The Euclidian Geometry of Eggs


One problem (the only one!) of going on vacation with Kimberly is that can be hard to banish SQL Server completely from conversation. Over breakfast this morning we were discussing the pros and cons of advising someone to use sp_attach_single_file_db as a way to shrink an out-of-control transaction log – with careful guidance it can be done, but there’s a lot of scope for misuse and getting into trouble.


One problem with being on vacation in general is that your mind wanders away from the normal bounds of rational thought (well, at least mine does…) While discussing the merits of shrinking transaction logs I was cutting up my eggs and mused aloud on how much easier it was to divide an egg in half when it was scrambled compared to when it was raw – you can get a nice Euclidian straight edge. After that Kimberly had nothing else to say about transaction logs :-)


Then I wondered how far away we are from the mainland (we’re on Maui for a week, then on a live-aboard dive boat out of Kona – the Kona Aggressor – for another week). Luckily the waitress brought the breakfast check so I spent 5 minutes doing the a2 = b2 + c2 calculation (where a was our flight length from Seattle, b is the distance south from Seattle, and c is the distance from the mainland). Figuring about 2700 miles for the flight, and 2000 miles south of Seattle (and no-doubt convincing everyone around us that I needed to use long multiplication, scientific notation, long division, and geometric figures to calculate the tip on the breakfast check), I came up with roughly 1800 miles as the distance of Hawaii from the mainland. In reality, the distance is about 1625 miles – not bad!


This is my first trip to Hawaii (and Kimberly’s fourth, but first to Maui) – it’s a very cool place. On Tuesday we took a long helicopter tour around the island (courtesy of Blue Hawaiian Helicopters) which gave us some stunning views of the volcanic scenery (we’re doing a similar tour of the Big Island after the dive trip). Today we’re going to drive to the top of the 10000 foot volcano to watch the sunset and do some bird-watching. Here are a few photos:


 


 


Ok – back to vacation…

One thought on “The Euclidian Geometry of Eggs

  1. I like the egg analogy.

    It might be too late, but if you have a chance and are a bit adventurous, I recommend getting up early one morning while you are on Maui and hiking down to La Perouse Bay. Make sure you wear some sturdy shoes and bring some water for the hike. If you do it early enough, you might be able to snorkle, but no promises that it will be calm enough (and only if you guys are good swimmers… be careful).

    You will feel like you are at the edge of the world. I have a couple of photos from our visit back in November 2007.

    La Parouse Bay 1
    La Parouse Bay 2
    La Parouse Bay 3

    John

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