Sunfish Pond

Posted on July 25th, 2010 webmaster 1 comment          Print

I went hiking at Sunfish Pond today in Columbia, NJ (just before exit 1 on Route 80 West).  My iPod Nano’s pedometer shows I walked just over 18,000 steps, so that’s roughly 9 miles.  The terrain is very rocky but the hills are not very steep so a beginner hiker should be fine, it’s just pretty long.  Just follow the white trail all the way to the pond.

The main attraction, the Sunfish Pond, is very nice and big.  There are plenty of big rocks around it where you can sit down and relax.  I spent a few minutes checking out the area and then found a nice spot where I can take a break, eat my lunch, and enjoy the scenery.  About 5 minutes later, a park ranger stopped by just letting everyone know that there’s a severe thunderstorm warning (great…).  And sure enough, a few minutes after that as I was finishing up my lunch it started raining! .  So that pretty much ruined my plan of chilling here for at least an hour reading Vagabonding.

This trail is supposed to be a loop so I was thinking of just continuing to follow the trail but I spoke to some of the hikers there who were also going to the same direction and it looks like they parked at a different parking lot so I decided to just go back the same way I came from.  I was wearing my new KSO Treks for this hike, by the way.  They’re very comfy thanks to the soft, flexible kangaroo leather but they’re even more comfortable with Injinji socks.  They also do a great job protecting your feet from sharp rocks thanks to the thicker rubber sole.  You can still feel the rocks but they don’t hurt at all!

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The application has failed to start because its side-by-side configuration is incorrect

Posted on July 11th, 2010 webmaster No comments          Print

Error Message:

The application has failed to start because its side-by-side configuration is incorrect.

Received this error after submitting an application written in C++ to the Microsoft HPC Server 2008 cluster.  To fix it, simply install the Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable Package on the compute nodes.  I recommend you install both the 32-bit and 64-bit versions as you may have some users compiling their applications in 32-bit and some in 64-bit.

Reference: http://docs.hp.com/en/BA683-90006/ch13s08.html

Downloads

• Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable Package (x86)
• Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable Package (x64)

Ramapo Valley County Reservation

Posted on July 11th, 2010 webmaster No comments          Print

I hiked for almost 3 hours this afternoon at the Ramapo Valley County Reservation in Mahwah, NJ with my VFF KSOs.  I’ve been hiking a lot lately and I can thank the VFFs for that, it’s just so much fun to hike/walk with these shoes!

This is a pretty nice park for hiking, it’s big and there’s quite a variety of terrains.  There’s a paved section, dirt trails, rocky ones (both with big rocks and small rocks), some area with grass, some covered with leaves, etc.  There’s a lot of people also walking their dogs here and there’s a lake area where they take their dogs for a swim (this is a nice spot to take a break as well, nice view and breezy).  I also passed a couple of old guys riding their big horses further down a narrow trail, which I thought was pretty weird (definitely didn’t expect that).  There’s also an overlook (follow the blue trail) but it wasn’t that nice of a view, the trees are blocking most of the view.

There’s a bunch of spots I missed, though, so I’d probably come back here at some time.  There’s supposed to be a waterfall here, some old ruins, and another lake passed the other lake where I stopped to take a break (someone was asking me about it on my way down).

My feet are a little sore right now, I guess it’s a good sign that they got a pretty nice workout, I just hope it doesn’t get worse when I wake up tomorrow!  Vibram also has a  KSO Trek model which is designed for this type of activity and I’m actually considering a pair of those.  They’re supposed to have a little bit thicker sole which would definitely help on rocky terrains as I’ve stepped on some sharp rocks and they hurt quite a bit (didn’t leave any bruises or cuts though, so the VFFs did their job).

I also found this nice website while doing some research on the KSO Treks that seems to be dedicated to Vibram Five Fingers and has a lot of information: http://www.birthdayshoes.com

If you’re near the area and like hiking, check out this park.  Just watch out for snakes…and dog poop!

Some pics below: