Summer's Gone

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

Wood Duck

With 10 megapixel images, you can afford to crop photos a little more. It also helps to lure greedy duckies with food...

Reservoir Falls

A multitude of little streams were draining into the catchment area after constant Thanksgiving rains. Without a tilting LCD screen, I spent quite some time draped on the ground trying to steady the camera on rocks for some long exposures. I really should start carrying a tripod.

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.

XTi - f1.8/50mm test shots

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.

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.

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.

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.

One tactic involves automated calling at odd hours... "I'd like to tell you something about candidate X....". From the X campaign? Nope. Candidate Y motivating anti-X votes - the "make 'em mad" strategy.

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.

Warhol Gallery

Artworks by the Pittsburgh native not on display in more important art galleries have been assembled to form the Andy Warhol gallery.

Pittsburgh

Escaping Chicago for the Pittsburgh Diffraction Conference.

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.

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.

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.

Argonne Open House

The usually highly secure Argonne gates were thrown wide open today for the "open house" - an exercise in PR. Massive tents were pitched and shuttle buses hired to ferry people around site. Even the APS was opened to the public as Peter Lee explained synchrotron science to all.
	Being on experiments again over the weekend, the open house provided a welcome diversion. On top of getting "thermal portraits", we wandered through exhibits from Argonne divisions we'd never heard of, amassing high quality souvenirs emblazened with the Argonne logo (including playing cards with 52 protein structures solved at the APS).

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.