The Barnes Family

Jeremy and I went on February 6th, and Marina and Caelean joined us on the 16th. We spent our time in Christchurch, where I have a school friend who was kind enough to have us to stay for part of the time and to help us get oriented. We rented a house in Diamond Harbour, about 45 minutes from the center of town, and across from the main port of Lyttleton.

More to come, including some pictures as I get organized.

After too long I’ve finally found the time to post some of the pictures from our trip to Danzante! in Baja. We were there just before Thanksgiving - a few days stolen from the working year. We had a great time, lapped up the sun, did very little, ate great food, and enjoyed excellent company. What more can you ask for?

The resort is small enough that everyone gets to know everyone else. We sat around a single large table, and enjoyed an extended happy hour every afternoon, which ensured we were relaxed and ready for dinner.

The picture of the resort is not mine, but you can see my gallery here - a lot of pictures of people jumping / falling into the water, but a few that give you an idea of the landscape. You can download the originals at full resolution from the gallery if you’d like to.

We’re back from our whirlwind trip to Seattle. Today we went to the Boeing museum close to the Sea-Tac airport, which has an old Air Force One (707), and a BA Concorde. Also a great exhibition of first world war planes, the Blackbird, and a simulator that the boys enjoyed (twice!).

Yesterday I met a friend at Amazon and had the chance to see one of their buildings - beautiful art deco exterior, with amazing views of the mountains all around. We were pretty lucky with the weather - one rainy day and three fine, with two blue and clear. At one point I could see Mt. Rainier, the Cascades, and the Olympic mountains, all clear and cloud-free.

We did go to the Experience Music Project yesterday - the building is famously by Frank Gehry and the project funded by Microsoft billionaire Paul Allen. Lots of great interactive displays (recording studio, instruments etc.), and we all had a good time. I was disappointed by the building - it seemed a bit arbitrary on the outside, and frankly dingy and rough on the inside. I think the passion and intensity of the music it houses and describes could have been more effectively expressed. But still, it was the first Gehry building I’ve seen close up, and it was interesting to see how he used the power of CAD to create shapes and textures that would have been too difficult previously.

I didn’t take any pictures of the EMP - there are enough out there already and I had a camera-free day, just enjoying the sights.

We’re just enjoying a few days in Seattle - visiting the Public Market, the first Starbucks store, and today trips to Bainbridge Island for lunch, and the Boeing factory north of Seattle. Typical Seattle weather, I gather - lots of cloud, some rain, but today a bit of sun. The trip to Bainbridge Island was especially beautiful - I’ll post some pictures in a while.

At the Boeing factory we saw the production lines for the 747, the 777, and the new 787 Dreamliner, which will fly later this year. Despite being 50% lighter than a 777, the 787 is only 20% more fuel-efficient, which was a surprise to me. Still a big step forward, based mainly on much greater use of composites (carbon fiber etc.).Our plan for tomorrow is to see the Seattle Center - the Experience Music Project and the Pacific Science Center, and of course the Space Needle.

As a tool to learn about Django and Python, I spend the last few days building a new site based on a sort of extended blogging model. It covers my consulting interests, and is completely styled in CSS, with its own RSS feed (which you can access directly here). In the past I’ve written about content management and LAMP - there’s a new generation of web frameworks emerging that have taken a lot of the learning of past systems. Django is one of these. It’s built in Python, which provides a huge variety of built-in classes to support almost anything you might want to do, and it interfaces to a range of relational databases. I’m using SQLite, which is an amazingly small and capable database that requires no configuration at all.The total size of the code for this site is about 250 lines combining templates, database models, and the logic that drives the site. Everything else comes courtesy of the Django developers and the power of Python.

Alas, my car was destroyed by a rear-ender in Los Gatos a couple of weeks ago. I think the driver was changing lane and didn’t see the line of traffic in front. The collision was strong enough to push me into four more cars, but I think mine was the only one to be a total loss. Fortunately no-one seems to have suffered any real injuries, although I had a stiff neck for a while. Apart from the loss of a car of which I was rather fond, the biggest issue is the time and cost of finding a replacement.

I’ve settled on an Acura RDX as a replacement: it’s a small SUV like thing that drives like a car, but is a bit higher and has good space and practicality. The practicality will finally allow me to tow a small boat, as well as taking lots of tools and wood etc. in its boot.

It has a voice operated control system that has trouble with my accent - I say things like “navigate to home” and it replies “air conditioning off” or “fan level six”. I just hope it’s not running Windows.

This image is from the launch of the car - mine is a pearl white - rather like my first 944 Turbo.

I’ve always enjoyed woodwork - ever since I was introduced to it at school, building simple things like a pencil case and a tray. True craftsmanship is a discipline I find hard, however, so I’ve tended to find quick and efficient ways to make things. I enjoy the puzzle-solving aspect of design as well.

These are two recent pieces - a shoe rack for the front door (we tend not to wear shoes inside), and a long, low bookcase that’s also big enough to store records.

They are built from 3/4″ birch ply - reasonably good quality at $40 / sheet, but tricky to cut without splitting. I use mitred joints for the look - without dowels or biscuits these were the very devil to glue up - and double thickness for the carcass to create a strong outline. The shelves of the shoe rack are 1/4″ marine ply (oukoume), and everything is finished in clear lacquer.

Lacquer turns out to be a very easy finish to apply - brush it on and it dries almost instantly. Use steel wool (very fine - 0000 grade) to polish the surface and keep on adding coats until you’ve had enough.

The downside of lacquer is that it is easily damaged by water - not a good surface if people are going to put damp glasses down, as I have already sadly discovered. At least with a DIY piece I don’t feel bad about sanding it down and putting on more lacquer.

I’ve added a “Blogroll” - this is a standard wordpress feature that puts favourite links in the sidebar. These are just a few of the sites I enjoy. You can find more on the Favourites page (from the links at the top of the screen).

 I’ve also added a set of random images from the gallery at the bottom of the sidebar. Clicking on one will take you to the full sized image in the gallery.

I’ve spent the past couple of months building a new set of speakers based on a design by Wayne Parham (Pi Speakers). They are three-way horn-loaded speakers, using high quality PA (public address) drivers that are a lot more efficient than the speakers they are replacing.At the weekend I finally was able to install the new Pi Sevens in the living room. Here’s a first set of impressions.

My system is as follows:

• Townshend Rock III turntable with Grado MM cardtridge.
•  EAR 834P phono stage
•  Naim CDP8i CD player
•  First Sound passive “preamp”
• Music Reference RM9 tube amplifier
• Mixed cables - DIY solid silver, Cardas speaker cables

The speakers replace my Thiel CS3.6 floor-standers, in roughly the same locations (corners). The room is sub-optimal in that the speakers are in corners that also house bookcases, and there’s a baby grand piano between the speakers along the same wall. However, there’s no sign yet of any piano-contributed vibration.

I’ve been listening to lots of stuff: Beatles, Tom Paxton, King’s Singers, Lieder (Brahms, Schubert), Wagner, Gilbert & Sullivan, Dave Brubeck, and a mix of CDs and records.

The first impression is of a very delicate and accurate mid-range. The King’s Singers have never sounded better. The mid-horns seem solid and unfussy. The treble is clear, but I think a bit recessed, and definitely less audible than with the Thiels. The bass I’m not quite sure about yet. Clearly the power of the woofer is exciting a couple of room modes, and I will need to build some tube traps or something, and possibly alter the room layout a bit (I’m sitting against the back wall, which is probably not ideal). The most obvious effect is on plucked bass lines, and also some coloration on male voices. But except for the notes that are too loud, the bass seems clear and unobtrusive. I don’t know if I’m really getting all the extension I was expecting - this may be because of the bookcases, or (and I hope not) it’s possible the cabinets leak. I have been unable to detect much port action so far.

The other major change is the increased level of dynamics. I find I have to adjust the volume for every recording separately - I never needed to do that before. Popular recordings with lots of compression need to be turned well down. Classical recordings with wide dynamic range can be turned up and I still get good pianissimo, with exciting climaxes. The bass excitation limits my ability to listen loud - especially with bass or baritone voices.

I should mention Marina’s view - she has expressed three opinions:

1. “They are bigger than you led me to believe”
2. “They are uglier than I thought”
3. “They sound much better than the old speakers.”

…so I guess I get to keep them, but I will need to finish the veneering and clean up the wiring etc.

One of the world’s great photogenic places.  Extraordinary beauty, and a quiet sense of isolation make it a great place to visit.

I was there in May, following a conference. May is a good time to visit. It was hot, but not unbearable, and I did a lot of walking. The roads are tiny, and I imagine that in summer it must be very crowded, but it was quite empty when I was there.
Lots of pleasures to be found - the landscape, the architecture, the food, and of course the blue sea, all around.