Gregable

Hi, My name is Greg Grothaus and I look like →

I make software at Google and for myself. I like to adventure into the backcountry when I have spare time.

You have found my blog, Gregable.com.

Recent Posts

Mar 20, 2024
Personal Finance Setup

How I manage my daily finance accounts and why.
Nov 22, 2022
My vacuum waits by the trashcan to be emptied

How I automated my vacuum to head to the trashcan after cleaning.
Sep 17, 2022
GPU Prices leading up to the Ethereum Merge

A chart of the price drops of GPUs on eBay. Also a bonus chart of price per hashrate.
Mar 24, 2022
My Home Automations

A description of some of the home automations I've come up with.
Dec 12, 2021
Home Automation with Home Assistant

What I learned so far trying out Home Assistant
Mar 6, 2021
Lighting my roof with WS2815 LEDs

What I learned while installing WS815 strip lighting on my roof
Jan 16, 2021
Hiking Quieter Trails

Bay Area Trails I've been exploring during Covid
Aug 24, 2019
SVG Airport Diagrams

Afternoon coding project to generate airport diagrams using web components.
Mar 27, 2019
AMP Email

My thoughts on the recent AMP Email announcement and why it matters.
Mar 8, 2018
Building an igloo near Lake Tahoe

Trip report from my first attempt at igloo building near South Lake Tahoe
Oct 20, 2017
Indexed Annuities - Anatomy of a financial scam

A detailed look into an equity-indexed annuity.
Aug 6, 2017
Sierra Jewels

Trip report from hike along the PCT and JMT starting at Agnew Meadows trailhead near Mammoth.
Apr 29, 2017
Mt Kosciuszko Summit

Trip report from summiting Mt Kosciuszko, the tallest peak in Australia.
Jan 7, 2017
Social Security Tools

Over the holiday break, I build a small website that generates a report detailing a person's social security benefit.
Aug 28, 2016
Yukon River Canoeing

8 day canoe trip report from the mighty Yukon river in Canada. Abandoned steamboats, grizzly tracks, northern lights, fly fishing, lake storms, and lots of fun.
Aug 11, 2015
Elkhorn Slough Kayaking Trip

Elkhorn Slough in Northern CA is the best place in the world to check out otters. Trip report and description of how you can visit.
May 27, 2015
Green River Canoeing Trip

Five day canoe trip down the Green River to meet up with the mighty Colorado.
Sep 16, 2014
Mission Peak residents block hikers

The wealthy homeowners who built homes at the base of this urban, public-access peak are fighting to restrict access.
Aug 2, 2014
Mt Rainier

Trip report for a six day mountaineering and summit of Mt Rainier.
Jun 26, 2014
Degrees Gregable

My proposal for an improved temperature scale, clearly superior to both Celsius and Fahrenheit.
Jun 25, 2014
One year of Solar Panels

It has been roughly one year since installing solar panels on my home, and now I can compare some real data to my theoretical estimates.
Jan 12, 2014
Mt Olympia Hike, Part of Mt Diablo State Park

Trip report from a day hike up to Mt Olympia, a lesser-known and tranquil mountain in Mt Diablo park.
Oct 6, 2013
Majority Voting Algorith - Find the majority element in a list of values

Imagine that you have a non-sorted list of values. You want to know if there is a value that is present in the list for more than half of the elements in that list. You want to accomplish this as efficiently as possible.
May 25, 2013
Residential Solar Financials

In 2013 I researched and installed a set of solar panels. This is an in-depth guide to how the economics work out.
Sep 6, 2011
Yosemite High Sierras

6 day trip report hiking between Yosemite's High Sierra camps.
Aug 15, 2011
Canyon Creek Backpacking in California's Trinity Alps

My first trip to the Trinity Alps takes us up Canyon Creek to a pair of lovely lakes.
Jul 8, 2011
My Circles

An early look at my 'social graph'.
Apr 27, 2011
The Nap Pod Awakens

Sweet Dreams in a Goole Nap Pod.
Sep 29, 2010
Why you should learn just a little Awk - An Awk tutorial by Example

An Awk tutorial by example. Learn practical Awk incantations in just a few minutes.
Aug 31, 2010
Mt. Kilimanjaro Summit

Trip report from my attempt to summit the continent of Africa's highest peak, Mt. Kilimanjaro.
Jul 17, 2010
Epic but easy backpacking: Lassen Cinder Cone and Snag Lake

Trip report from my first backpacking trip with Cristin. A hike through some of the volcanic terrain of Mt. Lassen National Park.
Aug 26, 2009
Blacksmithing in Oakland
Apr 23, 2009
Future Car

Test driving the Aptera
Nov 14, 2008
PQ Tree Algorithm

An algorithm for finding an ordering of elements that preserves contiguity constraints.
Oct 8, 2007
Reservoir Sampling - Sampling from a stream of elements

An algorithm for evenly sampling elements from a stream of elements, without first knowing the length of the stream.