Saturday, December 30, 2006
Thursday, December 28, 2006
The City
Tuesday, December 26, 2006
Monday, December 25, 2006
Christmas Loot
Chrismas gift-giving seems more rewarding when the recipients are little. Even braving the shopping crowds is enjoyable. After nearly leaving the stores with an entire toy department, we settled on a baseball mitt/ball set for Noah, craft kits for Jacqueline and playdoh & bath crayons/dyes for Gaby.
I think Gaby had the most fun ripping off wrapping paper. Noah was a little confused by the mitt, but approved of the ball. Jacqueline was just taller than the Fur-Real horse that Santa left.
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Sunday, December 24, 2006
Xmas Lights 06
The year's winner of most elaborate Xmas lights display. This Windmill-St house had choreographed flashing lights in time with music broadcast on FM radio. |
Saturday, December 23, 2006
Lunch with Noah and Co.
At lunch I showed Noah, Pete's nephew, how to turn his smile lemon yellow - possibly to his parent's dismay. Lunch was followed by a trip to the toy store to prep Noah for what Santa was going to bring.
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Friday, December 22, 2006
The FedEx Tally
![]() | Not only are people criss-crossing the country for the holidays, but millions of presents are also en-route in FedEx and UPS road trains. |
Thursday, December 21, 2006
Christmas Road Trip '06
![]() | On the shortest day of the year, just before 5 am, we left on our 950 mile cross-country drive to the east-coast. |
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
Under Pressure
In high pressure science the puns come too easily, of course, this time there was the distinct possibility that something would explode - safety glasses were involved.
Sunday, December 10, 2006
Bird Feed
With the trees striped bare for winter, local Scout(?) troops decorated the branches with edible treats for the birds - pretty at first, but putrid after a few days. |
Saturday, December 09, 2006
Friday, December 08, 2006
Monday, December 04, 2006
Copyedit Hell
Despite the fact that journals employ techinical editors to ensure the grammatical fidelity of published papers, we are required to send manuscripts to the fussy, internal APS copy editors before submission. As far as I can tell, their purpose is to put red pen on each page of a manuscript and hyphenate every second pair of words. If you choose to omit the more obsurd suggestions, the manuscript is returned to you for re-correction. I wonder if I prepared a manuscript for the Journal of Solid State Chemistry (no hyphen!), would copy edit try to add hyphens, i.e., solid-state chemistry as they did today??
Saturday, December 02, 2006
Friday, December 01, 2006
Storm Slams Midwest*
Overnight, we had our first real snow for the year. OK, we did have a few flakes in October, but that wasn't more than fingernail deep. This time we had rain, then sleet, then snow, then more snow - the perfect recipe for slippery driving conditions. The roads were littered with car-casualties that spun out on the ice trying to get to work before the roads had been cleared. I slept in instead.
* blog title borrowed from tv news

Monday, November 27, 2006
Wood Duck
![]() | With 10 megapixel images, you can afford to crop photos a little more. It also helps to lure greedy duckies with food... |
Saturday, November 25, 2006
Reservoir Falls
Friday, November 24, 2006
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
Beware of Pucks
![]() | Its Thanksgiving eve, and my first ice hockey game (not counting Mighty Ducks 1 & 2). It was everything I expected, with bodies smashing against barriers, player punch-ups and flying pucks. |

Tuesday, November 21, 2006
Birthday Lobsters
Pete's parents treated him to fresh lobsters for his birthday. The lobsters weren't feeling quite so snappy after their nice warm bath.

Connecticut Thanksgiving
![]() | We're back in Connecticut staying with Pete's folks for an extended Thanksgiving holiday. In honour of our holiday, the weather is fantastic, although UPS is yet to show up with my new camera. |
Monday, November 20, 2006
Canon 400D/XTi
After years of faithful service from my Olympus C5050, I have finally decided to upgrade. Spending a considerable amount of time finding the best price online, I wanted my new toy ASAP and splurged on next day delivery. With any luck it will be waiting for me when I arrive in Connecticut tomorrow for Thanksgiving along with an extra lens - the Canon f1.8 50mm II.

Thursday, November 16, 2006
The Third Decade
It's a big birthday for Pete. As with any new stage in life, this is an excellent opportunity to take up a new hobby - brewing. Thankfully a high quality Australian product was available through Amazon.com and I wasn't forced to resort to the local "Mr Beer" brand.

Tuesday, November 07, 2006
US Mid-term elections
![]() | Yet more elections, and in the absence of compulsory voting, candidates not only need to convince people to vote for them, but to vote at all. |
Sunday, October 29, 2006
Fallingwater
Before returning from Pennsylvania, we visited the famous 1930's Frank Lloyd Wright construction, Fallingwater. The huge horizontal slab floors/terraces are cantilevered directly over a waterfall. My favourite design element? The retractable-glass covered stairs from the lounge down to the river above the falls. 

Friday, October 27, 2006
Warhol Gallery
![]() | Artworks by the Pittsburgh native not on display in more important art galleries have been assembled to form the Andy Warhol gallery. |

Thursday, October 26, 2006
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
Caution
![]() | Burning the candle at both ends, and in the middle too, with 4 experiments at once. Probably preferable to consecutive experiments but only just. |
Thursday, October 12, 2006
Brrrr
![]() | Its cold. Freezing in fact. We got the first dusting of snow for the winter today which is incidentally the earliest on record in Chicago. I hear there's a heatwave in Sydney. |
Monday, October 09, 2006
Midway-BWI-BWI-Midway
![]() | An early start (4am) to Maryland for the day to meet with collaborators. We attempted to form an outline for a paper, but with endless digressions we didn't progress much beyond the title. |
Saturday, October 07, 2006
Argonne Open House
Monday, October 02, 2006
Rain
![]() | After unseasonably heavy rainfall in Chicago, puddles occupy any slight depression in the otherwise flat landscape. The oval where geese normally munch grass is now their new pond. |
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
Sunday, September 24, 2006
26
Pete gave me this lovely Breville espresso machine for my birthday - a step up from my old one which I was forced to leave at home. It also helps fill the gap left when our favourite cafe "Elan" went out of business (sad, but we could only tolerate so much caffeine per day). We completed our little cafe with a burr grinder. Mmmm... coffee.
I wonder if coffee has anti-ageing properties?
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Saturday, September 23, 2006
Bridges of the Riverwalk
The excellent amenities in Naperville, which includes the riverwalk, probably contribute to its rating as 2nd in the 100 best places to live (in the US).
