Matt’s Blog

At Microsoft’s newest datacenter in Chicago you’ll see evidence of a new trend in datacenter design and deployment. While the upper floors are more traditional computer-filled rooms the ground floor consists largely of parking spaces for these:

It’s a new concept detailed more completely elsewhere, but the gist of it is that you use self-contained multi-modal containers packed with servers as modular units that can be moved and configured to meet changing demands. There’s also a pretty strong case for disaster recovery and deployment in developing countries as well.

Here’s a video detailing the concept:

Microsoft Generation 4 Data Centers

And another video detailing the actual implementation in Chicago:

Microsoft Chicago Data Center Container Bay

I saw this on today’s background image on Bing:

Zooming into the relevant part:

God is great, beer is good, and people are crazy.

Last weekend I finally got around to downloading the pictures off my camera, including the pictures from my recent cross-country journey from Atlanta to Seattle. I got to see a lot of great American countryside on that trip including the spectacular view of the Snake River from the bridge leading into Twin Falls, Idaho. Because I’m a giver (ha!) I thought that I’d share my experience with you via one of Microsoft’s coolest projects; photosynth:

This: http://www.readwriteweb.com/readwritehire/2008/12/microsoft-project-team.php

Made me laugh this morning. Although it is all true, I find it funny that anyone would care that much about me moving to work for Microsoft. That, and being quoted on a news site is cool, but also strangely creepy.

Normally I frown upon people who post blog entries that talk about the frequency (or lack thereof) of their blog posts… generally a post of that type assumes that people actually read your blog and care if you post or not. An assumption that I find rather comical in general given the average readership of most blogs (mine included), and quite outrageous in this particular case given that my last post was over two months ago and by now the few followers I had have undoubtedly moved on to richer reading pastures. So, on that count there’s no reason to apologize for the lack of posts recently. Furthermore, far be it from me that my site would become just another tombstone in the vast graveyard of dead blogs filled with posts lamenting the lack of time for proper writing.

Anyways, that said, it’s been a wild couple of months. I left Atlanta on the 29th of June, Seattle bound. After a long cross-country trip with a brief stop in Colorado I arrived in Seattle on the 6th of July. There hasn’t been one aspect of my life that has not changed at least a little, and most areas have changed so significantly that I have yet to fully grasp the magnitude of the difference.

Since I left Atlanta:

• I’ve gone from living in a double-occupancy room in a fraternity house to living in an apartment alone to living in a three-story townhouse with a friend from GA.
• I have not eaten at Jason’s Deli, not even once.
• I’ve left my church home at Buckhead Church where the music was like a rock concert and Andy reiterated everything three times for 30 minutes tops and started attending Mars Hill Church where the music is indie-ish and Mark Driscoll yells at us for at least an hour every Sunday.
• I’ve gone from being a poor grad student to working for the largest software company on the planet although, in contrast, my wardrobe has remained relatively constant.
• I’ve gone from working out at the GT Rec Center with a bunch of college aged guys and one girl to working out at what amounts to the Microsoft Rec Center with a bunch of 40 year-old guys and no girls
• I’ve gone from walking 5-10 minutes to and from class/work to a 30 minute minimum drive from home to work. I now take the bus almost every day.
• I can pretty much afford to eat out whenever I want, but I no longer have nearly as many friends to take with me.
• I’ve gone from living in the middle of constant activity to living in a quiet neighborhood and working alone at a desk for most of the day.
• I’ve gone from near constant involvement at Theta Xi to nearly none outside of observing the e-mail lists.
• I’ve gone from anticipating the GT football season with great excitement to mere indifference.
• I used to sweat just looking outside, now I wear a polar fleece jacket nearly every morning, and often throughout the entire day.
• I’ve gone from having to pay for each load of laundry in washers and dryers with two clothing settings: Maul and Destroy to having a washer and dryer with more settings than a mid-sized aircraft.
• I’ve gone from having basically everything I own in one room to having to go to Ikea to get stuff to fill up all the extra rooms in the house.
• There hasn’t been a day, or really even an hour, that I haven’t missed all of my great friends back in Georgia in one way or another.
• I’ve been blessed with the seeds of new friendships here in Seattle.
• I’ve struggled as God has moved me across the country and away from all my connections, comforts and familiarity to the place He wants me to be. And I’ve been amazed as He has given me grace to persevere in the face of what can often be overwhelming sadness and frustration.

And that’s just a few of the things going on now. When people ask how the move has gone I usually tell them that it’s like a roller coaster; there are up days and there are down days but in the end the entire thing is an exhilarating ride. It’s been a very exciting period in my life, but as I get settled in the swings become less frequent, and less severe. As I move forward I always try to recall the feeling of awesome opportunity that I had in anticipation of the move when I was still in Georgia.

And, if all else fails, I just book a ticket “home” for the weekend

I’ve always admired the architecture in the Star Wars movies, particularly the massive scale of Coruscant (pictured). Apparently so do the people over at the Architect’s Journal.

Many of  you have been wondering what I’ve been so busy with this summer, well now I can tell you:

http://topsellingauthors.com/world/top_stories/1383/3056/matt_roe

Last night we discovered some of the cool things you can do with a flashlight and the extended exposure settings on your camera:

Blog crossover wtih the Pro-Blog about the physical arrangement of my new server system:

http://pro-blog.mattroe.net/?p=117