And then things got busy.
New project. A prof in Kinesiology has just gotten a peripheral CT scanner. (Peripheral, as in, fits extremity body parts. CT as in "computed tomography", formerly known as computed axial tomography. I share because I didn't know it before this afternoon either).
After a chat last week with my boss, I'd thought she just wanted to figure out how to convert its output into a data format she can use. More: she would like to feed this output to an open-source program that describes the scanned bone's strength; and further, to replicate the work of another researcher, who has turned this open-source program into a commercial service, no discounts for his colleagues. So, I got the dime-tour of the project, and printouts of a couple of useful papers, and I promised I'd have questions for her in a week. Fun! We discussed the options, which might include other commerical software, or hiring a scientist-programmer solely for this research, but I hold out this tiny hope that I might be able to do development work for this myself, as ill-qualified as I am to do the heavy-lifting. We'll see; whether I can understand much of the papers she's given me would be a good start.
I was considering asking for a complete high-res scan of my arm, but I'm not sure whether that's a great idea. (7mm/slice x 20 slices = 20 X-rays of my arm? For a medical reason, sure, but for fun?)
Lunch with melted_snowball, mtffm, and the_infamous_j; huzzah for it is patio weather. This year I resolve to take my lunch outside more, instead of sitting in front of the computer. Whether or not there's anybody around to eat with. Vitamin D is good for me too. :)
I'm also working on trying to find the source-code for a compiled LabView program used throughout the department, which doesn't currently work on machines newer than Windows 98. I'm hopeful about finding this code, otherwise this one project is going to become gargantuan as I try to replicate the developer's work from scratch. Conversely, if I can find the CVI code, the nice people at LabView have promised it's a simple recompile with newer libraries to make it work for machines up to Vista. Win! (if only the data is still here).
...I like that Indian students play cricket on the quad outside my building. This evening, there was a Canada goose standing stock-still under a tree, watching them.
After work, right on schedule, incoming bats22. He's in town to present his Master's Thesis tomorrow. I'm sure it will go swimmingly, because he's been working hard for two years on the sucker, and his eyes become animated when he talks about basement moisture which is pretty darn cool.
Dinner at Pho Dao Bo, and now we're all relaxing.
After a chat last week with my boss, I'd thought she just wanted to figure out how to convert its output into a data format she can use. More: she would like to feed this output to an open-source program that describes the scanned bone's strength; and further, to replicate the work of another researcher, who has turned this open-source program into a commercial service, no discounts for his colleagues. So, I got the dime-tour of the project, and printouts of a couple of useful papers, and I promised I'd have questions for her in a week. Fun! We discussed the options, which might include other commerical software, or hiring a scientist-programmer solely for this research, but I hold out this tiny hope that I might be able to do development work for this myself, as ill-qualified as I am to do the heavy-lifting. We'll see; whether I can understand much of the papers she's given me would be a good start.
I was considering asking for a complete high-res scan of my arm, but I'm not sure whether that's a great idea. (7mm/slice x 20 slices = 20 X-rays of my arm? For a medical reason, sure, but for fun?)
Lunch with melted_snowball, mtffm, and the_infamous_j; huzzah for it is patio weather. This year I resolve to take my lunch outside more, instead of sitting in front of the computer. Whether or not there's anybody around to eat with. Vitamin D is good for me too. :)
I'm also working on trying to find the source-code for a compiled LabView program used throughout the department, which doesn't currently work on machines newer than Windows 98. I'm hopeful about finding this code, otherwise this one project is going to become gargantuan as I try to replicate the developer's work from scratch. Conversely, if I can find the CVI code, the nice people at LabView have promised it's a simple recompile with newer libraries to make it work for machines up to Vista. Win! (if only the data is still here).
...I like that Indian students play cricket on the quad outside my building. This evening, there was a Canada goose standing stock-still under a tree, watching them.
After work, right on schedule, incoming bats22. He's in town to present his Master's Thesis tomorrow. I'm sure it will go swimmingly, because he's been working hard for two years on the sucker, and his eyes become animated when he talks about basement moisture which is pretty darn cool.
Dinner at Pho Dao Bo, and now we're all relaxing.