Spin-up

So, as you can tell, I'm a scientist.  Which means, pretty much, that I am a computer jockey.  Everything I do requires use of a computer in some way.  I suppose in the modern day, that is actually pretty common; but it has been this way in science for decades.  I'm either writing simulations (often in arcane languages like Fortran 77), or analyzing spacecraft or telescope data (using IDL -- Interactive Data Language -- or more recently, Python), or writing papers (in LaTeX, of course), or finding papers or other information in the internet (Google is your friend).  So, having a working computer isn't just a good idea, it is something without which I cannot operate.

So, that is what I spent most of the first two weeks here doing.  Installing a Virtual Box so I can operate in Linux; installing all sorts of compilers and high level languages so I can use that box; getting printer drivers working -- not a simple task when many of the printers are, not surprisingly, Japanese, while my computer is American; and getting internet access working (I probably should have listed that one first, since the rest pretty much falls down without it).  Oh, and then I spend a lot of time drinking once I get home because it is so frustrating trying -- and not immediately succeeding -- to get these things working and wanting to get started on the work you've come here to do!

Doesn't sound all that exciting?  Well, that's the reality of science; and most professions, really.  There are always some really cool and exciting things you get to do; but much of the time you spend on the mundane; the things that have to get going so you can do the things that get you going.  I don't mind that I've written about a rather slow topic today; there's no way I was going to try to compete with Juno! :-)

However, I will mention that yesterday was the 4th of July -- Independence Day -- and though the local military bases have been keeping a low profile this holiday (long story), the weather chose to celebrate, as a textbook supercell rolled through the Tokyo area yesterday afternoon.  I'd never seen such a clear comma cloud signature from a supercell before.  I thought I'd see some hail, but it was "just" a ton of rain and lightning.  I was very glad to see my first Japanese thunderstorm, because it brought a temporary reprieve from this weekend's heat.