It is week #154 and it is slowly getting brighter every day. Today the sunsight was 10:32 and sunclipse was 4:49 for a total of 6h 16m 44s. That’s 6m 03s gained from yesterday. We’ll rocket along at this pace until the equinox then begin to slow again until the summer solstice with a near 24h of sunlight.
Week #154 shares it’s name with 154 Bertha, a large main belt asteroid with an estimated diameter of over 180km. Astronomically, week 154 also shares the glory with Ross 154 a red dwarf star in the constellation Sagittarius. It is estimated to be a very young star at less than a billion years old.
This week we had a several interesting meetings. We synced-up with some folks in Australia with the hope of developing some financial dashboard software. We also met-up with several members of the Icelandic Parliament to pitch some software ideas. Everyone is interested and it looks like it is going forward. Of course this means more meetings about what gets developed along with deadlines for rolling out features bit by bit.
As part of the Vísar: Skólapúlsinn product, we conducted a parent survey last spring. The results of which have always been online in our old software system. Over the last few weeks we migrated the data out of the old system and into the new reporting app. This week we contacted the ~100 customers and let them know about how to log into our new system and see the reports. Over the next few weeks we’ll be sorting out small bugs and gathering feedback to improve the system.
We also managed to get a price quote for some letter press printing. One of the many bad things about using Icelandic providers is the lack of choice and variety as well as supplies. Sourcing 270g yellow paper proved much harder than it should. Now that we know our costs, it gets us a bit closer to actually launching a project we’ve had ready for several months now. January and February aren’t great months to start projects, ask for money or get new customers so we’re waiting out the post-christmas lull and expect to launch mid to late Feb. Stay tuned!
Our new office space is coming along. The painters and electricians have just about finished their work. The new concert floor has been applied and leveled. The surface seal is drying and we should be able to move in once the Internet connection has been installed.
Bric-à-brac
We had some visitors a few weeks ago. One was the very talented Kyle Bean who collected rocks from around Iceland to make this wonderful photo.
We also received a nice package from The Simon Sound Transit Authority. It was a lovely record and CD. It feels strange to hold a vinyl record again, especially a clear one.
From sound to taste: Bompas and Parr are a team of smart and interesting folks pushing the limits of our experience with food. This is a great interview with them highlighting some of their more interesting food related projects. The designs are beautiful and the ability to rapid prototype food production is something that certainly interests us. We want to bring many of these same ideas into our projects.
Finally, we wrap-up the week with this beautiful video of bird flight patterns. When you can begin to visualize the path which the bird flew, it creates a mesmerizing scene in the air.