Thursday, March 31, 2005

Gene Ice - Balladeer

Texan Gene Ice wrapped up his conference presentation in song. (The lyrics are on the screen so sing along). My talk was much more mundane.

Wednesday, March 30, 2005

EpiPen

I used my EpiPen for the first time yesterday after a bad encounter with walnuts. (This was despite the chef swearing that he'd only used almonds in my dessert.) I have to admit that I was a real woose about jabbing myself.

Tuesday, March 29, 2005

The internet

"The internet wasn't created for mockery, it was supposed to help researchers at different universities share data sets" - Homer Simpson (2005)

Share????

Magnolia House, Marysville, VIC

The cutest, fluffiest kookaburra I've seen joined us for breakfast today on the deck of Magnolia house, which our group has rented out for the week of the SCANZ conference.

Monday, March 28, 2005

Crystal-24

Down to Marysville, a small town in the "Mystic" mountains ~1.5hr north-east of Melbourne, for Crystal-24 (SCANZ crystallography conference) and a workshop on how to replace grad students by 6-axis robotic arms.

Sunday, March 27, 2005

Ben's Photo Shoot

Ben needs b&w studio shots for entering piano competitions. And he needs them now. I think we managed one shot where he wasn't grimacing, rolling his eyes or out of focus.

Saturday, March 26, 2005

New neighbour

While I was away a big FAT spider moved in and built himself a mansion just outside my window.

Thursday, March 24, 2005

Home Sweet Home

I've been delivered safely home to my family who barely recognised me after another lengthy absence. Thanks Qantas.

Wednesday, March 23, 2005

Due to a westerly encounter with the International date line, this entry has been deleted.

Saturday, March 19, 2005

St Pat's Chicago Style

Snuck away from experiments for a couple of hours to meet up with Sandra and Stephen and their crazy friends to hear her cousin's cousin's husband's band play at the Irish pub for the local St Patrick's season celebrations.

Wednesday, March 16, 2005

Quasi-crystal Goo

Check it out. That fleck of sample may be Nobel-worthy.
It can't be a bad thing to run a few samples for a potential Nobel laureate. Notice the high tech mount - sandwiched between 2 pieces of tape with bulldog clips.

Tuesday, March 15, 2005

Argonne's White Deer

The white deer graze freely around the Argonne lab. This one's grown a nice set of antlers just in time for spring.

Monday, March 14, 2005

Sunset Chicago

Sunsets in Chicago are always pretty stunning. Must have something to do with the land being as flat as a pancake

Saturday, March 12, 2005

Wednesday, March 09, 2005

Sunrise over the APS

The only occasions when I'm awake early enough to see the sun rise is during experiments.

Tuesday, March 08, 2005

PDF Experiments

All set up and ready to go. Bring on the photons.

Monday, March 07, 2005

High energy

What's 3 mm thick, made of copper and sits in the synchrotron beam? A filter. After a year or so the beam burnt through this filter which needed replacing.

Set up at 11-ID-B

Pete and Chuck setting up for experiments at sector 11.

Sunday, March 06, 2005

Nemo. Nemo. Nemo

Business must have picked up at the Shedd Aquarium, Chicago after the success of Finding Nemo with scores of rugrats there to visit. I found Nemo too.

Wednesday, March 02, 2005

BA297 LHR-ORD

Farewell to old England. Hello Chicago.
Another luxurious flight with British Airways, where the food is worse than Qantas, but they give you less frequent flyer points to make up for it.

Tuesday, March 01, 2005

Enough Snow

It's official. I'm over snow. For a while it was novel, but with day after day of English snow where there is not enough to be pretty and only enough to be cold and wet, I've had my fill. Good thing I'm leaving tomorrow - Chicago here I come.