Arrived

Well I arrived safely back home this morning, managed to get to church with plenty of time to spare. All of the flights were on time or early, and my bag didn't get lost (although one of the wheels did get damaged, but that's not a big deal).

Thanks to everyone who was praying for my trip, I do appreciate it; and thanks and praise to God for keeping me safe all the way home.

Going home

I've been keeping track of what's going on with the weather back home; it's not much better here in New Hampshire but at least we're not getting the wind here, just incessant rain. It wasn't raining much during our soccer game yesterday (which I successfully managed to avoid injury in) but the grass was wet so my sneakers were soaked within the first 2 minutes.

Anyway I checked out the MetService website this morning, and found this waiting for about 12 hours before I'm meant to be flying back into Auckland:



Could be interesting... whether we take off from San Francisco if there's such severe weather waiting at our arrival. Or whether we will get diverted somewhere else... anything could happen, so I guess we'll just take it one day or one hour at a time (and try to find somewhere to take a shower at San Francisco airport!)

Thunderstorms in New Hampshire

Well the conference is less than interesting, I have a cold, and the weather leaves a lot to be desired. In short, I can't wait to go home...

My talk was ok, but I really should have looked into things (i.e. what the conference is about) and declined on the basis that it is outside my field. I feel kind of guilty that the conference organisers have paid for half of the trip and I'm skipping the sessions to do other stuff (or else staying in there and doing crossword puzzles because I'm bored out of my tree). There is a talk tonight on synchrotron techniques which I think is going to be the highlight for me. Anyway we shall see, and in the meantime I won't get my hopes up too much.

The place we are at is in the middle of NOWHERE. I walked 40 minutes into 'town' the other day (needed to buy some tissues and cold medicine) and got more than just glanced at by a couple of guys, if you know what I mean. I guess they don't get much practise at being discrete around girls. That was pretty close to where somebody had parked a pick-up truck with trailer on the back, 2 cows in the trailer. All rather amusing... but still I can't wait to go back home.

Bawston

I arrived in Boston yesterday, the flight was ok. Just the usual, neither good nor bad (apart from the fact I have to do it again next week, followed by another 12 hours to Auckland).
I'm currently sitting in a hotel at the airport, don't have to check out until 10 am to get back to the airport to go to another hotel which is where the bus will pick us up to take us to the conference site.
The good news is I practised my talk last night and it was exactly to time (20 minutes). The bad news is that they are forecasting thunderstorms this week...

The two days at Stanford were ok. Taking stock as I was on the way to the airport, I realised we weren't ever really going to get much done in two days. The guys seemed to pick everything up pretty quickly (it's not really all that difficult).
My American experience is now complete however; the only vehicle available at the rental car place was a pick-up truck. It's easily the biggest thing I've ever had to drive!

Next trip - starting tomorrow

I mentioned already that I have another trip coming up.

Tomorrow it's off to Stanford for 2 days before heading on up to New Hampshire for a conference.
This is my first taste of being an invited speaker. Exciting!

The conference program is rather interesting. Every afternoon we get 3 hours of free time (with organised activities). The one I am most looking forward to is the 'Europe vs. the rest of the world' soccer match. Other activities include kayaking, hiking, golf etc. The conference sessions are held in the morning and the evening, and there is an emphasis on discussion over merely presenting your results.

So tomorrow morning will be spent tidying up the house and packing...

About as useful as a screen door on a submarine

Imagine my joy at receiving this incredibly generous fuel discount voucher at the supermarket today.

Given that petrol (that's "gas" if you live in the US) is currently NZ$2.19 a litre (about US$6.50 a gallon), a 2c discount... yeah well it could save me on a single piece of toilet paper for this week perhaps?

Petrol went up 12 cents in 3 days a couple of weeks ago, which meant I had to fill up with it costing $2.12, less a 6c discount, grand total over $70. Then we hear on the news that every $5 per barrel that crude oil increases, means a 6c per litre increase at the pump.
But then crude oil fell by $5.39 today. I know because I saw it on TV. So surely we should expect the petrol price to fall too? Yeah... pull the other one, it plays jingle bells.

A few years ago, petrol companies would go up and down by a couple of cents a litre, several times a day. It was ridiculous. Now they've changed to doing big jumps every couple of weeks, without warning. Which is also ridiculous.

I've been having mixed reactions to the whole petrol price thing. I should probably try cycling to work... but it's cold in the mornings right now. I can't manage without the car, because I have to get mountains of stuff down to church for the kids' programme, plus public transport in New Zealand is rubbish. So I just grimace and bear with it, and keep track of how much I'm now having to spend on petrol vs. food.

Anybody else like to share how fuel prices are affecting your lifestyle?