11 August

Wellington - Hong Kong

Mum and I left Wellington airport for Sydney at 6 am, then on to Hong Kong, arriving about 6 pm local time. We had some amazing views coming in over the city. Followed the directions to our accommodation and found it without any trouble at all. We went for a wander around the few blocks closest to us to get something to eat and then called it a night.

This time next week...

... Mum and I will be in Hong Kong.

It's the first stop on our month-long trip to Scotland and Ireland and a few places in between. In the planning since November last year or so, and I haven't really thought about it seriously until I got back from Melbourne a little over a week ago.

I have a cold at the moment but am feeling better today than yesterday, so it should be well and truly gone by the time we fly out. Don't want anybody thinking I might have swine flu.

To follow up on the Melbourne experiments, we did manage to figure out what the problem was (parasitic reaction from the sides of the samples) and a stop-gap solution to fix it (coat the sides and change the experiment) and overall things worked very well indeed. The last few days (while I've been sick) have been spent on the most mind-numbing of all analysis: peak fitting of time series data. But that's fine because it's not like my brain has really been working anyway.

The broccoli experiments were very cushy by comparison: set up samples, define scan area, hit go, come back 12 or 24 hours later to repeat the process.

-- While we're away I'll try to put pictures up as often as I can, so stay tuned! --

July in Melbourne

I'm currently in Melbourne for synchrotron experiments, having finished one and have two more to go in the next 10 days or so.

The first ones were conceptually simple but we still had problems trying to get them to work. Even so I think the data we collected will be enough for a nice publication.

The ones coming up this weekend were always going to be much harder. And late yesterday I received an email from the others who are coming over to say that there appear to be some problems with the setup... all very frustrating (especially since we had to previously cancel beamtime on these experiments)! So we have just under 3 days to figure out how to make things work.

The last ones will be something completely different and in a sense I'm just coming along for the ride. A new user wants to look at the distribution of Se in broccoli. So this will be my first time on the XFM beamline - should be a useful experience.

Help! Facebook ate my life!

So I realise it's almost a month that's gone past since I last wrote anything on this blog. Personally I blame Facebook. You see, it feels like not much has happened that's worth writing about, but then I have managed to put something over there every day. Mostly drivel, so I'm wondering how much longer to keep at it. The other option is to refrain from posting any status at all - I mean, who really needs to know that I brought a blanket to work, or that I just finished a huge packet of pineapple lumps? I refuse to join Twitter, but isn't it all the same thing - e-noise? Maybe I'll use the trip to Scotland and Ireland in August to see how I go on a month without posting a status.

I'm also thinking that I need to spend more time digesting the Word, and I find the best way to do that is to write stuff down. It helps keep me focused on the task at hand. So I could develop that and use the blog as a platform for sharing.

Anyway, a few things from last month:

I had a trip to Feilding for my first ever tie with the Hutt Valley Div V rep team. Won my singles and lost a ladies' doubles in 3 sets and a mixed doubles in 2. It was a long day but I managed to listen to a couple of sermons on my ipod and write down some ideas for CKC for next term.

Last weekend Stuart was desperate for some company to go snowboarding, so against my better judgement I said I'd give it a go. After my last (and only) experience skiing, where I failed miserably and said 'I'm never doing that again', I found the snowboarding much easier. After 2 1/2 hours or so, when we paused for lunch, I realised just how bruised my knees were and decided it would be better to take the gear back (and get a refund on the rental) than to carry on. It all worked out rather well - only $35 for a morning. I might even try it again some time.

Next month I'll be in Melbourne again for three weeks. Three experiments; the second of which has been almost a year in the planning. We had a meeting of the entire project team on Friday which was very productive. Hopefully we will get some good results.

Then I have two weeks back at home before heading off with Mum to Scotland and Ireland for a month. It still feels ages away; undoubtedly because of the Melbourne trip which has been occupying my mind.

One long weekend, coming right up

This weekend it's Queen's Birthday, traditionally a time for 25% off sales and bad weather.

The weather hasn't arrived - yet - and I don't need anything from the shops. So I'm hoping to get a bunch of stuff done for CKC for this term and hopefully some of next as well. One of the bigger projects for that I would like to start on is to compile a book of games that we have played so that I can hand a bit more of the responsibility over to the other leaders - especially for when July and August come around, when I'll be gone for a total of 8 Wednesdays in fairly rapid succession.

The trip to Melbourne earlier this week was quite productive. But it was a little bit of a challenge to then get back into the swing of things at work, with 2 meetings and a phone call to the States having been deferred to the day after I got back.

Of trips and trivia

Last Friday was the date of the most recent IRL quiz night. Some colleagues and I mustered a team that didn't do half bad - in fact we tied for first place! (Unfortunately we lost the sudden death question, which was: How many tons does Nelson's statue in Trafalgar Square weigh?)

A shame the Hurricanes couldn't do better than second in their semi-final game either. Oh well, there's always next year... or the year after... or...

Next week I'm off to Melbourne for 2 days - I have a 3-hour meeting at the synchrotron on Tuesday. It may seem like a bit of a waste of time but I've made arrangements to meet up with some other people while I'm there re: stuff for our next experiments there in July, which are going to take some considerable co-ordination of chemicals and equipment.

It's a bit scary in some ways because July seems so close already - and two weeks after I get back from there, Mum and I are off to Scotland & Ireland. Life is starting to be measured in weeks again... not that I'm complaining, really.



Oh - and by the way, the answer is 18. (We guessed 6.)

Looking up

Things are looking up from last week.

We had a leaders' meeting for CKC which helped my enthusiasm for that immensely.

Work is progressing well and I am getting on top of stuff there.

Badminton interclub competition started last week so with 3 nights per week dedicated to that I am getting fitter and faster (I hope!). Looks like I am in the division V team by default; our first match is on 6 June.

My youngest brother getting engaged last week, I am still trying to get my head around. On Saturday night I went around to Mum and Dad's to watch the rugby, and felt like the seventh wheel. When I arrived everyone was playing Cranium in couples. Then sat together in couples and so it goes. Even Bob the cat wouldn't keep me company.
Our family has all been invited to the future in-laws' for lunch next weekend and I am not ready for it.
I had some advice from a close friend in an email who basically said, yeah, it hurts, but God has a purpose in all things. I just hope I can figure out what that is. In the meantime try to keep myself busy and not dwell on things.

Bottom of the barrel

Well the last few weeks have been one of those times, full of little niggles that just sap you dry.

First I had all the hustle of organising a conference and then heading off straightaway to Melbourne for 4 days of beamtime. Cue no weekend, followed by a lazy Monday and not quite getting back into the groove of working a full week.

Then I had a number of issues at church, particularly with the kids' programme - discipline problems with one or two kids who just set off the rest. No joy for anybody, especially me. On top of that I had a run-in with somebody else at church which left me even more deflated. Can't seem to find any support for the issues that exist already, meanwhile there are even more icky things coming along that somehow fall on me to deal with.

Then there was badminton rep training on Sunday - following the church blow-up, I figured that smacking a shuttlecock around would be a productive vent of frustration. Instead it left me with a killer headache, and the combination of too much water and not enough food meant when I got home I couldn't decide if I wanted to eat or throw up.

Then yesterday I was reminded all the more sharply about my single-ness...

I know I need to take a step back and look at the bigger picture in all of this. In my head I know that where I am in terms of my job, ministry, and shall we say 'relationship status' is God's will for me right now. But it's a bit harder to bring my feelings into line with that.

It'd be nice to find a way out of this hole I'm in.

Or at least to make it through until August when I'll be on holiday with Mum for a month...

The week that was, and is, and is to come

So this has been one of those weeks - and it's only Tuesday!

The last few weeks leading up to now have involved me organising everything for the second NZ synchrotron users' meeting. This was held on Monday and Tuesday this week. Overall it was a success, despite the late withdrawal of support from the Australian Synchrotron people (they were going to send 4 or 5 people across to give talks, and 2 weeks ago announced they would only be sending 2). This meant that I had 2 1/2 hours of speaking slots plus chairing a lot of other speaking sessions and directing discussions. Anyway people seemed to get a lot out of it and made some contacts so you can't ask for much more than that.

Now while I would really like a break following a pretty crammed two days, tomorrow sees me doing some last minute sample prep before flying over to Melbourne in the afternoon. We have two sets of experiments scheduled at the synchrotron from Thursday to Monday, the second of which involves some tricky sample prep that I've had to leave to a student who's never been to the synchrotron before, since I've been flat out with the meeting. So tomorrow it'll be head down to work, pick up all the stuff, come back home, pack, and leave... maybe the following week I'll be able to come up for air!

100 km Trailwalk

Last weekend was the Oxfam Trailwalk challenge. Teams of 4 walking 100 km inside 36 hours, at Lake Taupo.

Christina (a good friend from ye olde physics olympiad days back in 1997) had entered a team and I came along to help as support crew. As it turned out the support was needed!

We had a (relatively) small campervan that we had to drive to each checkpoint and await the team, then put out chairs, prepare whatever food they wanted, rub feet, pass clothes, and so forth. The legs they had to walk varied from 7 to 20 km. The weather was perfect for the event - sunny days and not too hot; although it was bitterly cold at night. But the walkers said as long as they were moving it wasn't too bad.


A welcome break for the walkers - the inside of the campervan was warm and cosy

During the night the team suffered a couple of casualties, with Kat and Mac having to pull out due to injury. They promptly claimed the back of the van and crashed - just as well I had had a couple of naps while waiting at some of the earlier checkpoints.

Driving the van was not as hard as I had feared. While there were some challenging bits, like driving down a steep grassy bank to get to checkpoint 2, and navigating at 3 am, it was pretty fun and I'd be happy to do it again. Cooking food was also pretty straightforward and the further on we got through the event the less people cared about what was on offer.

At checkpoint 7 our final two members had arrived just as dawn was breaking. The previous three legs had all been around 7.3 km and the first two of those hadn't caused any major issues, but the last one left them complaining. So they let me join them for the last leg. Half of this was through paddocks, and half along the lake front along the main drag into town. We put our team t-shirts on (that had been prepared earlier while waiting at the checkpoints) - bearing the team name, 'Are we dead yet?'


Walking through Taupo, 200 metres from the finish line.

Watching Christina and Marama cross the finish line was truly inspirational. Even though the last few steps were at the same pace and with the same hobbling action as the previous ten thousand, they were the most significant. Well done - it's a fantastic achievement.


The team at the finish line, 29 hrs 23 min after beginning the event.

(To donate to Christina's team, please click here.)