Particle Man

Our Time in Oz and Japan.

2008-01-27T10:11:00.001Z

Firstly, I can say without a doubt that we simply didn't have enough time in Oz. Maybe it isn't possible to have enough time in Oz.... We want to move back.

Christmas was great- seeing our family after a 2 year absence was pretty mind-blowing. Our parents hadn't really changed, but more and more we want to get to know who they really are. Our siblings hadn't changed much either, but all had things to show and tell. Most of all the children had changed, and I feel sad about missing that.

After Christmas we had a wedding of two good friends. Great wedding, great day.... Congratulations Jez and Claire....
: )

After the wedding we hit the Snowies and what is becoming known as 'Dugbo'. For the first time since our wedding we managed to get the whole walking group together again... including Master Henry who must be the most delightful 2-year old I've ever had the chance to take tea with. His hot and cold porridge is also recommended. Basically Dugbo was about lazying around, eating, sleeping, walking and talking with our closest friends. Basically we all shared the newly-weds honeymoon.... celebrated Fiona's birthday.....

put on lots of sun-screen, photographed the flowers..... At the same time my sister and her family were staying in Perisher so I spent a day with them. It was fun running around with the kids and seeing them.

Iain and I spent a day together by ourselves in the Snowies.... very chilled. There is no way to describe how good it felt to see and smell the Australian bush. What a great time!

We finally returned to Sydney, after popping on by the National Gallery to see the Sidney Nolans (Ned Kelly series), and to have lunch with the newly married Jez and Claire. We had a great time!

Back in Sydney it was all about seeing people and seeing people. Iain managed to get in a few days of rock-climbing, I managed to visit a few colleagues. Spent a day with Daniela and her lab. Things look good for her- but it is still very stressful when the whole concept of science funding comes up. In general that was pretty sad for me. I still believe in Australian science, but don't understand why it is so poorly funded. Go get 'em Daniela! Somehow Iain and I will make it back to work in Science.

I got to fly my kite one day.... in the sun... on the beach..... I love my kite.

Dinner with more friends, attempts to catch up with more people, brunch with our parents,
a little cleaning and tidying and sorting and shopping, Sushi with Dan and Laura, mussels and beer with Dave and Kate, BBQ with Geoff and Bel, a party without Dave at his place (thanks Dave!), dinner with Greg and Sue, Chloe and Sam....
a tour of the new Kennett establishment and an awesome Rasberry souffle, Lucky's Pizza with Ian and Heidi, markets with the girls. More time, we just needed more time.....

It really took no time for the 13th to come around..... 13th meant flying to Japan.

After some good-byes at the airport we hit our Qantas evening flight with the intension of sleeping to Japan. As always ideas are nice in theory, but in practice a large group of rowdy Australian teenagers ruined our plans. So, sleepless and maddened we arrived at Narita airport, negotiated the only bank machine that would serve foriegn credit cards and bought Nozumi tickets on the bullet train to Kyoto.
It was a strange sleep-riddled trip- things were surreal. One Bento box of rice and other unusual things our tummys were full and we were tired but ready to hit the sights.

It was a public holiday- Coming of Age Day.... and the first temple we visited, called Fushimi Inari was crawlling with locals in traditional dress. Fushimi Inari has hundreds of huge red Tori's that run up and down a little mountain. It was cold- very cold, and we were pretty pleased to get back to our hotel room to warm up and get some sleep. By this stage I'd come down with a cold/flu thing from hell and I had the worst fever I've had for a long time. At this point I'd like to thank the people that developed Sudafed, because without it our expensive 5 days in Japan would have been completely wasted. Thanks to Sudafed I was able to solider on regardless.

Day two: Golden Pavillion- got there early and there wasn't a soul there... a such a beautiful day in Kyoto. Then we went to theIwatayama Monkey Park in Arashiyama in Kyoto (more excellent photo opportunities) and then wandered around Arashiyama (one of the best things we did!). We saw bamboo forests and made it out to a few more unusual temples and shrines including Otagi Nenbutsu-ji (my favorite).Finally, for dinner we wandered into Gion district....

Day Three: The morning was Heian Jingu Shrine. This is the temple from 'Lost in Translation" where she jumps across the stones in the water. There are just so many places we could have gone in Kyoto- easily. We also spent some time in the Kyoto craft centre choosing a wood-block print to bring home. In the afternoon we took the Nozumi back to Tokyo, checked into our hotel in Ginza (the Washington Ginza), and met up with Chris Lukey who kindly took us out to dinner. The food is Japan is GREAT!!! You might not know what you are eating, but generally everything we had was good (except the slimey fermented bacterial 'Nato' for breakfast, not recommended).

Day Four: Tokyo- out to Harajuku and to Akihabara. Dinner was Sushi, and then we wandered around Ginza. Crazy place- lots of lights and stuff.

Day Five: 5 am start at the Fish Markets (6 min walk from the hotel). Even crazier- so much action so early in the morning.... headed back to the hotel, packed our bags and headed for the airport.... plane delayed 2 hrs, but when we finally got in the air the plane was almost empty- Iain had 4 seats to himself, and I had 3.....

Hit London at around 8 pm.... got back home by about 11 pm. Spent the weekend trying to recover.

And now it is business as usual.

Planning another holiday already – a short trip to Morocco......

Christmas in Oz

2008-01-20T05:11:00.000Z

Well, I've copped a far amount of criticism for not blogging more regularly... so I'll try harder starting from now.

It is 5 am Sunday morning. Most of you will know that I am NOT a morning person. So, you might wonder what am I doing up at this crazy hour. Most of you will conclude that I've just not gone to bed yet, or that I'm stuck at work running an experiment and am bored.

If you thought these things then you'd be wrong..... plain and simple.... jet-lag! I've not really experienced it like this before, but that is life. I rolled over this morning to find Iain gone... he has it even worse than I and was up at 4 am.

So, we arrived home in Cambridge at 11 pm on Friday night. It's a long story so I'll start from before Christmas when we left.

Twas the night before Christmas and Iain and Kate,
had their bags all packed, their labels on tight.
Their passports lined their pockets with care,
in the hope that their homeland would soon be there.

They boarded a taxis, followed by a bus
that drove them to Heathrow amoungst all the fuss.
The fog was so thick that the planes were all down,
Excepting for long-hauls, relieving their frown.

They squeezed on the plane and sat in their seats,
Not a single one was vacant, everyone wanted the Ozzie heat.
The plane it took off making a clean get-away,
We were all grateful we did not have to stay.

Movies and food and some disturbed sleep,
I've got very few memories of this I shall keep.
At mid-way house we hit Singapore,
Twas hot and humid and left us wanting more.

In Syndey we landed on Chrismtas Day,
And immediately headed our homeward way.
Throught the warmth and the traffic in Sydney our home,
While listening quietly to the taxi driver moan.

Iain, he said, has an English accent.
I'm not sure he really knew what he meant.
We watched in wonder as Syndey passed by,
Inside we both felt a joyous cry!

And slowly but surely Castlecrag came into sight,
While the sunlight was fading, but still was warm and bright.
Inside everyone was just starting the Christmas meal,
So we joined them and ate, and drank, and talked- twas surreal.

Christmas in Sydney was all about Sun,
And having lots and lots of fun.
We didn't last long after the long flight
And soon we wished all a Happy Chrismtas and all a good night!

Well, that was what the flight was like.... we arrived at aqbout 8.30pm at Castlecrag on Christmas night. It was a beautiful warm evening (most people were complaining it was too cold), but to our damp-soaked UK bones it felt like heaven. We hadn't been back for 2 years!!!!!

An important note to make here: TWO YEARS IS TOO LONG!!!!!!

Anyway, I'm tired again (I've got a really nasty cold from Japan), so I'm going to leave this installment there and try to go back and get some sleep.

I've try to get through the social stuff later today so I can get to Japan which was fun as well and has better pics.

Adios.

K.

What to do?

2007-06-05T23:42:00.000+01:00

Sitting here with Harry wondering what we should do in the future.

Harry has concluded that climbing is good, piano is good, and making furniture is good.

And a later remark... Women and beer are good.

From my seat, mmm, sleep is good, wine is good, lavender is good (Harry agrees with this), chess is good (for E)....

Sloe Gin is good....

Revolving headspace

2007-03-31T12:26:00.000+01:00

It's been a strange time. News that E's boss is heading to Oxford has sparked up our desire to gaze into the future and attempt to direct and control probably the uncontrollable.

We've been searching our selves, our relationship and the Internet for answers. Attending career seminars on life out of science, which revealed to both of us, independently that we would rather drop out of the rat-race all together than leave fundamental research science.

So here we are, back where we started trying harder than ever to make this work. At times it seems dark, really unbelievably dark. We both have moments where we are lost in consternation, worrying about it all. It is the only thing I've ever wanted to do- ever! E says it is the only thing he wants to do too. Somehow it just has to work out. We keep fantasizing about it.

Currently it looks like we will be seperated across the UK- him in Oxford, me in Cambridge, paying through the nose to live in horrible little rooms somewhere dreaming of a future where man and wife can live together both working as scientists, hopefully close to our families...... I never thought once we were married that we would be seperated like this. It is sad, but it looks like since we are desperate to do science and we dream of coming home (which looks further and further away than ever), that this is the most likely path to enlightenment.

And every day more and more of our peers leave.... and when we talk to the rest who haven't, most say they hate it and they want to get out. I don't feel this. E doesn't feel this. Why?

It is confusing. We feel pulled in many directions, and pressured to abandon our dreams to adopt a more 'fundable' pathway.

So far we stand true......

Oh, and three good things:
1) E did 6 lovely Westerns yesterday that worked beautifully, making him very happy. Him being very happy makes me very happy. So, we are still feeling happy when we don't think further than next week. Feeling happy is good.
2) It is Saturday and I am planning some ME time to read, do some craft and maybe go and buy a book.... I am looking forward to it.
3) Last weekend I bought a 'moon' light from Habitat's VIP collection for children. It was designed by Buzz Aldrin and is a replica of the moon, with all the correct craters etc. I am currently enjoying very much lying in bed at night watching it..... I love the moon.

Keep up the optimisim....

2007-03-06T23:19:00.000Z

Three great things that happened today.

1. The sun was shining, and the sky was blue. It felt wonderful.

2. Dinner was good. Late though at 10:30 pm, but good none the less!

3. Had an email from one of my friends asking to join a recipe swap. While it's a little like a chain email, I'm kind of keen to recieve mystery recipes in the mail. I enjoy cooking and a new recipe recommended by someone else is normally fun to cook. I hope some people join up the chain (tacky nasty things that they are) and send a few recipes.... I'm also keen to try one of these blogging crafters swaps. They should be fun. Mystery packets and parcels, I love getting things in the post!

Our friends from Sydney arrive tomorrow with baby Chloe. We will be visiting Scotland together which show be fun. I'll post more after the weekend.

Hey out there!

I miss you all friends.... Cambridge can be lonely sometimes.

A baby girl!

2007-02-24T00:06:00.000Z

One of my friends has just had a baby girl!

It's so exciting!!!!

I'm happy for you Jen, and for Dan, Dante and Atticus.

Meanwhile Cambridge is rainy. And I'm getting over a nasty cold (so is Hubby, and he is a bit grumpy about it!).

This weekend I should finish the book chapter I'm writing, ready for the final proof reading.
Oh, and I'm planning a new quilt... just waiting for the fabric to arrive in the post.

Hail to the new year!

2007-01-23T22:06:00.000Z

So little time, but so little to say as well.....

But, hello!

We've just returned from a quick little jaunt around South Wales. Great little spot it is as well. The event was our first wedding anniversary. People said I was mad planning a trip to Wales in winter, but we had a great time, good accomodation, good food, nice people, sunshine, snow, sea and fossils....

It doesn't get any better for 3 days away! Felt like a week.

i've posted some pics, but i've gotta go now and get some work done.

Charming Cotswolds

2006-12-06T20:31:00.001Z

It is always great to get out of Cambridge- not that Cambridge is bad, just that it is nice to get away!

So, a quick trip to the Cotswolds (which is out near Oxford and surrounding shires) with two lovely couples and gorgeous little Alice!

We were staying in Broadway. A cute little town- what I expected England to be like. We had fun cooking, drinking, playing games and walking all weekend, as well as a few trips to the pub.

Here are a few pics!

Nick checking out the woolly pigs, some Christmas berries, our first mole hills (successfully climbed), a cool house in Upper Slaughter (great name eh?), Broadway and of course us lazing around in our top little house!

Thanks Isa!!!

And of course, three great things that happened today:
I got the Oz pressies and cards posted!
My cloning seemed to work last night
I'm enjoying some excellent cheese we brought back from the Cotswolds!

Thursday... feeling like a Friday!

2006-11-30T20:57:00.000Z

Its Thursday night... but really, its like a Friday! Why? We are off to the Cotswolds for a weekend away tomorrow.

I can't wait.

I'm finishing my cards for Christmas, sitting in the living room. Its cold outside.

This is what I'm drinking.

This is dinner.

Here are the little chaps I made on the weekend.

Here is their home.

And here is my dining room Christmas decoration.

Three good things today are:
1) Wrote lots on my book chapter. I'm almost up to date!
2) Dinner smells spectacular.
3) My boss has taken all my crystals to shoot at the Synchrotron tomorrow!

Hope you are all well. Tell you more when I get back from our weekend away!

K.

Three Good Things...

2006-11-27T20:38:00.000Z

After talking with mum and dad this evening, I've heard that scientists have shown that if you think of three good things that have happened to you during the day, then you are likely to be happier. Since Scientists are always right I'm going to give it a try.

So, for today.....

1) Had a long chat with my sister in Sydney today.
2) Found out that my niece liked her Mermaid that I sent for her birthday.
3) Had a chat with my parents- and that they are well, and also happy.

Time to cook dinner. Thai red curry....

Yum!

Danish Christmas Mice, Cake and Sea salt

2006-11-19T23:11:00.000Z

Well, it has been an eventful weekend- and productive! Saturday I managed to get almost all my Christmas shopping done.

Saturday night was great fun. We went to our friends (AJ and Tina) for a Danish Christmas party. Tina cooked up a storm, and over much eating and drinking we played some very amusing party games. You can see from the photos that some of us were not feeling so well this morning!

Today was also productive. My lovely husband decided to help me out and he baked our Christmas cake. I'm so lucky!

For me though, I had to get cracking since I needed to finish my niece's birthday present. Well, she is finished- not my best, but made with plenty of love. I hope she has a safe voyage to the Blue Mountains, where I believe there are lots of bush fires. Stay safe everyone!

Now I've got to clean up.....

Ciao.

Red wine and I'm still lost.

2006-11-17T22:04:00.000Z

It's Friday night. Thankfully I made it this far.

It has been a week from hell, and I've got to get my head around it before next week explodes. Am I the only person that suffers from this sort of problem? I've a list a mile long (yes, now I'm in the UK I'm talking miles.... sorry). It really is overwhelming when I think of all the things I want to do. I think it is Christmas that is the problem, and the fact that my lovely friends are all overseas.... in the States, in Denmark, and of course in Oz. I miss Oz.

Let me say that again
I miss Oz.

I don't think my friends really believe me. I feel sometimes that my job is a Tour of Duty, but I'm losing focus as to what that duty is.

I think it is the weather..... it gets you down sometimes.

So, being a scientist I should look at all this logically. I'll start with a few 'bits' that are on my list, and then I can sit back and think about it.

1. Get some science done (this is a very long and slow process, it never stops and I always never have enough results to justify any relaxation)... so, lets move on....

2. Organise Christmas.
Christmas is sort of the strangest thing for us here. We spend it in Cambridge all by ourselves since it is so damn far and so damn expensive to go home to see everyone. When I say it like that it brings tears to my eyes. All our friends are growing and changing and we are missing out..... all the babies are now children, I have a trail of changed addresses in my little black book, I don't even know where most people really live anymore, other than on paper..... where do they wak up in the morning? I wish I knew. It hasn't been 2 years yet! I digress- I guess since we are so alone I like to try to make it special. My husband doesn't seem to care but I do the whole thing- last year I cooked a Goose. This year, well, it might be duck.... add that to the list- organise a duck!

3. Organise more Christmas.... I have to be super organised since it all has to be sent well in advance if it is to make it to Oz in time. I've finished making my cards, just got the labels sorted, now I need to find the energy to write on them. I've got a string of presents to acquire.......

4. Write a book chapter. I don't even know how I got bullied into it, but I've got to write a text book chapter on microbial physiology. 12000 words and figures for publication...... it has to be exact. Science is not forgiving. Close enough is NOT good enough.

5. I lost my mobile phone this week. Surprisingly I feel insecure without it, and I barely even use it. I spent 30 minutes on the phone getting a new one organised and all saving my old number and transfering it to my new SIM. At least that worked out. Of course I've lost all the phone numbers I had.

6. It is my nieces birthday soon, and I need to finish making her present. I've got a long way to go.... Why do I take on such crazy tasks? I think I need creative outlets to stop me from going mad. I am mad. I know that....

7. Oh, and then it is back to Christmas. There is that big Christmas party we are having at out place..... there is the decorations, the invites and the food/drink to sort out.

8. Organise a trip away with my husbands friends for the first week in December. Well, this is mostly done by one of the other people : ), however I'm kind of double booked and might have to pull a crazy 24hr stunt travelling from the Sychrotron in Grenobel back to London within 24 hrs (non-stop, no sleep, this is what being a crystallographer apparently is all about).

9. Mix the Sloe Gin bottles..... (I'm worried they aren't as good as last year since the colour is being imparted much more slowly). We still have a freezer full of Sloes.

10. House work- washing, cleaning, fix the crack in the bathroom titles that leaks everytime you have a shower into the kitchen below.

11. My glass of wine is empty..... I need to think about it all again.

I hope your mind is more settled than mine. I'll be fine tomorrow, or even if my husband returns tonight for dinner. It is 10.30pm, still haven't cooked dinner but he said he'd be home at around 8-9pm.... I'm used to it. Maybe I'll just go to bed.

Sweet dreams everyone! Maybe it will be better tomorrow.

Adieu.

Robin Hood in Epping Forest

2006-11-11T20:58:00.000Z

It's getting dark these days- but since we hired a car this weekend (so we can go Sloe picking tomorrow with friends) we decided to go to Epping Forest because I was desperate to see some trees.

It was fun- great to get muddy, and to smell a forest again.

Enjoy the photos..... the only missing thing were the gnomes.

Taking London by Force

2006-11-06T21:40:00.000Z

It started on Friday.... a plan. The boys were in the Peak climbing Grit- meaning the girls were in Cambridge planning trouble. London trouble of the shopping kind! Over some wine and cheese Heidi and I convinced ourselves that we needed to go to London to do some shopping, and the markets seemed like a good place to start.

On Saturday we did a reconnaissance trip to Portobello Rd and a small market at Piccadilly Circus. We also managed a little trip to Liberty, where I found some lovely fabrics (albiet rather costly) that I was unable to part with (although my conquest was only over smallpieces of fabric).

We headed home to enjoy more wine and cheese and listen to the joys of Cambridge fireworks since Guy Fawkes Night was being celebrated early on the Sautrday. The boys came home at around 11 pm and we planned the final assault on London for the following day.

Sunday- We stopped in at the BM to check out the Lindow Bog Man, only to be told that his exhibit was under-going rennovation and he was not on show- however we were placated with Cleopatra, a buch of other mummies, the Rossetta Stone and our personal favourite, the Isle of Lewis Chess men (although about a quarter of them were on loan!).

I also managed to pick up this delightful little Peruvian owl at the museum for the Christmas tree- I'm thinking of a theme of birds.

Next we hot-footed it over to Westminster to the London Eye for a dusk trip up the wheel. Great view! And we made it down in time to get some cracking photographs of sunset over Westminster and also of Big Ben. Dinner at a local pub and then a quick trip home on the train.

It is now Monday and Ian and Heidi had to get themselves to Heathrow- they fly out early tomorrow. We managed a quick photo together before we had to head into work.

Work was well, work. Finally got another crystal onto the X-ray set, but really it was too small to tell much other than it isn't salt.
Two surprise parcels from my lovely mum arrived packed full of goodies- check out these yummy fabrics (some were from my old collection sadly sitting in a box under my old bed in Sydney, and the others were fantastic little pieces mum managed to hunt down somehow! Aren't mums just the greatest?
And then when we got home from work we found a little present stashed in the 'little good bush' in the back yard.... and I'm drinking some now. It is very, very good.

Thanks Ian and Heidi! Wishing you both a safe and exciting trip.

.

I forgot!

2006-10-28T21:34:00.000+01:00

I forgot to post this, sent by my dear father!

Since it is so close to Hallow's Eve.

And I always loved Dr Who.

New Toy!

2006-10-28T21:18:00.000+01:00

Today I got a new toy (A HP photosmart all-in-one). I'd been planning to get it for a while.....

Now I feel like I can do anything. (It prints, scans and photocopies)

Tonight I've been testing it out. I have grand plans for it.

It's first job is to make my Christmas cards, and I must say that I'm most of the way there. I just need to test out ways of making it print on to fabric.

So far though I've printed a photo (Mr Henry Gell on his first birthay) that is now adorning our fridge. I've also drawn several designs and scanned them in, combined them and run them through photoshop.... and well, now I just need to check them on fabric before the whole print to kill mood takes me.

What am I listening to:
Crayon Caribou (formerly Dan Snaith's Manitoba)
Diamond Day Vashti Bunyan
Adventure.exe Final Fantasy
Alone In Kyoto Air
Only a Rake Holly Throsby
Chasing Cars Snow Patrol
Who Knows Where The Time Goes? Fairport Convention
Sometimes My Bloody Valentine
Kaze Wo Atsumete はっぴいえんど
Too Young Phoenix
Silence In Space Undertheigloo
Totally Underwater Shelly Poole
Over the Hill Polly Paulusma
If I Piers Faccini
Better Together Jack Johnson
Hype (V. 2) The Hampdens
Autumn in Our Town Dave Brubeck
Souls on Satellite (Acoustic) Borne
Shopping Trolley Beth Orton
Songbird Bernard Fanning
Dig a Hole The Ailerons

Just stuff to cruise to whilst crafting.

Waiting

2006-10-20T21:12:00.000+01:00

Ian and Heidi are flying in from Germany today. Thus, I'm waiting at home to make sure they arrive safely, so I'm goofing off surfing. Love a wireless life.

What mythical creature are you?

Thanks for the link Blueant.

This is me.... pretty good guess actually.

Dolomite depression

2006-10-07T14:01:00.000+01:00

It's Saturday. I'm at work.... always at work. Proteins never rest, they are like small children, it's late nights, no private life, always running them over columns, waiting to see what the result is on a gel, re-equilibrating another column. I'm always waiting.... waiting.... something might happen soon......I 'm currently trying to get over our trip to the Dolomites.

It's October. We're in Italy. Flew in to Brescia/Verona and Ian and Heidi picked us up. We drive to Bolzano. Top little town. I wish I spoke some German, but we struggled by on our Italian. Marmalade Crossiants and an excellent coffee for breakfast. Heaven.

Day 1: The food took a leap to the relms of
brillance.
Geeze I miss Italian food- the cheese, the meat, the fruit and the coffee..... We moved to Cortina fitting in an awesome alpine pass and a super short via ferrata. Found a good little hotel run by a friendly family. Cortina was shutting up shop for the break between the summer madness and the winter crazyness. Cortina is cute. Would have liked some time to go shopping.

I think Ian and Heidi had a great time on their first Via ferrata. I was very happy with the new Petzl gear we had bought before we left. The main hope of the group was that the weather would stay healthy. Iain and Ian were secretly planning an attack on a Grade 5C ferrata called Tomaselli, but that wouldn't come for several days. We ate out at a resturant and slept well with the plan of attacking a 3B the following day, called Strobel, which was a little mountain just out of Cortina.

Day 3: Via ferrata Strobel
Strobel was a nice day out. A rock scramble to the start there were quite a few other climbers out as well. The ferrata was like a mountain climb, with good examples of ladders. There is a picture of us all at the summit!

Day 4: Via ferrata Lipella
Lipella was a grade 4C. It involved a start through some old war tunnels in the mountains, and then was mainly a traverse along a long mountain, finally culminating in a climb to the summit at the end. Overall an excellent Via Ferrata, with very long sections. Awesome!!!!

Day 5: Via ferrata Tomaseli
The big day- grade 5C! Technically we could feel it, but maybe a grading of 5B would have been better- it was pretty short but exhilarating!
We started at the little bivoac and the climb jumped straight in from the start. Fantastic views even though it was a bit misty.
The end of the day involved an 1.5 hr descent through some war tunnels from the top of the lift station. Lots of fun....

Day 6: Back to Bolzano.... shopping.... new crampons! Super light, super awesome.

Day 7: Back to the bench..... And guess what! I've got crystals, but not the right thing!
: (

Anyway, must get back to my protein. It needs me and the sooner I'm done the sooner I can go home and get the weekend chores done.

Hope everyone is well.....

K.

1984

2006-09-11T23:13:00.000+01:00

It is sad. Crazy. Weird..... I'm still stunned.

....it will detect access to pornography, any sexually explicit content, gambling, shopping, racist or violent/abusive information as well as other unsavoury content. Users should also be aware that some RSS feeds from sites such as bit torrent, adbrite and youtube contain data which falls into the adult/pornographic content area and will be logged. Some of these feeds provide almost continuous streams of this type of data which will certainly get our attention. The introduction of these measures is for the protection of users.....
blah blah blah Guess that's life. For the protection of users....unsavory content? What the hell is that? And to think that a bunch of grown-ups- most with PhD's can't decide for themselves what is suitable to look at. I guess even seeing something racist or pornographic might make you insane, and obvoiusly if you've surfed to it it must be true, and you obviously agree with it...... it's just thought police..... making sure you think their way. What is a scientist supposed to think anyway? I'm not really sure how we are supposed to think outside the box when the box they put us in is so small and confining, and every rule ensures we can't get out.

Can't recommend my workplace as a good place to be. It's kind of sad these days. Mostly full of people looking for somewhere else to go. I'm just looking into crystal trays.

Only the crazy things stand out these days. It's a vast continum.....

Moving on. A few pictures to describe the ticking of seconds.

Isle of Wight Festival
Erice- Italy
Copenhagen-Denmark
Family- London
Sailing in Denmark
In transit.......

You can work it out.

Friday

2006-07-07T19:11:00.000+01:00

It's Friday evening and time for me to head home, but, even though I've got a million other things that should be posted I'll putting up a link to the best web page I've seen for a VERY long time!

Long live the Night Climbers of Cambridge

Sunshine, dogs and Kendal Mint Cake

2006-05-02T10:51:00.000+01:00

What a spectacular long-weekend away! The Lake District was awesome (in an English way!). We drove up on Thursday night- leaving Cambridge at about 7.45pm, arriving at the campsite at about 1am. The slow part was finding a place to camp.... we ended up driving down the smallest little roads and doing the Wynose pass in the dark.

The first campsite was in Seathwaite. Actually we discovered by accident that there are TWO seathwaites in the Lake District. One near Conniston which you get to via the Wynose Pass, and the other up past Seatoller which you get to via Keswick. We camped at both. The one pictured above is near Conniston. See first photo. Really pretty little place and well off the beaten track. Check out the weather! How lucky were we?

That morning we drove up to the other Seathwaite through Keswick to start a walk up Scarfell Pike, which is England's tallest peak. The following photos are from the walk. Great day and easy walking. We had bought this cute little guide by a guy called A. Wainwright, who worte about 7 books on walking in the Lake District. It had great little pen and ink drawings of t he routes and pictures of the climbs and nice discriptions about the routes. I wish that there was more guides like this. That night we stayed at the other Seathwaite campsite at the farm.

We arose late on Saturday morning only to find the start of the Scarfell Pike walk that we did the prior day crammed with people bustling their way to the top.Being a Bank holiday weekend we were pleased we had done it the day before!

We spent Saturday basically touring around visiting the stone circle outside Keswick, passing by Ullswater and getting in a few more passes. It was another great day and we had planned to go climbing but my silly knee and my Iliotibial band caused havoc. We drove past the crags that had 'Oxford and Cambridge Direct', and I could see sadness in Iain's eyes, but he was very good about it.
We stopped by Ambleside in the late afternoon to check out the Bridge House (very cute!), and also went to Grisdale Forest to see the sculptures in the wood. That night we drove up to Greater Langdale and camped at Chapel Stile in a huge campsite that was full of kids, stereos and dogs.... Crazy!!!!

The next morning we parked at the New Dungeon Ghyll Hotel and had a top breakfast before staggering up the slope to the Gimmer Crag to get a climb in. We did 'Bracket and Slab', which was lots of fun and pretty scary- Iain had a few interesting moments leading with a backpack on.... the only problem I have with UK climbing is that I always get blood cold....

We ate at the New Dungeon, and then drove on up the Wynose PAs and Hardknott pass heading towards Wasdale. That night we stayed in a crappy little campsite (well, the camp site was nice but it was expensive and the facilities were terrible) at Stanton Bridge.

It rained all night but started to clear in the morning. We drove up to Wasdale, and checked out the little church there where a stack of people are buried who have died on the surrounding peaks.... nasty! Also we spent some time in an Outdoor shop purchasing a few new books... we coulsn't help ourselves.

We then drove on through Ravenswater and up to Conniston and around to Blackwell, the Arts and Crafts house at Bowness on Windermere. The house was gorgeous, with lots of detail. A really nice space. I wish we still built houses with this sort of character. Gave me a few ideas to stick in my notebooks, if I ever get around to writing them up.

Had a bit of a look around before heading off home via the Yorkshire Dales National Park, stopping at a wind-farm on the way.

We had dinner at about 8pm and were home by 10.40pm.

Top trip.... sad to be back at work.
: (
Well, Scotland is coming up in a few weeks. Can't wait!

Australians away!

2006-04-26T11:25:00.000+01:00

Last Tuesday we were lucky enough to be visited by The Gell-Stennards.... E and I were stoked to see Henry and get a cuddle in. He was a pretty quiet little chap. I'm looking forward to getting to know him as he grows up. He loves standing up.... at 5 months I'm wondering if it is a sign.
I think he might take after his active parents. I expect that he will enjoy camping!

Both Dave and Fiona seemed to be happily enjoying parent-hood. For us it was great to see them, have a chat, be very scientific about children and generally have a laugh. It was great.....

This weekend E and I are heading up to the Lake District. The next post will be more photos and stories from there.

Oh, and I promised to put up the recipe for fresh and hot caramel sauce for ice-cream!

Hot Caramel Sauce (this is kind of bucket chemistry... but it works).

You need:
Butter
Brown Sugar
Milk

Put about 1 small tablespoon of butter into a saucepan and melt over a moderate heat.
Stir in about 5 tablespoons of brown sugar. It should look like a thick brown paste, but still be 'liquidy' not dry and powdery.
Heat the paste up with stirring. Ideally you want to get it to start to boil, but NOT burn.
Only when the temperature is high add about 2-3 tablespoons of milk ONE at a time. Stir vigorously between additions. The only thing that can go wrong here is the milk can curdle. This happens if the milk is added in too large a dose, or the temperature is not hot enough. So, high temp and small volumes gets around this. If it curdles... throw it out and start again!
After the milk is added to the desired runny-ness I keep heating and stirring. It should be boiling/bubbling away like mad. This is important to dissolve all the sugar grains and make the sauce smooth.
At this stage, just prior to pouring over the ice-cream you can also add flavours such as whiskey or Cointreau.

The more butter/milk ratio you add the softer the sauce goes, the more milk/butter ratio the more like toffee the sauce goes.

Another good thing to do is stir the sauce into some vanilla ice-cream that is semi-frozen and re-freeze for the worlds best caramel swirl ice-cream!

Enjoy

Google Earth

2006-04-10T14:17:00.000+01:00

I just love it... maybe it's about going to the places I always wanted too but can't.

Check out these addresses for some interesting stuff.

Horse

Pyramid of the Sun

Funny Man

and Words in the Sand

I'm sad that Google Earth has not done Easter Island or Machu Picchu yet.... I keep checking. Fingers crossed.

It's a funny thing this Goggle Earth. When I first logged on my home address was much clearer (you could see two people in my back yard), and it was really cool, since I live near a school which is used for parking for the Cambridge Folk Festival. The photo they used for my house originally had cars parked on the school oval which is unusual. I made me realise that the image was taken when the folk festival was on. You could browse through the folk festival and see individual people and their tents. It was so cool, but they have taken it down now.
: (

2006-04-03T19:23:00.000+01:00

I came across a new word today. 'snarf'. 

snarf
  v : make off with belongings of others
and

snarf
  v:  To grab, especially to grab a large document or
file for the purpose of using it with or without the author's
permission.

Wiki has a more interesting report:

snarf
  v : To laugh while drinking, causing liquid to come out one's nose.

Where can you fit 'snarf' into your day? I think the drinking term of snarf is great.
It hasn't been listed in the OED yet. It's Monday.


But if you're tired of looking at my face, I guess I already am
But you've never been a waste of my time
It's never been a drag
So take a deep breath and count back from ten
And maybe you'll be alright

Sad news

2006-03-29T15:57:00.000+01:00

Mum and dad called late last night to let me know a family friend had passed away.
http://notices.smh.com.au/death/14470/notice.aspx

So this is for you Judy.....

You are already missed.

A Song of Living - Amelia Burr

Because I have loved life, I shall have no sorrow to die
I have sent up my gladness on wings, to be lost in the blue of the sky
I have run and leaped with the rain, I have taken the wind to my breast
My cheek like a drowsy child to the face of the earth I have pressed.
Because I have loved life, I shall have no sorrow to die.

I have kissed young love on the lips, I have heard his song to the end
I have struck my hand like a seal in the loyal hand of a friend
I have known the peace of heaven, the comfort of work done well
I have longed for death in the darkness and risen alive out of hell
Because I have loved life, I shall have no sorrow to die.

I give a share of my soul to the world, when and where my course is run
I know that another shall finish the task I surely must leave undone
I know that no flower, nor flint was in vain on the path I once did travel
But, I sipped nectar and wine when all of life’s mysteries did slowly unravel
Because I have loved life, I shall have no sorrow to die.

Slowly catching up.

2006-03-28T09:59:00.000+01:00

It's been busy since the wedding.
Firstly, a weekend of Australians! We managed a sit-down roast for 13 people with dessert. Overall it was great to see everyone. No one had changed a bit. Got to see Goshia and Lukasz's wedding photos. Very nice indeed.

We had a good time wandering around town, checking out the college's and generally catching up on gossip. Here is a pic of us having lunch in 'The Eagle'.

Mid week was a bowling event with E's work.... basically a night of beer and porn star glasses. Matt had a wild night. : )
E tried to break the land-speed record, and, well, I simply tried to improve.

Most recently, this weekend was a weekend of Duggin's!

Little James found the whole thing a bit much.

And, best of all our friends had a baby boy called Nathan. And is he cute!
..... stay tuned for some photos.

Finally. Here is the Bonwick Wedding Cake recipe. I'm looking forward to knocking one of these up for next Christmas!

Enjoy

Bonwick's Dark Fruit Cake (makes 40 to 60 thin slices)
-an adaptation of Dark Fruit Cake from The Joy of Cooking
Some say this is best stored for at least 1 month before serving (Jane recommends at least 2 weeks sitting). Have all ingredients at room temperature. Preheat oven to 150°C/300°F. Grease and line the bottom and sides of one 25 cm tube tin with greaseproof paper.
Sift together:
420 g plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon freshly grated or ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground mace (hard to get but worth the effort!!)
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
In a large bowl, beat until creamy, about 30 seconds:
225 g unsalted butter
Gradually add and beast on high speed until lightened in colour and texture, 3 to 5 minutes:
400 g light or dark brown sugar
Beat in:
125 ml golden syrup
grated zest and juice of 1 orange
grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
Add the flour mixture in 3 parts, alternating with, in 2 parts:
175 ml brandy (use the best (French?) you can)
beating on low speed or stirring with a rubber spatula just until blending and scraping the sides of the bowl as necessary. Stir in:
625 ml diced mixed candied fruits (citron, pineapple, cherries, kumquats and/or orange
and lemon peel. Jane uses one third ginger, also add paw paw with lemon and orange candied peel.)
200 g coarsely chopped macadamia nuts
300 g chopped dates
240 g currants
240 g golden raisins
Scrape the batter into the tin and spread evenly. Bake for 3 and 1/2 hours. The cake may appear done at 2 and 1/2 hours; simply ignore this. If the cake is getting too dark on top, tent it loosely with aluminium foil for the last 30 to 60 minutes. Cooking is variable so keep an eye on it….. careful If using a fan forced oven!!!!! Let cool in the tin on a rack for about an hour. Invert the cake and remove the paper liner. Let cool right side up on the rack.
Fruitcake storage: Don’t leave wrapt in aluminium foil because of the nuts. Wrap in plastic/paper or put in container if needed.

Orton in Concert

2006-02-27T14:58:00.000Z

Last night E and I and Nick and Helen hit the Corn Exchange to see Beth Orton in Concert, with support act 'Clayhill'.

Firstly, it was our first time to the Corn Exchange here in Cambridge. The venue is good, a nice size, not to big, not to small. It is great to have a venue that plays international acts at your front door. From all my days giging in Sydney whereby half the night is spent getting to the event and getting home it was a nice change.

We picked our tickets up at the box office, purchased a pint in a plastic cup and headed into the standing area.

Clayhill were unknowns to us. They seemed to have a reasonable following. We had no expectations.... What a great act! The lead singer was to cool with airy vocals and delicious lyrics, a fantastic double bass player with lots of energy, and a confident lead guitar and a drumer and keyboardist. The tunes were good and we were impressed. First track Figure 8 and Hang on were memorable.

Beth came out after a small wait, but played a full set mixed with lots of old stuff as well as the new album. During the middle of the concert she seemed to flag, but picked up again by the end. Her voice seemed to be suffering a little... maybe over-strained? But, some of her new tracks are great (like Absinthe and A Place Aside), and being the first time I've heard them I think I'll be getting the new album. Her classics like Central Reservation and Stolen Car were also great.

Overall a great night out... 4 star.

Back at Work

2006-02-21T15:23:00.000Z

Well, this is my second day back at work and things are going ahead at full pace. I'm still a bit sleepy in the afternoons. The lab gave E and I tickets to the Isle of Wright Festival, a big camping rock festival in June which I am very excited about! Thank you guys!!!! My lab in Sydney sent across gift tickets to the Covent Garden Opera.... how awesome is that! And two of our best friends gave us a set of Riedel Whiskey Glasses.... needless to say that they shall be well loved and cherished! We are learning about single malts, and have been doing blind tasting of several whiskies at a time. So far we are not very good at it. E is also planning to start brewing ales with the beer brewing things I got him for Christmas. I'll let you know how it goes.

There has been a lot of talk and discussion between my friends about the recent riots in Denmark, and also about the jailing of the british right-wing historian in Austria. The world is a very strange place. However, my belief in Gnomes is not waivering.... and Sven, our wedding prsent house gnome from my mother is proving to be a top little guy.

Long live the gnome!

We got hitched!

2006-02-19T14:38:00.000Z

A beautiful sunny day in Sydney,

Saturday the 21st of January

We were very lucky.....

Had some great nights out with friends and family before heading to Lorne in victoria to attend the Lorne 2006 Protein Structure and Function Conference. Generally an excellent meeting, and it is always good to meet up with other Australian Scientists and find out what is going on.

We returned to Sydney then flew out to Perth to spend a week's honeymoon in Western Australia touring the South West and a little bit north of Perth. Overall we had a spectacular time. Went to some great restaurants. If you are ever in Albany, try The Wild Duck, and if you are up near Yallingup or Margaret River try the Other Side of the Moon located at the Quay West Bunker Bay Restort (nice resort by the way).

Saw some excellent sunsets into the ocean, and drank some fantastic wines. E went mad over the climbing.... and we saw lots of wildlife including snakes and orchids and sea cucumbers that look like slugs. We eat lobster and also checked out the stromatolites at Lake Thetis near Cervantes. Stromatolites are constructed of colonies of photosynthetic cyanobacteria that deposit calcium salts to form strange bublous formations at the edges of water (in this case a lake).

We really enjoyed the Pinnacles... they are limestone formations that 'pop' out of the sand dunes, again near Cervantes. I visited this place when I was very small and it was certainly worth the second visit.

We also visited the Valley of the Giants – a forest of ancient Kari trees. There is a suspended 'tree-top' walk here which was worth doing. We also saw lots of Blue Wrens there. Very cute!

The Parks people were doing controlled burns which we drove through, really felt like Australia....

Finally for a bit of a thrill we did two tree-climbs – one called the Gloucester tree, and the other called the Bicentennial Tree. I recommend the later one since the climb is much higher and it is also less well known so it is not as busy. Basically the climb consists of a huge Eucalypt tree with iron stakes driven into the trunk every 30 cm that spiral up the tree.

The climber can step from one spoke to the next in a sort of helical ladder. The whole process is very unprotected (if you fall it could be VERY VERY nasty), and the climb goes up to 75 m (for the Bicentennial Tree, 58 m for the Gloucester Tree).

Ant farms in space!

2006-02-19T14:26:00.000Z

Ever seen one of these Ant Farms made of a mysterious blue gel?

I was interested to know what the gel was made of.... after some educated guesses and some web trawling I've tracked down the main components:

agar (or agarose) which is a sea-weed based material used by microbiologists and molecular biologists to either seperate DNA or grow bacteria. This substance is mixed with a nutrient media (with sucrose and vitamins and minerals) and heated. The agar 'melts' and forms a clear gel which can be poured into a container and allowed to set. Unfortunately the agar is not all that easy for the average person to track down..... I'll work harder at collecting information about the other components. The original space experiment is described here:
http://www.starsacademy.com/sts107/experiments/ants_top.htm#

And the gel was orginally supplied by: Plant Technologies Inc, New Jersey. Apparently it contains an antifungal agent.

Wandering

2005-11-15T18:12:00.000Z

Got soft
Am lost

Wandering about my head

Can't remember where I'm headed
Can't remember where I've come from

Just keep wandering on.

Just been one of those days.... really things need to look up a bit. Maybe it's seasonal mood disorder!!! Tonight we go ten pin bowling. Now that should be something different. I'm sort of stuck in a rut, and it's hard to focus on anything much for any extended period of time. Sometimes I think I'm losing my mind.... slowly it is leaking out and only a shadow remains.

Trilobite

2005-09-27T12:06:00.000+01:00

Cambridge Trilobites..... but big toys and late nights. More X-rays to poke a crystal at but not moment worth the time. It passes and I remember. Why?

The future is now and I'm letting it go.

Happy Birthday J!

Monday bloody Monday

2005-01-24T09:42:00.000Z

Seems to be a running brain problem of mine, when my head is vacant, the screen is also. Very frustrating after you put all your thoughts onto one page and then Viola! It dissappears into the void. I wish you could capture all those lost bits of data..... I'm sure it would make fascinating reading pouring over other peoples lost ravings.

My little white micro lapdancer is warm with the days activities. I've been running gels and finalising undergraduate practical notes ready for this years onslaught. I'm tired. Completely flat.

It is exactly 4 weeks until we leave. I've been chasing Visas today. And visiting doctors.

Mmm, I'm sure there is more on my list to do.

2005-01-03T23:31:00.000Z

Thinking about getting ready to go. It's only 7 weeks until we leave the country. So many things to do before then. I've been digitising my life, and backing it up. As if it might be useful one day.....

I want to get this blog up and running, probably because I'm to lazy to keep everyone up on what we are doing when we get there.

Spent the morning collecting email addresses and postal addresses. Everyone seems to keep moving around, I've got up to 6 email addresses for one person, and I can't remember which one is active. Sometimes technology sucks.

Trolled around the web, spying on old and lost friends... Nice to know they are still out there, still being true to themselves. Sometimes I have difficultly in letting them go. Stupid hang up really, if they don't want me what have I lost? I've got an over-load of that melancholy reminiscence of old times. I need to move on.. NOW!

Meanwhile, back at the desk I'm trying to improve my French, and finish a paper that must be submitted before I go. The crossword is more immediately appealing.
Does anyone know a 4 letter word for a small jumper? the best I can do at short notice is 'frog'. Frustrated.
Also waiting on the snail mail. My new USB drive should arrive any day now.

Watched 'Lost in Translation' again last night... I think E and I can almost recite the whole script. I was surprised that in the bonus extra material there was no footage of 'Charlotte'. I wonder why?

This weekend we're going camping, and climbing. We are going to face 'Old Baldy' again at Newnes. I expect that I'll lose my pants again in fear, but at least I'll know I'm alive.

It's 2005. What happened since 1998? I can't clearly remember.....

Do you?