in Lompoc itself. Wish me luck for our launch and hopefully I wont get too bored while I'm out there.

Trying to Find an Analytic Solution

Pretty soon I will be traveling to California again for work. However this trip will be much longer than the previous ones. I could be gone for 3 weeks or more depending on how things go. My wonderful wife Pamela has committed to coming out to visit me during this trip. Even though there is not much in Lompoc and I'll probably be busy for most of the day, we decided 3 weeks is a long time to go without seeing each other. So now I am trying to figure out the optimum scenario for her to come out and visit.

(The lines on the graph represent approximate $/Hr values that Pamela and I make. This helps to compare different scenarios that cost more versus those that are cheaper but take more time. For example $100 crosses at 3Hrs)

Note: All options are assuming one-way cost and travel time.

Option 1 represents Pamela packing up the car and driving out to see me. This is obviously the most time consuming of the options but also the cheapest. An added benefit to this option is that Pamela could bring Jordan with her.
Option 2 is the shortest option where Pamela flies into Santa Barbara via US Airways like I do when I travel out to California.
Option 3 is a compromise where Pamela would use her 'free' Southwest flight to get to LA. Notice how it is not 'free' because of the opportunity cost of using that flight to get to somewhere else.

On options 2 and 3 I've shown how they might increase in price if I cannot pick up Pamela at the airport and she has to use a rental car. I figure the rental car would add about $50 to each one-way trip.

I've also included the option of a private jet, which unfortunately would cost a couple thousand dollars each way. Then I've expanded on the option of Pamela driving out. If she paid one of her friends or family to do the driving for her it would cost much more but would allow her to rest and could decrease the perceived travel time.

Conclusions:

1) Pamela will most likely fly out to see me, because for a weekend visit I don't think anyone would want to spend as much time in the car traveling as actually being with the other.
2) Pamela married a huge nerd who likes to make unnecessary charts.

The travel has started again

Today I traveled to Lompoc, California for work again for the beginning of a launch campaign.  It had been several months since I've had to travel and I was getting quite used to it.  At least it's only for a couple days this time, and the hotel has updated the rooms a little.  They put dueling Samsung 32" LCD TVs in all the rooms.  Quite a step up from the old monster TVs they had in here before.  Plus I get to hone my crossword skills as is evident from the picture above.  I finished the crossword puzzle from the US Airways magazine on the flight over here.  It's not the most challenging crossword out there but I'm still proud I was able to complete it.  Andy and I failed to do the crossword on the 6 hour flight to Hawaii, but I finished the crossword, did a Sudoku, and flipped through the SkyMall catalog all in the time it took to fly from Phoenix to Santa Barbara.