Technology, Books and Other Neat Stuff

Week two of the latest US trip finds us in a hot and humid Florida, where we're attending BlackBerry manufacturer RIM's annual conference.

It's been a busy couple of weeks so far - first in Silicon Valley for the 6^th birthday of AMD's Opteron processor, and then on to Las Vegas for a week of deep dives into system management tools and techniques at Microsoft's MMS event. Things have been made even busier with the arrival of the Windows 7 release candidate and the resulting multiple machine installs, and long articles full of screenshots. Even so we found time for a little relaxation on the way - a trip down Big Sur for marypcb's birthday, and a visit to Ka, one of our favourite Cirque de Soleil shows, in Vegas.

We've also managed to see friends and family along the way, hanging out with folk in Silicon Valley and spending time with Mary's sister in Ohio.

And so, it's back to work. Copy to deliver and not much time to do it in.

Photoblogging from the last couple of weeks to follow.

Aten't ded yet.

If you want to see sea otters in the wild, close up, there's really only one place to go.

That's Moss Landing, a little fishing port halfway down Monterey Bay. The home of the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Research Institute, it's also the site of one of the bay's largest sloughs, full of birds and young fish. That's where the folk at MBARI release rescued otters, and a sizeable raft use the slough and the harbour to shelter from the wilds of the sea.

Turn right (or left) at the big power station to cross over the causeway to the harbour. It's worth stopping here, as this is where you're most likely to see an otter close up. There' s bed of oysters and mussels at the base of the causeway, and usually one or two otters sculling around, basking in the calm of the sheltered waters.

That's where this chap was, taking his morning ablutions on a hot California spring day. We'd stopped off as we headed down to Big Sur for brunch to celebrate marypcb's birthday at one of her favourite restaurants, and there he was, close in - washing himself and sculling his big strong tail to keep in place.







The cut3n3ss...

Moss Landing, California
April 2009