I am not usually up for shameless plugs, begging, or even personal stuff in my work blog but other people who entered are working the system so I decided to make an exception. A local photographer is having a "funny kid photo" contest and we sent one in of a very sour-faced looking Mae. If you have a spare minute... go and take a look and vote for Mae (or some other kid if you really want to).  
 
http://www.designfocusstudio.com/blog/  
 
I think the picture we sent is pretty funny looking. No, I did not give her a slice of lemon to get her to make that face either. :)  
 
Here is a much cuter picture of her:  
 

 
Better late than never eh... Mae Ella was born August 24th. I have been on maternity leave since then and I actually missed you blog of mine. I am a terrible blogger, I never even mentioned I was pregnant or would be leaving soon. I just get too focused on the geeky stuff sometimes.  
 
Here's a picture of Mae:
 
 
I am biased I know but she is so darned cute!!  
 
I am off to read the 3100+ emails I have sitting in my inbox. :)

 
 
Wow, can you say the word busy? I knew you could!  
 
Ok, so it has been over two months since I last posted. I know it is an over used excuse, but life has been really busy. My life is pretty crazy to start with between working full-time, going to grad school, and having two kids. I am also working on my thesis and that pretty much eliminates any free time that might have been left in my day.  
 
Today I took the final for what I hope is my 2nd to last class ever. I also turned in my 23-page paper about 64-bit processor design and performance. It is so nice to be done, even if it is only for two weeks until classes start up again.  
 
I have to confess, being busy is not my only reason for not blogging. I probably could have worked in a post or two since January 5th. My main source for interesting things to write about, Tom, has not had anything exciting happen lately. Oh, he's given me a couple of good bugs to look at but none of them were really exciting enough to inspire a whole blog entry. I did learn a neat way to wedge a single CPU Solaris box though. :)  
 
The fact that Tom has not had anything "interesting" happen all quarter (meaning nothing has broken, crashed spectacularly, etc) is a good thing. I think he's finally changed enough of the old way the lab was run that things are finally working correctly. Of course saying that means he'll be IM'ing me in the next 24 hours with something.  
 
All of this is not why I am blogging today. You'd think after a 23-page paper and then an hour of intense writing for my final I'd be quick to getting to the point this afternoon. Here it comes... I finally have something interesting to blog about that has nothing to do with anyone else's funny experiences with UNIX. It is true.  
 
What is this exciting new topic...  
 
     64-bit processor design and performance.  
 
For those actually reading rather than skimming, you'll notice this was the topic of my paper. My brain is just filled with SPEC results, L2 cache sizes, and interconnection network bandwidth numbers. I did not expect I'd find my graduate architecture class very exciting, but I really enjoyed it and the research for paper turned out to be really interesting.  
 
So, for the next several blog entries, I'll be talking about 64-bit processor design, performance, cost, etc.. I hate to leave you with a cliff-hanger but I will be back soon, I promise!  
 
P.S. - I dicovered the spell checker on b.s.c doesn't know the word "blog"... I thought that was funny.

 
That is how old my first "baby" is today. It sure doesn't feel like it has been that long. It is hard to imagine she's half-way to being an adult. Next year, double digits!! In the car she told me the most special birthdays are 1, 10, and 100. The first because you are finally a number, the second because you are double digits, and the last because it is three digits and because almost no one makes it that long. Just wait until she hears about 16, 18, and 21!
 
"Happy day toooo youuuuu, Autumn" - Laura (her two-year-old sister)