Torlon 4503

Our latest scientific contribution has been published online J. Appl. Cryst. 40, 196---198. Its always nice to get that first paper of the year on the books early. And for those without personal subscriptions to IUCr journals... its open access.

Afternoon Conference Session

GRCs are very civilised, with conference sessions in the morning and evening, and the afternoons free to relax. This afternoon's relaxation involved heading up one of the many mountains formed around the San Andreas fault. We wanted to climb these mountains before they get decimated in a really big earthquake which is apparently well overdue.

Gordon Conference, Ventura, CA

This week I'm on the west coast for a Gordon Research Conference (Hydrocarbon Resources). Looking out over the Pacific from my room, you can almost make out Australia on the horizon - almost.

Rocky Mountains High

Flying west over the Rockies. They've had 3 huge snow storms in this area over the last few weeks with snow drifts up to ~10m. Imagine coming back from holidays and trying to find the front door.

Welcome to...

The City

Apparently we weren't the only ones with the bright idea to visit NY on a cold winter's day. The close-packed pedestrian traffic on 5th Avenue was like getting on a late running, all-stops, northbound train at Wynyard station. Stroller-pushing parents applied defensive strategies, ramming into the ankles of those in front (us!) to prevent others pushing in.

Pete's Great Aunt

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.

Reflections

Miss Jacqueline was fascinated by the ornaments.

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.

Carols on the Green

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.

City Fish

This butterfish comes with bonus starfish. I wonder why they're called butterfish

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.

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.

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.

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.

Mid-Holiday Season Turkey

Being away for both Thanksgiving and Christmas, we decided to cook our own mid-season turkey.

Ice Rings

A week below freezing, and seven ice contours by the river... like growth rings on a tree.

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??