Touring Dave’s company

Normally the facility where Dave works is not open to the public but a few weeks ago they had a family weekend where us outsiders were invited to take special tours of the facilities. It was a rare opportunity to get to see some places where Dave works!

We weren’t allowed to bring cameras or cell phones onto the grounds so I only have the two pictures taken by the company (and later emailed to us) to show for our day.

Our first tour stop was the world’s most powerful supercomputer. We saw simulations of how the thing works and then we were able to walk into the giant room where rows and rows and rows of processors live. When I saw the station to have your picture taken with the computer I laughed. I mean, who in the world needs their photo taken with a computer? Well, apparently we do. And so did the other hundreds of people visiting that day. So here it is, our photo with the world’s most powerful supercomputer. It’s Christmas card worthy, don’t you think? Ha!

Then we were able to tour the building where the laser Dave works on is housed. We learned all about the laser, saw bits and pieces of different parts that makes the system run and saw the outside of the target chamber. Then we got our picture taken with a blown up photo of part of the laser system. Super neat, huh? ;-)

Even though I thought the photos of us with pieces of equipment were hokey (but at least now I can prove I was at the facility!) it was a lot of fun to finally be able to see where Dave works. I’m glad we got to go together and I can’t wait until they open the facility again so I can see more!