If you can't say it in person, or with a card, or with flowers... say it with a bus.
Thursday, December 13, 2012
Merry Christmas!
If you can't say it in person, or with a card, or with flowers... say it with a bus.
Australia: conference time
So I am acutely aware that I haven't posted anything for a month or so, mainly because I've been away, and was waiting until I got back so I could write all about it. Then of course things were just as busy when I got home. And deciding which picture(s) of real-life koalas to put on the blog led to procrastination, but more about those later.
Sydney
My first stop was in Sydney, for the SAS 2012 conference, where I was giving a talk about the work that we have done since we created the cool wall of SAXS: watching nickel nanoparticles grow in real time.
Fireworks at Darling Harbour on the night I arrived. They weren't for me though.
You know how when you're about to embark on a trip, it doesn't matter how organised you are or how much time you give yourself to pack, when you're driving to the airport your mind is racing trying to think what you've forgotten? Since I travel so much, I have this feeling frequently, but so seldom is it ever justified that I have (for the most part) trained myself to ignore it. So there I was, sitting in the departure lounge at Wellington airport, 5 minutes before boarding the plane for Sydney, watching other people walking around, when I realised - heck - I've forgotten to pack my conference shoes. And the dumb thing was, that I had deliberately made a list and written on it, 'conference clothes, shoes, socks' and distinctly remember crossing out 'clothes' and 'socks' as I put those things in the bag, and thinking, 'must remember the shoes'. Anyway that meant that instead of having virtually all of Sunday to wander around Sydney and see the sights, I was wandering around the shoe shops in Sydney trying to find something (a) suitable, (b) in black, and (c) reasonably priced. Sigh.
Finally getting to see the sights of Sydney!
Anyway the conference was really good. I learnt a lot and made some good contacts with several people, which is what going to conferences is all about. This particular conference is held every three years and the next one is in Germany... I'd like to go but obviously we'll have to see.
Melbourne
Week two was in Melbourne. I stayed with Paul and Marge for the weekend, which was great to catch up with them. One day consisted of putting together a kitset greenhouse from instructions written in Engrish. The next day involved sitting, talking, barbequing, and eating. Bliss! After that it was off to the synchrotron for a two-day software analysis workshop, then the annual facility user meeting. This time I was giving a 30-minute invited talk about the work we've been doing on the carbon dioxide corrosion of steel.
In between I had a free day, so since the forecast was for 29 degrees instead of 38 on the following day, I decided to go for a bush walk in the Dandenongs.
Adelaide
After Melbourne came Adelaide, and the joint Asian Crystallographic Society / Society of Crystallographers in Australia and New Zealand conference. I was presenting a 15-minute version of the talk I gave at the user meeting. Apart from that I didn't get much out of this conference - and not because I was getting weary from the travel and the talks (because oddly I was feeling quite coherent), but because I guess I'm not really a crystallographer. Which is good to know.
Anyway I had a few free days in Adelaide as well, including one afternoon during the conference where the only things on the programme were lunch for an hour, 3 hrs of committee meetings (which didn't concern me), and the final plenary session on some macromolecular crystallography probably-chuck-some-bio-nano in there talk, which I was pretty sure I wouldn't understand.
So I went for another bush walk instead, up Waterfall Gully to Mt Lofty.
Lookout at Mt Lofty
Which brings me to the koalas. I've never seen one in the wild before, only in zoos and wildlife parks. But after having seen several road signs while walking from the bus stop to the start of the Mt Lofty track, I was reasonably hopeful.
I saw my first 'real' koala!
Then I saw my second and third 'real' koalas!
Then another one...
... so close to the path that I could actually get a decent shot of myself with it
Finally, koala number 11 (I think - kind of lost count) was hanging on a branch with one arm, reaching out for the fresh leaves, a good 4-5 metres above the path I was walking down - with a joey clinging to her tummy.
Overall the trip was great; it is good to be back home though!
Sydney
My first stop was in Sydney, for the SAS 2012 conference, where I was giving a talk about the work that we have done since we created the cool wall of SAXS: watching nickel nanoparticles grow in real time.
You know how when you're about to embark on a trip, it doesn't matter how organised you are or how much time you give yourself to pack, when you're driving to the airport your mind is racing trying to think what you've forgotten? Since I travel so much, I have this feeling frequently, but so seldom is it ever justified that I have (for the most part) trained myself to ignore it. So there I was, sitting in the departure lounge at Wellington airport, 5 minutes before boarding the plane for Sydney, watching other people walking around, when I realised - heck - I've forgotten to pack my conference shoes. And the dumb thing was, that I had deliberately made a list and written on it, 'conference clothes, shoes, socks' and distinctly remember crossing out 'clothes' and 'socks' as I put those things in the bag, and thinking, 'must remember the shoes'. Anyway that meant that instead of having virtually all of Sunday to wander around Sydney and see the sights, I was wandering around the shoe shops in Sydney trying to find something (a) suitable, (b) in black, and (c) reasonably priced. Sigh.
Anyway the conference was really good. I learnt a lot and made some good contacts with several people, which is what going to conferences is all about. This particular conference is held every three years and the next one is in Germany... I'd like to go but obviously we'll have to see.
Melbourne
Week two was in Melbourne. I stayed with Paul and Marge for the weekend, which was great to catch up with them. One day consisted of putting together a kitset greenhouse from instructions written in Engrish. The next day involved sitting, talking, barbequing, and eating. Bliss! After that it was off to the synchrotron for a two-day software analysis workshop, then the annual facility user meeting. This time I was giving a 30-minute invited talk about the work we've been doing on the carbon dioxide corrosion of steel.
In between I had a free day, so since the forecast was for 29 degrees instead of 38 on the following day, I decided to go for a bush walk in the Dandenongs.
Adelaide
After Melbourne came Adelaide, and the joint Asian Crystallographic Society / Society of Crystallographers in Australia and New Zealand conference. I was presenting a 15-minute version of the talk I gave at the user meeting. Apart from that I didn't get much out of this conference - and not because I was getting weary from the travel and the talks (because oddly I was feeling quite coherent), but because I guess I'm not really a crystallographer. Which is good to know.
Anyway I had a few free days in Adelaide as well, including one afternoon during the conference where the only things on the programme were lunch for an hour, 3 hrs of committee meetings (which didn't concern me), and the final plenary session on some macromolecular crystallography probably-chuck-some-bio-nano in there talk, which I was pretty sure I wouldn't understand.
So I went for another bush walk instead, up Waterfall Gully to Mt Lofty.
Which brings me to the koalas. I've never seen one in the wild before, only in zoos and wildlife parks. But after having seen several road signs while walking from the bus stop to the start of the Mt Lofty track, I was reasonably hopeful.
I saw my first 'real' koala!
Then I saw my second and third 'real' koalas!
Then another one...
... so close to the path that I could actually get a decent shot of myself with it
Finally, koala number 11 (I think - kind of lost count) was hanging on a branch with one arm, reaching out for the fresh leaves, a good 4-5 metres above the path I was walking down - with a joey clinging to her tummy.
Overall the trip was great; it is good to be back home though!
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