Jodi and I have been in Wisconsin for a day, marking the second half of our trip to the Midwest. We’re leaving Park Falls tomorrow for Osh Kosh, then on to Madison on Tuesday and Wednesday. I sat outside today, working on the PC I built for my in-laws using the wireless that I setup last Christmas (the wireless was more for my siblings-in-law, so they can more easily use the DSL here with their laptops). Jodi and I took a long walk tonight, a three-mile loop past a number of neighbors and fields.
The PC I made for my in-laws is a linux-based, 300 MHz machine with a few hundred megabytes of memory. A modest machine, but it runs Fedora linux with no problems. However, somehow my father-in-law always manages (totally unintentionally) to get the DSL modem and computer into a state of uselessness. This time, I took pictures of the setup and copious notes, so I can fix problems by remote, if needed. After installing all the updates, I made sure all the accounts were in order. Overall, I am happy – “donut”, as the machine is known, looks pretty good. I’d like to get a new hard drive in this thing, but that’s a project for another time.
During our walk today, we passed by the big house for sale down by the lake (behind my in-laws’ house). For years, I’ve been dreaming about having enough money to buy the land and house and establish a physics institute in Park Falls. I’d invite physicists to spend summers and winters there, working on the in-house computer network and farm (a nice linux project, right there!), and try to secure travel fellowships for students. The idea would be to have a very quiet place to work, a place free from the distractions of the city or the lab, with home comforts, and colleagues with whom you could work ideas, argue, and maybe even collaborate. It’s been a slowly growing dream of mine. Selfishly, it would be a way to dodge the annoying professor rat-race and establish a place where physicists at all levels are welcome. Jodi and I could run the place, provide help where necessary and possible, and try to collaborate on our own projects.
