Tim Rettig's Blog

Today was another unusually warm and beautiful day in Barrow, Alaska.  Clear skies and lower 50s.  We, however, were locked in the server room all morning completing the setup of our servers.  After lunch we got to get out and see some more of the surrounding area.  We took a trip to see “Satellite City”, an area outside of town where all of the satellite dishes are located.  It is interesting how the dishes point at the horizon, instead of up in the sky.  In order for them to work properly, there can’t be anything in front of them.  Luckily finding empty space  isn’t much of an issue.  

Barrow Satellite City

There are absolutely no wires connecting Barrow to anyway else.  Power is generated just outside the city by a power plant that runs on a natural gas reserve.  All communications – data, voice, and video must be sent and received over satellite or long-range radio.  The BARC has 6Mbps of bandwidth being sent and received over an AT&T satellite, the equivalent of four T1s . Internet speed is Read the rest of this entry »

While working in the Barrow Alaska Research Center (BARC) today, I was able to witness part of a seal necropsy.  The scientist that was performing the procedure was cataloging the animal for later study.  It is part of a study on communicable diseases in marine mammals.  In particular, she is studying sicknesses that can be passed from animal to human and vice-versa, similar to the swine or avian flu.

The procedure was pretty far along by the time we were invited in.  I will warn you if you have a weak stomach, do NOT view the pictures in this post.  There are some raw pictures, but it doesn’t come close to being there and smelling it.  Shortly after the necropsy, we went to the cafeteria for dinner.  I passed on the fish that was offered. Read the rest of this entry »

The weather this morning was overcast, raining and in the mid 30s.  First on the agenda was a quick tour of the Barrow Alaska Research Center (BARC).  Walking into the building was like walking into another world.  All of the buildings we had been in so far were either old army buildings from the 1950s, or interconnected shipping containers.   The BARC is part of a 35 million dollar building project to create a scientific research center for all different types of studies by groups from around the world.  There are labs, conference rooms, offices, and a spacious, modern server room.  The building has tall ceilings, a tiled lobby, modern bathrooms, and very nice furniture.  You would think it would be the place to be, but it seemed to be empty compared to the other buildings we had been in.  The older buildings seemed to teem with activity as people came and went.  The BARC was like a library, whereas the other buildings were like college dorms. 

After the tour, we took care of some meetings and paperwork, and then got to work uncrating the rack.  It was shipped in a sturdy wooden crate we had to disassemble outside in the wind and rain.  Luckily, by the time we got the crate open, the rain stopped and it was starting to clear up.  

Uncrating the rack overlooking the tundra

 We wrestled the rack into the building and then ran into our first technical issue. Read the rest of this entry »

For some reason, anytime I have a new trip or project to undertake, I have a need to get a new gadget.  Mostly the gadget takes the form of a camera.  For instance, when my son was born, I picked up a new camera on the way to the hospital.  That is not an exaggeration – it was literally on the way to the hospital.  My wife’s water broke in the morning, and while I am driving her to the hospital, I stopped at Best Buy and purchased a new camera while she waited in the car.  Somehow she forgave me and we are still married.  When my second child was born two years later, she made sure I had purchased a new camera well in advance.

Due to my affliction, my trip to Barrow resulted in the purchase of yet another camera.  This time it is the Olympus Stylus Tough 8000.  This is a pocket camera that has the unique feature of being waterproof to 33ft, shockproof to 6ft, crushproof to 220 pounds, and freezeproof to 14 degrees Fahrenheit.  http://www.olympusamerica.com/cpg_section/product.asp?product=1448

Now, to be honest, I’ve never crushed, dropped, submerged, or frozen a camera before.  But I didn’t want to take any chances that I might on this trip.  I also have a whitewater rafting trip coming up, and I would like to be able to take a camera along in the raft, and this camera should allow me to do that.  I’ve been using the camera for 2 days now and I must say I like it a lot.

The camera has 12 Megapixels of resolution, which is pretty impressive for a compact pocket camera.  But what really impressed me was Read the rest of this entry »

We shipped the two servers from Cincinnati, Ohio to Barrow, Alaska on Friday.  They were sent ground, and it cost about $750 for the shipment, in case you were wondering.  The shipment consisted of two 75 pound boxes.  They are scheduled to arrive this Wednesday, which is faster than some shipments that I have sent to California.  Even though they were sent “ground”, I bet they actually wind up being transported by plane for most of the trip.