An audience of two

Tuesday February 19, 2008

This is what I do for a living: xVM Ops Center
Sun has finally announced the availability of xVM Ops Center (sic). This is something that I and many others have been working on for quite some time - so long in fact that I've forgotten when we actually started. In some ways you could say we've been working on it in one way or another for ten years.

I'm not going to explain what it does; you can read all about that in the press releases and on the net. But when you try it out and you click on the Update tab, think of me and the team I work with. The odd thing about software development is that you get so close to a product, it's hard to step back and view it objectively. It's like wallpapering a room; it looks good, but I know where the joins are, where I had to cut the paper to make it fit, and above all else I know that the blasted room isn't as rectangular is it was supposed to be.

So far everyone who has looked at it seems to like it. Hopefully it fills a need and makes the lives of sysadmins a lot easier. And hopefully we can all take a breather and relax a bit before we start work in earnest on the next version.

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Tuesday February 12, 2008

Local wine deals at Whole Foods
I've been doing my wine shopping at Whole Foods recently. On a recent trip I noticed a few bargains and on closer inspection was surprised to find that for many local wines, the prices at Whole Foods are actually cheaper than most other retailers, particularly if you take advantage of the 10% discount for buying six bottles (any mix). They also have a very good selection from top quality local wineries such as Burrell School, Mount Eden, Storrs, Martin Ranch and Ridge

Here are a few bargains I've picked up recently - prices are before discount and tax, so the net price will be a few cents lower.

Cooper Garrod Earlier this year I was fortunate to grab some bin-ends of the 2001 SCM Cabernet Sauvignon at $20 and 2003 Gravel Ridge Chardonnay at $15. These are now sold out, but the 2003 Lone Oak Cabernet sauvignon and 2005 Gravel Ridge Chardonnay have now arrived, along with 2004 Cabernet Franc.

Trout Gulch is a small winery owned by Bernie Turgeon, co-founder the Turgeon & Lohr winery. Never heard of it? Well, back in 1984 he sold his stake to his partner, Jerry Lohr who renamed the company J. Lohr. Trout Gulch produces Pinot Noir ($20) and Chardonnay ($17), both of which I've picked up at Whole Foods.

Kathryn Kennedy produces the single most expensive wine in the mountains - their top Estate Cabernet Sauvignon goes for a whacking $145. But at a more realistic level, Kathryn Kennedy also makes a "California" designated bordeaux blend called Lateral ($32) that would give any of the $50 to $100 Napa blends a run for their money. The 2004 is particularly fruit forward and enjoyable today, but would benefit from cellaring. There's also a Syrah ($24) that I'm looking forward to trying and a Sauvignon Blanc ($16), but to be honest I'm of the view that the best Sauvignon Blanc comes from New Zealand (and is cheaper too), with France a respectable second.

Finally a couple more wines that also carry the "California" appellation: Thomas Fogarty Skyline ($15) and Roudon Smith Claret ($14). I haven't tried the Claret yet (will probably open a bottle later this week), but the Skyline is a smooth, fruity blend with a decent amount of oak - nothing earth shaking, but reasonable value.

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Tags: cooper cruz fogarty garrod gulch kathryn kennedy mountains roudon santa smith thomas trout

Sunday February 10, 2008

There Will Be Sap
Spent an interesting day on Saturday helping to prune an old Pinot Noir vineyard in the Santa Cruz Mountains. The Wooodruff Vineyard (originally called the Matteson Vineyard, then in 1997 it became Ciardella Vineyard) is on 9 acres in the agricultural community of Corralitos, about 16 miles east of Santa Cruz. Close to the bay, this is prime Pinot Noir country - the highly regarded Windy Oaks is nearby. Fruit from the vineyard has been used by several local winemakers, notably Santa Cruz Mountains Vineyards, Hallcrest and the now closed Thunder Mountain. The new owners have engaged a friend of mine, Paul Romero of Stefania Wine as their vineyard manager and since it was a beautiful day I headed over to help out.

Pruning vines is a fairly simple job. You are simply removing most of last year's growth, leaving a couple of buds that will grow into next year's canes and from which the grapes will grow. When a vine has been properly pruned for a number of years the task is simple; there will be two canes. Prune one back completely, and prune the other back to the first two buds - little knobs the size of a grape pip, covered in a fuzzy white protective layer. In several of the vines, sap dripped from the cut. I tried to get a picture, but it didn't turn out that well.

If you don't prune it back enough, several bad things will happen. For a start the vine will grow very vigorously. It will put a great deal of effort into producing canes and leaves (which means more work pruning the next year). This in turn will result in a huge crop of weakly flavoured and possibly under-ripe fruit. Also the dense leafy canopy provides a home to unwanted fungal diseases such as powdery mildew.

This was my first time pruning vines, and at first I was a bit concerned about being too aggressive, but the advice I was given was if in doubt, cut it off.

This is one of the vines that I pruned. They are at least 25 years old; not sure of the exact age.

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Tags: chardonnay ciardella corralitos matteson pinot stefania wooodruff

Monday February 04, 2008

Healthcare Reform
Last night I watched Michael Moore's movie, Sicko. If you haven't seen it, you should. It takes a fairly critical look at the US healthcare system. Critics would say that it views the so-called "socialized medicine" systems in other countries through particularly rose tinted glasses, and while that's true I don't think it really damages the movie's overall premise: healthcare should be about making people well, not about profit.

Last year was a tough year for us. Everyone in the family spent some time in hospital; Zoe had a couple of days due to dehydration following a particularly oral virus, Alison was pregnant with Jamie, and I had my brain haemorrhage. I decided to take a closer look at how much I'd spent on healthcare.

As far as I can work out, my payments to Blue Shield for insurance alone came to around $15,000. On top of that there was over $2,000 for Medicare. So that's over $17,000 before tax. Insurance covered much of the treatment, but including the various doctor's visits over the year I was out of pocket around $6,000 (after tax). Prescription copayments came to another $600. Grand Total: Around $24,000, and that's not counting the tax.

Coincidentally, My father also got sick this year. In early October he was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Lukaemia. He's since had three courses of chemotherapy, involving long hospital stays. Total cost to him: $0 because he lives in England.

The good news is that there's a bill in progress called the United States National Health Insurance Act, also known as HR 676 or the Conyers Bill, that stands a good chance of becoming law. Well, as good a chance as any bill could that had the entire weight of the health insurance industry against it. I strongly urge you to read up about it and lobby your representative to support it. (Mine does - thank you, Mike Honda!)

Critics of the systems say things like "You wait in line to see a doctor" and "It costs too much". Well I've been to many doctor's surgeries in the UK and I've rarely had to wait more than an hour or so. When I was a kid the doctor came to me. Whereas in America I've had to wait for an hour in the doctor's surgery several times - even though I had an appointment. And that's assuming you can make an appointment the same day. As for costing too much, by my rough calculations the cost of the National Insurance in the UK is significantly less than the SunFlex benefits.

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